Callisti blog

From Minis to Volkswagens

noreply@blogger.com (Callisti) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 18:26:00 +0000

Callisti is happy to promote Dumfries and Galloway based Ross Wylie, the racing driver who is gathering momentum as he achieves on-track success. The website started out when he was transitioning from Karts to the Mini Cooper competition in 2012 and now he has attracted interest from Volkswagen with whom he is competing in the VW Scirocco R-Cup for the 2013 season.

Event Search Engine - Daybees

noreply@blogger.com (Callisti) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 18:21:00 +0000

Finally a decent event search engine - "Daybees". This is called a vertical search engine and has over 230 categories with 1.5million events or happenings at any given time in its rolling database of future fixtures.

It's a live beta launch and has already garnered interest from New York Times, Wired, and other online publications as it attempts to tap into the event-based search which seems to be the hardest one to achieve and maintain.

Moving WordPress installations

noreply@blogger.com (Callisti) — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 12:29:00 +0000

You must check this out Search Replace DB if you're moving to a new server or especially URL...

Of course check the WordPress Codex - keeps you comforted all the way through the process.

For Sale in Dumfries

noreply@blogger.com (Callisti) — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 16:14:00 +0000

Update: now that the Facebook timeline has been updated, Dumfries and Galloway For Sale Free and Wanted (DAGFSFAW) has now served its initial purpose of providing an alternative to the Facebook Group. The WordPress and BuddyPress website has had a recent purge of bogus spammy users so has been cleaned up with new security and moderation in place. Existing genuine users are still able to post and comment and the registration via Facebook is still operational. There are now some adsense ads from Google on the site as part of an experimental assessment of visitor behaviour.

Ebay Shop Customisation - lower expectations or spend loads of money

noreply@blogger.com (Callisti) — Wed, 02 May 2012 11:42:00 +0000

Great stuff - blogger has a new look! The minimal contribution for today is to allude to how non-straightforward it is to customise ebay shops. You need a custom page template but they only really work for custom pages and not the category or product display. For those you either need to totally disable all ebay page furniture so that the optional additional html on the product listing displays properly. As for using script or jquery - possible but awkward. As soon as you enable any ebay header/banner, category listing, boxes, etc it totally restricts your customisation options. Maybe via ebay developer tools or some pro software these things are more straightforward but suspect you'll end up with about 5 tabs open in your browser when 2 would do. Ebay navigation between the user account and the shop management system is heavy to say the least.

This sporting life - Dumfries and Galloway

noreply@blogger.com (Callisti) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 10:25:00 +0000

Ross Wylie is another talented sportsman from Dumfries and Galloway. Following in the successful footsteps of racing drivers Allan McNish and David Coulthard, there must be something conducive to developing talents for racing cars in the south of Scotland.

The new Ross Wylie Racing website is to mark the start of Ross racing Mini's in the 2012 season. This is a progression from his successful kart racing years in the UK and Europe and he has had to work hard to show that being slightly older than his peers is not going to be a barrier to success.

Callisti is looking forward to developing the website and integrating some interesting in-car video footage showing what really happens during races...

Arts Events in Dumfries and Galloway 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Callisti) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 20:02:00 +0000

The Dumfries and Galloway Arts Festival kicks off on 25th May 2012 this year with the events now listed on the arts website.

A Calameo feature allows the print version of the event listings brochure to be viewed, downloaded and printed from the screen, and some recent Flickr images have been updated by the dgartsfest staff.

Tickets will be available to buy online on 16th March via ticketweb - this seems to change every year so the wordpress custom fields need tweaked to suit. In previous years it has used TheBooth and also the PatronBase ticketing system provided by the now defunct Dumfries and Galloway Arts.

Luckily the DG Arts Festival is forced to stay within a strict budget so isn't able to go bust or into administration every few years!

