portalZINE | New Media Network | Blog | Articles

PHP: Adding a gradient to an image using Imagick

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 15:08:07 -0600

Imagick allows you to easily add a gradient to an image.

// The gradient
$gradient = new Imagick();

// Create new Image with size x, size y, "gradient start - gradient end"
$gradient->newPseudoImage( 930,20,"gradient:transparent-#838383");

// $im would be the canvas or image you loaded before. This merges both, the image gradient at position x, position y
$im->compositeImage( $gradient, imagick::COMPOSITE_OVER, 0, 240 );

This can easily be transformed to create a reflection, by mirroring the original and applying the the gradient to the mirrored image.

Cheers
Alexander

Random thoughts: Magento 1.0 to 1.3 to 1.4 - horrors

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 07:03:34 -0600

If you plan to upgrade from Magento 1.0 to 1.4, be prepared for some heavy lifting. Just finished a client upgrade who didnt do any upgrades for over 2 years. Not doing that ever again.

Might even stick with 1.3, as many of the old modules behave badly under 1.4.

Magento is a massive solution, but community support via Varien sucks big time. So anybody that is not ready to dig into code, should use another solution or find someone that can help.

Cheers

Random thoughts: E3 envy and my 4-hour work week plan

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 06:56:38 -0600

Really need to find some gaming time again. really hoped for Diablo 3 this year, but as we all know that was moved to next year ;)

I should be thankful to Blizzard, as that keeps me focused on my work LOL

A neighbour took me to the side yesterday and told me that live is to short to only focus on work. Yeah well still working on my 4-hour Work week plan (Timothy Ferriss) ;)

My workload has been intense in the past months and not sure how long I really want to keep that up any more.

That is what E3 and summer does to me LOL

Take care and dont work to much.

Random thoughts: Thanks for your comments ...

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 06:18:14 -0600

Thanks for all the nice comments over at the Horizontal Accordion section.

Really hope to be able to find some time soon, to deal with some much needed upgrades to the script. I fixed the anti-aliasing problem in IE on the example page, just make sure to add a background colour to the container ;)

I have been busy with many things over at portalZINE TV and a huge upgrade for a client. Also preparing new distribution channels right now for a mobile platform and satellite :) Yeah sounds huge, but still has to deliver financially :) Seems to be my karma, always giving more than I get back LOL

Enjoying summer and parts of the WM, not a big soccer fan :)

Cheers to you all and talk to you soon.

Random thoughts: The Easter Egg Hunt and other things

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 20:30:36 -0600

I will be really busy for the coming 3-5 weeks, so anyone requesting support by email will have to be patient.

Also opening up the cubicFUSION website, which will need some attention as well :)

Enjoy your upcoming Easter Egg Hunt ;)

Cheers
Alexander

Random thoughts: Really had enough snow ...

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:55:55 -0600

Really had enough snow for this year.

It has been cold and white for more that 6 weeks already.

Please please let it get warmer, I can not wait for spring to come around this year :)

GETTING ME A HOT HOT TEA !

Random thoughts: CeBIT 2010

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:55:35 -0600

We will be attending CeBIT 2010 again this year for 3 days. Can not wait.

Was nice meeting some of the companies on the CeBIT Preview 2010 last week in Hamburg.

VideoWeb is the one thing I am realling waiting for. Also looking forward to getting my hands on some of the new Lenovo laptops.

Still have not decided on the new Netbook I am going to buy :) I am sure that it will have ION, to get better grafic performance.

Random thoughts: T-Mobile shop finder using the Google Maps API and jQuery

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:48:55 -0600

Just finished a nice T-Mobile Shop finder using the Google Maps API and jQuery for a client of mine.

Will be interesting to see what the T-Mobile guys have to say about it. If they say ok, it can finally go online :)

Was nice diving deeper into the Google Map API. I only scratched the surface of its possiblities so far :)

Javascript: In-Field Labels jQuery Plugin

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:33:40 -0600

"This is a simple plugin that turns properly formatted HTML forms into forms with in-field label support. Labels fade when the field is focussed and disappear when text entry begins. Clearing a field and leaving brings back the label."

http://fuelyourcoding.com/scripts/infield/

Javascript: loopedSlider jQuery Plugin

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:31:34 -0600

"loopedSlider is a jQuery plugin that allows you to create sliders with images as well as text content for your web page. It is extremely easy to implement and you can have multiple sliders on a single page. loopedSlider is cross browser plugin that works on all major browsers including IE6."

loopedSlider jQuery Plugin

Javascript: AutoSuggest jQuery Plugin

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:29:38 -0600

AutoSuggest is a very lightweight jQuery plugin that makes auto-completing extremely easy.

AutoSuggest jQuery Plugin

Jabber: iJab - An ajax web jabber client

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:26:34 -0600

"Jab is an Ajax-based web based instant messaging program for XMPP/Jabber. It is free software and users can run their own instant messaging without limitations or software cost, complimenting the XMPP philosophy of a distributed network. iJab is interpreted purely by the client webbrowser. It runs solely in a browser and does not require downloading or installation of additional software. iJab also developed iJabBar, a Facebook styled web chat client. "

iJab - An ajax web jabber client

Javascript: jQuery MultiSelect Plugin with ThemeRoller Support

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:25:03 -0600

This plugin turns an ordinary HTML select control into an elegant drop down list of checkboxes.

jQuery MultiSelect Plugin with ThemeRoller Support

Random thoughts: Updating to jQuery 1.4.x

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:23:50 -0600

Finally jumping from jQuery 1.3 to 1.4 on my own websites. I have been working with it on all my projects and I am really impressed with its stability and performance. With 1.3 I often had binding problem on IE, all working smoothly with 1.4 now :)

jQuery 1.4.1

Cheers
Alexander

Random thoughts: I am still close by :)

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:18:32 -0600

I know that I have not updated this blog much in the past few months.

I have been tight up with portalZINE TV and contract work.

Hope to free some time for the horizontal accordion soon, as I have a rough skeleton of the new codebase in place alrready.

But I dont expect me working on it before CeBIT 2010 :)

Cheers
Alexander

Random thoughts: Website redesign ...

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 11:52:28 -0600

I am planning a website redesign following the layout over at portalzine.tv . Will deal with that end of September. Will also need to upgarde the system and boost the backend. The latest changes on portalZINE TV really stabilized the server and enhanced the experience.

See you back soon :) Now shutting off communication ...... almost :)

Random thoughts: Still around - jQuery Horizontal Accordion, new plugin and more

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 11:47:28 -0600

Some might have wordered, if I am still around. I am, but workload has been crazy for the past 2 months. I had only little time to work my way through some freetime development.

I have spend most of my freetime to push portalZINE.TV and prepare new segments for season 3, which will start end of September.

I will be taking a break for about 2 weeks from the Internets and be back to business end of September.

The Horizontal Accordion plugin for jQuery will get another rewrite start of Oktober. Thanks for all your comments and suggestions. I have also seen some nice workarounds for shortcomings of the plugin. My plan is to start fresh in parts and add some much needed functioanlity to it.

I also have a new plugin in preparation, called Image Matrix, which I have been using for some months now and will make available.

