Archive for October 25, 2007

Genie and the LAMP?

{ October 25, 2007 @ 9:07 pm } · { Marc Taylor, PHP }
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As mentioned in my previous posts Lamp is very popular in the industry at the moment. It is a combination of the operating system LINUX, the web server APACHE, the database management system MySQL and PHP. Although I am not planning to use LINUX, the combination of APACHE MySQL and PHP is the fundimental basis of my project; to create interactive content, to store user information and to allow the myself to view the website live through turing my computer into a server.   

In my quest to learn PHP it has so far been an uphill struggle. After looking for tutorials just to create a simple login feature I found loads, but they all said that I needed to install MySQL or a PHP database program in which creates coding to replicate MySQL. This program however decided not to install on my computer and therefore was utterly useless. This file is called phpMyADMIN; DONT DOWNLOAD IT. However this gave me the problem of searching for a MySQL file to download, a PHP folder and also the Apache program. Although I have already got a server up and running that has PHP installed within it, I still downloaded Apache to operate on my desktop so I can view the PHP website without the need of uploading it each time. (PHP unlike HTML doesn’t run through a program like dreamweaver in order to preview the website, which makes the development quite tedious.)

 In the end after searching through many website in order to download these programs and files, I asked Lee to point me in the right direction, as the files I was downloading ended up being useless. The Apache file I downloaded through google was “apache-1.3.31-win32-x86-no_src.msi” the MySQL from http://www.mysql.com and a PHP zip called “php-5.2.4-Win32” which works with MySQL and Apache telling them where the PHP files are being installed.I am still a little unsure of what my Assignment 2 project is to date, however I wish to use the skills learnt in this module to aid my development of my Production project next semester. Here is a little blurb of my production proposal so far, which should make clear the areas I wish to persue in this module :  

“For a countless number of years, students and the government have been worrying about the job prospects of University students who recently graduated or undergoing a degree in the subject areas of Arts. In a recent article in the Media Guardian1, with research carried out by the ‘UK Graduate Careers Survey 2007’ they found out that students undergoing degrees in art based subjects, were extremely worried about their future job prospects, nearly twice as worried as students studying in other academic fields. When discussing this with other students on participating media, photographic and journalism degrees around the country, the general consensus is that they are all worried about graduating and job-hunting in the near future. When asked if their course offered a supportive environment, offering them work experience placements, job opportunities or contact with like-minded individuals in which to discuss potential entrepreneurial ideas, most said no or little was provided. The art’s and media industries are one of the hardest to get into, as the environment is so competitive, and therefore without support it could result in (what Liz Ford wrote within her Media Guardian Article) students on arts degrees being ‘”noticeably less proactive” about job-hunting than those from other disciplines.’ By a creation of a website containing a virtual community (and therefore a supportive environment) I feel it would help students to be more proactive in job hunting. ‘Marc’

 With this in mind I wish to create a website which offers a login section, allowing users the ability to customise a page and upload (professional) information on themselves. This would require knowledge of HTML, CSS, PHP and MySQL.  My knowledge of HTML and CSS I consider to be easily up to standard to design the website and make the website look pretty. The PHP and MySQL on the other hand create the dynamic sections of the website. MySQL stores the users information in an online database, in which would store the users login and password, users webpage (and all the editable information provided within the page) Other features include a bullitin board, and comment systems.

The website in short would be a mini prototype of the website listed above, however as it is a prototype and I am currently in the process of learning PHP and MySQL I will experiement with its content to see what is possible and what isnt.  After many recomendations I have recently bought the book PHP 5 in easy steps which is so far very useful, and inorder to back this up I have also bought MySQL in easy steps to help in the development of the database.  

Marc

Http://marc.izonedesign.co.uk

Brief Project Outline – Azeem Ahmad

{ October 25, 2007 @ 8:29 pm } · { Azeem Ahmad }
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People who use the internet to access news often find themselves visiting several different news websites to access the information they need. Some people have RSS feeds built into their toolbars in their web browsers – i.e Firefox, but even so, their browser will be cluttered with different subscriptions.

The aim of my project for this module is to create a ‘mash-up’ or a ‘mix’ of several popular, and regularly accessed RSS feeds, and combine them all into one single feed, thus eliminating the need for (amongst others):

  • Several different feed subscriptions
  • Over-subscribed feeds cramped into browsers
  • E-mail subscriptions (with RSS there is anonymity)

If I am able to complete this project successfully and to the high quality that I expect from it, then I may consider pitching my product to companies like Mozilla, or the BBC.

