Impressions

WordPress is Impressive

Posted by David Compton on February 15th, 2010

WordPress is certainly a polished Content Management System and application. One cannot help but be impressed when one goes to update to a newer version. Since I had automatically installed the application on Webmasters servers using their script, I had version 2.7 initially installed. With just a click of the link to update and a couple of parameters for the Webmaster server, I was able to update to 2.9.1 without having to do any FTP. I merely gave the program the information for the FTP and it did the rest. For a developer who is used to having to wrestle with poor documentation and all kinds of CHMOD changes to install an update, the whole process just floored me.

But there is more. I decided I needed a plugin for doing slideshows. I was able using the Plugin menu in WordPress 2.9.1 to search for the plugin, download and install it, and then activate it all from the admin Plugin menu. That is truly impressive!!

Overall, I am truly impressed with WordPress. With just a little bit of work, I was able to install 2.9.1 Wordpress on a WAMP test server. Here the process was a little more difficult as I had to do the 5-minute installation and set up the database. WordPress uses a “secret” word set up to provide added security. So it was not as simple as setting up a Drupal site connnection, but the documentation was excellent and worked.

The only trick I noticed with setting up WordPress on the Webmasters server was that the graphics did not work immediately. I had to fool the server by doing a CHMOD on the content section to 777 and then back to 775 toavoid the prohibited message on the graphics.

I was also IMpressed with how nicely WordPress handles graphics and photos (Media). You can upload a graphic by just clicking on the add an image link above the post box and a Lightbox2 style upload box appears with a browse button to let you find the graphic and upload it. It then automatically opens a dialogue to handle the caption and other data. Smart! Getting graphics and images set up correctly in Drupal is a major difficulty.

Working with the WordPress theme is almost exactly like Drupal 6. Most of the color scheme is in the images and most of the layout is in page includes. Unlike Drupal, there is one main style sheet that has most of the style. I modified the Harmony theme to change colors and the style sheet was clearly annotated for the page sections. Although I use the Web developer bar on Firefox for CSS, it most mostly not necessary with WordPress. I found that since the style sheet was so clearly annotated, I could find most items without having to use the “View Style Information” option in the Developers bar. WordPress 2.9.1 is IMpressive.

Evaluating Wordpress & Drupal for Web sites.

Posted by David Compton on February 3rd, 2010

Every once in while we need to stop what we are doing and ask ourselves where we are. Are we keeping up with the technology? Are we keeping up with new web applications for communications? If we do that, we may find that a lot of technology has passed by without so much as a “tweet” – better make that a “chirp”. I recently woke up and ”my goodness” how the communication technology changed while I was dozing.

Drupal, yeah funny name, was derived from the Dutch word for drop. A University of Antwerp student, Dries Buytaert built the first version as a way for students to discuss technology and their own lives and activities. He released the code behind the site and “droopal” was born so others could discuss technology in their own little “drop.orgs” or villages. So begins my discussion of Open Source Web technologies that can help you build Web sites for the communication process.

I just finished three months working on a Drupal ecommerce site to sell skin products. I think the best way to analyze a software product like Drupal is to have hard requirements that you need to implement in Web software and demonstrate how it can accomplish the task. Drupal performed remarkably well.

Drupal in it base module 6.15 has all the elements for a Content Management System. Simply go to www.drupal.org and download the module, but that is where simple end. Drupal is possibly better known in Europe that the U.S. because of its origin. Certainly a similar system called Facebook is better known in the U.S. But Facebook is not open source or free to set up your own site to configure as you like. You can, however, configure Drupal to be a social media application like Facebook.

Drupal comes with several base functions (core modules) that you can “activate” by turning on a module in the site building menu. Major modules include RSS feeds, Blogs, Polls, Search, Forum, Comments, and Upload. So right out of the box you can develop a robust site. The admin menu has five main parts that include Content Management, Site Building, Site Configuration, User Management and Reports. And herein lies the major problem for most people with Drupal, Drupal has a complexity to its configuration that goes deep.

