Well its been another month since the last time I posted here so its about time I updated on recent projects. The most substantial project since my last post is The Work Cycle build. This is another personal project for Pixillion related to peoples relationships with bikes in the work place (the rest of the team are a bit bike fanatical here so it makes sense :P). It is also partly a collaboration with another student (Emma - Graphic Designer - Weston College) who came for a couple of weeks work experience, so its kind of like the work experience project really ;). The build this time is html based with a lot of javascript/jquery to make the pages dynamic and engaging to users. The aim of the project is hopefully to connect with other digital companies via their 'Work Cycles' and hopefully also to get an award or two. This has made this build in particular quite important to me; as to make the possibility of an award achieveable my work has to be high quality as well as the design and content. I have therefore taken the attitude with this more than any of my other builds that I should make it as multi-functionable as possible and so have ensured functionality is still consistent with noscript, mobile, and IE (obviously) as best I can. This build has also enabled me to go back to learning javascript and particularly Jquery which has been a good extension of my skills. As I have been building this under my own steam I get the feeling that the layout and structure of the JS could probably be neater and faster, but its not too bad as it is and having effective functionality is my number one priority. I've really enjoyed working on this one, its been an interesting challenge and its not quite over yet. To see the project for yourself visit : http://www.theworkcycle.com/
Apart from the Work Cycle I have also dipped in and out of other projects that have needed tweaks or adjustments as per usual but the Work Cycle has been my main focus. I've even managed to relinquish the Helastel phones (although its practically been that way anyway) as Helastel are getting a new member who is going to be handling them from now own :). I much prefer Pixillion phones, they're much quieter :P.
Tuesday, 24 May 2011
Tuesday, 26 April 2011
Time flies
Gosh its been a month since the last time I posted here. Time always flies around April time what with Easter and there is still more bank holidays to come this weekend. Since my last post I have been getting used to being located on Pixillion island. I am really enjoying being more integrated with the company as I have continued to do lots of work for Pixillion clients and experience better communication with the rest of the team now I am here. At the beginning of the month I have a few days off as holiday, being that is was the Easter term break so have had a chance to refresh a little after having worked here solidly for 8 months. I'm still missing my long holidays though. Since my last post I have been involved in a whole host of projects including the completion of Martin Evans, QC of BNHC, QC of Encounters (along with another page to build soon), the Voice Direct build, more Foxyvine music additions and many minor additions, fixes and support for sites such as Leweston school and Digital Visitor. This demonstrates how much my workload has increased since I moved, along with the responsibility I have been given.
In particular Voice Direct has been an interesting challenge as it is probably the most complicated build I have had so far and so has helped me to develop my skills to a higher standard. Admittedly this is not as hard as it gets, but on a step by step basis I see this as being a progression forward from what I had dealt with before.
I have also recently learnt a little more about general project management in the commercial arena as I have been involved in decisions regarding development hours for client invoicing and the process in which this is applied.
In particular Voice Direct has been an interesting challenge as it is probably the most complicated build I have had so far and so has helped me to develop my skills to a higher standard. Admittedly this is not as hard as it gets, but on a step by step basis I see this as being a progression forward from what I had dealt with before.
I have also recently learnt a little more about general project management in the commercial arena as I have been involved in decisions regarding development hours for client invoicing and the process in which this is applied.
Thursday, 24 March 2011
All Change
Since my last post there has been one major improvement as I have moved to the Pixillion tables in the office. Since Saul left at the beginning of March the office now only usually consists of 3 of us and so I was moved to a much more sociable location with the rest of Pixillion. This has been a really good change for me as I have been able to ditch the Helastel phones for a few weeks and feel a lot more comfortable in the work environment now I am not so separated from everyone. Not only this but I have been much more integrated into the Pixillion workforce in general. I now have both a Basecamp login and a Harvest(Time keeping) login, and my name is quite often on the whiteboard schedule. This has increased my responsibility within the company which is great. I am answering the Pixillion phones now instead, but this is much easier and it is allowing me to interact with some of Pixillion's clients and do support work for them.
