Monday, June 2. 2008The meaning of "Sononaco"
Earlier in the new year I was discussing technology with a recently unemployed acquaintance who asked for whom I worked. I told him I worked for myself and my company's name was "Sprocket Logic." He then said that Sprocket Logic sounded "like some no-name company."
That started some wheels turning. When we decided it was time to restructure the company and it was time to pick a name we went through the same routine we always do. Should it have a color? How about an animal? How about a fruit? (Ha) How about something with *nix in it? It can't be geographically anchored. And finally I said, "How about nothing?" Looks were exchanged. I said, "when someone asks who you work for you can tell them you work for Some No-Name Company. And you'll have business cards and an e-mail address to boot." The domain names were available and no one else had registered a company using that name across the U.S. So, that is how we got our name. We shortened it to Sononaco (Some No-Name Company) to make writing it easier. We hope you enjoy telling others that your awesome web application was made by Some No-Name Company. It will certainly make us proud. 
Wednesday, December 12. 2007What You See Is What?
One of the challenges of developing web applications is finding the best way to provide editing capabilities to the end user. Believe it or not the market for web editors is pretty healthy. The question is which one is right for which client?
An excellent comparison (although a couple years old) is available for download here. Personally I don't like using WYSIWYG editors, mostly because I can add HTML faster than I can jump to my mouse and back. And even though end users may know HTML – which is an asset – sometimes it can be a bad thing. I have implemented HTMLArea, TinyMCE and FCKEdtior for clients all with good results. If you're considering implementing a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor, this article does an excellent job of breaking down the strengths and weaknesses of each editor.
Tuesday, October 9. 2007Working with Subversion
I have tried to explain to several clients and fellow developers about the wonders of working with Subversion. Subversion can be a difficult concept to grasp if you have never used it.
Version control has traditionally been used in developing "true" applications (like run on your computer) and not for web applications. That is changing with several developers working in multiple locations with each modifying the source code. You see, in the old days, several web developers would work on a project that lived on a single server or offline on their own local copy. The risk of overwriting files on the server was always there and occurred often. With Subversion you can have several developers working on the same code and merge any changes within the documents. You can also "roll back" to a previous version of the file if it gets really messed up. This guide does a good job of explaining what it is and how to use Subversion. While it is written for Mac users, the concepts of using Subversion are explained well and are a good starting point for novices. http://www.rubyrobot.org/tutorial/subversion-with-mac-os-x
Thursday, September 20. 2007Ditching Eclipse
After spending a frustratingly large amount of time fighting with Eclipse, I have decided it is probably not the best replacement for Zend Studio.
Eclipse looked very promising, especially with it's integration with Subversion, PHP controls and excellent interface. But the software's lack of a good SFTP/FTP browser, JavaScript markup and unintuitive plugins interface was a bit shaky. Additionally, the obscurity of the plugins (are they free or commercial?) was equally confusing. So, Eclipse is not the answer. I am now giving Aptana a try. I tried Aptana a couple years ago and didn't like it much, mostly because it was very (VEEERY) beta. It now seems like a very good piece of software. So far, I'm impressed. The subversion controls make Zend's look very elementary. More updates on Apatana to come....
Wednesday, September 19. 2007Trying out Eclipse
For as long as I have been developing web applications (well over 10 years) I have held to my favorite editors to get the job done. After all, a web editor is simply a glorified text editor, unless you develop with ASP.Net which requires you to pay exorbitant licensing fees just for the tools. Zend's PHP editor is the same way. That's why I'm trying Eclipse.
Microsoft is smart (there, I said it): If you want to program ASP.Net you need to buy both the server and the development tools from them. Don't forget about licensing Windows Server and MS-SQL. Smart. They screw both the programmers and the customers. But PHP is different. PHP is free. So is the database, MySQL. So is Apache, the web server. And they all run on ALL operating systems - free and commercial - Linux, Mac OS X, Windows, etc. While developing web applications I have used several tools: BBEdit, DreamWeaver, Nvu, TextEdit, Zend Studio, Notepad (when desperate), nano, vi, emacs and some others I'm sure I have forgotten. By far, my favorite have been BBEdit and Zend Studio. BBEdit is great for manipulating text but that's about it. Zend, to me, is the king of the PHP development environments. It incorporates an editor, debugger, tester, documentation, Subversion, SQL database browser and tons of other great tools. So, "why Eclipse" you may ask? I love Zend. I use it daily. But I get the feeling that it is becoming the Microsoft Word of PHP Development. I don't use nearly as many of the functions in it as I should. Plus, it's expensive. Zend is not software you purchase once and own it. You rent it. You have to buy it again every year. I'm not a big fan of that model. I don't mind renting services but if I'm paying a LOT of money for a piece of software, I want to be sure it's MINE. Eclipse is free. It's an integrated development environment (IDE) that offers some amazing plugins. So now I'm giving it a try. We'll see how well it does with subversion and my various projects. At first I was confused by it's startup screen. But it's running lean on my development computer (Powerbook 17" 1.5 GHz with a gig and a half of RAM). The only problem I have seen is that a project I'm working on has several files in it and I think the Subversion download may have bombed out. I'll check in and update later...
