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PHP Made Amazingly Easy, Efficient, and Fun With CodeIgniter

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CI Logo

EllisLab Inc., the same group that has created ExpressionEngine, is at it again by providing people with a free and open source PHP framework called CodeIgniter. This open source PHP framework allows users to create PHP-based applications without many of the complaints I already have with PHP. The best part is that you don’t really have to sacrifice anything to utilize this framework, and it has an amazing community behind it.

Overview

For the longest time, one of my main complaints with PHP has been that it isn’t as user friendly as, say, HTML is, for example. Well, that still remains true, but, for now, we have CodeIgniter. What is CodeIgniter? Well, let’s just say that it allows you to avoid quite a few of the complexities with PHP coding, and, instead, allows users to rapidly program applications. Even more importantly, it doesn’t sacrifice speed or functionality to accomplish this.

Simplicity is at the forefront of CodeIgniter’s design. It is really easy and, dare I say, fun to use. I actually feel like I’m using a language that makes a lot more sense than I would have if I was to take on a project with PHP alone. The documentation is fantastic, and while I wish there were more video tutorials available on the CodeIgniter site, they’re enough to show users what is possible with the CodeIgniter framework. I must say, though, the documentation for CodeIgniter has been very helpful.

One of the most difficult parts of PHP programming was the that connecting PHP with MySQL was a pain in the behind. Many times I began projects that utilized a MySQL database, and I usually gave up once I got to the point of tying those two together. This is no longer a problem. There are easy to use functions that allow data to be stored, retrieved, and removed from a database. It still isn’t as easy as I would like it to be, but it is a huge improvement.

One of the other reasons that I like CodeIgniter so much is that it is fast. I certainly haven’t personally put it through its paces, yet, but I am impressed with what I have seen so far.

Finally, I have nothing but good things to say for CodeIgniter’s community. The forums are a great place to ask questions, and there are plenty of people who have posted great tutorials on their sites.

There has been plenty of praise going around for CodeIgniter, and I will yet another to add to that praise.

Issues

CodeIgniter, as much as I like using it, is not perfect. I’ve read plenty of reviews, and most have great things to say about CodeIgniter, but there are some people who notice that some advanced functionality is left out:

What is wrong with Code Igniter you may ask? Well it seems like it is fast because it strips out so much stuff for you. By default there is no support for a layout template in which your views are embedded (although a quick Google brings us to this), and models must be manually loaded. They don’t connect to the DB automatically, so you must also do this. Therefore, you must also close the DB connection.

In CodeIgniter’s defense, I haven’t found any inaccessible functionality, but, then again, I am not doing any crazy advanced stuff quite yet. Also, if you are a PHP coding ninja, you probably would opt to use PHP in its entirety.

[Update: Several people have pointed out that CodeIgniter does not have the aforementioned problem (anymore). I haven’t experienced any of those issues. Other people can talk about that in more detail. This is just a heads-up.]

Potential

I believe that CodeIgniter still has some growing to do, but I also think there is a lot of potential with a framework like this. There are alternatives like CakePHP and Symfony. (Several bloggers have posted great comparisons of each framework.) I will admit that I have not tried those yet (I based my decision to use CodeIgniter from the start by reviews of others), but I am pleased with what I have seen so far, and I am using it to explore PHP further and, potentially, create a custom CMS solution for a site I am working on in my spare time.

Oh, and did I mention that ExpressionEngine 2 is being rebuilt with CodeIgniter? When a company utilizes their own technologies to create products for consumers—all while allowing users to explore and utilize it—this really speaks volumes. It is all pretty cool.

If I happen to try out the other frameworks, I will post my thoughts, but, for now, CodeIgniter works well for all that I want to accomplish.

If you’ve tried CodeIgniter, Symfony, CakePHP, or any other PHP framework, let us know how your experience went.

Blogging on the Go With the WordPress iPhone Application

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WordPress, creators of one of the most popular publishing platforms, has released an iPhone application that allows users to post content onto WordPress blogs by way of the iPhone. It is available on the 3G iPhone, first-generation iPhone, and iPod Touch. It is also free, and we all like free stuff. This really marks another forward step in mobile blogging technology.

WordPress.com and self-installed WordPress 2.5.1 or higher can take advantage of the WordPress iPhone application. You can embed pictures and do many other popular functions that is available on the web-based interface. Early reviews seem to give praise to the application, but one of WordPress’s main competitors, TypePad (by the folks who brought you MovableType—Six Apart), has also created an iPhone application, which has been highly praised as well.

