Sitepoint | PH - Balanced Inc. Multimedia Design, Consulting and Production

News, opinion, and fresh thinking for web developers and designers. The official podcast of sitepoint.com.

Updated: 18 hours 49 min ago

PHP with nginx is about to Become a Lot Easier

Mon, 05/03/2010 - 23:58

PHP version 5.4 will most likely include the PHP-FPM patch right in the core, which is great news for those of us who like to run PHP under the nginx web server. You may be asking, “What is PHP-FPM, and why should I care?”

PHP-FPM is a patch for PHP core that handles the starting, stopping, and restarting of FastCGI processes as needed. This is important because nginx can only interface with PHP via FastCGI, unlike Apache, which loads the whole PHP environment right into itself. In addition to the performance benefits of nginx over Apache, running PHP via FastCGI rather than as an Apache module has its own benefits:

Lower memory usage (since extra nginx workers come without the whole weight of the PHP environment)
Easier permissions management (PHP can run as a different user than your server process)
If PHP crashes, nginx can keep going

The downside is that, compared to mod_php, the nginx, PHP, and FastCGI stack takes significantly more work to set up. In the past, the way to make this setup work was to co-opt the spawn-fcgi script from the LightTPD project, and use that to start the FastCGI process. However, there are problems with that setup: it’s fragile (if a process stops it might not be restarted correctly) and it’s a pain to set up. After installing and configuring nginx, you need to download LightTPD, grab the script in question and configure it to start automatically, then configure everything to play nicely together. If you’re used to the out-of-the-box experience of mod_php, this might convince you to just upgrade your server instead of switching to the leaner, meaner nginx.

Enter PHP-FPM. This patch bakes FastCGI process management right into PHP. So if you compile PHP with the FPM patch in place and the --enable-fpm configuration option, PHP will take care of starting and stopping processes as nginx requests them, with no additional configuration required. Of course, manually patching and compiling the PHP source is still more work than us lazy web developers would like to do, which is why it’s great news that, as of PHP 5.4, FPM will be folded into the core of the PHP project.

This means that you’ll be able to download PHP, compile it with the --enable-fpm switch, and be off to the races running it with nginx in the same amount of time and effort it would take to set up with Apache.

So if you’ve tried running PHP with nginx in the past and given up after jumping through the seventh hoop, I’d suggest you give PHP-FPM a try. At the moment there’s still a bit of hassle involved, but it’s improving all the time. In the meantime, you get to be the cool kid on the block with the sweet new toy!

Categories: Featured Blogs

How to Center an Absolutely Positioned Element Using CSS

Mon, 05/03/2010 - 22:05

Centering an absolutely positioned element is a CSS challenge that occurs now and then. The solutions seem obvious once I’ve done it, but I still find myself googling the problem every few months.

Horizontally centering a static element in CSS is normally handled by setting the left and right margins to auto, for example:

#myelement { margin: 0 auto; }

However, this won’t work on an absolutely positioned element. Its location is determined in relation to the most immediate parent element that has a position of absolute, relative, or fixed.

In the following example, the relative red square has a width set to 40% of the available space. The top-left of the absolutely positioned blue square is positioned 30px across and 10px down:

#outer { position: relative; width: 40%; height: 120px; margin: 20px auto; border: 2px solid #c00; } #inner { position: absolute; width: 100px; height: 100px; top: 10px; left: 30px; background-color: #00c; }

If we’re unconcerned about the exact dimensions of our blue box, we could omit the width setting and set the same left and right values. This would effectively center our blue box:

#outer { position: relative; width: 40%; height: 120px; margin: 20px auto; border: 2px solid #c00; } #inner { position: absolute; height: 100px; left: 30px; top: 10px; right: 30px; background-color: #00c; }

(Note: this does not work in IE6 … does that surprise you?)

So, how can we center our box if it has fixed dimensions? The answer requires a little lateral thinking:

First, we use left: 50%. Unlike background image positions, this will move the left-hand edge of the blue box to the center.
Since our box is too far to the right, we use a negative left margin that’s half its width. In our example, we must set margin-left to -50px to shift the box back to the right place:

#outer { position: relative; width: 40%; height: 120px; margin: 20px auto; border: 2px solid #c00; } #inner { position: absolute; width: 100px; height: 100px; top: 10px; left: 50%; margin-left: -50px; background-color: #00c; }

The blue box will remain centered no matter how the width of the outer element changes.

Categories: Featured Blogs

Left-Leaning Layout Conventions Rule!

Mon, 05/03/2010 - 20:13

When I started my career as a web developer in the nineties, the convention of the day was a two-column approach: a table-based layout with a vertical navigation menu on the left-hand side, and a content column. These days we’re more likely to see the main navigation in a horizontal configuration across the top, starting on the left. Left-to-right and top-to-bottom is a long-standing convention among English-speaking websites — unsurprising, since that’s how English speakers read.

