Issue Tracking and Team Collaboration with WebIssues

When working on any web projects, organization is key. Perhaps when you are working on your own, using a handful of tools to be sure that you are on top of things is not a priority – it could in fact become a waste of time. However, once you start collaborating (the key word) with others on projects, it is crucial that you establish a system of communication. Between the projects, tasks, milestones and tickets, you’re sure to be left MIA if email and chat programs are your paths to international communication.

A very popular web-based project management tool is Base Camp by 37 Signals. Although its price tag is not at the attractive end at the spectrum, when you are ready to work with a group and are bidding for bigger projects (with a goal of making more profit), Base Camp’s monthly charge is a small price to pay for a significant increase in efficiency and productivity. The long list of alternatives (both open-source and commercial) could be discussed at another point, the one aspect that I wanted to pay close attention to is tracking issues and bugs.

Without a doubt, one of the best and most popular bug tracking tools is Bugzilla. The free and open-source application can be installed on any server and provides a web interface to be accessed from any browser. However, aside from an interface that could confuse a designer or two, Bugzilla’s main problem is that it requires ‘root’ access on the server it is installed on, which virtually eliminates the vast majority of web hosting providers. If you are not willing to invest in a dedicated server (see my posts on the different types of hosting), or at least a Virtual Private one, nor setup your own server at the home or office, then you’re in a need of an alternative – ideally one that runs entirely using PHP and MySQL.

WebIssues client on Linux

Look no further, for the ever-progressing planet of the beautiful open-source brings you WebIssues; an open-source, self-hosted issue tracking and team collaboration tool by Michał Męciński. Just visit the website, download the zipped file to be unarchived and uploaded to your server (preferably under a sub-domain such as bugs.mywebsite.com). You’ll need to do edit the configuration file and type in the address and login of the database that you’ve created for the application to use. After that, download and install your WebIssues client (available for Linux, Mac OS and Windows) and start reporting bugs.

As oppose to a strictly web interface, WebIssues provides a powerful access via the desktop client. Think of it as replacing your webmail with a desktop email client; performance is much better, the options are much easier to access and far more advanced, and searching/filtering is a walk in the park.

Some of the main features, besides the aforementioned desktop client access, include:

• Easy searching, filtering and sorting of all issues
• Fully customizable issue types, which allows you to tailer the interface for your particular projects
• Different permission levels and security

WebIssues desktop client on Mac OS

Perhaps more importantly, WebIssues strength lies in it’s strong database structure, and its easy-to-use API which allows you to add to it as you see fit. With time, not only will the application itself improve, but developers contributing will introduce even more features and enhancements that we could all benefit from. After the inclusion of an extensive system for reports, as well as a basic web interface, it’s hard to see WebIssues being outdone by any competition.

A core part of a team’s collaboration on web projects consists of tracking all of the bugs that arise, otherwise finishing off projects will become an impossibility. The free, open-source WebIssues allows you to do precisely that, regardless of the OS you use, while hosting it on your own server.

NOTE: WebIssues was first spotted by Omar Mohamed (website under construction), a web developer from Helwan, Egypt.

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How To Create Your Own Blog: A Guide to Installing and Configuring WordPress

Many are unaware of just how easy it is to start your own blog using the best open source tool for blogging out there: WordPress. This is a tutorial that will get you up and running in no time. It will cover everything from purchasing your domain name and hosting account, to downloading, installing and configuring WordPress on your website. After all, your space on the World Wide Web is your birth right, and giving it up because you overestimate the process involved is a pity indeed.

So let’s jump right into this

Step 1: Domain & Hosting

Makre sure your host supports PHP and MySQL

Before you can run a website or blog, you need a unique address (domain) pointing to a space that you’ve reserved on a remote server somewhere on the planet (hosting). You can view my guide on hosting to fully understand the different categories, and thus, which one is best for you. Generally speaking, if this is your first time, a standard shared web hosting account, that usually offers a free domain on top, gets the job done.

For example, if you choose to go with Blue Host, then simply visit the website, and sign up for an account that will cost you $7 for every month, and you’ll probably pay for two years in advance. Any standard plan from any provider will do, granted it supports PHP and MySQL databases (some providers don’t offer databases with their basic packages, but that’s a bit of a rarity nowadays).

