Create Sean - Journey to Professional Designer http://createsean.com/blog/site/ learning, xhtml, css, javascript and how to freelance en creation@createsean.com Copyright 2009 2009-11-08T06:56:32Z The Ultimate Twitter ExpressionEngine List http://createsean.com/site/blog_createsean/comments/the-ultimate-twitter-expressionengine-list/ A week or so ago twitter made lists available to all users and they seem to be gaining in popularity. I made a few lists right away with the largest of them having about 160 people. That was my ExpressionEngine list. However I wanted to find everyone on twitter who tweets about EE so that I could have the Ultimate LIst of ExpressionEngine tweeple. I did this by looking through all the lists that I appear on, the lists of popular EE developers on twitter that were related to EE and also by going through the wefollow under ExpressionEngine. The final list has 424 people and/or web firms. Go check out the Ultimate LIst of ExpressionEngine tweeple. For more specific recommendations of who to follow on twitter check out this post. Hope someone finds this useful. A week or so ago twitter made lists available to all users and they seem to be gaining in popularity. I made a few lists right away with the largest of them having about 160 people. That was my ExpressionEngine list. However I wanted to find everyone on twitter who tweets about EE so that I could have the Ultimate LIst of ExpressionEngine tweeple.

I did this by looking through all the lists that I appear on, the lists of popular EE developers on twitter that were related to EE and also by going through the wefollow under ExpressionEngine. The final list has 424 people and/or web firms. Go check out the Ultimate LIst of ExpressionEngine tweeple.

For more specific recommendations of who to follow on twitter check out this post.

Hope someone finds this useful.



]]> 2009-11-08T06:56:32Z Galleria - Slideshow http://createsean.com/site/blog_createsean/comments/galleria-slideshow/ I’m working on a client site which has a gallery with a slideshow. I looked at a number of different jQuery plugins to run this and finally settled on galleria (though I originally rejected it) At first I was struggling with getting the large image to display when the page is initially loaded. I would get all the thumbnails but the large image would only display on clicking the thumbnail. I resolved this with an ExpressionEngine conditional. I’m using FF matrix to run the gallery along with nGen file field and a checkbox field. The checkbox field selects a cover image for the entire gallery which I pull onto other pages. What I did is add this: <li class="{if cover}active{/if}">  Now when the page loads it finds the cover thumbnail and applies the class of active which makes Galleria load the full size image. Everything works perfectly. It took me about 30 minutes to get everything working the way I want it. Currently I’m about 98% happy with just a couple of things to iron out. The first is that I can’t seem to get images to crossfade. The current image just disappears with the next one fading in. Secondly, I would like to have the thumbnails operate as a carousel so that if there are several thumbnails they don’t go to a second row. I’m pretty sure I’ll have to incorporate a seperate plugin to get that running, but it’s a lower priority until I get the rest of the site complete. here’s what the gallery looks like now: I’m working on a client site which has a gallery with a slideshow. I looked at a number of different jQuery plugins to run this and finally settled on galleria (though I originally rejected it)

At first I was struggling with getting the large image to display when the page is initially loaded. I would get all the thumbnails but the large image would only display on clicking the thumbnail. I resolved this with an ExpressionEngine conditional. I’m using FF matrix to run the gallery along with nGen file field and a checkbox field. The checkbox field selects a cover image for the entire gallery which I pull onto other pages. What I did is add this:

<li class="{if cover}active{/if}"> 

Now when the page loads it finds the cover thumbnail and applies the class of active which makes Galleria load the full size image. Everything works perfectly.