Last month Jakob Nielsen published a very interesting report titled Horizontal Attention Leans Left. Nielsen’s group has done testing that confirms the validity of a convention that began in the mid-nineties. What was surprising, though, was the amount of users’ attention given to the left-hand side of the screen: 69%. This leaves little time for the stuff on the right-hand side; hence, that right-hand column of miscellaneous stuff on your blog is hardly ever read.

So, what about your work? Do you design for left-to-right consumption? Does this study reinforce your approach or change it? Are you dismayed that few visitors care about what you put in your widget column?

Categories: Featured Blogs

8 Ways Online Businesses Can Create Customer Touchpoints

Mon, 05/03/2010 - 16:38

A touchpoint is any instance when a client or potential client comes into contact with your company. Touchpoints are used prominently with offline businesses, particularly in the retail industry, on receipts, bags, signage, customer service counters, etc. The goal is to help customers recognize and remember the brand.

But touchpoints can also be a valuable way for online businesses to build brand loyalty and trust. In fact, recurring touchpoints can not only result in repeat clients, but also in an increase in the ever-desirable word of mouth marketing.

Here are some ways you can incorporate touchpoints into your business.

Web Site: We all have a web site for our business, but does your site tell a potential client what they want to know AND provide a way to engage current clients? The more fresh and valuable your site is, the more it will be visited and referred to by your clients.
Social Media: Everything you do in social media — from blogging, to commenting on blogs, to posting on Twitter, to creating a Facebook fan page, to connecting with colleagues on LinkedIn – adds to your online personality. The more you genuinely engage with the human-side of others, the more touchpoints you create and the more memorable you become.
Webinars and Teleclasses: Free online events can give you a way share your knowledge and create a touchpoint that promotes your businesses by demonstrating your expertise.
Customer Service: When was the last time you asked your clients for feedback and then incorporated their suggestions and requests into your business? A regular process for getting feedback can be a valuable way to use a touchpoint get your clients’ attention and find out what you can do better.
Press Releases: A lot of what you do in your business – launch a new site, attend a training event, speak at a conference, volunteer – can become newsworthy. Make it practice to write and distribute press releases announcing news related to your business for a recurring touchpoint.
Email Marketing: This one is a no-brainer. The more (and higher quality) messages you send out to your list, the more they will have you on their mind. And don’t forget to regularly use an email signature to provide another email-based touchpoint.
Online Advertising: If you know where your target audience hangs out, advertising on those sites can be an extremely effective touchpoint. Recurring ads and information can get them interested and ready to learn more.
Invoices: Are your invoices branded with your logo and company information? It may not seem that important, but your invoices are another place where you can generate brand recognition. And if you sell products or services online, include your branding on your checkout page, receipts and confirmation emails for additional touchpoints.

What are some of the most effective touchpoints you use in your business?

Image credit: sqback

Categories: Featured Blogs

When Bokeh Meets Web Design: Stylishly Out Of Focus Backgrounds

Mon, 05/03/2010 - 07:56

The Bokeh effect is very popular online at the moment, both in photography and as background images in web design. It’s not a new phenomenon. It is reported to have first been popularized in Photo Techniques magazine in 1997. The word bokeh comes from the Japanese word boke which means haze or blur. It’s not just any old blur though, it is specifically out-of-focus blur rather than a blur caused by the camera or the subject moving. Bokeh is often seen as bight blurry polygonal shapes and lights in the foreground and background of photographs. Here’s a couple of examples.

Image by Celia

Image by Regular Jane

Having looked through many websites using bokeh backgrounds, here’s a few that I really liked.

And finally, if you’d like a ready made wordpress theme using a bokeh background, here’s one called Cute Bubbles.

The effect has also proven to be very popular as a background with web designers. Of course you don’t have to take a photograph yourself to create the effect using Photoshop or other image editors, and there are plenty of bokeh images available which are free to download.

Where to find bokeh backgrounds

Other Bokeh Design resources

What do you think about the Bokeh trend? Overused or you can’t get enough of it? Any other good examples that you’d like to share?

Categories: Featured Blogs

Firefox Remains the Most Popular Development Browser

Mon, 05/03/2010 - 04:48

The results are in from last week’s SitePoint poll. We asked: “What is your primary web development browser?”

3,126 people voted:

67.7% use Firefox
20.1% use Chrome or Safari
8.5% use Internet Explorer
3.7% use Opera

We all expected Firefox to do well. Actually, it’s not Firefox but its range of excellent extensions which developers really want. Firebug was quoted as one of the main reasons to use Firefox, but there are many other extensions to choose from.

However, Chrome is beginning to encroach on Firefox’s territory. The Webkit Inspector is a good alternative to Firebug and great extensions are appearing. Chrome cannot complete with the range or power of Firefox’s extensions, but they are getting better and developers particularly like the browser’s speed.

Almost 1 in 10 people continue to use IE as their main development browser. That makes sense if you’re developing internal intranet applications for a company where IE is the default/enforced browser. IE8’s tools are no match for some of the competition, but they’re good enough for most problems.

I thought Opera’s percentage would be higher, although it’s double the browser’s market share. Opera offers some powerful development tools, but perhaps they’re not compelling enough to entice people to switch?

