Archive for December, 2009

Three tips on using Google Wave


11 Dec

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At once emerging and feature-rich, google wave can be a little daunting as you try to come to grips with it’s finer details. So, to help out a little, here are a few tips you can use to make navigating the sea of waves easier.

  • Type “with:public” into the main wave bar to see all public waves – but be prepared for hundreds of them.
  • You can search the public waves by typing a keyword after “with:public“, like “with:public SMS” to search for SMS. This will display results from word matches from the entire waves.
  • Add the address “public@a.gwave.com” to your contact list to be able to post public waves. Just add “public” to the wave, like you would normally add a contact.

Open-Source as an ethos in web design


11 Dec

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Since it’s humble origins as a cultural niche, the open-source platform movement has grown to a huge user community dedicated to improving their CMS of choice. Instead of a small design team, open-source content management systems rely on a dedicated fan base for their ongoing support. Some may have dedicated corporate designers, but for the most part outside of the core features and functionality any work relies on the efforts of like-minded developers and designers working long, unpaid hours.

But the rewards from fostering OS projects come from simply being a part of the respective community.In open-source, the desire to contribute and improve the source code drive the development community. The support base for these sites often means that problems can be diagnosed in minutes. Bugs are generally well-known and most problems encountered are at the mercy of an abundance of resources on how to solve them.

Having an open-source framework also means that new development is expedited by good documentation, user feedback, and technical support. In contrast to proprietary systems, where you might have to rely on either one company’s technical support, or run into a lack of technical resources on a particular issue.

From an economical standpoint, Open-Source distributions and platforms are generally free, or licensed comparably cheaper than a commercially-available proprietary system. The majority of the open-source CMS platforms are free, in addition to a plethora of office suites, graphics design programs, blogs, blog applications, modules, plugins, and much more.

In conclusion, OS web design solutions can be leveraged for a variety of a company’s web and office needs. The Open Source movement should be actively encouraged and contributed to, as it will foster growth and innovation in the web community and online strata.

Choosing a CMS


10 Dec

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Choosing a content management system can be a little un-nerving at first. With the variety of options available, and literally dozens of systems to choose from, a first time installer can easily feel a little overwhelmed. However, you can make the process simpler by following a few guidelines.

1. Make sure the hosting for your website can run a CMS. Generally, you’ll need either PHP or ASP hosting. Some hosting companies offer installers right out of the box. Others may only host standard HTML-driven sites.

2. Determine whether you want PHP or ASP. Windows Server hosting will host ASP-powered content management systems, while Linux hosting will power PHP sites.

3. Make sure your hosting company offers at least database per website, or if you have a limited amount. This may affect how many simultaneous content management systems you can have installed.

4. Look for a website host with an automated installer (like cPanel, SimpleScripts, Fantastico, etc) to make your installation easier. Many companies offer these installers that make setting up a CMS-powered site as simple as filling in a few blanks.

5. Consider what you want the site do be able to do. Are you aiming towards large corporate sites, small businesses, or the consumer. Each group will have different needs in terms of features and functionality. Most of the open-source content management systems can have features added on-the-fly, through the use of Modules, Plugins, Applications, Etc. Make sure that what your site needs to do can be done using the CMS you’re looking at, and whether any limitations would be deal-killers. This can avoid a big headache down the road when the website design hits roadblocks.

6. See what others have been saying about the CMS. Most of the big open-source CMS platforms have large groups of users, and you can often find a huge spectrum of reviews. Look at user feedback for the CMS – Are they happy with it? Are they having a lot of problems with it?

7. If you can’t find an appropriate CMS for free, consider a licensed solution. Some proprietary content management systems operate faster and more effectively than what the open-source community can offer, and can often be more customizable.

Seeking charities that need a website


02 Dec

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In the spirit of holiday giving, I’m seeking 3-4 charities to voluntarily do website work for. Ideally, these would be charities without an existing website, in true need for their cause to be heard. If interested, contact me at ryanb[at]lostinthetext.com or use the contact form on this site

Google Wave


01 Dec

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Having gotten a google wave invite through a popular online community, I decided to check out what all the buzz was about.
After 4 or so days after being invited, I got an email from google welcoming me to the google wave community.

When you sign up, you’re offered a personalized googlewave.com address. You can either use this address or your existing email address to sign up.

Once you’re signed in, the UI immediately transforms to a layout that will be familiar to users of Windows XP and Windows Vista. The Sleek minimalism and Web 2.0 aesthetic feels right, if only a little unrefined, with a generic blue “glossy” framework. The screen is basically a whiteboard, with 3 columns – one for Navigation/contacts, your inbox, and a panel where you view the waves clicked on.

To get to the heart of the matter, and what has been making ‘waves’ in the online community, we have the Wave itself. Picture a communications method that combines real-time interaction and collaboration with a chat or instant message interface. In addition to the usual features of chat/IM, you can assign a wave to any number of other people on google wave, who can then all collaborate on the same discussion. Adding to the instantaneous nature of the communication, you can actually see the text being typed out in real time, errors and omissions included.

All in all, I would say it’s a product worth watching until it goes into beta mode. There is room for improvement in the UI, but as a test product it has a great interface that combines a lot of the standard features within the framework of innovation. As it stands, google wave is currently in private invite-only beta, so you’ll have to be resourceful and find someone willing to spare an invite (members currently get 15 or so invites).

My first Wordpress Sidebar Widget – PassGen


01 Dec

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Passgen is a simple proof-of-concept wordpress sidebar widget I created to generate secure randomized passwords for your copy and paste convenience. You can check it out in action on the front page – soon to (possibly) debut in the wordpress plugins repository near you.

New BrainBench Certification – Web Concepts (Masters Level)


01 Dec

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Got re-certified in Web Design Concepts at Brainbench.com! Scored in the 93% percentile at the masters level. See all of my current certifications (enter 6143902 as the public transcript)

Why choose a CMS?


01 Dec

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There are quite a few reasons to choose a CMS (or, content management system) as your website solution. The key advantage is simply flexibility. With a CMS, you can:

1) edit content without the hassle of going through pages and pages of code, in a fully scalable environment.
2) Make updates as they come to you, instead of waiting for a designer to make the change for you.
3) leverage the flexibility of an open-source content management system for a wide range of purposes. Create a small business site and stake your claim on the web, or set up a network of sites on the same domain. All this flexibility stems from the “framework” approach used by content management systems, where a user can expand the features used on the website with as few as 2-3 clicks.
4)Add a contact form, galleries, a product page, virtually anything you can think of – developers have added it.

The variety of features depends on your choice of CMS. The most popular Open-source Content Management Systems are WordPress, Joomla (formerly mambo), DotNetNuke, Drupal, PHP-nuke, MODx . I currently specialize in WordPress, Joomla, and DotNetNuke.

Each CMS generally has it’s pros and cons, and some may be better for business/enterprise needs, and some may be more suitable for personal and social networking sites. I can offer guidance and consulting based on your particular site’s needs.

LostInTheText.com – The portfolio of Ryan Bishop

The Online Portfolio and Resume of Ryan Bishop