The first method is by using MAMP, which a lot of people do but most of the code ninjas I know all insist on running the versions of Apache and PHP that come with Os X and installing MySQL by hand. Here’s how to do it:

1. Apache
Start Apache

Check to see if it’s working: http://localhost/

2. PHP

In /etc/apache2/httpd.conf, uncomment this line:

Restart Apache

Fix a warning appearing in phpinfo()
Create /etc/php.ini and make it writable

In php.ini, find this line:

Uncomment it and insert your time zone (http://php.net/manual/en/timezones.php)

Restart Apache

3. MySQL

Download the MySQL package for Mac OS X.5 (32 or 64 bits depending on your machine)

Install everything in the package in this order: mysql, the startup item, the preference pane.

Test it’s working:

Fix mysql.sock location in php.ini
In /etc/php.ini, replace the three occurences of /var/mysql/mysql.sock by /tmp/mysql.sock

Restart Apache

Activate PHP short tags

In /etc/php.ini, under Language Options, change

Restart Apache

To get an idea of how frustrating it is to develop sites for IE 6,  I’ll give you an example from a typical project. At Lift we initially code our HTML (XHTML and CSS) and test it in Firefox or Safari. It generally doesn’t matter which one we use for our initial testing, because both of those browsers are considered standards compliant, which means they should render correctly if the code was written well. We tend to use Firefox more often as there are a slew of indispensible tools for debugging sites like the Web Developer Toolbar and Firebug. After we finish the coding, we then test it in IE 7. IE 7 is a surprisingly good browser – not perfect, but good. It handles CSS very well and also supports transparent PNGs. The last step – usually the most painful – is making it work in IE 6. Since we often use a lot of AJAX, CSS and transparent PNGs in our designs, we end up having to spend hours creating hacks and workarounds to make everything render correctly in IE 6. It’s timely, expensive and it pisses us off to no end.

Forcing Windows users to finally update to IE 7 will shave off countless hours of needless hacking and additional coding, which is a welcomed sigh of relief. Although Microsoft’s reasons for forcing the update on Windows users is because of security, the only reason for Web Designers is because it will take IE out of the dark ages.

I’m curious about genealogy. Maybe it has something to do with being Armenian and having your family tree cut off after only a few generations, but I’ve recently been looking into software to enable genealogy tracking. What I’ve found is the following software:
Family Tree Maker (PC)
Legacy Family Tree (PC)
RootsMagic (PC)
REUNION (Mac)
MacFamily Tree (Mac)

They all seemed somewhat amateur and small, if not completely dated. I realized that this is a perfect opportunity for an online application. After all, you need a community of people inputing data into it, to be effective. Wikipedia had a few open-source genealogy options.

As a trial, I’ve installed phpGedView at treeinaforest.com to give it a whirl. My first impression is that it seems fairly comprehensive but lacking in usability and aesthetics.

1. My Dreamhost account: lots of stray orphans here. It’s time to round up the unused domains and testing sites, back them up and then throw them to the fire.
2. Teaching Resources: consolidate all those lectures and online bits of blogs, wikis and such and throw them into a box.
3. The Lab: a place on my computer for experimentation – Design patterns, colour palettes, sketches, ActionScript code. All will be gathered and organized and backed up.
4. Goodbye Microsoft: I’ve tried doing this before but now the tools seem to be there to leave the Microsoft software behind.

Installing Rails on Leopard was easier than on Panther. Leopard actually comes with PHP, MySQLite & Rails and just needs some configuring.

A good place to start is here:
http://developer.apple.com/tools/developonrailsleopard.html

There’s a problem though, and it’s not a technology one. It’s a people problem. If you’re having trouble managing the content on your Web site, it’s because you have an editorial process problem. Your public-facing Web site is a publication. You need to treat it like one.

“You need an editorial staff in place to make the content on your site as interesting and consistent as it can be. That staff may just be one executive editor, but nothing should go online without that person’s approval. As your Web strategy grows, so too should that staff.”

Thanks JMax for finding this older article on Adaptive Path.

The open source community that was supporting ActiveCollab was furious. After dedicating time and money to develop mods, themes and plugins for the software many left mad. The people behind ActiveCollab did another 180 and completely changed their pricing model to a much more affordable $399 with added features. Most of the community built around the software is still pissed and will probably turn to other solutions. Here’s what huge hosting service Dreamhost has to say

“WELL IT’S TOO LATE FOR SORRY!!!
We’ve ALREADY dropped activeCollab as one of our one-clicks we offer.”

There are plans to move into Basecamp’s market with the software. With only the slight advantage of running ActiveCollab on your own server rather than Basecamp’s hosting model will only win hardcore programmer types. Basecamp is the leader in the online project management market and will barely feel the pressure. This definitely illustrates the adage of “great programmers don’t make great business people”

Now that ActiveCollab is leaving the world of open source the playing field is pretty much wide open for a comprehensive open source project management framework. There’s an early Rails clone out there called RailsCollab that doesn’t seem to be moving very quickly. There’s also Dot project which I don’t feel is very usable software as of yet. Possible a good user interface overhaul would help bring it up to see. Hey, a new project idea!

If you have yet to read any of his books you will find depth and clarity in his explanations of information design that simplifies complex data systems. Or perhaps you could read his amazing essay on how Microsoft’s powerPoint software is making presenters and audiences cater to the lowest common denominator. Wired has an article on the subject.

One of his favourite info graphic devices is Sparklines, which he describes as “Intense, simple word-sized graphics”. He has a section in his latest book “Beautiful Evidence” on the subject. This micro graphic format seems to be spreading across the web quickly with open source solutions that offer simple snippets of code that generate Sparklines.

Here are some:
- Javascript generator for Photoshop
- http://sparkline.org/
- Sparklines for Ruby On Rails