Hello Guys,

I had been very busy with Buildpress, an easy theme builder for Wordpress and finally Google Summer of Code 2009 came to an end. I am really gonna miss it, hope it`ll come back soon next year. I`d like to personally thank my mentor Mr. Andrew Ozz (lead developer from Wordpress and Jane Wells from Wordpress) to make this project a success. But this post ain`t about em, its bout the all new MyADManager Online.

I personally request my readers to join in this beta launch successfully test this application out. It`ll be making up for many things that lacked in My AD Manager plugin for Wordpress. Join the beta @ http://www.myadmanageronline.com

Follow My AD Manager on Twitter -> @myadmanager

Become a Fan via Facebook

About My AD Manager Online :

My AD Manager Online is a web application to help publishers and advertisers get close to other and interact in a very healthy and safe platform which benefits both the parties.

My AD Manager Online has also a unique feature, which other ad management networks lack, Social Networking, in house AD Creative Editor, Home ADs !. My AD Manager Online is a Social AD Management Platform.

Publisher Features :

1. Full automation. Monetize your website/blog in 3 easy steps, viz, Register @ my ad manager online -> add your website and add your AD regions/zones -> Insert small javascript code in the respective regions on your website !
2. Home Ads !!!! You can run your own Ads on your adspace
3. 85% payout to publishers
4. Cashout to Paypal
5. AD Space is sold for a time period of 30 days from the date of purchase by an advertiser. Currently USD is accepted.
6. Can review AD which is being aired. If you find it offensive, you can report to us and we`ll take the necessary action.
7. You like a advertiser, follow him/her, you can even send, personal message to him/her.

Advertiser Features :

1. Full automation. Buy an AD-Space, Create or select an AD creative to go with the AD-Space and assign it. *Remember, you can assign a new ad-creative to the purchased AD-Space, not necessary to run the same ad-creative for 30 days*
2. See how your AD is doing, how many clicks is it getting ? through our real-time AD manager graph.
3. As of now, there is no limit to the number of AD-Creatives you can create.
4. My AD Manager Online provides an account where you can deposit funds and use the account funds to make purchases.
5. You like a publisher, follow him/her, you can even send, personal message to him/her.

All the ADs will be hosted on Amazon’s S3, so data availability and reliability is guaranteed.

My AD Manager Online Dashboard

My Dashboard

Adding AD Creative

Adding AD Creative

Hello Everyone,

Just so if you are wondering where the hell is the admin… I was working on a new project. I would like to introduce Webdevcodex.com (Web Dev Codex).

Web Development Codex as the name suggests will feature articles on web development, Design tips, CSS, XHTML, AJAX etc. Mashups on PHP/MySQL, Ruby on Rails, full fledged applications which can be used in for web development.

In a nutshell, Web Dev Codex will be having all my web development articles transferred from this site. The site will also be publishing screencasts on various topics.

Thanks to all my readers for thier support. Soon in the coming days, most of the articles from here will be shifted to the new site (updated articles).

Don`t forget to check out Web Dev Codex

Ok, I was googling for some information when I stumbled upon something called as “Chrome Experiments“. I don`t know whether most of you must have seen this site, but it is unbelievable that most of the experiments posted here have been created using javascript !

One of my favourites here is the Depth of Field example. Screenies below

This just shows how the javascript engines have evolved over the years. Earlier flash used to be every developer/designers dream to create super interactive websites, it is still great for creating RIAs but nowadays Javascript has evolved soo much, it can do most of the stuff which Flash could do.

This site is a real inspiration to those who want to learn more about javascript. Enjoy

The portfolio doesn`t display well in IE 6 as of yet (still working). Do view it in Firefox or IE7+.

Hello Everyone,

I have been working on a portfolio look from the past 2 days and finally finished with the design and layout . As you might have noticed, there is a lil change here at the blog too.

This is the portfolio of Vision Master Designs. Do check it out

Check out the portfolio Here

I would really appreciate, if you guys can gave an opinion on whether the main page of the site should either be the blog or the portfolio page. There is a poll on the right, don`t forget to vote

So, a third update to the  iPhone called iPhone 3G [S] where s = speed, as if iPhone wasn`t fast enough. Either ways, its coming out June 19th and people are more excited than ever … Why ? here are some reasons to cheer on

1. Pricing

   Ok here is the deal.
   iPhone 3G [s] 16GB – $199
   iPhone 3G [s] 32GB – $299
   What is Apple thinking, I can still remember when iPhone 4GB (2G) costed a bomb. Either ways, less price is always good for the consumer (Without the Operator Strings Attached). By the time this baby hits India, it`ll be costing around $700-$800 (which would also require a contract with the Operator )

2. 3MP AutoFocus Camera with Video Recording

   I always felt iPhone’s camera was one of the best camera’s amongst all its competitor although it was just 2MP.
   Now Apple is offering 3MP Autofocus, which can automatically switch to Macro mode with any object around 10cm away from the camera. Also this baby can record VIDEO, Perfect

3. Same Size, Same Weight as iPhone 3G

   Added features but not an ounce more

4. Digital Compass

   Now this is something new which I never thought would be built in a phone . Either way, it doesn’t hurt to have an extra feature when your phone can already play music, click pictures, GPS, Web etc etc…

5. Very Resistant !

   It seems this iPhone is highly resistant to water, oil since it has a new outer body. Now you don`t need to worry when you “accidently” drop your drinks on your phone.

