Matthew Lanham

I have just submitted a new blog post on the Swan Web Solutions website regarding our build with ExpressionEngine and which modules we used, check it out:

http://bit.ly/eiuV2

Well i have a few personal websites that are purely for affiliate marketing and i am now seeing the need for this commercially, so i have created a library that will do the following:

• Download ZIP containing merchants, unzip and process into DB
• Download ZIP containing categories, unzip and process into DB
• Download ZIP containing products based on a merchant id, unzip and process into DB

Very much in the early stages of testing, but if anyone would like a copy, then i’d be happy to pass it over.

We’ve been using basecamp to manage tasks, not really projects as we have our own system, i suddenly realized ”Why are we paying for this? we could just build a similar task function for our internal system!” so we did, i’ll probably make a version available very soon, but it’s being tested as we work at the moment.

Built in Codeigniter

A while ago i spotted this library for Codeigniter, i have used CakePHP in the past and the framework has a very good ORM, which just makes life easier when calling, saving and editing data. One thing that torn me between Codeigniter and CakePHP was that Codeigniter did not have an ORM, but then i discovered Datamapper, which i have finally been able to test on a fairly substantial project.

The results are simple, Datamapper is great, i have been doing some fairly complex relations etc and while it took a while to get my head around the concept, it’s just brilliant.

Recommended!!!!

Follow the forum topic here

Grab the download: Datamapper 1.6.0

Well maybe not yet, but when you consider that school children are now learning how to build small scale websites for school projects you have to wonder whether in the next 10 years, these children, when adults, will make complex websites themselves without the need for professional intervention.

Experience, the x-factor?

Sure, experience is always favorable, especially when it comes to design, which is not easily taught, but programming, well i learned from a PHP book that i purchased second hand from a computer fair for £10 around 8 years ago.

Mashup craaazzzy..

Making a complex web application has become quite a simple process already, many modern millionaires are capitalizing on the ‘mashup’ craze which is still in its infancy, i can boldly predict that in the next 5 years we’ll see less bespoke websites and more adaptions of already successful platforms.

OMG what will i do without web design?

Who knows, it’s all i know and i’m sure if you’re reading this you’ll be of the same opinion, my only thoughts turn to ensuring that we are the drivers for this revolution and unlike the thousands of companies still designing websites from the 90’s we change with the times and adapt like a graceful chameleon.