Step 2: Create the Database

Now that you own an account, log on to the administration control panel, which is provided to you by the hosting company you’ve chosen to go with, to create a database:

Find the link to add databases (could also use PHPMyAdmin)

1. Go to your control panel and login
2. Find the databases link, click “add new database”
3. Give it a name, for example: WordPressBlog
4. Add a user that will be accessing the database (by creating a username and password)
5. Take note of the address of the database (in most cases, it’s “localhost”, but sometimes it’s different. In which case you’ll see it displayed along with the database name somewhere)

Now that you’ve created the database, as well as the credentials for accessing it, you’re ready to install WordPress.

Step 3: Download WordPress, Then Upload It

This is a straight forward process:

1. Go to http://www.wordpress.org/
2. Download the zipped file
3. Unarchive (extract) it on your computer, you should be left with a folder called “wordpress”
4. Open your FTP client. FileZilla is one of the best – free, open source and efficient
5. Enter the FTP information for your website (given to you by your provider, usually found in the control panel)
6. Upload the contents of the “wordpress” folder to the root directory of your website (you can upload the entire folder, in which case the installation would be at: www.yourwebsite.com/wordpress)

Now that WordPress has been uploaded to your server, and your database is created, you are now ready to go through the famous five-minute installation.

Step 4: WordPress Installation

Everything is significantly easier with WordPress, and the installation process is no different.

You'll be prompted to create a configuration file

1. Direct your browser to where the WordPress files had been uploaded (if in the root directory, then just go to www.yourwebsite.com)
2. You will be prompted to create a configuration file, this is where you store basic information such as the database credentials. Click on the button
3. Click on “Let’s go” to enter the information
4. Enter the database information. You should have all of the details from when you created the database earlier. You can also change the prefix of the tables created in the database, but “wp_” will do just fine
   
   

   Enter the database information

5. If the database credentials were correct, WordPress will give you confirmation that the tables have been created and the initial data has been added. In some cases, the configuration file is not writable, in which case you will have to manually edit the file to add the database information. You can follow the steps on the WordPress Codex installation guide
6. Enter the title and email that you would want to use
7. When all goes well, you will be given a temporary generated password that you will use to enter the administration control panel for the first time. Click on login and enter the credentials that you were just handed
   
   

   Temporary account details. Change password after logging in

Now’s the time to access the control panel and get ready to start blogging!

Step 5: Configure WordPress

The first time you enter the admin panel, you should change your password to something you can remember (you’ll be reminded to do so anyway). It’s also good practice to add another user to replace “admin” so that your alias appears with the posts. If you want to create another administrator account, click on “Users” from the menu on the left, then add, then enter the information. Don’t forget to make the user “Administrator”. Now that the user’s created, log out, and login with the new username and password. Feel free to delete the original “admin” user, now that the blog has a new administrator.

As any beautiful open source tool, there are tons of options that you could go for right after a fresh installation. Having said that, the following are the personal recommended additions/configurations after you’ve logged in for the first time:

• Enable Permalinks: This is by far one of the biggest advantages of WordPress; the simplicity of the process of controlling the URLs generated. If you’re a frequent blogger, choose year/month/day/title. Otherwise, year/month/title should do fine
  
  

  Enable Permalinks: easy and powerful

• Enable Akismet Plugin: I’ve talked about this plugin in my post Essential WordPress Plugins where I’ve listed and discussed every single plugin used for this website. Akismet is revolutionary in how it automatically detects spam comments and places them in a separate queue that you’ll probably never need to check – it’s never mistaken
• Browse/Install More Plugins: You can check the list of the plugins I use, or you can simply browse the most popular plugins from the “Plugins” menu item on the left. You won’t lose anything in trying out plugins and disabling them if you’re not satisfied. Almost any website/blog could use popular plugins such as “All in One SEO Pack”, “Contact Form 7″, “Social Bookmarking RELOADED” and “WP Piwik” (here’s why you should be using Piwik instead of Google Analytics)
• Change Theme: As attractive as the default theme may seem at first look, it’s a good idea to go for a different theme. The new version of WordPress allows you to browse the different themes available as if installing plugins – very convenient. You will find the link to install themes under the “Appearance” tab. Otherwise, there are numerous websites dedicated to free WordPress themes that you can install, upload via Filezilla, and activate with the theme menu item

Now you’re golden. You’ve set everything up, and now you’re ready to start sharing your thoughts and ideas with the entire world.

