Open Source

What's Coming in Drupal 7 Free!
by Ray West - 04-Aug-09
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Code Freeze for the 7th version of Drupal has been announced for September 1st and August should see a flurry of activity as the developers try to get as many features as possible into this very popular content management system. Let's take a look at some of the features that are coming in the next release

Embed a 3-D CoolIris Image Wall in Your Site Using Media RSS Feeds
by Kim Cavanaugh - 24-Jul-09
Reader Level:

I'm a huge fan of the awesome browser plugin known as CoolIris which can be used to browse news, video sites, and image collections in a 3-dimensional wall of thumbnails that you can zoom through using the scroll wheel on your mouse and navigate by dragging left or right. I find the interface to be one of the freshest new methods to come along in a long time for viewing information online, completely breaking with the familiar drill-down methods that most sites use. Even sites such as Flickr or YouTube look better when seen through the CoolIris interface and the plugin can even be used as a PowerPoint replacement to show a presentation in a dynamic new way, as I previously wrote about here at Community MX.

One of the more dynamic features of CoolIris are the developer tools that allow you to use the power of CoolIris to embed a wall of images on a page in your own site. In the first article of this series you learned how to embed a CoolIris wall of images in a page of your own site using the CoolIris developer sample embed code and a feed from Flickr.com. In this article you'll learn how to use the free PicLens Publisher program, to make your own media RSS file and display images that are on your web server.

Both of these methods allow you to embed a Flash movie on any page you wish and read an RSS feed from a service such as Flickr, or read from your own custom RSS file that points to any folder you choose on your site. And, while the idea of mucking around with a bunch of code and Flash variables (what?) to customize your CoolIris wall of images might seem daunting, you'll learn the process is quite simple.

The Embed a 3-D CoolIris Image Wall in Your Site Series:
Embed a 3-D CoolIris Image Wall in Your Site Using Flickr Feeds
Embed a 3-D CoolIris Image Wall in Your Site Using Media RSS Feeds

Embed a 3-D CoolIris Image Wall in Your Site Using Flickr Feeds
by Kim Cavanaugh - 14-Jul-09
Reader Level:

I'm a huge fan of the awesome browser plugin known as CoolIris which can be used to browse news, video sites, and image collections in a 3-dimensional wall of thumbnails that you can zoom through using the scroll wheel on your mouse and navigate by dragging left or right. I find the interface to be one of the freshest new methods to come along in a long time for viewing information online, completely breaking with the familiar drill-down methods that most sites use. Even sites such as Flickr or YouTube look better when seen through the CoolIris interface. The plugin can even be used as a PowerPoint replacement to show a presentation in a dynamic new way, as I previously wrote about here at Community MX.

One of the more dynamic features of CoolIris are the developer tools that allow you to use the power of CoolIris to embed a wall of images in your own site. In this article you'll learn how to use the first of two methods for embedding images in a page of your own site using the CoolIris developer tools and a feed from Flickr.com.

In the next article of this mini-series you'll learn how to use the free PicLens Publisher program, to make your own media RSS file and display images that are on your web server.

Both of these methods allow you to embed a Flash movie on any page you wish and read an RSS feed from a service such as Flickr, or read from your own custom RSS file. While the idea of mucking around with a bunch of code and Flash variables (what?) to customize your CoolIris wall of images might seem daunting, as you'll learn the process is quite simple.

The Embed a 3-D CoolIris Image Wall in Your Site Series:
Embed a 3-D CoolIris Image Wall in Your Site Using Flickr Feeds
Embed a 3-D CoolIris Image Wall in Your Site Using Media RSS Feeds Coming Soon

Running Your Own DNS Server: Setting up a Zone File
by Arman Danesh - 24-Feb-09
Reader Level:

In the third part of our series on running a DNS server we look at how to write your own zone file for your domain.

The Running Your Own DNS Server Series:
Running Your Own DNS Server: Understanding the Domain Name System
Running Your Own DNS Server: Setting Up a Bind Name Server
Running Your Own DNS Server: Setting up a Zone File

Running Your Own DNS Server: Setting Up a Bind Name Server
by Arman Danesh - 06-Feb-09
Reader Level:

This is the second article in a series about setting up your own DNS name server. This article looks at installing BIND 9 and configuring it to act as master or slave name server for your domain.

The Running Your Own DNS Server Series:
Running Your Own DNS Server: Understanding the Domain Name System
Running Your Own DNS Server: Setting Up a Bind Name Server
Running Your Own DNS Server: Setting up a Zone File

Appcelerator Titanium: The Open Source Alternative to Adobe AIR? Free!
by Arman Danesh - 23-Jan-09
Reader Level:

Appcelerator Titanium is a new open source platform for building cross-platform desktop applications using standard web technologies: HTML, CSS, JavaScript and Flash. This places it firmly in the same space as Adobe's AIR, where Titanium could emerge as a serious contender.

This article reviews Appcelerator and Appcelerator Titanium, provides an overview of its main features and API and walks through a simple application example to help readers decide for themselves if Titanium might be for them.

Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 6: Using the Snapshot Technique for Editing WordPress Themes
by Kim Cavanaugh - 18-Dec-08
Reader Level:

The goal of this series of articles is to show you how to take what is already an awesome package—including an almost limitless supply of free design themes—and customize the look and feel of a WordPress site to meet your goals. Through this series you'll be learning how to use some of the design tools from Adobe, such as Fireworks and Dreamweaver, as well as free open source browser plugins to modify the design of a WordPress installation.

In this, the sixth article in the series, you'll be learning another method for editing WordPress themes in Dreamweaver. Using the Snapshot technique shown in this article you'll be able to use Dreamweaver CS4 for editing your style sheet while using all of the design tools that Dreamweaver provides.

The Customizing a WordPress Blog Series:
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 1: Editing Header Images
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 2: Examining WordPress Themes with the Firebug Extension for FF
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 3: Examining WordPress Themes with the Web Developer's Extension
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 4: Creating a Testing Environment Using MAMP and Dreamweaver
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 5: Editing WordPress Themes in Dreamweaver CS4
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 6: Using the Snapshot Technique for Editing WordPress Themes
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 7: Editing the Themes with Fireworks CS4

Site Wide Contact Forms in Drupal
by Chaz Chumley - 16-Dec-08
Reader Level:

Drupal 6 provides a powerful content management framework that, out of the box, enables any user to create pages, blog's, forums, and more. With many third-party modules that allow for even more functionality, we often overlook functionality that out of the box is already available, just waiting for you to enable it. Contact forms are one such module that with a few quick settings allows people to contact you.

In this quick tutorial we will go through the steps involved to enable and set up one to multiple contact forms quickly and easily.

Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 5: Editing WordPress Themes in Dreamweaver CS4
by Kim Cavanaugh - 15-Dec-08
Reader Level:

There's little doubt that the fine, free, open source blogging package available from WordPress has enjoyed astounding success. With downloads of well over 50 million, the PHP, MySQL, and Apache powered WordPress package is currently the world's most popular blogging package and is in use by literally millions of designers and developers (and do-it-yourselfers)around the world.

The goal of this series of articles is to show you how to take what is already an awesome package—including an almost limitless supply of free design themes—and customize the look and feel of a WordPress site to meet your goals. Through this series you'll be learning how to use some of the design tools from Adobe, such as Fireworks and Dreamweaver, as well as free open source browser plugins to modify the design of a WordPress installation.

In this article we'll take a look at the incredible new dynamic design tools that are available in Dreamweaver CS4. Using the new Live View feature you can prepare a design environment for WordPress themes that not only allows you to take advantage of the visual editing environment in Dreamweaver, for the first time you can actually see the changes to linked CSS files take place right within the Dreamweaver design environment. These new features make it possible like never before for anyone to work with WordPress themes.

The Customizing a WordPress Blog Series:
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 1: Editing Header Images
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 2: Examining WordPress Themes with the Firebug Extension for FF
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 3: Examining WordPress Themes with the Web Developer's Extension
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 4: Creating a Testing Environment Using MAMP and Dreamweaver
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 5: Editing WordPress Themes in Dreamweaver CS4
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 6: Using the Snapshot Technique for Editing WordPress Themes
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 7: Editing the Themes with Fireworks CS4

Building Web Sites With Drupal – Part 15: Creating a Moderated User Group
by Ray West - 03-Dec-08
Reader Level:

There are as many ways to build a web site as there are customers out there. What that usually means is that, as developers, we end up recreating the wheel over and over again. In reality, though, 80% of the customers you come across could likely be serviced quite nicely with relatively minor modifications to a basic site structure that includes the most common functionality. That is the concept behind a Content Management System like Drupal.

