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"PHPStorm: A Great IDE"

Every once in a while, something comes along that’s really nice and can really make your life a tad bit easier.  If you’re a developer of any kind, I don’t have to tell you how important it is to be able to find the right tools that can make your job that much easier.  So, when something comes along that makes me say, ‘Say… This is pretty slick!’, then best believe, I’ll share it with you.  Such as the case is the new IDE from JetBrains called PHPStorm (click for page here). 

PHPStorm, is a pretty lightweight IDE that’s pretty easy to use and is quite handy to have in your web development arsenal.  As the name indicates, it’s ready out of the box to be used for PHP code, but I’ve found just using it for HTML/CSS and JavaScript to be quite nice.  Sure, it let’s you change your color schemes and setup addons and libraries really as much you’d like to, but what I’ve found to be the real gem about this IDE is how it feels.

Everything is pretty easy to find, (common-sense learning curve is tested here a tad bit, but once you find something - you understand why they put it where they put it), and since it’s so lightweight, development is pretty fluid and intuitive. 

I’ll be honest and tell you, I haven’t quite done much hard-core web development using this tool yet, but for some of the projects I’ve been working on so far, it’s my IDE of choice for doing even the simplest of things.  I’ve already made it my IDE of choice for making changes to my local Apache server files! It’s that easy and quick to use.

So, I definitely recommend going by JetBrains and giving it a try.  It gives you a 45 day free trial, too - so you have plenty of time to scrap it if it doesn’t work for you. Go give it a whirl!

"If It’s Broke… Wait For the Next CMS Release"

That’s right. I did it. I purposely broke my website to see how Expression Engine Beta would work out.  And, I have to say, despite a few hiccups here and there, the install went… well OK.  There’s something to be said in upgrading one system to a completely new system.  This wasn’t an easy jump tweaking minor things here and there.  Expression Engine 2.0 is a brand new puppy.  New database structure, new template system, new user interface, everything.  So, I’m not surprised I had a few snags here and there.  But as always, support came through!

With all that being said, I’m pretty impressed with my new toy.  Needless, to say, I didn’t realize some things just haven’t been perfected yet as this is still Beta.  Such as… pagination.  So if you’re skimming through my blog, yes…I know going to the next page (or previous page for that matter) won’t work.  But, I figure it’ll be just a matter of time, before Expression Engine comes up with 2.0.x and we’ll be going back and forward in no time.

So, bare with me as I still figure this thing out.  Expression Engine 2.0 is shaping up to be a pretty cool CMS.  I might even do a review one of these days… so keep an eye out.

"Coding Like A Zen Master"

If you’ve ever spent any time at all designing websites, you’ll find, in a few minutes, plugging in HTML and CSS tags can be a chore. Many IDEs and text editors (such as BBEdit and Dreamweaver) have done what they can to help by offering auto-complete features and keyboard shortcuts, but this minimally reduces your typing burden.

But alas! Zen Coding has come to (somewhat) cut out the mundane act of typing (as much).  It’s a powerful abbreviation engine that expands CSS selector-like expressions into HTML code.
For example, assume you need a div with an ID of “content”.  This div contains 3 paragraph tags.  All you would have to type would be:

div#content>p*3

And voila!  You get:


<div id=”content”>

 <p></p>

 <p></p>

 <p></p>

</div>


Is that amazing or what?  OK, want to try something a little more adventurous? Try something like this:

div#page>p.top+ul#nav>li*5>a

and you’ll get something like:


<div id=“page”>

 <p class=“top”></p>

  <ul id=“nav”>

   <li><a href=”“></a></li>

   <li><a href=”“></a></li>

   <li><a href=”“></a></li>

   <li><a href=”“></a></li>

   <li><a href=”“></a></li>

  </ul>

</div>


Can you imagine how quick one could put an HTML page together this way? A quick download and install of an extension from the Zen Coding website and you’re on your way!

Now, I can tell you, most people will just stick with their slow, out-dated way of doing HTML/CSS, not even knowing there’s a quick and simple way to spit HTML code out left and right.  But, as for me, I’ll be one that will master the ways of Zen coding. Now, if you’ll excuse me… I have to go print out my cheat sheets.

"10 Inspirational Church Websites"

There was a time (not long ago), when visiting church websites, you would normally see just the basics: a brochure-like website, a phone number, an e-mail address, and a church logo. But now church websites are becoming more and more cutting-edge.  Obviously, churches are starting to recognize the web, not just as means to get church information out to the masses, but also as a means to engage current members and invite new ones.

Here are a few websites that are excellent examples of color, imagery, and layout. These are just a few of my favorites, feel free to comment as you like!

• Stonebriar Community Church
• Elevation Church
• Mission 68 Church
• Calvary Church
• Mars Hill Church
• City of Grace Church
• The Sanctuary Covenant Church
• Trinity Fellowship Church
• Cottonwood Church

"Death to Unnecessary Text Messages"

So a few days ago, I found myself looking back over the past text conversations that I’ve managed to accumolate on my phone here recently.  Is it me or is it just becoming too popular to end text messages with “OK”, “bye”, or “cya”.  Even here recently, I’ve started getting “K” as if “OK” was just going to take that much more time to spell out.  Now before you roll your eyes… think about it.  Think of the time wasted.  Think of the apparent danger (for those that text while driving).  Think of the wasted text message and how it effects all of our networks!

I guess in my old(er) age, I’m trying to think of myself as being less wasteful.  I’m trying not to waste money.  Trying to not litter.  Hey, I’m even trying to turn off stuff when I go to bed.  So, it’s not surprising to me at least that this is starting to stand out in my mind as being wasteful too.  Truth be told, none of this probably would have dawned on me until I took a glance at my last month’s cell phone bill.  Seven hundred text messages between my wife and I in a span of a month.  I thought to myself, “who in the world do we text to that much”?  So I pulled out my phone and looked through my text history.  Truth be told, I don’t text to many but boy do I get a lot of “three-letter-or-less” responses.

Thinking back, I remembered there were those times when I just wanted to make sure that whomever was sending a message understood that I understood what they were saying.  It’s funny how we think people are hanging on to their phones just waiting for us to agree or something.  In retrospect, I realize… it’s not that deep.  My “OK” probably wasn’t even necessary and in some cases my silence probably would’ve been just as suffice.

So, I’m challenging you… next time you’re tempted to answer back to some text message.  Just avoid the quick call-and-response.  Let’s not abuse this text message thing… let it be what it was intended for it to be: a great means of communication.  Thx!