Step 6: Start Blogging!

You can start by making a test post, just to get acquainted with the interface and features. After that, you may want to go through the following content-related options:

• Add a couple of pages where you will be displaying information that doesn’t change much (for example, “About Me”,  “Contact”, or “WordPress Guides”)
• Decide whether or not you’re going to be using categories (best used for posts that are displayed on different parts of the website. Otherwise, stick to tags only). Create your categories from the “Posts” menu item
• Make links’ lists such as “Blogroll” or “Shout out to my people” where you can share various links with the visitors. The “Links” menu item is found on the left and is also very easy to use

That’s it, you’re done! As you can see, the entire process takes 20 minutes or so, and there are substantial amounts of resources for help and support flooding the net if you need them. Generally speaking, it is a straight-forward process and there’s very small room for issues and problems.

You’re Voice on the Web – Your Right

The most important aspect of yet another revolutionary product from the open source community is that it simply acts as a channel that facilities the communication and information exchange between people across space and time regardless of race or origin. It is very important to take advantage of your right as a member of the community of the World Wide Web, the current generations are the first in history to be granted such a privilege. Underestimating its power, or overestimating the technical skills required, is a shame. So get yourself a blog and write about whatever it is you want to blabber about, you have absolute freedom. Beautiful.

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It’s Finally Here: Open-Source Hardware

The optimistic crowd that form the borderless and limitless open-source community world-wide have finally been rewarded a long sought-after dream: taking the beautiful concept of open-source beyond software, and into the hardware division.

A group of scientists from Standford University have succeeded in putting together a programmable digital camera that allows anyone to write the software to achieve any feature your imagination can come up with. This results in a digital camera made of extremely cheap components, offering features that no other proprietary manufacturer does. You’ll be paying for the dirt-cheap components, and just as they’ve always taught us, the best things in life are free (open-source software included).

This is a brief look at the Frankencamera by the scientists themselves:

It currently not the sexiest of cameras, but how charismatic was the first GUI for Linux? What matters is not the current product, but the potential results. And from what we can tell from this revolutionary innovation, the sky is the limit, and the users from every corner of the globe will inevitably be the ones who most benefit.

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Arabic Support in Mac OS X

While it might seem like a bit of a hassle, adding support for the Arabic language on your Mac is a simple, straight-forward process. This is a quick guide to adding the Arabic keyboard to Mac OS X, as well as the softwre to use in order to open and edit office documents in Arabic.

Add the Arabic Language and Keyboard

The first step is to add a foreign keyboard, and that can be easily achieved via the System Preferences:

1. Click on the Apple logo on the top-right corner, and open System Preferences
2. Under the Personal group, select International
3. Go to Input Menu, check Keyboard viewer, scroll through the languages, and select Arabic
   
   

   The international input menu

4. Check Show input menu in menu bar for quick and easy access

Languages' menu

You will notice that your Mac OS X’s native language flag has appeared on the bar across the top (for example, USA flag for US English). In order to start typing in Arabic, simply click on that flag, and select Arabic from the menu that appears. If your keyboard does not have the Arabic alphabet printed on, you can select “Show keyboard” from the flag menu for access to a visual keyboard then you can use your mouse clicks to type. Of course, it is an inconvenience, and you are much better off either getting the letters printed on, attach transparent stickers with the Arabic letters on the keyboard buttons, or purchasing and attaching an external USB keyboard.

Opening and Editing Arabic Office Documents

Many Mac users choose to install Microsoft Office for Mac (the latest of which is the 2008 edition) to use programs such as Word, Excel, or Powerpoint. Aside from the fact that it is yet another Microsoft product with stability issues and unexpected flaws, the software bundle has an attractive and intuitive interface, and helps make you productive and efficient. The only major disadvantage, however, is the lack of support for Arabic. This means that you cannot even open a .doc file, for example, that is written in Arabic.

download OpenOffice.org

There are two main office bundles that can tackle this problem: Apple iWork (with Arabic support), and OpenOffice.org. The former could be quite pricey and does not necessarily offer the smoothest transition from its Microsoft counterpart. The latter, on the other hand, is free and open source. Even if OpenOffice.org cannot be considered a direct replacement, it remains a convenient solution as it sits comfortably side-by-side with Microsoft Office without consuming much space or resources in general.

