Hot Dorkage

Dynamic CSS files

admin — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 03:19:33 +0000

I had always wished CSS files weren’t so static so you could do different things at runtime. It turns out you can do it, but exercise common sense. The exact plan you take depends on how often the CSS “variables” change value. If it’s not too often you might want to “precompile” [...]

PHP Elephant Plarn Geek Backpack

admin — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 23:56:27 +0000

Here is my latest geeky plarn project. It’s been a long time in the making. I’m very proud of how long it took me to get enough bags to do this project, and I have to say I didn’t even get all of them myself. I fashioned the bag as a [...]

Lingering reservations about ORM

admin — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:49:14 +0000

I have always had reservations about locking myself into a strict Object Relational Model scheme for the same reason I have been allergic to Windows. I was never able to articulate exactly why but my friend Juozas Kaziukėnas has brought it into sharp focus in his latest blog post on Doctrine. Here’s the [...]

Zend Framework and Doctrine

admin — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:44:19 +0000

Well it’s looking like Doctrine is the heavy weight data mapping solution of the lot. Zend Framework was often criticized for having no serious Model methods. Models was just sort of where you put your nuts and bolts database code. Some folks like the structure of the Active Record model that you [...]

How to integrate a jQuery plugin into Yii Framework

admin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:59:04 +0000

I have been studying up on Yii framework as a potential alternative to Zend. It has its pluses and minuses. Yii framework comes with jQuery included at the core. It was ridiculously easy to download a jQuery plugin, drop it in as a black box, follow the instructions for the front end, [...]

Twitter list apps

admin — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:03:00 +0000

They couldn’t be too long in coming! The best thing about Twitter is its API. I was told by someone in the know that 90% of Twitter’s traffic comes through its API, not through people directly surfing it. Anyway, the new lists are GREAT. They should have been there from the [...]

Twibbons for Toonlet

admin — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:54:36 +0000

Here’s a little Twitter app for you while we all wait for some serious list apps: This one is called twibbon, and what it does is overlays a little icon over your twitter avatar to show you support something. First I placed the zend framework one, then I created my own for toonlet, [...]

Toonlet with Audio

admin — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 07:15:06 +0000

I just clipped each individual frame of one of my toonlets and put them in an open office presentation. Then I fired up Berio and ran the slideshow fullscreen while I read the lines. Then I imported the whole thing into IMovie, clipped the beginning and end, compressed it a little and uploaded [...]

Berio Free Video Screen Capture for Leopard

admin — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:47:54 +0000

Camtasia is awesome, but pricey. For the likes of me, who doesn’t do video screen capture for a living, the price just isn’t justified. Leopard comes with an app to do capture, but it requires a hookup to a MacOSX server. Out of luck again. Enter Berio. Simple Straightforward, and [...]

Scary Facebook Hackage

admin — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:34:04 +0000

Paul Fenwick graced us with the following presentation at Barcamp Melbourne. Armed with only the documentation from Facebook’s API he proceded to submit queries to their query engine and it is amazing what he dug up on the volunteers who agreed to let him “hack” their accounts. Bottom line: Facebook apps are scary because [...]