For example, to create a Drupal site that does ecommerce, I had to add another major module called Ubercart (yes, a German based module) to handle shopping cart and checkout functions. The grand total of modules to configure was 110. I referred to this vast array of modules as like a giant jigsaw puzzle.

Drupal is working on a system to make the creation of “custom” type sites like ecommerce simpler by selecting needed modules into a grouping called a “distributions” or install profile. This should make site creation a little simpler, but my own testing showed most of those install profiles had problems during installation and failed

This blog is created under Wordpress and a lot of Web developers are looking to Wordpress, also an Open Source program, to handle Web Content Management. Yesterday, I started a test to see how long it would take me to install, update to the latest version and get my blog configured. Here I am 24 hours later writing my blog. The install and update operations in Wordpress are far superior to Drupal 6.15.

In conclusion, if you need a custom Web site with lots of functionality, choose Drupal, but allow lots of time to get the configuration done. If you need a blog or a simple site tomorrow, try Wordpress.

Forget Drupal Install Profiles for now – most do not work

Posted by David Compton on January 30th, 2010

I got excited about Drupal 6 Distributions that promised profiles so you can have site installs offering news sites, church sites, etc. Well is more promise that actuality. I tested three distributions, a church site, newspaper site, and a club site. I was never able to get the church site to install. It failed install and I could not find any notes to get past the problems. The news site initially failed, but I was able to modify the php.ini files to allow more time and memory for the installation. The Innovation News Install Profile installed with roles for writer, editor, photographer, manager, edition manager all complete. I am modifying the taxonomy to use the site as a sample newsroom application. The club site was not a full install but rather a contributed module with additional modules. The core club module failed and was unable to install content types, seems it had a module called images that clashed with another also called images. Forum notes indicated I needed to create some additional fields under CCK to make it work. I chose instead to build a club-type site using fckeditor to handle editing and images. Note: If you a building a number of sites, once you get the fckeditor module installed with editor, you can save time by just copying that module to other installs.

Good news is that the Drupal is working toward improving the install profiles or distributions so that they can be used to custom sites. This would greatly aid others in using Drupal. Currently, Drupal 6 is like a giant jigsaw puzzle of core projects and modules that have to be combined to order to create a site with the features needed for a church site, newspaper site or member club site.
There is an announcement on Drupal.org that says that “when viewing the project page of an install profile” you will have the option of installing the modules with core or not and the list of modules will show the status of each module.
As I said, only one in three install profiles proved useful so I hope they do get the “install profiles”, “project files” or “customized distributions” into some kind of useful format.

See all the installation profiles at http://drupal.org/project/installation+profiles . You can also find a number of “Distribution profiles” on the Drupal group site at http://groups.drupal.org/distributions .

Disabling the “tinkering” gene

Posted by David Compton on January 22nd, 2010

Does anyone know of a way to disable the “tinkering” gene in guys. I am pretty sure I have it. I know my father had it. He could spend whole days in the garage working on some broken piece of equipment, investing hours of labor before abandoning the project and calling it “just tinkering”. Well I have a XP laptop with a glitch that in got during a .NET update, so I am always getting odd messages and activities in other programs. For instance, in the middle of using TurboTax last year for taxes it glitched the program so it would not startup. Had to move the whole thing to my iMAC to finish. Recently I added Microsoft Office 2007 and now it is always starting up the installer. It also firmly rejects any Microsoft updates. I tried using Microsoft FixIt, but it just freezes up.

I think any sane person would have scrapped the laptop and moved on. However, with my “tinkering” gene I just keep trying to fix it. I can spend hours of time trying a whole host of possible solutions. Like now, after running the FixIt and having it stop and just sit there, I rebooted to find I now have an account for Guest and ASP.NET Machine.

Looks like a great afternoon of “tickering” ahead.

Drupal 6 Distributions

Posted by David Compton on January 20th, 2010

The title is a little misleading since Drupal documentation refers to two types of distributions termed installation profiles and distribution profiles. Once you go outside the main drupal.org or Drupal groups sites, you find that a couple third party organizations have assembled their own distribution packages. It is one of the oddities (sometimes not very amusing) of Drupal that the terms used may change over time. It also is the prerogative of the coder(creator) to name things whatever he/she/it chooses. Ah the joyous complexity of Drupal 6 and its documentation – a lot of things get written, but nothing seems to get rewritten.