6. iPhone OS 3.0

   Yeh, it will be OS 3.0 powered so there are lot of accessibility features. Some include complete sentence recognition, multiplayer gaming, read aloud text etc.

The iPhone 3G [s] has plenty of more features including a fitness program to keep track of your calories !

Frankly its not a VERY huge update to the existing iPhone 3G. Rumors are that the new iPhone 3G [s] still won`t allow you to transfer files via bluetooth and lacks A2DP i.e playing audio wirelessly to your bluetooth stereo headset.

and YES, its coming this June 19th,

Click Here to know about the iPhone 3G [s] Specs

As you all know, I`ll be developing a Theme Scratchpad for Wordpress thanks to Google Summer of Code 2009. Just to let you guys know, how the coding is coming along, I have posted an update about the Project Progress.

Here is my update :

Introduction

I and my mentor (Mr. Andrew Ozz) were trying to define our project scope. We had some issues since the project idea is very vast and we had to properly define who will be using our system and how it should work. Just so for those who don`t know what this is, we are working on “Theme Scratchpad” which is an interactive UI to build themes for Wordpress, targeted mostly towards people who are new to Wordpress and wanna try their hand at designing their own individual themes, but It can be used by every type of user.

After a some heavy research, we planned to keep the system as simple as possible and offer immense flexibility to the User. Of course this is not so simple as it sounds. There are lot of problems which needs to be addressed but primarily, the functionality as to how it is going to work is being sorted out.

Working

We initally decided to use “YUI” framework to power our builder but due to compatibility reasons and the lack of flexibility. Check the here. Due to this, we decided to build a custom YUI Grid Builder Theme ScratchPad Builder which will be powered by jQuery. I have already begun work and will be soon posting an online demo of the builder as it progresses.

For now,

1. User can select the size of the template page i.e (100%, 974px,750px)
2. User can modify sidebar position and size (i.e left or right + size of sidebar)
3. User can add additional columns to content.

Although, code cannot be still ported to Wordpress theme format. But the builder helps to create a skeleton of the Theme and then it will be converted to Wordpess Theme Format.

Currently YUI Grids CSS is being used to define the layout for the themes and for the cosmetic looks jQueryUI CSS Framework will be used.

Issues

1. The primary issue is, porting the theme to Wordpress theme format, which I am wondering as to how to go about.
2. How much customization to offer ? This is very important as every User has different ideas and different needs.

Planned for the Coming Week

1. Try to make a proper feature list.
2. Try to use a better CSS Framework for cosmetics if possible.
3. Look for Alternatives on how to export to Wordpress Theme Format.

Okay, the number of brushes isn`t much, but its a start . I work on Photoshop, and thought of posting tutorials too, but was kinda clueless as to where to start from…. So as a start, here are just 8 brushes I often use to get my things done. There are more, I`ll post em as I get time. What are you waiting for ? Grab em Now

Please Note : These brushes were not created by me, All credits go to their respective authors/creators. The brushes are released under different Licenses. By Downloading them you agree to the Terms and Conditions posted by the Author. The brushes are a compilation from deviantart.com

1. Cloud Brushes by JavierZhX

   
   Download

2. Abstract Brushes by megatron-fx

   
   Download

3. shape brushes by dreamon72

   
   Download

4. Winter Breeze Brushes by Axeraider70

   

   Download

5. Flourish Brushes by seleneheart

   

   Download

6. Typographic Grunge Brushes by Scully7491

   

   Download

7. heart brushes by dead-brushes

   

   Download

8. vector brushes by equilerex

   

   Download

After a month, finally my exams have ended. I had 4 papers, and frankly, they all didn`t go that great. My last exam Data Warehouse and Mining sucked the most ! :@ Anyways, so finally I am a Bacholer of Engineering – woohoo !

I got 6 months left before I join a company to work (don`t want to though), till then I am planning to take Vision Master Designs to bigger heights ! The company has a steady client base and hopefully, if I complete my Google Summer of Code Challenge successfully, it`ll give the company a big boost. If this happens, VMD will be a full time Web Consultant/Design/Developing Company !