In terms of project Pixillion Sessions is now up and running both on Facebook and as a live site. You can reach these at www.pixillionsessions.com and www.facebook.com/Pixillion-Sessions/101042503311836. As well as finishing that off I have done some work on Misura, a Netherland based company which we have done three individual but similar sites for. Although this project was quite stressful due to the tedious nature of repeating the same steps over for each site, I learnt a lot whilst doing it. The first part of this project was to make two of the three sites live by transferring them to their new domains. This meant I had to transfer an entire modx install to the new host including the database. This was the largest challenge as I have not really worked with databases on web hosts before and although I have seen a small amount of PHPMyAdmin I have not had to edit it previously. After doing some research I decided to take the plunge with the first of the two sites and upload a copy of the pixillionserver modx database to the live database. After some meddling I managed to achieve the update quite easily as modx exports the database in a readable format for PHPmyAdmin. This meant all I had to do was get a backup of the old one, remove the old tables and then upload the new tables from the .sql file in their place. I then did an update Modx install for the site which is relatively easy and that was the live site done. There are a few issues I had with this method that might be fixed in ways I dont know how, but I intend to find out if possible. Firstly the install required I changed some Modx file permissions, but I dont know why. Also the files such as css and images had to be uploaded afterwards as they were not in the install. This has been solved in other sites by linking the filemanager to the pixillionserver address but this install wont accept that. Also the files in the file manager are all non-editable which I have not seen before. This made changing css after upload more difficult and I think there must be away to provide access but at the moment I haven't found the solution. These issues however do not have a major effect on the running of the site and so for now it is staying like this.
As well as this project I have also been given a new build to do - Martin-Evans. The build has only taken me 4 days which I am quite proud of, and the user friendliness of the site is also really good. This was highlighted to me as something that should be included more in Modx builds in general, and so I have gone out of my way to try and make sure everything is easy to use e.g. template variable descriptions and a selectable right hand column. I have also made sure that previous errors in my build are not in this one, specifically image sizing, as this was a main issue in the Renegade site. Users are often likely to put images into sites that are actually the wrong size for the design and so if the sizing isn't tied down in css all sorts of crazy layouts can be achieved. I've also fully tested the site with IE and fixed and IE bugs so the site is looking good. One of the main achievements of this build has been my hacked together tag archive for the publications section. Tag archiving doesn't seem to exist in Modx, only date based archiving, and although I actually didn't need it in the end, making a functioning tag archive seemed to be the best and most flexible way. For the archive I needed a snippet that would get hold of all the tags used in a template variable without having any duplicates. I therefore went and looked at the php that runs behind the Manager Manager tag widget as this does a similar thing. I then took this code and manipulated some of it into a snippet which would achieve the desired effect. In particular I got to learn a little more about the Modx database structure when doing this as I required two SQL statements to get the information I needed. In the end I got a working PHP snippet that takes a template variable name and uses that to get the list of tags used for that tv throughout the publications. I then used this snippet 4 times over, once for each TV in the publications and the result was a fully functional tag archive.
These have been my main concerns over the last few weeks, along with minor bits and pieces here and there. At the time I moved I also didn't have much to do so have been able to develop a few ideas for my new portfolio which is good.
In terms of project Pixillion Sessions is now up and running both on Facebook and as a live site. You can reach these at www.pixillionsessions.com and www.facebook.com/Pixillion-Sessions/101042503311836. As well as finishing that off I have done some work on Misura, a Netherland based company which we have done three individual but similar sites for. Although this project was quite stressful due to the tedious nature of repeating the same steps over for each site, I learnt a lot whilst doing it. The first part of this project was to make two of the three sites live by transferring them to their new domains. This meant I had to transfer an entire modx install to the new host including the database. This was the largest challenge as I have not really worked with databases on web hosts before and although I have seen a small amount of PHPMyAdmin I have not had to edit it previously. After doing some research I decided to take the plunge with the first of the two sites and upload a copy of the pixillionserver modx database to the live database. After some meddling I managed to achieve the update quite easily as modx exports the database in a readable format for PHPmyAdmin. This meant all I had to do was get a backup of the old one, remove the old tables and then upload the new tables from the .sql file in their place. I then did an update Modx install for the site which is relatively easy and that was the live site done. There are a few issues I had with this method that might be fixed in ways I dont know how, but I intend to find out if possible. Firstly the install required I changed some Modx file permissions, but I dont know why. Also the files such as css and images had to be uploaded afterwards as they were not in the install. This has been solved in other sites by linking the filemanager to the pixillionserver address but this install wont accept that. Also the files in the file manager are all non-editable which I have not seen before. This made changing css after upload more difficult and I think there must be away to provide access but at the moment I haven't found the solution. These issues however do not have a major effect on the running of the site and so for now it is staying like this.
