June 14th, 2006
The new release (0.7) of BambooInvoice has been written for days now. Probably the most significant addition is an installation script that runs through the tasks of setting up your database tables and entering your admin password, etc. I’ve also written a nice (well, I think its nice) installation guide to walk non-programmers through the process. So that’s all well and good. So where is the new release?
I’m bogged down in trying to make the system work as easily on as many possible environments as possible. This is a surprisingly complex process! It isn’t the PHP versions that’s killing me. Its the server configurations! Some servers have .htaccess disabled. One I tested on enables .htaccess, but disables mod_rewrite. Who’s ever heard of such things? Create a new folder on the server… sure I can do that. OH, you wanted to write something into that folder… just a minute, all the hoops you’re going to need to jump through are in the back?
Adoption of Bamboo is probably its highest compliment (well… aside from the actual compliments that is : ) but a major barrier to adoption is all the possible variations of a hosting environment! I hope I get it sorted out soon. Now then, for an example of how to do installation scripts right, take a look at Wordpress. My hat is off to you guys!
Continue reading “Server Testing”. Posted in
BambooInvoice, PHP with no comments 
June 05th, 2006
A very playful Flash animation about a Flash animation battling the animator.
Clever, witty, and um… educational… or something.
Animator vs Animation
Continue reading “Quick Link: Animator vs Animation”. Posted in
Quick Links with no comments
May 29th, 2006
The Punchline
I’ve finally got around to releasing the source code first Code Igniter based project - BambooInvoice. BambooInvoice is free, open-source, invoicing software based on Code Igniter. It is intended for small businesses and independent contractors. My priorities are ease of use, user-interface, and beautiful code.
It’s buzzword compliant: AJAX, unobtrusive DOM scripting, script.aculo.us, valid XHTML strict, etc. The entire application degrades gracefully for users without javascript enabled, and complies with WAI priority two.
To get the code, visit BambooInvoice. There’s also a working demo available if you just want to play.
Continue reading “Release of BambooInvoice”. Posted in
BambooInvoice, CodeIgniter with no comments
May 27th, 2006
Update: OK, I give. Commenting will now be available on most posts. (November 13, 2006)
What the?!? Where can I leave comments on DerekAllard.com? It is a blog right? You bet, but I’ve decided to disable comments by default, and here’s why…Actually, Jeremy Keith pretty much summed it up perfectly on his blog. For me, the added effort of moderating, filtering and responding to comments just doesn’t make sense here. Let me stress that. It doesn’t make sense for this blog. I’m not saying that they never make sense, but the goals of this blog are:
- keeping friends and colleagues updated on what I’m doing
- tracking the development of BambooInvoice
- a place for me to write about internet technologies
None of those goals are really served by enabling comments. So if you want to reach me, please by all means do, I love getting feedback - but you won’t be able to do it via comments.
Continue reading “No Comments?”. Posted in
Noteworthy with no comments
May 26th, 2006
Do you use RSS? Really Simple Syndication is a super convenient way of tracking your favourite news and general "goings on".
When Internet Explorer releases version 7 later this year it will include the ability to read RSS… but if you want to be one of the cool kids, you can enjoy the benefits now with Firefox. Need a quick primer on RSS? Here's a great resource.
Firefox can take advantage of RSS in 2 ways.
Continue reading “RSS in Firefox”. Posted in
Browsers, How-To with no comments
May 24th, 2006
A quickstart guide for GPG encryption using Windows Privacy Tools (WinPT) for Windows users.
Continue reading “Step-by-step, Practical Encryption with WinPT”. Posted in
How-To with no comments
May 23rd, 2006
"Helps out where you want help, then gets the hell out of your way". That is the highest compliment I can think of. If you are a PHP programmer, and you haven’t taken a moment to look at some of the various upcoming PHP frameworks, do yourself a favour and stop reading now, and go to codeigniter.
PHP has other promising frameworks, but for my money, Code Igniter is the best. Yes Rails has gotten a lot of hype lately (most of it deserved in my opinion), but if you’re looking for a no-fuss, no-muss framework to help you get stuff done in PHP - check out Code Igniter. In addition to a mature framework (it’s built on top of the excellent Expression Engine code), it is actively developed and improved (thank you Rick Ellis), and has a vibrant, active and helpful community built around it.
When I started writing BambooInvoice, I began the project using the Zend framework. It was nice(ish) but clearly unfinished. Then I discovered CakePHP. Now Cake is a very impressive piece of work, but it still felt to me too much like I was programming in "Cake", and not in PHP. Code Igniter is like Linux, it helps me do what I need to do, and trusts that I know what I’m doing.
So there you go, I've officially added my vote to the growing legions.
Continue reading “$I->love{code_igniter}”. Posted in
CodeIgniter, PHP with no comments
May 21st, 2006
Firefox is one of my favourite peices of software. Fast, secure, and most of all, open source. Even though I've been using it since its "beta" days, I continue to learn new tricks. There are many lists like this on the net, but I haven't found this stuff collected in one place before, so here are some of my favourite Firefox tips. I decided to stop at 8... I know 10 is cooler, but adding 2 more would take "filler".
Continue reading “Top 8 Cool things you can do with Firefox”. Posted in
Browsers, How-To with no comments
May 21st, 2006
… or "frist prost" if you read Slashdot.
The purpose of this blog is threefold. First, its a convenient way for me to stay in touch with current and former students. I’m a fairly prolific instructor, and I meet so many interesting people. It’s a shame to lose touch after the course is done, so this is one way to try to stay in touch.
I also wanted to use this blog to track the development and process of BambooInvoice, my open-source project. I describe BambooInvoice as Simple, beautiful, open source online invoicing. It is built on top of the excellent Code Igniter framework.
Finally, its just a convenient place to dump my thoughts on XHTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP and the world of web programming in general!
So welcome, and thanks for reading.
Continue reading “First Post”. Posted in
Noteworthy with no comments
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