Also preparing a new tutorial for stretching background images using jQuery, CSS, PHP and GD.

More about all this when I am back.

Enjoy what is left of the summer, I will sure do :) Really really need some vacation.

Enjoy
Alexander

Random thoughts: Advertisement proposals that waste my time

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:19:27 -0600

Really getting fed up with all those companies that want to benefit from a good frequented website, but only want to pay pennies. That is the reason why I am not really having any big ads on my website, as most offers are just not worth the effort. I would have starved already, if I would be writing here for the money ;)

Really, if you have a good deal, I am all ears, otherwise do not waste my time :)

Cheers
Alexander

Javascript: jQuery Horizontal Accordion 2.0 Alpha 2 delay

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 10:29:25 -0600

I have been sick the past days, that is why the next release will be delayed a bit more.

Will keep you posted.

Cheers
Alexander

Javascript: jQuery Horizontal Accordion 2.0 Alpha 2 coming

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 07:58:40 -0600

Thank you for all the nice feedback for the jQuery Horizontal Accordion. I am currently finishing the next alpha version. I am adding fixes for IE and the window resize feature back into the release.

Should have a download for you start of next week.

Cheers
Alexander

Javascript: prettyPrint - javascript variable dumper

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 19:36:12 -0600

�prettyPrint� is an in-browser JavaScript �variable dumper� similar to ColdFusions�s cfdump. It enables you to print out an object of any type in table format for viewing during debugging sessions. In combination with Firebug, �prettyPrint� will make you the best-equipped JavaScript debugger on earth! (not guaranteed)

Some of its key features:

Entirely independent. It requires NO StyleSheets or images.
Handles infinitely nested objects.
All native JavaScript types are supported plus DOM nodes/elements!
Protects against circular/repeated references.
Allows you to specify the depth to which the object will be printed.
Better browser users benefit from gradient column-headers! Thanks to HTML5 and CANVAS!
Allows low-level CSS customisation (if such a thing exists).
Fully validated with JSLint!

prettyPrint

Design: Create Your Own Manga-Style Avatar Online for Free

Sat, 09 May 2009 20:36:53 -0600

{layout=media}{layout_end}{layout=details}FaceYourManga is a Flash Web Application that allows you to create an Avatar for yourself or your friends in an absolutely free, easy and quick way.

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Magento: State of Magento - keynotes

Sat, 09 May 2009 16:52:46 -0600

portalZINE DEV: Openfire 3.6.4 gets released

Sat, 09 May 2009 12:11:05 -0600

Openfire 3.6.4 gets released.

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Magento: Magento Commerce - Upgrade 1.0.19870 to 1.3.1

Sat, 09 May 2009 11:17:45 -0600

Normally upgrading from Magento 1.0.19870 to 1.3.1 should be no problem, as Magento takes care of all the required table changes. I mostly faced script timeouts on the server in the past, which broke the upgrade process and turned the installation unusable.

I have switched to upgrading customer databases on a local installation, as that allows me to workaround timeouts and prepare databases for the upgrade.

Before upgrading an installation, you should also delete any content that can be recreated by Magento again. Logs, price rule caches .... can all be deleted, as the system can generate those again.

Really sad how everyone needs to piece those things together, as the Magento Community Knowledge Base is mostly outdated and many hints are buried deep inside the forums.

Currently working my way through a huge Magento 1.0.19870 database and will comment on my success once everything works.

Magento: Moving Magento Commerce to a new server

Sat, 09 May 2009 10:58:28 -0600

Once you have done the export / import multiple times, it gets really easy :)

Here are some things that made things alot easier for me

Update magento/app/etc/local.xml with your changed database details
Update the secure / unsecure urls to match your new domain / setup
These settings are saved in the magento_core_config_data table.
The two settings you need to alter are
- web/unsecure/base_url
- web/secure/base_url
Sometimes the foreign key constraints break tables on import. The most common are :
- magento_customer_group
- magento_core_website
- magento_core_store
- magento_core_store_group

Just check your old setup and update those tables by hand.

You can run queries by activating and deactivating the foreign key check like this:

SET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=0;

INSERT INTO `magento_core_website` (`website_id`, `code`, `name`, `sort_order`, `default_group_id`, `is_default`) VALUES
(0, 'admin', 'Admin', 0, 0, 0),
(1, 'base', 'Main Website', 0, 1, 1);

SET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=1;
Make sure to delete the following folders before you try to access the install again
- var/cache
- var/sessions

Magento: Magento Connect Manager - Save Settings - Permissions

Sat, 09 May 2009 10:45:34 -0600

You can choose which updates to list, when running the Magento Connect Manager. You can allow alpha, beta or only stable releases to be listed.

When saving your settings, the following file needs to be writable:

magento/downloader/config.ini

Magento: Magento Install - Upgrade - Permissions

Sat, 09 May 2009 10:41:03 -0600

When it comes to permissions Magento Commerce is very picky, especially as pear requires full write permissions.

The following permissions should be used during install:
find . -type d -exec chmod 777 {} ;
find . -type f -exec chmod 777 {} ;

This will reset all permissions after you are done and secure your setup again:
find . -type f -exec chmod 644 {} ;
find . -type d -exec chmod 755 {} ;
chmod o+w var var/.htaccess app/etc
chmod 550 pear
chmod -R o+w media

Development: Komodo Development IDE

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 08:28:43 -0600

{layout=media}{layout_end}{layout=intro}When it comes to my development environment I have always been really picky. I need a clean and structured interface, not to cluttered, but still adjustable to my needs. I have tested countless IDE solutions in the past, but always seem to come back to Komodo from ActiveState.{layout_end}{layout=details}Komodo provides multilanguage editing (Dynamic language expertise for Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, and Tcl, plus JavaScript, CSS, HTML, and XML, and template languages like RHTML, Template-Toolkit, HTML-Smarty, and Django) and provides debugging features for a multitude of languages:

JavaScript debugging
Ruby and Ruby on Rails debugging
PHP debugging
Perl debugging
Python debugging
Tcl debugging
XSLT debugging

Some of its features are :

Multi-language support
- Browser-side technologies: CSS, HTML, JavaScript, and XML
- Server-side languages: Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, and Tcl
- Web template languages: RHTML, Template-Toolkit, HTML-Smarty, and Django
Autocomplete and call tips
- Write code faster and shorten the learning curve with code completion that guides you as you work
- CSS, HTML, JavaScript, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, Tcl, XML, and XSLT
- Schema-based XML/HTML completion
- Multiple-language file support, such as CSS and JavaScript completion in HTML
- Framework support for Rails and Zend
- Support for adding third-party libraries
- Interpreter version differentiation of built-in and standard library information
Multi-language file support

Correct syntax coloring of multi-language files and templated files, common in many web programming frameworks. Add custom language support with UDL.
Standard editing features
- code formatting
- code commenting
- auto-indent
- block selection
- column editing
Syntax checking

Instant feedback for all fully-supported languages.
Syntax coloring

Spot errors easily and improve readability and context, even in multi-language files.
Abbreviations

Inserts snippets from your toolbox at the touch of a key.
Vi emulation

Modal Vi keybindings emulate navigation, text insertion and command behavior. Custom commands can be implemented by adding Komodo macros to a Vi Commands Toolbox folder.
Emacs keybindings

