I have usually shunned JAVA in favor of PHP. But as I am looking at some apache projects I might have to install Tomcat on my server to take a look as some of these things… they are looking pretty cool.
Installing
The best tutorial for running MySQL on OS X is actually found on the MySQL website.
However, there is a really cool System Preference pane that turns on or off the MySQL server/service. This either only works in OSX 10.5 or in 32-bit mode on OSX 10.6.
I downloaded mysql-5.1.42-osx10.5-x86_64.dmg from MySQL.com and the included preference pane works on OSX 10.6.2. (Even though it says it is for OSX 10.5.)
I just installed it without uninstalling a previous version of MySQL. I was brought over to a New MBP from an older MBP running OSX 10.5 (via Apple Genius at the Apple store), which was running MySQL. So I don’t know if the older version is still there somewhere or if the /local/ folder was not brought over in the transfer.
It seems that I have avoided the issues mentioned here:
Using
As far as editing the MySQL databases there used to be an app called CocoaMySQL. But as the link says the project has been abandoned. I heard it rumored on O’Reilley that it was because the app didn’t keep up with changes mad in MySQL past MySQL version 4.0. So CocoaMySQL can still be used on OSX 10.6 with a MySQL version 4 Database, but not with MySQL version 5.
However, there is an new app called Sequel Pro. It is available on Google Code and boast to work on OSX 10.5 with MySQL version 3-5. (I am about to test it on OS X 10.6, though the application was last updated in Dec. ‘09, so it should work on 10.6.)
Of course there is always PhpMyAdmin.
My wife, Becky likes to cook. I like her to cook. She recently started to blog. So I talked her through the MySQL database set up and the installation of her own copy of Wordpress on our Dreamhost account. (I must admit that it was a happy day.) One of the things she is doing is writing about what she cooks, with pictures of how it turns out.
“Cool”, says I. But how does one keep track of all the recipes? So I asked her why she was blogging. And she said that one of the reasons was that if she had a fixin’ to use a certain ingredient she would have a place to search to see if she had cooked with that ingredient before and how it turned out.
So I am on the hunt for a recipe plugin or recipe management CMS for her.
So far I have come across OpenEats.
And for Using Wordpress itself there is hRecipe.
These are some really cool looking Javascript Charts from Highcharts.
Another opinion on Highcharts.
They run off of JQuery, which is already used by Wordpress and K2. It would be nice if someone could wrap this into a Wordpress Plugin with a cool way to add / manage data from the WP admin panel. Let me see if someone did….
For Wordpress there is WP-Table by alex.rabe. This project was handed over to another developer, Tobias Bäthge and retitled WP-Table Reloaded.
Tobias says
[one] can have both wp-Table and WP-Table Reloaded installed in your WordPress! They will not interfere (as they are not using anything together). They are completely independent from each other. If WP-Table Reloaded finds the wp-Table database tables, it can import the found tables into it’s own format, so that you can completely upgrade from wp-Table to WP-Table Reloaded.
There are some updated instructions for version 1.5, which didin’t seem to make to the WP plugin repository.
There is another jQuery plugin, called Visualize, that takes data from an HTML table and displays it as a chart. Cool. I wonder which, Visualize or Highcharts is better and why?
After we graph these data, is it possible to also make the data drive a SIMILE chart/timeline?
It looks like one can add data sets to be graphed with the WP-SIMILE plugin. Why not pull these directly from the current display table? or make SIMILE / TIMEPLOT graph time depth change. i.e. if the data displayed in the HTML table is propagated from a MySQL table then why not have several entries in the MySQL database with a time code to change? in a way tracking momentum. That is over time how much have these data changed? i.e. Display the same data set from 1945, from 1950, and 1955.
Why should we still use HTML tables instead of CSS?
ASIDE: My next question is: How do I keep track of all the jQuery plugins I use?
Is there an efficient way to do that?
FYI: There are several other Charting options currently available for Wordpress. Most of these involve managing your data somewhere else and then using an API to bring that data to your WP install. The truth of the matter is that it is most likely that you are going to manage your data somewhere else anyway. However, I do not use Google docs to manage my data so I can not pull data from that source directly into my my WP install.