It would be very interesting to see how many people actually take advantage of the WordPress iPhone application. Perhaps WordPress will reveal some numbers in the future.

I still have a few questions: can anyone accurately type on the iPhone’s keyboard, and will this be used for anything other than short blurbs on WordPress blogs?

There is a great FAQ available on the official site, but I guess you’ll just have to try it for yourself.

I, unfortunately, cannot comment heavily on this, but if any of you have an iPhone, let us know if the WordPress iPhone application is any good.

An Awesome Time-Saving Tip for Checking Your Blog Posts’ Grammar

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Many operating systems have wonderful text-to-speech features included by default—ironically enough, this entire article revolves around this feature. Long forgotten and unused, it is now an important part of my work flow. I only began exploring this feature around a month and a half ago on my Mac OS X Leopard system, and I have been using it ever since. It has saved me from having many errors that I would not have noticed otherwise. It is exactly like having someone else read your work for you, but the only difference is that it is now a computer doing it for you.

Enabling Text-to-Speech on Mac OS X

There are only a few steps required to enable text-to-speech shortcuts in Mac OS X Leopard:

  1. Open up your system preferences.
  2. Under the “System” subheading, click on the “Speech” option.
  3. Navigate to the “Text to Speech” tab.
  4. Enable the check-box for “Speak selected text when the key is pressed.”
  5. Click on “Set Key” to open up a dialog box that will allow you to set a key combination to set when you want to have your computer read the text. (I have it activate when the Shift key, Option key, Control key, and ‘S’ key are all depressed.)

After you have done all those steps, try selecting any text on your screen, and press the key combination to see if it works. You should know before you attempt this that text-to-speech synthesis requires a decent system to operate correctly. Apparently it uses up a lot of memory and CPU cycles to calculate the process. Keep this in mind.

An Alternative Method

If you want a different way to access this feature, you could try selecting some text, navigate to the “Edit” menu, and then scroll down to the “Speech” item, and, finally, select “Start Speaking”. However, this method only works in applications that display the “Speech” item under the edit menu. For example, Firefox does not have this menu, but you can still press they key combination set (as explained above) to have the computer read the text back to you.

It’s Not Perfect

Now, I will be the first to admit that it is not a flawless solution. There are times when that monotonous voice will put you to sleep, but I have been fairly impressed overall. The default voice, Alex, works the best for me, but you should try the alternative voices to see if they work better for you.

I would really urge any of you who have a Mac computer to utilize this feature. It might sound silly, but it really does work, and I’m not afraid to state that I use it on a regular basis to help me ensure that my posts are of great reading quality.

Using Something Else?

For those of you on Windows and Linux operating systems, you are in luck. Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Linux have text-to-speech solutions available. I can’t comment on any of these methods for Windows or Linux, but I am sure they work just as well.

Have you tried this before? Are you willing to incorporate this into your work flow? Do the voices sound too weird? Let me know in the comments section!

Blood and Laporte Discuss Blogging Ethics: What Happened?

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Earlier, Leo Laporte and Rebecca Blood (I love the name), author of The Weblog Handbook: Practical Advice on Creating and Maintaining Your Blog, discussed blogging ethics on TWiT Live. The brief discussion primarily focused on what bloggers should do when they need to change their content. Jeff Chandler recently covered part of this story when John C. Dvorak was involved—John frequents the TWiT network—and the conversation has been carried over.

An Overview

Note: my responses are formatted in italics.

Unless under extreme circumstances (e.g., when personal information about someone is disclosed), content should not be removed from a blog. People should utilize the strike formatting and add the alterations after it.

I completely agree with this! If you are going to be completely transparent with your bloggers, you should never attempt to make something magically disappear. What happens if someone links to your post because something you wrote, and it isn’t in that article anymore? You will have upset your readers, those visiting your blog from the linking site, the author of the linking site, and maybe more than you bargained for if your article receives plenty of attention.



Major media and news outlets have recently promoted this practice with their journalists’ blogs.

As the consumption of information I read from news outlets disintegrates, the amount of respect I had for them goes as well. Thanks to the blogosphere, news organizations are, somewhat, more accountable for their own reporting (or at least people know their jobs are on the line), but who really cares about them anymore? Okay, so, we do need these news organizations, but, I rarely pay attention to them anymore.


Correcting typos is okay, and does not require notification to the user, but this is only true if the meaning of the sentence remains the same.

