Finally after months of work I finished Deploy*. Comes preloaded with CSS resets, XHTML Strict/Transitional, jQuery library (uncompressed, minified, and packed), and these five jQuery plugins:
If you would like anymore just shoot me an email. They are very easy to implement. Also, if you find any bugs, typos, or anything let me know!
Deploy* can be found at ProjectDeploy.org
I had this problem after purchasing MacJournal 5 from the MacUpdate bundle. The program looked great and had everything I wanted for a blogging application as well as a digital notebook. When I tried to add my blog however, it wouldn’t work. [skip to bottom for the the easy steps or read the blog for the story.]
Everything I tried had failed. I contacted the developer and we went through lots of testing and shooting emails back and fourth with new ideas. I was about to give up hope when Dan, the creator of MacJournal, asked me to record the network http requests it’s sending out through Terminal.app. I did so and read the XML it generated. It said that the transfer was exhausted. I thought that was odd so I checked my servers error logs and found out that the Wordpress script was failing on a specific Wordpress line each time. When i went through the PHP code I noticed it was failing at the point of upload.
I couldn’t think of how to fix it when, bang, it hit me.
For you non-programmers, for safety reasons php restricts the size of the file you can upload, and how long you have to upload that file. It sets these settings in the php.ini file.
So here is how to fix this fluke.
max_execution_time = 30 ;
max_input_time = 600 ;
memory_limit = 20M ;
Make sure your settings are not commented out altogether by checking if there is a ; in front of each of those settings above. It should look exactly like that. Now save!
Now you are all set. It should be working. If not, check your MacJournal set up. This is the set up you will need, of course, replace blogurl with your website.
In Manual set up you should have something like this:
Name: Blog Name Here
Type: Moveable Type
URL: http://blogurl.com/
POST URL: http://blogurl.com/xmlrpc.php
User: Username
Blog ID: 1
I have been a huge fan of freemacware.com for quite some time. I used to suggest it to all my friends, colleagues, and even family because it really did have this huge assortment of freeware for the Mac. I found just about everything I needed there. Recently however a new app came into my Mail RSS inbox. BBEdit which I wasn’t quite sure could pass for free. I knew about this app long ago and it has never, ever been free. They have always had trials however.
I sent them an email awhile ago having a crazy notion of them replying in a fashionable time frame. I was mistaken, again. They have yet to reply to my email and it has been a week.
Maybe this was a one time accident? In a matter of days, two actually, they had new software which I was interested in. As always I went to the developers site to read more about the application. I was extremely surprised to see that just a couple days after the BBEdit “mistake” they had made another “accident”. Pomoto was the software and if you go to their site you can clearly see on the right hand side that its a $3 a month or $30 a year. Not only do you need the service to upload the images using Pomoto, you need the software right? Unfortunately, that is not free either. The software has a 15 day trial with a 50 picture upload limit.
I think software developers should set any price whatsoever on their software, but is Bare Bones and Pomoto just trying to get some free trial downloads hoping for some to buy or is FreeMacWare changing into ShareMacWare because they are lazy or have some sort of advertising deal?
I sent an email to both Bare Bones and Pomoto today, and I will update you all on the response.
Within hours of sending an email to Pomoto I got a response. His response was,
I appreciate your concern and would like to express our deep support of keeping commercial software developers honest.
In this case, I was not aware of FreeMacWare and can guarantee that we had nothing to do with Pomoto being posted there. The only freeware/shareware sites to which we’ve submitted Pomoto are VersionTracker, MacUpdate and iUseThis.
I also didn’t realize this, but he went and noticed these other not-so-free “freeware” Those of which were
BBEdit contacted me a few hours later (Wow, so now so far, only freemacware has yet to reply to a couple emails I sent at least a week ago now.) Their response was closely the similar
I’m not familiar with the site you mention, but they’re either quite confused
or being purposely misleading since BBEdit certainly is not free.