Emacs-like keybinding scheme supports new editor features modeled on Emacs, such as transient marks (similar to the Emacs "mark ring"), repeat next command and reflow paragraph.
HTML preview

Check HTML, XML and CSS files side-by-side or in a browser, using arbitrary files or URLs.
Multilingual Input Method Editor (IME) support

Use your standard keyboard to enter multi-byte characters, such as Simplified Chinese, Japanese and Korean.
Code snippets

Store any piece of code for reuse.
Code folding

Work quickly and efficiently with large sections of code.
Multi-document editing

Easily work on multiple documents simultaneously using multiple tab groups, split view, and cross-document search.
History

Navigation (forward and back) buttons and a drop list in the toolbar that let you browse though the files and buffer locations you've been editing recently.
Search Highlighting

Matches are highlighted in the current buffer.
Editor Hyperlinking

Ctrl'+'hover' will highlight HTTP hyperlinks under the pointer; 'Ctrl'+'click' will open the URL in the configured browser.
CSS Color Popup

the editor can be extended through Addons, that make it even more powerfull. really solid solutions that get better and better with each version.

If you are looking for a solid IDE that runs on Windows, Mac OSX and Linux you should take a look at Komodo. (Features)

ActiveState Komodo

portalZINE: NAB 09 Video Coverage

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 21:06:47 -0600

portalZINE: What is Tweetdeck ?

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 15:50:46 -0600

{layout=media}{layout_end}{layout=details}TweetDeck is an Adobe Air desktop application that is currently in public beta. It aims to evolve the existing functionality of Twitter by taking an abundance of information i.e twitter feeds, and breaking it down into more manageable bite sized pieces.

How does it do that?
TweetDeck enables users to split their main feed (All Tweets) into topic or group specific columns allowing a broader overview of tweets. The default columns can contain All Tweets from your timeline, @replies directed to you and direct messages. The GROUP, SEARCH and REPLIES buttons then allow the user to make up additional columns populated from the live tweet information. Once created these additional columns will automatically update allowing the user to keep track of a twitter threads far easier.

Additional Features

Catch up with overnight global twitterings as TweetDeck stores all updates whilst running
Continual status updates of TweetDeck and Twitter
Resize TweetDeck as either an unobtrusive column, full screen or anything in between
Especially useful running full screen on a separate monitor
Filter tweets using the tweet text, username, source or timeframe
Auto updates from the Twitter API

Tweetdeck is currently my favorite tool and runs on my Win machines and on my Mac. It is the perfect tool to concentrate on topics and dont get distracted by the big noise.

Tweetdeck

Software: MetaNote - tweak it as much as you need

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 22:22:51 -0600

"MetaNote intends to be the most versatile editor imaginable. Right click on features in the editor and edit the code behind them. Don't like the way 'Find' works? -- right click on it, and edit the code. Need a new button in the toolbar? So add it already, with a single click. Share packs of extensions and macros with other users. Everything in MetaNote is under your control, effortlessly, at runtime."

The project is still in its alpha stages, but a really unique approach. The developer is looking for people that like to jump in and help out making it as versatile as possible.

More about it here

Development: MySQLDumper - Backup & Restore big mysql databases

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:03:14 -0600

MySQLDumper is a backup programm for MySQL-Databases, written in PHP and Perl. You can dump your data into a backup file and if needed, restore it. Especially on shared hostings without access to shell-commands, MySQLDumper is a sensefull option.

MySQLDumper uses a proprietary technique to avoid execution interruption. It only reads and saves a certain amount of commands and then calls itself via JavaScript and memorizes how far in the process it was and resumes its action from its last standby.

MySQLDumper restores a backup file by using the same process. Unlike other tools splitting and splicing of large files is no longer necessary.

More about it here

Month in review: What have you been up to?

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 08:14:18 -0600

Another of my irregular updates of what I am currently up to :)

1) Finally updated the jQuery Horizontal Accordion and made the first alpha available. Still doing some internal cleanup of the plugin to make it a bit smaller and more accessible. Also doing the jQuery CSS Framework integration, that will allow to use themeroller themes with the plugin. The first release really spiked my access stats. On the first day about 15.000 people visited the project page alone. Glad you all enjoy the plugin as much as I do ;)

2) Have been working on cubicFusion, my own php framework, which also runs this content management frontend. After the move to PHP 5 last year, I am moving through all core services and doing a global cleanup. Also consolidating the CMS, as I have been doing deep changes for a client of mine and those need to be merged into the development version. Also upgrading all jQuery plugins to the latest version of jQuery and moving old style javascript to new plugins (Alot easier to maintain).

3) portalZINE TV has taken some of my time this year, but as its no money maker, things are moving a bit slower right now. Need to think about food on the table first :) Will be doing be-weekly episodes starting next month, allowing to have a more regular schedule and limit the workload a bit. Will also be doing some more DIY stuff. Setting up a mac homeserver, without the need to be a command line guru. Will be presenting some nice solutions for private enthusiasts, developers and small businesses.

4) Working on a new Adobe Flex project and thinking of doing some of the cubicFusion interfaces in Flex aswell. Also working on a Jabber interface. Already using jabber in many administration areas of cubicFusion. The latest Openfire release really rocks.

5) As always many things are running side by side. Really feel the need for some vacation LOL So if you contact me about contract work, it might take me some time to get back to you ;) Please do not hesitate to ask, as I am always looking for new interresting projects.

Really glad that the weather has been good to me the past days, as I was really getting office / cave depressed :) Can finally do my daily Inline Skate rounds again, about 16-20 kilometers in the evening (perfect to get that heart of mine really pumping).

Cheers
Alexander

portalZINE: Mogulus at NAB 2009

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 07:27:23 -0600

portalZINE DEV: Jabber Twitter Bridge

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 17:51:59 -0600

A java application which :

checks your Jabber or google talk (gtalk) status and updates your Twitter status if there is a new one.
checks your twitter status and updates your Jabber or google talk status.
checks your meetings in google calendar and sends a Tweet like this : in a meeting until 15h or free until 15h,
updates your Jabber or google talk status

portalZINE DEV: Tweety - Twitter to Jabber

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 17:49:53 -0600

Tweety is a cool tool that looks up your Twitter-Feeds periodically and sends new messages directly to your Jabber account.

Tweety

Javascript: jQuery imgAreaSelect - select a rectangular area of an image

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 18:49:18 -0600

If you searched for an easy way to select a rectangular area within an image, you should take a look at the imgAreaSelect plugin.

Perfect way to get your coordinates before cropping with a server side language like PHP.

jQuery imgAreaSelect

Javascript: jQuery Horizontal Accordion 2.0 Alpha has been released

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 09:24:29 -0600

The first release of the new jQuery Horizontal Accordion Menu is now available.

No dependencies
Optional use of easing plugin (still some work required)
Close and open content one after the other
Close and open at the same time
Choose trigger (mouseover, click ...)
Easily control through external calls
Open content on load
Open content through hash tags in the url (#tab1, #tab2...)
Position of handle (left, right)
Mixed handle positions - 2 left , 2 right ...
Cycle through content by interval
Events when animations starts and ends
Hide content until all has been assembled

Should work fine on Firefox, IE and Safari. Works in Opera, but still requires to set a fixed width for the containers, defined through the options (working on a fix).