However, there is a plugin Easy Chart Builder. This plugin does not have “nice” admin section for creating the charts but does create an image from a data set inserted with a short code.
PS
Some solutions when using google apps to present data, but if Data Ownership is an issue. Then why use google apps?
http://ouseful.wordpress.com/2008/08/29/html-tables-and-the-data-web/
http://ouseful.open.ac.uk/blogarchive/014014.html
http://ouseful.wordpress.com/2008/10/14/data-scraping-wikipedia-with-google-spreadsheets/
I was browsing – cause that is what I do. – And I came across this very flexible, yet young CMS. :: http://radiantcms.org/
One of the cool things that I liked off the bat:
- Update the data on display from an XML feed.
I immediately thought of a site I consulted for : scriptureearth.org that this could be a solution for that. (The site is in production but I am not sure how easy it is to update the data it displays. The connivence of a XML feed is that the site would be able to be updated from an app based in the workflow of the publisher.)
I found this great css messages code here (read about it for a fuller explanation):
/* CSS messages */
.alert { background: #fff6bf url('exclamation.png') 15px 50% no-repeat; padding: 5px 20px 5px 45px; border-top: 2px solid #ffd324; border-bottom: 2px solid #ffd324; }
.info { background: #f8fafc url('information.png') 15px 50% no-repeat; padding: 5px 20px 5px 45px; border-top: 2px solid #b5d4fe; border-bottom: 2px solid #b5d4fe; }
.download { background: #cfc url('download.png') 15px 50% no-repeat; padding: 5px 20px 5px 45px; border-top: 2px solid #3C6; border-bottom: 2px solid #3C6; }
.german { background: transparent url('de.png') 15px 50% no-repeat; padding: 5px 20px 5px 45px; }
.english { background: transparent url('gb.png') 15px 50% no-repeat; padding: 5px 20px 5px 45px; }
Or more Explicitly here:
http://www.bioneural.net/wp-content/themes/k2bn/styles/bioneural/bioneural.css
I have been given a book to read about Social Media and one called Twitter Power. I am beginning to think that Twitter is not something I can ignore any more.
I am not yet convinced that I need an account but I think I should be informed about how it works and how the system of communication can be used.
I was wondering today what our office communication might look like if we were to use a twitter like tool to announce office news or meetings and tasks completed. So I took a look at OpenSource options. Because in an office environment we already have the community created but we don’t want the world to follow our office “tweets”. Here is what I found:
Automattic Came up with a solution for their office in 2008 and released it as a theme for wordpress. They call it P2. http://p2theme.com/
The only other thing I could find in the OpenSource community was http://status.net/. I have not looked into either of theses to see how they work or compare with twitter.
What are the crucial questions to ask when I think: “I want to make my site mobile friendly.”
How do I do it?
What tools do I use?
Useful links:
http://speckyboy.com/2008/06/29/7-amazing-plugins-to-view-your-wordpress-blog-on-any-mobile-device-iphone-pda/
http://mobiforge.com/running/story/the-dotmobi-wordpress-mobile-pack
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-mobile-pack/
Wordpress Mobile Edition
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-mobile-edition/
A mobile/phone/PDA friendly interface for your blog with progressive enhancement for advanced mobile browsers. You can see it in action by visiting this site in a mobile browser.
I have tried this on this thejourneyler.org. The plugin only works with Carrington Mobile theme 1.0.2. However, the Carrington mobile theme is currently at version 1.1, which is not compatible with this plugin (as far as I can tell). CMT 1.0.2 is not compatible with PostTabs, a plugin I use extensively to display multiple layers of content on a single page.
A nice feature of this plugin is that the user of an iPod Touch can “opt out” of the CMT. And once they have opted out they can “opt in” again with a link on the bottom of the post or page.
WordPress Mobile Admin
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-mobile-admin/
It uses Wapple’s advanced web services to produce perfect markup whilst at the same time maintaining the familiar look and feel of WordPress. You can write and edit posts, moderate and reply to comments as well as updating and managing pages.