For now, Firefox retains the web developer crown. But Mozilla should be wary — Chrome is catching up fast.

Categories: Featured Blogs

There Is No Such Thing as a Free Lunch

Sun, 05/02/2010 - 19:37

Luckily the same thing can’t be said of SitePoint books. So if you’ve had your eye on one of our titles for a while, now is your opportunity to pick it up for the grand price of $0. And you don’t even have to do anything out of the ordinary!

May is a golden month at the SitePoint forums with the introduction of The Golden Post Prize Program. This is an initiative that I’m particularly excited about because some time ago when I asked you what you wanted to see at the forums, the overwhelming majority of you said that you wanted to see the bar set higher on post quality. In order to achieve that we have been working hard to cull the low quality posts, but it gives me much more pleasure to reward those of you that are responsible for the really great contributions to the community that we’re starting to see more and more of. So find out how you can grab a free copy of your favourite SitePoint book.

In case you missed it on Friday, this weekly community roundup comes to you on a Monday for the first time due to the introduction of Facebook Friday – special weekly deals exclusively for our Facebook fans.

Last week was a huge one for us here at SitePoint with the launch of JavaScript Live! Those of you that are taking the online course will no doubt know how successful it has proven to be. Those of you that missed out this time can make sure that doesn’t happen again by putting your name down to be contacted when the next course opens for enrollment. We are aware that there were a few teething issues with the registration process this time around but you can rest assured that we’re ironing those out for next time.

Hot Topics This Week
The hottest of the hot topics this week has got to be from our very own Marketing Manager, Shayne Tilley. Shayne brings up that often shied away from subject of software piracy. Let us know what you think about it in General Chat.

Datura demonstrates just why she won our Graphic Design Guru of the Year in 2009 and has written an amazing tutorial named Tiles Made From Nature which can be found in the Graphic Tutorials and Methods forum.

If blogging is your thing then it might interest you to read just what kind of blogs it is that people like to read. That is the topic du jour in the Blogging forum this week.

The PHP geeks are talking about securing their code in the PHP Application Design forum this week. Take a deep breath before plunging into this one.

And last up for this week, in the How to Buy and Sell a Website, Flippa’s Luke Moulton and some of our most knowledgeable members in the world of the website marketplace give their advice on the best way to sell a blog.

On that note, I’m gone.

Feature image by Chris Roberts from Digital Precision

Categories: Featured Blogs

Steve Jobs Criticizes Adobe and Flash. Again.

Sun, 05/02/2010 - 02:44

Here we go again. Apple’s Steve Jobs has received more publicity this week following his Flash-bashing open letter. The CEO doth protest too much, methinks.

Let’s have a look at his 6 points in more detail but, before we do…

Note: We’re all biased

I don’t have or use Apple products. I admit they regularly create glorious devices but I don’t always understand the appeal or the price people are willing to pay for them.

I don’t develop in Flash. I prefer web standards but Flash has its uses. It is used inappropriately but the same can be said for any technology.

I’ll be accused of bias in one way or another, but those people will have their own biases. Everyone does.

Steve’s first point…

Flash products are 100% proprietary … Flash is a closed system.

We strongly believe that all standards pertaining to the web should be open.

Great, although we could pick holes in that 100% figure — Flash comprises several closed and open source technologies. I’d hate to see the web evolve into a Flash-only platform, but it’s not likely to happen Steve.

almost all [Flash] video is also available in a more modern format, H.264, and viewable on iPhones, iPods and iPads

What Steve means is that YouTube offer H.264. While that’s the most popular video site, it’s a different story when iPhone users go elsewhere on the web.

And why H.264? It’s covered by patents which impede royalty-free usage — hardly the “open” web standards Steve wants.

Symantec recently highlighted Flash for having one of the worst security records in 2009. Flash is the number one reason Macs crash.

Flash has a bad reputation on the Mac but has that stopped people using it? Adobe should fix the problems, but will they bother when Apple publicly berates their efforts? Would Apple have the same attitude if Adobe pulled PhotoShop from the Mac platform?

Besides, I’m sure Steve would be horrified by much of the software I run on my PC and phone. Isn’t that my choice?

Fourth, there’s battery life.

Steve quotes a specific example:

You can view a (hardware-decoded) H.264 video on the iPhone for 10 hours.
The same video in Flash (assuming it’s not H.264-encoded) drains the battery in 5 hours.

Does it matter? How many other applications drain the iPhone battery? Would Apple criticize or ban other products for irresponsible electricity leakage?

Flash was designed for PCs using mice, not for touch screens using fingers. For example, many Flash websites rely on “rollovers”…

Most Flash websites will need to be rewritten to support touch-based devices. If developers need to rewrite their Flash websites, why not use modern technologies like HTML5, CSS and JavaScript?

First, Flash has it’s roots in SmartSketch — a drawing application for pen-based PCs.

But I don’t understand his point? HTML-based websites often rely on rollovers and mouse input. If standard HTML works so well on Apple devices, why are many companies urgently producing iPhone-specific versions of their existing web applications?

