Mauro Pirrone | Blog

Here’s a list of my top 10 favourite free / open source software. Feel free to send me your comments.

1. Mozilla Firefox / Mozilla Firefox Portable- Simply the best web browser. There are tons of extensions which you can install.
2. Mozilla Thunderbird / Mozilla Thunderbird Portable - Lightweight and fast email client
3. Launchy - As you type search utility for windows. You must try this out! (Much better than Vista’s search)
4. KeyPass - Lightweight and portable password manager application
5. Amanda - Full-featued backup solution
6. Foxit Reader - An exclusive small and fast PDF Reader. Consumes less memory and text search is much faster!
7. PrimoPDF - Create PDF files optimized for print, screen, ebook, or prepress
8. Notepad++ - Advanced text editor which supports a variety of programming languages
9. TrueCrypt - An open-source disk-encryption software
10. Pidgin - Multi-protocol Instant Messaging client that works with MSN, Google Talk, Yahoo!, etc

The Ministry for Infrastructure, Transport and Communications today launched the ICT Student Job Placement Programme for 2008. Minister Dr. Austin Gatt launched this programme.

I was one of those 130 ICT students who participated in this scheme last year. Certificates were presented to all participants in last year’s programme.

For more details visit here:

timesofmalta.com - ICT students’ placement programme launched
Aktar studenti ta’ l-ICT mgħejjuna b’esperjenza fl-industrija privata - MaltaRightNow.com

The Inspiring Minds blog is now online. You may check it out here http://blog.inspireyourmind.com/

I am now also an Adobe Certified Associate in Rich Media Communication using Flash CS3

• Define your target audience and tailor your website to your audiences
• Your website should have a clear and simple navigation. Ideally it should be text-based.
• Make sure your website has a consistent design (or look-and-feel)
• Your website should be easy to read.
  • Use contrasting colours
  • Divide large chunks of information by using subheadings (h1, h2…) and bullets
  • Avoid text on busy backgrounds
  • Do not clutter your web page with unwanted stuff
  • Use a san-serif font such as Arial and Verdana
  • Make your links visible
• It is important that your website, file and folder structure is organised and is easy to navigate through. You may also consider URL re-writing.
• Your website must have a sitemap.
• Content of each page should load within a reasonable amount of time
• All images must have the ALT and TITLE tags, and other accessibility features such as labels and tab index on form elements.
• Make good use of meta tags (keywords, description)
• Validate your HTML mark-up using the W3C Validator (http://validator.w3.org/)
• Cross-browser compatibility

Inspiring Minds

For such a young man Mauro is extremely disciplined and professional, I enjoyed working with him and always looked forward to our meetings because he listens to every word you say and acts accordingly. In a world full of people that always deliver less than what they are capable of, this young man is a breath of fresh air. I would recommend him to any company or individual that would like to build or design a website, in fact I already have and will continue to do so.

Mark Ellul

Enemalta Corporation

Mauro Pirrone was employed as a student summer worker at the ICT and Strategy Section from July 2007 to September 2007. He was actively involved in the software development section and participated in various projects including CRM Design & Development. He created different modules including a generic PDF File Processor and a new UI using CSS, XHTML standards with AJAX and ASP.NET technologies. He also developed a wizard driven Application Registration Module using C# and MS SQL Server.

He developed the modules following the design patterns and technical specs that were required and was able to carry out the work independently, with minimal help from my side. Mauro worked with Microsoft technologies name C#.NET and SQL Server, but is also well versed in PHP, Open Source technologies and Image Editing Tools. He also has a flair for professional looking web design.

Mauro is a very motivated and self-starter who takes initiative to research about new technologies and development ‘best practices’ including object oriented design and development. He is also a good team player and very personable. He possesses a cool, calm and collected character and is a pleasure to work with. He was always able to meet strict deadlines, even if that incurred skipping lunch breaks.

Adrian Hedley
ICT Project Officer

Rocco’s Services

For his age mauro is a genius…he will never let you down log to web site and you’ll see

David Grech

TAT2 Clinic

Satisfied, recommended, A+

Melchior Catania

FOWD is a worldwide web design conference coming up in London on the 17-18th of April. Speakers from Microsoft, Adobe, and others are going to set up this event.

It’s a pity all tickets are sold out! But I’ve bought FOWD in box….It is a CD pack containing videos of the presentations and the speaker’s slides.

For more info I encourage you to visit http://www.futureofwebdesign.com/

Today you could have encountered some interrupts in this blog. I’ve updated my blog to the latest version of WordPress and I’ve also done some changes in the front-end design.

I hope that this summer I will launch my new website which was delayed since I was busy working on other projects. I will be publishing a preview of my website in this blog!

Besides that I also have an interesting project coming up. Anyway…check this blog to stay updated!