So whats in it for you guys ? A lot of articles ! I have already began work on “Theme Scratchpad” for Wordpress. Its a theme builder. I am currently engaged in developing a UI. It is powered by jQuery . I`ll be writing my experiences along with tutorials about jQuery, ofcourse I am learning from the best, Javascript Almighty Mr. Andrew Ozz who was the lead Developer for the entire Administration Interface you see in Wordpress.

Along with “Theme Scratchpad”, MyADManager 1.0 is coming. Its got better host features and will be releasing soon.

Stay tuned…

BTW thanks to discoveryeducation.com and tufts.edu for the images

So finally you have realized the need for Version Control System. SVN is one of the best Version Control Systems available right now. You want to version control your project but lack the moolah, then the following post will help you choose a free SVN host. There are many available, just one search with “Free SVN Hosting” in google will yield a lot of results. But how would you know which one to choose ? There are a lot of hosts each with unique features, but every one has thier own taste. So here is a compilation of the 3 best free SVN host according to me.

Unfuddle

Very easy to get started with an account. Offers 200MB for the free account and limits the number of projects to just 1. Its prime features are

• 200 MB free space
• 1 Project, and multiple repositories.
• Offers both SVN and GIT version control System.
• Very friendly Dashboard
• Allows Callback to a particular url whenever a commit is performed on the repository.
• URL : http://www.unfuddle.com

Springloops

Another service which offers affordable hosting. It offers a free hosting as well. Although this service offers 100MB compared to unfuddle, it has something unique. The highlight here is you can deploy the script directly to your production server. There is no need to login via FTP to upload your updated script, you can directly deploy any revision (i.e the latest revision or you can specify revision number)

• 100MB free space
• Offers only SVN hosting
• Automatic Deployment of Script on commit. (uses FTP or SFTP)
• It also has integration with Base camp (leading project management and collab system)
• URL : http://www.springloops.com

ProjectLocker

Another Service which has a good host of features for free. It supports a variety of version control systems like SVN, Git and also has TRAC support.

• Offers 300MB
• Unlimited Users
• Unlimited Projects
• Unlimited Repositories
• Offers Trac – Bug Reporting, Project Management, Wiki
• URL : http://www.projectlocker.com/

Verdict

I personally like springloops.com only because it offers automatic Deployment of script. Once you commit your changes, you can directly deploy your changes by heading over to springloops.com, no hassle of uploading to ftp and crosschecking which version has been uploaded.

Unfuddle is very powerful as well, it offers both SVN hosting and GIT hosting for a single account, though it lacks automatic script deployment.

Imagine…you are working on a software project, there are loads of files and you are constantly making changes to it. Suppose, because of some modifiction the program stops responding or not working the way it should and its almost impossible for you to find the “needle” (error) from the haystack, what would you do ?!

Well I had numerous experiences such as this. After a lot of research I found out about CVS and SVN, GIT. These are methods to keep a version of your software from the time it is concieved, monitering every small change and till the time is done. The best part, if anything goes wrong, you can always revert back to the previous version.

This post is a small compilation of different versioning systems. I won`t be talking about CVS since it is kinda outdated and in the open-source community GIT or SVN is preferred.

SVN – (Sub)Version Control

SVN was initiated by CollabNet in 2000. There is a lot of technical stuff to it. In lay man’s terms, Features of SVN are

• Commits are atomic i.e For instance, you have modified a file. Now you want to commit it to your repository (Central Storage), if by chance you got disconnected during the commit process, there won`t be any data inconsistency, i.e either the repository will be updated or it won’t and in this scenario it won’t.
• Repository is Centrally Located. If you are disconnected from the network, there is no way you can view the history of a particular file.
• Renamed/copied/moved/removed files retain full revision history. i.e Every action on any file will be recorded. You can at any time go back to the previous revisions.
• You can get/retrieve a file based on its revision number.
  You must have noticed a lot many times, huge sites use versioned style sheets. Example style.css?rev=11 or in javascript files xx.js?rev=5. This will retrieve the respective revsion of that particular file from the repository.
• You can branch your files to a different directory to continue the work from there on.
  Suppose 2 people are working on a single project, and both of you are working on module A of that project. You can set up a branch for your individual development of that module instead of centrally both of you committing codes over one and other.
• Parsable output, including XML log output. You can retrieve the output of any commit in XML format.

Enough with the mumbo jumbo. In short, SVN is a central Repository. It stores all information,versions of a file centrally. The users when they checkout or update via SVN, they only get the latest revision of the file and not the entire history

For Windows there is a really cool Interface to interact with SVN, i.e TortoiseSVN
It gets integrated into the Windows Shell. With a click of the right mouse button, you can access Tortoise SVN’s Features. Very simple to understand. To know more about TortoiseSVN, check http://tortoisesvn.net

Please note that you don`t need to install SVN server in your computer to access SVN repositories or update SVN repositories. TortoiseSVN takes care of all that.

I would suggest you guys to read a free ebook on SVN posted http://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.5/svn-book.pdf