Sixth, the most important reason.

We know from painful experience that letting a third party layer of software come between the platform and the developer ultimately results in sub-standard apps and hinders the enhancement and progress of the platform.

That can happen. But it can also generate healthy competition and choice.

The iPhone is one of the most closed and proprietary products on the market. Apple has total control over what applications you can write, distribute and run. That’s their prerogative, but it grates against Steve’s call for an open web.

Ultimately, Apple is protecting their business interests. They’re not consumer champions protecting users from Adobe evil.

Enough of my ranting. Here’s a chance to have your say — it’s unlikely to affect Apple’s decision, but cast your vote on the SitePoint home page or leave a comment below.

Categories: Featured Blogs

SitePoint Podcast #59: Speaking of Fail

Fri, 04/30/2010 - 21:50

Episode 59 of The SitePoint Podcast is now available! This week your hosts are Patrick O’Keefe (@iFroggy), Brad Williams (@williamsba), Stephan Segraves (@ssegraves), and Kevin Yank (@sentience).

Listen in your Browser

Play this episode directly in your browser! Just click the orange “play” button below:

Download this Episode

You can also download this episode as a standalone MP3 file. Here’s the link:

SitePoint Podcast #59: Speaking of Fail (MP3, 48.2MB)

Subscribe to the Podcast

The SitePoint Podcast is on iTunes! Add the SitePoint Podcast to your iTunes player. Or, if you don’t use iTunes, you can subscribe to the feed directly.

Episode Summary

Here are the topics covered in this episode:

Facebook Releases “Like” Button for the Whole Web
Global Grind Copies Content, Submits It to Google News
Is Palm Crumbling Before Our Eyes?
Ning Fails at Free Social Networking
HTML5 vs Flash—Animation Benchmarking

Browse the full list of links referenced in the show at http://delicious.com/sitepointpodcast/59.

Host Spotlights

Stephan: MySQL Query Tree
Brad: iSendr
Kevin: Syphir
Patrick: Problogger Book 2nd Edition

Show Transcript

The transcript for this show has been delayed. We’ll update this post as soon as it’s ready!

Theme music by Mike Mella.

Thanks for listening! Feel free to let us know how we’re doing, or to continue the discussion, using the comments field below.

Categories: Featured Blogs

Palm Hands Over to HP

Fri, 04/30/2010 - 09:36

Smartphone and PDA manufacturer Palm, Inc has been saved following its self-enforced sale earlier this month. The situation had looked bleak after Lenovo and HTC pulled out. Pre and Pixi owners can now relax — HP has entered into a definitive agreement under which it will purchase Palm.

According to the HP press release:

HP and Palm, Inc. today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which HP will purchase Palm, a provider of smartphones powered by the Palm webOS mobile operating system, at a price of $5.70 per share of Palm common stock in cash or an enterprise value of approximately $1.2 billion. The transaction has been approved by the HP and Palm boards of directors.

The combination of HP’s global scale and financial strength with Palm’s unparalleled webOS platform will enhance HP’s ability to participate more aggressively in the fast-growing, highly profitable smartphone and connected mobile device markets. Palm’s unique webOS will allow HP to take advantage of features such as true multitasking and always up-to-date information sharing across applications.

Palm CEO Jon Rubenstein is expected to stay with the company. He commented:

We’re thrilled by HP’s vote of confidence in Palm’s technological leadership, which delivered Palm webOS and iconic products such as the Palm Pre. HP’s longstanding culture of innovation, scale and global operating resources make it the perfect partner to rapidly accelerate the growth of webOS.

The deal offers significant benefits to both companies:

Palm will survive. They struggled to sell the critically-acclaimed Pre in a market dominated by the Apple iPhone.
While HP has a long-term relationship with Microsoft to provide Windows-based smartphones, the Palm deal gives them an OS of their own.

HP announced they will invest heavily in Palm’s webOS platform. We’re likely to see it appear in a range of mobile devices including netbooks and iPad-like tablets.

It’s great news for web developers since webOS applications can be written in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. There is a free SDK available for Windows, Mac and Linux and there’s less proprietary do-as-we-say approval nonsense you find on other devices!

Categories: Featured Blogs

7 Tools to Help You Have More Fun on Twitter

Fri, 04/30/2010 - 06:32

This is the last of my three-post series about new Twitter apps and tools I recently found. We already covered a set of new-to-me Twitter clients and seven tools for using Twitter in unexpected ways. This post is all about fun!

Here are seven tools that focus solely on how to make Twitter fun … and much more addictive.

FunTweet

FunTweet will create pictures of your tweets, putting an image to your 140-character words of wisdom. Your followers can click on the FunTweet link to see your graphical tweet.

Ianswr

Ianswr collects questions asked on Twitter and allows anyone to answer them, with the goal of enabling near-instantaneous replies as well as amplifying the reach of your questions.

To ask a question, start a discussion or get recommendations simply tag your tweet with #ianswr or #answr. To respond to a question, go to the Ianswr web site and click the ANSWR button found below the question. You receive points every time you respond to a question, and the top list showcases the people with the most points.