Thus, this is how you can install and configure OpenOffice.org to work as a supplement:

1. Go to http://www.openoffice.org/ and download the installation file
2. Install OOo on your local machines and move it to your Applications folder
3. Open OOo and go to the Preferences menu
4. Under Language Settings, select Languages, check Enabled for complex text layout (CTL)
5. Select Arabic (Egypt) from the CTL drop-down list
   
   

   OpenOffice.org Language Settings

This will result in the ability to type, create/edit office documents, and open files, all in Arabic. The same could be applied to any language, but Arabic in particular tends to scare people off with its apparent complexity, but as you’ve seen, it’s as easy as basic configuration, and a beautiful product from the open source community.

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Dj’it Android Application

When Google announced the open source mobile operating system, it reminded everyone of how the power of open source extends beyond desktops, it can now be experienced on the road via portable devices and mobile phones. Skeptical linux fans would’ve preferred the open-source community to come up with it first, but nevertheless, even if it is a huge corporation that set the stage, it is still the users and the penguin people that produce the play.

That has been precisely demonstrated via Dj’it, the latest and most exciting product of the Android industry, that brings a wealth of functionality and flexibility to your Android phone.

The Dj'it Application for Android

Dj’it is an application for your cell phone that turns it into a music console. It’s the ideal solution for music lovers that want to take their parties on the road, and be able to preform advanced tasks, such as composing and mixing, on the go using their mobile phone.

Whilst still in the development phase, it promises to bring live dual-track mixing directly from your music library straight from your phone. Therefore you have the ability to play different tracks in parallel, and mix between them. No need to worry about the volume levels, Dj’it automatically settles the tunes on the some tone so that the transition is smooth and seamless. Moreover, you can use your phone as a compositor to record tracks and blend them in with the ones on your phone.

Throw a party, and spin away

Even for those who love the music, but dislike the technicality behind it, Dj’it can be all fun and games, as it allows you to organize parties, locate them on the map, and invite those who will be dancing to the live DJ spins, also carried out by the Android application.

Create playlists

After sorting out your playlists and tunes, you can then share them with fellow Dj’iters and connect with them. You can also map out the locations of Dj’it parties, or send out invitations for others to join the musical revolution.

The Dj’it team, boasting developers Roberto Diaz and Gema Socorro, is based in Gran Canaria, Spain, and is taking the music console to the Android Development Challenge. You can learn more about the project through the Dj’it Facebook page.

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Embed Videos With Flowplayer

For anyone developing or maintaining a website, embedding videos used to always be an issue. That was until YouTube became the undisputed leader for sharing videos, and embedding them in websites. Normally, using a free service with a recognizable appearance and a visible watermark, like YouTube, is unprofessional. However, YouTube has become so popular, that even the large corporations and professional entities display their clips using it.

YouTube is easy but limited

The reasons to YouTube’s success as a “video distributer” are due to the simplicity of the process, the familiarity with it by the regular users, and the relative flexibility in terms of size and appearance. Anyone can simply create a free YouTube account, upload a video, customize the interface by choosing the border color and display size, and then embed it into any website using the generated code. Seems like the ideal solution.

However, there are a number of disadvantages to the YouTube way of life:

1. The video is on Google’s server, and not yours: Even if their servers are rarely down, it’s always comforting to be in possession of your own content
2. Customization is limited: You have eight colors to choose from, and no say over the appearance of the border or controls
3. Somewhat rigid: In order to make any changes, you need to go back to YouTube, and re-copy and paste the code
4. Watermark and standard look: Nothing’s worse than having everything look the same. With YouTube, the watermark is very visible, and all of the players are virtually identical

Flowplayer: Open Source Flash Video Player

This is where Flowplayer comes to the rescue. Flowplayer is an open-source JavaScript library that allows you to embed videos in your website via a full customizable player. It is as easy as calling on the JavaScript file, inserting an <a> tag, and then indicating the properties that you want to define. This basically means that instead of uploading a video to YouTube and embedding the player, you can upload the .flv to your web server and the markup will look like this:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<head>
<!-- flowplayer scripts should be loaded from your servers NOT from static.flowplayer.org  -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="/js/flowplayer-3.1.2.min.js"></script>
</head>

<!-- some styling for the standalone page. this line can (or must) be removed -->
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/demos/standalone.css"/>

<!-- player container-->
<a href="http://flowplayer.org/video/flowplayer-700.flv" style="display:block;width:425px;height:300px;" id="player"></a>

<!-- this script block will install Flowplayer inside previous A tag -->
<script language="JavaScript">
flowplayer("player", "/swf/flowplayer-3.1.2.swf");
</script>

You can see the result here.

