02.26.2009 | 17
When I first started working at Code Greene, I was building my PHP applications and sites the “old fashioned” way, with nothing more than a collection of common functions and a single MySQL class that I carried around with me everywhere. I have grown very accustomed to my small collection of code, and have begun to rely on it a bit (and actually almost failed the entrance test to Code Greene because I couldn’t find it). But I always built my applications from scratch, every time.
As I progressed in my PHP career (and hobbies), I noticed that I was building the same things over and over again, but only slightly different every time. This was an issue that I had noticed but never really put some serious thought into… until I started at Code Greene. My first day there, I was told to take a look at CakePHP and learn it, because it was to be the defacto PHP framework for the office. I took a quick glance at the code base and was instantly overwhelmed. There is so much stuff going on behind the scenes in Cake that it boggles the mind a bit. I went through a few online tutorials, and still felt that I knew nothing about it, let alone how to use it, but I could tell that it would either make or break my new job.
continue reading “Why we use CakePHP”
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02.24.2009 | 6
We have been mentioning browsers quite a bit in our first posts on our new blog. We get asked now and again when clients come in about browsers and which is the best and why. I thought I would try to give a good answer to that by giving a quick browser review.
I can’t give a perfect answer because everyone likes to surf the Internet in their own way. So somethings that matter to me (add-ons and plug-ins) may not matter to you. But one thing that should matter to all of us is security. Another that should be important but the average public does not know about is web standards. Microsoft is trying to be better at this but is still falling short, but many of the other browsers follow the standards.
I am a huge Firefox fan, and I use the browser on my home computer, although I use a combination of IE, Firefox and Opera, (for testing purposes). Each browser has its own strengths and weaknesses. However, I have found Firefox to be a strong contender for the best all-around web browser.
continue reading “Browser Comparison”
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02.23.2009 | 6
The only real gripe I have had about OSX is that when I have a file highlighted in the Finder I want to look at a glance somewhere to see where exactly that file is. I have actually had a couple discussions with others that have not switched to a Mac because of this. I just lived on wondering why this feature was not available. Then I stumbled upon this in my RSS reader. The good guys over at TUAW had an answer! Once enabled, this is what you will see in any open Finder window.
To get this working on your mac open a terminal (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal) and then paste in this script and press enter. You will have to restart Finder to see your new and improved window.
defaults write com.apple.finder _FXShowPosixPathInTitle -bool YES
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02.23.2009 | 0
I am often creating site maps for clients so they can see how all the pages of their website will be linked together. It also helps me get a feel for how the entire website will work as a whole. Write Maps has created a quick way to create these maps. The process is all done online so your website maps can be accessible anywhere you have the internet. We have found that when a solid base is used a website can be built with a lot less errors. Getting a final site map is key to getting that solid base that will be behind any website.
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02.20.2009 | 4
As a front end guy I am always looking for ways to help our website look the same in all browsers. When FireFox 3 came out I was all excited for a new browser, however this also means that I would have yet another browser to test in until FireFox 2 phases out. I have noticed some small differences in how FF2 and FF3 render. I came across this little tool that lets me run both of them at the same time. It is called MultiFireFox. It will let you keep all your plug-ins for each version as well. That means that we can use fire bug on both version to help with debugging. I think this version is only for the Mac but for you PC users our there check this out. I’m not sure if there is anything like this for Linux.
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02.20.2009 | 0
It has taken us a while to find time to get our own blog up and running. We have had some spare time the last week so we got it going. The design was done by one of our designers Mike Metcalf. He has a fine eye for detail and he thought of all the little elements that go into a blog. He got busy with some client work so I integrated his design into Word Press and he helped fine tune some things when I was done. We learned some things along the way of building this blog and will blog about those in the days to come. We also plan to blog about the projects we are working on, the techniques we use, and mix in some fun stuff that goes on at Code Greene as well. Stay Tuned!
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