Microsoft's David Lean has a great series of posts on "heatmapping" and other color-based conditional formatting in Reporting Services tables and charts (link is to part 4 of the series) (via Robert Bruckner).   Particularly useful are Dave's algorithms that work on colors and shades and conversion to hex values; part 2 of the series has how to change hue, while part 3 details how to change saturation. And, Dave packs as much useful content into his tips and asides as his main content! Tags: reporting services, sql server, color

Fellow Aussie Grant Paisley has set up a site called "Report Surfer" where you can view and share sample Reporting Services reports. The site covers Reporting Services 2005 and 2008, with a growing list of techniques demonstrated and comes in handy for viewing reports in the "report packs" from Microsoft, without installing. Reports can be run on the site or downloaded; free registration is required. The site is in beta and looks like it could be a worthwhile resource (including a list of Reporting Services bloggers in the sidebar, which I'm reading now). Tags: reporting services, sql server, sample

It's not very often that I do a link blog, but I've come across so many great JQuery links in the past week or so that I had to get them all down:   First off, the JQuery UI wiki has a great list of Essential Controls, both in the UI library and links to plugins (via Delicious Popular Bookmarks). Steve Reynolds' Top 10 JQuery Plugins for Form Usability covers 10 JQuery plugins that make web forms more usable, such as tooltips, user name availabilty checker, and validation. Speaking of tooltips, BeautyTips...