Zebo Technologies

Upgrade your Browser

I’ve recently run into some frustrations with web users.  Internet Explorer version 7 has been out now for a long time.  Yet only 50% of users out there have upgraded.  There are still millions of people using Internet Explorer 6.

Why is this a bad thing you ask?  Well, I’m sure you’ve heard the term spyware yes?  Spyware is a wonderful little thing who’s blame can be entirely put onto Internet Explorer 6.  The security of IE 6 is horrible.  You can get spyware installed on your system simply by visiting a web page.  You will never even see that it just got installed.

So, unless you are like me and started using Firefox (www.getfirefox.com), upgrade your browser already!  Not only is it more secure, it also makes my job a lot easier.  (coding for IE 6 is a pain in the ***)

Not sure what version you are using?  Simply click Help on the IE menu atop your browser window, then click About Internet Explorer..  It will give you the version number.  If it doesn’t say version 7 then you need to upgrade.  You can do so here.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/ie/getitnow.mspx

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New Mexico Municipality League

This is my first use of WPMU. First, WPMU is not for the light hearted. It has many issues still that will make you want to tear your eyes out. The user system is really really confusing.

NMML.org is a pretty large site. Their goal is such that they can post news and events for all their members to see. They also wanted several areas that could be written and managed only by certain users. WP does not do this. WPMU fit the bill though. Each subsection is a sub blog of the main site. Users can be created to manage just their sections.  This is important, as in normal WP an author can see all posts by other authors.

I wrote the plugin event calendar for this site. (and subsequently we had 4 other sites come under the need for it during the week it took for me to learn how to write the plugin)

The client is learning the administration side pretty well. Speaks loads to the wordpress creators for how easy it is to use.

Site design by santafewebdesign.com. I did tweak it a bit in order to improve the look once posts had been added.

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Gebert Contemporary Art Gallery

This gallery has two sites. One is for their gallery in Arizona. The other is for their gallery in Santa Fe, NM.

I developed a full backroom solution for them to manage the art works at their galleries. We have since reused this software for 3 or 4 other gallery/artists. At some point this year, I imagine I will convert it to a wordpress plugin.

Design by santafewebdesign.com. I implemented the design into html and applied my art listing software.

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Abiquiu Realty

This site came out pretty nicely. We have around 15 clients that use my IDX software solution. I’m in the process of converting my solution into a wordpress plugin. Hopefully we will finish it in March of this year. One curveball though is that the National Association of Realtors just recommended to all of its members to implement RETS by July of 2009. This is great news as the RETS feed is far far superior to IDX. IDX feeds change per MLS which makes it very difficult for a developer.

The design of this site was done by santafewebdesign.com. I implemented the design from photoshop into html and installed my IDX software.

This client has some absolutely gorgeous properties for sale in the northern New Mexico area.

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Jon Michael Smith

I did the design and applied it as a wordpress theme. This is a pretty standard wordpress site.

Only thing I can really note here is how fast a site can be done when a client comes fully prepared. Mr. Smith really had everything together for us. He liked the first design I did which certainly helped. This site took about 5 days to complete from his first calling us.

In 10 years of web development, this is only the second lawyer site I have ever done. Thats kinda weird.

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Jimmy Longacre

We helped this client convert his site to wordpress.  He had many different sites that he was trying to manage.  We consulted him to combine them all into one location.   He already had a design.  I did however tweak his design.  I added the header imagery.   This client had the best product imagery I’ve seen a client do on their own.  Especially for art work.  The header really makes use of his images really well.  He now has the Photoshop .psd file so he can tweak himself.

This site really got me started in extending wordpress.  Although I didn’t make it a plugin, I wrote a function in the template functions file for grabbing his ebay listings.  There are options out there for this, however they all were really bad.  Some were super slow, others added odd formatting issues to the page.  I finally just wrote my own based on the e-bay API.  It does the job beautifully, and might I add, really fast.  (note: he doesn’t always have ebay listings. Update: he may have switched to a paypal cart for his work.)

On a side note, I am really impressed with this artist.  He paints a painting a day.  I’ve tried painting before. I couldn’t imagine doing one a day.   His work is for sale thru his site.  Well priced too!

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Accura Restoration

My last non Wordpress site.  First time returning to designing the layout in quite some time.  I thought I captured the design pretty well in relation to what the client does.  That said, I will never restrict my height again.  It looks great in photoshop, however, once you start adding content, it kills you.   This is prolly a site we will revisit someday and convert to wordpress and tweak the layout to get rid of the height restriction.

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Games on the horizon

I’m looking forward to some games coming out this year.  It really looks like a good year for gamers.  Here’s my watch list so far.

• Spore
• Too Human
• Grand Theft Auto IV
• Fable 2

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the Nintendo Wii

My wife and I got a Nintendo Wii for Christmas.  All I can say is wow!.   If you are non gamer, this device really is for you.  There are games for it that you can play with anyone.  Break it out when you host a party.  It will be a hit.

Our favorite games so far

• Wii Sports – these are simple games but highly fun.  Break out the bowling game at parties.  Up to 4 people can play.  And believe me when I say this.  Your mother or grandmother could play this.  It will only take them a few seconds to learn.
• Zack & Wiki – this is really a cool game.  It uses the Wii remote extensively.  My wife and I really enjoy this game.  We can play together very easily as one person can give suggestions.  Its a puzzle solving game where each levels goal is to get to the treasure chest.  Some of the puzzles really will have you scratching your head.
• Resident Evil 4 – Wii Edition – This game came out years ago on the Gamecube.   Redone slightly for the Wii, it is really a fantastic game.  Its pretty challenging and the story line is really good.   There are moments too where the game will make you jump.
• Zelda Twilight Princess -  This game starts off slow while it teaches you the controls.  Once you get out of the first area, the adventure really begins.  The story is excellent and it is really fun to play.
• Zelda Crossbow with Zapper – this is a target practice game that comes with the new Wii Zapper.  It is extremely fun.  Once you get to level 7, it gets pretty challenging.  My wife is having great fun with this one.

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Event Cal: Initial Public Release

My initial public release. I’ve installed this plugin on a couple of live sites. It seems to be working stably. There are some issues I need to address.

Download ZT Event Calendar ver 1.2

Known Issues:

• Browsing to a month with no events gives a 404 page.

To-Do’s:

• fix 404 problem
• add ability to jump to different months instead of having to crawl month to month

Posted in Event Calendar, WP Plugins | No Comments »