Last week I decided to try out the Innovative News Install Profile. The install is supposed to create a News Web site with the major roles of Writer, Editor, Photographer and manager already created. Every attempt to install the profile ended with timeout errors. After each attempt, I also had to wipe out the WAMP test server and setup a new clean install. The problem turned out to be with the WAMP test server. After some serious searching, I found that the script was so big that one needed to go into the php.ini file of the test server and increase the wait time and memory.

I will continue to play with the News site until I transfer it to the production server as a sample site under my company site – http://www.comptoncoms.com .

I am looking at putting together a whole system of sites – News, Church, Intranet and Ecommerce – as both demonstration and training sites for customers. I recently built an ecommerce site using Drupal 6 and Ubercart 2 and learned that finding the right set of modules that can work together efficiently and effectively is not easy. However, after seeing how contributed modules to Drupal 6 just keep getting better and better, I decided the system is a serious CMS that should be used to build quality special purpose sites.

The ecommerce site is BodyVerde and the Ubercart module has a quality checkout and credit card system. I will try to keep you posted as I try new installs and Drupal 6 distributions.

Drupal 6 documentation is complex and confusing

Posted by David Compton on January 7th, 2010

So where have I been for the last six months. I have been on a trip to explore new Web site programming systems and online advertising programs for Google and Facebook. Much of my effort went into a new ecommerce site, BodyVerde – http://www.bodyverde.com.

I had not done an ecommerce site since 2005. This site uses Drupal 6 and Ubercart 2. This system is truly impressive. If you are developing an ecommerce site, I strongly recommend Drupal. Go to the Drupal site at http://drupal.org/ to download the core application. You can also get a wealth of information from the site about the system. I plan to be blogging about Drupal a lot in coming weeks.

Drupal is open-source software and is maintained and developed by a community of thousands of users and developers. The latest version of Drupal is 6.15. More than a Content Management System, Drupal is a Web programming framework that allows one to built quality Web site by combining the core modules with contributed modules that expand its functionality. If you are going to build a Drupal site, you need to understand some basics about the system.

First, no one is going to hold your hand to make sure you understand how to use, install, or configure the system. If you have a problem, you can go to the forums and get help. Sometimes the documentation is good, sometimes it is wrong, and sometimes it applies to an early version of the module and has not been updated. Thus it is important to read the notes and use a test server.

As I said, documentation is often incomplete, hard to find or missing. Remember nobody is getting paid to write topnotch guides or instructions. It is a free application. But programmers do like to talk about what great modules they have created, so the Drupal site is loaded with information about the core module in all its versions. The difficulty is in finding the information you may need among the thousands of pieces that may be based on versions 4.7 to 5.21 to 6.15. My recommendation – Get a good book like Drupal 6 Social Networking from Packt or a book on Drupal 6 released in the last year. Without such help even an experienced programmer may configure his/her way into a deadend.

For example, the Drupal 6 site I built has multiple modules for handling photos and images. One module allows uploads of photos directly to the server, another is used for adding photos to products and a third module is used for random photo illustrations.

During the development of the ecommerce Web site, there were at least four times when I ran into problems that required me to ask for help. The information I needed was on site, but I had to go to the forum and look for hints on where to find it. Once you discover a problem and find the solution, please help others by posting your finding or correction.

I have an Drupal sample site, I have put on my production server at http://www.comptoncoms.com/drupal/ and I plan to move to a my entire site to Drupal later this year and provide and portal for clients and combine functions now handled by separate programs such as blogs, forums and news.

On a cloud with MobileMe

Posted by David Compton on July 13th, 2009

I just added the iPhone to my iMac. Since I raved about the iMac in an earlier post, you might expect some ranting on the iPhone from me. Well, This post is not about the iPhone. I am saving that for a later more detailed post on iPhone apps. This is about a service offered by Apple called MobileMe. I had an opportunity when I got the iMac to subscribe, but I just couldn’t see any reason. Today, I can.