Drupal is a framework for creating web applications. As such, it has a wealth of advanced abilities like forums, newsletters, and RSS syndication. But it is also well suited for the building of simpler websites that just need to update their content on a regular basis. If you build sites for clients, chances are there is a portion of your business that could be handled more quickly and more profitably using Drupal.

Drupal manages permissions at the role level, meaning that you can assign users to a role that has the proper permissions, but it can be tricky when you need to control a permission for an individual user. This came up recently when trying to control the commenting of a user. Here is a quick tip on creating a moderated group for troublesome users.

The Building Web Sites With Drupal Series:
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 1: Introduction
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 2: Installation
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 3: Setting Initial Roles and Permissions
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 4: Adding a Forum
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 5: Creating Content
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 6: Installing a Rich Text Editor
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 7: Adding Polls
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 8: Personalizing Your Site
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 9: Taxonomy 101
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 10: Adding an Event Calendar
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 11: Customizing the Front Page
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 12: Getting Started With Themes
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 13: Cron Jobs
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 14: Taxonomy 201
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 15: Creating a Moderated User Group
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 16: Creating New Content Types
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 17: Setting Up User Blogs
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 18: Backing Up Your Site
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 19a: Theming Your Site
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 19b: Allowing Users To Select Their Own Theme

Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 4: Creating a Testing Environment Using MAMP and Dreamweaver
by Kim Cavanaugh - 02-Dec-08
Reader Level:

There's little doubt that the fine, free, open source blogging package available from WordPress has enjoyed astounding success. With downloads of well over 50 million, the PHP, MySQL, and Apache powered WordPress package is currently the world's most popular blogging package and is in use by literally millions of designers and developers (and do-it-yourselfers)around the world.

The goal of this series of articles is to show you how to take what is already an awesome package—including an almost limitless supply of free design themes—and customize the look and feel of a WordPress site to meet your goals. Through this series you'll be learning how to use some of the design tools from Adobe, such as Fireworks and Dreamweaver, as well as free open source browser plugins to modify the design of a WordPress installation.

In this, the fourth article in the series, you'll be learning how to prepare to create a fully customized WordPress theme of your own. This time around the design tool is Dreamweaver CS4. In this article you'll see how to create a design environment for Dreamweaver that allows you to greatly streamline the process of customizing WordPress designs.

The Customizing a WordPress Blog Series:
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 1: Editing Header Images
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 2: Examining WordPress Themes with the Firebug Extension for FF
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 3: Examining WordPress Themes with the Web Developer's Extension
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 4: Creating a Testing Environment Using MAMP and Dreamweaver
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 5: Editing WordPress Themes in Dreamweaver CS4
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 6: Using the Snapshot Technique for Editing WordPress Themes
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 7: Editing the Themes with Fireworks CS4

Using Dreamweaver to Work With Drupal Modules Free!
by Ray West - 31-Oct-08
Reader Level:

To start with, this is not a part of the Creating Web Sites with Drupal series. This article is for developers who are writing and/editing Drupal modules. It is not an advanced article per se, but it is typically only needed by people doing advanced things with Drupal.

This article is for those of us who still love Dreamweaver for its interface, its design view, and its built-in site management and FTP, but need to work with Drupal module files with the .module, .install, .info and other file extensions. To Dreamweaver, these are not recognizable files and it will not want to open them. Even when you get them opened, Dreamweaver will not use its normal PHP color coding and you will just get black text. This can make it tough to find things in your files and tell when things are comments, among other issues.

This article will show you how to get Dreamweaver to open these files from the site manager and how to use Dreamweaver's built in PHP color coding for all these weird file extensions.

Building Web Sites with Drupal - Part 11: Customizing the Front Page
by Ray West - 13-Oct-08
Reader Level:

There are as many ways to build a web site as there are customers out there. What that usually means is that, as developers, we end up recreating the wheel over and over again. In reality, though, 80% of the customers you come across could likely be serviced quite nicely with relatively minor modifications to a basic site structure that includes the most common functionality. That is the concept behind a Content Management System like Drupal.

Drupal is a framework for creating web applications. As such, it has a wealth of advanced abilities like forums, newsletters, and RSS syndication. But it is also well suited for the building of simpler websites that just need to update their content on a regular basis. If you build sites for clients, chances are there is a portion of your business that could be handled more quickly and more profitably using Drupal.

In our last article, we looked at some unique things that came up while building a site for my son's Cub Scout Pack. Another requirement for this site (in my mind) was to restrict access to only pack members. This site will deal with information that affects kids from 6 – 11 years old. No need to have anyone outside our group with access to information about where they will be on a given Saturday.

The Building Web Sites With Drupal Series:
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 1: Introduction
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 2: Installation
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 3: Setting Initial Roles and Permissions
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 4: Adding a Forum
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 5: Creating Content
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 6: Installing a Rich Text Editor
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 7: Adding Polls
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 8: Personalizing Your Site
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 9: Taxonomy 101
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 10: Adding an Event Calendar
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 11: Customizing the Front Page
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 12: Getting Started With Themes
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 13: Cron Jobs
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 14: Taxonomy 201
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 15: Creating a Moderated User Group
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 16: Creating New Content Types
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 17: Setting Up User Blogs
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 18: Backing Up Your Site
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 19a: Theming Your Site
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 19b: Allowing Users To Select Their Own Theme

Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 9: Taxonomy 101
by Ray West - 07-Oct-08
Reader Level:

There are as many ways to build a web site as there are customers out there. What that usually means is that, as developers, we end up recreating the wheel over and over again. In reality, though, 80% of the customers you come across could likely be serviced quite nicely with relatively minor modifications to a basic site structure that includes the most common functionality. That is the concept behind a Content Management System like Drupal.

Drupal is a framework for creating web applications. As such, it has a wealth of advanced abilities like forums, newsletters, and RSS syndication. But it is also well suited for the building of simpler websites that just need to update their content on a regular basis. If you build sites for clients, chances are there is a portion of your business that could be handled more quickly and more profitably using Drupal.

One of the best things about Drupal is the great flexibility you have in tagging and categorizing your content. Taxonoy is the science of classification, and the Drupal Taxonomy module allows you to create complex classification systems to organize your site. While some CMSs provide a limited number of tag layers, Drupal allows you a virtually unlimited hierarchy of tags.

In this article, we will get take a look at some basic tagging methods in Drupal. As you might expect, Drupal handles a lot of the heavy-lifting for you. All you need to do is create a structure of tags to be used by you and other authors at your site.

The Building Web Sites With Drupal Series:
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 1: Introduction
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 2: Installation
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 3: Setting Initial Roles and Permissions
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 4: Adding a Forum
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 5: Creating Content
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 6: Installing a Rich Text Editor
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 7: Adding Polls
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 8: Personalizing Your Site
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 9: Taxonomy 101
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 10: Adding an Event Calendar
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 11: Customizing the Front Page
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 12: Getting Started With Themes
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 13: Cron Jobs
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 14: Taxonomy 201
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 15: Creating a Moderated User Group
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 16: Creating New Content Types
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 17: Setting Up User Blogs
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 18: Backing Up Your Site
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 19a: Theming Your Site
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 19b: Allowing Users To Select Their Own Theme

Building Web Sites With Drupal – Part 6: Installing a Rich Text Editor
by Ray West - 11-Sep-08
Reader Level:

There are as many ways to build a web site as there are customers out there. What that usually means is that, as developers, we end up recreating the wheel over and over again. In reality, though, 80% of the customers you come across could likely be serviced quite nicely with relatively minor modifications to a basic site structure that includes the most common functionality. That is the concept behind a Content Management System like Drupal.

Drupal is a framework for creating web applications. As such, it has a wealth of advanced abilities like forums, newsletters, and RSS syndication. But it is also well suited for the building of simpler websites that just need to update their content on a regular basis. If you build sites for clients, chances are there is a portion of your business that could be handled more quickly and more profitably using Drupal.

