Getting Started With Content Management Systems
My Clippings November 8th, 2009 by System
Automatically pulled from Google Starred
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The need to update websites faster to keep content fresh has been ever growing. Ever since the first business owner wanted their Web designer to update their website faster, content management systems have played an important role on the Web. Why does this matter to you? How do you know if your company is ready?
In this article, we will look at how to tell if your organization needs a content management system. We will also give you information on the abilities of content management systems to help you better understand what they can do. While content management systems may seem complex, their entire purpose is to streamline your workflow and make your life easier.
A content management system allows you to create, manage, store and edit massive amounts of content without any HTML programming skill. Because you are able to edit your content from any computer with an Internet connection, you no longer have to rely on third-party developers or companies to keep your website up to date. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Every company would like to reduce costs and increase productivity.
Also consider our previous articles:
- 10 Things To Consider When Choosing The Perfect CMS
Goes over what features to look for when choosing a content management system. - 10 Harsh Truths About Corporate Websites
Explains the mistakes we all make when running our websites. The nature of those mistakes varies depending on the size of your company. As your organization grows, the mistakes change. This post addresses common mistakes of large organizations. - Developers Toolbox
Offers tools and resources to help you achieve your goals at a more hands-on level.
1. What Is A Content Management System?
If you have never heard the term before, a content management system (CMS) is a Web-based solution that makes it easy for a company to manage website updates internally. For many companies, updating a website is not something to look forward to because it can be a lengthy and, over time, expensive process. Most companies search for easier means of accomplishing their goals. The solution that many large and small companies have found is a CMS. The easy-to-use application allows your company to control its online identity with little to no knowledge of Web design.
Tags: Apple, Build, cli, CURL, Google, Information, IO, ma, man, Microsoft, module, Photo, php, quick, script, security, ssl, video, way, WordPress, XP
DimDim Offers Quality Video Conferencing for Free
My Clippings September 4th, 2009 by System
Automatically pulled from My Clippings on NewsGator Online
If you’re looking for a video conferencing solution for your office, you could invest in a hosted and managed solution like WebEx or GoToMeeting–but in both cases, you may wind up paying for features, support, and licenses that you don’t want or need.
DimDim is an alternative video conferencing solution for small businesses, consultants, or anyone else who wants video conferencing capabilities but doesn’t want to spend a lot of money or lock into a multi-year licensing contract. All of the features you’d expect from a video conferencing tool are there: the ability to share presentations, desktops, work together on a whiteboard, and more, all through your Web browser. Best of all, for most users it’s free.
One of DimDim’s best features is that the entire service is accessible
through your Web browser. You don’t have to download special software
to start or host meetings, share documents and Web pages, or even
broadcast video from your Web cam. All you have to do is sign up for an
account, invite your attendees, and start your meeting. Attendees don’t
have to download anything either: they simply log in to DimDim using
the meeting credentials you supply to join your meeting.
DimDim also has features most people would attribute only to large,
enterprise video conferencing services; you can make any attendee in
your meeting the presenter, you can pass the microphone or Web cam
around among participants, mute your attendees if you’re giving a
presentation or leading an online class, share documents with your
attendees, or chat privately with them if you want to discuss something
but don’t want to inturrupt the meeting.
Basic accounts at DimDim are free. You get all of the standard
features, and free accounts allow you to schedule video conference
meetings of up to 20 attendees. If you’re looking for a solution that’s
a little more customizable, you can upgrade to DimDim Pro for
$19/month, which gives you easier access to DimDim support and meeting
spaces that can be branded with your company’s logo. You also get
access to some additional collaboration tools, unlimited meetings with
up to 50 attendees each, and access to dedicated servers and faster
meeting performance.
How To Develop Websites On Linux
My Clippings August 29th, 2009 by System
Automatically pulled from My Clippings on NewsGator Online
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In this article we will look at tools that can help those of you who want to develop websites on a Linux platform, from powerful text editors to desktop and system features. How do you edit files remotely without FTP plug-ins? What are package managers, and why they are cool? In which Web browsers can you test your applications?
I wish I could cover many more topics: using the command line, basics of Vim, Nautilus features in detail, Nautilus scripting, neat command line tools, basic server configuration and many others. But if I addressed all of the issues that arise from time to time on the Internet, this article would turn into a small book. This isn’t an article on “How to do X or Y on Linux” or “How to use [insert app name here].” And we cannot cover more comprehensive IDEs such as Eclipse and NetBeans, each of which requires separate articles.
