All news about PHP

The International PHP Conference 2007 Spring Edition will happen from May, 21st to 23rd 2007 in Stuttgart. The Call for Papers has just been opened. You can find more information at http://phpconference.com/. There’s a pre-conference day on 21st of May with full day Power Workshops and a Main Conference from 22nd to 23rd of May with 1 hour sessions. Please submit your session proposals at http://phpconference.com/input. They will be voted by the Chair board consisting of Björn Schotte (Head of Chair), Christopher Kunz and Sebastian Meyen. The language for talks is both English and German.

I’m privileged to be in Redmond, WA this week at the Microsoft Web Development Summit. (Special thanks to Glen Gordon for sending me an invitation.) Also in attendance are a good crowd of PHP developers from various backgrounds and experience, including developers from Drupal, Gallery, Facebook, CakePHP, Solar, core developers, extension developers, authors, and just plain PHP programmers. Microsoft has invited us to their main campus in an effort to reach out to the PHP community to solicit opinions and feedback on various technologies, including IIS, Silverlight, their Ajax library, Expression Web, etc.

I’ll be taking time to condense my thoughts and reactions into a single blog post later this week after I’ve returned home and rested, but for now, you can follow along as I take notes on my personal “notes” wiki. I’ve made the conference notes section available for reading to the public. So, you can read my notes for the Microsoft Web Development Summit, if you like.

conferences, microsoft, php, wd07, webdevsummit07

The DC PHP Conference is right around the corner, and it looks like it’s going to be great. (It’s not too late to register.) Not only is this conference inexpensive ($450 for both days, $250 for one, and $150 for students), it boasts an impressive lineup of speakers.

Among the scheduled talks, I see Facebook, Digg, and Ning represented:

• APC@Facebook, Brian Shire (Facebook)
• Facebook Performance Caching, Lucas Nealan (Facebook)
• High Performance PHP & MySQL Scaling Techniques, Eli White (Digg)
• Help, My Web Site Has Been Hacked! Now What?, Eli White (Digg)
• API Design in PHP, David Sklar (Ning)

There are also a couple of talks by Ed Finkler. He’s speaking about his security projects, PHPSecInfo and Inspekt. (I suspect Ed is more well known as the developer of Spaz.)

Not to be outdone, we are going to have a booth (our first booth!), Paul is giving a talk on framework and application benchmarking, Nate is giving a tutorial on CakePHP, and I‘m giving the opening keynote. (Scary stuff!)

Hope to see you there!

Posted Mon, 29 Oct 2007 00:02:22 GMT in Chris Shiflett’s Blog

Ich muss ein PHP object über ’serialize’ serialisieren, an Perl weiterreichen und dort über das Modul PHP::Serialization auspacken. Ich habe Stunden damit zugebracht herauszufinden, warum ich auf meine Objektvariablen nicht zugreifen kann.


class test {
  public $public_key = ‘public_val’;
  private $private_key = ‘private_val’;
}


"Eigentlich" ist es logisch, dass PHP "auf irgendeine Art und Weise"” im serialisierten String kenntlich machen muss, welche Bestandteile des Objekts private und welche public sind, da ansonsten PHP selbst das Objekt nicht mehr korrekt deserialisieren könnte. Solchen Fragen muss man sich aber erst stellen, wenn man ein seralisiertes Objekt mit etwas anderem als PHP weiterverarbeiten möchte … . Der Data::Dumper von Perl jedenfalls gibt für das deserialisierte Objekt folgendes zurück:


$VAR1 = bless( {
  ’public_key’ => ‘public_val’,
  ’testprivate_key’ => ‘private_val’
}, ‘PHP::Serialization::Object::test’ );


Die Ausgabe von …


print Dumper($obj->{'testprivate_key'});


… liefert jedoch ein “undef” - was ist da los? Ganz einfach: PHP fügt nicht nur den Namen der Klasse in den Namen der Objektvariablen beim Serialisieren des Objektes ein, sondern zusätlich vor und hinter dem Namen der Klasse je ein null-Byte:


0000000: 4f3a 343a 2274 6573 7422 3a32 3a7b 733a O:4:"test":2:{s:
0000010: 3130 3a22 7075 626c 6963 5f6b 6579 223b 10:”public_key”;
0000020: 733a 3130 3a22 7075 626c 6963 5f76 616c s:10:”public_val
0000030: 223b 733a 3137 3a22 0074 6573 7400 7072 “;s:17:”.test.pr
0000040: 6976 6174 655f 6b65 7922 3b73 3a31 313a ivate_key”;s:11:
0000050: 2270 7269 7661 7465 5f76 616c 223b 7d   ”private_val”;}


Ein Dank an dieser Stelle geht an Plu, der mir beim Debuggen geholfen hat und nicht müde wird all meine Perl-Fragen zu beantworten.

Mein Lieblings Mailer Google Mail unterstützt jetzt auch IMAP. Der IMAP Zugang muss zunächst in den Einstellungen aktiviert werden, diese sind derzeit allerdings nur in der englischen Version von Google Mail verfügbar (einfach die Spracheinstellung in Google Mail auf ‘englisch’ ändern).