It took me about 30 minutes to get everything working the way I want it. Currently I’m about 98% happy with just a couple of things to iron out. The first is that I can’t seem to get images to crossfade. The current image just disappears with the next one fading in. Secondly, I would like to have the thumbnails operate as a carousel so that if there are several thumbnails they don’t go to a second row. I’m pretty sure I’ll have to incorporate a seperate plugin to get that running, but it’s a lower priority until I get the rest of the site complete.

here’s what the gallery looks like now:

image



]]> 2009-11-08T00:58:41Z createsean.ca http://createsean.com/site/blog_createsean/comments/createsean.ca/ Yesterday I finally got off my butt and purchased http://createsean.ca which now parks on top of http://createsean.com—Now when I return back to Canada I will have a .ca domain. Not sure how important this is to get local traffic in Canada, but it can’t hurt. Was having some trouble purchasing this domain as I live overseas and their are restrictions on ownership of .ca domains. I meet the requirements being a Canadian citizen, but I think my ip was causing some trouble. I contacted live support at namecheap and spent some time chatting and got it all worked out. The support was very professional and helpful and I highly recommend Name Cheap if you need to purchase a domain—I’ll be moving all of my other domains over there from a competitor a little later. Yesterday I finally got off my butt and purchased http://createsean.ca which now parks on top of http://createsean.com—Now when I return back to Canada I will have a .ca domain. Not sure how important this is to get local traffic in Canada, but it can’t hurt.

Was having some trouble purchasing this domain as I live overseas and their are restrictions on ownership of .ca domains. I meet the requirements being a Canadian citizen, but I think my ip was causing some trouble. I contacted live support at namecheap and spent some time chatting and got it all worked out. The support was very professional and helpful and I highly recommend Name Cheap if you need to purchase a domain—I’ll be moving all of my other domains over there from a competitor a little later.



]]> 2009-11-02T08:11:35Z Field Frame Matrix - thinking out loud http://createsean.com/site/blog_createsean/comments/field-frame-matrix-thinking-out-loud/ I just sat down to work out the site architecture, in detail, on a site I’m about to start developing. This site has a photo gallery and I am planning on using Field Frame Matrix, ngen file field and imgsizer to make the gallery. I’ve done this several times already and it’s pretty easy to do. However what I want to do this time is make a grid of nine random photos from all available galleries. The last time I looked into this it wasn’t possible using the above method of gallery creation. However today I took a look at the docs for field frame matrix and I believe this can now be done. What I need to do is start the weblog:entries tab and set it to pull random entries and limit it to nine entries. That’s pretty easy. {exp:weblog:entries&nbsp;weblog="gallery"&nbsp;limit="9"&nbsp;orderby="random"&nbsp;disable="trackback|member_data|comments"}{/exp:weblog:entries}&nbsp; Now insert the following between the opening and closing tags above. {photos&nbsp;limit="1"&nbsp;sort="random"}&lt;div&gt;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;{exp:imgsizer:size&nbsp;src="{picture}"&nbsp;width="130"}&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&lt;a&nbsp;class="lightbox{entry_id}"&nbsp;href="{picture}"&nbsp;title="{caption}"&gt;&lt;img&nbsp;src="{sized}"&nbsp;width="{width}"&nbsp;height="{height}"&nbsp;/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;{/exp:imgsizer:size}&lt;/div&gt;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;{/photos}&nbsp; Theoretically this will return a random photo from a random row of the last 9 random gallery entries. Once I start coding the EE tags into the site, I’ll try this out and confirm it. If anyone reading has something to add in the meantime, please do comment. update Have just confirmed that this does work, using my family site as a test. I just sat down to work out the site architecture, in detail, on a site I’m about to start developing. This site has a photo gallery and I am planning on using Field Frame Matrix, ngen file field and imgsizer to make the gallery. I’ve done this several times already and it’s pretty easy to do. However what I want to do this time is make a grid of nine random photos from all available galleries. The last time I looked into this it wasn’t possible using the above method of gallery creation.

However today I took a look at the docs for field frame matrix and I believe this can now be done. What I need to do is start the weblog:entries tab and set it to pull random entries and limit it to nine entries. That’s pretty easy.