As well as this project I have also been given a new build to do - Martin-Evans. The build has only taken me 4 days which I am quite proud of, and the user friendliness of the site is also really good. This was highlighted to me as something that should be included more in Modx builds in general, and so I have gone out of my way to try and make sure everything is easy to use e.g. template variable descriptions and a selectable right hand column. I have also made sure that previous errors in my build are not in this one, specifically image sizing, as this was a main issue in the Renegade site. Users are often likely to put images into sites that are actually the wrong size for the design and so if the sizing isn't tied down in css all sorts of crazy layouts can be achieved. I've also fully tested the site with IE and fixed and IE bugs so the site is looking good. One of the main achievements of this build has been my hacked together tag archive for the publications section. Tag archiving doesn't seem to exist in Modx, only date based archiving, and although I actually didn't need it in the end, making a functioning tag archive seemed to be the best and most flexible way. For the archive I needed a snippet that would get hold of all the tags used in a template variable without having any duplicates. I therefore went and looked at the php that runs behind the Manager Manager tag widget as this does a similar thing. I then took this code and manipulated some of it into a snippet which would achieve the desired effect. In particular I got to learn a little more about the Modx database structure when doing this as I required two SQL statements to get the information I needed. In the end I got a working PHP snippet that takes a template variable name and uses that to get the list of tags used for that tv throughout the publications. I then used this snippet 4 times over, once for each TV in the publications and the result was a fully functional tag archive.
These have been my main concerns over the last few weeks, along with minor bits and pieces here and there. At the time I moved I also didn't have much to do so have been able to develop a few ideas for my new portfolio which is good.
Wednesday, 2 March 2011
Recent work
Last week I finished the Pixillion Session Flash site for Pixillion as my second full flash project for the company. In building this site I have continued to develop my skills as a Flash developer and learn better ways of working to build sites like this. My methodology was definitely better this time as my development time was shorter and the overall product is much tidier and more refined. Planning the project prior to production was the first change I made and it definitely made a difference, as aspects of navigation and control could be planned out effectively ensuring the build was successful. In building this site I have also taken the step to using imported classes, in particular, TweenLite from Greensock. I have previously resisted using these as I felt that the standard inbuilt Tween class would be more inkeeping with the work. However classes like this help to aid rendering and performance greatly, and often allow for much better refined functionality so I felt it was about time I started using them. It is something many professional developers do, although I would like to extend my knowledge further to be able to build Tweens of my own. Another import I used in Sessions was the Flickr API which has enabled me to learn how to develop Flickr elements into my projects. I was quite impressed with the import classes provided as they were very functional and easy to use and it did not take me long to get a fully functioning Flickr section working. This has therefore developed my skills further enabling me to make sites more functional in the future by connecting to outside source of information. I also used video for the first time in this project which was an interesting learning curve. I built a video player using the Netstream class which enables video to be streamed from your server to the user using progressive download (buffering). I chose to use this rather than the inbuilt component as it allowed me to have greater control over the video and elements of the player. Overall I am very happy with this project and am looking forward to it going live for the first time once the Facebook version is also complete.
As well as this I have also done some development work on FoxyVineMusic, a flash site built previously that needed updating for a client. This was an interesting challenge as I had to take someone else's code and adapt it for the purpose. It also helped me to understand various elements of professional Flash development that I may not have known before. This site was structured using a set of swfs that were nested within each other and the entire site was built using OOP. I already knew this was important and have begun to use it in my own productions but still have not converted fully. Also the site was left on one singular frame, which was achievable due to the nested swf approach. I can understand why people use this approach, particularly in large sites but I currently still prefer my method of using one swf with a frame per page. Once I had got my head around the structure and the processes the changes were easy, I even added pagination with a couple of hours :).