Notice that you call on the JS file in the <head>, and then you use the <a> to embed the player (you can also use <div>), and finally, some JavaScript to specify any attributes that you want to use.

Some of the features include:

• Embedding several videos in the same page without effecting performance
• Choosing the splash image that, when clicked on, starts the video
• Placing an image in the background, with a layer on top (ideal for a single “play” sign to be placed on any image)
• Embedding a playlist of videos
• A growing list of plugins to be used with the player
• Control such details as the fade in/fade out speed, cue points, and much more

Just by open-sourcing it (there’s also a commercial version), and allowing for the community to contribute with plugins on different levels means that the sky is the limit as far as embedding videos in websites is concerned. It might take a bit of time before it catches on with the regular users (who are very rarely willing to dig into the code), but for designers and developers, it should definitely be a tool to replace old-school video incorporation.

The website is very well designed and laid out, and the documentation is quite extensive, but it does seem to lack some usability. That is why when you first visit the Flowplayer website, you become confused as to what it is exactly, and how to works. After looking deeper, however, it has become clear that it is a very powerful tool with endless possibilities.

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Windows XP with VirtualBox on Ubuntu

For the average user, making the long-awaited switch to Linux seems quite challenging. The open source community has worked tirelessly to tempt the main stream crowd to the penguin world, and after many Linux distributions, Ubuntu has come through the ranks as the obvious choice for any newcomer willing to abandon the commercial world for the real one. Ubuntu’s slogan says it all: Linux for human beings.

Ubuntu logo and slogan

In many cases, Ubuntu’s new releases do not offer obvious improvements, especially from the eyes of a skeptical Windows addict. Fortunately, April’s release of Ubuntu, Jaunty Jackalope, brings to the table the sort of features that are immediately noticeable, including an enhanced interface, improved performance, and an overwhelmingly extensive hardware support.

Indeed, with Ubuntu 9.04 there has never been a better time to switch to Linux. Nothing beats having free, open source software, with impressive performance, tight security, and the fact that it just works! Pop in the CD and test out the Live edition to get a complete idea of how exactly it will look and function. Moreover, the installation takes less than 20 minutes, and you won’t break a sweat.

Making the switch is difficult for many reasons, and that is a whole topic of its own. However, it is suffice to say that the one functionality commonly demanded by stubborn Windows users, is the ability to run certain specialized programs that are not available on Linux. Even if there are equivalents offered for Linux, it is to a certain extent understandable that users will need to either stick to their programs on Windows, or at least make the gradual shift to the Linux equivalent. This is precisely where VirtualBox comes in.

Install Ubuntu and run Windows virtually on top

VirtualBox is a free, open source virtualizer available for (almost) all operating systems allowing you to install an OS on top of another. In this case, it is the ideal solution for the regular user looking to move to Linux. After installing Ubuntu 9.04 on your computer, and installing VirtualBox from the Add/Remove Applications, you can easily install Windows virtually over Ubuntu, thus granting yourself access to the Windows-only applications that you need. As long as your processor is relatively recent, and you have over 2GB of RAM, you should be good to go, and installing Windows virtually would be a great idea, regardless of how frequently you plan to use it.

The steps are pretty straight forward:

1. Open VirtualBox and click on the New button
2. This will prompt the wizard, click Next to continue
3. Enter a desired name (for example: MyWindows). Then choose Microsoft Windows in the Operating System field, and Windows XP for the version
4. Choose how much memory you would like to dedicate to the virtual installation (in this case, Windows XP). This comes down to personal preference, really, and I recommend half of your RAM to the new virtual machine
5. For the Virtual Hard Disk, you’re going to need to create one to use it. This will be the file on your computer that Windows XP will treat as it’s hard disk. Therefore, click new:
   1. This will start another wizard, so click Next to continue
   2. Choose the type of storage. Again, personal preference. I tend to stick to Dynamically expanding storage since I’m never exactly sure how much space I will end up needing for Windows. If you’re still hesitant, check out the Virtuatopia explanation
   3. Choose the location for the hard disk data on your computer, as well as how big you would like the file to be. I personally think a Windows XP installation with some basic programs will need 10GB or more, but then again, that depends on the space available on your local machine, as well as the applications you are planning on installing
   4. Now that the hard disk file is created, click on finish to return to the main wizard
6. Choose the file that you have just created for the Boot Hard Disk field and click Next
7. After reviewing the short summary, click finish and the virtual machine will have been created!