I agree with this as well. Something as little as using a future-tensed word instead of past-tensed word could seriously change the entire meaning of a statement. There are numerous examples, but you just have to be careful.

If you remove an entire post, make it known that the post was deleted, and, if possible, give a straightforward reason for it.

I am of the opinion that a post should never be deleted. Ever! But if it must be deleted, at least let your users know that it was taken down, and have a great reason for it as well. I’d never want to be subscribed to a blogger who did otherwise.

Instead of creating a new article, update the old one instead.

I wrote about this not so long ago. I am of the opinion that if the content must be changed because of a new important development or something similar, a new post should be assigned to it. The previously written post should have a note at the top and/or end of the post linking to your new article with a teaser of what has changed (this could promote more pageviews). However, if it is an extremely popular article, I’d suggest just updating that instead of taking away from its greatness. That is just a personal thing though.

Rebecca Blood says that BoingBoing mishandled the “Violet Blue” issue. The deletions went against what the readers expected. There weren’t as straightforward as they could have been.

Jeff Chandler previously touched on this issue, and I think it was reason enough for people to discredit BoingBoing. Stuff like that should not go unpunished. Incase you didn’t know, an author of the BoingBoing blog was fired, and all her work written on the BoingBoing blog disappeared. Regardless, it was a stupid move by BoingBoing, and I’m disappointed that the blog has, utimately, benefited from all the publicity.

[Update: Leo Laporte has said that the segment might be placed at the end of the upcoming This Week in Tech podcast (#152). I’ll update this post with a link if/when that happens.]

Performancing and Twitter: What A Wonderful Combination!

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“Without friends no one would choose to live.”—Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics

Yes, Performancing and Twitter have come together in a majestic celebration of the blending of social media and blogging.

We here at Performancing realize that not everyone wants deal with feed readers to stay on top of things. Even I have passed on feed readers in favor of services like Twitter and FriendFeed. Well, if you have a Twitter account, you can now keep on top of everything happening at Performancing and around the blogosphere by befriending us on Twitter.

If you have any comments or suggestions or want to show your support, all you have to do is message @Performancing.

Additionally, if you want to follow the Performancing staff individually, check out @RyanCaldwell, @Jeffr0, and @JMowery.

[Original Image Credit: “String of hearts” by aussiegall | CC]

WordPress 2.6 To Be Released Tonight? [Update]

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A few sites on the internet have been reporting that sources close to WordPress have intentions of releasing WordPress 2.6 tonight. This release would bring many improvements that have been widely asked for by the WordPress community.

There are plenty new features to keep your eyes on as stated on the official WordPress website:

  • Version/revision saves a copy of a post every time you edit it, allows you to view (not edit) each of those copies (revisions), Shows forward (in time) diffs between any two revisions.
  • Display captions of images alongside them in posts and pages.
  • Add paging of Themes in Design panel
  • Word Count displayed when writing and editing posts and pages
  • Press This bookmarklet
  • Add sorting to gallery
  • Export/import post excerpts
  • Theme Previewer
  • Check (assigned) Categories at top Category box in Write/Manage Post
  • Show when a term is both a tag and a category
  • Wider Profile fields
  • TinyMCE 3.1 [Maybe the horizontal rule issue is fixed]
  • Two categories can have sub-categories with the same name

For five long years WordPress has been the staple of blogging platforms, and we will soon is if this release continues that trend.

I only have one question—if WordPress 2.6 is released tonight, when do you plan on upgrading?

[Update: WordPress 2.6 has been released!]

WordPress Development Team: Fix the Horizontal Rule Issue Already!

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I love WordPress. I think it is one of the best content management systems around (even though I am open to the idea of using others). But there are some ridiculous issues with the visual editor that need to be addressed, not ignored, by the development team.

The issue I’m talking about today is a horizontal rule bug/issue. If you insert a horizontal rule,

, into a WordPress post, it will destroy the formatting of the following paragraph (or entire post) if you use the visual editor at any point in the future for that post.

Let’s say I’m creating a post and decide to manually go into the HTML editor to add in a horizontal rule (which I do frequently on my posts):

The results are as follows:

Perfect!

Now, how what about when I want to continue editing my post (I primarily use the visual editor for all my work):

Looking good so far, but wait:

Hmmmm, well, that looks like an issue. You might not notice the subtle difference in line height at first, but just take a closer look at the second paragraph when compared to the result of the HTML editor.

WordPress has now replaced what I believe should have been a paragraph tag, which should be surrounding the whole paragraph, with no formatting whatsoever.

