Topic: RAWK Web Development Circle

[SP]

Can you give us a link to have a look?

Can't see it being anything to do with CyberDuck as it's just an FTP app.

It could be a file permissions thing. If the permissions for the file are 700 or similar, the web server process user may not be able to see the file.

[Claire.]

Yeah, I started typing about file permissions and then thought having a look would be better it does need to be executable, so make sure it can be read and executed.

http://webmaster.iu.edu/tools-and-guides/maintenance/chmod-ftp.phtml

[koppitekop11]

Cheers for the info guys! I came across that webpage whilst researching on Wednesday but if I'm honest I didn't really understand it so I just ticked every box (for Owner, Group and Others) in the hope that it would solve my problem. Are there certain boxes that should remain unchecked in order for my .php to execute?

Thanks, I really appreciate the help

[Claire.]

Rather than poking round in the dark, can you give a link and I'll take a look?

If you don't want it on the forum, send me a PM

[koppitekop11]

Rather than poking round in the dark, can you give a link and I'll take a look?

If you don't want it on the forum, send me a PM

Sorry I've only just seen your response. Once I saw it wasn't working I took it back down and just put the old website back up.

I'm back in work tomorrow though so I'l have a mess round with the permissions and see if I can get that working, if not I'l send you the link and hopefully you can put me in the right direction.

Thanks, I really appreciate it!

[Chip Evans]

Hey developers:

Quick question, do any of you have any experience with Ruby? Specifically through Rails.

I need to build a gem for a college project and I really want to build something useful.  Any suggestions would be welcomed and any tutorials you could point me at too would be great.  I was considering building something to integrate google analytics into an application as the existing ones are a bit old and outdated plus I'd like a bit more experience with different google APIs.  If anyone has a better more useful idea I'd really appreciate it.

We get docked if the gem doesn't offer any real functionality.

Thanks.

[Claire.]

Another codecademy type thing, but this is projects based: https://dash.generalassemb.ly/

[wz4jc3]

Hi all, I am very much a novice at website development, and the majority of my experience comes from WYSIWYG software such as Serif Web plus. There is a possibility that I am going to asked to build some bigger sites, so I was wondering what would be the best long term solution. I have used WordPress a little in the past which I found interesting to use. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[CraigDS]

It depends what you mean by bigger sites. Wordpress is a decent backend solution, especially for a novice, though.

[wz4jc3]

It depends what you mean by bigger sites. Wordpress is a decent backend solution, especially for a novice, though.

Yes sorry, my post was a little vague. Where my previous sites have been read only for informative purposes, it looks like I'm going to need to include the option for users to check availability and a booking facility. I do work full time and I am concerned that it will take too much time for me to learn the required new skills. I appreciate your help.

[CraigDS]

Yes sorry, my post was a little vague. Where my previous sites have been read only for informative purposes, it looks like I'm going to need to include the option for users to check availability and a booking facility. I do work full time and I am concerned that it will take too much time for me to learn the required new skills. I appreciate your help.

I imagine there will be out of the box solutions to add to the likes of wordpress which allows or checking availability and bookings to be made - however I doubt it's a simple system to get fully working in a custom site.

[wz4jc3]

I imagine there will be out of the box solutions to add to the likes of wordpress which allows or checking availability and bookings to be made - however I doubt it's a simple system to get fully working in a custom site.

When you say custom site, I assume you mean the original WordPress site?

[CraigDS]

When you say custom site, I assume you mean the original WordPress site?

I mean a wordpress site with a custom theme (or edited theme) to make it look how you want yeah.

[wz4jc3]

I mean a wordpress site with a custom theme (or edited theme) to make it look how you want yeah.

Thanks.

[Scouserpool]

Hi,

i've got a few questions to you web wizards out there. I'm administering my local football team's web site and I would like to make a few changes to the theme. I guess this is for people who's good at .css coding.

Our web page: www.hammersborgfk.com

1. How do I get a menu like theirs: www.lommedalenfk.com/. Like it goes all the way from left to right, rather than having it centered. And how to I add that white field all the way at the top, and finally how do I add a little colored line under the black navigation bar like Lommedalen have?

2. How do I change the fonts?

3. How do I remove the small line between the menu items it's a "|" i want to remove.

Thanks guys

[CraigDS]

1. The header (id = header) and menu (id = menu) are in a wrapper for the whole content on the page, so you would probably need to bring it out of this so you can set it's width to 100%, you'll probably have to then mess about with padding/margins to make it line back up with the rest of the content. Personally I think yours looks better how it is and wouldn't bother.

To add the white field you'll need to edit the template to add a div in, then set this div to 100%. If you do edit the header for the full width then could put it in the same wrapper.

Depends what colour you want it to be. If you just want to display the background behind then adding some bottom margin for the menu (id = menu) should do it (not 100% certain how your background open is set up). If you want a solid colour then add a bottom boarder to your menu in the colour you want. If you want a certain background image then insert a div under your menu in your template then style it in the css to have the background you want.