Wednesday, September 12. 2007News about News
Perhaps this practice has been going on longer than I think but I have recently noticed that the news sites are abuzz with new stories about upcoming news stories.
I'm not talking about sites like Digg or Reddit but mainstream sites like CNN, Washington Post and the BBC. For example, this week I saw stories about what was contained in the Petraius Report before it was released. MSNBC and the Charlotte Observer (AP) announced that President Bush will make an announcement this Thursday about troop withdrawls in Iraq. They went on to detail exactly what the speech would be about. Today I noticed the BBC had a news story about Led Zeppelin planning to announce a reunion tour. Can we get away from these news items about news and just report the news when it happens?
Sunday, September 2. 2007Panthers (sorry) TV Coverage
Last week on the Bill Rosinski Show, Bill asked a good question: Why is there such little TV coverage devoted to the Panthers?
As a former DC resident for 9 years, I noticed a trend: in D.C., even if a TV station station is not carrying a Redskins game, they probably have a special program starring a former Redskins player. It usually airs pre-game up to gametime. After moving to Charlotte I was amazed by the lack of coverage of the Panthers. Even the Observer has limits of the coverage they can provide. Tom Sorenson, Scott Fowler and Pat Yasinskas are only human. Sadly, we have only the "Panthers Huddle" each week which is good, but can sometimes be painful to watch. The Monday night "Panther Talk" on another station is good (it's better in person). Aside from that, the TV coverage of Panthers games is limited to stations moaning about how bad traffic is going to be in uptown. Here's a news flash local "news" stations: it's been this way for 12 years. Here's another news flash: It's going to be bad after every game. It's no longer news. (Along those lines, how about reporting news instead of getting your headlines from a police scanner. No one cares about rednecks killing rednecks.) I'm not surprised by the lack of TV coverage of the Panthers. Like fans attending the games, any Panthers TV program that is aired will be turned off 3/4 of the way through it. It would be great if retired local players like Brentson Buckner, Mike Minter and Steve Beurlein were put in charge of producing a pre-game show each week. When the clock hits 0:00 in the fourth, those two lone fans wearing Panthers colors sitting in 126 will be my wife and I. Our cheese doesn't start to go bad when the third quarter begins.
Monday, August 20. 2007Run-Ins with Charlotte Celebrities
When I lived in the D.C. suburbs of Arlington I would often run into several prominent figures. Charlotte is a bit different.
It was no surprise for my wife and I to see Janet Reno buying cheese at Whole Foods or for my friend to run into Bernard Shaw at Safeway. I saw Larry King walking down K Street one day while I was getting pizza at Beau Jolie's (best pizza in D.C., BTW). Then there were the chance encounters with Linda Fiorentino, the staff of the HBO show "K Street" (which was filmed at 1350 I ("Eye") Street, FWIW) such as James Carville, running into into Porter Goss on the Metro and playing Golden Tee with Mary Cheney. Living in Charlotte you do not have much of the same opportunity to meet famous folks as you do in D.C. But today while at the car was I noticed his huge guy waiting for his car. He looked familiar to me so I asked him, "are you Geoff Handgartner?" He sure was. Carolina Panthers Center. I met Geoff last year at the Panthers Radio Show but I didn't expect him to remember me. I told him it was great to meet him and welcomed him back from training camp. He laughed and said thanks. Geoff is no James Carville/Janet Reno/Mary Cheney but he's a nice guy and a pleasure to meet. Now what is Linda Fiorentino up to?
Monday, August 20. 2007Mac Productivity Tip: Screen Zoom!
Lots of times when I work on projects I will need to zoom in CLOSE to make sure every little pixel citizen is lining up nicely. Without grabbing a magnifying glass and making my eyes worse, there is a great little trick for Mac users.
Just do this: Hold down the Option and Command (Apple) keys and press 8. Nothing happened? If not, holding down the Option-Apple keys, press = Cool, huh? Press Option-Apple - (minus) to zoom out. An easy way to remember the zoom settings: = is the same as the + key, zooms in (+ or magnify). - zooms out (reduces magnification). Try this: Zoom in (magnify) and then press Option-Apple-8 to turn off magnification. Turn it back on and huzzah! You zoom right in to the last level of magnification when you turn it off. To further configure magnification preferences open System Preferences and click "Universal Access." Enjoy!
Thursday, August 9. 2007104 degrees feels like...
...walking through a moist, hot sponge.
...strolling through a sauna the size of, uh, Earth. ...the complete opposite of the "perfect" fall day. ...nothing I ever felt in D.C., where we had less pollution. ...misery. I'm glad the Panthers first two preseason games are away. Here's hope it's cooler by the 24th!