Pre-pack Wordpress Templates

noreply@blogger.com (Callisti) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:14:00 +0000

Callisti is using the Platform template for WordPress but is re-considering this to allow full customisation of the desired Callisti theme. Currently some customisations would need to be made to the core Platform files to get everything just righ, which makes future updating more arduous as these changes could get overwritten.

Using the child-theme approach would allow for core WordPress and plug-in files to be automatically updated without causing conflict with the Callisti theme.

It's also been noticed that some plug-ins are starting to experience memory fails when executing certain processes but this could be in part a setting in php.ini or htaccess. Further consideration required.

Yum Yum - Free Italian Pizza Offers

noreply@blogger.com (Callisti) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 10:44:00 +0000

A few quick tidy-ups for the Ivanos Italian website resulted in a WordPress MailChimp plugin being used to add a double opt-in registration widget for fans of Pizza in the Dumfries area.

Subscribers only will be eligible for the free pizza offers highlighted in the newsletter for menu and "special offer" updates.

Much cappuccino was imbibed during this process.

Facebook domination of web page screen real-estate

noreply@blogger.com (Callisti) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 09:03:00 +0000

A simple Facebook page was created for Sledges.co.uk with some information about the Aviemore-based outdoor shop in the Scottish highlands, along with some product images from the different sections: wooden sledges, snowshoes, budget sledges, etc.

The latest step was to add and test the like button for each of the products on the e-commerce website so that visitors could share products with friends within their own facebook worlds. Also a link from website to facebook page seemed obligatory!

The emerging trend is that wee facebook icon links and like buttons (and associated html5, og meta-tags, etc) are getting peppered across more and more sites on the internet. Facebook can piggyback on the hard work people put in on driving relevant traffic to their websites by siphoning off "social" activity by visitors.

Rivendell B&B - Dumfries

noreply@blogger.com (Callisti) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 17:36:00 +0000

This required some admin work - sorting out Facebook accounts and pages, TripAdvisor accounts and widgets, customising Wordpress themes, and inevitably the transfer of hosting to Callisti services from the legacy provider (see earlier posts.)

The B&B website features an online booking widget and calendar for visitors to book without having to speak to a human directly and in their own time. Not all the rooms are available online so if you're looking for a Bed and Breakfast break you can resort to telephone calls and emails. Or like they did in olden days, turn up at the door and ask.

The design was influenced mainly by the Rivendell team to match their existing offline marketing materials.

Chime.in (beta)

noreply@blogger.com (Callisti) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 18:07:00 +0000

The third way in 'rich-media' posting - this can link with facebook and twitter accounts. Currently trying it out (chime.in beta) tentatively after an automated email from Mixx. Naturally there's a mobile app and you can edit your profile, etc.

Kind of like twitter UI but nicer looking. Not sure where it will fit alongside linkedin, google+, facebook and twitter but maybe it offers something more holistic.

Claim your usernames now before they get taken!

Don't Milk Dead Cows (Cashing In On Scottish Culture)

noreply@blogger.com (Callisti) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 10:15:00 +0000

This project is NOT being part-financed by the Scottish government, the European Community, Dumfries and Galloway Leader programme, Dumfries and Galloway Council, Scottish Natural Heritage, etc.

The last thing visitors should see in Dumfries and Galloway is a herd of dying white elephants roaming around the region. If these "cultural" projects were children, Dumfries and Galloway agencies would be guilty of neglect and for failing to give their offspring the tools and skills required for long-term survival and independence.

Knee-jerk reactionaries chasing the magical mystery funding train in order to stave off the inevitable end of a delusion should not be continually rewarded. Sometimes the harder path is to actually produce something through organised work, and to try and maintain those things for the benefit of the many. Even if it means taking a punch on the nose when it goes wrong. Scotland has a reputation for creative musicians, artists and wordsmiths (and people who punch people on the nose). It also has a recent history of manufacturing and production. What is being added to this today?