In the last Drupal article, we covered adding some basic content to your site in the form of Stories and Pages. One of the shortcomings we noticed was the basic text area used to input the body area of the content. You are either expected to enter only plain text, or to hand code the HTML tags that will display your content. It would be nice if the body input area allowed a rich text editor to allow you to enter and format text more like a word processor.

The Building Web Sites With Drupal Series:
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 1: Introduction
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 2: Installation
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 3: Setting Initial Roles and Permissions
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 4: Adding a Forum
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 5: Creating Content
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 6: Installing a Rich Text Editor
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 7: Adding Polls
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 8: Personalizing Your Site
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 9: Taxonomy 101
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 10: Adding an Event Calendar
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 11: Customizing the Front Page
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 12: Getting Started With Themes
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 13: Cron Jobs
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 14: Taxonomy 201
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 15: Creating a Moderated User Group
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 16: Creating New Content Types
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 17: Setting Up User Blogs
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 18: Backing Up Your Site
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 19a: Theming Your Site
Building Web Sites With Drupal - Part 19b: Allowing Users To Select Their Own Theme

Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 3: Examining WordPress Themes with the Web Developer's Extension
by Kim Cavanaugh - 15-Aug-08
Reader Level:

There's little doubt that the fine, free, open source blogging package available from WordPress has enjoyed astounding success. With downloads of well over 50 million, the PHP, MySQL, and Apache powered WordPress package is currently the world's most popular blogging package and is in use by literally millions of designers and developers (and do-it-yourselfers)around the world.

The goal of this series of articles is to show you how to take what is already an awesome package—including an almost limitless supply of free design themes—and customize the look and feel of a WordPress site to meet your goals. Through this series you'll be learning how to use some of the design tools from Adobe, such as Fireworks and Dreamweaver, as well as free open source browser plugins to modify the design of a WordPress installation.

In this, the third article in the series you'll be learning how to examine the CSS that controls all WordPress themes so that you can take the next big stride towards customizing your blog to make it uniquely your own. And of course, if you're offering this service to clients, you'll pick up some valuable skills that you can market for those customers who want to take advantage of the incredible flexibility that comes with a WordPress blog.

The Customizing a WordPress Blog Series:
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 1: Editing Header Images
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 2: Examining WordPress Themes with the Firebug Extension for FF
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 3: Examining WordPress Themes with the Web Developer's Extension
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 4: Creating a Testing Environment Using MAMP and Dreamweaver
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 5: Editing WordPress Themes in Dreamweaver CS4
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 6: Using the Snapshot Technique for Editing WordPress Themes
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 7: Editing the Themes with Fireworks CS4

Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 2: Examining WordPress Themes with the Firebug Extension for FF
by Kim Cavanaugh - 31-Jul-08
Reader Level:

There's little doubt that the fine, free, open source blogging package available from WordPress has enjoyed astounding success. With downloads of well over 50 million, the PHP, MySQL, and Apache powered WordPress package is currently the world's most popular blogging application and is in use by literally millions of designers and developers (and do-it-yourselfers) around the world.

The goal of this series of articles is to show you how to take what is already an awesome package—including an almost limitless supply of free design themes—and customize the look and feel of a WordPress site to meet your goals. Through this series you'll be learning how to use some of the design tools from Adobe, such as Fireworks and Dreamweaver, as well as free open source browser plugins to modify the design of a WordPress installation.

In this article, we'll take a further look at how to examine and investigate the CSS that powers the layout and appearance of all WordPress blogs so you can create a truly one-of-a-kind design.

The Customizing a WordPress Blog Series:
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 1: Editing Header Images
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 2: Examining WordPress Themes with the Firebug Extension for FF
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 3: Examining WordPress Themes with the Web Developer's Extension
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 4: Creating a Testing Environment Using MAMP and Dreamweaver
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 5: Editing WordPress Themes in Dreamweaver CS4
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 6: Using the Snapshot Technique for Editing WordPress Themes
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 7: Editing the Themes with Fireworks CS4

Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 1: Editing Header Images Free!
by Kim Cavanaugh - 18-Jul-08
Reader Level:

There's little doubt that the fine, free, open source blogging package available from WordPress has enjoyed astounding success. With downloads of well over 50 million, the PHP, MySQL, and Apache powered WordPress package is currently the world's most popular blogging package and is in use by literally millions of designers and developers (and do-it-yourselfers) around the world.

The goal of this series of articles is to show you how to take what is already an awesome package—including an almost limitless supply of free design themes—and customize the look and feel of a WordPress site to meet your goals. Through this series you'll be learning how to use some of the design tools from Adobe, such as Fireworks and Dreamweaver, as well as free open source browser plugins to modify the design of a WordPress installation.

In this first article of the series we'll take a look at some of the basics of using WordPress as well as how to modify the header image in a few available WordPress themes. In future articles we'll take a look at how to examine and modify the CSS that powers the layout and appearance of all WordPress blogs so you can create a truly one-of-a-kind design. Let's get started!

The Customizing a WordPress Blog Series:
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 1: Editing Header Images
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 2: Examining WordPress Themes with the Firebug Extension for FF
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 3: Examining WordPress Themes with the Web Developer's Extension
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 4: Creating a Testing Environment Using MAMP and Dreamweaver
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 5: Editing WordPress Themes in Dreamweaver CS4
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 6: Using the Snapshot Technique for Editing WordPress Themes
Customizing a WordPress Blog - Part 7: Editing the Themes with Fireworks CS4

Ubuntu & You, Part 7: An Ugly Upgrade
by Thomas Pletcher - 30-Oct-07
Reader Level:

Ubuntu recently released version 7.10, aka "Gutsy Gibbon", and it remains an excellent Linux distribution. However, if you're upgrading from a previous version, be careful! This article outlines some of the potential pitfalls, along with the rewards you'll receive from a successful upgrade.

The Ubuntu & You Series:
Ubuntu & You - Part 1: Trying Today's Most Popular Linux Distribution
Ubuntu & You - Part 2: Using Today's Most Popular Linux Distribution
Ubuntu & You - Part 3: Breezy is Easy
Ubuntu & You - Part 4: Breezy is Better
Ubuntu & You - Part 5: Be A Dapper Dude (or Dudette)
Ubuntu & You - Part 6: The Dapper Difference
Ubuntu & You - Part 7: An Ugly Upgrade

Easy Eclipse Database Access, with QuantumDB Free!
by Thomas Pletcher - 02-Oct-07
Reader Level:

The open source Eclipse platform is increasingly popular for developers of every stripe, and one of the chief reasons for this is its rich extensibility. This article will show you how to install and use the popular QuantumDB plug-in for database access, together with the PHPEclipse plug-in, to create a complete and flexible PHP-MySQL development environment. You'll be able to flip between PHP and SQL code with incredible ease!

Flex builders: you can play, too!

Triple Threat III: Tri-Platform Perfection Free!
by Thomas Pletcher - 06-Aug-07
Reader Level:

Although VMware Fusion is not as well known as Parallels, it gives you -- together with Apple's Boot Camp -- the smoothest, most polished way to run a killer three-platform developer machine.

The Triple Threat Series:
Triple Threat: Adding a Third OS to Your Dual-Boot Mac
Triple Threat II: Tiger, Vista & Ubuntu
Triple Threat III: Tri-Platform Perfection

Yahoo! Pipes: Create a Persistent News Search with Web Services
by Kim Cavanaugh - 23-Jul-07
Reader Level:

Yahoo Pipes has been on my personal radar since it was announced in February of this year. At the time of its rollout there was a great deal of interest in Pipes around the web design world. Yahoo provided what appeared to be an easy way for anyone (even non-developers like myself) to mash-up RSS feeds into new web services. While that may seem like no big deal, my own experiences and research into current trends indicates that there is a growing demand for data that has been customized and repurposed to fit particular audiences. If you're developing web sites for customers, the ability to provide them with live data that can be displayed on their site will be a valuable service that just may set you apart from your competition. You don't even have to tell anyone how easy Yahoo makes this.

In this series of articles we'll be looking at the world of Yahoo Pipes from both exploratory and practical viewpoints. We'll start out by looking at the Pipes design environment and previewing feeds developed and shared by others in the Pipes community. From there you'll build your first customized feed and finish things up with a look at how feeds published using the Pipes service can be consumed in different ways on your own sites.

