All news about PHP

The php|a Team writes: Like all good things, our hugely popular iPod training promotion is rapidly coming to an end—in fact, there are only three days left!

You can still get a free iPod in time for the holidays! With our promo, you get great live training from the convenience of your home or office and up to two free iPod Touch players!For more information, visit our iPod training promo page.

The php|a Team writes: As you have probably noticed, the php|architect website has undergone a complete head-to-toe redesign and sports a brand-new look. It also features a new engine refactored to work exclusively with PHP 5.

Come pay us a visit—and get free shipping! For a limited time, we're offering free shipping on all our books to the U.S. and Canada, and special prices for international orders. If you're interested, our published Marco Tabini has also published a post with more information on the technical side of the redesign on his blog.

The php|architect Team writes: The November issue of php|architect is finally online—together with our new site!

In this issue:

• Imagick 2 — Image Processing the PHP 5 Way by Imran Nazar Image processing, whether thumbnailing a picture or producing a bar chart, is an integral part of most websites. See how to perform these operations quickly and efficiently, using an object-oriented interface to the ImageMagick library.

• Algorithmic Behaviour in Objects by Ron Pastore In many object-oriented projects we only see objects representing domain specific or database derived entities, leaving much algorithmic behaviour still prone to repetition and increasing dependencies. Leveraging PHP 5’s object model, explore the nature of behaviour and explain how objects can represent, implement and decouple behaviours to achieve more flexible and architecturally strong applications.

• Use the Force.com, Luke! by Jeof Oyster There’s CRM software, and then there’s CRM software. If your current CRM solution struggles to meet the needs of every department in your organization, perhaps it’s time to look at something that will provide customizable solutions geared to those needs. See how Force.com, salesforce.com’s “Platform-as-a-Service”, comes into play.

• Phalanger — When PHP Meets .NET by Timothy Boronczyk Microsoft’s .NET is hyped as a language-agnostic framework, but as PHP developers we could say we’ve been left out in the cold. Phalanger is a project that aims to bridge that gap, initially by making it possible to compile PHP code into .NET libraries, but latterly moving towards compatibility with the cross-platform Mono framework too. In this article, you will see how PHP and Phalanger can be used with the more developed of the two frameworks—.NET itself.

• Are fluent interfaces useful? by Jeff Moore Every now and again, a new OO concept arrives on the scene. Some have friends in high places and become fashionable; others slip into ill-repute, or even vanish altogether. Some are adopted by one or two languages, but deemed unsuitable by others. Find out more about the concept of fluent interfaces in PHP.

• Fuzzing Your Way to Security by Ilia Alshanetsky If you’ve been reading the security publications in the past year or so, you’ve probably noticed authors referring to “fuzzing” or “fuzzers”. What on earth can they mean? Lean this particular approach to security bug hunting and how it can be used to improve the quality of your own code.

• Freedom—or Death! by Marco Tabini Can the Internet of today echo the personal computer industry of yesteryear? Drawing some interesting parallels.

For more information, or to get your copy, check out our November issue page.

Als kleine Merkhilfe für mich zum o.g. Thema. Kürzlich wollte ich meiner lokalen PHP Installation unter Mac OS X 10.4.11 IMAP support hinzufügen. Meine Konfiguration dafür sah folgendermassen aus:


'./configure' '--prefix=/opt/php5' '--enable-force-cgi-redirect' '--disable-debug' '--enable-pic' '--disable-rpath' '--enable-inline-optimization' '--with-bz2' '--with-curl' '--without-gdbm' '--with-gettext=/opt' '--with-iconv' '--with-openssl' '--with-regex=system' '--with-xml' '--with-zlib' '--enable-exif' '--enable-sockets' '--enable-track-vars' '--enable-trans-sid' '--with-mysqli=/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql_config' '--enable-memory-limit' '--enable-fastcgi' '--enable-memcache' '--enable-zip' '--enable-http' '--without-pdo-sqlite' '--without-sqlite' '--enable-mbstring' '--with-imap'


… und resultierte in folgender Fehlermeldung:


...
checking for IMAP support… yes
checking for IMAP Kerberos support… no
checking for IMAP SSL support… no
checking for utf8_mime2text signature… new
checking for U8T_CANONICAL… no
configure: error: utf8_mime2text() has new signature, but U8T_CANONICAL is missing. This should not happen. Check config.log for additional information.