You probably already have some idea of how to find and install applications for your favorite distros. However, we will point you to the right place anyway to download, for example, scripts and plug-ins.
So, let’s begin!
1. Our Tools
Below, for your quick reference, is a list of tools that we will mention or explain in this article.
Text Editors:
- Gedit
- Geany
Browsers:
- Opera
- Mozilla Firefox
- Epiphany (with the WebKit engine)
- Chromium (for some other WebKit examples)
General and command line tools:
- FUSE
- SSHFS
- Vim
- Parcellite
2. Gedit
Gedit is the default and simplest text editor for the GNOME environment. The default installation already comes with some good resources, although not all of them are activated by default. It is bundled with some plug-ins; however, you can add many more plug-ins to make it a nice simple IDE. If you go to Edit > Preferences > Plugins, you’ll see which plug-ins are installed by default. There, you can configure and activate them. On the same screen, you can configure other elements of the text editor, such as indentation, line numbering and current line highlighting.
Tags: apache, Apple, Build, Chromium, css, email, Google, Information, IO, Linux, Mac, Microsoft, module, php, script, security, ssl, Ubuntu, video, VirtualBox, way, wind, WordPress, XP
Get “real” IP address with vb .net?
Code August 14th, 2009 by Shai Perednik
I saw this post @ stackoverflow.com, I was trying to do the same. So I thought I’d post a complete solution. See this link above or the code below
To Combine the answers above”
Create a php file and paste this in it:
<?php
echo $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];
?>
save it as curip.php and upload it to your server.
In your VB.net project create a module.
Declare the imports section at the very top
Imports System.Net
Imports System.IO
And create your function:
Public Function GetIP() As String
Dim uri_val As New Uri(“http://yourdomain.com/curip.php”)
Dim request As HttpWebRequest = HttpWebRequest.Create(uri_val)
request.Method = WebRequestMethods.Http.Get
Dim response As HttpWebResponse = request.GetResponse()
Dim reader As New StreamReader(response.GetResponseStream())
Dim myIP As String = reader.ReadToEnd()
response.Close()
Return myIP
End Function
Now anywhere in your code you can issue
Dim myIP = GetIP()
and use the value from there as you wish.
Tags: blockquote, IO, module, php, vb.net
Serial PrestaShop Generator Module
prestashop August 11th, 2009 by Shai Perednik
I’ve finally finished writing this module!
You can download it @ http://attendview.com/serialgen.tar
All the instructions needed are included in the modules config page.
Main part is you need to provide a script that actually generates the key. Since every program can have a different algorithm to generate a key, there is no point in trying to make a 1 for all. Especially since the key has to validate against your application.
Your keygen file can be PHP, CGI, whatever you want, just see the instructions for all the info.
This was tested with PS 1.1.0.5 (I’ll be testing it on 1.2 soon)
I’ve tested this as thoroughly as I can, both on my test setup and our production system.
If you do notice any problems, please post it here and I will try my best to help.
Thank you.
UPDATE: after a bit more thought I’ve realized that the way the return from the keygen script to the module is handled is very specific to what I needed it for. Since our sales are mostly one or two line items with a qty of 1, the modle wasn’t setup for multiple qtys. I will be working on a more flexible version soon. For now I hope my work on this helps someone get what they need out of PS.
Forum Thread: http://www.prestashop.com/forums/viewthread/24707/
Tags: module
Delete PrestaShop Test Orders
prestashop August 11th, 2009 by Shai Perednik
Heres a quick one I threw together for all those people first setting up PS and need to remove bogus test orders.
My inspiration was this post http://www.prestashop.com/forums/viewthread/7828/ where there seemed to be lots of confusion.
I’ve tested this on v1.1.0.5 (Should work on 1.2, but not tested)
See the module instructions for exact info.
You have to check a box inside the config page, then click submit, only then will the orders be deleted.
You should uninstall/delete this module once your stores in production as it deletes ALL ORDERS!
Can be downloaded from http://attendview.com/deletetestorders.tar
Forum Thread: http://www.prestashop.com/forums/viewthread/24710/
Tags: module, prestashop, test orders
Quick Guide to Using DoxyGen in Ubuntu
Uncategorized July 28th, 2009 by Shai Perednik
PhpDocumentor was easy to setup with the pear module, but I just couldn’t get past the “nothing parsed” error. So I moved on to Doxygen
It might not be as mature, but hey, it works and thats what matters
1. sudo apt-get install doxygen doxygen-gui
2. in terminal doxygenwizard& will launch the gui
OR (from Life of a Programmer Geek)
2. cd project directory
3. doxygen -g
4. edit Doxyfile
5. doxygen
As a test I ran it on my prestashop install and let it generate the documentation in another directory. Now condsidering that PrestaShop was not written with Doxygen in mind it did a great job of finding all the functions in the code and laying them out.