In this article you'll learn a little how persistent searches can be created in both Google News and Yahoo News services. Since both of these giants of web indexing also provide the capacity to output a feed as structured RSS you can pull the results into Yahoo Pipes and mash them together into one, deep-searching, consolidated feed. You'll also find out how individual feeds are created and how some simple modules in the Yahoo Pipes environment are used to combine, aggregate, filter, and limit the results that are returned. This is an incredibly powerful piece of technology that you can use to your advantage, or provide as a service to your clients.

The Yahoo! Pipes Series:
Yahoo! Pipes: An Introduction
Yahoo! Pipes: Mash-up a Customized News Feed
Yahoo! Pipes: Create a Persistent News Search with Web Services
Yahoo! Pipes: Options for Publishing a Customized RSS Feed Coming Soon

Triple Threat II: Tiger, Vista & Ubuntu Free!
by Thomas Pletcher - 10-Jul-07
Reader Level:

Are you using Parallels to run Windows on your Mac, or thinking about it? Then why not a Linux virtual machine as well?

The Triple Threat Series:
Triple Threat: Adding a Third OS to Your Dual-Boot Mac
Triple Threat II: Tiger, Vista & Ubuntu

Yahoo! Pipes: Mash-up a Customized News Feed
by Kim Cavanaugh - 05-Jul-07
Reader Level:

Yahoo Pipes has been on my personal radar since it was announced in February of this year. At the time of its roll-out there was a great deal of interest around the web design world as Yahoo provided what appeared to be an easy way for anyone (even non-developers like myself) to mash-up RSS feeds into new web services. If you’re developing web sites for customers, the ability to provide them with live data that can be displayed on their site will be a valuable service that just may set you apart from your competition. You don’t even have to tell anyone how easy Yahoo makes this.

In this series of articles we'll be looking at the world of Yahoo Pipes from both exploratory and practical viewpoints. We'll start out by looking at the Pipes design environment and previewing feeds developed and shared by others in the Pipes community. From there you'll build your first customized feed and finish things up with a look at how feeds published using the Pipes service can be consumed in different ways on your own sites.

The Yahoo! Pipes Series:
Yahoo! Pipes: An Introduction
Yahoo! Pipes: Mash-up a Customized News Feed
Yahoo! Pipes: Create a Persistent News Search with Web Services Coming Soon
Yahoo! Pipes: Options for Publishing a Customized RSS Feed Coming Soon

Yahoo! Pipes: An Introduction Free!
by Kim Cavanaugh - 25-Jun-07
Reader Level:

Yahoo Pipes has been on my personal radar since it was announced in February of this year. At the time of its roll-out there was a great deal of interest around the web design world as Yahoo provided what appeared to be an easy way for anyone (even non-developers like myself) to mash-up RSS feeds into new web services. If you’re developing web sites for customers the ability to provide them with live data that can be displayed on their site will be a valuable service that just may set you apart from your competition. You don’t even have to tell anyone how easy Yahoo makes this.

In this first article in a four-part series you'll be introduced to the Yahoo! Pipes design environment and see some examples of the kinds of things that clever people all over the world are doing with Pipes. You'll learn the basic principles behind Pipes and see just how easy the design environment is to work in.

The Yahoo! Pipes Series:
Yahoo! Pipes: An Introduction
Yahoo! Pipes: Mash-up a Customized News Feed (Coming soon)
Yahoo! Pipes: Create a Persistent News Search with Web Services (Coming soon)
Yahoo! Pipes: Options for Publishing a Customized RSS Feed (Coming soon)

Triple Threat: Adding a Third OS to Your Dual-Boot Mac Free!
by Thomas Pletcher - 12-Jun-07
Reader Level:

Think you're cool for running Tiger and Vista on the same machine? Try this on for size.

The Triple Threat Series:
Triple Threat: Adding a Third OS to Your Dual-Boot Mac
Triple Threat II: Tiger, Vista & Ubuntu

Using mod_header
by Arman Danesh - 24-Jan-07
Reader Level:

An overview of mod_headers—the Apache module for manipulating HTTP request and response headers.

Using mod_rewrite
by Arman Danesh - 02-Jan-07
Reader Level:

URL rewriting is a powerful Web server feature -- it allows you to define complex handling of user-requested URLs without the disconcerting behaviour of redirects where the user's displayed URL changes. In this article we show how to use Apache's mod_rewrite to perform URL rewriting.

Implementing a Real-Time Chat Application
by Gordon Mackay - 12-Oct-06
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When you look around the internet you will find a multitude of community-style sites that offer their visitors the opportunity communicate via a real-time chat application. Many of those applications are cumbersome and rely on terrible page refreshes every few seconds.

The fact that chatting online is a very important part of building friendship and communication within a community web site makes it no surprise that a frequently asked question on web development forums is "How do I add live chat to my web site?". It's a common question with so many possible answers.

In this tutorial I will introduce you to a free PHP chat application that works in modern browsers and degrades gracefully in the not so modern browsers that some people still persist in using.

This application is special for a number of reasons. To find out just how special it is please read on.

Jotforms: Free and Easy Forms for Your Site Free!
by Kim Cavanaugh - 05-Sep-06
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For some of us, the task of getting even the simplest forms developed and online can be more of a chore than we're prepare rd to face. Perhaps you just don't fully grasp, or want to learn, all the steps required to connect to a database or to tweak free scripts to get an online form prepared for user entry. Maybe you work in an organization where the job of getting databases created and configured and accessible is handled by someone else, and you can't get things done in a timely manner. Or perhaps you just want to toss up a quick online form for casual purposes like a quickie poll or registration page. For example, a form that allows your friends to sign up for the next potluck dinner and indicate what they're going to bring.

Whatever the barrier you may have faced in the past to getting forms online, there's a new service available that can take much of the work out of the job. Best of all, it's free, easy to use, and quite flexible.

Content Control with .htaccess - Part 2
by Rob Williams - 31-Aug-06
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In the first part of this article we looked at how a rather unique feature of the Apache web server, called the .htaccess file, could be used to grant and deny permission to content based on a variety of conditions (IP address, etc).

In this article we'll see how we can take those access conditions and apply them to specific files and file groups on our site to make things more secure and easier to manage.

The Content Control with .htaccess Series
Content Control with .htaccess - Part 1
Content Control with .htaccess - Part 2

CFEclipse How To: Creating a Simple CFML Page Free!
by Chaz Chumley - 22-Aug-06
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This past year at Todcon, I happened to start a discussion with some of the Adobe team about the future of Dreamweaver and how it relates to ColdFusion development. To my surprise, there has been quite a bit of interest surrounding the open source Eclipse IDE and the ColdFusion plugin known as CFEclipse. Not to say that there are plans to discontinue ColdFusion support in future versions of Dreamweaver, but for the experienced developer there is a growing effort to put some research dollars into the CFEclipse product.

CFEclipse is easy to use and has some great features. We'll examine some of them in this first article in the How To series on CFEclipse.

The CFEclipse How To Series
CFEclipse How To: Creating a Simple CFML Page
CFEclipse How To: Creating your first CFC

Content Control with .htaccess - Part 1 Free!
by Rob Williams - 11-Aug-06
Reader Level:

There are many different ways to approach access control on web sites; although the most common idea is to protect content based on user names and passwords, this is certainly not the only criteria that can be used. In this article we'll explore some of the other options that you can use to control who is allowed to access different types of content on your site.

The Content Control with .htaccess Series
Content Control with .htaccess - Part 1
Content Control with .htaccess - Part 2

Ubuntu & You, Part 6: The Dapper Difference Free!
by Thomas Pletcher - 24-Jul-06
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Ubuntu is the most popular Linux distribution on the planet, and the recently released 6.06 ("Dapper Drake") version is the best yet. This article looks at what's new in the latest version, explains what sets Ubuntu apart from other Linux distributions, and suggests ways you might benefit by using Ubuntu for Web development. The article also contains capsule reviews of two new Ubuntu books.

