Time for uniform CSS3

Aside

When you are using CSS 3 you already know that most of the time you need to use settings in triplo (three times) or sometimes even four times!!!
With this I mean special codes for Firefox, Opera, Chrome and Safari/IE9.

I have included a little piece of code to illutrate;

-webkit-border-radius: 1px;
-moz-border-radius: 1px;
border-radius: 1px;

This bit is compatible with all 5 browsers and needs 3 lines of the same thing!
There are tags around which you have to specify four times.

I think its time to stick to the standards.
Then my example above will look a bit shorter;

border-radius: 1px;

Why would you program everything multiple times? We all have better stuff to do. Like introducing more coffee breaks a day to celebrate that your working efficiencient. Why bother with things like CDN and minification if you still have to write good code multiple times.

Joomla! 1.5 Cookbook review

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Your now reading my Joomla! 1.5 Cookbook review. The book was released in October this year.

The Joomla cookbook is one of Packt Publishing’s cookbook series meaning that it contains recipes. This book contains over 60 different recipes to execute basic and advances Joomla queries. Each recipe is a small articles/paragraphs with an idea and how to work it out. Just like a regular cookbook.

I`m Ramon van Belzen, a 22 year old webdesigner from Vlissingen, the Netherlands. I’m surfing the web since 1997 and I` been programming HTML since 1998. Today I use web technologies like HTML 4, HTML 5, CSS 2 / 3, microformats, JavaScript, AJAX, jQuery and PHP/MySQL . I currently run over 10 websites, most of them as webmaster and webdesigner. The CMS systems I use include Joomla, WordPress and Drupal.
I have been offered the chance to review this book by Packt Publishing Open Source.

The book is about Joomla! 1.5. Joomla is an open-source award-winning PHP/MySQL based content management system (CMS). Since its available under the GPL license it`s free to download, modify and use it for your website.
The book contains guides how to manage your Joomla site easily and conquer difficult situations.
It`s written for beginning and advanced Joomla users, with or without experience with CMS systems and webdesign (HTML) knowledge.

The first chapter of the book contains guides how to install Joomla 1.5.x using two widely used methods (cPanel and GoDaddy). It teaches how to upload, set file permissions and create a database using phpMyAdmin.

The second chapter dives deeper into phpMyAdmin`s functionality. It teaches you how to export (backup) and import (recover) databases. It also explains the basics of the MySQL database like how to view, modify and delete a table.

Chapter three explains how to install, manage and choose a Joomla! template. The chapter also mentions some sites where you can find (free) Joomla templates. Also inside the chapter is how to attach a template to a certain section of your website. Another recipe explains how to chance the template`s logo to yours.
If you want to know more about Joomla! templates have a look at Joomla! 1.5 Templates Cookbook.

Next chapter (four) is about content and menu`s. The chapter starts with changing the default WYSIWYG editor. Next is managing sections and categories. Following these recipes is the article creation and management part. Next up are the menu`s (no I’m not talking about food, although it are recipes!). Further this chapter tells you how to setup your Joomla site as a blog and how to create menu`s for extensions.

The fifth chapter is all about managing links, users and media (pictures, video, audio). It starts with explaining how the user management part works. This includes the creation, modification, deleting and blocking users. Of course it also explains how to use user groups.
Next recipes are about media management and uploading and using the link manager. The final recipe in this chapter is how to recover a lost super administration password.

Chapter six is about components, extensions and modules. It starts with the basics of modules; what they do, the difference between them and how to install/delete/manage them.

The seventh chapter explains the K2 Content Construction Kit. The K2 CCK is a nifty tool for managing websites with loads of content. First steps are the installation and configuration of this extension. Next recipes explain the use of this extension. Further in this chapter are extensions for the K2 CCK, modules like the tag cloud  and comments are explained.

The following chapter (eight) teaches how to use several handy third-party extensions like a file manager, calendar, content uploader and an improved comment system.

This book also contains an important guide how to troubleshoot website problems. This is done in chapter nine. It starts with making a plan for troubleshooting and debugging. Next are repairing database related problems and extension related problems. Following these parts are the FTP and SSH problems.

Security of your site is chapter tens content. Recipes include setting permissions, patching Joomla, blocking known bots and IPs by using a .htaccess file, blocking directory viewing, adding an error page, blocking the servers banner and changing php.ini for security reasons.

The final chapter of this book (number eleven) is about the future version of Joomla, 1.6. it starts with the Access Control List followed by working with the new category manager and it ends with the new extension manager.

The book promises that it will give solutions to all basic and advanced queries you could encounter while running a Joomla! Website. I have the idea it did. It teaches you how to make content, sort it, use several plugins, make backups and explains all features you should use if you run a Joomla! site.

What I liked about this book was that there was a picture every step. Therefore it`s difficult do make a fault with each step.

I can recommend this book for everyone who wants to learn the basics of Joomla.
As expected the book won`t tell you much about SEO, template or other advanced topics (like modules and extensions). Packt Publishing has plenty of books regarding those topics. (have a look here if you want to know more about these books)

What would I do to improve the book? I can`t think of anything right now.

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Best wishes for 2011

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It`s almost the holiday season, which means a lot of days off! Not to forget the yearly family dinner at christmas and for the blokes: fireworks!
I wish all friends, family and you – readers – a merry christmas and a happy new year!

Yours sincerly,

Ramon “Ramoonus” van Belzen

The Essential Guide to HTML5

Aside

Next month I will be reviewing The Essential Guide to HTML5: Using Games to learn HTML5 and JavaScript by FriendsOfEd. The review will be available on this site.

What you’ll learn from this book:

  • Use HTML5 and JavaScript to create interactive web sites
  • Program in JavaScript with the new HTML5 features
  • Draw on canvas and place text on the canvas
  • Create animated scenes using timing events
  • Handle mouse events for interaction with the user/player
  • Important concepts useful in any programming language/environment
  • HTML tags, canvas, Math.random, setInterval, setTimerout, addEventListener, Date, localStorage and other features

More information about this book can be found at http://friendsofed.com/book.html?isbn=1430233834

Facebook is the future

Aside

I foresee a bright future for Facebook, why? Keep on reading.

Hyves

On Hyves there is way too much advertisement on the homepage compared to FB and most of the time it has nothing to do with me. Facebooks advertisement is optimised on me and my interests and is therefore more interesting. Also it`s advertisement possibilities are much better.

The whole buzz (front page) idea is stolen from Facebook and it`s less than the original implementation. On FB its possible to eliminate spam caused by an app/plugin while on hyves you can only hide/delete users.

Hyves has less apps and barely any good games.Whereas on Facebook … You know what I mean.

More and more people I know are deleting their Hyves profile in favour of Facebook.

FourSquare

Last week I read an article about how many percent of the people are using geolocation sharing sites like foursquare. This percentage was about 4% of the online people.
With the release of HTML 5 and it`s Geolocation API it`s likely to see a change in the way geolocation sharing is used.

With the release of Facebook Places, in most countries, this percentage goes way up because everyone with a Facebook profile is able to use it without signing up. this also saves work in setting up the integration between several platforms. FourSquare tries to compensate this by using a Facebook login button on the site which makes it easier for Facebook users to use FourSquare.

The 4sq API is already integrated in much more devices and software than the FB Places API which is a major benefit.