Renegade was back again this week too. I had to make a couple of tweeks to the site before it goes live, although a lot more tweeks had been made before that as the site was a little 'free' for the users i.e. they were putting images in that were the wrong size and it wasn't dealing with them. I will remember this next time templating comes up as it is easy enough to fix and makes the site much more usable from a user perspective.
Its gone a bit quite now for the last few days and to fill the time I have been working on Openroots, a personal group project that was set up by Will and Gav. It is a tutorial and informational site for DAT students, but I won't say any more. Been busying myself with learning to understand CCS3 transitions and media queries. I can't decide which I prefer at the moment; fixed or fluid sites. Fluid sites annoy me because the percentages can be a bit difficult to work with, but fixed sites are no way near as adaptable. They say fluid is the future but from what I've seen here at Pix there isn't much proof of that yet. Although I would rather be working on a real project it has been quite good to get my head around some of this new front end stuff for a change, keeping up with the times kind of thing, even if none of it is actually accepted by W3C validation at the moment.
Its the placement seminar at Uni this Friday, it'll be good to see everyone again and talk about what we've all been doing. I seem to write enough so hopefully I can fill 5 minutes ok.
As well as this I have also done some development work on FoxyVineMusic, a flash site built previously that needed updating for a client. This was an interesting challenge as I had to take someone else's code and adapt it for the purpose. It also helped me to understand various elements of professional Flash development that I may not have known before. This site was structured using a set of swfs that were nested within each other and the entire site was built using OOP. I already knew this was important and have begun to use it in my own productions but still have not converted fully. Also the site was left on one singular frame, which was achievable due to the nested swf approach. I can understand why people use this approach, particularly in large sites but I currently still prefer my method of using one swf with a frame per page. Once I had got my head around the structure and the processes the changes were easy, I even added pagination with a couple of hours :).
Renegade was back again this week too. I had to make a couple of tweeks to the site before it goes live, although a lot more tweeks had been made before that as the site was a little 'free' for the users i.e. they were putting images in that were the wrong size and it wasn't dealing with them. I will remember this next time templating comes up as it is easy enough to fix and makes the site much more usable from a user perspective.
Its gone a bit quite now for the last few days and to fill the time I have been working on Openroots, a personal group project that was set up by Will and Gav. It is a tutorial and informational site for DAT students, but I won't say any more. Been busying myself with learning to understand CCS3 transitions and media queries. I can't decide which I prefer at the moment; fixed or fluid sites. Fluid sites annoy me because the percentages can be a bit difficult to work with, but fixed sites are no way near as adaptable. They say fluid is the future but from what I've seen here at Pix there isn't much proof of that yet. Although I would rather be working on a real project it has been quite good to get my head around some of this new front end stuff for a change, keeping up with the times kind of thing, even if none of it is actually accepted by W3C validation at the moment.
Its the placement seminar at Uni this Friday, it'll be good to see everyone again and talk about what we've all been doing. I seem to write enough so hopefully I can fill 5 minutes ok.
Monday, 24 January 2011
A revised list of projects
Pixillion Sessions - full Flash site development (in progress)
At Bristol - Like buttons with FB Open Graph
Renegade Media - full html/css/js modx development
Arun Productions(chris lucas) - full html/css/js modx development
Johann Collections - Full Flash Development
Visitor Review - Styling with Modx and Jquery work
Pixillion Flash Games - Change for non data collection
ECCC Website - HTML CSS Templating
Backup Direct - Styling and HTML sections
Tweet List Widget - Entire development
Andromeda flash lesson - some section development
At Bristol - Like buttons with FB Open Graph
Renegade Media - full html/css/js modx development
Arun Productions(chris lucas) - full html/css/js modx development
Johann Collections - Full Flash Development
Visitor Review - Styling with Modx and Jquery work
Pixillion Flash Games - Change for non data collection
ECCC Website - HTML CSS Templating
Backup Direct - Styling and HTML sections
Tweet List Widget - Entire development
Andromeda flash lesson - some section development
The start of 2011
Been a bit useless over the last month and haven't posted anything so thought it was about time I updated on what I have been doing recently. Since I started work again after a good Christmas break I have been working on a wide variety of projects. In particular, and the projects I will discuss in this post, I have built the Renegade website using Modx, used Facebook open graph to add Like buttons to the @bristol website and the Pixillion Sessions flash website which I have recently started on.
