SBala

The new RSS reader that popped up on my daily radar for cool stuff was Gregarius, an RSS reader that runs on your own web server using PHP, MySQL or SQLite. These kinds of tools are especially useful in conjunction with things like XAMPP for a localized and faster experience. The essential software is based on the Magpie parser and it packs a mean lean interface that I enjoy.

The interface, much like Google Reader, utilizes the maximum of JavaScript's capabilities without completely disorienting the user. It is also 100% GPL'd code, and free for download. If you do not own a webserver, it might just be fun to use a localhost install on your desktop computer to experiment with the PHP behind the magic.

If people start turning something like this, and open source project, into a full-fledged web service, we may see more tight integrations along with more robust feature sets in our web apps today.

I wrote a post not too long ago about Firebug, Dragonfly, and the developer tools the web development community has grown to love and appreciate. Firebug, Dragonfly, Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar, and that thing on Safari all share one thing in common: they are  extension of their corresponding browsers and when testing on a different browser it is often times hard to find the plugin needed, or tedious to get accustomed to a new interface. When things get dry in cross-browser bug fixing and DOM/CSS inspection, the new smaller kid in town is planning on saving the day - Firebug Lite. Unlike it's older brother, Firebug Lite is a chunk of JavaScript intended to be added to a web page that is being developed and provides an interface for debugging without the need of any extensions.

It's rather simple to use Firebug Lite. All you need to do is add in the script at http://getfirebug.com/releases/lite/1.2/firebug-lite-compressed.js.

There is also an offline method to use Firebug Lite as well as a bookmarklet for use during web development.

There are tons of other little features built into the tool, so go ahead and enjoy another method of debugging.

I found this article recently which covers a rather interesting topic. CMS design is much different from normal XHTML and CSS because a CMS involves learning the "rules" so-to-speak of that CMS's templating system. After learning the templating system, you also have to learn the raw markup that CMS generates, the ID and Classes that it uses for each element, and how the CSS you use to design the page can use the variances of the Classes and IDs to consistently deliver the same layout. If a choice of editor is involved, there are also many things to deal with such as a custom style for the editor in use. Also, if dealing with a potential client, posting content through the editor may involve copy and pasting from a word processor - the editor chosen for the job should handle that.The other topic covered by the article is supporting old browsers. I already have a solid stance on the issue.

Recently, I fell in love with PivotX - the new beta version of the Pivot blogging platform (CMS). However, as soon as I tried to really experiment with the platform, its beta nature truly surfaced. After tweaking the configuration, much of the administrator interface was instantly nuked due to a bug of some sorts. It wasn't a PHP error, but rather the ingenious system of only-necessary Javascript inclusion malfunctioned, causing none of the Javascript to be inserted onto the page. This was a fatal injury for the PivotX interface, since it is built almost entirely off jQuery's amazing utilities. This sort of unusable administrator interface occurred multiple times. After some futile attempts to figure out what was the cause of the issue in the first place, since I had changed multiple configuration options at once, I was frustrated with the system. I am glad to say, however, that I have not lost hope for the amazing system. In fact, I had some great experiences with the beta before it went sour. Its caching and data handling is amazing, and the interface is much to my liking - and a lot more fluid than the Wordpress interface. Although I have switched back to Wordpress for now, I am awaiting the time I can run the converter script for good.