My Flash/MODx Hybrid
I updated my website, michaelbreuer.com using the MODx content management system and Flash for presentation. When I decided to try out another CMS, I was looking for something that was flexible, lightweight, and worked well with Flash.
The hurdles I wanted to get over were the ability to present content with Flash, be able to update it on the fly, and the text is selectable. I hate it when I go to site where the email address or text is in Flash and I can’t just copy and paste it. I was able to do this very easily with MODx.
I found one of MODx’s big advantages is the ability to save files in almost any format. I think this is a feature overlooked by some of the other content management systems and I do hope it catches on.
.htaccess
The .htaccess file is probably not you’re most updated file on your website, but it is crucial to making your website faster.
I found this article on it and its delivers some valuable info. The link is: http://www.javascriptkit.com/howto/htaccess.shtml.
It includes tips on configuring Expires tags, blocking the bad bots out there, changing your site’s index page, etc.
These small configurations will speed up your site and give it a better grade on Yslow(a Firefox plugin that examines the speed of your site – worth checking out).
The Knights of Drupal
Whenever I need advice or to read up on something concerning web stuff, forums are typically the best places to find answers and get results. Everything from javascript, web standards, web frameworks, languages, etc.
One of the things I noticed while looking up php frameworks, on many of the forums, the Knights of Drupal always show up to defend their framework. I find it so bizarre how they can be so loyal to a single framework. I have several friends who call themselves ‘Drupalists’ that act in the same manner.
The reason I call them the Knights is because they remind me of Monty Python’s Quest for the Holy Grail in the way they roam the forums and defend their most Holy Grail (but do beware of the Knights who say ASP).
I think it should be more about defending Open Source. PHP, Python, Ruby are great languages and should be defended, but not a single framework. The bottom line should always be – does this meet my goals. All a framework does is take info and spit it out as HTML. Thats it. There’s gonna be new methods of making this happen that we should embrace.
Hopefully. I haven’t seen too many people fighting in the name PageMill.
ActionScript Y!
Yahoo makes me think of an impressive forward thinking genius that can’t seem to make ends meet. They make great stuff like Yahoo Mail, Yahoo APIs, and the YUI Library and do such good things to benefit and educate the development community, but its so hard to watch them struggle to keep going.
This entry is about improving your Flash/ActionScript 3 by using Yahoo APIs. Its one thing to sit down and read about arrays, strings, methods, and all that other programming stuff but take time to have fun playing with some of the Yahoo stuff.
The community is full of downloadable demos to play with and you’ll definitely get better at parsing data and manipulating code. The Yahoo Maps API is a good start because the basic code is given to you. I’m sure we’ve all had clients that have asked for a Google map on their contact page, but with the Yahoo Maps API, you can customize your own markers, display multiple addresses, and improve at ActionScript 3.
Here’s the link:
Quick, Brief Update
This blog used to just be place to dump homework to show my teachers I could blog, but I’ve decided to make it somewhat more functional since my friends have said that I should be sharing some of the stuff I’ve been working on.
I’m a php and flash developer and I am always trying out technologies that will benefit my skills and production.
I should thank Michael Slater for showing me www.LearningRails.com and I have setup a Rails site locally with Locomotive and I did download the free Ruby on Rails book SitePoint was giving away . I think its a great platform, but for my current needs it does kinda go beyond them. But thanks Michael and I would recommend anyone to give RoR a look. MVC is definitely the future.
Open Source Framework Study
Ruby on Rails
“Ruby on Rails is a breakthrough in lowering the barriers of entry to programming. Powerful web applications that formerly might have
taken weeks or months to develop can be produced in a matter of days.”
- Tim O’Reilly, founder of O’reilly Media
Ruby on Rails was pioneered by David Heinemeier Hansson by “extracting common functionality such as database abstraction and templating”. It was built with the intention of making it very easy to build web applications that communicate with databases and following these programming practices:
• convention over configuration
• don’t repeat yourself
• agile development
• MVC
Convention over Configuration
This refers to the fact that Ruby on Rails framework was designed to be easily set up and developers could start building applications right away. The intention was to make it simple to set up and not has to go through rigorous configuration files.
There are a number of installers designed to set up the Ruby framework:
• Locomotive for Mac Users
• Instant Rails for PC Users
• Ruby Gems for Command Line Coders
The reason for this development was simple: you’re not “forced to repeat
the entire configuration process whenever you start a new project.”
Don’t Repeat Yourself or DRY
DRY is a programming principle in which you don’t rewrite or copy and paste code throughout the development. According to Sitepoint’s, “Build Your Own Ruby On Rails
Web Applications”, DRY is defined as,
“…you develop your application in such a way that this functionality
is stored once, in a central location, and is referenced from each portion of the
application that needs to use it.”
Agile Development
Rails has a built in framework that is designed for quick application development. It is intended to get developer right into the essence of the project as opposed to spending lengths of time flowcharting and configuring a static plan for the goals and needs of an application using predictive methods.
Rails recommends the top-down approach. Starting with a simple design, which could be a sketch on a napkin, and then evolving into functionality and back end development. The Rails framework was designed to take care of most of the back end work, so developers can invest more time into building.
Excerpt from “Agile Web Development with Rails 2nd Edition”,
Let’s look at the values expressed in the Agile Manifesto as a set of four preferences.
Agile development favors the following.
• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
• Working software over comprehensive documentation
• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
• Responding to change over following a plan
Rails is all about individuals and interactions.
MVC
“The Model-view-controller (MVC) is a software architecture (also referred to as a design pattern) that separates an application’s data model (model), user interface (view), and control logic (controller) into three distinct components.”
Conclusion
Ruby on Rails is becoming very popular for web development. It has already won many several awards, including developer.com’s Product of the Year 2007 Award. Because of its speed, simplicity, strong programming principles, and readiness for developers to jump in and start making dynamic database-driven application, Ruby on Rails is pioneering the open source web development community.
Sources
Agile Web Development With Rails, 2nd Edition 2006
By Dave Thomas and David Heinemeier Hansson
Build Your Own Ruby On Rails Web Applications
by Patrick Lenz
http://www.rubyonrails.org
http://www.developer.com/db/article.php/3653956
