HostGo and my attempt to install Django

For the past few days I have been trying to get Django to work with my web host, HostGo, with no success.

Even after setting up virtualenv I could not find away to properly deploy an application.

I'm pretty sure it's because mod_python / mod_wsgi isn't installed or configured properly with Apache. Since I have no control over that and the fact that they will not install this technology for me to use I have to find an alternative host.

I'll be sure to post some alternate host that'll support Django.

PHP Brush Up and CakePHP

My previous PHP programming experience has been a blessing this past week.

Quite recently I've was exposed to the CakePHP. CakePHP, in a nutshell, is a Model View Controller (MVC) design pattern. It provides a structured framework that allows PHP programmer to rapidly develop robust web applications.

Currently I'm in the process right now of writing some custom helpers that will retrieve images from a database and provide an easy way for the "View" to use those images.

I'll be sure to add more details when I have a working example.

Web Tech Talk : Testing your web applications

When it comes to testing web applications there are quite a few tools out there but the really good tools are few and far between.

Lately project are getting to point where they're big enough to required automated testing. After search around the net and trying out tons of software I have found a tools that is very useful.

Selenium IDE

What is Seleniun IDE? Well if you look at the OpenQA site here's what it says about Selenium IDE.

Selenium IDE is an integrated development environment for Selenium tests. It is implemented as a Firefox extension, and allows you to record, edit, and debug tests. Selenium IDE includes the entire Selenium Core, allowing you to easily and quickly record and play back tests in the actual environment that they will run.

Selenium IDE is not only recording tool: it is a complete IDE. You can choose to use its recording capability, or you may edit your scripts by hand. With autocomplete support and the ability to move commands around quickly, Selenium IDE is the ideal environment for creating Selenium tests no matter what style of tests you prefer.

Features:

* Easy record and playback
* Intelligent field selection will use IDs, names, or XPath as needed
* Autocomplete for all common Selenium commands
* Walk through tests
* Debug and set breakpoints
* Save tests as HTML, Ruby scripts, or any other format
* Support for Selenium user-extensions.js file
* Option to automatically assert the title of every page

This is, in my opinion, by far one of the better testing tools available to web developers.

Be sure to try it out. OpenQA : Selenium IDE

Web Tech Talk

Every web designer, web developer and web monkey needs to keep their skill updated. Some of us are lucky enough to have a good job that pay for classes, courses and seminars that will improve our skill or better yet teach us new skills. Others have to try and keep themselves a float by teaching themselves the new tricks of the trade.

Here are a few resource that may help you when you're building a new web site or add some extra functionality to your web applications.

Google Code.

I'll be completely honest with you and say that I integrate almost all of the sites I create with the Google Search API. It's fast, effective and Google has been doing this for years so you might as well use their technology. Also, the APIs they have up there are fun to play with and can be very useful.

Yahoo! User Interface Library.

I haven't used any of these libraries yet. So I can't give you much input. But I'm sure Yahoo! has plenty of tricks to show you. Plus I hear the AutoComplete is really cool.

Dr Web's Web 2.0 Webdesign - Tutorials

These tutorials are a great resource if you're trying to achieve an updated look. It has many tutorials on the new Web 2.0 design techniques.

AJAX - Asynchronous JavaScript and XML

For all of those trying to get a handle on Ajax be sure to check out W3C School - Ajax Tutorial, Dojo - The Javascript Toolkit, ASP.Net AJAX, AJAX - MDC and AJAX Design Patterns

CSS - Cascading Style Sheets

CSS has come a long way. In my opinion CSS is the best way to design and construcht your web site. The control you have over each element on the page is amazing and designers have the ability to specify different style sheets for different browsers to increase the sites usability. Be sure to check out W3C Cascading Style Sheets
home page, W3C School - CSS Tutorials, CSS Zen Garden, Smashing Magazine - CSS Category

Hopefully these resources will help some you. They were pretty useful to me.