Habe das ganze mal mit Apple Mail ausprobiert - es funktioniert wunderbar. Alle Labels werden in Apple Mail angezeigt und die Standard Folder ausgenommen "Chats" werden angezeigt.

Tim O’Reilly has described the Internet as the new OS. Recent observations lead me to believe it’s new the new Unix. Consider the following philosophy:

Write programs that do one thing and do it well.

Write programs to work together.

Write programs to handle text streams, because that is a universal interface.

This is the Unix philosophy, but it applies equally well to successful web sites. For example, I love del.icio.us, but it sure isn’t for its clever domain name. It solves a simple problem well and doesn’t get distracted by anything else. By also providing a useful API, it lets me manage my bookmarks in a number of different ways.

Recently, I’ve been using Twitter, and I’m honestly turned off by the user interface. However, because I can use my phone or IM client, it’s still a useful service.

Although I haven’t written about it yet, I’ve been using Dopplr for a while now, and I like it. It’s a simple application that lets me keep up with my upcoming trips as well as the trips of my friends. It does one thing, and it does it well.

Posted Tue, 23 Oct 2007 02:34:40 GMT in Chris Shiflett’s Blog

The Open Source Developers’ Conference 2008 is a conference run by open source developers, for developers and business people. It covers numerous programming languages across a range of operating systems, and related topics such as business processes, licensing, and strategy. Talks vary from introductory pieces through to the deeply technical. It is a great opportunity to meet, share, and learn with like-minded individuals. This year, the conference will be held in Sydney, Australia during the first week of December. If you are an Open Source maintainer, developer or user, the organising committee would encourage you to submit a talk proposal on open source tools, solutions, languages or technologies you are working with. For more details, see: http://osdc.com.au/2008/papers/cfp.html. If you have any questions or require assistance with your submission, please don’t hesitate to ask! We continue to recognise the increasing importance of Open Source in providing a medium for collaboration between individuals, researchers, business and government. In recognition of this and ensure a high standard of presentations, we intend to peer-review all submitted papers. OSDC 2008 Sydney (Australia) - Key Program Dates: 28 Apr - Call for Papers30 Jun - Initial proposals (short abstract) due21 Jul - Proposal acceptance15 Sep - Accepted paper submissions For all information, contacts and updates, see the OSDC conference web site at http://osdc.com.au/2008/.

Do you promote your business via press releases that you submit on the Web and/or to newspapers? Then you should ideally have a company press kit. A press kit is, in essence, a media-ready promotional package. Your press kit should be as professional-sounding as possible, and accessible via PDF download format from the PRESS or MEDIA page of your Web site.

The purpose of a company press kit:

1. Provide basic information about your company such as key contact names and address details.
2. Communicate the company mission and philosophy.
3. Describe the key market you’re targeting.
4. Detail the biographies of company principles.
5. Share company news.
6. Include high resolution photos of key people, logos and products.

Having a press kit on your site makes it easier for members of the media who spot your name out there to grab what they need quickly. For example, let’s say someone comes by and decides to run your story. If for some reason they can’t locate the short version of your company bio or your photo, they should be able to access these in your company press release with no problem. Should they have a question, the press kit will tell them exactly who to contact for answers.

Preliminaries for Press Kit Development:

Plan to print your press kit on company letterhead. You will use the same format for both electronic and print versions of the kit. Have your graphic design person pull together high resolution photos of the people, products and logos that you want to make accessible to the media.

SECTION 1: COMPANY FACT SHEET

Should any of the below not apply to your business, simply delete.

• Company Name:
• Address: (this should be a physical address, not a P.O. Box)
• Key Contact:
• Email:
• Telephone Number:
• Fax Number:
• Internet URL:
• Ticker Symbol:
• DUNS Number:
• Chief Executive Officer:
• Chief Financial Officer:
• Investor Relations:
• Public Relations:
• Industry:
• Key Markets:
• Number of Employees:
• Company Description: (should be no more than 3 or 4 lines maximum)

SECTION 2: COMPANY OVERVIEW

Step 1. Your Products and /or Services. Briefly describe the products and/or services your company provides as well as the primary benefit you offer the customer. This section should be no longer than two paragraphs.

Step 2. Company Mission and Focus. Describe the mission and philosophy behind the work you do. This should be about branding your business - communicating your reason for being. Include a couple of well-developed paragraphs at most.

Step 3. Target Audience. Describe your customers - who buys your products, and why? Identify any and all types of organizations who purchase from you, and their approximate sizes - companies, institutions, individual customers, fundraisers, nonprofits, etc.

Step 4. Clientele. List the biggest names that purchase or have purchased from you. If you’re just starting out, you may choose to omit this section for lack of a substantial number of clients. You can always go back later and add this list as you grow.

Step 5. Market Focus. Describe your target audience including all applicable demographics and psychograpics. Demographics cover characteristics such as age group, gender, social class, average yearly income, religion, location, and any other relevant factors. Psychographics are the emotional reasons behind what your key customer buys from you - their habits, attitudes, needs and values. This section should be no longer than a page.