VirtualBox home showing Windows

NOTE: That does not mean that Windows XP has been installed on Ubuntu. It means that the virtual machine where Windows will be installed is ready to go.

Now all you need to do is to insert the Windows XP installation CD, and start the virtual machine that you had created. After that, you can follow the regular steps for installing Windows, as if on a normal machine.

The result: A fresh Ubuntu installation that provides a fast, secure, and absolutely free user experience, with access to Windows on top of Linux in case you still rely on some Windows-based applications. It is also very useful for designers looking to test how a website renders on Windows’ browsers like Internet Explorer. In all cases, it is very easy, and everything besides Windows is free and open source. You can’t beat that.

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Sharing Blog Posts With Sociable

It’s refreshing to see scores of blogs and micro-sites on the Internet that are using WordPress. Not only is it the clear leader when it comes to creating personal or professional blogs, but it has also stepped into the realm of CMS-driven websites, and is in many cases the best choice. The free, open-source web application prides itself in how powerful, yet simple, it is, and it can only become even more successful.

Suffice to say, with thousands of plugins available out there, it is not always ease to take full advantage of the features that are brought to you by the extensions developed by the WordPress community. Some users go overboard with numerous plugins that are not bringing added value, and are therefore inefficient. Meanwhile, others are missing out on the basics. When you’ve gone online with a blog, it is absolutely vital to attempt to attract the largest crowd possible, and there are various methods at hand. Besides some quality Search Engine Optimization, sitemap submissions, and permalinks (explained here), it is crucial to facilitate the way in which the website visitors can share your posts with friends and family.

Any user can simply copy the URL and past it in an IM chat or email. But let’s not kid ourselves: users of the Web are lazy, and that’s not going to change anytime soon. If it’s not sorted out in two clicks, at most, then no one will be bothered. For that reason, you’d be crazy to skip integrating a plugin that allows users to share your posts via social network websites and the likes. There are a handful of post-sharing plugins out there, the most prominent of which, is Sociable.

By installing and activating Sociable, you will have automatically placed a row of icons at the end of each post that makes the visitor a click away from publishing a link to your post from sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Technorati, Digg and many more. In fact, the complete list of websites available boasts over 60 options:

Sociable Options

Using the settings page integrated into the WordPress administrative menu, you can configure which ones you would like to appear, and in what order. Moreover, you can opt to place your own icons, as oppose to the standard ones that ship with the plugin. It is as simple as creating a directory, placing the icons in the proper names (follow the standard set by the original icons pack), and enter the URL to the image folder via the settings page. With a wealth of options within reach on all corners of the internet, even if you are not willing to design your own icons, you can download any of the free packs available with an appropriate license.

As a result, any user who finds your post of interest, can easily choose his or her website/service of choice, and spread the word. The downside of the Sociable plugin is a bizarre problem, with a very easy fix.

XHTML Validation

A recent update to the plugin changed the classes associated with each icon displayed to an id. That is plain blasphemy as it means that on the main posts’ page, for example, a given id is repeated ten times (once with each post), which causes the XHTML validation to go out the window. You might’ve spent endless hours and sleepless nights on end to get your website to validate correctly, and with a simple plugin such as Sociable, all your efforts will have gone down the toilet. Interestingly, the plugin originally used classes, and then switched to ids, and then there have been two more updates since, but the plugin remained XHTML invalid!