Renegade Media is a media and PR company which we have, since November, been designing a new website for. Over a periiod of about a week and a half I built the site using Modx from the designs given to me. This Modx build gave me a few new challenges to overcome regarding Modx which included jquery carousels and post tagging. For the main carousel I used the Nivo slider, an open source jquery carousel and adapted it to our design successfully. The post tagging required a bit more investigation and research as, although Modx does have the inbuilt capabilities to provide post tagging, there are quite a few steps required to achieve a successful result. This included the use of the ManagerManager plugin to activate the tagging system as well as using new template variable functions. Along with this I needed to develop a way for the tagging to link to archive pages specific for that tag. This required researching how I could add querystrings to the url and pick them up using PHP snippets to adjust the contents of the archived page. In successfully achieving this I have learnt further skills in using Modx which I can use in the future.
The second project with Facebook Open Graph was an interesting days worth of research and development into Open Graph. Facebooks Open Graph API is used to link websites directly to facebook via social graph elements such as like buttons. This then allows administrators to send messages to followers of these likes without creating actual pages for them. The open graph likes are also added to a users pages rather than just their wall so that the like and link is persistent. At Bristol wanted to add like buttons using Open graph to link their site and separate posts to Facebook and their facebook page. Firstly I built a text html page to develop some open graph examples so as to be sure that I could get the API to work. The open graph format consists of open graph specific meta tags with information such as description, admin id, title, url etc which are set in the tags and then parsed into facebook when the like button is clicked. The like button can be added via generated html as an iframe or as a facebook graph object as part of the facebook developers pages. When using the admin id tag this was all that was required for the open graph to work. However with the large amount of pages on the @bristol site it meant that there would be a lot individual admin pages for the specified administrator and so the the best option to use was the appid. This required creating a facebook app to manage the like buttons so that the onlyway of accessing the admin was to click the admin link on each individual like button. The app itself however has no control over the like buttons. To use the appid in this way the open graph required the Javascript SDK for the Facebook Graph and the facebook graph stylelike button. In developing this I noticed a number of limitations and gaps in facebook's development of the social graph elements. Particularly the management system of open graph elements is quite poor. Having individual admins for each like with no easy way of globally controlling them instantly makes the open graph difficult to control for administrators. This means there is also no easy way of monitoring their statistics which makes the system not particularly useable and functionable for businesses. It is also annoying that you cannot connect open graph elements to already produced facebook pages. Being that @bristol also has a facebook page they wanted the site to connect to this via the like buttons. However the only way we could achieve this was to make a global like link that took the user to the page, which they then could like. This complicates the process and so is another issue. Finally there are issues with the documentation of facebook Open Graph and its accompianing parts. It took quite a bit of guess work and a days research to discover whether open graph even produced individual fully functioning facebook pages or not as this would have been a problem. It turned out that actually only admin pages are created and standard users are only able to be redirected to the site, they cannot see the page at all. This was an issue with the selection of words used throughout the documentation I found and so this is also something I would like to see improve for facebook in the future. Facebook is obviously a powerful tool being so globally accepted and used, and so it would be good to see it become more easily intergratable.
My final project I have been working on is the Pixillion Session site. This has taken me back to doing Flash work which I am quite enjoying. Hopefully I have also learnt from my previous experience as I am trying to take more time to think and plan my process of creation with this project. The flash site is another portfolio piece for pixillion focusing on a project they have done with Chris Lucas (Arun productions) looking at a set of 8 performers and artists. The site displays video and photos of each of the 8 artists with information about them and the Pixillion Sessions project.