Ein Blick in die config.log zeigt, dass das Include-File c-client.h nicht gefunden wird, und in der tat scheint c-client unter OSX nicht vorhanden zu sein:


conftest.c:240:22: error: c-client.h: No such file or directory


C-client ist Bestandteil des IMAP Paketes der University of Washington. Das komplette IMAP Paket kann über deren FTP Server gezogen werden: ftp://ftp.cac.washington.edu/imap/. Dort habe ich mir das Paket imap-2006k.tar.Z heruntergeladen. Nach dem Entpacken des Paketes wird dieses zunächst per:


$ make oxp


für Mac OS X gebaut. Das IMAP Paket enthält eine komplette IMAP Umgebung und die Installation dafür wäre deshalb auch dementsprechend umfangreich. Für PHP wird jedoch lediglich c-client benötigt, deshalb wird auch nur dieses “installiert”, z.b.:


$ mkdir -p /usr/local/imap-2006k/include /usr/local/imap-2006k/lib
$ cp c-client/*.h /usr/local/imap-2006k/include
$ cp c-client/*.c /usr/local/imap-2006k/lib
$ cp c-client/c-client.a /usr/local/imap-2006k/lib/libc-client.a


Anschliessend kann man PHP mit folgenden Parametern neu configurieren und bauen:


'./configure' '--prefix=/opt/php5' '--enable-force-cgi-redirect' '--disable-debug' '--enable-pic' '--disable-rpath' '--enable-inline-optimization' '--with-bz2' '--with-curl' '--without-gdbm' '--with-gettext=/opt' '--with-iconv' '--with-openssl' '--with-regex=system' '--with-xml' '--with-zlib' '--enable-exif' '--enable-sockets' '--enable-track-vars' '--enable-trans-sid' '--with-mysqli=/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql_config' '--enable-memory-limit' '--enable-fastcgi' '--enable-memcache' '--enable-zip' '--enable-http' '--without-pdo-sqlite' '--without-sqlite' '--enable-mbstring' '--with-imap=/usr/local/imap-2006k' '--with-kerberos'


Via Jeremiah, I see that PayPal’s new vulnerability disclosure policy includes an amnesty clause for well-intentioned security researchers:

To encourage responsible disclosure, we commit that - if we conclude that a disclosure respects and meets all the guidelines outlined below - we will not bring a private action or refer a matter for public inquiry.

Their guidelines include some subjective language, so I’m not sure how much protection this policy actually offers. (Any lawyers want to clarify?) Here they are:

• Share the security issue with us before making it public on message boards, mailing lists, and other forums.

• Allow us reasonable time to respond to the issue before disclosing it publicly.

• Provide full details of the security issue.

PayPal also describes what not to do:

• Potential or actual denial of service of PayPal applications and systems.

• Use of an exploit to view data without authorization, or corruption of data.

• Requests for direct compensation for the reporting of security issues either to PayPal, or through any external marketplace for vulnerabilities, whether black-market or otherwise.

If you’re like me, some questions come to mind. How much time is reasonable? Since data can be anything, how do we know if we view data without authorization? Don’t most people assume they’re authorized to view something if they’re allowed to view it? Does intent matter?

Questions aside, here’s hoping this is a genuine attempt to do the right thing. Thanks, PayPal.

Posted Wed, 21 Nov 2007 21:48:21 GMT in Chris Shiflett’s Blog

Elizabeth Naramore writes: Paul M. Jones announced on his blog that his PHP Framework, Solar, has been released as 1.0.0alpha1 version. If you haven't taken a look at Solar, you probably should - it holds a lot of promise. From the Solar site,

Solar is a PHP 5 framework for rapid application development. It is fully name-spaced and uses enterprise application design patterns, with built-in support for localization and configuration at all levels.The site goes on to say,

It uses concepts derived from the Savant template system, the DB_Table object-relation management package, the Yawp foundation for PHP applications, and the organizational structure of PEAR.You can learn more about the Solar Framework at the Solar site, read the release notes on Paul's blog, or simply jump in and download your own copy.