Project Page
Demo

PHP: Dwoo a Smarty Alternative

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:57:41 -0600

Dwoo is a PHP5 template engine positioned as an alternative to Smarty, it is (nearly) fully compatible with its templates and plugins, but it is written from scratch and aimed at going one step further with a cleaner codebase.

About Dwoo: Dwoo is a PHP5 Template Engine that was started in early 2008. The idea came from the fact that Smarty, a well known template engine, is getting older and older. It carries the weight of it's age, having old features that are inconsistent compared to newer ones, being written for PHP4 its Object Oriented aspect doesn't take advantage of PHP5's more advanced features in the area, etc. Hence Dwoo was born, hoping to provide a more up to date and stronger engine. So far it has proven to be faster than Smarty and it provides a compatibility layer to allow developers that have been using Smarty for years to switch their application over to Dwoo progressively.

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Javascript: jQuery - load CSS first

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:52:47 -0600

As soon as you use jQuery to manipulate CSS, you should load your CSS files before you load the core of jQuery.

Something I often had to deal with, especially when plugins check for certain css values, this includes my own Horizontal Accordion Menu.

Javascript: jQuery Horizontal Accordion 2.0 Alpha Preview

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 12:33:38 -0600

A small preview of the soon to be released jQuery Horizontal Accordion 2.0 Alpha. Should currently work fine on Firefox and IE. Will be doing more extensive tests on other browsers after the first release.

The examples might not load from time to time, as I am updating live.

First clean release will be available after Easter.

Take a look

Javascript: Create a Nice & Clean Sliding Login Panel in jQuery

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 18:59:29 -0600

Create a Nice & Clean Sliding Login Panel in jQuery.

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Javascript: jQuery Horizontal Accordion - Progress Update

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 18:32:33 -0600

Still having some layout issues with IE. Will be spending some time next week to go over the new codebase again and than I will release the first alpha for testing.

Cheers
Alexander

Javascript: jQuery Finder .:. Mac OS X-like Column-view Navigation

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 22:52:14 -0600

Really cool Mac OS X-like Column-view Navigation.

Check it out

Javascript: jQuery Horizontal Accordion - more features

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 19:51:45 -0600

The first Alpha should actually be a beta by now, but will keep it as an alpha for the first week after release :)

I also added some more features compared to the old release :

switch the event triggering of the animation (click, mouseover...)
choose position of handle per item (left, right)
trigger action on click
trigger action after animation
close / open animation option. You can close content first and than open the next. You can also open and close at the same time

Also preparing cycling, so that the system rotates the open content.

Javascript: jQuery Horizontal Accordion 2.0 Alpha is on its way

Sun, 01 Mar 2009 17:09:50 -0600

Took some time to work on the jQuery Horizontal Accordion Plugin. The new release works with the latest jQuery release and easing plugin.

The easing plugin is optional, so will even work without any additional plugins now :)

Still doing some final testing and will release it after Cebit, which is after the 9th. Also thinking about some additional options for it.

Next step will be the integration with jQuery UI and the usage of UI themes. I will add it as an option, so that you can decide if themeing is handled through jQuery UI. But more on that after the first Alpha release is out.

Cheers
Alexander

Design: Color Scheme Designer Version 3.0

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 18:48:53 -0600

Experienced designers choose colors intuitively, many people can smell which colors go together well and which don’t. However, finding the good combination of colors may be sometimes long and gruelling work. The color theory makes the work easier. Color Scheme Designer will find set of colors you can start with, and it may facilitate your looking for the optimal color palette.

Color Scheme Designer generates color schemes of several types. Every scheme is based on one (base) color, which is supplemented with additional colors making together the best optical imperssion - using one of the authentic algorithms.

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portalZINE: Miro 2.0 Release Candidate

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 19:30:37 -0600

Download Miro 2.0 RC1

Download for Windows
Download for Mac
Download Source

Flash: New Release of the FLV Player

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 19:21:36 -0600

new Replay-Button
keyboard navigation
new javascript methods
SWFObject 2.1

PHP: fgetcsv mac line endings

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:38:05 -0600

When using fgetcsv to parse CSV files under PHP, you will run into problems when CSV files have been created on a Mac, as line endings are incorrectly interpreted.

Use this before opening the file.

ini_set('auto_detect_line_endings',TRUE);
$handle = fopen('file','r');

Development: Offline Gmail

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 13:15:23 -0600

GMAIL Blog :"Today we're starting to roll out an experimental feature in Gmail Labs that should help fill in those gaps: offline Gmail. So even if you're offline, you can open your web browser, go to gmail.com, and get to your mail just like you're used to.

Once you turn on this feature, Gmail uses Gears to download a local cache of your mail. As long as you're connected to the network, that cache is synchronized with Gmail's servers. When you lose your connection, Gmail automatically switches to offline mode, and uses the data stored on your computer's hard drive instead of the information sent across the network. You can read messages, star and label them, and do all of the things you're used to doing while reading your webmail online. Any messages you send while offline will be placed in your outbox and automatically sent the next time Gmail detects a connection. And if you're on an unreliable or slow connection (like when you're "borrowing" your neighbor's wireless), you can choose to use "flaky connection mode," which is somewhere in between: it uses the local cache as if you were disconnected, but still synchronizes your mail with the server in the background. Our goal is to provide nearly the same browser-based Gmail experience whether you're using the data cached on your computer or talking directly to the server."

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Javascript: The Sitepoint reference guide has been relaunched.

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 13:12:53 -0600

The Sitepoint javascript reference guide has been relaunched.

Javascript Reference

portalZINE TV: Nathan Flutebox Lee & WanDan Knightrider Theme

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:58:09 -0600

Random thoughts: jQuery - Are you afraid?

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 14:16:37 -0600

Many are afraid that the modern javascript frameworks like jQuery, Prototype,Mootools distort the base javascript language and moves us away from the language foundations.

Actually same applies to any programming language and its frameworks. For me it is a matter of personal taste. We are free to choose how much we use those frameworks or stay with the language itself.

I don’t choose my frameworks by how close they stay to the original programming language, but how fast they help me to reach my project goals. If some people want to philosophy about it, they are free to do so. A framework summarizing 10 steps into one is a huge benefit when doing complicated or repeating functioanlity.

For me jQuery is the ultimate tool and provides a good set of functioanlity in a rather small sized package. You can easily extend it through its plugin structure. It provides a vivid and balanced community, that also opens its doors for those that are just starting to get their hands dirty, those might just be the innovators of tomorrow.

jQuery
jQuery UI

Alexander

Random thoughts: Change.. We need it

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 22:27:16 -0600

Not much more to say about it, we all need it.

Random thoughts: Savage 2 - A Tortured Soul

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 09:58:44 -0600

Das vorher kostenpflichtige Spiel “Savage 2 - A Torured Soul” ist mitlerweile von den Entwicklern freigegeben worden und von nun an gratis. Der Vorgänger “Savage: The Battle for Newerth” ist auf dem Independent Games Festival 2004 mehrfach ausgezeichnet worden.