There seems to be a new Scottish culture set to stifle the progress of the Scottish person: talking shops, big boards, planning committees and partnership agencies, funding vehicles, quangos, and channels for laundering tax-payers' money to trickle it back down to the public after the Directors' cut.

But only for those who can convince the purse-string holders they can bring visitors to Scotland that will line private pockets. The amount of time, energy, talk and money spent on encouraging people who don't already live here to come here and spend money, or start businesses, is in direct contrast to the growing droves of young people who need to leave to find a life opportunity and whose paths are beset on all sides.

How does this serve the long-term future of the people of Scotland and tomorrow's legacy? Concentrate on building an ongoing legacy today. You don't get good milk from a dead cow.

O to live the lives of others
Hands that quickly seize the day
The greatest clearly move in circles
Oblivious they hurtle
Move out of their way

(M. Campbell, circa 1999)

Hammocks youtube playlist on website

noreply@blogger.com (Callisti) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 17:33:00 +0000

Handmade Hammocks is still an Actinic ecommerce site so presents its own environment of challenges for maintenance work. Most recently the feature has been updated to dynamically show Actinic content pages in the navigation menu.

This means the client can update content more easily using the Actinic UI without having to edit template files in dreamweaver.

Similarly the embedded video on the website homepage has now been updated to show the Hammocks Youtube playlist by adding the embed code to the Actinic home page template, removing the need to manually edit the template file in e.g. Dreamweaver (or your preferred code editor of choice)

Here's a quick how-to:

1. Create a youtube playlist

Log in to your youtube account
Click on 'my videos' and look for 'playlists' in the left-hand menu
Click on '+ new'
Give the playlist a title, description and some tags, then save.

2. Add videos to youtube playlist

Your list of uploaded videos should show with checkboxes beside them
Check the boxes of the videos you want to appear in your playlist and choose 'add videos'
At the top of your video list, click the 'add to' button and select the new playlist from the list.

3. Embed youtube playlist on website

Click on 'playlist' on the left-hand menu, this will list your playlist(s)
Click on your playlist title
Above your playlist, click on the 'share' button
Copy and paste the code for a straight link to playlist
OR
Click on 'embed' to customise the size, privacy and HD/https options a bit (seems to be a minimum player width of 200px)

4. Paste generated code into the right place.

5. Look at what you've done just to check it's worked ok before doing the next thing on your list

Galloway Velvet - Actinic exercise

noreply@blogger.com (Callisti) — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 08:14:00 +0000

Actinic is an ecommerce platform that Callisti has mixed feelings about. On one side it promises so much in terms of administrative control of the shop, with marketing features and template control but on the other it is full of antiquated code and table cells that need manually edited in a behemoth design and layout management system.

That being said it is conceivable to customise the theme and make it look as un-Actinic-like as possible.

Variables, Layouts and Fragments.

Also there is the site snapshot feature which lets the designer send an export of the site files to the client so that they can import to their own installation of (the correct version of) Actinic. It's quite unique in the world on online shopping carts and doesn't use a mysql database which is fresh.

Comlongon Rocks 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Callisti) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 10:51:00 +0000

Support Comlongon Rocks 2011 on Facebook. The first of many (it is hoped) annual events for charity fundraising is scheduled for 25th September in the private grounds of Comlongon Castle.

The event is ticket only.

Cubecart gridview for Anderson Kilts

noreply@blogger.com (Callisti) — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 19:48:00 +0000

Experimenting with a grid view for products under the selected category so that visitors to the site don't have to scroll down a list of huge images.

Should speed up page loading time as only thumb images are loaded unless the visitor elects to view the full product description.

Registering .ru or Russian domains

noreply@blogger.com (Callisti) — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 12:04:00 +0000

A client recently wished to pick up an expiring Russian domain name that was relevant to the business. We found this .ru domain registration, auction and back-ordering resource...

There also http://www.netim.com/ for domain registrations across the European territories.