So what is the reason? I think it’s simply one of these two:
I wanted to contribute something actually more useful. I am just now starting to blog regularly and receiving comments, which if they are not contributing then I delete them. How I want to contribute is how to make a 100% valid XHTML/CSS site. I’ll be including “homework” for you to do before the next post. Each post will rely on that work you did previously. This guide is expecting you know very basic XHTML and CSS. I will be building a site with you and you can see how to use those elements, but I ask that you know what tags are and just a very basic idea of those main programming languages. If you do not know these visit these sites:
W3 Schools is a great place and learned every bit of (X)HTML and CSS there. You can learn and practice in their editor, but you will need an editor of your own and some other tools.
Tools you will need in developing any website are
Those are the very, very basic tools. If you are serious about this in any way, and want to put this on the web you will need the following in addition to the above tools:
If you are new to web development you probably don’t know what software to use. Feel free to skip each category if you already have software you like in that category. I’ll be giving the recommended software and then a free equivalent of that software. Please remember I am on Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard). If you are on Windows I don’t have a lot of software compatible on that and I refuse to use it, so you will have to do some research on your own. If you are using a Linux distro I will help you as much as possible. I also own Ubuntu 7.10. I’ll give an example for each app in Linux as well, but the paid software is mostly Mac stuff.
Text Editors
Text editors are a dime a dozen. There are so many out there. If you are on Windows you could very well use Notepad. I would not recommend it, but you can. I personally use TextMate which is my personal favorite and the only editor I would ever pay for. It has color coding and is very minimal which I like. It has great features and is fairly cheap compared to the alternatives. If you are looking for something free, but still powerful get TextWrangler. I can honestly say its a great editor and the best free one out there.
Ubuntu (Linux) users could use TextEditor which is my favorite when using Ubuntu and it’s preinstalled. I also used Screem for awhile as well. You can download this in the add/remove apps.
Web Browsers
Almost all browsers are free, but there are certain browsers you need to make sure you have. The three browsers you will need to test on are:
Firefox (Windows, Mac, Linux, and more)
Safari (Windows and Mac)
Internet Explorer (6&7) (Windows only)
Unfortunately, the most used browser is IE 6 which is a big, gigantic, humongous, piece of crap. You will end up writing an entire separate style sheet just for it and it doesn’t support transparent pngs.
FTPs
How are you going to get files to the server you have chosen? Unless you have your PC as a web server, you will be using a FTP to transfer your files. FTP stands for file transfer protocol. My favorite FTP for the Mac is Transmit from Panic. They make some awesome apps. If you are a student get Fetch which is the FTP I used for a long time until I got Transmit which I like much better. If you want a totally free app for the mac though I would get Cyberduck. I have used it a few times and used it at my work and it’s the best free one out there.
On Ubuntu I never used an FTP. I used the Connect to Server in the Places folder. I then select FTP and fill out the info. I think it work great and it makes it look just like another folder on your OS.
Vector and/or Bitmap Image Software
A website isn’t a website without any images. Even Google’s stark homepage has their logo. How you are going to make these images is your choice. You could always use stock images from sxc.hu which are free, but free vector files are harder find and you might need to create basic images such as rounded corners and such. I usually use two different image editing software. The most used is Adobe Illustrator CS3 and then after that I use Adobe Photoshop CS3. I recommend these, but these are by no means cheap. I will go into the differences of these two and what vector and bitmap mean in a later chapter.
If you can’t afford this, which is understandable, there are two widely used apps for both Mac and Linux. InkScape (replaces Illustrator) and GIMP (replaces Photoshop) Both are very good, but I don’t have a lot of experience in either. More in InkScape then GIMP, but I can say that both are plenty good enough for basic web design.
Web Hosts
You will probably do not need a web host right away and you will be able to edit and program most every file right on your computer. When you are ready for one I have one free option for you. This is the best free option out there and I have been using it to host my various websites and used it as a testing server many times for clients. Trap 17 is it’s name and it’s just great. It supports just about everything and gives you tons of space and more than enough bandwidth. If you are going through more bandwidth than they offer you should be making some serious dough. It’s completely free and no ads. All you have to do is post in their forums. You can find me there as BooZker. I am a regular member there and I am well known, so if you have a question PM me or ask someone there if they have seen me around.