Renegade Media is a media and PR company which we have, since November, been designing a new website for. Over a periiod of about a week and a half I built the site using Modx from the designs given to me. This Modx build gave me a few new challenges to overcome regarding Modx which included jquery carousels and post tagging. For the main carousel I used the Nivo slider, an open source jquery carousel and adapted it to our design successfully. The post tagging required a bit more investigation and research as, although Modx does have the inbuilt capabilities to provide post tagging, there are quite a few steps required to achieve a successful result. This included the use of the ManagerManager plugin to activate the tagging system as well as using new template variable functions. Along with this I needed to develop a way for the tagging to link to archive pages specific for that tag. This required researching how I could add querystrings to the url and pick them up using PHP snippets to adjust the contents of the archived page. In successfully achieving this I have learnt further skills in using Modx which I can use in the future.
The second project with Facebook Open Graph was an interesting days worth of research and development into Open Graph. Facebooks Open Graph API is used to link websites directly to facebook via social graph elements such as like buttons. This then allows administrators to send messages to followers of these likes without creating actual pages for them. The open graph likes are also added to a users pages rather than just their wall so that the like and link is persistent. At Bristol wanted to add like buttons using Open graph to link their site and separate posts to Facebook and their facebook page. Firstly I built a text html page to develop some open graph examples so as to be sure that I could get the API to work. The open graph format consists of open graph specific meta tags with information such as description, admin id, title, url etc which are set in the tags and then parsed into facebook when the like button is clicked. The like button can be added via generated html as an iframe or as a facebook graph object as part of the facebook developers pages. When using the admin id tag this was all that was required for the open graph to work. However with the large amount of pages on the @bristol site it meant that there would be a lot individual admin pages for the specified administrator and so the the best option to use was the appid. This required creating a facebook app to manage the like buttons so that the onlyway of accessing the admin was to click the admin link on each individual like button. The app itself however has no control over the like buttons. To use the appid in this way the open graph required the Javascript SDK for the Facebook Graph and the facebook graph stylelike button. In developing this I noticed a number of limitations and gaps in facebook's development of the social graph elements. Particularly the management system of open graph elements is quite poor. Having individual admins for each like with no easy way of globally controlling them instantly makes the open graph difficult to control for administrators. This means there is also no easy way of monitoring their statistics which makes the system not particularly useable and functionable for businesses. It is also annoying that you cannot connect open graph elements to already produced facebook pages. Being that @bristol also has a facebook page they wanted the site to connect to this via the like buttons. However the only way we could achieve this was to make a global like link that took the user to the page, which they then could like. This complicates the process and so is another issue. Finally there are issues with the documentation of facebook Open Graph and its accompianing parts. It took quite a bit of guess work and a days research to discover whether open graph even produced individual fully functioning facebook pages or not as this would have been a problem. It turned out that actually only admin pages are created and standard users are only able to be redirected to the site, they cannot see the page at all. This was an issue with the selection of words used throughout the documentation I found and so this is also something I would like to see improve for facebook in the future. Facebook is obviously a powerful tool being so globally accepted and used, and so it would be good to see it become more easily intergratable.
My final project I have been working on is the Pixillion Session site. This has taken me back to doing Flash work which I am quite enjoying. Hopefully I have also learnt from my previous experience as I am trying to take more time to think and plan my process of creation with this project. The flash site is another portfolio piece for pixillion focusing on a project they have done with Chris Lucas (Arun productions) looking at a set of 8 performers and artists. The site displays video and photos of each of the 8 artists with information about them and the Pixillion Sessions project.
Friday, 17 December 2010
A snowy Friday in December
The Arun Productions project I have been working on is finally complete. It even works on IE fully now after a couple of tweeks which is great as IE is always problematic in one way or another. The site was an interesting project really as it has developed my skills from purely html and css templating to fully functioning interactive and animated modx building. I started this project originally by templating each of the pages and ending up with a static html structure. After discussing the project with Matt I then started working on the interactive and animated features using jquery. I quite enjoy uisng jquery as it is a very powerful and multi-compatible tool which can easily help to make websites more engaging. It was discovered that Ajax would be needed to make the site function practically which I had not really dealt with before so this presented an interesting challenge. However thanks again to Jquery this became a realtively simple and successful task as Jquerys inbulit ajax functions make communication with PHP very easy. Modx was also very helpful in this task as it is extremely well documented and I quickly found information on using ajax alongside Modx. This meant that writing the PHP for the ditto calls was quick and easy and so it didn't require much time to get a working ajax solution.