MobileMe is one slick system, if you have ever had a problem with getting several PCs on the same sheet of music. I work on an iMac, HP Media Center PC, Laptop PC and my new iPhone. Before that I had a Microsoft Mobile Smartphone or PPC. I fretted about how to get my 700+ contacts from my Windows PCs, iMac and iPhone consistent on each machine. With MobileMe that is not a problem. Once the devices are set up to sync via MobileMe cloud, no other effort is required to keep them consistent or current. With MobileMe, what I enter on my PC or iMac get automatically updated or changed on the others. That is some lofty computing.

I kept my contacts on my PC, because I used my iMac mainly for photos and video. When I bought my iPhone, I decided to buy MobileMe to provide backup for data rather than buy another external harddrive. Once I subscribed, I discovered I could also use it on my PCs. I installed the small app on my PC and selected what I wanted to sync. The application began syncing the contacts, bookmarks, calendar events, and asked me to resolve any conflicts. It put the conflicted entries side-by side and asked me to select. I resolved the multiple conflicts by deciding to use as source the MobileMe entries made via the iMac for photos and music and from the PC my contacts, calendar and bookmarks. It quietly went about pushing and pulling data until they were all consistent with the MobileMe cloud.

For $99 a year, I get 20GB of storage at www.me.com and an email address. Storage is sliced into 10GB each for email and 10 GB for iDisk (file storage). I can sync my contacts, calendar, photos and files on my PC (XP), iMac and iPhone. Now this is slick. For example, I add an event to my calendar using my iPhone and it shows up on my PC in Outlook.

The product is even more integrated on the iMac side. When I load photos or videos to my iPhoto program, they are backed up to MobileMe and can be configured in MobileMe as galleries accessible to the public or to friends you designate. The generated galleries are well designed and professional looking. You can set them as slideshows using a variety of effects. My Mexico trip is at available via password to family.

The last feature is the iDisk. I can quickly backup document to the cloud or document storage area on MobileMe. There is a public file area that can be used for Web sites that you build using iWeb. Using iWeb, I can quickly built a Web page from templates and my iPhoto galleries. Then click the publish button and it is on MobileMe with the page in http://web.me.com . MobileMe still has me in the clouds. Thanks Apple.
MobileMe

How much does a Web site cost?

Posted by David Compton on May 18th, 2009

It is usually the first question I get asked after I say that I build Web sites. Rather than say “that depends…depends on how much you got.” I try to rephrase the question as, “What are the main costs associated with building a Web site? Since typically the person is not asking for a price, but wants to know more about the process and associated costs.

First is fixed costs. Hosting, domain names,and email are the main elements involved in the commercial support of a Web site. Some companies or businesses may want to host the site on internal Web servers, but I oppose that idea for security reasons. A public Web site should be on public servers and set up to support a diverse audience. Most internal IT departments are not staffed, equipted or trained to provide support to a public Web sites. Secondly, commercial hosting and Web support is so inexpensive that providing IT staff to support a Web server is just not realistic.

The Web site itself has three major areas of costs – content, design and technology. Is the content readily available or will staff time be required to find and formulate the content? Is the design readily available based on company branding and product brochures or will it have to be created and approved? Lastly, what technology or programming will be required to provide components of the site such as content management, document management, search, analytics, or video streaming?

In developing content for a Web site, Compton Communications uses a content plan. The plan lays out the specifics of text, headlining, photography or graphics needed for each page of the site. An overall diagram depicts the page names and organization of the pages. Many companies have the material, but it may take a good amount of time and effort to locate branded narrative or copywrite the materials for the Web.

Most companies are lack good photography of their products, services, personnel, activities, etc. making design more costly and time consuming. Businesses with good branding programs can save significant money on design as exact colors, logos, supporting taglines and photography are often available in corporate reports or product brochures. In some cases, companies may have used a variety of agencies to develop product brochures and they have a variety of brands. Providing quality photograph may be expensive, but vital to building a quality site.