Den Spieler erwartet ein grafisch aufwendiges Spiel in einer Mixtur aus Ego-Shooter, Strategie und Rollenspiel.

Das Spiel lässt sich per LAN unbegrenzt kostenlos spielen, im Internet fallen nach 5 Probestunden einmalige 30,00 EUR Gebühren an.

Javascript: Pixastic - Javascript - Canvas - Image manipulation

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:52:58 -0600

Pixastic is a JavaScript library which allows you to perform a variety of operations, filters and fancy effects on images using just a bit of JavaScript. All using Canvas. really amazing what canvas makes possible :)

Check it out

Random thoughts: Help to promote portalZINE TV within the Active Artist Fund on sevenload !

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:45:54 -0600

Visit us on sevenload :)

Random thoughts: Christmas is close

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:27:01 -0600

Finally getting some off time. The Christmas spirit has not caught me yet, but still have a few days to get into the mood :)

Will also celebrating my birthday away from home this year, yeah I was born right between Christmas and New Year :)

Wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Cheers
Alexander

Design: Free textures & patterns

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 07:37:49 -0600

Some free texture & pattern websites

Development: Lorem ipsum generators

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 07:28:38 -0600

A small list of "lorem ipsum" generators, to fill these demo websites with some content fast:

Javascript: Liquid Canvas - draw inside an HTML canvas element

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 07:22:52 -0600

Liquid Canvas is a JavaScript library which allows you to draw inside an HTML canvas element with an easy yet powerful description language. It can be used to add graphics to your web page without ever touching an image creation tool.

Automatic generation of HTML canvas elements which scale with their HTML container, e.g. a floating DIV
Abstraction of canvas - each HTML element gets a "paint" method
Works with plugins for rendering
Loads of plugins already exist
Own plugins are possible
Simplified render language for plugin-based rendering
Rendering language uses a CSS-like syntax for plugin styles
Based on HTML Canvas, jQuery, ExplorerCanvas
Tested on Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, Chrome

Javascript: SmartMarkUP - convert a textarea into a JS markup editor

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 07:18:33 -0600

SmartMarkUP is a lightweight and powerful JavaScript library that allows you to turn any textarea into a fancy markup editor. HTML, CSS, XML, Wiki syntax, BBCode or any other desired markup language can be implemented and/or adjusted to your preferences and business needs. SmartMarkUP doesn’t depend on any other JavaScript library and can be integrated with any already existing JavaScript library or code.

With single line of code you can turn any general textarea to powerful markup editor. As far as integration is unobtrusive, HTML of your application will remain unchanged. SmartMarkUP degrades gracefully for users without JavaScript without loosing functionality of your application.

SmartMarkUP is completely customizable and scriptable as well. Changing styles, implementing new markups, creating extra buttons and submenus or adding new functionality is a matter of minutes. SmartMarkUP is distributed under GPL open source licenses, so SmartMarkUP is absolutely free and you can do anything you like with it!

More

Random thoughts: Punisher : War Zone - oh please

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:39:17 -0600

I was a big fan of the first Punisher movie, but the latest trailer of Punisher II or better Punisher: War Zone will hardly make me see this movie.

The movie really flatlines for me from the first trailer I saw. Not a single piece of news has got me excited so far. This will be a straight to dvd for me :)

About the movie

PHP: preg_replace for multidimensional arrays

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 18:10:28 -0600

Anybody trying to use preg_replace on multidimensional arrays will see that the function is not working for those cases.

Here a quick workaround:



function preg_replace_array($pattern, $replacement, $subject, $limit=-1) {

    if (is_array($subject)) {

        foreach ($subject as &$value) $value=preg_replace_array($pattern, $replacement, $value, $limit);

        return $subject;

    } else {

        return preg_replace($pattern, $replacement, $subject, $limit);

    } 

}

PHP: Create Excel 2007 sheets with PHP

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 14:10:16 -0600

PHPExcel is providing a set of classes for the PHP programming language, which allow you to write to Excel 2007 files and read from Excel 2007 files. This project is built around the Microsoft OpenXML standard and PHP.

Really solid set of classes and I am sure any programmer has come across the need to import or export excel data at some point, without using the standard csv solution.

More

Javascript: JX - Object Oriented Extension to jQuery

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 14:07:05 -0600

"The objective here is an extremely small footprint widget library yet powerfull enough to have all the basic capabilities of a large library"

Really nice start and can not wait to see what widgets will be added in the future. Never used other widget libraries due to their size, nice that JX will try to keep its footprint as low as possible.

More

Random thoughts: Layoff virus hits sales

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 08:00:54 -0600

The current economic situation seems to be spreading like a virus and more and more companies seem to lay off people to prepare for a cold winter ahead.

The current situation also slows down sales and online commerce, at least that is what many of my customers are currently experiencing. Some of that might also be related to the pre-christmas season, as many hold back with purchases.

Its no wonder with gas and power prices constantly on the rise, that we are all getting more careful with what we purchase. That is also what is hitting ebay heavily, because less and less people are willing to do those quick emotional purchases.

Well lets hope that its really only a short slide this winter and things stabilze a bit start of next year.

Random thoughts: Mobuzz needs your help

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 07:47:43 -0600

Mobuzz, a four-year-old Madrid-based web studio, says the economic downturn has starved it of the €50,000 ($65,235) it needs each month to run the company and has pitched its users a call for €120,000 Euros in donations by this weekend to keep its five daily shows up and running.

I am regular of the show and it would be a shame to see it go.

Random thoughts: Gelaskins-Deutschland adds BlackBerry skins

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 12:48:15 -0600

Gelaskins-Deutschland adds BlackBerry skins to their portfolio. Nice. Currently have a BlackBerry Curve in the studio for testing.

Gelaskins-Deutschland

PHP: Smarty 3 Alpha has begun!

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 10:07:45 -0600

Anybody that is doing clean separation of code and design in PHP has surely heard of the Smarty template engine. Smarty 3.0 has just been released as an alpha release and clearly shows how powerful the next iteration will be.

"The Smarty 3.0 engine is well on its way, morphing every day."

More

Javascript: GameJS: A 2d game development framework in JavaScript

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 18:16:23 -0600

Tommy Maintz has created a fun project called GameJS a 2d game development framework using JavaScript and Canvas.

More

Random thoughts: Back on new setup

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 18:14:00 -0600

After some short interruption, portalZINE and all its related websites are back up on a new setup. I plan to do another move sometime next year, moving to my own root server, but for now the managed solution will take some work of my hands, even though it has its limitations.

Cheers
Alexander

Linux: Remove session id from url

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 21:53:03 -0600

Remove session id from url using you htaccess

php_flag session.use_trans_sid off

Random thoughts: Want to be a beta tester ?

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:10:15 -0600

Centercode provides a plattform for well known companies to find beta testers for products they are about to introduce into the market.

"OnlineBeta offers you a chance to participate in beta tests of unreleased products of all types. Our members have beta tested products from Logitech, Dell, HP, TomTom, T-Mobile, Polycom, Apple, Midway, Yahoo!, and many other large and small companies."