The Ubuntu & You Series:
Ubuntu & You - Part 1: Trying Today's Most Popular Linux Distribution
Ubuntu & You - Part 2: Using Today's Most Popular Linux Distribution
Ubuntu & You - Part 3: Breezy is Easy
Ubuntu & You - Part 4: Breezy is Better
Ubuntu & You - Part 5: Be A Dapper Dude (or Dudette)
Ubuntu & You - Part 6: The Dapper Difference
Ubuntu & You - Part 7: An Ugly Upgrade

Podcasting for Teachers Free!
by Sheri German - 19-Jul-06
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Trinity University teamed up with Teach for America to provide a Masters in Education program for some of its teachers in Washington, D.C. Throughout the month of June, I taught 28 young, eager K-12 teachers - mostly of special education students - how to better utilize technology in the classroom. One of our projects was the podcast. This article will tell you all about how we built our podcasts from completely free resources.

Making Time-Triggered Scripts
by Rob Williams - 17-Jul-06
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Most developers tend to think of server-side languages as user-driven applications; that is they sit dormant on a server somewhere waiting for a user to connect and make a request before actually doing anything. While this is true on many occasions, there are also times when server-side scripts need to start working without any user intervention. Unfortunately for developers who aren't entirely familiar with server environments and or are just starting out with a language this type of "non-user triggering" is fairly confusing and difficult because there aren't a lot of explanations in the server-side manuals that explain how to do it.

In this article we'll take a look at how you can acheive time-triggered (rather than user-triggered) scripting using PHP and a remote Linux server.

Ubuntu & You, Part 5: Be a Dapper Dude (or Dude-ette) Free!
by Thomas Pletcher - 10-Jul-06
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There's a new version of Ubuntu, the world's most popular Linux distribution, and it's better than ever! This article will show you how to take the new "Dapper" distribution for a test run. It will also provide an overview of the different versions of Ubuntu so you can select the one that's right for you. Finally, the article will provide a review of Ubuntu installation options, including a brand-new install, a dual-boot scenario or an upgrade.

The Ubuntu & You Series:
Ubuntu & You - Part 1: Trying Today's Most Popular Linux Distribution
Ubuntu & You - Part 2: Using Today's Most Popular Linux Distribution
Ubuntu & You - Part 3: Breezy is Easy
Ubuntu & You - Part 4: Breezy is Better
Ubuntu & You - Part 5: Be A Dapper Dude (or Dudette)
Ubuntu & You - Part 6: The Dapper Difference
Ubuntu & You - Part 7: An Ugly Upgrade

Quick Guide to The GIMP - Part 3: Filters, Plug-ins & Scripts
by Thomas Pletcher - 19-Jun-06
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In this wrap-up of our 3-part GIMP series, we look at some of the program's more impressive and versatile filters and also take a look at some GIMP plug-ins and scripts. In addition, we modify a script -- using Script-Fu -- to create a new, transparent instance of the Sphere script (along with a new GIMP menu item for it), and close by reviewing a few GIMP variants you might want to try, one of which emulates Photoshop.

The Quick Guide to The GIMP Series:
Quick Guide to The GIMP - Part 1: Basic Tools & Program Layouts
Quick Guide to The GIMP - Part 2: Editing Basics & Web Tips
Quick Guide to The GIMP - Part 3: Filters, Plug-ins & Scripts

Quick Guide to The GIMP - Part 2: Editing Basics & Web Tips Free!
by Thomas Pletcher - 08-Jun-06
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The GIMP is the preeminent image editor of the open source world—it is free, cross-platform, and a worthy competitor to proprietary image-editing programs. In Part 2 of this series, you'll learn some basic GIMP image-editing tools and techniques, as well as some Web-specific tools and tips. You'll also create a basic animation.

Approximate download size: 362k

The Quick Guide to The GIMP Series:
Quick Guide to The GIMP - Part 1: Basic Tools & Program Layouts
Quick Guide to The GIMP - Part 2: Editing Basics & Web Tips
Quick Guide to The GIMP - Part 3: Filters, Plug-ins & Scripts

Quick Guide to The GIMP - Part 1: Basic Tools & Program Layout Free!
by Thomas Pletcher - 24-May-06
Reader Level:

The GIMP, or GNU Image Manipulation Program, is a very powerful image editor that is frequently compared to Photoshop. The GIMP is free, open source, and available on all major platforms. This introductory article will describe the basic, top-level tools offered by the program, and highlight the elements of its program interface which are different from Photoshop and other image editors.

The Quick Guide to The GIMP Series:
Quick Guide to The GIMP - Part 1: Basic Tools & Program Layouts
Quick Guide to The GIMP - Part 2: Editing Basics & Web Tips
Quick Guide to The GIMP - Part 3: Filters, Plug-ins & Scripts

Create Dynamic Charts & Graphs with PHP/SWF Charts
by Thomas Pletcher - 28-Apr-06
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PHP/SWF Charts is a PHP-based tool to generate Flash charts and graphs from dynamic data. With it, you can create charts that update in real time, right on the same page. This tutorial will show you how to use the free version of PHP/SWF charts (along with PHP and MySQL) to create an opinion poll page where poll results are charted in real time.

Getting Started with Eclipse - Part 3: ActionScript Development Free!
by Paul Newman,Michelle Kempner - 03-Apr-06
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In Part 3 of this series, you'll learn how to install the ASDT plugin for Eclipse and set up your environment for ActionScript development. You will also learn how to compile SWFs using MTASC and enable trace statements with Flashout.

The Getting Started with Eclipse Series:
Getting Started with Eclipse - Part 1
Getting Started with Eclipse - Part 2
Getting Started with Eclipse - Part 3

Spell Checking HTML Forms with JavaScript and PHP
by Rob Williams - 27-Mar-06
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Have you ever had to write a large amount of text into a field on an HTML form and been uncertain of just how reliable your spelling skills are? Wouldn't it be nice if HTML forms, like most other applications, had one of those handy little "Spell Check" buttons? In this article we'll look at how easy it is to implement this functionality using a PHP/JavaScript solution called Speller Pages.

More Mozilla Mojo Free!
by Thomas Pletcher - 21-Mar-06
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Many (actually, most) of today's most innovative and standards-compliant browsers have a family connection in common: Mozilla. This review will look at three of the most recent Mozilla descendants — Camino 1.0, Netscape 8.1 and SeaMonkey 1.0 — to see what they have to offer, both from a developer perspective and for end users.

Geolocating IP Addresses with PHP
by Rob Williams - 23-Feb-06
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Have you ever wondered just where in the world the visitors of your website are comming from? Whether to satisfy your own curiosity or to automatically deliver localized information, Geocoding can open a whole new set of possibilites for a web site. In this article we'll take a look at what Geocoding is and how a community-based project can help to provide an accurate and affordable geocoding solution.

Emulate the Best
by Thomas Pletcher - 17-Feb-06
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Emulation and virtualization software enables you to sample a broad range of operating systems and development tools, easily and safely. QEMU is an open source, cross-platform processor emulator that offers great versatility and, on the right hardware, usable speed. This article describes how to install QEMU on Windows, Linux and OS X, and how to install the kqemu QEMU Accelerator for Windows. It also shows how to use QEMU with two Linux virtual machines (Debian and SUSE).

A Lean, Mean Virtual Machine
by Thomas Pletcher - 07-Feb-06
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Would you like to run two powerful operating systems at once and be able to switch between them without rebooting? How about trying various Linux distributions — or a different version of Windows — without repartitioning your system? Virtual machines are the answer, and the new, free VMware Player makes this technology easily available to you. This article will show you how to install, configure and use VMware Player to expand your development horizons.

Getting Started with Eclipse - Part 2 Free!
by Michelle Kempner - 02-Feb-06
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In the second article of this series, you'll learn how to install Eclipse plug-ins for ColdFusion, PHP, and ActionScript.

The Getting Started with Eclipse Series:
Getting Started with Eclipse - Part 1
Getting Started with Eclipse - Part 2
Getting Started with Eclipse - Part 3

WordPress 2.0: Wonderful As Ever Free!
by Thomas Pletcher - 23-Jan-06
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WordPress has always been both powerful and empowering, and the new 2.0 ("Duke") release is no exception. This review discusses the new features in the latest edition of WordPress, and offers tips on installation and/or upgrading.

PHP and the Filesystem - Part 3: File Contents
by Rob Williams - 13-Jan-06
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PHP provides a wide variety of ways to work with the filesystem of the server upon which it is running. In the third part of this series, File Content , we'll explore how to read and write information to files using a PHP script.