Step 6. Core Values. Describe the core values of your business as they pertain to the work you do. This is, in essence, a more developed version of the first section where you were asked to define the company mission and philosophy.

SECTION 3: MANAGEMENT

Step 1. Obtain the resumes of all company officers to use as the basis for the management bios.

Step 2. Obtain detailed information that covers the following:

• Describe the last position you held as it pertains to your expertise in this industry. What company did you work for, what was your primary role there, how many years experience did you have, and so forth.
• Describe your education as it pertains to this expertise - including all certifications you hold.
• Include a few personal facts if you like - for example, where you currently reside, what types of activities you enjoy in your leisure time (optional).

Step 3. Create professional sounding biographies for each member of management.

SECTION 4: COMPANY NEWS

Paste in the text from all previous press releases in the exact format that they were published online or in the news media.

SECTION 5: CONTACT INFORMATION

Repeat the following so the media can easily access this information if needed:

• Press Contact Name
• Company Name
• Address
• Phone
• Fax
• Email
• Web Site

Once you’ve completed each section, print everything out and read aloud, checking for correct grammar and strong pacing. Edit as needed, then proofread again. Print on your company letterhead and be sure to include high resolution photos if you have them available.

If you need assistance pulling your company press kit together or would like help polishing the wording, please do not hesitate to contact Dina[at]Wordfeeder.com for a project quote.

Copyright 2007 Dina Giolitto, Wordfeeder.com Copywriting and Marketing. All rights reserved.

Dina Giolitto delivers copywriting direction, support and implementation to businesses throughout the United States. Sign up for the Copywriting and Marketing Ezine from http://Wordfeeder.com today.

Tags: press kit, promotion, pr

I’ve noticed a nasty trend for the past two years… so it sounds like it’s not a fad: Gray text on white. This isn’t a cool trend as it’s harder to read text. On top of that, on many sites you can’t change the size of the text unless you’re using a browser like Firefox. So what if black text is boring? There’s a reason for that — it’s readable.

Most of us scan rather than read Web pages. Gray text is a barrier for scanning because it requires working harder to make out the text as it doesn’t have a strong contrast to the background. It’s okay to use some gray text, but not for most of the page’s contents.

But I’d rather read gray on white than something like white or black on hot pink (OK, so that’s a teen’s MySpace page, not an actual Web site). Seriously though, white background is preferred to a color background although I’ve seen some that are well done. In most cases, the font and background selections don’t work well.

Tags: web design, readability, meryl k. evans

It’s common knowledge that yin and yang symbolize opposition between certain objects. However, yin and yang are also inseparable, forever combined as a cornerstone in all universal processes. Similarly, fonts and encodings are also two opposing sides of a spectrum which, when working together, form an inseparable duo essential to digital writing.

In the exciting new book from O’Reilly — Fonts & Encodings — author Yannis Haralambous provides a fascinating, lyrical, and comprehensive guide to using fonts and typography on the Web and across a variety of operating systems and application softwares. “It is the goal of this book to be a bridge between tradition and new technologies, in the small (but important) domain of written text,” explains Haralambous.

“An encoding emerges from the tendency to conceptualize information; it is the result of an abstraction, a construction of the mind,” writes Haralambous in his timely new resource. “A font is a means of visually representing writing, the result of a concrete expression, a graphical construct.”

At over 1000 pages, this encyclopedic reference is the only resource you need to take full advantage of the incredible number of typographic options available. Fonts & Encodings clearly presents advanced material that covers everything from designing glyphs to developing software that creates and processes fonts.

The era of ASCII characters on green screens is long gone, and industry leaders such as Apple, HP, IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle have adopted the Unicode Worldwide Character Standard. However, this only solves part of the problem, as a multitude of font standards and tools for using those standards remain between the numeric character codes and their presentation.

Fonts & Encodings explores and illuminates how each piece fits together:

• Part I introduces Unicode, with a brief history of codes and encodings, including ASCII. You’ll learn about the data that accompanies each Unicode character and how Unicode deals with normalization, the bidirectional algorithm, and the handling of East Asian characters.
• Part II discusses font management, including installation, tools for activation/deactivation, and font choices for three different systems: Windows, Mac OS, and the X Window System (Unix).
• Part III deals with the technical use of fonts in two specific cases: the TeX typesetting system (and its successor, Omega, which the author co-developed) and Web pages.
• Part IV presents the history of typefaces, and then examines methods for classifying fonts: Vox, Alessandrini, and Panose-1, which is used by Windows and the CSS standard. Learn about existing tools for creating (or modifying) fonts, including FontLab and FontForge, and become familiar with OpenType properties and AAT fonts.
• Appendixes explain a variety of standards and tools in depth, exploring bitmap font formats, TeX formats, PostScript formats, TrueType/OpenType and AAT, including tutorials in TrueType instructions, Metafont language, and B zier curves.

Nowhere else will you find the valuable technical information that software developers, Web developers, and graphic artists need to know to get typography and fonts to work properly — so keep it handy for quick references and thorough explanations.

Tags: fonts, encoding, web design