Technology is a feature not readily apparent to many in building a Web site, but the choice of Windows or Linux in Web server types can severely impact costs in development. The more applications the commercial hosting firm makes available to the Web server, the lower the costs. There are quality applications to provide content management, photo albums, blogging, etc. that are available no cost, but the application configuration and customization may add significantly to project costs. For example, the search function is vital to a site that has more than two-levels of content, but not all vendors provide a quality site search application. The same applies to site statistics, extra expense may be required to get the quality of statistically support desired by the marketing department.

A common feature on most web site desired today is Web videos. Most commercial servers support video streaming from Web servers without any special applications needed. However, video may require special encoding or page development to work properly and support a wide variety of Web browsers. Videos longer than two minutes should be encoded in flash and this may require special equipment and software.

What’s all this cost? Well nothing. A Web site should be able to save on the costs of printing brochures and product sheets every quarter, of distributing and saving news releases, of providing customer telephone support and troubleshooting. A quality Web site should save you money in the long run.

Proposals don’t have to be a pain

Posted by David Compton on March 14th, 2009

Just completed a proposal this week for a Web site that needed to be revamped. I got another one to do early next week. When I first started this business, I hated doing proposal. I just wanted to sit down with the client and ask about 50 questions. It was a pretty self-centered approach on my part.

This week’s proposal was almost fun. Why, what was the difference? I have most of the support verbage worked out in a document template, so I don’t have to waste time on getting all the support materials together or writing from scratch. I used to have to assemble my resume, statement of qualifications, etc. With the template that is all complete and I can focus on the client and the problem.

The problem: Out-of balance content. Almost every Web site that I see for redesign or revamping has the same problem. The Web site has become hard to manage with all the various added applications and sections. Web sites grow like bushes and sometimes they grow in odd directions. A redesign is time to cut back the odd branches, consolidate applications and balance out the content.

Problem two: Initial purpose. Most Web sites were started with the clear goal of saving time and money for the operation. “Oh, we can just put those documents on the Web site,” says the perky and ambitious marketing person. Sounds good, but then someone has to update it or add the new updated document. You think your closet is cluttered – you should see most Web site’s main file area.

One client has a Human Resources intranet with all the HR documents from the last five years. Even with the hundreds of PDF files, I know the problem is not a concern because of the number of files, but the degrading of the site performance by all those obsolete files.

Most Web sites admins focus on the site itself and forget that the initial purpose was to network in the industry and build links with others. With almost every proposal, I encourage the client to do a Launch campaign and get out there and network with others sites that can help them achieve their initial goals.

Problem three: proprietary applications. Many Web site developers choose proprietary applications and only later discover that the functionality they need costs more and more with every update. I am a proponent of open-source applications. From a programmer standpoint, I can make changes without having to finance the national debt of some third world country. Also open-source applications work well together more often than proprietary applications where programmers are seeking unique code not commonality.

Just my thoughts to keep you in the loop. Now get out there and Webify!

Pitching with PR emails

Posted by David Compton on February 27th, 2009

One of the topics that came up during the PRSA Idaho meeting in February on Effective Pitching Practices was emails. Jill Kuraitis at NewWest.net gave some good points in a half page distributed at the meeting:
1) Know and read the publication
2) Keep format simple and casual; avoid attachments
3) Tell me why it’s a NewWest story

Just finished reading the Groundswell blog of Josh Bernoff ,
Three quarters of the PR email I receive is irrelevant, he gives some great points like only an analyst could. By analyzing his January emails (114) from PR folks, he notes that 75% are completely irrelevant to subjects or companies he covers. More than half were on an industry (TV) he used to cover two years ago. He notes that he prefers the personal note with the text news release. He says the newsletter formats make it easier for him to delete the email and unsubscribe. He also says that most of the PR emails do not come with unsubscribe links that are required by the SPAM email rules.

Personally, I think Josh is right. The personal note highlighting real news that is in his area of expertise or interest with the text of the release is the best approach. My own approach is to use the personal note and include a link to more detailed information on a Web page. This gives the added benefit of tracking the information and know how interested the journalist may be.

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