They give you a certain amount of points based on the content of the topic. one credit is equal to one day. I have had 200 credits at one time and didn’t go back there for three months. It’s nice having that security with a free host. You will only need 10 credits before you can ask for web hosting. I would get the biggest package there. Please just go to http://trap17.com for all the info.
I do not know of any other paid hosts, because I have only used Trap 17, Bravehost, and FreeWebs. Trap 17 is by far the best and is the only one without ads and isn’t dead slow.
Domain Names
Last but defiantly not least is a domain name. A domain name is a like a speed dial on a phone. Instead of typing in http://64.233.161.18 you would type google.com. This is crucial for any successful website. Plus it’s super cheap. You can get domain names sometimes for a little over a buck, but godaddy.com is my preferred place to buy domain names and they are super cheap on their .com names. I will go into detail on how to purchase and move the name to your host, which in this blog will be Trap 17, and set the DNS (Domain Name Servers) up.
So this conclude my post and Ch.1. If you have any questions, see any typos, or whatever drop me a comment. You have some homework to do!
The other stuff can wait such as domain names and web hosts. Just try to get that stuff done and that way next chapter you will be able to jump right in.
Good Luck!
What is so great about Photoshop? Yes, it’s photo editing software, hence Photoshop, and it is the best out there, but why do so many design websites with it? It’s not made for web design in the first place. I can see if you are comfortable with it, but I slice up websites for a living and I can’t stand going through layers upon layers of “Layer 1, Layer 2, …” and it makes me go crazy. Not only that, I have to find that magic layer in the 50 others to extract your logo or side bar or whatever. I slice and dice and create my entire website in Adobe Illustrator.
Why you ask? It’s very simple really. Adobe Illustrator has layers also, but many don’t use them and when they do use them, they use them sparingly. I do edit the photos in Photoshop, but then bring them over into AI. I have a huge canvas this way and I can move and cut things up on multiple layers without having to merge or flatten. It saves me time… a lot of time actually.
Plus how many photos do you really use on a website? Most of the stuff that you make will end up being converted to code or a simple shape such as a square, rounded corner, etc. In the last 5 websites I have sliced there were a grand total of 7 photos that were used in the actual design of the site. There were portfolio sections, but in the design you would leave this blank or have in sample.
Please use Illustrator or something to design your website if it’s going to get sliced because it will save everyone more time. Many people who slice probably wouldn’t like an AI file since they are not used to it, but after they use it, it will grow on them!
Next is the actual slicing part. Most people send the comps off after this, but if you design and slice what do you use? I would never, ever, ever use the slicing option that Photoshop has. I guess it’s not bad, but you aren’t going to get the results you want and you wont understand the code as well and then they decide they want something different, you are screwed. Just take some time and learn basic XHTML and CSS. After that I use TextMate by Macromates. It’s a very minimal, lightweight, IDE. Supports tons of languages and even Ruby on Rails. It’s €39, which equals about $56.9088. By the way, I am talking about Mac OS X software here. Sorry Windows people…
Lastly, you will need a way to upload files to a web server. To do this you will need an FTP. I have two great options here. If you can get a student discount get Fetch because it’s free and one of the best out there. If you don’t mind coffing up some money or you do not get a educational or charitable discount I would just get Transmit from Panic. It has more features than Fetch and I personally like it better. Once again, sorry Windows users, Mac only stuff.
I do want to warn you about one piece of software that actually gets banned in some work places such as mine. Dreamweaver by Adobe (Just recently released by them, but has had 8 previous versions from Macromedia which has been bought out by Adobe.) Dreamweaver hogs a shit load of RAM and not for a very good reason. It is just packed full of extra features that try to make it easier, but it really is just easier to learn how to program it since XHTML and CSS is very basic than have to learn how to navigate through menu after menu to add one thing. You will have to learn what everything means anyways to be able to use the menus. If you want a fully featured IDE that has a built in FTP and has all the features of Dreamweaver then get Panic’s Coda. It’s $80, but much less than Dreamweaver’s $400 price.
So this is what I end up with and everything I use to make websites (with the exception of the occasional Flash video.)
• Design and slicing = Adobe Illustrator
• Coding = TextMate
• FTP = Fetch/Transmit
• Optional (takes place of both TextMate and a FTP) = Coda
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