The most tricky section of building this site was probably the thumbnails navigation on the collection pages which included both Ajax and jquery animation, as well as re-configuring the paginate buttons as they no longer were contained as part of the ditto call. I have also learnt to use a small amount of PHx in Modx this time to control what displays when. This has made displaying content a lot easier and ensures that you dont need to create too many templates to build all of the pages required. Just to explain my understanding of PHx: PHx is an additional section that can be applied to [+x+] placeholders to add sections and the placeholder dependant on the specified conditions. An example is as below:
[+image:isnot=``:then=`<div><img src="[+image+]"/></div>`+]
Now that this site is complete I have also been offered the chance to do the MODx content management tutorial next week with Chris(arun productions) and Remco which I am quite happy about. This is a step up for me as regards my work with Pixillion and so I have gained a new if small responsibility within the company. As well as Arun Productions I also did some tweaking work on ECCC this week, nice to finally see it go live. It is kind of astonishing how long the turn over time is on most of these projects, they seem to go live at least a month and a half after completion. It was quite odd working on it again after so long, and I got to write some instructions for it too. I had to restructure a small section of it as it was originally not built for content management but should have been. It took me a couple of hours to get through the various changes required which was alright.
Unfortunately yet again Pixillion is suffering(Remco described it as a sinking ship :S) as one of the major clients work has gone pair shaped and is overloading the workload. It is a shame, I feel, that I cannot help with this but it is up to the others as to what can be handed over to me and in this case the answer is nothing. Its a bit of a mental overload for everyone I think but we seem to have managed it this far, so hopefully our luck will continue. On the upside it is Christmas next week and Pixillion's party is on Thursday(23rd) which should be good. Can't quite understand why were going all the way to Bath but its up to them, I don't mind. Helastel's is today as they are finishing earlier but I have decided not to go. Laser Quest with all the Helastel team does not really match with me, and anyway I want to go home and see all the snow :). 20 mins till finish now, can't wait for the snowy weekend. Handed out all my Christmas cards today to spread some festive cheer - or at least I hope I did and enjoyed my chocolate muffin for #muffinFridays. Merry Christmas :)
The most tricky section of building this site was probably the thumbnails navigation on the collection pages which included both Ajax and jquery animation, as well as re-configuring the paginate buttons as they no longer were contained as part of the ditto call. I have also learnt to use a small amount of PHx in Modx this time to control what displays when. This has made displaying content a lot easier and ensures that you dont need to create too many templates to build all of the pages required. Just to explain my understanding of PHx: PHx is an additional section that can be applied to [+x+] placeholders to add sections and the placeholder dependant on the specified conditions. An example is as below:
[+image:isnot=``:then=`<div><img src="[+image+]"/></div>`+]
Now that this site is complete I have also been offered the chance to do the MODx content management tutorial next week with Chris(arun productions) and Remco which I am quite happy about. This is a step up for me as regards my work with Pixillion and so I have gained a new if small responsibility within the company. As well as Arun Productions I also did some tweaking work on ECCC this week, nice to finally see it go live. It is kind of astonishing how long the turn over time is on most of these projects, they seem to go live at least a month and a half after completion. It was quite odd working on it again after so long, and I got to write some instructions for it too. I had to restructure a small section of it as it was originally not built for content management but should have been. It took me a couple of hours to get through the various changes required which was alright.
Unfortunately yet again Pixillion is suffering(Remco described it as a sinking ship :S) as one of the major clients work has gone pair shaped and is overloading the workload. It is a shame, I feel, that I cannot help with this but it is up to the others as to what can be handed over to me and in this case the answer is nothing. Its a bit of a mental overload for everyone I think but we seem to have managed it this far, so hopefully our luck will continue. On the upside it is Christmas next week and Pixillion's party is on Thursday(23rd) which should be good. Can't quite understand why were going all the way to Bath but its up to them, I don't mind. Helastel's is today as they are finishing earlier but I have decided not to go. Laser Quest with all the Helastel team does not really match with me, and anyway I want to go home and see all the snow :). 20 mins till finish now, can't wait for the snowy weekend. Handed out all my Christmas cards today to spread some festive cheer - or at least I hope I did and enjoyed my chocolate muffin for #muffinFridays. Merry Christmas :)
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