When you use the visual or html editor, you should notice that you are not required to type in paragraph,

, tags, but they are placed there automatically. So, I believe that WordPress forgets to insert those paragraph tags after following a horizontal rule.

Instead, WordPress thinks that the text following the horizontal rule is somehow attatched to the horizontal line as follows (note that I inserted the paragraph tags only for emphasis of what the true output is):

Leo Laporte regularly produces netcasts on his TWiT network and streams live video on his TWiT Live network. Mr. Laporte also has a talk radio show called The Tech Guy. He was formally a television personality for TechTV.

I am writing a whole bunch of content to simply point out the fact that a horizontal rule will screw up the formatting after I attempt to use the visual editor. Of course, many people say not to use the visual editor, but I say if they are going to include a visual editor, they need to make it work.

The rest of the content of this article

That is completely wrong.

It should format as follows:

Leo Laporte regularly produces netcasts on his TWiT network and streams live video on his TWiT Live network. Mr. Laporte also has a talk radio show called The Tech Guy. He was formally a television personality for TechTV.

I am writing a whole bunch of content to simply point out the fact that a horizontal rule will screw up the formatting after I attempt to use the visual editor. Of course, many people say not to use the visual editor, but I say if they are going to include a visual editor, they need to make it work.

The rest of the content of this article.

It just doesn’t make any sense, and it is even more disappointing to know that WordPress has still not fixed this issue.

So, I’m calling them out on this. WordPress, please fix this issue already. For someone that likes to use the visual editor, this just drives me insane. Personally, I would appreciate, but I also think that many others would appreciate the same quality with the visual editor. I’d also like to point out that I had no such problems with MovableType or Drupal.

So, if you believe that this issue should be fixed, feel free to Stumble or Digg this article so that the WordPress development team will take notice. Also, please let everyone know of any other quirks you have found with the visual editor in the comments section below. I’d love to know about them.

Proof That You Don’t Have to Write on a Daily Basis to Be a Success

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Think Simple Now—Tina Sue really has perfected the art of infrequent and successful blogging. Previously, she used to write around two articles per week, but now she writes around a single article per week. However, all of her content is absolutely phenomenal. It is very well written and presented. She also has a great blog design that I can see is effective at giving her traffic things to do on her site other than simply leaving after they are done reading an article. The fascinating thing is that I am interested in very little of what she writes about, but it so written beautifully that I just have to read more. If that isn’t a sign of amazing writing, I don’t know what is.

DoshDosh—Maki published around six blog posts per month. The DoshDosh blog features a truly unique style by associating anime characters with posts, and, ironically enough, it turns out to be a truly unique experience. As I’ve said before, it is up to you to find your unique style, and DoshDosh is a pure example of this. The content is also very well written. Again, I must emphasize that the posting frequency is low, but the content is great.

Self Made Chick—Christine OKelly has a wonderful assortment of in-depth blog posts about making money, working from home, and improving your life. The one thing that is consistent on her blog is the fact that all of the content is in-depth and detailed. Her posting frequency is very low for today’s standard, but it also proves that you don’t need to post on a daily basis to be a successful blogger. Christine also makes great use of pull-quotes, images, and lists throughout her content.

From Ordinary to Extraordinary

Ordinary people who are doing extraordinary things and experiencing success are those who take the time to create great content. There are many similarities with these blogs, but the one that stands out most is that the content is superb. This echos what I have been stating on Performancing that the quality, not quantity, has taken the leading role in promoting a blogger’s success.

What I am saying is to consider forgetting about posting frequency if it is going to prevent you from creating the highest quality content you can publish. After all, New York Times best sellers take months, even years to develop into what they become; why should this be any different with individual blog content?

Take as long as you need to write truly unique and quality content. Take that extra time to properly present content like Christine OKelly and Tina Sue now does. People come to your site for the words, and you have to be on your ‘A’ game to get there. However, adding those extra touches to emphasize your content is also an amazing skill all great bloggers should have.

From personal blogging experience, I have taken on these very same concepts with my personal blog. It is working just as I expected. Even more amazing is the fact that I don’t feel pressured to get something done and cut corners; I just write great quality content.

The previously mentioned blogs have reassured me that this is the future of success. Chances are just as high that it will work for you. If you blog on a daily basis, why not consider slowing down to every other day if you believe you could create content that is much better?

Think about it! Let me know what your feelings are on this subject in the comments below. Point out any other blogs that post relatively infrequent but create superb content. I’m interested in finding these types of authors.