Penolo

Are you a Twitter user who likes to draw? Penolo is for you. The site lets you create a sketch, and share it on Twitter. You can draw with a line with varying thickness, a circle, a rectangle and even use text. When your drawing is complete, you save it and out it goes as a tweet.

Tweekly.fm

Tweekly.fm lets Twitter users post their Last.fm statistics automatically each week with the hashtag of your choice. You also get a Tweekly.fm profile showing you how many other users share your taste in music. You can find new people to connect with and comment on their most listened-to artists.

Twitbrain

Use Twitter to test your brain power by figuring out the math problems posted. For example: Do you know the answer to 559 + (6 * 60) – 69? No calculators, please! See the answer at the bottom of this post.

To play on Twitter, just follow @twitbrain and watch for the twitbrain “challenge problems” posted (there are two an hour). Be the first person to reply with the correct answer and you win a point. Point leaders are listed on the Twitbrain website.

TwitterLit

TwitterLit shares literary teasers twice a day (at 9:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. ET). It’s up to you to guess the author from the first line of a book that’s tweeted. For example: Name the book that starts with, “When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.” See the answer below.

Twrivia

Twrivia is a daily trivia quiz on Twitter. To play, follow @twrivia, watch for the daily trivia question and tweet your answer. The first five correct answers are awarded 5-25 points, and all other correct answers received within 12 hours are awarded one point. There is a leaderboard on the Twrivia web site. See the answer to this trivia question below.

What’s your favorite game to play on Twitter?

Twitbrain answer: 850
TwitterLit answer: To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
Twrivia anwer: Los Angeles

Categories: Featured Blogs

Fundamentals of Logo Design Part 4: Symbol-Only Logos

Thu, 04/29/2010 - 20:48

So far in this series we’ve taken a look at Typographic Logos and Type and Symbol logos. Today it’s the turn of those logos which are bold enough to go without accompanying type. The third category of logo design is “symbol-only” logos. These are the Madonna or Britney of logo design – so famous they don’t need a surname, or in the case of a logo, so recognizable they don’t need to have the company name attached.

This type of logo is generally reserved for the really big boys and often results after a redesign when the company is so large that it can be recognized by a symbol alone. It’s probably not a great idea to use a symbol-only logo as part of your branding when you’re first launching. It helps enormously if the public are aware of the company name. The main idea or advantage of the symbol logo is that “a picture tells a thousand words.” A good design along with the power of repetition can make a big impact. Symbols and icons are powerful. They can convey a lot of information rapidly.

A symbolic logo uses an image to convey an authentic or abstract representation of a business. Without any text to explain the symbol, the logo can be open to a broad interpretation of what the company is about, which of course can be a good thing or a bad thing. Probably one of the most famous symbol-only logos is the Nike “swoosh.” It is instantly recognizable on clothes and sports equipment and has a solid tribe of followers. I wonder how many people would buy the exact same product if it didn’t have the swoosh on it?

Many symbols are not necessarily a direct illustration of the subject matter or “here’s what we do,” but rather a representational idea. Apple doesn’t grow apples. The first Apple logo depicted Isaac Newton sitting under a tree with an apple dangling over his head. The phrase on the outside border reads, “Newton… A Mind Forever Voyaging Through Strange Seas of Thought … Alone.” The Apple logo now looks very different, but there is a throwback to this original idea.

The disadvantage is, as already mentioned, if a symbol is separated from the company name or word mark, it can be difficult to recognize or make the connection. Here’s a group of well-known logos that represent companies and organizations and even icons in popular culture that are recognizable by their symbol alone. Do you recognize them all?

Are any of these logos a favorite of yours? What other symbol-only logos do you like?

Next week we’ll take a look at some of the questions that should be asked when thinking about designing a logo.

Categories: Featured Blogs

Five Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Do That Job Free

Thu, 04/29/2010 - 17:48

In every freelancer’s life, there are times when we’ll happily do a job gratis. Perhaps it’ll make a good folio piece, get our foot in the door of a new industry, or give us the kind of work experience we’d relish.

But there are other times when, although you feel like you probably should do a free job, the idea doesn’t sit well with you. Whether it’s a friend or an organization that wants you to complete work for no financial reward, you may find yourself inclined to take the job in spite of your gut instinct — possibly for the reasons I mentioned above.

Doing a free job is a big undertaking, so if you’re not 100% sure you want to do it, don’t. And if you need convincing, here are five reasons why you shouldn’t do that job for free.

1. You may not be able to give it the time it needs.

Paid work always takes precedence over unpaid projects. So if you’re juggling paid work with an unpaid gig, it can be difficult to prioritize the unpaid job when paying clients need help. In short, it can be hard to commit to unpaid work when others will happily pay.

Over time, the fact that you’re likely to prioritize paid work may well show in your product. The free project’s final outcome may not be as good as you’d hoped — or as good as it might have been if you’d been paid for your work.

