Latest Posts
E-Commerce Engine and ColdFusion = CFWebstore
Once in a while you may come across an opportunity to help create and implement an E-Commerce solution using the ColdFusion platform. When this arises, I highly recommend using CFWebstore. CFWebstore is not free, but is not really expensive either. For (I think) $400.00 you can get a license of CFWebstore, which will work on a Windows server, Linux Server, and can use MySQL or MSSQL.
The install is pretty easy and straight forward. Just download the files put them on your web server, setup a database, run the database scripts, change some settings in the config file and you are off and running. If you work like most developers then you already should have an approved mock up of what the e-commerce site will look like. For me the easiest way to implement a design with CFWebstore is to first build-out your approved mock up into valid XHTML. Now you just have to cut and paste your build-out code into your default_layout file within CFWebstore. Most code is well commented within files, and gives you a good idea what that code is doing. Continue Reading
Kentico’s support, Where are you???
I know in a previous post, I mentioned how active Kentico is in trying to help you out with issues, even though it may take a day or so. I am going to over react a bit and say I take all that back.
I understand the need to charge for support at some points but I also believe that you should only charge support if you have a great deal of knowledge base, FAQ’s, and troubleshooting information easily found at the tips of someones finger tips. This is not saying that Kentico doesn’t have a bunch of documentation, but the quality of the support documents is low and to search for anything specific is a nightmare on Kentico’s Development site. Continue Reading
Wire-Framing, free online tools to organize your project
Most small websites do not need someone to do web architecture and wire-framing exercises to help get to the final product, a fully functioning 1-15 page website. Especially only when you may need a simple CMS in the background. Once in a while though, you will have to work on a large project, that you have to build your own framework for, everything custom. This is when wire-framing your application is very useful and will help keep organization and keep everyone (even yourself) on the right track. I will be briefly talking about a few wire-framing applications that I use, and guess what!, they’re free (to a certain extent).
Gliffy
Gliffy is usually what i first start with when getting a large application organized.
Creating a wireframe is a can help improve the vision for an entire web development team. Gliffy makes it pretty simple to create wireframes and then to share your web mockups with anyone.
Gliffy has drag and drop elements from a tool library that you can put anywhere on the page. You can add text to wireframe to have a clear mockup. Continue Reading
Project Bubble, will it ever burst?
Project Bubble
If you don’t already know, Project Bubble i,s in my humble opinion the best project management application for free. Project Bubble is easy to use and understand and the design is open making it not as much for a task for data entry. You can add multiple projects, clients, tasks, invoices and even estimates. So far Project Bubble is in its infanticy but has made some major strides since its official launch late last year. The creator Stu Green has made the development of the application not just from his own ideas. Stu almost daily polls his audience to see whats on their mind and what they want to see Project Bubble become. Stu takes the users wants and executes updates with hardly any hiccups. So far I can only use Project Bubble as an invoicing and estimate application. I really want to start using this as an all in one project management tool.
I could use this as a main hub between salesman, clients, developers, and myself. Some things are holding me back at this point. Continue Reading
Best CMS’s in 2009
As a Web Engineer for the last 3 years and now as a Web Architect, I have been through a lot of different CMS’s (Content Management Systems). Mainly I like to stick to a couple key CMS’s but now and again I have to stray based on clients needs, budget, and deadline. I figured I would do a brief summary on the CMS’s I have implemented and think are some of the best based on programming language (I’m only doing .net, and php). Hopefully I will share some of the advantages and disadvantages each has.
.NET CMS’s
Kentico
Kentico in my opinion is one of the best CMS’s in 2009. Kentico is well built, updated regularly and can offer many solutions for little modification. Kentico has great out of the box features like its Blog, Calendar, Newletters, Event Calendar, Forums, and easy to create forms. The year of 2009 has surely pushed Kentico’s platform into the social marketing age. With new upgrades to Kentico several new features have been developed to add more social networking aspects. Polling, Groups, Friends and Private Messaging are all contained within Kentico.
Kentico has its weaknesses though. The challenge is to understand how Kentico works, and this can take a while digging around .NET code. They do have a large collection of documentation but it seems that they rushed it and they do not give the detailed information that you would like. The cost of Kentico is also a downfall. I understand the need for cost with an application this size but I think they would be able to make even more money if they put this software in the Open Source market. Continue Reading