IsItRainingNow.com (Day 81)

IsItRainingNow.com (Day 81), originally uploaded by ewilfong.

I spent most of today working on a seemingly simple project. I wanted to develop a microsite that would take a visitor's IP-based location and tell them if it is raining outside.

The practical application of this is a bit limited since IP-based location is inexact and most people can look outside their window. However, it was a good chance for me to refresh my technical skills a bit - I had to brush up on jQuery and PHP. I was also able to try out the NetBeans IDE for code development.

After a few roadblocks, I was finally able to get it working in my personal sandbox. I have the domain isitrainingnow.com, but it won't be available there immediately because I mistakenly tried out the free domain registration offer from Microsoft Office Live and their hosting permissions are draconian.

So, in lieu of a photo from the beautiful day outside in D.C. today, you get a screenshot of what I was staring at most of the day.

Proof of concept is up here:
www.echowhiskey.com/sandbox/isitrainingnow/

Larger screenshot: www.flickr.com/photos/ewilfong/3378256812/sizes/l/