About Me

PBX I'm Paul Bissex, and e-scribe.com is my consulting business. I build web applications using open source software, especially Django. In the '90s I did graphic design for newspapers and magazines. Then I wrote technology commentary and reviews for Wired, Salon.com, Chicago Tribune, and lots of little places you've never heard of. Feel free to email me.

Book

I'm co-author of "Python Web Development with Django", an excellent guide to my favorite web framework. Published by Addison-Wesley, it is available from Amazon and your favorite technical bookstore as well.

Colophon

Built using Django, served by Apache and mod_wsgi. The database is SQLite. The operating system is FreeBSD, on a VPS hosted at Johncompanies.com. Comment-spam protection by Akismet. Vintage topo imagery from the Maptech archive. The markup engine is Markdown.

Pile o'Tags

Stuff I Use

Akismet, bitbucket, del.icio.us, Django, Emacs, FreeBSD, Git, jQuery, LaunchBar, Markdown, Mercurial, OS X, Postfix, Python, Review Board, S3, SQLite, TextMate, Ubuntu Linux

Spam Report

At least 96060 pieces of comment spam killed since January 2008, mostly via Akismet.

Color names in JSON format

I'm an inveterate side-project starter. I spent some time tonight deleting old web projects from the server, and it felt great. I did come across a couple things I wanted to save or pass on though; one of them was this quaint list of named web colors (the "Netscape color names").

I still use these in my web classes when I first introduce the idea of colors in HTML, because it's a lot more fun for students to type in "lemonchiffon" and see the result than it is for them to learn hexadecimal.

Presented in handy JSON/Python-dict format.

{'aliceblue': 'F0F8FF', 'antiquewhite': 'FAEBD7', 'aquamarine': '7FFFD4', 'azure': 'F0FFFF', 'beige': 'F5F5DC', 'bisque': 'FFE4C4', 'black': '000000', 'blanchedalmond': 'FFEBCD', 'blue': '0000FF', 'blueviolet': '8A2BE2', 'brown': 'A52A2A', 'burlywood': 'DEB887', 'cadetblue': '5F9EA0', 'chartreuse': '7FFF00', 'chocolate': 'D2691E', 'coral': 'FF7F50', 'cornflowerblue': '6495ED', 'cornsilk': 'FFF8DC', 'cyan': '00FFFF', 'darkgoldenrod': 'B8860B', 'darkgreen': '006400', 'darkkhaki': 'BDB76B', 'darkolivegreen': '556B2F', 'darkorange': 'FF8C00', 'darkorchid': '9932CC', 'darksalmon': 'E9967A', 'darkseagreen': '8FBC8F', 'darkslateblue': '483D8B', 'darkslategray': '2F4F4F', 'darkturquoise': '00CED1', 'darkviolet': '9400D3', 'deeppink': 'FF1493', 'deepskyblue': '00BFFF', 'dimgray': '696969', 'dodgerblue': '1E90FF', 'firebrick': 'B22222', 'floralwhite': 'FFFAF0', 'forestgreen': '228B22', 'gainsboro': 'DCDCDC', 'ghostwhite': 'F8F8FF', 'gold': 'FFD700', 'goldenrod': 'DAA520', 'gray': '808080', 'green': '008000', 'greenyellow': 'ADFF2F', 'honeydew': 'F0FFF0', 'hotpink': 'FF69B4', 'indianred': 'CD5C5C', 'ivory': 'FFFFF0', 'khaki': 'F0E68C', 'lavender': 'E6E6FA', 'lavenderblush': 'FFF0F5', 'lawngreen': '7CFC00', 'lemonchiffon': 'FFFACD', 'lightblue': 'ADD8E6', 'lightcoral': 'F08080', 'lightcyan': 'E0FFFF', 'lightgoldenrod': 'EEDD82', 'lightgoldenrodyellow': 'FAFAD2', 'lightgray': 'D3D3D3', 'lightpink': 'FFB6C1', 'lightsalmon': 'FFA07A', 'lightseagreen': '20B2AA', 'lightskyblue': '87CEFA', 'lightslate': '8470FF', 'lightslategray': '778899', 'lightsteelblue': 'B0C4DE', 'lightyellow': 'FFFFE0', 'limegreen': '32CD32', 'linen': 'FAF0E6', 'magenta': 'FF00FF', 'maroon': 'B03060', 'mediumaquamarine': '66CDAA', 'mediumblue': '0000CD', 'mediumorchid': 'BA55D3', 'mediumpurple': '9370DB', 'mediumseagreen': '3CB371', 'mediumslateblue': '7B68EE', 'mediumspringgreen': '00FA9A', 'mediumturquoise': '48D1CC', 'mediumviolet': 'C71585', 'midnightblue': '191970', 'mintcream': 'F5FFFA', 'mistyrose': 'FFE4E1', 'moccasin': 'FFE4B5', 'navajowhite': 'FFDEAD', 'navy': '000080', 'oldlace': 'FDF5E6', 'olivedrab': '6B8E23', 'orange': 'FFA500', 'orangered': 'FF4500', 'orchid': 'DA70D6', 'palegoldenrod': 'EEE8AA', 'palegreen': '98FB98', 'paleturquoise': 'AFEEEE', 'palevioletred': 'DB7093', 'papayawhip': 'FFEFD5', 'peachpuff': 'FFDAB9', 'peru': 'CD853F', 'pink': 'FFC0CB', 'plum': 'DDA0DD', 'powderblue': 'B0E0E6', 'purple': 'A020F0', 'red': 'FF0000', 'rosybrown': 'BC8F8F', 'royalblue': '4169E1', 'saddlebrown': '8B4513', 'salmon': 'FA8072', 'sandybrown': 'F4A460', 'seagreen': '2E8B57', 'seashell': 'FFF5EE', 'sienna': 'A0522D', 'skyblue': '87CEEB', 'slateblue': '6A5ACD', 'slategray': '708090', 'snow': 'FFFAFA', 'springgreen': '00FF7F', 'steelblue': '4682B4', 'tan': 'D2B48C', 'thistle': 'D8BFD8', 'tomato': 'FF6347', 'turquoise': '40E0D0', 'violet': 'EE82EE', 'violetred': 'D02090', 'wheat': 'F5DEB3', 'white': 'FFFFFF', 'whitesmoke': 'F5F5F5', 'yellow': 'FFFF00', 'yellowgreen': '9ACD32'}

Sunday, May 6th, 2007
design + web development