True, this isn’t very useful, but if from the start you wrote your code with doxygen in mind and documented accordingly this would be a very powerful tool.
Tags: module, prestashop, Ubuntu
Another turn by turn app with voice for the iPhone
My Clippings July 7th, 2009 by System
Automatically pulled from My Clippings on NewsGator Online
Filed under: iPhone, App Store, App Review
Many months ago I received a review copy of G-Map for the iPhone. It had its own maps and turn by turn directions, but no voice guidance, and North was always up. Apple was limiting nav apps at that time, and I had real trouble with G-Map. I couldn’t load it on my iPhone. It kept locking up about halfway through the process. Extensive back and forth with the developers in Japan came to nothing, so I gave up. Finally, last April, my colleague Steve Sande was able to load it, and reviewed it for TUAW.
Now, with iPhones having new hardware and new software, G-Map [App Store] works and is certainly a competitor to the subscription-based AT&T app. You buy G-Map in one of several editions. G-Map West, at US$34.99, covers the Western States, and G-Map East covers, you guessed it, the Eastern U.S. It is also priced at 34.99. It gets a bit tricky, because some states like Illinois, Michigan, Tennessee and Wisconsin are split. If you travel all around those states you will probably want both editions.
There is also a California edition for $19.99, and one at the same price for New Jersey and New York. Versions for Canada and Europe are coming. All the G-Map modules require iPhone software version 3.0.
So how does it work? Pretty well, but with some caveats. It’s accurate at getting your position. The voice directions are quite audible, especially compared to the distorted AT&T app. The on-screen display gives you your speed limit, distance to your next turn, distance to destination and time to destination. It also plots major intersections in a very detailed 3D view, which is helpful. This works in the largest 185 metro areas.
Another plus is that all the maps are on your phone. If you slide out of AT&T’s service area the maps are still there; in contrast, the Telenav-based AT&T Navigator app will not work if you don’t have data coverage, as the maps are downloaded on-demand.
Best of the Best: Hive Five Winners, March through June 2009 [Hive Five]
My Clippings June 29th, 2009 by System
Automatically pulled from My Clippings on NewsGator Online
The year is flying by, and so are our readers’ picks for software, hardware, and other tools. Come on in to see the winners of our Hive Five polls for the second quarter of 2009.
Every week we pose a question to you, the saavy and experienced Lifehacker readers. Pulling from current trends, popular reader suggestions, and our own brainstorming sessions, we search out the next “Which is best?” question to put before the collective knowledge of the Lifehacker readership. We read all your comments, tally all your votes, and summarize the top five contenders for you. You vote on the best of the best and we return the next week with the champion.
The following list showcases the winners in each of the categories we covered in the second quarter of 2009. If a particular category catches your eye and you’d like to see the other contenders, click on the name of the category to to jump to the original Hive Five post; clicking on the name of the winner takes you directly to the web site for the software.
Best Image Editing Tool: Adobe Photoshop
Photoshop has achieved such status in the design community and such widespread recognition by the general public that even non-designers recognize what someone is saying when they exclaim, “That’s photoshopped!” Many of the techniques and methods that are standard across photo editing software were pioneered in Photoshop, like layers, slices, and image correcting macros and filters. On its own Photoshop is a titan of photo editing power, but thanks to a nearly complete dominance in the graphic editing industry, there are entire companies devoted to creating plugins for it. When it comes to manipulating images, if you can’t do it in Photoshop, there’s a strong chance you won’t be able to do it at all. Photo by HVarga.
Best Portable Operating System: Ubuntu
The same qualities that make Ubuntu so popular as a desktop operating system and live CD bring it a lot of popularity as a portable operating system. Ubuntu isn’t the smallest portable OS in the portable operating systems Hive Five, but thanks to a number of factors, including strong saturation in the Linux market and an easy to use tool built right for flash-drive installations, Ubuntu makes a great addition to your portable drive.
Tags: amazon, Bluetooth, Build, flash, Linux, Mac, module, Photo, Ubuntu, video, wind, XP
