18
Feb
2009

Working With the Aptana PHP Editor

I recently created a screencast for Aptana’s PHP Editor, and thought I would share it.

I’m also posting this since we recently relaunched our screencast site, http://tv.aptana.com. It’s actually really cool as its running entirely on Aptana Jaxer, and built with the soon-to-be released Active JS framework. I’ll soon be posting about the process of creating the site, but for now I’m happy to say that this is the first (to my knowledge) site written entirely in JavaScript that leverages Jaxer as a back-end for server side JavaScript.

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Filed Under: Aptana, PHP
06
Jan
2009

Installing Aptana Jaxer on Ubuntu

It's much easier than you'd think!
Install Aptana Jaxer on Ubuntu

It’s been a while since I’ve written about Jaxer, and it’s a shame, because there’s been a lot of major changes over the past several months. Anyway, I’ve been getting back into server-side javascript hacking, and found myself needing to get Jaxer up and running on a local dev server (and subsequently this one). You could also always work with Jaxer in Aptana’s cloud, where you’d get all the benefits of Jaxer integration with Aptana Studio and deployment workflows (SVN, staging, production, and just plain awesomeness) if you don’t want to (or need to) install Jaxer yourself. However, my needs (and presumably yours) required me to go down this route.

So, before we get started, let’s go over the list of prerequisites and assumptions:

  • You’re on Ubuntu 8.04 (newer versions should work the same as well)
  • You’ve got Apache installed (via aptitude, or you will have to adjust paths accordingly)
  • You’ve got root access to your server

That’s about it. MySQL is also good to have, but not required. Last thing before we start: many of the steps outlined here came from this site, which was contributed by a Jaxer user at Aptana’s forums. Right, let’s get busy…

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Filed Under: Aptana, JavaScript, Jaxer

Hey There!

Welcome to Gen X Design. The name’s a little corny, I know, but it’s one of those things I’ve used since I was a kid.

Anyway, I built this site for me (and some friends) to share their thoughts and ideas. I love all things web 2.0, shiny icons, and gradients. I live in the San Francisco Bay area, work for eMeter, and am sometimes available for contract work.

Other Recent Goodness

Recompiling PHP 5.3 On Snow Leopard With Freetype Support

I’m Not Dead, I’m Just Out of Ideas (For Now)

The Importance of Cloud Computing for PHP Developers

PHP Thumb 3.0 Released

Making RESTful Requests in PHP

Quickies & Cool Stuff

Web Developer Collection: Packaged up Firefox extensions

Mozilla Add-ons

Mozilla announced a new feature for add-ons today: collections. It also looks like they’re getting the ball rolling with several useful collections, such as the Web Developer Collection. It includes all sorts of goodness like Firebug, ySlow, GreaseMonkey, ColorZilla, and many more. Well worth a quick visit.
FireFox Web Developer Collection

MooTools ScrollSpy – Surprising Useful JS Plugin

David Walsh has put together a really handy plugin for MooTools called ScrollSpy. What impressed me the most was the automatic display of a “Return to Top” link on your page once you’ve scrolled beyond a certain boundary. There are also a handful of other neat demos worth checking out. Sounds simple, but if you think about it, there are tons of great applications for this plugin.
http://davidwalsh.name/scrollspy

jQuery vs. MooTools – Finally, a Useful & Subjective JS Framework Comparison

It’s been said a thousand times I’m sure, but picking the right JavaScript framework is a pain. There are all sorts of biased arguments for one vs. another, but there’s really nothing subjective out there… until now. Arguably, jQuery is probably the most popular JS framework out in the wild, but that doesn’t always mean it’s the best choice. What you choose should really depend on what you’re trying to do. Aaron Newton of Clientcide has put together a really impressive look at jQuery vs. MooTools, which doesn’t categorically say one is better than the other, but, rather, goes into detail about why one framework is better than the other based on your needs. Definitely worth a read:
www.jqueryvsmootools.com

Doctrine – PHP Object Relational Mapper

ORM is certainly a very popular concept these days, but I haven’t really come across any PHP implementations that I found worth-while. Sure, big frameworks like CakePHP may have ORM functionality, but I’m not a fan of huge frameworks. I’ve also dabbled in my own implementations, but never got too far, as I’m not a fan of re-inventing the wheel. At any rate, I stumbled across Doctrine by accident (good ol’ RSS readers), and am impressed, mostly because it’s something that can be integrated into existing projects / frameworks.
www.doctrine-project.org

Preloaders.net – Fantastic Preload Image Generator

Ajaxload.info used to be the site of choice when it came to generating preloader images… unfortunately, I think it’s been bested. Preloaders.net allows you to generate not only the standard set of preloaders, but even 3D ones! You also get much more control (size, speed, etc.) and the quality of the final images is impressive. Definitely worth checking out.
www.preloaders.net

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