After spending a frustrating day yesterday working with a client, their web site overload issues, and the hosting “advanced support” I am worn out. The issue: extremely high traffic database driven web site - when moved into the production environment on a dedicated server - would spike the processors’ load to 100% and would then need to be restarted. I got called to help solve the problem. The “advanced support” blamed it on the CMS and that is where I stepped in. The first thing I wanted to see were the server logs. (Apache and MySQL to start) After a long and frustrating time on the phone with the “advanced support” they were finally convinced I knew what I was talking about and gave me shell access to the server so I could tail (tail -f logname_log) the log in order to see what kind of error messages were generated. Mind you - my client had been dealing with the “advanced support” for two days at this point and not once did they look at the log files. Within a few seconds I was able to see the errors that were causing Apache and … [more]

I have worked with a number of content management systems over the years and have never been so impressed - and able to use something out of the box - as I was with Drupal 5.x. A prospective client of mine a short while ago mentioned something about Drupal and I had not used it since the last major upgrade. After installing it and using it for 20 minutes, I became very impressed. Drupal is the most elegant CMS I have ever used and the most “clean”. By clean, I mean very organized (file structure and Admin area). I also believe that Drupal is the most feature rich and easy to use CMS out of the box. At this point, I am going to drop all XOOPS development and move any new clients to either WordPress or Drupal. Nice work Drupal!

As most people know, I am a huge fan of WordPress. I get a number of potential clients that ask to help build their company or organization a web site which is easy to update without knowing any HTML. Of course - 9 out of 10 times I start talking about the benefits of WordPress. As a developer as well as someone who does not want to depend on someone else for a lot, I really like all the documentation and examples or “lessons” that are available for WordPress. When clients see all the documentation, their minds are more at ease and often feel more empowered which make me happy. If you are interested in working with WordPress or have a WordPress blog currently but are looking to do more, I recommend the following resources:

Working With WordPress - A one stop shop of information on everything from how to create a post to what user roles are to how to create a plugin.
WordPress Lessons - Basic lessons to help you get to know and feel more comfortable with WordPress
WordPress Advanced Topics - More advanced WordPress information if you want to use WordPress for … [more]

I was recently asked how to clone the SmartSection module for XOOPS, so I thought I would document the process here on my blog. (XOOPS is another favorite CMS I use for my clients when they want a CMS)

Download SmartSection (http://smartfactory.ca/
Duplicate the smartsection module folder (this is the folder with all the module files in it - the folder you will put into the “modules” directory within your XOOPS install)
Now it is time to do a few “find and replaces” with your favorite text editor. (I prefer TextWrangler) For the sake of an example, I am going to name my cloned version of the SmartSection module SmartJappler. Within the entire duplicated folder, find and replace every instance of the following with the name of your newly cloned module. **Make sure you are replacing every instance in all the files**

Find: smartsection and replace it with smartjappler (your module name here)
Find: SMARTSECTION and replace it with SMARTJAPPLER (your module name here)
Find: SmartSection and replace it with SmartJappler (your module name here)
Find: Smart Section and replace it with Smart Jappler (your module name here)
Find: SSECTION and replace it with SJAPPLER (your module name here)
Find: Smartsection and replace … [more]

I have been working with WordPress for multiple years now and I decided I needed to start reviewing some of my favorite plugins - as I receive a number of requests about what plugins I use/prefer. I am going to start with a newcomer: WP Newsletter. This plugin works great for WordPress sites allows you to:

create a customized newsletter for your readers or customers using the same theme based layout as you use for creating WordPress themes
offer a newsletter archive within WordPress
seamless integration with the WordPress Admin
use custom Newsletter WordPress template for easy integration into existing WordPress web site or blog
customize welcome email for new subscribers that can be modified within the WordPress Admin

The plugin developer is very responsive and open to new ideas and adding functionality to his plugin. There are also many other general newsletter functions you would expect and want

If you need a newsletter plugin for WordPess, check it out!
[tags]WordPress, WordPress plugins[/tags]

I have been creating more CMS web site solutions using WordPress over the last year and and have collected some great resources along solid product right out of the box, it is highly configurable, there are endless plugins, and everything is well documented. So, if you are ever looking to build a web site using WordPress and want to do it for yourself I would recommend using:

WordPress Documentation (Codex)
WordPress Plugins Database
My del.icio.us bookmarks (check out WordPress/Logic, WordPress/Plugins, WordPress/Templates). I will continue to add to these bookmarks so stay tuned.

[tags]WordPress[/tags]

Some random things to point out...

Amanda Congdon is no longer the RocketBoom anchor...and just when I finally got Amy slightly hooked to this awesome vblog. Wherever she goes, I will be sure to follow. She is very talented!
Diet/lifestyle update...I weighed in yesterday and actually lost a few pounds last week! That is from all the moving (I moved my home office to a different part of my home to further separate home stuff and work stuff) and IKEA assembly coupled with yardwork over the weekend. Now I just need to keep that up!
I am putting the finishing touches on a re-write of my company web site that I have been working on for the last several weeks now. I still need to do some final QA as well as to validate everything...and fill the sitemap, but it is pretty complete so I thought I would put it. There will always be something to do. I have a few HOWTO blog postings coming up on how I did some of the things I did.
What is the deal with gas prices?? The low-grade by me is now at $3.24 and climbing. ... [more]