Firebug Tool - edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript

If you work in Internet Development then I highly recommend the use of firebug (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1843) which is tool where you can examine all the elements of the webpage that you are viewing. Firebug is specifically for use with Firefox however there is a Internet Explorer version if you're that way inclined which is called 'Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar'. With Firebug you can ->edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live in any web page.
If you're involved in css changes it's a must have tool and it's completely free.
For example on the left hand side view you could select the HTML tag. This would give you a list tags that may look something like this.
+ < div class="1" >+

Clicking on the'+' sign to the left of these tags would display all the contents of that < div >. for example
+ < div class="1" > < div class="2" > + < div class="" >

It's the same principle if we were to replace the div tags with table tag etc.
On selecting the tag of your choice on the right hand of the screen we could choose to view the css for this item. And not only that we can edit the style from here and view the changes immediatley. Thus saving time consuming testing. Also on the right hand side you could move that item around the screen by selecting the layout tag. When you make changes here 'Firebug' shows you the css you need to write to make the changes.
There's even a tab so you can change Javascript DOM . Not something I've used yet though.
This is a must have tool for any other internet developer.

Basic CodeIgnitor Notes

If you write code then you may be familiar with this situation.

You have a small project that you write in the quickest possible way to meet a deadline and maximise profit.

It then grows and grows. At this point you are seeing the error of your ways and you should be using Object Oriented Programming and a bettter 'Framework'. Now have streams of spaghetti code, made from many copy and paste moments. The main problem with this is that changes to one bit of code and many other pieces may need to be changed or the knock on effects considered.

It's time to switch to a MVC framework and using someone elses rather than you're own will save time.

For the project I'm about to start helping on soon they use code ignitor, so it'd seem like a good time to have a look at their framework.

Here's some of the Basic pointers I picked out;

>> classes will extend Controller to use all the properties of this masterclass.

>> class names should be the same page names and can be called up from URL
/CodeIgniter/index.php/blog/
-> this will load the function 'index' in the blog class
->-> we could call up the function 'do_this' with the uri /index.php/blog/do_this/

NOTE: we could get rid of index.php through the .htaccess file to make cleaner URL's

>> if we're making a constructer ( same names as it's class ) remember that it will overwrite any constructer in the parent class. so we must call the parents constructor first . ie parent::Controller();

Using IRC - Internet Relay Chat

IRC stands for ' internet relay chat '

Which is useful if you need to chat within a group over the internet. You could use SSH and command line to do this or there are many clients that will give you an easier viewing experience.

It was recommended to me that I should use something like mirc.com/ . However on checking this one is only free for a limited period.
Checking on wiki will get you a comprehensive list of IRC clients - check here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_IRC_clients

As I use firefox for my Internet Browser I opted for ChatZilla http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChatZilla and this one seems pretty easy to use.

To start a session with a group it's as easy as

entering:

/server theserver.your.connecting.to

the enter:

/join #thegroupnameyouarejoining

Adding a new Manufacturer Field to Magento store

you can find this article and other helpdesk items at
http://www.littleripples.com/helpdesk/knowledgebase.php


Manufacturer is an attribute setting, so the following procedure is the same for adding any extra fields to other attributes.

>> In the Admin panel

>> hover over the 'catalog' button on the menu bar.

>> go to 'attributes' >> 'Manage Attributes'

>> find 'Manafcturers' and click on the attribute name

>> on the left hand side click on the 'Manage Label/Options' tab

>> underneather Manage Options on the main part of the screen click on 'Add option'

>> enter the text of the new manufacturer you want to add.

Help Desk Software

Unfortunately software bugs are part and parcel of writing code. The bigger the project the more likely it is there are going to be bugs of some sort. I have recently fallen into the mistake of starting a fairly small project recently that has grown and grown on request of the customer. If the size of the project was apparent from the start then it would have been much more obvious that a decent design environment should have been set up from the start. Here are some that I recommend

• Version Control Programme ( Subversion )
  
• Documentation (PHPDocumentor)
• Bugzilla

and finally no matter what the size of the project a ticketing system is well worth the investment.

Especially when the investment is only a hour or so of your time. This is how long it took to set up the excellent Help Desk Software that can be found at PHP Junkyard. The programme itself is completly free

Here are some of the main features

* unlimited personalized accounts for staff

* unlimited categories

* canned responses

* file attachments

* fully-featured knowledge base (articles, categories, search,...)

* custom fields in the "Submit a ticket" form

* anti-SPAM checks when submitting a ticket

* powerful ticket search functions

* e-mail notifications of new tickets and replies

* rating of staff replies and knowledge base articles

* auto close tickets after X days

* easy-to-use web interface

* easy to translate to any language

* and many more!

On the way to finding this program I'd also tried osticket.com and troubleticketexpress.com.

osticket.com - seems like a project at a very early stage. Installing this would mean getting your hands dirty and doing lots of code writing to get it to all the things it should do.

troubleticketexpress.com - has a basic version and then seems to want to channel you to purchase addons to get to the programme to do every thing you want it to.

I'd found this programme through www.hotscripts.com.

Installing Subversion on Heart Internet Shared Server

I spent a good day of my life trying to install subversion on my one of our accounts that is hosted with Heart Internet.

Just to find out that it is not possible

"It is not possible to install or run subversion on our servers as doing so would put you in breach of our terms and conditions.

15.1.2 you do not use the Hosting Service as a backup of, or repository for, your Material;"

This is unfortunate as they're are many reasons why having a version control program is paramount to solid base for web development. If you are installing on shared host though and it's not with Heart Internet then this post

http://joemaller.com/2008/01/29/how-to-install-subversion-on-a-shared-host/

explains the process much clearer than anything else that I came across.

Adding Translation to your website to increase keywords and hits

The mission: To Increase hits and bookings for Hillside Glastonbury B&B & selfcatering accommodation.

www.hillsideglastonbury.co.uk

As we are currently in the middle of the 'credit crunch' and due to the fact that the British Pound is doing so badly against the Euro at the moment that bookings from abroad may well be a opportunist market at the present time.
To tap into this market we have decided to provide a translation of the website, albeit with Yahoo's translation tool Babel Fish. The problem with this of course is that some words may be undesired and the grammar will also be incorrect in places. On the plus side though it's cheap and free - you can target a few keywords that will at least get the hits in from abroad. Hopefully once we receive a few bookings through this new channel we will then invest in a proffessional translations.


On out home page we have placed links to an introduction pages for 6 languages - German (GlastonburyAnpassung), French (GlastonburyLogement), Dutch (GlastonburyAanpassing), Spanish (GlastonburyComodidad), Italian (GlastonburySistemazione) and Portuguese (GlastonburyAcomodacao).
This page has a brief introduction and apologieses for any grammatical errors and then targets three key phrases for each language. Each link from this page to others on our website transfer the user to the BabelFish website. So all the links are this format

http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_url?doit=done&fr=bf-badge&trurl=http://www.YOURWEBSITELINKHERE.co.uk/&lp=en_pt

At the end the code -> 'en_pt'

The changes the language from English to Portuguese - Here is a list of the other language changes used.

'en_de' = English to German
'en_fr'= English to French
'en_nl'= English to Dutch
'en_es'= English to Spanish
'en_it'= English to Italian


Since these changes we have noticed a 50% increase in hits in the first month. The bottom line though will be to see if these increases in hits translate in to B&B and Self Catering bookings. We will have to see.