After upgrading your WampServer with the latest phpMyAdmin of the 3 branch, you may not be able to sign in and instead get an “Access denied” message while everything was running smooth with phpMyAdmin 2.

This is caused by a new security feature in phpMyAdmin 3 which by default does not allow access as root without a password for the ‘config’ authentication type.

I do not have to explain why this was introduced and noone will state it isn’t a good addition. However, if you are developing on localhost and using the default WampServer set-up, you will not have a MySQL root password set. It has the advantage each of you local projects only require a database name.

If you want to circumvent this while not setting a root password, instead set the ‘AllowNoPasswordRoot‘ setting to true in your config.inc.php:

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowNoPasswordRoot'] = true;

Update: since version 3.2.0 (?) a second setting is required:

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowNoPassword'] = true;

Some may already do this, whether on paper, in Excel or online, but creating todo-lists is a great way to focus on what you have to do (first) and use your brain for other tasks than remembering your agenda.

Actually, it is no replacement for an agenda. Todo-lists are the small task lists you would also write on paper, like grocery lists. You can keep writing them on paper but since we’re in the digital era, there are great replacements. One of them is the free Ta-da Lists from 37 Signals. Another well-known is Remember The Milk. But even the “famous-all-round-application” Excel does the trick for many.

The key to improve your productivity is to write everything down you need to do. This makes sure you don’t need to remember each single thing and gives you the possibility to handle task by task.

Certainly when working on projects (of any kind), you will have a todo-list for each of them. In development environments a bug-tracker partially takes care of this, but in numerous situations you’ll need to use todo-lists separately.

The basic rule you have to live by in creating successful lists, is this: split up your todo’s in as many small tasks as possible. Then take care of them one by one at the appropriate time. When using one of the mentioned online tools, you can mark them completed and they will disappear from your list (which gives some kind of satisfaction).

And don’t feel awkward if you start to create lists of lists. This is perfectly normal and provides you with a global overview while still having small tasks at the bottom level.

I believe the use of todo-lists is part of the methodology “Getting Things Done” (or GTD). I have not really thoroughly read anything about GTD, but I assume it is a useful practice (for some more than others, like with everything).

Related post on Enso.

In case you didn’t already read about this on one of the Google blogs: Virgin and Google (amongst others) sponsor a one-person rowing trip around the South Pole.

Olly Hicks, the one that will row the dedicated boat from Tasmania to Tasmania (with a few months over-wintering in Argentina or the Sandwich Islands, depending on his progress), will face the harshest weather on earth in the Southern ocean.

The trip is as much tied to Google services as possible: a Blogger blog, Picasa image gallery, Google Maps route tracking,… And of course: a dedicated YouTube channel. The initial video gives a nice impression at how Olly will live for the next 18 to 22 months.

It will sure be a lonely trip!
(unless you ask him a question, that is)

I couldn’t look past this new site from Nick La of Web Designer Wall:

Actually, IconDock is your average stock icons shop and if you’ve ever seen work from Nick, it goes without saying the artwork couldn’t get any better.

But what was really nice is the way you actually fill a shopping basket with the icons you want by dragging them into your “basket”. Powered by jQuery.

With the launch of a new JavaScript XHTML WYSIWYG editor, Xinha, a quick overview of the competition.

Popular rich-text editors that support XHTML are:

• TinyMCE: one of the first and still very popular. Has almost every feature you can imagine (including resizing of images). Used by Wordpress and many other CMS’s. Liberal license.
• XStandard: despite the nice features, their licensing is a major issue. You pay per user and I assume for most that isn’t an option. It explains why their customers are large enterprises. The Lite version misses a lot of useful features you probably can’t do without.
• FCKeditor: probably the most popular but in my opinion, FCK lacks usability (some options aren’t as user friendly as they could be, e.g. creating tables). Also a liberal license.
• KTML: shined where TinyMCE and FCK disappointed, but sadly enough, Adobe decided to discontinue KTML. XHTML support was troublesome though.

The built-in ExtJs HTML editor is really promising, but it currently does not generate XHTML. However: it at least looks as clean and usable as an online editor should be: with just a few more features it will be unbeatable.

Unless I’m steadily becoming blind, there still isn’t a really awesome solution for online rich text editing. And I’m sure it is not a case of little demand…

A clearly commercial post from time to time doesn’t hurt anyone.

Especially if it is about such a controversial device:

Today, Amazon released the second version of their Kindle. It has many improvements, including a better integration of the previously annoying paging buttons.

While some people can’t see the advantages in a device like this, you must admit Amazon is trying its best to build a useful replacement for “dead-tree” books. I have never seen one, but the “E-Ink” paper-like screen technology makes the screen readable everywhere (even in bright sunlight) and consumes significantly less power than a regular LCD.

Sadly, the price is still outrageously high.

Because Peter was so nice to put a link to this site on his blog, I could not continue without doing the same.

Peter is a web designer and teacher of Flash, Photoshop, Illustrator and Dreamweaver (Dutch). In case you are interested in any basic or advanced training: do not hesitate to contact him. The same goes for any graphics design for the web of course.

While his site is in Dutch, I am in no doubt he speaks fluent English by now.

Be sure to add his feed to your RSS reader for your weekly shipment of amazing design related news!