Tuesday, July 31. 2007The Name GameBack in November 2006 I decided that "Carolina Web Strategies" just wasn't doing it. It didn't inspire me and it did not adequately reflect my business. That is when I embarked on the search for a new name. Finding a name for your business is not easy. It's HARD. Naming our pets is always a multi-day (sometimes week long) task. "This is our new dog, who has no name. We're thinking Sophie." How we got to "Abbey" from "Sophie" I don't know. I just know that I refused to have a pet named "Precious" because it sounds like the name of someone who would appear on Jerry Springer. It was also the name Jame Gumb's dog in The Silence of the Lambs, a joke I didn't get when my wife suggested it. So there I was, looking for another name, dissecting the reasons why "Carolina Web Strategies" wasn't working and how I did not want to make the same change again. I set up four criteria for a new name:
I considered simply renamind the company "CWS [something]" like "CWS Interactive" or "CWS Internet" but that just sounded weird. And if I was going to go through all of the hassle to change the name (legal, banking, IRS, state) it needed to be completely different from the old name. So I started pondering, working with the "Version 4" of the Carolina Web Strategies web template placing new names at the top, working with concepts and ideas and seeing how they fit. Then one day a client sent an e-mail praising a very old application we had developed. A temp was using it and they remarked how smart the tool was. I liked that. So then I started milling over "smart tools" which has been in so many company names that it's almost as annoying as hearing "Web 2.0." Enter my dog, Supertramp and a keychain. I had recently returned from a visit back to D.C. where I bought a keychain carabiner shaped exactly like the gear you see in the upper left corner of the web site. I was fidgeting with it while pondering a programming problem (say that fast) and listening to a random iTunes track: The Logical Song - a wonderful song describing one's growth from wide-eyed innocence into maturity and seeing the reality of the world. At that moment, one our pugs, Sadie started scratching at my leg wanting to nap on my lap. See, Sadie's nickname is "the Sprocket" or "Sadie Sprocket" because she can rocket from a sitting position and leap an amazing distance despite being shaped like a compact furry log. My figeting with my new keychain, the Sprocket scratching and the Logical song all came together: "Sprocket Logic" or, "Smart Tools." I immediately started searching Google. Did anyone have it? Was anyone using anything similar? Is there a state named Sprocket Logic? Does it describe what we do? Bingo! I talked it over with my wife and she immediately liked it. So we sat on it. And the more I thought about it the more I liked it. The name inspired new designs and innovative approaches to developing web tools. It has that technical, "shop" sound that I have always liked. And there you have how it all came to be. The name was registered New Years Eve and new site development began on the 1st. Now it's here and I am quite relieved but excited about what is to come.
Friday, June 22. 2007Why the World Wants an iPhone
Mobile phones are boring. They're ugly, uninspired and bland. Sure, you can get any "smart phone" to do all of the things the iPhone does, but they're not an Apple. If you own an Apple product - iPod or computer - you know that they build their stuff right. I got my Treo in spring of 2006 when my Motorola V710 decided it would start cutting off, dropping calls and picking up voicemail a couple of days after they were left. We had some good times together except for one big problem: Messaging. I rely heavily on e-mail. Our support system is tied to e-mail. Because I consider service essential to my clients it is important that I can send and receive e-mail. There's just one problem: unless you use Microsoft Exchange it is difficult as hell send e-mail from the Treo. I won't get complex about it but, like most M$ products, the phone does not follow standards. The Treo is a good phone -- it does a lot of things well. It just does not do any one thing really well. One thing is particularly bad at is being a phone. It's also scores a "C" on staying turned on, keeping connected to Verizon's signal, and remembering the number to call to retrieve voicemail (*86, by the way) just to name a few. One thing the Treo does really well - several times a day - is require a "soft reset." That is when the phone freezes to the point that you have to remove the back cover and press a reset button with the stylus. Then you hope it will find the signal when it finally restarts. I will hand it to Verizon -- at Bank of America Stadium during the Panthers/Cowgirls game when my first Treo fell off of my hip and got kicked -- completely accidentally -- and slid about 10 feet across the floor then crashed into the wall exploding into a million pieces, Verizon replaced it for $50. Awesome. I'm going to miss Verizon until they can come up with:
But where I see the real innovation here is that Apple has prodiced a pocket-sized device that runs Mac OS X. It's a Pocket Mac that's also a phone!! Yes, it's beautiful. It has pretty icons. It has the REAL internet and REAL e-mail. It has visual voicemail - a feature you will see more often over the next several years as other companies steal the idea. But what I think is the iPhone's most powerful feature has been it's least discussed feature. I read a review by someone who had a chance to try one out for the last month and they complained that the phone was receiving software updates daily. And how is that a bad thing? A company is selling a device that does not have the phone OS flash-ROMed onto a chip but gets its software updates over the air! THAT, my friends, is what is genius about the iPhone. See you after the 29th.
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If you have used a Palm Treo with Windows Mobile 5 you are well familiar with one of Danté's seven levels of hell. It is no wonder the iPhone is one of the most anticipated electronics devices.