The PHP and the Filesystem Series:
PHP and the Filesystem - Part 1: Directories
PHP and the Filesystem - Part 2: Basic File Control
PHP and the Filesystem - Part 3: File Contents

Running Your Own DNS Server: Understanding the Domain Name System Free!
by Arman Danesh - 11-Jan-06
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This is the first in a series of articles showing you how to run your own Domain Name Server. We start by looking at the fundamental concepts of DNS.

The Running Your Own DNS Server Series:
Running Your Own DNS Server: Understanding the Domain Name System
Running Your Own DNS Server: Setting Up a Bind Name Server
Running Your Own DNS Server: Setting up a Zone File

Lots of Sites, Lots of URLS: One Configuration
by Arman Danesh - 05-Jan-06
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Do you need to be able to deploy lots of sites with different URLs in the same domain, all running the same application but without any unique Apache or DNS configuration? Learn how.

404: Not Just an Error Anymore
by Arman Danesh - 02-Jan-06
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Using a unique combination of Apache's configuration directives and the way in which 404 errors are handled, this article presents a creative way to provide for caching of dynamically generated content which can still serve up entirely in static form when it is cached.

Zimbra: More Than Just Web Mail Free!
by Arman Danesh - 09-Dec-05
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AJAX is growing in popularity as a powerful JavaScript-based mechanism for client-server communication and the creation of dynamic, interactive, browser-based Web applications. Zimbra is a new groupware platform that centers around a robust AJAX-based Web client that has features missing in some desktop groupware applications. This article provides a brief overview of Zimbra.

Ubuntu & You, Part 4: Breezy Is Better
by Thomas Pletcher - 07-Dec-05
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Ubuntu is both the most popular Linux distribution, and the most hyped. How much of the hype is true? Should you try Ubuntu, and what can you expect if you do? (Hint: expect easier software management than you've ever experienced.)

The Ubuntu & You Series:
Ubuntu & You - Part 1: Trying Today's Most Popular Linux Distribution
Ubuntu & You - Part 2: Using Today's Most Popular Linux Distribution
Ubuntu & You - Part 3: Breezy is Easy
Ubuntu & You - Part 4: Breezy is Better
Ubuntu & You - Part 5: Be A Dapper Dude (or Dudette)
Ubuntu & You - Part 6: The Dapper Difference
Ubuntu & You - Part 7: An Ugly Upgrade

Ubuntu & You, Part 3: Breezy Is Easy
by Thomas Pletcher - 28-Nov-05
Reader Level:

The latest version of Ubuntu (version 5.10, code named "Breezy Badger") is better than ever, and it's easy to install or upgrade from a previous version. This article provides some installation pointers and detailed, step-by-step upgrade instructions. The article also discusses some of the features that make Ubuntu today's #1 Linux distribution, and offers an overview for installing LAMP - with PHP 5 - on Ubuntu.

The Ubuntu & You Series:
Ubuntu & You - Part 1: Trying Today's Most Popular Linux Distribution
Ubuntu & You - Part 2: Using Today's Most Popular Linux Distribution
Ubuntu & You - Part 3: Breezy is Easy
Ubuntu & You - Part 4: Breezy is Better
Ubuntu & You - Part 5: Be A Dapper Dude (or Dudette)
Ubuntu & You - Part 6: The Dapper Difference
Ubuntu & You - Part 7: An Ugly Upgrade

Does Flock Rock?
by Thomas Pletcher - 10-Nov-05
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Flock, the "social browser" based on Firefox, incorporates a number of web services, including blogging and photo sharing. Is this what Web 2.0 will look like? This article introduces Flock, explains why it's different and takes a look at its major capabilities.

Getting Started with Eclipse - Part 1 Free!
by Michelle Kempner - 02-Nov-05
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Eclipse is an open-source IDE widely used for Java development and developed by the Eclipse Foundation. Eclipse, in conjunction with plug-ins, can be used as an environment for any number of programming languages. There are plugins for ColdFusion, .NET, PHP, and even Ada and LISP. In addition, Macromedia is joining the Eclipse Foundation and has built a Flex IDE, formerly code-named Zorn, based on the Eclipse editor.

In this article, you'll learn how to download and install Eclipse, define a workspace, and create and debug a "Hello world!" application in Java.

The Getting Started with Eclipse Series:
Getting Started with Eclipse - Part 1
Getting Started with Eclipse - Part 2
Getting Started with Eclipse - Part 3

Previewing Deer Park/Firefox 1.5
by Thomas Pletcher - 21-Oct-05
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With built-in SVG support and new support for CSS3—not to mention a host of other improvements—Firefox 1.5 is going to raise the bar for web developers everywhere. The "Deer Park" beta is very stable, so now's the time to install it and get in on the excitement. This article shows you how, and walks you through the new features in Firefox 1.5.

Quick and Slick: Some Speedy (and Capable) Web Dev Alternatives
by Thomas Pletcher - 03-Oct-05
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We all have favorite programs for day-to-day web development work. But when speed counts most, the fast and capable replacement apps described in this review (examples are provided for all platforms) can make a real difference.

Open More Windows, with TheOpenCD Project
by Thomas Pletcher - 19-Sep-05
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Thanks to TheOpenCD project, sampling a range of high quality open source apps on your Windows computer is easier than ever. There's something for everyone, including Windows-based Web developers. This article provides a quick overview of all TheOpenCD programs.

Extend Your Reach with VNC (Virtual Network Computing)
by Thomas Pletcher - 06-Sep-05
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Whether you need to access another computer across the office or across the country, VNC is an excellent and easy to implement solution. This article shows you how to use VNC over your LAN or over the Internet, and how to implement proper security when accessing your network.

Ubuntu & You, Part 2: Using Today's Most Popular Linux Distribution
by Thomas Pletcher - 25-Aug-05
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Ubuntu has quickly taken its place as the most popular Linux distribution by offering an unmatched combination of power, polish and ease-of-use. This article will walk you through setting up a LAMP (Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP) developer's installation on Ubuntu. We'll also show you how to install Java and the excellent open source JEdit programmer's text editor, and how to enable MP3 and DVD playback.

The Ubuntu & You Series:
Ubuntu & You - Part 1: Trying Today's Most Popular Linux Distribution
Ubuntu & You - Part 2: Using Today's Most Popular Linux Distribution
Ubuntu & You - Part 3: Breezy is Easy
Ubuntu & You - Part 4: Breezy is Better
Ubuntu & You - Part 5: Be A Dapper Dude (or Dudette)
Ubuntu & You - Part 6: The Dapper Difference
Ubuntu & You - Part 7: An Ugly Upgrade

Using PHP to Enable Client-Side Web Services
by Rob Williams - 17-Aug-05
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You've just finished reading up about JavaScript's XMLHTTPRequest object when the light bulb goes on: Moving over to using XMLHTTPRequest has inadvertently forced you to deploy your own little web service! After all, if you think about it a web service is merely a remote server that you send and receive data from in a standardized format (usually XML). That's neat, but ultimately the next question arises: if a client uses XMLHTTPRequest to connect to your "web service" is it possible to use that same methodology (and code) to connect to any other public web service? If you've already gone ahead and tried this though you'll find that it's one of those "it should work but doesn't for some strange reason" problems. In this article we'll take a look at why it doesn't work quite the way you'd expect and a neat little solution to overcome the problem.

Ubuntu & You, Part 1: Trying Today's Most Popular Linux Distribution Free!
by Thomas Pletcher - 15-Aug-05
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Ubuntu has become the world's most popular Linux distribution over the past year. This article explains why, and reviews the benefits you can realize by trying it. The article also provides an overview of Ubuntu installation options, along with an account of those (in)famous desktop photos.

The Ubuntu & You Series:
Ubuntu & You - Part 1: Trying Today's Most Popular Linux Distribution
Ubuntu & You - Part 2: Using Today's Most Popular Linux Distribution
Ubuntu & You - Part 3: Breezy is Easy
Ubuntu & You - Part 4: Breezy is Better
Ubuntu & You - Part 5: Be A Dapper Dude (or Dudette)
Ubuntu & You - Part 6: The Dapper Difference
Ubuntu & You - Part 7: An Ugly Upgrade

Laszlo: Part 5 -- Managing Layouts
by Arman Danesh - 13-Jul-05
Reader Level:

In the fifth in our series on Laszlo, we look at the methods provided to automate the layout of elements in your applications. Using layouts you create complex layouts that without explicitly defining the width, height and placement of every element. Instead, your layouts can be intelligent and take into account the size of the canvas and items' relationships with each other.