Not to worry, though, the solution is very simple:

1. From the WordPress control panel menu, click on “Plugins”
2. Find the Sociable plugin, and click “edit” underneath
3. Choose the file sociable.php, and scroll down to the following segment:

   /**
    * Start building the link, nofollow it to make sure Search engines don't follow it,
    * and optionally add target=_blank to open in a new window if that option is set in the
    * backend.
    */
    $link .= '<a rel="nofollow"';
    $link .= ' id="'.esc_attr(strtolower($sitename)).'"';
    if (get_option('sociable_usetargetblank')) {
    $link .= " target=\"_blank\"";
    }
    $link .= " href=\"javascript:window.location='".urlencode($url)."';\" title=\"$description\">";
   

   And replace the “id” with “class” as such:

   /**
    * Start building the link, nofollow it to make sure Search engines don't follow it,
    * and optionally add target=_blank to open in a new window if that option is set in the
    * backend.
    */
    $link .= '<a rel="nofollow"';
    $link .= ' class="'.esc_attr(strtolower($sitename)).'"';
    if (get_option('sociable_usetargetblank')) {
    $link .= " target=\"_blank\"";
    }
    $link .= " href=\"javascript:window.location='".urlencode($url)."';\" title=\"$description\">";
   

4. From the settings page, uncheck the “use Sociable stylesheet” and use your own classes to make the icons look the way you want. Or you can simply dig into the sociable.css file and change the “#” of the links’ names to “.” in order to turn them into classes and not ids. However, it is recommended to add the CSS classes to the stylesheet you are already using in order to assure that the icons integrates seamlessly into your design

Remember that after a plugin update, if the author has not fixed the problem himself, you would needt to make the change again. Even though it might seem like a bit of a hassle, the “fix” is done in a couple of minutes, and is well worth the effort. Providing users with the ability to share your posts is an absolute must, and Sociable is by far one of the best plugins to do so.

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Cloud Computing With eyeOS

The move towards online storage and web applications has been going on for a while. Soon enough, users will enjoy the ability to combine all of the documents and applications in central places so that they can be easily accessed from any computer via the internet. With the advancement of services and online applications available for free, plus the high-connection speeds available everywhere, it’s only logical to rely less on the local machines, and to take the tasks and documents on the move.

A group of youngsters from Barcelona started eyeOS back in 2005 with a clear vision of the future of the web. eyeOS is an open source operating system that is built to be placed entirely on a given server and accessed remotely. This basically means that it is no more than a simple, yet comprehensive, script that you upload to your server. It gives you an interface that is very similar to that of a Linux distribution made for the desktop, only tailored to work entirely online. Therefore, you can access your eyeOS from anywhere, view/edit/share all of your documents that are stored remotely, use the web applications available, and more.

Here are some screen captures that can help you visualize what it’s like (you can see the full set of screenshots at the eyeOS website):

eyeOS login

eyeOS desktop

Browse/add applications

The features of a self-hosted cloud operating system in general, and eyeOS in particular, are endless. The ones that stand out are the following:

1. Free and open source: Yet another beautiful product from the open source community. No need to pay anything whatsoever, and you have the advantage of constant free updates
2. Everything on your server: You no longer have to worry about carrying everything with you, moving things between computers, etc. With eyeOS, you potentially have all of your needs in one place to be accessed from anywhere. Moreover, you install it on your own server, meaning you have full access with complete freedom
3. Sharing documents: Now that you have all of your documents in one place, you can take advantage of the public folder to place all of the files that you would like others to access. Not to mention that you can allow people to sign up for accounts, or create accounts on their behalf, granting them access to certain directories. The best method to share photos, documents, etc.
4. Web applications: the eyeOS developers’ community is constantly growing offering tons of free web applications to install on your OS. Now you can view and edit all of the office documents, for example, directly on your remote server. There are more and more applications available, all free and open-source. It already comes packed with applications such as an FTP client and an RSS reader

So where’s the catch? There isn’t really, it’s only a matter of time before everyone fully relies on eyeOS and the likes. For the time-being, there are some drawbacks:

1. Speed and performance: Remember, everything is done via remote server. You need to have a very high speed internet connection, otherwise simple tasks might be somewhat frustrating. I personally think a 10Mbps broadband speed would be ideal, any less, and you might not appreciate its efficiency
2. Application list: Although still growing, it’s obviously still lacking many of those applications that users have taken for granted on any given OS
3. Upload limit: Many servers do not allow you to upload files of over 2MB in size via HTTP. Sadly, unless that changes, than a lot of time will be wasted moving large documents to the remote server via an external FTP client

The best part of it all is how easy it is to install and run. All you need to do is:

• Go to http://www.eyeos.org/ and download the file
• Using an FTP client (needless to say, FileZilla is the best), upload the directory to whatever location you want on your website
• Direct your browser to that directory (for example: www.mysite.com/eyeos), a click or two, and voila! You’ve successfully installed eyeOS

It is clear that eyeOS is the future of the web. Relying less on individual PCs and centralizing data is the way to go. As more and more developers join the project, and as the internet reaches further and at higher speeds, there will be very little preventing the regular users from going open source, and functioning fully online.