{exp:weblog:entries weblog="gallery" limit="9" orderby="random" disable="trackback|member_data|comments"}
{/exp:weblog:entries} 

Now insert the following between the opening and closing tags above.

{photos limit="1" sort="random"}
<div>
    {exp:imgsizer:size src="{picture}" width="130"}
        <a class="lightbox{entry_id}" href="{picture}" title="{caption}"><img src="{sized}" width="{width}" height="{height}" /></a>
    {/exp:imgsizer:size}
</div>
    {/photos} 

Theoretically this will return a random photo from a random row of the last 9 random gallery entries. Once I start coding the EE tags into the site, I’ll try this out and confirm it. If anyone reading has something to add in the meantime, please do comment.

update

Have just confirmed that this does work, using my family site as a test.



]]> 2009-11-01T01:15:36Z E-texteditor vs Notepad++ http://createsean.com/site/blog_createsean/comments/e-texteditor-vs-notepad/ I’ve been using notepad++ as my text-editor of choice for several years now and have been relatively satisfied with it. It does everything I want, but I’ve also heard a lot of good things about e-texteditor which has “the power of textmate on windows”. I’m not a fan of Apple products but have heard so many good things about textmate that I thought I should give it a try. Both notepad++ and etexteditor allow users to import user created bundles. This is great because I make web sites using ExpressionEngine (EE) and having EE tags color coded and shortcutted would be really nice. There is a bundle for notepad++ on this EE forum thread. The problem for me is that it has never really worked the way I expected it to so I don’t use it. The textmate bundle for EE is available here. When I added this to e-texteditor it worked exactly the way I expected. Autocomplete worked beautifully and even auto selected variables that were likely to be customized. The only thing missing is that the disable is empty leaving one to remember all the options. I suppose I could customize this to my own tastes. In any case it works great. When I first started using this I was really excited and thinking it was time to drop notepad++ but I soon found that e-texteditor is missing one key feature of notepad++ that I use all the time. That is the ability to have multiple files open side by side in the same instance and move them from one side to the other or clone to the other view. For me this is great as I can edit my CSS file on one side, while my EE html/eetag template is on the other side. Additionally it’s great when making adjustments to one file as you can open it and then clone it to the other side to make your changes while at the same time being able to see the original. If or when e-texteditor can do that, I’ll make the switch and gladly buy a license, but until then I’m going to stick with notepad++ I know this may not be the most in depth comparison, but it does look at the features that I use and consider important. Comments welcome. code, Expression Engine, General I’ve been using notepad++ as my text-editor of choice for several years now and have been relatively satisfied with it. It does everything I want, but I’ve also heard a lot of good things about e-texteditor which has “the power of textmate on windows”. I’m not a fan of Apple products but have heard so many good things about textmate that I thought I should give it a try.

Both notepad++ and etexteditor allow users to import user created bundles. This is great because I make web sites using ExpressionEngine (EE) and having EE tags color coded and shortcutted would be really nice. There is a bundle for notepad++ on this EE forum thread. The problem for me is that it has never really worked the way I expected it to so I don’t use it.

The textmate bundle for EE is available here. When I added this to e-texteditor it worked exactly the way I expected. Autocomplete worked beautifully and even auto selected variables that were likely to be customized. The only thing missing is that the disable is empty leaving one to remember all the options. I suppose I could customize this to my own tastes. In any case it works great.

image

When I first started using this I was really excited and thinking it was time to drop notepad++ but I soon found that e-texteditor is missing one key feature of notepad++ that I use all the time. That is the ability to have multiple files open side by side in the same instance and move them from one side to the other or clone to the other view. For me this is great as I can edit my CSS file on one side, while my EE html/eetag template is on the other side. Additionally it’s great when making adjustments to one file as you can open it and then clone it to the other side to make your changes while at the same time being able to see the original.

image

If or when e-texteditor can do that, I’ll make the switch and gladly buy a license, but until then I’m going to stick with notepad++ I know this may not be the most in depth comparison, but it does look at the features that I use and consider important. Comments welcome.