If you love to test unreleased products and have the skills and time, feel free to sign up over at OnlineBeta and check for new Beta testing opportunities.

Have been doing some beta tests for Centercode in the past and really enjoy getting my hands on products that have not been released yet, help track down problems and provide input about missing functionality.

OnlineBeta

portalZINE TV: Sevenload pushing for more

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:27:29 -0600

While Sevenload still is a small video network compared to some of the big players, it is really listening to its content providers and constantly works on ways to help promote their talents.

Besides the direct distribution of our content, Sevenload is currently the next in line to get our latest episodes. Viewership is constantly rising and I get alot of feedback via Email from Sevenload users.

Here in Germany Sevenload is the best solution to promote your show, as it also provides good quality reencoding of your content.

Sevenload

portalZINE TV: DailyMotion

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:17:20 -0600

I was a big fan of DailyMotion in the past, due to its HD video integration options, but its just not inviting many new viewers to a regular show. I am watching statistics closely and DailyMotion is not at the top of those.

As an official content provider, you need to request frontpage coverage each time and sometimes those get buried before they even got popular.

I will continue to provide my content via DailyMotion, but will shift my priorities to other video distribution networks first.

portalZINE TV: Blip.TV secures 2nd round of funding

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 16:38:44 -0600

Glad to hear that, as I am hosting portalZINE TV over there and their support has been outstanding for the past months.

Vimeo is trying to provide pro accounts as well, but from what I can tell its hardly an affordable option for anyone starting a show :)

More

portalZINE TV: Slowly getting somewhere

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 21:55:29 -0600

After months of preparing portalZINE TV, I think that the concept has matured quiet a bit. Building up a WebTV network in Germany is still a daunting task, as support is still really limited. You have to knock on a lot of doors over and over again to get any response sometimes. And as funding happens out of my empty pockets, its not really getting any easier LOL

Many companies can still hardly understand the benefit of presenting themselves on a WebTV show and especially can not imagine to sponsor it.

I have contact with more than 100 companies, which include software, hardware and service providers. I hope to be pushing our boundaries a bit more in season 2, now that we know how to shoot and edit ;)

Really hope to get mimmatec TV and outdoorMIX TV running in the coming months, so that we can really have a stable set of 3 channels running.

Main focus is portalZINE TV for now, focusing more on the DIY projects and Tipps & Tricks.

Cebit 2009 is not that far away anymore and 2009 we will be touring the ground for at least 3 days. Really hope to be able to present some nice live coverage.

I will have more exciting news soon, but can not talk about some of the things yet :)

Month in review: cubicFusion, Caching and more

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 21:32:01 -0600

I have been optimizing my cache class for cubicFusion for the past weeks, trying to get the best of static and dynamic features working seamlessly together. The current multilayered layout provides var caching, file caching, css / js file merging and compression. I am also adding db query caching in some heavy duty areas. Still need to trim the administration part of it to allow fine grained control of how, when and what is using those cache layers. Will also need to further work on the javascript compression, to get even smaller files for delivery.

cubicFusion is fully PHP5 compliant now, just need to fix some minor warnings and a few notices :), but overall its working smoothly.

Things have been working really stable for the past few days, which means that cubicFusion 1.2 will soon reach its first Beta release. I will finally have time to concentrate on the frontend a bit more and start adding parts of the new Ajax framework. Especially the members area will get a nice facelift :)

I will finally be able to finalize a custom project with cubicFusion. Will be pushing hard the coming 2 weeks to get it out of the door.

Javascript: Blackbird - Logging Javascript made easy

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 06:07:23 -0600

Blackbird offers a dead-simple way to log messages in JavaScript and an attractive console to view and filter them.

More

Linux: Forcetype becomes Sethandler

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 21:04:40 -0600

Anyone getting frustrated with ForceType on Apache 2 will have to use SetHandler to make it work.

Apache 1.x htaccess

ForceType application/x-httpd-php

Apache 2.x htaccess

SetHandler application/x-httpd-php

Cheers
Alexander

Linux: Force www using htaccess

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 21:00:29 -0600

If you want to prevent google to provide duplicate content from you, you can easily force www for your domains by simply using a small rewrite rule for the htaccess.

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www.your_domain.com$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.your_domain.com/$1 

Cheers
Alexander

Random thoughts: Wheres the Money in Online Video?

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 08:56:41 -0600

The sharp growth in online video viewing, increasing availability of TV online, and proliferation of high-quality, web-originated content has made it easy to point the arrow for online video advertising up and to the right. But while video will probably continue to be a bright spot of growth in a dull economy, that’s mostly because it’s just getting started. The reality is revenues will be close to nothing for a long time, and the growing number of tech entrepreneurs and creative types in the space should probably be worried that industry watchers are now cutting their expectations for growth in online video revenues based on factors other than the shaky U.S. economy.

More

Development: Bugdar - Simple PHP Bugtracker

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:01:46 -0600

Anyone looking for a simple PHP bugtracking solution, should give Bugdar from Blue Static a try.

Bugdar

Random thoughts: German reunification celebration

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 06:45:27 -0600

We are celebrating the German reunification (3 October1990) today, which also extends the weekend by one day :)

Cheers
Alexander

Development: Block Spiders from your website

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 18:32:54 -0600

Some spiders do not respect the robots.txt. In these cases you can use the Apache rewrite engine to block them.

Some rule examples can be found below.

portalZINE: Changes

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 18:15:51 -0600

The dev site will be closed down. Will be merging the project pages over to this webpage.

This page will be my global blog for anything I like to share :), in English or German.

Will be concentrating on my custom work over at portalZINE Pro and the portalZINE TV website.

Cheers
Alexander

portalZINE: Mobile data packages getting affordable

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 18:01:21 -0600

Looking at some data packages for the internet experience on the go. Things are really heating up here in Germany and mobile flatrates are finally getting affordable.

T-Mobile, Vodafone and O2 are the providers I am currently checking out. Seems like I will be choosing O2.

portalZINE: Summer break is over :)

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 18:00:08 -0600

I am back after a summer break. Really had to lay low a bit and concentrate on work and enjoy some free time / vacation :) Had a beautiful trip to southern France with my family, which actually was my first real vacation after almost 10 years. I am planning to consolidate all my websites over the next months and make them more integrated again.

portalZINE TV will get most of my attention, as I am starting with our second season. Season 2 will feature more Tipps & Tricks segments and our first DIY segments in October.The first season allowed us to experiment, the second will be more targetted and more releaxed ;)

Really looking forward to a nice autumn start.

Cheers
Alexander

Browser: Full Pass of Acid3

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 06:41:38 -0600

Webkit passes Acid3 test.

"Today we would like to announce that WebKit is the first browser engine to fully pass Acid3. A while back, we posted that we scored 100/100 and matched the reference rendering. Now, thanks to recent speedups in JavaScript, DOM and rendering, we have passed the third condition, smooth animation on reference hardware. "

More

Javascript: jQuery gets and looses a new flashy website

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 19:42:48 -0600

Death to JavaScript Rock Stars!

I normally don't get involved in such discussions anymore, but could not keep my mouth shut.