Elizabeth Naramore writes: Drupal, Inc. and eZ Systems have been listed among the top 100 companies according to EContent Magazine. This list was chosen for “the companies that matter most in the digital content industry.” They join the ranks of Google, Microsoft, Adobe, and Apple. Congratulations to both companies for such an achievement! If you'd like to see the entire list, you can take a look at the EContent Mag site.

“Chinese Wall - The ethical (not physical) barrier between different divisions of a financial (or other) institution to avoid conflict of interest…”

Investopedia.com

“While Google never sells better ranking in our search results, several other search engines combine pay-per-click or pay-for-inclusion results with their regular web search results.”

Google’s Webmaster Help Center FAQ

“NO pay for inclusion, and a complete separation of the search index part from the money part.”

Google Chief Engineer Craig Neville-Manning, Search Engine Strategies 2004

The good people at Google have long maintained that there is a Chinese Wall between paid search results and organic results - that is, the department responsible for advertising is completely separate from the department responsible for organic search engine placement. The company insists that Google Adwords is a completely separate entity than the Google search engine, and never the twain shall meet. This all sounds very good, in theory. But do they live up to this ideal in practice?

You don’t hear Google talking much about Chinese Walls these days. This is certainly in part because they have had great difficulty gaining traction in the literal and very competitive Chinese market (headlines such as “Google Hits Chinese Wall” or even “Google Advance Halted at Great Wall of China” were commonplace). But might there be other, more nefarious reasons? Is there a reason why we hear less and less from Google about the virtual wall that separates paid search results from organic search engine placement?

What Is Google Really Doing for Its Big Spenders?

It has long been rumored that Google will offer technical assistance in achieving better organic search engine placement to those who spend more for paid search results. I know for certain that these rumors are true in at least two instances. In fact, I actually have the minutes from one of these technical assistance meetings after the company met with Google engineers. While the identity of these two companies is irrelevant, suffice to say that they are companies that you have almost certainly heard of and that they spend millions of dollars on paid search words each year.

To be fair, based on the meeting minutes I have, the advice that the engineers gave to the company does not include anything groundbreaking. It is mostly common sense advice that a good search engine optimization firm already knows about organic search engine placement and other issues, and much of it is already covered in the publicly-available Google Webmaster Guidelines. This, however, is beside the point. Google has obviously decided that it must offer perks to its big paid search spenders to keep them happy (or rather, happy enough to not pull their advertising). Clearly, one of these perks is access to Google engineers and the ability to glean information about organic search engine placement, a luxury that smaller advertisers do not enjoy.

Organic Search Engine Placement for Sale - The New Google Reality?

From a business perspective, this makes perfect sense, of course. Big-dollar advertisers make up the bulk of Google’s revenue for paid search, and any intelligent business will take whatever steps they deem necessary to hold on to their most valuable customers. This is why larger advertisers already have a designated account representative from Google. I am willing to bet that this perk was not Google’s idea. Rather, it almost certainly stemmed from the sense of entitlement that those spending large sums on paid search felt and the fact that technical help with their organic search engine placement is what they demanded.

Unfortunately, this reality leaves an advertiser with a small budget for paid search at a disadvantage. If Google is willing to offer this secret perk to larger advertisers now, what might they do in the future? Offer price breaks to larger paid search spenders? Increase the minimum monthly spend to squeeze out smaller companies and please the larger ones? It certainly has the potential to become a slippery slope, and I am interested to see where it goes next.

One final point - since Google is willing to give advice about organic search engine placement to companies that spend a great deal of money on Google advertising, is the phrase “While Google never sells better ranking in our search results…” truly accurate? I suppose this is open for interpretation. It may be technically true, but offering advice regarding organic search engine placement straight from the horse’s mouth in exchange for millions of dollars in money for paid search results isn’t far from selling rankings, in my opinion.

Conclusion

Please don’t get me wrong - I still believe that Google is the best search engine out there, I greatly admire the way that they are continually reinventing themselves, and I think they are still the target for those seeking the most benefit from organic search engine placement. They have the folks in Redmond constantly guessing and always three steps behind, and I love how they have started from humble beginnings to take on one of the biggest corporations in the world (and consistently win). I simply believe that they have played the underdog, anti-corporate card for too long, and that even if it has not outlived its usefulness, it has outlived its truthfulness. Google is now a huge multinational corporation that answers to its shareholders. To pretend anything otherwise is silly, but it seems that, for now at least, the charade will continue.