Sledges in summer?

noreply@blogger.com (Callisti) — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 08:56:00 +0000

Order way in advance for winter 2011-2012. The sledges.co.uk prestashop version is now online and trading.

Lots of 301 redirects!

Callisti in wonderland

noreply@blogger.com (Callisti) — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 08:52:00 +0000

Curiouser and Curiouser is now online. Another prestashop (1.4) online shop customisation for the Edinburgh curiosity shop that also provide bespoke picture framing services.

Lots of text and odd angles and some interesting photographs. The bulk of the work was in converting the design to CSS and trying to find all the relevant .tpl and block css files in the prestashop structure.

Property development in NW11 London

noreply@blogger.com (Callisti) — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 08:33:00 +0000

Callisti has been helping Glentree new homes with their new Aylmer Place apartment development in north west London. The luxury apartments are at the Hampstead Garden Suburb area near Hampstead Heath so there is access to urban parkland.

The website is a customised wordpress child theme based on the twentyten theme so takes advantage of the custom menu feature and widget sidebars. CSS3 was used to create background gradients in the main content container area and the featured thumbnails were used to give each page a unique header image (required a minor functions.php tweak)

2 of the 5 apartments (prices starting at around a cool £1.15m!) have already been reserved ...

Rotate text in Internet Explorer using CSS and Matrix transform...

noreply@blogger.com (Callisti) — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 20:37:00 +0000

Not sure about Internet Explorer 9 yet but there is an excellent online tool for calculating the correct values for Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 8 css filters:

Enter the degrees of rotation and click 'Set'

This will generate CSS for the equivalent values for Firefox, Safari/Chrome and Opera but these can now be more simply stated using, e.g.

-moz-transform:rotate(25deg);
-webkit-transform:rotate(25deg);
-o-transform:rotate(25deg);

The basic filter for IE only allows 90 degree rotations (0, 90, 180, 270) so if you want text or images at a jaunty angle it's not enough. It's worth the extra effort to keep text as text and not resort to imagery.

However, don't expect the text to be as smooth as in other, more capable browsers...

The maths

Vertical text

noreply@blogger.com (Callisti) — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 15:27:00 +0000

CSS3 is providing a selection of memes. The old age problem of browser rendering and cross-browser testing heads up again though.

ScottGale.com gives a working solution.

The axis of rotation can vary between browsers and pre Internet Explorer 8 offerings are jippy.

Waste of public money?

noreply@blogger.com (Callisti) — Tue, 24 May 2011 19:00:00 +0000

Callisti has been using the BuddyPress plug-in for WordPress to set up community frameworks (notably Dumfries and Galloway For Sale Free and Wanted) and recently revised the phpBB forum experiment on Wasting Public Money with a similar WordPress and BuddyPress installation for a more pleasant user interface.

There is also the added feature of being able to use the WP-FB connect tool (recently updated after Facebook's change to acceptable authentication methods) which allows greater accessibility to those already familiar or at home in a Facebook environment.

Visitors are welcome to contribute to the website with relevant content...

White noise resignation

noreply@blogger.com (Callisti) — Thu, 19 May 2011 07:37:00 +0000

This is the sort of pish that gives SEO a bad name. Clutters up inboxes as well.

Also have been getting variations of attempted blog posts on client site. Tedious.

Google is meant to be penalising content farms that produce low quality crap, maybe this will change the course of spam river. For a while.

Must be practising - trying out a typo pattern generator using stock phrase, search engine URL (email addresses suppressed for this blog post)

Maybe these are some of the stumbling steps that will lead to true AI :)

Web Site (if any entered):
http://www.google.com/ [Valid URL: True]
Comments:
Cool! That's a clever way of loonkig at it!

Web Site (if any entered):
http://www.bing.com/ [Valid URL: True]
Comments:
Home run! Great slugging with that aswner!

Web Site (if any entered):
http://www.yahoo.com/ [Valid URL: True]
Comments:
AFAIC that's the best aneswr so far!