2. You could spend the time finding paid projects.

If you don’t have a lot of projects on the go, you can wind up telling yourself that, in lieu of paid work, you should do a free gig since it’ll make a good folio piece.

That may be true, and this factor can be a tough one to weigh up. But if you work out, roughly, the time you’d spend on the free gig, then consider all the other project-hunting tasks you could undertake in that timeframe, you may decide your time is better spent building a paying client base.

3. This project may be bigger than it seems.

In my experience, unpaid work has tended to be less clearly defined than paid work. When they approach you, the non-paying client may not be certain about the boundaries of the work or what they require of you.

Many people who have asked me to help with unpaid projects have turned out to be expecting me to invest time in the initial phases — project definition, scope, and so on, though they never mentioned this in our initial discussions.

I’ve learned from those experiences that when my time doesn’t hold a dollar value for the client, they expect access to much more of it. Unpaid projects can swiftly balloon into time-wasters. And once you’ve gone along with that status quo for a while, it can be a challenge to tell the client that you can’t justify spending any more time on their job.

4. Unpaid projects often eat into your personal time.

This goes for the client as well as for you. If your non-paying client doesn’t have money to invest in their project, they’re unlikely to spend time that they could dedicate to generating income on the project. And you may well feel the same way.

That means that a project for which you’re not getting paid can soon eat into your free time after work hours, on weekends, and during public holidays. Suddenly you realize that you’re sacrificing your precious personal time — the most valuable time of all — to complete a project for no pay!

5. Clients can undervalue the project outcomes.

Clients who don’t pay for project inputs may be less likely to value those inputs. This may mean that, months down the track, you’re still waiting for your hard work to see the light of day, as your client prioritizes other, possibly paying, projects over the one you contributed to.

If you took on the project because it would give you something new and exciting to show off to your clients and associates, this can be extremely frustrating. But, since human beings are generally less likely to value something that comes free of charge than something they’ve paid for, delays in production and release, or poorly executed promotion of the end result, can be more likely to occur on projects you’ve completed for free. And sadly, there’s not often much you can do about it but hope.

Those are five very sound justifications for not taking the next unpaid job that you don’t think you really want to do. Do you have others you can share?

Categories: Featured Blogs

There is More to Life Than Forums – Or So I’m Told

Thu, 04/29/2010 - 11:39

My post this week is really only for those of you that just can’t get through the week without hearing from me. I like to kid myself that you exist (it’s good for the ego). Rather than the usual update on what is going on at the SitePoint forums, this post is to let you know that from now on you’ll be getting your weekly Community roundup on a Monday. As of today I am going to dedicate Fridays to those of you trusty SitePoint Community members that choose to follow us using that other site – Facebook. From now on Fridays will be known around this place as Facebook Friday.

Wow! Facebook Friday! Tell me more!
Every Friday (NZ time…) I am going to be introducing a new deal for our Facebook fans only. The deals could be anything from discounts off print books or kits, to awesome digital bundles. What’s more, each week everyone that takes advantage of that particular week’s deal will go in the draw to win a prize. We have all sorts of things to give away, from signed books to Flippa credits.

So, if you like us but you don’t ‘Facebook like’ us, now is the time to make the change! Deal one on the table…

And for those of you that know there really isn’t more to life than forums, I’ll see you back here on Monday for your weekly roundup.

Over and out.

Categories: Featured Blogs

7 Different (and Useful) Ways to Use Twitter

Thu, 04/29/2010 - 11:21

As I mentioned in my previous post, I recently discovered a number of Twitter apps that are new to me. I kicked off my Twitter-sharing series by covering a set of Twitter clients that you may not of heard of.

This post highlights seven tools to help you use Twitter beyond the expected ways. Some of these are great for expanding the usefulness of Twitter, others may help you become more productive, and some may just add some more fun to your Twitter experience.

Recipe Finding

Are you looking for a recipe that combines bananas, honey and nuts? Twecipe can help. Just follow @twecipe, tweet your ingredients, and you’ll receive a direct message back with a suggested recipe.

Package Tracking

TrackThis lets you track packages being sent by UPS, FedEx, USPS and DHL over Twitter, email, text message or Facebook. You signup for the service, enter a tracking number and a nickname for a package, and TrackThis will continually monitor the package. You will receive a notification each time the package changes location.

Traffic Monitoring

Commuter Feed is a service that lets you see and submit reports on traffic incidents in your local area using Twitter and Pownce. The service works for any city that has an IATA airport code worldwide. You can provide traffic updates by tweeting your city code and update to @commuter. You can stay up to speed by following the traffic feed for your city.

To-Do Reminding

Tweet Reminders helps you keep track of your most important to-dos. You just enter your Twitter username and a maximum of five things that you would like to be reminded about. The service will send you a direct message at the time you specify.

Job Searching

Tweetajob lets recruiters and employers register and create targeted job tweets to job seekers. If you’re looking for a job, you can create a profile, specify your location and areas of interest, and receive relevant job tweets to your Twitter account.