My aim is to take a minimum of four popular news feeds and combine them into one mixed RSS 2.0 feed, that is self updating – meaning the feed will update when the website it is linking to updates.

Pitch

{ October 25, 2007 @ 3:49 pm } · { Flash, Marie Williams, Uncategorized }
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  • To produce some kind of flash lite mobile application that can be used by the band Monday Street to promote them selves as an upcoming band.I will be in direct contact with the band and their manager to make sure that I am producing a product that can be actually used by them. I want the application to be used as one of their major outlets for promotion distribution.

  • If you take a look on http://www.myspace.com/mondaystreetyou can get some kind of feeling about what the band are about, and the kind of look and style my product will follow. My main idea is to use some of their videos, sound or images as a way of promoting new and up coming songs etc, also like a “press release” statement when there is news about gigs and the band.

  

  • I have decided to flash lite for my product as I wish to both improve my action script, but also I want to learn more about what flash can do and want to totally understand the mobile application.

  

  • As you can see, the band are young and trendy, I like the way this photo has some kind of animation on top of it, not totally distracting the viewer away but gives the photo a sharp edge. I wish to use this idea in my project to make sure that it look professional and is used in a professional manner.

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=150646855&albumID=0&imageID=5881490 Colours:

  • As you can see in the picture below, this is the kind of style and colours in which I will have to incorporate and use whilst designing the product:

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=150646855&albumID=0&imageID=10211374

  • As the idea is based entirely on the band I have brainstormed a few ideas for the background, themes and general stuff:
  • Using their photos and images and fading them into the backgrounds
  • Having separate applications for the three different band mates.
  • Using a guitar, tambourine, drum stick, keyboard as key feature for design, animating them and making then stand out
  • Keeping their name at the forefront of the design.

PHP Resources

{ October 25, 2007 @ 3:08 pm } · { Lee Aplin, PHP, Tutorial }
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Below is a list of PHP resources I have accumulated which have helped me in my understanding of PHP, and hopefully will help anybody else who wishes to pursue this area. Some of these resources are websites, and some are books. I will update the list as I find more tutorials and useful information.

PHP 5 in easy steps, by Mike McGrath – A good starting point, as mentioned in another post.

http://php.resourceindex.com/ – A portal site which gives links to hundreds of useful tutorials. Perhaps more useful to someone who has a basic knowledge of PHP, as I have found that beginners tutorials are often somewhat confusing.

http://www.phpbuilder.com/ – Another useful site for finding tutorials, with a good search facility leading to many helpful tutorials.

http://evolt.org/article/comment/17/60265/index.html – A great tutorial for a PHP login section with Remember Me features. Remember Me is a good feature to have on a login area and makes the users experience more enjoyable and easier. A more advanced tutorial.

PHP Project

{ October 25, 2007 @ 1:25 pm } · { Lee Aplin, PHP, Uncategorized, Usability, Web 2.0, web design }
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After spending a couple of weeks looking into PHP in some detail, obtaining materials to help me get started, and getting all the necessary knowledge, I have decided that I would like to do my project in PHP.

I feel that I have a good base to work on for learning PHP, with good knowledge of HTML and CSS. I also think that learning PHP will be a good advancement of my skills. With more and more websites becoming increasingly interactive, users may feel cheated to visit a website which has no interactive content at all.

This experience with PHP will also be extremely useful to contribute towards my final year project which is a PHP heavy online community.

My idea for this module is to build a small PHP based website which will have a user login option where users can enter their own areas and upload material such as music or small files. This will mean I will also have to learn and gain experience using MySQL. As I mentioned in a previous post, MySQL has given my problems from the installing stage, but I hope that when everything is working properly, there will be less problems.

The subject of my website, I have yet to decide, but I think that it will be easy to base the website on anything I choose closer to the deadline. The HTML element of my website should not pose too many problems, so I am free to experiment with PHP a little more. This means I may be able to add small extras to my PHP script which makes the website that little bit better. For example, adding a remember me feature onto the login section makes the website easier to access for regular users. Small additions such as this encourage people to visit the site more often, as well as making the experience easier and more enjoyable for them.

My next step will be to further research online communities and see how they work, in order to begin planning my own project. Hopefully I will be able to lift a lot of the work from this project and save myself time in my production project.