Introducing dashEE – The Missing ExpressionEngine Dashboard
Today I’m excited to announce the release of a new EE module called dashEE. dashEE is a completely customizable control panel dashboard alternative that gives developers the ability to create custom widgets either as stand alone add-ons or as part of their existing custom modules. Check out the new code section of my blog for more details.
CodeIgniter 2.0: First Look at Reactor
If you are a PHP programmer then you have undoubtedly heard of the CodeIgniter (CI) framework at least once. First released in 2006, by EllisLab, CI has grown into the lightweight, fully functional and easy to use application framework of choice for developers across the web. A big milestone was reached two weeks ago with the release of version 2.0 and there has never been a better time to kick the tires and take it for a spin.
Lost in the Forrst
I know what you’re thinking, Eagle scouts should know their way around the woods. That is true but I’m not talking about smokey bears forest, I’m talking about the web designer and developer community Forrst. I’ve been playing in the digital woods for a while now and I’m impressed. I have mixed feelings about the whole “walled garden” thing because there are so many communities and networks around now a days (Facebook, LinkedIn, Ning, etc.) it’s usually better to leverage one of them rather than build your own community. However, in this instance, I was pleasantly surprised. In this post I’ll give you a glimpse at what Forrst is and tell you how you can join in on the conversation.
Review: PHP5 Social Networking
At this point in human history we are all pretty well versed in social networking. Our pets are even getting in on the whole social web experience. We’re all familiar with what social networks are and why we should, or should not, use them. But how does one go about building one from scratch? While the overall complexity of building a social networking site really depends on the requirements, the typical features for most networks (relationships, etc.) can get rather complex. Before you start pulling your hair out or reverse engineering Drupal, there is a new book called PHP5 Social Networking that might be just the thing to help you out. In this post I’m going to give you a glance at this new book published by Packt and tell you if it’s worth adding to your tech library.
CodeIgniter 2.0 Released
The wait is over, CodeIgniter 2.0 has been released!! Apparently this happened last Friday and I simply didn’t notice until now. This release is exciting for 2 reasons, first it brings with it a shit load of new features and fixes and second it introduces CI Reactor which is a community driven branch of the framework. Theres a lot to digest and get excited about so check out the blog post for yourself and get coding!
Make Phone Calls with Code Using Twilio
Web applications are better than old school applications that get installed on your hard drive because you can access them from anywhere using the web. They do however suffer from the same limited communication channel as typical software because they can only interact with users via the computer. Users provide input via the keyboard and the app provides output via the screen. Wouldn’t it be cool if we could take advantage of other communication channels like phone and text messages to communicate with our users? Well now we can with the help of Twilio. In this post I’ll walk you through building an application that can make phone calls and send text messages using the Twilio API.
Say “Hello” to Your Site Visitors With Hello Bar
Ya know those annoying, eh hem I mean cool, pop down bar type things that some websites have on load? You know the ones I’m talking about; after the homepage loads this little 25-50px tall bar slides down from the top of the window usually advertising some thing or other. With me so far? Good because I came across a new service whose sole purpose is to help you add this type of irritating, I mean nifty, functionality to your own website. It’s called Hello Bar and in this post I’ll take you on a tour and discuss whether you should add it to your own site.
Website For Sale: Sign-Up-Sheet.com
That’s right, Sign-Up-Sheet.com is for sale. A lot has changed for me since the relaunch in May 2010 and I have decided to take a break from the side business thing. The site is currently listed on Flippa (http://bit.ly/cQcKW9) along with the appropriate details. Feel free to get in touch if interested.
The Times They Are A-Changin’
Big changes on the horizon. September will mark the end of 4+ years at my job in Rochester, NY and the beginning of a new job in our nations capitol Washington, DC. Yep, I’m taking this show on the road and will be moving the middle of September. New place, new people, new job… it’s all new and I think that’s what I need. Sometimes you just need to mix things up. Things will most likely be quite for the next month or two as I do the actual moving and get situated in a new place, but I hope to get back to work shortly thereafter.
Speedy Subscriptions Using Spreedly (Part 4) – Checking for Updates
OK let’s recap. So far in this guide I’ve covered: creating your Spreedly account, setting up your subscription plans and (most recently) linking your applications sign-up process to your Spreedly account. The elephant in the room at this point is managing updates and allowing Spreedly to notify our application when users make modifications to their subscription/billing settings or when something goes wrong: like when a credit card expires or a transaction can’t be processed. In this final post I will review how to open the lines of communication between your Spreedly account (a.k.a. your billing system) and your application.
Who is Chris Monnat?
Chris Monnat (aka mrtopher) is a web application developer and entrepreneur located in Alexandria, VA. This site is his island of information where he blogs about CodeIgniter, PHP programming, business topics, the Internet as a whole and other miscellaneous bits and bytes.
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