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Can GIMP Replace Photoshop?

As a web designer and a Linux supporter, I’m always left to ponder if I could really break off from Windows and Mac OS completely, and live exclusively with the penguin. Almost all applications that we work with today are free and/or open-source, with the huge majority making themselves at home on Ubuntu and the likes. However, there are a group of specialized programs used by web designers that cannot be used (directly) on Linux. Most notably, Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash. By far one of the most popular image-manipulation programs out there, even amongst non-designers and non-photographers, is Photoshop. And just like Inkcape attempts to be the open-source alternative to Illustrator, GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is boldly taking on the psd maker himself.

GIMP logo

The latest version of GIMP, at the time of writing, is 2.6, which has witnessed tremendous improvements from earlier editions. In terms of features, the following are the areas where GIMP either competes with, or overcomes Photoshop:

1. Customizable interface: You have as much freedom as you do with a blank document. You can move things around, hide and show separate windows, etc. You also have control over icon sizes and spacing. While many designers would rather not go into too much trouble to customize the interface, if you’re going to make it your home, you have the freedom to invest the time into making it exactly as you would want it to be
2. Hardware support: Just as any major Linux distributions will automatically recognize the hardware components of your computer, GIMP allows you to use pretty much any input device and will allow you to design with it. This is particularly useful for designers with special joysticks and keyboards that can be configured to save loads of time and effort
3. File formats: Every format you’ve ever thought of, or not, is available through GIMP. It is by far one of the strongest arguments in support of it. You will never have a problem opening any file, and you can please everyone and use their preferred format
4. Plugins: Definitely the strongest and mostly overlooked aspect. The sky is the limit as developers from all corners of the globe have been developing extensions to add more features and flexibility to the open-source program. Firefox has been enjoying unprecedented success thanks in part to the contribution of the open-source community with the add-ons, and the future looks bright for GIMP.

That’s only part of it. The big divider between the two contestants is the price you pay. Adobe Photoshop CS4 will cost you around $1,000, not exactly the money you have lying around if you’re at the early stages of your freelancing career. GIMP won’t cost you a dime. In fact, with GIMP, you’ll get constant updates and improvements for free, and you can keep re-installing it on every computer you come across (unlike with Photoshop, when you have to stick to one computer, or else you’re stuck with having to buy more licenses). If you run an illegal copy of Photoshop, like the huge majority of designers, then it might not sound like a strong point. But while you think you’re fooling Adobe by robbing them of cash, think about when you start a company or work for one, and how you’ll be forced to pay for a license because you simply cannot work with any other software.

So why isn’t GIMP more popular when it seems like the logical choice? Well, there are a couple of complaints that are yet to be addressed by the open-source community:

• Interface: Although completely customizable, the idea of having a number of windows open at the same time is very confusing and not at all intuitive. It requires the amount of time that designers are not willing to sacrifice in order to get used to it
• Tools: Many of which are similar to those of Photoshop, but simple ones like the text tool, for example, are extremely frustrating, and were obviously built by developers
• Blending options: Any many others that Photoshop users cannot live without are either non-existent, or extremely difficult to get a hold of

If you think of the amount of effort and time you need to invest to make the switch, it’s quite discouraging. However, if bootleg copies of Adobe’s leading product were not available, the majority of people would be regular GIMP users. Which in turn, would speed up it’s development. Because with more users and developers, the program can only keep improving and close in on competition.

Ideally, all of the new generations would start directly with GIMP and look at Photoshop as the majority of designers view GIMP now – complicated and non-nonsensical. While designer get closer to GIMP, the program itself, as all open-source applications do, will be bettering itself on the other end until the relationship between the two seems like the best option for everyone.

GIMP Resources

• http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/
• http://gimp-tutorials.net/
• http://www.gimp-tutorials.com/
• http://tutorialblog.org/gimp-tutorials/

While many battles against the corporate world have long been won, this one’s a bit of a pickle. But as tough as it may sound, GIMP will inevitably surpass Adobe Photoshop as the industry’s leading program used world-wide. Victory belongs, as it always will, to the open-source applications.

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