2. Fonts can be changed in the CSS, make sure not to start messing about with fonts that people aren't likely to have.

3. I can't see a | ?!?!

[AndyInVA]

Web folks.

I have a small company and have the most simplistic web site imaginable.

I have never had a real web person as I never used it for much. I would like to have someone who can help me from time to time.

My problem right now is that the graphics no longer appear on my web site. Im sure its simple but i have no idea.

Im happy to pay of course.

MODS - if this is inappropriate, please just delete. Thanks.

[CraigDS]

Web folks.

I have a small company and have the most simplistic web site imaginable.

I have never had a real web person as I never used it for much. I would like to have someone who can help me from time to time.

My problem right now is that the graphics no longer appear on my web site. Im sure its simple but i have no idea.

Im happy to pay of course.

MODS - if this is inappropriate, please just delete. Thanks.

Drop me a PM with your website address and will take a look why things aren't working. No worries about money for it, doubt it's a big job.

[PaulF]

Wish I could get back in to web development. My boss has decided to lump me with the task of updating some legacy VB6 apps The sooner these are updated to .net the better 

Would your boss notice if you rewrote the thing in .net?  It'd probably be quicker than trying to update legacy VB6.

Also has anyone worked with the firebase backend ?  I've played with it and it seems pretty cool.  I'm a SQL server person by trade but I do like the simplicity of the hierarchical nature.

[WorldChampions]

Would your boss notice if you rewrote the thing in .net?  It'd probably be quicker than trying to update legacy VB6.

Also has anyone worked with the firebase backend ?  I've played with it and it seems pretty cool.  I'm a SQL server person by trade but I do like the simplicity of the hierarchical nature.

That was a while back! All new projects are .net but there are a couple of fairly substantial vb6 apps but they are only used internally anyway. In a month or two they will finally be replaced with mobile friendly MVC web apps.

[SeanAxion]

Question for you folks in the know. I've produced a .net web app that uses an sql server database, it works great however there is a final page where sequentially other tables, depending on a condition are added into a hidden gridview (It's a table of over 700 rows). I stored it on the page because a fair few queries need to be performed on it. The guy I've made it for told me he lost his internet connection and therefore lost his work so it needs changing. I thought about saving an xml once he updates the table but that would be tedious as it needs about 30 modifications to it each time he uses it. I'm thinking I need to go back and add another table to the db to accommodate it, however it's just one table. The database design is solid otherwise, I guess my question is... do I really have to go through the hassle of making a new database table? it feels wrong because it will just be showing the same information in a different format!

[S7ARZ]

Can't believe I haven't seen this thread before. Good to see there are plenty of people working in a similar area to me on these forums.

I'd like to introduce myself and ask for a few pointers. I'm a Junior IT Consultant for a medium sized IT Consultancy/Software company in London, currently working on a Proof of Concept project and specialising in PHP development. I've been in my role for 6 months and I'm loving every minute of it but I am starting to find it's a completely different world compared to what I had learned at university.

The topics I'm looking for some pointers on are around LAMP web services and where to further improve my knowledge, experience and skills. I'm fairly confident with my PHP development skills and where to go and look when I'm stuck (official documentation, books etc.) but my area of weakness is in navigating Ubuntu, understanding the features of Apache and what extras I can do with it. I'm also starting to get to grips with SQL but I still feel there's a lot to learn (confident with joins but need to understand more complex things like unions and other query options). In addition to this, I'd like to learn a little more about the security issues that are present in this area and industry 'best practices' to prevent attacks, loss of data etc.

I'd appreciate any pointers or materials anyone can suggest to read up on and I look forward to contributing to this topic some more 

[SP]

Start playing with some open source PHP projects. Taking a look at how other big projects are put together is always an eye-opener. When you are working for a single firm, design decisions are often the whims of the architect, and often do not align with best practice. The house style becomes ingrained, and is followed. My coding style tends to morph somewhat to match the code I am patching.

When you come across your first project that you look at the internals and decide that it is crap, is an illuminating moment.

For Ubuntu awareness, build a desktop on an old PC and just play with it. Install packages, and build them from source. Nothing like a nightmare install to expose you to pieces of the system that you did not want to find.

Trying to learn without practical applications does not really work. Build a site to put it all into practice - and as a bonus it builds your portfolio nicely.

[PaulF]

Question for you folks in the know. I've produced a .net web app that uses an sql server database, it works great however there is a final page where sequentially other tables, depending on a condition are added into a hidden gridview (It's a table of over 700 rows). I stored it on the page because a fair few queries need to be performed on it. The guy I've made it for told me he lost his internet connection and therefore lost his work so it needs changing. I thought about saving an xml once he updates the table but that would be tedious as it needs about 30 modifications to it each time he uses it. I'm thinking I need to go back and add another table to the db to accommodate it, however it's just one table. The database design is solid otherwise, I guess my question is... do I really have to go through the hassle of making a new database table? it feels wrong because it will just be showing the same information in a different format!

