Robert Rosetta's BlogWebsite Development

I’m currently working on a new website for a client – Trenton1784.org.  A lot of what I would like to do requires JQuery.  I would like to make it much more “interactive”.  For instance, on the main page there is the vignette.  Each day a photo with description will be displayed on the main page.  There could be about 55 vignettes total.  Read the rest of this entry »

Well I got my Zend Framework in Action book in today.  I figure it will help me to understand more fully what I am learning in the Practical Web 2.0 Applications with PHP.  Since this is the first time using Zend Framework, I am trying to get up to speed as quickly as possible – so the more information I have at my disposal to cross reference, the better.  This is generally how I have always learned – it was how I taught myself PowerBuilder.  I would use five books at one time sometimes – using each to supplement the information I was looking for. One book may not explain something in a easily understood manner, or may leave something out, but by combining the books, it helped in understanding the complex concepts. Read the rest of this entry »

Chapter 3 is basically setting up the user tables in the database and the functionality for loading, inserting and deleting the records.  There are two custom built classes that the author developed that will need to be downloaded from the source code – DatabaseObject.php and Profile.php. I’m wondering if these are watered down versions of the classes the author actually uses because there are limited comments in the code and he stresses in the beginning of the book the importance of commenting. Read the rest of this entry »

Okay – I’ve pretty much made it through Chapter 2.  I won’t go over Chapter 1, because that chapter was basically just an introduction.  Chapter 2 covers developing the base classes and functionality that application will be built upon.    One of the hardest things was making sure that Zend and Smarty were installed properly and that my custom PHP.ini file was correct.  I’m using a live server on the web, so I had make absolutely sure that everything was working properly.

I did run into a few issues going through Chapter 2, but overall the chapter walked through everything really well and explained everything.  So what issues did I run into? Read the rest of this entry »

I got the Practical Web 2.0 Applications with PHP.  The book seems very detailed  which is unusual for a computer book.  Most computer books have disjointed examples, however this one walks through the development of an entire Blog application from start to finish.

It does use the Zend Framework, the Smarty Template Engine and Scriptaculous.  MY goal is to work through this book within a month from start to finish.  With 14 chapters, if I do a half chapter or a chapter a day  I should be able to reach this goal.  I’ve skimmed through the book for the last two weeks, just looking casually at the concepts – such as how the author handles creating search engine friendly URLs.  I’ve created search friendly URLs for AboutNewJersey.com, but I would like to see how others do it.

After each chapter – I will include a summary and notes about various things I learned.  This will not only help me- but those who may be also using the book.

Well I guess I better get to work instead of writing about it!

The web technologies have caught up to what my actual skills are – application development.  I’ve loved the web – but up until now it much more of a graphic designer’s world.  Today with Web 2.0 and the tools to create true interactive web applications, I can concentrate more on my true skills – database  driven – interactive applications. Read the rest of this entry »