What happened to Zend Frameworks web site!
Posted: March 18, 2008 Filed under: Geek, Stuff and nonsense | Tags: design, framework, php, zend Leave a comment »framework.zend.com, it wasn’t perfect from every point of view but they have now slipped from a smart, professional feeling design to some nasty “web 2.0″ gradient filled, stripe covered, drop shadowed mess. Their logo which once looked very smart and tidy has now fallen foul of a bad case of emboss! And my pet peeve, small caps in the navigation. I really can not stand it, it always feels like an attempt to be “stylish” in Microsoft Publisher! Sorry Varien, I’m excited about what you’re doing with Magento, and I love what you did with zend.com but this is not good!
PHP ORM
Posted: March 14, 2008 Filed under: Geek, Work | Tags: code, database, framework, orm, php Leave a comment »Looks like this could be a winning ORM for PHP phpdoctrine.org. You can using YAML to define the schema files and create the database from the classes. The thing that really got me excited though is at the end of the documentation, under Plugins, the AuditLog and versioning plugin that will automatically trac versions of any table. Here is the code for a simple new item object:
class NewsItem extends Doctrine_Record
{
public function setTableDefinition()
{
$this->hasColumn('title', 'string', 200);
$this->hasColumn('content', 'string');
}
}
This is what it looks like if I want to maintain versions of every update
class NewsItem extends Doctrine_Record
{
public function setTableDefinition()
{
$this->hasColumn('title', 'string', 200);
$this->hasColumn('content', 'string');
// the versioning plugin needs version column
$this->hasColumn('version', 'integer');
}
public function setUp()
{
$this->actAs('Versionable');
}
}
Simply by adding a column called ‘version’ and specifying $this->actAs('Versionable'); I get version tracking for free. This then allows me to do things like
$newsItem->revert(1);
I love it! There is also a soft-delete plugin, these two help massively towards implementing the idea of Never Use a Warning When you Mean Undo! I will be investing some time into getting to know this framework, thanks guys!
Pecl json extension
Posted: March 11, 2008 Filed under: Geek, Stuff and nonsense, Work | Tags: extensions, json, pecl, php 2 Comments »This just took me too long to figure out. I needed json_encode function, and it seems that the fedora yum repos. doesn’t have a very up-to-date version of php5. I didn’t want to have to go all out and configure and make php from scratch so I looked to pecl for help. After installing pear and much trying I found that I also needed the php-devel package in order to compile pecl packages. Then I also discovered that I need to specificaly enable the extension in the php config. I did it by creating a file in /etc/php.d called json.ini with the following:
; Enable json extension module
extension=json.so
Restart apache and it seems to be good.
Codeigniter 1.6.0
Posted: January 31, 2008 Filed under: Geek | Tags: code, codeigniter, framework, php Leave a comment »Lightweight PHP framework, Codeigniter releases 1.6. This release includes:
- A Database Forge class: database agnostic table and field manipulation
- An enhanced Active Record library
- A revised Session Class with “flash variables” and additional security
- An extendable Model Class with auto-loadable Models
- Extendable Helpers, and additions and enhancements to existing Helpers
- A revised view architecture that allows for simple inclusion of multiple views
- And over 120 different enhancements, improvements and bug fixes
http://codeigniter.com/news/codeigniter_1_6_hits_the_streets/
Textile broken lists
Posted: January 21, 2008 Filed under: Geek, Work | Tags: cms, code, html, markup, php, textile, textpattern 2 Comments »Something I have noticed when using textileClass.php the simple text mark-up language written for textpattern, is lists seem to have the last item broken off in to its own list.
For example:
* Item one
* Item two
* Item three
Is output as:
- Item one
- Item two
- Item three
This has been fixed in the svn repository now. The change is on line 483 and 484 you can grap it from the textpattern svn: http://dev.textpattern.com/changeset/2640
Stop stealing my focus!!
Posted: December 18, 2007 Filed under: Geek, Stuff and nonsense, Work | Tags: rant, usability, web sites Leave a comment »Why do so many web sites, even web sites you would normally respect, seem to think it is appropriate or useful to steal focus from what your currently doing.
I have just been browsing a forum on sourceforge.net and trying to use the arrow keys to move down past a good half screen of wasted space to get to the topics and forum search, but before I quite get there, or before I finish typing my search term, the global search box at the top has stolen my keyboard focus and I’m no longer doing what I thought I was. If I want to continue paging down with the arrow keys I have to remove focus from the search box, and if I’m lucky then I will notice that I’m not typing in the forum search box before I hit enter and land on a page of projects rather than forum results!
This is also intensely irritating over a gmail, I have to say I have never been happier with an e-mail client but when I want to open a new tab set it off loading gmail and nip off to another web site it is horribly annoying to suddenly be snapped back to to a half loaded gmail tab.
When I want to switch back to that tab or when I want to search for a project then I will, please don’t assume I want immediate focus on the areas you personally like. This is also why I wont have google as my homepage, I can’t bare that it insists on stealing focus to the search box!
Well that feels better, sorry to rant 
24 Ways: Underpants over my trousers
Posted: December 14, 2007 Filed under: Geek, Stuff and nonsense | Tags: 24 Ways, comic, design, inspiration, web design Leave a comment »Good to see 24 Ways back for their third year. Andy Clarke of Stuff and Nonesense has written an article called Underpants Over My Trousers, where he talks about comic design applied to the web. Panel sizes and use of borders, very inspiring ideas well worth reading.
Steel software in a Mac Heist
Posted: December 4, 2007 Filed under: Apple, Stuff and nonsense | Tags: Apple, design, free time, fun, mac, software, web site Leave a comment »I never saw this last year, but how cool. macheist.com.
MacHeist’s missions are an opportunity for our members to live out some of those secret agent fantasies, including mission briefings, simulated web espionage, and a storyline packed with tech-mystery intrigue, while earning free Mac software.
It’s a really beautiful site, a showcase in itself, and a fantastic idea. This may suck a little too much of the free time I don’t have
Not sucking at communication
Posted: November 30, 2007 Filed under: God stuff, Stuff and nonsense, Work | Tags: church, communication, design, marketing Leave a comment »I have been waiting for a chance to read the Lessons in not sucking series over at Church Marketing Sucks, I’m liking it so far, I may need to run a seminar on this stuff at church. I particularly like part three, Common Communication Mistakes. It’s mostly obvious stuff, but really good to read. Fast. Good. Cheap. Pick two!
Dock spacers
Posted: November 28, 2007 Filed under: Stuff and nonsense | Tags: dock, leopard, mac, organise, os x, spacers, terminal Leave a comment »Check this out, want to bring a little organisation to your Dock? Add spacers with this command:
defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-apps -array-add '{"tile-type"="spacer-tile";}'
Do this as many times as you want spacers then restart the Dock
killall Dock
Move the spacers around like any other Dock icon, menu click or drag off to remove them. Easy!
Got it here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hetima/1839756788/