]]> 2009-10-15T07:14:01Z ExpressionEngine 2.0 Beta http://createsean.com/site/blog_createsean/comments/expressionengine-2.0-beta/ I woke up this morning to an email inviting me to join in the ExpressionEngine 2.0 beta. This is truly a great way to start the week and I’m incredibly stoked. Unfortunately due to the NDA I cannot say more—though I will report more as soon as I am able to. Expression Engine I woke up this morning to an email inviting me to join in the ExpressionEngine 2.0 beta. This is truly a great way to start the week and I’m incredibly stoked. Unfortunately due to the NDA I cannot say more—though I will report more as soon as I am able to.



]]> 2009-07-13T02:34:21Z User Image and WYSIWYG Editing in EE http://createsean.com/site/blog_createsean/comments/user-image-and-wysiwyg-editing-in-ee/ Very cool customization screencast using three add-ons, FF Matrix, LG Replace, LG TinyMCE and imgsizer, to enable clients to drop in images with full control maintained by the developer on how things look, yet the client has control on where the images appear in the post. Very cool—more details in the forum thread. ExpressionEngine HowTo: FF Matrix + LG TinyMCE + imgsizer + LG Replace from AJ Penninga on Vimeo. Very cool customization screencast using three add-ons, FF Matrix, LG Replace, LG TinyMCE and imgsizer, to enable clients to drop in images with full control maintained by the developer on how things look, yet the client has control on where the images appear in the post.

Very cool—more details in the forum thread.

ExpressionEngine HowTo: FF Matrix + LG TinyMCE + imgsizer + LG Replace from AJ Penninga on Vimeo.



]]> 2009-06-19T23:23:14Z Developing EE Sites on Windows http://createsean.com/site/blog_createsean/comments/developing-ee-sites-on-windows/ I wrote an article for EE_Insider titled Developing EE Sites on Windows. In the article I discuss the programs I use in my development process including Xampp, Notepad++, WebDrive, IE Tester, IE web developer toolbar, IE debug bar, and Firebug. If you like the article leave a comment. Expression Engine I wrote an article for EE_Insider titled Developing EE Sites on Windows. In the article I discuss the programs I use in my development process including Xampp, Notepad++, WebDrive, IE Tester, IE web developer toolbar, IE debug bar, and Firebug. If you like the article leave a comment.



]]> 2009-06-04T00:45:40Z ExpressionEngine Tips http://createsean.com/site/blog_createsean/comments/expressionengine-tips/ Ryan over at EEinsider has started a new feature where users can submit various EEinsider tips to share with the community. Ryan has launched this new section on his site with a contest: Over the next two weeks, I’m going to award a free EE Code T-shirt to five different people who contribute tips. In order to qualify you have to add at least 3 tips and one of those has to be deemed (by me) to be excellent and helpful. Winners will be notified by email. I’ve already submitted four tips: Dynamic=&quot;off&quot;, EE Code in CSS stylesheet, Add Tabs for better development, and Save Templates to Files. I’ll be adding more as I think of them and have also subscribed to the tips RSS feed as I’m sure I’ll learn something from these tips. Go on and share your own tips. Expression Engine Ryan over at EEinsider has started a new feature where users can submit various EEinsider tips to share with the community.

Ryan has launched this new section on his site with a contest:

Over the next two weeks, I’m going to award a free EE Code T-shirt to five different people who contribute tips. In order to qualify you have to add at least 3 tips and one of those has to be deemed (by me) to be excellent and helpful. Winners will be notified by email.

I’ve already submitted four tips: Dynamic="off", EE Code in CSS stylesheet, Add Tabs for better development, and Save Templates to Files. I’ll be adding more as I think of them and have also subscribed to the tips RSS feed as I’m sure I’ll learn something from these tips.

