Why you should maybe reconsider using PHP

When it comes to middle tier development, I am a long time php user.  I picked the language/framework up back in 1999/2000 when everyone was still naming their files with a php3 extension.  And it's served me well for a long time.  It was super easy to pick up and get running with.  In hind sight, perhaps that was a bad sign.

There has been a discussion raging on for years now about the worth of php as a serious development language.  It's proponents often advocate that it's widely used and available and easy to learn.  Others have a bit of a different take on php.  The author of an article I read yesterday explained in length the flaws of developing with php.  You can read that article here: http://me.veekun.com/blog/2012/04/09/php-a-fractal-of-bad-design/. It's hard to disagree with what he saying when presented in this exhaustive, if not angry, manner.  His points are  for the most party all valid.

PHP is an embarrassment, a blight upon my craft. It’s so broken, but so lauded by every empowered amateur who’s yet to learn anything else, as to be maddening. It has paltry few redeeming qualities and I would prefer to forget it exists at all.

For a while now I've personally felt like learning PHP as one of my first languages was a mistake.  Learning a language with loose data types and non-convential standards tends to make you a bit of sloppy developer in my opinion.  This has become more evident now as I am teaching myself other more traditional languages like c++ and ruby.  I've had to change my approach to programming or risk banging my head against a wall when I can't figure out why when I do something the php way, it won't work in these other languages.

If you are new to web development, or even just programming in general, I highly recommend starting with a more formal style language such as ruby, python, or even perl before picking up PHP.  Those good habits you learn will make learning new languages easier, and will certainly result in better PHP code when you inevitably pick it up.

Hiatus

The past couple years have been very interesting, fullfilling, and hvae tought me a lot.  For a while I ran this business while holding down a full time job, then transitioned into part time of each, and finally into a full time independent developer.  And let me tell you, it was a lot of work!

Since the wife and I decided to move to Boston, it made more sense for me to seek out full time employment.  I accepted an position at an intereactive agency where I have been super busy building websites for some top brand companies.  However, it's a very demanding job leaving little time for freelance work.  Additionally I needed to take a step back and spend more time on my family, keeping my skills and knowledge up to date, and other loves in life like hockey.

As a result, for the time being, I am will not be accepting any new work.  This my change at some point in the future, but for now I don't have the time to take on new work and peform it up to the quality you all expect in a timely manner.  In the mean time, I intend to do quite more blogging on web and mobile development topics as well as sharing news and other fun web related things I find.  So please come back often.  Feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions, comments, or just want to say hi.

A very sincere thanks,
~Tori 

Hillarious and Useful "Greeking" Alternatives

Often when designing websites and other materials you don't have the actual content to start with.  So a designer may go to the faithful old Lorem Ipsum generator to get some filler text for their designs.  The problem with lorem ipsum is that while designers may know all about it, the layperson may not understand exactly what it is or it's purpose.  I can't even count how many times I've had a client say, "The design is great, but what is all this spanish stuff?".

So instead of the same old latin lorem ipsum text, I present the following awesome alternatives:

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Design Inspiration - College and University Facebook Pages

Recently I have been working with the John Marshall Law School in Chicago to put together a design approach for the school’s proposed Facebook landing page.  As part of my normal process I began looking through the hundreds of University fan pages to see how other schools are utilizing the space.

The approaches taken by different schools are as varied as their cultures.  The vast majority tend to stick with the default “Wall” as their landing pages while adding little else to the experience.  Others have set up the old style static FBML pages to provide additional information on secondary tabs.  And fewer still have gone to the extent of developing a personalized landing page using a custom application or one of the many page development tools available online such as Wildfire or Involver.

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