File Sharing

Tweetshare is a feature-rich Twitter app that lets you share your content in order to create discussions. To share files, you first upload your content, including videos, pictures, documents, PDFs. Then you tweet from Tweetshare to send out the link to your files, and your followers provide feedback and contribute to the discussion. It even includes features such as polls to help measure the response to your shared information.

Gift Giving

If you’ve ever wanted to send a gift to a Twitter friend but didn’t have his/her address, Twegistry is for you. You shop for gifts right from the site, then simply send a gift to the recipient’s Twitter account. Twegistry will notify the recipient that they have received a gift and ask if they accept. It’s a new site, so the store is a bit sparse, but it will be interesting to see if the idea takes off.

Do you use Twitter for any of these purposes? Have you found any new uses for Twitter lately?

Categories: Featured Blogs

6 Twitter Clients You May Not Have Heard Of

Thu, 04/29/2010 - 04:34

A few weeks ago, I wrote about my search for the perfect social network aggregator. I didn’t realize how difficult it would be to find a tool that combines Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn in a way that supports how I typically use the different sites.

The good news is that a number of readers suggested different apps for me to try out, so the options are plenty. The bad news is that I’m still in testing phase, so I don’t have my review/analysis quite ready. (If you haven’t weighed in with your favorite aggregator yet, leave a comment and I will add your tool of choice to my list.)

One unexpected side effect of my research has been the number of social network-specific tools that I’ve inadvertently discovered that I hadn’t heard of before, particularly for Twitter. While I’m still plugging away with my aggregator testing, I thought I share some of these interesting Twitter tools.

I divided my list into three separate posts. This one will focus on Twitter clients that are new to me. My next two posts will highlight tools that let you use Twitter in different and useful ways, and apps for having more fun with Twitter.

So here is the first round of Twitter tools I’ve recently discovered: client apps that aren’t (yet) mainstream but may offer unique value to Twitter users.

BirdHerd

BirdHerd lets you control a Twitter account that you use with a group of other people through the use of direct messages. If your group Twitter account receives a DM from one of your contributors, it will take various actions on that user’s behalf, such as posting a new message, following a Twitter user, replying to tweet and more.

Buzzbird

Buzzbird is an open-source Twitter client that is built on Mozilla’s XUL platform so it works with Mac OS X, Windows and Linux. Some of the functionality it supports includes multiple accounts, filters, URL shortening, follow/unfollow and more.

CoTweet

CoTweet is a business-focused Twitter platform that helps companies monitor their brand and engage their audience. It supports up to five Twitter accounts, monitors keywords, sends email notifications, threads conversations, archives messages, tracks clicks and more.

Pluggio

Pluggio, formerly TweetMiner, is a client that focuses on helping Twitter users build their following by providing a friend finder keyword-based service. Other features include sorting, searching, link tracking and scheduling. Pluggio may even be considered as an aggregator to some because it lets you post to any social network right from the client. It’s available as a desktop or web-based app.

Spaz

Spaz is an open-source Twitter client for Palm, Mac OS X, Windows and Linux based on Adobe AIR. It’s available as a desktop or mobile app and features include: global search, URL shortening, themes/skins, directories, multiple account support and more. It also works with Identi.ca.

TwitHive

TwitHive is a web-based Twitter client that supports multiple accounts, filters, searching, customized channels, integrated news, URL shortening and more. It’s AJAX-based so it’s quick to load across most major web browsers.

What do you use to manage your Twitter account? Do you use an app that’s off the beaten path?

Categories: Featured Blogs

A Beginner’s Guide to Silverlight with PHP

Thu, 04/29/2010 - 00:26

In today’s tutorial, “A Beginner’s Guide to Silverlight with PHP,” author Jordan Knight takes a look at Microsoft’s .NET powered client side technology, Silverlight, which aims to satisfy the demand for Rich Internet Applications.

Jordan starts off by showing us how to get started with Silverlight development using Visual Studio from Microsoft’s Web Platform Installer, and concludes by demonstrating how to use Silverlight to access PHP based web services.

As you move through the article you’ll learn how simple and practical PHP and Silverlight integration can be. When you’re done, you’ll have a good understanding of how your Silverlight app communicates with PHP using web services.

We have a quiz for you to tackle once you’ve read the tutorial, so why not see how good your memory is?

Read the article
Take the quiz

Categories: Featured Blogs

How to Make WordPress Easier for Clients, Part 2: Hiding Menus

Wed, 04/28/2010 - 10:19

In part 1 of this series, we discovered how easy it is to simplify the WordPress interface for clients.

In this article, I describe a technique for hiding unnecessary menus. Why would we want to do that? The fewer options your client has, the less you’ll need to explain, the less they’ll need to remember, and the less likely they’ll do something, er … unexpected.

Before you add any code, I’d recommend you check your WordPress user roles. I suspect most developers add their client as an editor (publish and manage all posts) or an author (publish and manage their own posts). Avoid adding anyone as as administrator unless they specifically request that level of control.

I’d also suggest you log in as that user and remove any unnecessary items using the Screen Options drop-down. Your client may not need to use features such as tags, slugs, or custom fields.