Go on and share your own tips.



]]> 2009-05-30T06:08:35Z chickens and eggs http://createsean.com/site/blog_createsean/comments/chickens-and-eggs/ Two days ago I had a meeting with a potential client about working on their site. The meeting seemed to go well and when I got home later that day I sent an email thanking them for their time and also saying that I was looking forward to the meeting we had scheduled for Monday. Everything seemed good. Yesterday I recieved an email, late in the afternoon, informing me that they had chosen to go with someone else. This is my first real rejection and it sure doesn’t feel very good. I’ve had other potential clients go elsewhere, but not after a face to face meeting. And definitely not so quickly after initiating discussions. It definitely doesn’t feel good. It probably hurt me more than it should since I was counting chickens, but only had a couple of eggs which didn’t hatch. Essentially at this point, I have one client site which I am going to finish up shortly and then no leads on any other work. EEforums4You hasn’t brought any work, but has cost me money—graphics and advertising which had me focusing on the income from a job which I hadn’t secured rather than on building a relationship with the client and better undersanding their business and goals. I did reply to the client again and thanked them for their time and also for considering me for their project. I also said that I hoped we could work together in the future. This is all true and even if it wasn’t I would still say the same things as it is the professional approach. Sure I was am hurt, but it’s not going to help anyone by being anything other than professional. I have thought carefully about what we talked about in the meeting and what was said in the rejection email and have determined what I probably did wrong. I will definitely be aware of this in the future and will be sure to not make the same mistake again. The important thing here is that I learn from this experience. Rejection is going to happen as a freelancer, it’s just a matter of reducing how often it happens, learning from it and growning a thicker skin. What doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger. I will use this time to tweak the design of CreateSean—I want it to be a little more exciting to look at. Perhaps some shiny, glossy gradients and drop shadow on the content boxes or a new background color instead of white. I’m happy with the basic colors and layouts, just need to bring the design to the next level. I’m also going to dive into learning some basic php and maybe write a plugin/extension for ExpressionEngine. Two days ago I had a meeting with a potential client about working on their site. The meeting seemed to go well and when I got home later that day I sent an email thanking them for their time and also saying that I was looking forward to the meeting we had scheduled for Monday. Everything seemed good.

Yesterday I recieved an email, late in the afternoon, informing me that they had chosen to go with someone else. This is my first real rejection and it sure doesn’t feel very good. I’ve had other potential clients go elsewhere, but not after a face to face meeting. And definitely not so quickly after initiating discussions. It definitely doesn’t feel good. It probably hurt me more than it should since I was counting chickens, but only had a couple of eggs which didn’t hatch. Essentially at this point, I have one client site which I am going to finish up shortly and then no leads on any other work. EEforums4You hasn’t brought any work, but has cost me money—graphics and advertising which had me focusing on the income from a job which I hadn’t secured rather than on building a relationship with the client and better undersanding their business and goals.

I did reply to the client again and thanked them for their time and also for considering me for their project. I also said that I hoped we could work together in the future. This is all true and even if it wasn’t I would still say the same things as it is the professional approach. Sure I was am hurt, but it’s not going to help anyone by being anything other than professional.

I have thought carefully about what we talked about in the meeting and what was said in the rejection email and have determined what I probably did wrong. I will definitely be aware of this in the future and will be sure to not make the same mistake again.

The important thing here is that I learn from this experience. Rejection is going to happen as a freelancer, it’s just a matter of reducing how often it happens, learning from it and growning a thicker skin. What doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger.

I will use this time to tweak the design of CreateSean—I want it to be a little more exciting to look at. Perhaps some shiny, glossy gradients and drop shadow on the content boxes or a new background color instead of white. I’m happy with the basic colors and layouts, just need to bring the design to the next level. I’m also going to dive into learning some basic php and maybe write a plugin/extension for ExpressionEngine.



]]> 2009-05-22T01:15:57Z