I agree that designing a new table to fit nicely with an existing schema is an unpleasant exercise, but is building a new table all that problematic?  It'll make client side caching issues go away? And it's really not that hard to create a table.  Put it in a new schema if need be?

[Claire.]

Absolute best feeling ever when you've been stuck on something for a while, you get up and make a brew/get a drink/smoke/whatever, come back to your desk and sort that issue out in seconds and then wonder wtf your problem was

[CraigDS]

Absolute best feeling ever when you've been stuck on something for a while, you get up and make a brew/get a drink/smoke/whatever, come back to your desk and sort that issue out in seconds and then wonder wtf your problem was

I know the feeling. Even more so when it's been something bugging you for days and you've moved on from it for the time  being and all of a sudden the answer comes to you 

[Claire.]

I've been having a battle of wills with the google maps API. The will being mostly me not wanting to read the API docs

[Slick_Beef]

Absolute best feeling ever when you've been stuck on something for a while, you get up and make a brew/get a drink/smoke/whatever, come back to your desk and sort that issue out in seconds and then wonder wtf your problem was

Had this the other day, spent 2 hours at night trying to fix something and failed, woke up the next morning and saw right away that I was calling the wrong method 

[Malaysian Kopite]

I'm a second year Computer Science student and I'm looking to go and do a little bit of web development. I'm not entirely sure if I'm skilled enough at this point though and what everyone else is using/doing. Should I just stick to Wordpress and other CMS's? What should I look into and learn? I've only learned basic HTML.

[PaulF]

I've been having a battle of wills with the google maps API. The will being mostly me not wanting to read the API docs

Nobody likes reading docs. API docs have to be the dullest thing since Everton last played.

[Malaysian Kopite]

What else did they teach you in your first year mate?

The HTML + CSS + JavaScript bundle is kind of a basic and should be easy enough, especially for a CS student.

Did those two, really basic stuff like tables, images, fonts,etc. From what I've heard it's not really in use so much, people just have CMS' to take care of it for them. Didn't learn anything about backend stuff(except for a little SQL) like JS,PHP,etc.

[SP]

Did those two, really basic stuff like tables, images, fonts,etc. From what I've heard it's not really in use so much, people just have CMS' to take care of it for them. Didn't learn anything about backend stuff(except for a little SQL) like JS,PHP,etc.

You need to understand html and css to be able to customise the cms output. You can avoid it, but you would be a publisher not a developer.

[Malaysian Kopite]

You need to understand html and css to be able to customise the cms output. You can avoid it, but you would be a publisher not a developer.

I see. What about basic design and creativity et al? I'm not sure if I have that in abundance.

[Malaysian Kopite]

I guess the question is what do you want to get out of your degree? What kind of work do you want to do?

HTML and CSS are really simple skills and I honestly don't see any reason why someone with a CS degree won't have them.

JS isn't really a backend language unless you're getting into Node or Meteor.

From the brief time I've spend on it I've enjoyed web development and I can deal with HTML and CSS. Where do I go from here and what else should I focus on? I don't know what Dreamweaver does for example.

[Malaysian Kopite]

No one uses Dreamweaver mate. Get yourself Sublime Text or Atom (basically the same as ST but made by the Git folks) and get to writing.

Any mention of Java at school at all?

Yeah, I'm doing that and C# now although I've not learned how to apply it in web development.

[Claire.]

I guess the question is what do you want to get out of your degree? What kind of work do you want to do?

HTML and CSS are really simple skills and I honestly don't see any reason why someone with a CS degree won't have them.

JS isn't really a backend language unless you're getting into Node or Meteor.

most backend devs have appalling HTML & CSS skills, and that's why we have front end devs like me!

HTML & CSS are simple in principle, but in reality, most people make an absolute arse of it. What's even worse is when back end devs get hold of sass and think they're some sort of god when all they're doing is overcomplicating things. Sass is very powerful, but [insert Spiderman quote here].

[Grand Chilli]

Nobody likes reading docs. API docs have to be the dullest thing since Everton last played.

If you think reading them is bad, you should try writing them! I have a pile to do at the moment I've been putting off for weeks... One positive though, I'm determined to use my experience of most other people's shockingly bad docs to make ours decent   But there's still that nagging feeling I'll be putting hours of work into something nobody else in the world will ever read!

[Claire.]

We have a technical writer who does all that stuff. He always looks like he gets plenty of sleep.

[PaulF]

We have a technical writer who does all that stuff. He always looks like he gets plenty of sleep.

It must take a particular mindset to be able to stick at that.
In a way it's not too bad, it's very clearly defined what an API should do and how it should be used.  Adding decent examples, and possibly a thread running through all the API calls probably helps.

GetShape() : returns round
WhatToDoWithIt(Player): if Player is defender, then hoof. If player is midfielder then pass in neat triangle. If player is forward, put the ball in the back of then net then consider your options.

[danwms]

Anyone got any experience with react and looking for a job?