I have also tried this. It is not compatible with Block-Spam-By-Math. That is not in and of itself a deal breaker. But to use this I would have to find a bot blocking plugin that does work with WordPress Mobile Admin. This plugin is great for managing the commenting process or adding new text content. There is a lack of support for controlling WP settings through the mobile interface.
iPhone Control Panel
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/iphone-control-panel/
The iPhone Control Panel Plugin allows you to easily configure how iPhones and iPod touches “see” your site. It gives you the ability to add custom css, a home screen bookmark icon, change the viewport, or even redirect iPhones and iPod touches to a different url.
Wordpress PDA & iPhone
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-pda/
This plugin helps the users to view your blog in a pda and iPhone browser. iPhone is still in beta testing state. Soon more updates will follow.
http://www.bravenewcode.com/wptouch/
iWPhone WordPress Plugin and Theme
http://iwphone.contentrobot.com/
Wapple Architect Mobile Plugin for WordPress
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wapple-architect/
Wapple Architect Mobile Plugin for Wordpress is a plugin that allows you to mobilize your blog in minutes.
Every single mobile device is detected and all aspects of your blog are tailored to the visiting handset. Sites aren’t dumbed down to the lowest common denominator but instead use the features and functionality that advanced phones offer.
Devices are detected by using Wapple’s advanced web services instead of relying on inferior 3rd party tools. If you view your blog with a brand new, never before seen handset, it’ll still work perfectly!
Any theme you’ve installed and have styled for web will be carried across to mobile giving you a consistent look and feel for each and every one of your visitors.
iPhone / Mobile Admin
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/mobileadmin/screenshots/
Mobile Admin adapts the WordPress admin UI to be more friendly to mobile devices, specifically phones.
The iPhone / iPod Touch browser was the first target, but most other mobile browsers are supported at a basic level, and plugins can be used to customize for specific browsers where desired.
A plugin for the iPhone/iPod Touch devices is included, as well as a more basic plugin for Windows Mobile browsers. (Consider the latter a “beta”, but it’s mostly intended to be another sample for how to write a plugin.)
In the company I work for, it is common practice for them to send me .doc files to use as forms for administrative functions. They are often created as templates and then when when the purpose of the form is triggered then a .doc is sent as an attachment in an email. In today’s modern age this process seems relatively inefficient in terms of man hours involved for several reasons:
- Some admin person has to create the form.
- I have to fill it out and send it back.
- In order for the information to be used more than once the information has to be taken out of the form and inserted into a database of some kind.
It also seems irresponsible use of bandwidth and harddrive space when one considers:
- The email sent the first time takes up bandwidth, and harddrive space in the sent box and received box.
- The form is likely to be saved in a folder related to the project it is needed for, and then possibly saved again after it is completed.
- The Completed form is likely to be sent back to the first person sending the request form and then possibly several other people.
It seems a lot more efficient to create a web based application on a company LAN/WAN and then have the employee fill out the application there and give the (all) admin personnel needing the info access to the completed info and have the data displayed as a form. – simple. Except in our industry there are two obvious difficulties which need to be overcome:
- How does the admin person create the web based form?
- How does the company supply off-line access to employees for filling out the form?
As for the second point I am not sure that I have an answer. But concerning the first point, .doc files are probably used because that is what is easy to use and .doc / word processing is a tool which is familiar to the admin person.
The question I am asking is, is there an open source LAMP app which lets one create forms for office processes which lets users (admin personnel) quickly and easily create and deploy forms? It would also be nice for the fields to pull from the same database when practical. i.e. The office needs to create two forms. Both require the employee filling out the form to put their name in the form and the names of the people to whom they are sending the form. Because the employee logged into the LAN/WAN then the form should auto propagate with the name of the logged in user. However, if it didn’t then it should be prompted when the employee starts filling out the form “Autocomplete style” and the suggestions for names should come from the corporation central database of employee names. The end goal is that the admin person should be able to click button and activate a widget in the form and the widget should behave the someway, relating data or relating to data sources across different forms created for the office.
Some OpenSource Projects I found through a Google Search but have not tried:
http://www.orangehrm.com/download.php
http://www.openhris.com/
http://www.kineoopensource.com/index.php/role/hr/
http://www.joobsbox.com/
http://www.jobdigtracker.com/
http://www.webresourcesdepot.com/open-source-job-board-application-joobsbox/
http://www.toplev.com/OfficeForms.html
Zoho Office
http://labnol.blogspot.com/2007/07/create-web-forms-with-zoho-creator.html
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