Not really sure why anyone complained about the rockstar. I thought it was a fresh approach. I was laughing when I heard that people brought the design down. Really, some people need to loosen up ;)

That design never compromised any corporate promises or lead into a wrong impression of what jQuery was and will be. If you can not sell jQuery to your customers because its frontpage is to flashy, you are doing something wrong :)

For anyone actively using a javascript lib, what counts is its ability to reach goals, not how its frontpage looks.

Sorry but a flashier website just pulls in more people , than the current crippled left over. All that talk about script kiddies, that is how innovation happens, how new blood and new ideas enrich a project. Projects that close their door to the so called script kiddies, loose spirit fast. Not just talking here, I actually witnessed it multiple times.

I have been a jQuery fan from the beginning and sad to see a cool fresh design get pulled down by its community. I am sure the jQuery team stood behind the new design and that is what counts.

Well just my to cents.

And guys keep up the good work.

Cheers
Alexander

Flash: flXHR - cross-browser, XHR-compatible tool for cross-domain client-to-server 'AJAX'

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:45:18 -0600

flXHR ,(flex-er) is a *client-based* cross-browser, XHR-compatible tool for cross-domain client-to-server 'AJAX' communication. It utilizes an invisible flXHR.swf instance that acts as sort of a client-side proxy for requests, combined with a Javascript object/module wrapper that exposes an identical interface to the native XMLHttpRequest (XHR) browser object, with a few helpful additions and a couple of minor limitations.

More

Flash: Flash Textarea

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:41:42 -0600

FlashTA is a WYSIWYG replacement text area for HTML forms. While there are various implementations done in javascript, most of them don´t work in this/that browser/OS combo, and every time a browser vendor makes a change, they need to update the editor so it doesn´t break on every possible combination of browsers.

FlashTA tries to overcome that problem by using flash. It also tries to adhere stricty to the XHTML specification. No presentation code is generated (so say bye bye to your idea of selecting text color, font face, etc).

FlashTA features an easy integration and multiple browser support (Mozilla, MSIE, FireFox, Opera & Safari).

Development: Custom formatted sample / test data

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:37:49 -0600

Ever needed custom formatted sample / test data, like, bad? Well, that's the idea of the Data Generator. It's a free, open source script written in JavaScript, PHP and MySQL that lets you quickly generate large volumes of custom data in a variety of formats for use in testing software, populating database....

More

Month in review: Monthly update

Wed, 07 May 2008 15:48:57 -0600

As my weekly updates are hardly working out for me, I am switching to monthly updates from now on :) The switch to the new design is almost done, with only minor details missing. Will be adding some updates to the project pages in the coming weeks, as I have rewritten the project section to provide full wiki standards.

Working as a PHP / Javascript Programmer for a n new client, which includes the usage of my own PHP Framework.

I am also doing a lot of design lately. A really welcome change from all the programming in the past.

I have also been doing alot of backend coding for portalZINE TV. Updated my Jabber server and currently finishing work on a Realbasic plugin.

Cheers
Alexander

Javascript: Unobtrusive JavaScript with jQuery

Wed, 07 May 2008 14:18:41 -0600

Simon Willison gave a jQuery talk at XTech called Unobtrusive JavaScript with jQuery.

Browser: Web Developer tools from Opera (Alpha 1)

Wed, 07 May 2008 08:11:52 -0600

Debug JavaScript, inspect CSS and the DOM, and view any errors – Opera Dragonfly makes developing using Opera easier than ever, both on your computer and mobile phone.

More

Javascript: When people dont understand GPL and LGPL - or - ExtJS is history

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 07:04:54 -0600

"The people behind ExtJS are funny. First they have changed their license to the LGPL, without understanding it in any way, now they’ve changed it to the GPL without understanding it in any way. They claim that server side code which creates HTML pages which contain ExtJS must be GPL, wuahahaha."

More

Development: Codeplex - code sharing Microsoft style

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 06:16:41 -0600

Codeplex is a new code sharing site from Microsoft, aimed at programmers who are using tools available under its Shared Source licenses.

Development: Video distribution services and the pain of accessing statistics

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 16:25:46 -0600

When you distribute your videos across different video distribution platforms, you try to keep up with all the comments or views your videos receive.

Not all platforms provide a nice Webservice / API, allowing to aggregate all of those statistics in one place. I do not understand why some services distribute the standard video information via RSS, but leave the views and comment count out of the equation.

In the past weeks I have been building a complete stats package for portalZINE TV, pulling in all required data.

Here is how I accessed each of the services. I added a plus for those that are prepared to share the stats data, a minus for those that made me work a bit more :)

+ Blip.TV (XML via RSS)
- Mogulus (PHP / Curl)
+ DailyMotion (XML / RSS / multiple pages)
+ Youtube (XML / RSS or Youtube API)
+ Vimeo (XML / Simple API)
+ Metacafe (XML / RSS)
- Sevenload (PHP / Curl )
- MyVideo (XML / Rest API)
+ Revver (XML / XML-RPC)
+ MySpace (XML / Open Social API)
- Yahoo (PHP / RSS / Curl)
- Google (PHP / Curl )
- Viddler (PHP / Curl / multiple pages)
+ Veoh (XML / Rest Api)

I am currently optimizing the daily updates, so that not all calls are done at the same time. Some of the services will be deactivated, if nothing notable really happens there. In my case shows are in German, so not all services provide the right viewership. This current exercise really allows me to decide which services are important upload hubs.

Really hope that APIs are getting more common among those services.

Cheers
Alexander

Month in review: Weekly Update

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 09:38:38 -0600

I have not written one of these for some time now. Its not that I am not working, but hardly have time to sit down and comment about it.

2008 has been really busy so far, with me also spending 4 days at CeBIT this year. Really enjoyed the tech trip. I have started working on a fitness website, dealing with trainer schedules, trainee subscriptions, training progress, motivation notification and a lot more. Really fun project that will be following me until April.

Have restructured a lot of stuff within my php framework, to finally comply with current standards and make updates a bit easier.

I am also working on internal stuff that will ease the work on the portalZINE TV setup, as advertisers require extensive statistics and I need to pull those from at least 6 different video platforms ;) Sadly every platform uses different web services.

Will try to write more regularly about stuff in the coming weeks :)

Cheers
Alexander

PHP: Pownce API v2.0

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 09:55:05 -0600

Pownce has finally released its API 2.0. which allows posting to Pownce from your applications. I am currently updating my PHP API Wrapper and should have a downloadable release after I am back from CeBIT.

More

Development: Firebug 1.1 has been released

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 07:14:09 -0600

Ajaxian: " John J Barton has been working hard on Firebug 1.1, but the work has been in the dark a little unless you are paying attention.

He has been putting releases up, and Kris Zyp has been kind enough to host

I have talked to a few people recently who keep Firefox 2 around just �because Firebug needs it� but the latest beta works great in Firefox 3 (which I find to be a huge leap on the Mac).

The beta features:

eval() debugging,
external editor interface,
browser-generated event handler debugging,
executable lines marked with green line numbers,
user-controlled naming of eval() buffers,
Stack side panel on �Script� panel for callstack,
Supports Firefox 3,
�better� debugging icons,
CSS errors report against source lines,
bug fixes (incl. issues 8, 69, 218, 230, 239, 249, 269, 314, 321, 345)
Internal firebug debug output "

Random thoughts: TOP10 - How to promote your website!