Google’s overriding principle, one that they have been happy to espouse to the media, has long been “Don’t Be Evil.” Whether they still adhere to this principle since they have become a public company is another question that is open for interpretation. If you are a smaller advertiser and feel that Google’s favoritism toward larger paid search customers regarding organic search engine placement is evil, it probably seems as though the “Don’t Be Evil” principle no longer applies. You may conclude that the principles of “Don’t Be Evil” and “Keep Shareholders Happy” are mutually incompatible, and that the latter has gained the upper hand.

About the Author

Scott Buresh is the CEO of Medium Blue, which was recently named the number one search engine optimization company in the world by PromotionWorld. Scott has contributed content to many publications including Building Your Business with Google For Dummies (Wiley, 2004), MarketingProfs, ZDNet, WebProNews, DarwinMag, SiteProNews, ISEDB.com, and Search Engine Guide. Medium Blue serves local and national clients, including Boston Scientific, DS Waters, and Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. Download Medium Blue’s latest exclusive whitepaper, “Adding Search to Your Marketing Mix,” for more insight.

Tags: google, google paid search, adsense

Little has changed in what works in writing for the Web as experts have recommended most of these tips for good writing for years. I apply the following when writing for the Web:

• Insert bolded sub-heads every few paragraphs for scanning.
• Keep paragraphs about four to six lines long otherwise when the reader loses his place, the eyes struggle more to find it again in a long paragraph than a short one.
• Put the most important ideas up front as few people read the entire article and you want to get them to walk away with something valuable.

While I aim to keep length at no more than 600 words in a blog posting, many long online articles succeed because they’re well-written and provide value through the entire article.

Many writing experts recommend cutting the use of “is” and “be” in writing, which I’ve worked to do. Dodging these words is no easy task! Oops, I did it again.

Tags: content, web sites, meryl k. evans

They say it takes seven points of contact before someone who shows interest in your Web site, knowledge, products, and/or services becomes a paying customer. Even people who are already your fans often need that extra poke to help remember the ways you provide value to them. What does this mean if you’re an online business owner? It means that it takes a lot of concerted ongoing effort to attract, convert, and retain clients.

Some avenues for success:

• Keywords - refining your keyword strategy and combining with a plan to add new original content every month.

• Sign-up form - collecting subscriber names and sending a monthly newsletter that shares information your readers want and advertises your latest offers.

• Article/blog marketing - submitting articles and blog posts to authority sites in your industry that rank well (because they give you a link back plus human interest).

• Networking - building profiles and participating/sharing your links on sites like Ryze.com, Squidoo.com, LinkedIn.com, etc. and then leading visitors back to your site and “capturing” via your subscriber form.

• Blogging - blogs are indexed quickly. You can even “ping” the blogosphere to let people know you’ve added something exciting to your blog. Many marketers play “host” on their blog, inviting and inspiring vigorous debates that keep folks coming back for the daily dose.

Your Web site can also be promoted in the form of newspaper advertising, client giveaways that share your brand/company name/URL, postcard campaigns, press campaigns, radio guest spots and such. This will bring more clicks, which contributes to your site’s overall popularity.

The search engines use a math algorithm to “count and rate” the effectiveness of your Web site content and linking strategy. Much like real people in the social hierarchy who “rate” you on who you know and which important people seem to trust you, the search engines “rank” you according to which “reputable” sites point at your site. You are ranked and categorized on:

• The number of inbound links from higher ranked Web sites and blogs
• The number of pages and links on your site that contain your targeted keywords
• The exact words used in the HEADER and keyword links throughout your site (the engines actually “read” and “index” or file you away in their memory for your primary topic categories - think of an index, like the back of a cookbook)

If you rarely or very occasionally update your site, then you’re not going to see the results of someone who aggressively self-promotes all the time using the above listed methods. Sure, you can have a Web designer and/or copywriter help you launch a static site, which is better than nothing. But it will not drive business the same way that a Web site that’s being constantly updated and aggressively marketed will.

Without beating around the bush here, Web site marketing requires a lot of work in order to be successful. Nevertheless, the results of “turning your site into a money making machine” are well worth it if you stick it out through the lean times. And once you begin to see real results, there’s no turning back!

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

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Tags: web marketing, website marketing, seo, search engines, keywords, blogging