Neil Merton

Web2.0* 1.5 Nearing Completion

I thought I’d give everyone a little update on the next Web2.0* release - this will be version 1.5.

The biggest part to the update is the inclusion of an Options page for the theme. This will allow you to make many changes to the theme’s appearance from within the Admin Area - no need to touch the stylesheets.

I’m aiming to have this completed by the 1st of May 5th of May.

ALA Web Design Survey

A List Apart has decided to run a Web Design Survey that will hopefully provide people inside (and outside) the web design/development industry useful information about those who are currently employed in this sector.

So, if you’re employed as a Web Designer / Web Developer then why not take the survey (shouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes)?

ColdFusion 7.02 and WAMP 1.7.0

I thought I’d share some details about how I installed ColdFusion 7.02 and WAMP (Windows Apache MySQL PHP) 1.7.0 on my Windows XP Pro development PC. For those experiencing problems installing ColdFusion with Apache 2.xx please read on - the information that follows may help. Note: ensure you have the Java Runtime installed!

1. Download the required software - ColdFusion and WAMP.
2. Install WAMP - if you need help doing this please see the help file.
3. Install ColdFusion - I recommend following the instruction that can be found in the ACME guide.
4. Download the ColdFusion update and extract the ‘wsconfig.jar‘ file and place it in the ‘C:\CFusionMX7\runtime\lib\‘ folder - if Windows Explorer tells you it can’t replace the file then you will need to stop the ColdFusion service before attempting to replace the file, just remember to start it up again.
5. Once all the required software is installed hit the Windows key + R to bring up the run command and type in ‘cmd‘ and hit the enter key.
6. Paste the following in (right-click and select ‘Paste’) ‘cd C:\CFusionMX7\runtime\lib\‘ and hit the enter key.
7. To remove the existing config copy and paste the following in ‘java -jar C:\CFusionMX7\runtime\lib\wsconfig.jar -remove -ws Apache -dir “C:\Wamp\Apache2\conf” -v‘ and hit the enter key - you should get a rather lengthy message returned, if you don’t then somethings not quite right.
8. To add the new config copy and paste the following in ‘java -Dtrace.ci=1 -jar C:\CFusionMX7\runtime\lib\wsconfig.jar -server coldfusion -ws apache -dir “C:\Wamp\Apache2\conf” -bin “C:\Wamp\Apache2\bin\httpd.exe” -coldfusion -v‘ and hit the enter key - again you should get another lengthy message returned.
9. ColdFusion and Apache should now be friends again!
10. Finish off the installation by running the ‘Configuration Wizard‘ from: Start - All Programs - Macromedia.

If you’ve got questions then please visit the thread on the Adobe website that relates to this topic - there is tonnes of other people’s comments about this issue.

Initial Thoughts on Dreamweaver CS3

No, I’ve not received an early copy of Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 - but I have been spending some time reading up about the release on Adobe’s website, so I thought I’d share what my initial thoughts are on this upcoming release’s main new features.

1. The support for Spry (AJAX): How many people use Spry (it’s Adobe’s AJAX framework)? I looked at it briefly, once, but didn’t like how it inserts ’spry:command‘ into html tags - so that’s where I left my investigation. So, no, this feature is not one that interests me.
2. Photoshop & Fireworks integration: Ok - it is just me or is it really not that diffecult to have Photoshop/Fireworks open while you’re working in Dreamweaver? Do I really need to copy directly from either of these programs and paste directly into Dreamweaver? I don’t think so. So again, this feature doesn’t interest me.
3. Browser Compatibility Check: Code semantic and valid css and xhtml and your code should be compatible with most browsers! This feature isn’t for me.
4. CSS Advisor website: Won’t this be available to the general public anyway?
5. CSS layouts: Glad to see that this is included - it should help those starting out in web design to get to grips with css layouts, but it’s not one for me - I prefer to get my hands dirty thank you.

So there you have my initial thoughts. This isn’t a release that will excite any hand-coder. Sure there seem to be some great new features for people starting out in web design - but are these people really going to be willing to shell out their hard-earned cash for this release?

Will I be paying $199 (upwards!) for the upgrade? Unfortunately not - I’ll be putting my money towards an editor that is trying to make life easier for coders.