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 21:35:00 -0600

The Top10 of promoting your new website.

Create Good Content
Create Good Content
Create Good Content
Create Good Content
Create Good Content
Create Good Content
Create Good Content
Create Good Content
Create Good Content
Create Good Content

You think this is a bit generic, well it is, but it is the best way to promote your website ;). There are 1000 of websites out there, that tell you that they have the ultimate solution to drive traffic to your website and make you money. None of these are really helping you much, as it will always drill down to the TOP10 above :) So the goal is not to promote your website as it is, but the content that is delivered from it to your visitors.

How do visitors find you?
Not by guessing your domain name! I am sure they start by using a search engine like Google. They use the search engine to look for related websites that fit the keywords they have entered.

So is your content properly listed in search engines?
No! Well you have either no content on your website or your setup just does not confirm with proper search engine requirements. So if you have good content, but it is hard to index, users wont find you. Your main concern is to make sure that your content is presented in the correct way.

The title of this article should say : TOP10 - How to promote your website or even better how to promote your content! :)

Here is my TOP10 of relevant points, when taking care of your search engine presence:

Use creative and informative website titles.
Write a descriptive title for each of your content pages. Make sure to reflect your website main keywords and related content keywords. Do not overdo it, use between 5-8 words maximum. Remove as many "filler" words from the title as possible, such as "the," "and," etc. The page title will appear hyperlinked on the search engines when your page is indexed.
Setup a meta description for your pages.
The meta description describes the document.This meta tag consists of a short, plain language description of the document, usually 20-25 words or less. Search engines that support this tag will use the information to publish on their search results page, normally below the Title of your site.
Setup meta keywords for your website and pages.
Keywords define the content of your site. Keywords are used by search engines to properly index your site in addition to words from the title, document body and other areas. This tag is typically used for synonyms and alternates of title words. Use this tag with caution. Make sure to only use keywords that are relevant to your site. Search engines are known to penalize or blacklist your site for abuse. This tag also exposes your keywords to your competitors. Five hours of keyword research can be hijacked within just a few minutes by your competitor.Goggle is not activley using the meta keywords anymore, but Yahoo does.
Include your keywords in header tags (H1, H2, H3).
Search engines consider words that appear in the page headline and sub headers to be important to the page, so make sure your keywords and phrases appear in one or two header tags.
Make sure your keywords are in the first paragraph of your body text.
Search engines expect that your first paragraph will contain the important keywords for the document -- where most people write an introduction to the content of the page. Do not force keywords, more is not better.
Make your navigation system search engine friendly.
Do not use frames. Even if search engines can find your content pages, they could be missing the key navigation for the rest of your website. Make sure that the navigation is accessible when JavaScript and Flash is turned off.
Optimze your website for speed.
Make it easy for spiders and visitors to access your content. You can also develop special pages that deliver special crafted content for search engine spiders, removing any clutter they can not handle anyway. Not talking about gateway pages, but stripped down version of your default design, which focus only on the content.
Use a service like Google analytics to observe your website.
See how people access your website. Remove anything that makes it difficlut or confusing to reach any destination on the webpage
Make sure to update old contentif needed and produce new content in a steady intervall.
Show your visitors that you care about your website and the topics you write about. One post per month will hardly promote your website.
Provide interactive tools for visitors
Interactive tools promotes an open exchange with your visitors. It can also help to push popularity and crosslinking with other sites, that relate to your content.

This is hardly a complete list and there are other things you need to consider when dealing with SEO scenarios. I often forget to stick to some of the points myself, at least when it comes to my own websites, but its worth the time to work on each of them. No websites are perfect from the start, all paintings in development ;)

Do not give up so easily. It takes time to promote a website and you will be tweaking things again and again. If you have a fair amount of content, things will be evolving alot faster. Hard to say what the critical mass is, as that depends on your content and the visitors. If you cover a unique topic, little content might drive your webserver nuts, more popular covered content, may take longer to make you website shine :)

The search engine traffic is often only the first wave coming your way, additional traffic will result through others linking to your content, you promoting it and playing an active part on other websites that link to the content / topics you cover.

Key is to enjoy what you do and not feeling forced to do so :)

Cheers
Alexander

Javascript: Shadowbox the ultimate javascript lightbox

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 09:45:21 -0600

Shadowbox is a cross-browser (supports Firefox 1.5+, Camino, Safari 2+, Opera 9+ and Internet Explorer 6+), cross-platform, cleanly-coded and fully-documented media viewer application written entirely in JavaScript.

It is similar to lightbox, focusing on displaying different media formats like Flash, QuickTime, and Windows Media Player.

It's easy to use Shadowbox with your JavaScript library of choice. Shadowbox comes bundled with adapters for Yahoo! UI, Ext, Prototype + Scriptaculous and jQuery. Website authors can display pictures and movies in all major browsers without navigating away from the linking page.

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Flash: OS FLV - embedable flash player celebrates release of version 2

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 08:00:24 -0600

Trent Tompkins just let me know that he has upgraded his online embedable player called OS FLV to version 2.0. He has also moved the project to its own webpage.

"The OS FLV Player is an Open Source, embedable player for Flash native video files. The player provides a large amount of options that can be changed in the embed code, a code generator written in javascript, a library of PHP functions, and, of course, fully open source code!"

Some of the changes since the 1.0 release are:

Complete overhaul of the codebase
All actionscript moved into the first frame
Error message if embedded wrong (replaces instructional error message)
Renaming of objects
Several bug fixes, some redundant code removed
Slider and play bar are less jerky
Slider works if slid outside movie area
�Shine� effect added on the main bar
Play button keeps aspect ratio
Support for mute and volume embed parameters
Support for loop embed parameter
Support for autorewind embed parameter
Support for autoload embed parameter
Javascript based tool to generate embed code included in the distribution
Demo and generated code automatically selected between the Flash 8 version and Flash 9 version, with the only difference being fullscreen support.

The OS FLV player is a really solid solution to get your videos posted on the net. With my own Videocast starting soon, I will sure find a place to use and test it :)

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Javascript: jQuery 1.2.2: 2nd Birthday Present

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 10:06:50 -0600

On the 2nd anniversary of jQuery�s release we�re proud to bring you a brand new release of jQuery. This is primarily a bug fix release for jQuery 1.2. You can view the full list of what was fixed on the bug tracker.

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Design: GenerateFavicon online

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 12:29:30 -0600

Genfavicon allows you to easily create favicons online. You can create your favicon in 3 easy steps.

Select your image - Browse to the file�s location on your computer to select the image or input the url of the image directly, and then press "Upload Image" button
Cut & Preview - Using your mouse, drag the shaded square over your image so it covers the part of the image you what to use to generate your favicon. Press "Capture and Preview".
Result - Preview your favicon and save your favicon by pressing "Download favicon".

CSS: Clean CSS - optimize your CSS online

Sun, 30 Dec 2007 17:52:55 -0600

CleanCSS is a powerful CSS optimizer and formatter.

Basically, it takes your CSS code and makes it cleaner and more concise. The backend is based on CSS Tidy.

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