PHP Frameworks

This week I experimented with some frameworks to see which would provide me the fastest development track for some hobby projects of mine. When reading this post, bare in mind that I come from a Drupal background (so I’m quite spoiled!)… 😉

Requirements
I had a few requirements that such a framework should have:

• User Authentication : This is something almost every application needs in some form. If it was up to me, then this basic functionality should be included within easy framework. This was actually the first reason why I switched to Drupal, I was sick and tired to maintain the user management coding whilest this is a common thing.
• Good Documentation : I don’t mind learning new things, but they should be very clearly documented. I actually learned php right off the php.net site; hands-on with the user contributed code samples.
• Easy Setup on a shared hosting : Some frameworks are so high up in the sky that it takes you about an hour just to grasp the concept of how the creators wanted it to be. In my mind, it should just be “extract & go”… This doesn’t mean that it has to be a single directory structure. It’s merely meant towards the frameworks which have a “console-like” application to manage the framework. Not everyone has shell access to their development machine…
• Active User Community : A big part of the “Fast development track”-motivation lies in code submissions of the community behind the framework. You can borrow the code or you can learn from it… Either way, you’re coding at a much faster pace.
• Easy Form Support : Forms are a BIG part of every application. We can add some bling to it with “ajax” (hypeword detected!), but it remains a form in it’s bare essence.

My Basic Experience
Now for the ones that I’ve tested… Also I would like to add a word of respect to all the creators of the frameworks. This post is not to bash any frameworks, but just a form to express my experience with testing them all out.

Business modelling in lesser times…

A lot of business models are known:

• Brokerage
• Advertising
• Infomediary
• Merchant
• Manufacturer (Direct)
• Affiliate
• Community
• Subscription
• Utility

Yet you still have to get to the point where you can say… this is it! That’s where Alexander Osterwalder has created a good method to define your business model.

Slideshare Slideset

http://static.slideshare.net/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=business-model-template-5677&stripped_title=business-model-template

False Libelous Info About Yourself?

Bloggers are usually well aware of the dangers of being accused of libel, and that’s why most independent online journalists are very careful to make sure that everything they write about someone on their blog is backed with documentation and evidence. But when someone writes something libelous about you, you need to be well prepared to fight back hard.

So what can you do? Read the article @ makeuseof.com!

Sidenote
In November a Dutch waitress got “shut down” by a Belgian politician after comments about his visit to NY. I guess that’s the downside to the “libel” part, who’s the judge in right/wrong?

What charts should I use?

Andrew Abela published a flowchart to help you consider which chart to use. It was inspired by the table in Gene Zelazny’s classic work Saying It With Charts. It get’s my two thumbs up!

The truth about “To”, “CC” & “BCC”

The Origins
Carbon copying is the technique of using carbon paper to produce one or more copies simultaneously during the creation of paper documents. A sheet of carbon paper is sandwiched between two sheets of paper and the pressure applied by the writing implement to the top sheet causes pigment from the carbon paper to make a similar mark on the copy. More than one copy can be made by stacking several sheets with carbon paper between each pair. Four or five copies is a practical limit. The top sheet is the original and each of the additional sheets is called a carbon copy. The use of carbon copies declined with the advent of photocopying and electronic document creation and distribution (word processing).
(source “Wikipedia”)

The Rules
It is still common for a business letter to include, at the end, a list of names preceded by the abbreviation “cc:”, indicating that the named persons are to receive a copy of the letter, even though carbon paper is no longer used to make the copies. The contacts that are listed as adressed “to” are required to read the mail and take further actions (if needed), where those listed in “cc” are only assumed to read the mail (when the time allows it). The aspect of the “blind carbon copy” (bcc) adds an extra perspective where one could be informed without any of the other contacts to even know!

Practically Spoken : Privacy
Need to mail a bunch of people? Add yourself in the “to” list and -all- the other contacts as “bcc”. This way you avoid to violate other people’s privacy by exposing their private email accounts!

Top Ten Communicators of 2008

• Barack Obama – As his star continues to rise, there’s just no contest for #1 Best Communicator.
• Tim Russert – He was one of the best, and we’ll miss him.
• Randy Pausch – An unknown, until he gave one speech about his mortality. (I personally loved his mortality speech and must admit a certain sadness when I discovered he lost the fight against cancer in July 2008.)
• Colin Powell – Always great, in 2008 he gave the interview of the year.
• Mike Huckabee – The one repeat from last year – he can’t be held down.
• John Chambers – A remarkable businessman who’s speaking ability drives his company.Chambers
• Sarah Palin – A remarkable woman in a remarkable rise to celebrity.
• Tina Fey – How could she not be on the Top Ten Best list?
• Anderson Cooper – He’s one of a kind – leading a new breed of journalists.

Source : Bert Deckers’s “The Top Ten Best (and Worst) Communicators of 2008”

Out Cold

Even the best of us get sick sometimes… and so do I! 😉 Yet this post isn’t for pitty sake but to share a bit of knowledge I did not know before. The term “common cold” doesn’t have the “cold” as a cause. Neither heat or cold makes you get a “common cold“, but it’s a pure viral infection. The reason why it’s called this way, is because people tend to stay more inside during colder weather. This increases the infection rate as people are crowded into “small spaces”.

Easy remote access?

Then check out LogMeIn!

LogMeIn is a suite of software services that provides remote access to computers over the Internet. The various product versions are designed for both end users and professional help desk personnel.

(source)

Disk Investigator

Disk Investigator is a pretty unique hard drive data retrieval tool that takes a totally different approach than the usual hard drive data recovery tools. What Disk Investigator does is to provide direct access to the raw data sectors of a selected hard drive so that the hard drive’s data can be explored up to the last bit.

More info? Check out ghacks!

Are my sites up?

Are My Sites Up is a very simple service to help you keep an eye on your sites and warn you if they go down. It is completely free.

You need to know if there are any issues with your own sites or the ones you maintain. The guys at “aremysitesup.com” offer you this service for free! It’s just a small test offcourse, but in most cases this will suffice… 😉