The Laszlo Series:
Laszlo: Part 1 - Overview
Laszlo: Part 2 - Installation
Laszlo: Part 3 - Hello World
Laszlo: Part 4 - Laszlo Widgets and Elements
Laszlo: Part 5 - Managing Layouts
Laszlo: Part 6 - Working With Data Coming Soon

Nvu: An Open Source WYSIWYG HTML Editor
by Thomas Pletcher - 11-Jul-05
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An open source Dreamweaver? Well, not quite. But Nvu does offer WYSIWYG HTML page building, a capable style sheet editor, and clean output. Plus, it's available for all platforms and you can't beat the price. Read on for a review of the latest Nvu.

CMX JumpStart: Vienna
by Sheri German - 06-Jul-05
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Last summer we took a trip to Germany and Austria with our son's orchestra director. My favorite city was Vienna, Austria. So it is only natural that I should choose Vienna for my city as I "change hats" from JumpStarts marketer to JumpStarts creator. I am particularly pleased and excited to offer our latest CMX JumpStart: Vienna.

In addition to the use of valid XHTML 1.0 and CSS 2.1, and in addition to validating for 508 and WAI, we have a number of special features in Vienna. This three column layout has two outer columns with fixed widths, a fluid center column for content, and fluid header and footer. There are also unordered lists for navigation: one for the main navigation, one for the sub navigation, and one for the footer navigation. We have also added a search field into an area that is at the top of the page outside the main centered layout. So far, reasonably cool, right?

But hold on. We have something far more exciting to reveal with this JumpStart. We will introduce a new and revolutionary technique called Jello Mold that has an implied minimum and maximum width that works in Internet Explorer without the use of Javascript! Furthermore, this technique allows for fluid margins on the fluid centered layout that depend on the size of the user's window.

The download folder for this article includes a bundle of 11 articles (including two about Jello Mold technique), a starter page, an images folder, four style sheets (including design-time and print), a source png, the Vienna extension, an installation and usage guide, and this article as a PDF.

What To Do with an Obsolete Mac
by Thomas Pletcher - 29-Jun-05
Reader Level:

A (semi-)lighthearted look at Apple's coming transition to Intel chips, and strategies for coping before and after the change.

Debugging Flash Applications with AdminTool
by Paul Newman - 27-Jun-05
Reader Level:

As Flash applications become more and more complex, it's difficult to debug them using only trace() statements and the built-in Flash Debugger. To address this, a number of Flash developers have begun creating their own debug tools using the LocalConnection class. Of these, the clear standout is John Grden's AdminTool.

In this article, you'll learn two different ways to use AdminTool with your Flash projects:

The AdminTool Connector component — This Flash MX 2004 extension enables you to integrate AdminTool simply by adding the component to your FLA library.
The AdminTool Connector package — This ActionScript class, com.acmewebworks.admintool.Connector.as, loads an external SWF called ConnectorOnly_as2.swf. This approach is a little more complicated because you have to import the class and create a listener for the Connector.adminToolLoadComplete event.

The support files include examples of both approaches: a component demo, and an ActionScript class demo.

Laszlo: Part 4 - Laszlo Widgets and Elements
by Arman Danesh - 22-Jun-05
Reader Level:

In this installment of the our introductory series about Laszlo, we learn about a wide range of elements you can include in your Laszlo applications including text, images and form widgets.

The Laszlo Series:
Laszlo: Part 1 - Overview
Laszlo: Part 2 - Installation
Laszlo: Part 3 - Hello World
Laszlo: Part 4 - Laszlo Widgets and Elements
Laszlo: Part 5 - Managing Layouts
Laszlo: Part 6 - Working With Data Coming Soon

Learning PHP - Part 3: Basic Content Management
by Thomas Pletcher - 17-Jun-05
Reader Level:

In Part 3 of the Learning PHP series, you'll learn how to use PHP and MySQL to build a basic, working content management system that you can customize for any site.

The Learning PHP Series:
Learning PHP - Part 1: A Gentle Introduction
Learning PHP - Part 2: All About Arrays
Learning PHP - Part 3: Basic Content Management
Learning PHP - Part 4: Focus on Functions

Creating a Search Engine with iSearch
by Sheri German - 08-Jun-05
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If you have always wanted to add a search engine to your site, and didn't know how to program one yourself, you might want to download and install iSearch, a ready-made PHP and MySQL driven application that performs searches right on your own server. This tutorial will take you through the installation and the customization (of the style sheet and header and footer includes) of iSearch.

Best of Both Worlds: Open Source on OS X Tiger
by Thomas Pletcher - 03-Jun-05
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Tiger is a great upgrade, but it requires some tweaking to maximize everything on your system. This article shows you how to install or upgrade the Fink package manager, so you can run all the latest Linux/open source programs on your Mac. The article also addresses the Mac's unique position in the open source world, and lists other alternatives developers have for running open source apps.

Laszlo: Part 3 - Hello World
by Arman Danesh - 23-May-05
Reader Level:

In the third article in our series we learn about the basic component of a Laszlo application, the canvas, and then display the ever-popular "Hello World" text on the canvas.

The Laszlo Series:
Laszlo: Part 1 - Overview
Laszlo: Part 2 - Installation
Laszlo: Part 3 - Hello World
Laszlo: Part 4 - Laszlo Widgets and Elements
Laszlo: Part 5 - Managing Layouts
Laszlo: Part 6 - Working With Data Coming Soon

Learning PHP - Part 2: All About Arrays
by Thomas Pletcher - 18-May-05
Reader Level:

Everyone knows PHP offers a wide array of web development possibilities. In Part 2 of our Learning PHP series, we'll see just how wide: this installment is all about arrays, and how to use them.

The Learning PHP Series:
Learning PHP - Part 1: A Gentle Introduction
Learning PHP - Part 2: All About Arrays
Learning PHP - Part 3: Basic Content Management
Learning PHP - Part 4: Focus on Functions

Laszlo: Part 2 - Installation
by Arman Danesh - 04-May-05
Reader Level:

OpenLaszlo is an open-source, Java-based application server which can be used to deliver Flash-based Web sites entirely built with a server-side tagging language. This installment in our series on Laszlo covers the installation of the server on Mac OS X and Windows.

The Laszlo Series:
Laszlo: Part 1 - Overview
Laszlo: Part 2 - Installation
Laszlo: Part 3 - Hello World
Laszlo: Part 4 - Laszlo Widgets and Elements
Laszlo: Part 5 - Managing Layouts
Laszlo: Part 6 - Working With Data Coming Soon

Learning PHP - Part 1: A Gentle Introduction Free!
by Thomas Pletcher - 20-Apr-05
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A basic introduction to PHP, placing the language in context vis-a-vis its competitors, and providing syntax and usage examples — including connecting to, and displaying data from, a MySQL database.

The Learning PHP Series:
Learning PHP - Part 1: A Gentle Introduction
Learning PHP - Part 2: All About Arrays
Learning PHP - Part 3: Basic Content Management
Learning PHP - Part 4: Focus on Functions

Laszlo: Part 1 - Overview
by Arman Danesh - 18-Apr-05
Reader Level:

Macromedia has done a lot to promote Flash as a platform for the delivery of media-rich Web applications using Flash, Flash Remoting and ColdFusion to build and deliver applications or using the Flex platform to deliver them.

However, the open source Laszlo platform from Laszlo Systems, offers a complete, intergrated, powerful environment for delivering Flash-based Web applications and offers a compelling alternative to Flex for server-driven delivery of generated Flash movies.

The Laszlo Series:
Laszlo: Part 1 - Overview
Laszlo: Part 2 - Installation
Laszlo: Part 3 - Hello World
Laszlo: Part 4 - Laszlo Widgets and Elements
Laszlo: Part 5 - Managing Layouts
Laszlo: Part 6 - Working With Data Coming Soon

Code Free or Buy - Part 2: Open Source Options for OS X Web Developers
by Thomas Pletcher - 28-Feb-05
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Can you really do professional-level work using free and open source software? Actually, yes--and surprisingly often. This article looks at the current open source options available to OS X-based web developers and contrasts them with the commercial alternatives, so you know when to Code Free and when to Buy.

