http://www.alanseiden.com PHP, usability, IBM System i, and personal computing Thu, 21 Aug 2008 22:08:19 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en At last night's NY-PHP gathering, a fellow PHP'er and I discussed PHP frameworks. I told her I was developing an e-commerce site using Zend Framework. She replied that she'd been considering frameworks, especially Cake and Symfony, "but I'm not sure I need a framework at all. I write my own ... http://www.alanseiden.com/2008/06/25/why-use-php-frameworks/ Mantis/400 adds DB2 support to Mantis, the popular PHP-based bug tracking application. I programmed the upgrade with Ira Chandler of Curbstone Corporation, personnel from IBM and Zend, and Mantis's Victor Boctor. Mantis/400 runs on IBM System i (formerly AS/400), using Zend Core for i5. Even before we got involved, Mantis supported several ... http://www.alanseiden.com/2007/11/27/my-first-open-source-project-mantis400/ Favicons are those eye-catching little pictures that appear in your web browser's address bar, favorites list (hence the name favicon, short for "favorites icon"), and, with modern tabbed browsers, on tabs. Instantly recognizable when designed well, favicons represent the brand identity of sites that use them. Examples Wikipedia uses the "W" from its ... http://www.alanseiden.com/2007/05/25/brand-your-site-with-a-favicon/ Eye strain is a common complaint from computer users, but eyes aren't the only part of the body that can hurt. Neck pain and backaches can also result from poor visual ergonomics. In my latest article, Protect Your Eyes Against Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) (requires free registration after about May 18, ... http://www.alanseiden.com/2007/05/06/protect-your-eyes-against-computer-vision-syndrome-cvs/ My work to foster PHP on IBM System i was noted in the Feb. 21, 2007, edition of buzz@nysia, the New York Software Industry Association's weekly news report. I am delighted that buzz@nysia columnist Donna Bogatin chose me as a featured "mover and shaker." http://www.alanseiden.com/2007/02/26/new-york-software-industry-association-writes-about-my-work-with-system-iphp/ If you're reading this blog, you need to protect yourself against Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). As we work and explore the internet, we accumulate little stresses and habits that can hurt us over time. MC Press just published my piece on how to arrange your computer workstation to avoid injury. For my ... http://www.alanseiden.com/2007/01/26/arrange-your-workstation-to-protect-yourself-against-repetitive-strain-injury-rsi/ My new article about mail() is available at MC Press Online. The article covers: Zend Core's implementation of mail() for IBM System i How mail() compares to packages such as PHPMailer Function definition and example How to configure SMTP in Zend Core Overriding defaults with ini_set Troubleshooting Read it here. http://www.alanseiden.com/2006/10/07/php-mail-on-ibm-system-i/ Early this week I called my web hosting provider, BlueHost, to ask to be upgraded from PHP 4 to 5. They graciously offered to move my files to a PHP 5 server at no charge. I was warned, though, that my site might be inaccessible during the move. Later that day, ... http://www.alanseiden.com/2006/10/05/site-upgraded-to-php-5/ When my friend reported that her Internet Explorer 6 browser crashed repeatedly, I suggested she delete temporary internet files by clicking Tools/Internet Options. She said, "Nothing happens when I click Tools/Internet Options." Tools/Internet Options did not work. No window appeared. Other features, such as Edit/Find, also didn't work, or didn't work ... http://www.alanseiden.com/2006/10/04/internet-options-window-does-not-open/ Powerful yet unobtrusive, FireBug, a FireFox Extension by Joe Hewitt, runs in a frame that pops up only when requested or when an error occurs. It helped me solve two javascript problems today. Thanks to Dell Sala, who told me about FireBug at Tuesday's New York PHP meeting. http://www.alanseiden.com/2006/09/29/javascript-debugger-for-firefox-firebug/