Now make a note of the menus the client doesn’t need. Options such as Profile, Tools and Settings are obvious candidates. Perhaps the site doesn’t use links or comments? Or should your client be able to manage posts but not static pages?

OK, so let’s add a little code to your theme’s function.php file. Not sure what that is? Take a look at part 1. Ready? Here’s the code:

// remove unnecessary menus function remove_admin_menus () { global $menu; // all users $restrict = explode(',', 'Links,Comments'); // non-administrator users $restrict_user = explode(',', 'Media,Profile,Appearance,Plugins,Users,Tools,Settings'); // WP localization $f = create_function('$v,$i', 'return __($v);'); array_walk($restrict, $f); if (!current_user_can('activate_plugins')) { array_walk($restrict_user, $f); $restrict = array_merge($restrict, $restrict_user); } // remove menus end($menu); while (prev($menu)) { $k = key($menu); $v = explode(' ', $menu[$k][0]); if(in_array(is_null($v[0]) ? '' : $v[0] , $restrict)) unset($menu[$k]); } } add_action('admin_menu', 'remove_admin_menus');

There are two lines you should edit:

$restrict (line 5) contains a comma-delimited list of menu items which will not be shown to any users — including adminstrators. In the example above, we’re hiding Links and Comments, but your requirements may be different.
$restrict_user (line 8) contains a comma-delimited list of menu items which will not be shown to non-adminisrators. The example above disables everything expect for the Dashboard, Pages and Posts. (Note that non-administive users would not normally see Appearance and Plugins, but other plugins might change that functionality.)

I hope you and your clients find it useful. Do you have further tips for simplifying WordPress?

Categories: Featured Blogs

FullCodePress: Your Country Needs You!

Wed, 04/28/2010 - 07:16

The FullCodePress team are at it again.

This year, the build-a-website-in-a-day geek Olympics is happening in Wellington, New Zealand (read coverage of previous events on SitePoint). However, this time there’s a twist:

The USA is sending The Dream Team.

That’s right — this time around, Team USA is joining the contest, and by the looks of things, they’re serious contenders. Jason Santa Maria is just one of the names on the USA FullCodePress team that regular readers of this blog might recognize. Jason is a designer who has been blogging about design and making beautiful things on the web for a number of years. He’s been involved in sites like Typedia, Typekit and A List Apart.

Gulp.

Australia and New Zealand, it’s time to step up. Your country needs you!

The FullCodePress organizers are on the hunt for the best designers, user experience advocates, HTML/CSS coders, back-end developers, project managers and content writers/editors that Australia and New Zealand have to offer, to participate in FullCodePress 2010. From the FullCodePress site:

For those who do not know the details, three teams (Australia, NZ, USA) meet at a single location and are given a non-profit website to build in 24 hours. At the end of the 24 hour period, the sites are judged and a winner announced. An amazing experience and a worthy cause!

You can apply for any of these positions here (registration closes May 4th, 2010):

Selected team members for Team Australia will be flown to New Zealand to compete on the 19th and 20th of June, all expenses paid.

Think you have what it takes? What are you waiting for? Go sign up now!

Categories: Featured Blogs

Livebrush Is A Ton Of Fun & Very Useful

Tue, 04/27/2010 - 19:12

If you like playing around with brushes, lines and doodles I think you’ll really enjoy using Livebrush. It’s a drawing app that lets you create some very interesting graphics simply by drawing a few lines. Livebrush is an AIR application available either for free as Livebrush Lite or for a very recession-friendly price of $10 for the full version.

The app works by letting you choose from a fairly large selection of brush styles. With each brush style you can set preferences which dictate how the brush will behave. When you start drawing you’ll find that how you move your mouse (or ideally a pen and graphics tablet) greatly affects how the line appears. Drawing slowly produces thin lines, but start to make sweeping gestures with the mouse and you’ll find the lines are bolder, thicker and in some cases have patterns.

You can draw with more than one brush style at a time and also with more than one color at a time. If you hit upon a style you like by experimentation you can save it as a brush style and if you create a doodle or line that you like, you can save it as a reusable graphic called a decoration. You can share the decoration with the Livebrush community, export it as an image or attach it to other lines that you draw.

To get the best out of this program would definitely take a bit of time and effort. The user interface is not unlike other graphics programs in that it consists of a drawing area and has a number of palettes, including Layers and a small toolbar, but there are a huge amount of settings available for each brush type and the best way to figure out how they work is trial and error. You can draw with pixels or with vectors and I found it very easy to manipulate the vector shapes and anchor points after they had been drawn.

As well as starting an image from scratch, you can import in your own photographs and drawings and paint on top of them. The main difference between the free and paid version is the paid version of Livebrush has the following features:

Vector Export
Canvas Sizes
Over 100 Styles & Decorations

Here’s a video of the brushes in action.

I think this is a terrific tool for designers and is really a lot of fun to play with.

Have you used Livebrush before? What did you think of it?

Categories: Featured Blogs