Community MX Sidebar for Firefox / Mozilla / Netscape Free!
by Paul Newman - 22-Feb-05
Reader Level:

Install the Community MX sidebar for Firefox, Mozilla, and Netscape and get instant access to the latest CMX articles. The sidebar comes with a number of default searches - such as CMX, DevNet, Google, Newsgroups, LiveDocs - and you can add your own custom searches.

Foxy Lady: Quick Searching with Firefox
by Paul Newman - 09-Feb-05
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Mozilla Firefox is rapidly becoming the favorite browser of web developers. In this article, you'll learn how to create Search Plugins and Bookmark Keywords for Firefox to accelerate your web-based searches.

Code Free or Buy - Part 1: Open Source Options for Windows Web Developers
by Thomas Pletcher - 08-Feb-05
Reader Level:

Can you really do professional-level work using free and open source software? Actually, yes--and surprisingly often. This article looks at the current open source options available to Windows-based web developers and contrasts them with the commercial alternatives, so you know when to Code Free and when to Buy.

Run Dreamweaver on Linux
by Thomas Pletcher - 25-Jan-05
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Will Macromedia ever release Linux-native versions of its Studio MX applications? Who knows? Meanwhile, if you want to try Linux but don't want to leave Dreamweaver behind, this article will show you how to get your favorite web editor up and running on Linux, with CodeWeavers CrossOver Office.

JEdit 4.2: Cross-Platform Perfection Free!
by Thomas Pletcher - 11-Jan-05
Reader Level:

If you program on more than one platform, you probably already know about JEdit--the free, open source, Java-based programmer's text editor that gives you the same great interface and functionality on every platform. If not, now's the time to find out (even if you're on just one platform)!

On the Fly: Generating PDFs From PHP
by Thomas Pletcher - 30-Dec-04
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There are a number of ways you can create PDF files from PHP, and this introductory article will examine several. We'll show you how to enable PHP PDF generation on local and remote servers, and how to generate text, draw shapes, include images and build tables. A follow-up article will outline the process dynamic PDF generation using templates.

Dreamweaver Piece by Piece Part 5: Creating and Processing Basic Forms Part 2
by Sheri German - 17-Dec-04
Reader Level:

In the first part of our basic forms series, we learned how to configure Dreamweaver form preferences, set up the form with the proper actions and method, and use many of the different kinds of form objects such as text field, textarea, radio groups, and checkboxes.

In this second article in the series, we'll look at the menu/list form object, add our submit and reset buttons, use the validate form behavior, learn to set file permissions, and configure our PHP form processor. Also included in this article are both a ColdFusion and an ASP form processor for those who do not have PHP available on their servers.

How to Test Drive Linux
by Thomas Pletcher - 13-Dec-04
Reader Level:

You develop on Windows, and you're fine with that. However, you've heard the buzz about Linux, and the more you hear, the more curious you become. But how can you investigate Linux without a spare PC? Who wants to repartition, or try to set up a complicated dual-boot scenario? Friends, the answer is right here. Take an exhilarating (yet risk-free!) Linux test drive today. No muss, no fuss. No work, and no danger to your Windows installation. Guaranteed.

Open Some Windows
by Thomas Pletcher - 19-Nov-04
Reader Level:

When someone says "open source," what do you think of? Linux? Apache or PHP? Firefox, perhaps? Well, open source software actually encompasses thousands of programs, and many of them run exclusively on Windows. This article will introduce you to three of them, and show you how they can add value and productivity to your workflow—and save you money in the bargain!

A Clean Start: The New PHP 5 SOAP Extension
by Thomas Pletcher - 01-Nov-04
Reader Level:

PHP 5 now comes with its own SOAP extension, and that makes implementing cross-platform web services solutions easier than ever. This article will show you how to enable and use the new extension to create a basic web service client that taps the power of Google's Search API.

Testing Safari Compatibility on a PC
by Rob Williams - 29-Oct-04
Reader Level:

Safari is quickly becoming the dominant web browser for Mac users. Unfortunately, because it's a Mac only product, many PC developers fail to adjust or even make any considerations for how their sites will appear for all those Mac people on the web. In this article we'll take a brief look at the history and common ties between various browsers, how they affected Safari's development, and how the PC developers can better optimize their sites for Safari without having to rush out and buy a Mac themselves.

More Fun With Fink
by Thomas Pletcher - 06-Oct-04
Reader Level:

Want more open-source apps for your Mac? How about 3500?

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to modify your Mac OS X Fink package manager configuration to access and install a wider range of open-source applications (including the latest and greatest), and run them side-by-side with your favorite Mac apps. You'll also learn how to install the current version of the GIMP, an open-source Photoshop alternative.

Parallel PHP: Running PHP 4 and PHP 5 on the Same Computer - Part 2
by Thomas Pletcher - 21-Sep-04
Reader Level:

The advances in PHP 5 take the language to a new level, yet most of the world is still running PHP 4. Here's how to have the best of both worlds on one development machine. Part 1 of this article showed you how to add PHP 5 to an existing PHP 4 installation on OS X, and seamlessly switch between the two. Now, Part 2 shows you how to do the same on Windows.

Parallel PHP: Running PHP 4 and PHP 5 on the Same Computer - Part 1
by Thomas Pletcher - 07-Sep-04
Reader Level:

The advances in PHP 5 take the language to a new level, yet most of the world is still running PHP 4. Here's how to have the best of both worlds on one development machine. Part 1 of this article shows you how to add PHP 5 to an existing PHP 4 installation on OS X, and seamlessly switch between the two. Part 2 will show you how to do the same on Windows.

Yes Comment
by Val Tobin - 22-Jul-04
Reader Level:

Not every Java developer enjoys the peace and serenity that can be found in creating documentation for an application. If you are one of those developers, then you might want to take a look at Javadoc, a tool provided by Sun in the Java 2 Standard Development Kit (J2SDK) that generates documentation for you, using comments from your source code. All you have to do is comment that code appropriately, and, like magic, you get documentation that describes your classes and interfaces, and more. Furthermore, it generates it in the form of an HTML document, so you can actually view it using a browser and make it available to others, if you so choose.

Fun With Fink
by Thomas Pletcher - 13-Jul-04
Reader Level:

Fink is a powerful package manager for Linux and Unix open-source software on Mac OS X/X11. Using Fink, you can install more than 1700 flexible (and free) open-source packages — including valuable web development tools — from binaries or source. This tutorial will show you how to get Fink installed on your Mac, and then show you how to install and configure Bluefish, a popular Linux-based text editor for programmers. You'll learn how to run Linux programs side-by-side with your OS X favorites, via X11.

X11 on OS X
by Thomas Pletcher - 28-Jun-04
Reader Level:

Mac OS X is the only Unix-based system that can run a wide range of world-class creative software like Macromedia Studio MX or Adobe Photoshop. You can make OS X an even sweeter creative/development platform by installing X11 and extending the power of the Mac's Unix core. This tutorial gets you started with X11 by showing you how to install and configure it, and then takes you through an install of the increasingly popular open-source office suite, OpenOffice.

Get Connected
by Val Tobin - 14-Jun-04
Reader Level:

These days few web sites are left that aren't dynamic, and some might even be classified as true web applications. When you have a database backend, your site is much easier to update and maintain, because so much of its functionality can be automated. If you're in the process of creating a dynamic web site using Java Server Pages (JSPs), then using Dreamweaver to set up the connections will make the whole process that much simpler and quicker. This tutorial will guide you through the process of creating a database connection for a JSP site using Dreamweaver MX 2004 (DWMX 2004). Future articles and tutorials will cover related topics such as working with dynamic data in JSPs using Dreamweaver MX 2004 and setting up servers for JSP sites.

On-the-Fly Image Manipulation with ColdFusion and ImageMagick
by Arman Danesh - 26-Jun-03
Reader Level:

Have you ever wanted to be able to resize or convert images directly from within ColdFusion. By combining ColdFusion with a powerful open-source image manipulation package called ImageMagick, this is possible.

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