Recent Blog Posts
Blogs ยป Archive for July, 2004
Adjusting to QMail
While anyone involved in web administration, design and development spends most of their time focused on web apps, sites and the management of them, this by no means is the limit of responsibility.
If you host or are involved in hosting client sites, fate will have it to also wrestle with mail servers. Until this past year, for me that wrestling was almost exclusively with Postfix and Sendmail or corporate mail servers such as Domino or Exchange.
Recently I was faced with administering QMail — and had zero experience with it. I have since found it to be a very reliable and somewhat easy to use alternative and wanted to share some sites I have found useful in the process.
A notable feature of QMail is its speedy handling of mailing lists – of course important to web developers and hosts as many clients require or want this capability.
First in my bookmarks is the QMail home page (http://cr.yp.to/qmail.html).
More important perhaps is a resource site filled with help and contributed software to make managing the mail server a bit easier — Russell Nelson’s qmail home page (http://qmail.agarik.com/top.html). Included are the author’s documentation and software, as well as links to …
Monitoring MySQL with MyTop
This handy little utility was passed on to me by a developer friend and it works much like the standard Linux ‘top’ command does.
MyTop, developed and administered by Jeremy Zawodny, runs from the command line and provides performance monitoring for MySQL server itself and queries/threads executing.
The tool requires just a few Perl modules that dress it up a bit — such as Term::ANSIColor to see the terminal session in color, and Time::HiRes for real-time query/second stats.
It supports numerous Unix-based systems, including Mac OS X, FreeBSD and also has some Windows support (under ActiveState Perl).
Photoshop Blending Modes: Dissolve
Photoshop has what it calls “Blending Modes.” In the Layers palette, these options show up in the drop-down that is usually set to “Normal.” You can also set the blending mode (and access more options) by going to the Layer Style dialog box.
Many amateur Photoshop users — myself included — might go years without ever changing the blending mode. But when you discover what each one does and how it works, you will be excited to try using blending modes to achieve different effects.
In my next several posts, I’ll go over each blending mode — with more detail, hopefully, than Photoshop Help gives — and provide an example for how you might use the blending mode in “real life.” (This will be a challenge for me, too, because frankly, I haven’t used probably 1/3 of the modes in a practical application before! So, as usual, I welcome all constructive comments, especially those of you who have found other cool ways to use the blending mode of the day.)
(And a note for those who care: I’m using Photoshop 7.)
Just a quick intro to blending modes for those of you who haven’t tried using them before:
1. Blending modes need two or more …
IsDefined() vs. structKeyExists()
Sean Corfield recently blogged about the choice to use IsDefined vs. structKeyExists when trying to determine if a scoped variable (session, application, request, form url etc), exists or not.
Sean talks about how certain dot noted variables will or won’t be seen with IsDefined, BUT I found the fact that IsDefined looks for ANY possible definition even when the variable you’re searching for has been scoped.
Read his blurb to get the full effect.
How much time should you allocate to business development?
A Sitepoint reader asks, “What percent of your time do you allocate to business development vs. client service?”
Answer: As much as it takes.
Think outcomes, not tasks.
When my pipeline is strong and I am very busy with client work, I rely on my automated marketing systems (see latest article by me on Sitepoint), and also allocate some time to expanding my network and generating referrals.
When my pipeline is weak, I do what it takes to make it strong.
The greatest salesperson I’ve ever met is a 24-year old, unpolished high school graduate who earns $500,000 a year selling mortgages by phone.
I asked him the same question as above and his reply was:
“I call prospects three nights a week, no matter what. If my pipeline is strong, I keep calling until I get two leads. If my pipeline is weak, I keep calling until it is strong again.”
Once again: As much as it takes. Let the strength of your pipeline of upcoming deals, and your goals, determine how much time you spend on business development.
Web Hosting Survey Shows Growth Opportunities
Going just a bit off topic, I wanted to review a recent small and medium business (SMB) survey released by the Yankee Group on web hosting.
The challenge over the past 5 years has changed as hosting became a commodity. This largely happened as enterprise entrants to the hosting market discovered they were competing against small regional hosting companies who maintained some level of profitability while severely undercutting prices.
Now, lining up web hosts for comparison, the services are primarily all the same and it really comes down to add-on services, customer care and reliability.
There is a real challenge and a real opportunity for web designers and developers based on the survey results. The good news in the survey, 36 to 60 percent of SMB’s with Internet access have a web site, meaning 40 percent remain for cultivation of new business. Add on the ability to sell services to that 36 to 60 percent whose sites need an overhaul or a nip and tuck and some serious sales opportunity surfaces.
What was really striking is that more than 20 percent acknowledged the need to integrate internal systems with web sites. Even better, more than 25 percent suggested they would migrate away from static, …
Microsoft using ColdFusion?
Can it be? Microsoft has a ColdFusion website out there! This is almost as cool as learning that Microsoft ran (runs) FreeBSD for the HotMail servers.
[URL=http://www.forta.com/blog/index.cfm?mode=e&entry=1250]See the word on Ben’s Blog.[/URL]
Say Bye Bye to MSDE SQL
Ok all! I just found this, so forgive me if you’ve found it already.
Apparently Microsoft has decided to get rid of the MSDE version of SQL Server. MSDE is the Microsoft Developers Edition, this is a free version of SQL Server which is intended for development purposes and some stand alone applications.
Now before you get upset (or get all excited that MS is dropping something), I have to tell you WHY they are dropping the MSDE. Apparently the next version of SQL will have a SQL Express version. It’s this version which will replace the MSDE Version AND it will also be more friendly with distribution and usage.
I see this as Microsoft attempt to break into the free market that MySQL and PostGreSQL have had for so long. Funny isn’t it, MySQL start charging for a version, and Microsoft gives a version away!
You can learn all about it, and even download a beta 2 release here.
The Lazy Developer’s Way to Switch From the Text Tool
Jeremy asked in a comment to the last blog: “How do you go from the text tool to a different tool using just the keyboard shortcuts?” Just to explain the question, in many graphics programs (I’ve been focusing on Illustrator lately) you can use the keyboard to type a letter and quickly access a tool without having to use your mouse and click on the tool palette. For example, you can easily type “P” to access the “pen” tool, “V” to access the “move” tool in Photoshop or the selection arrow in Illustrator, and “T” to switch to the type tool. However, once you’re typing away, Jeremy wonders, how can you quickly switch to another tool?
I am not aware of a simple set of keys that you can press — and I didn’t have too much luck when I googled the issue (anyone out there know?) but this is what I do:
In Illustrator: While you’re still in your text box or area, hit the Ctrl (PC) or Command (Mac) key, which should switch the tool temporarily to the last “arrow” tool used, then move your mouse and click outside of the text box to deselect it. You’ll still be in …
Avoid the top pet peeve in professional service delivery
Today this blog takes the client/customer’s point of view again, as yet another web developer/IT Professional has disappointed me.
In this case the person in question promised to solve a problem with a web site in an hour.
Four business days later, I’m still waiting. No apologies, and I had to call him to find out the reason for the delay. He continued saying it was an easy fix, and missed yet another deadline. Again, no apologies, and I have no idea when he will deliver.
This happens way too often.
Please — don’t overpromise and underdeliver.
Does this sound too obvious? Take a cold, hard look at your own service delivery before you assume that you aren’t guilty in your own business.
Set realistic expectations with your clients, or they will resent you and question your competence. Now I cringe when I think of ever having to work with this person again.
And, if you are going to miss a deadline, call to explain why — before the deadline passes and before your client has to call you. Then reset expectations, and be ABSOLUTELY sure to meet them.
