OPCMF ^6.1

This site is oriented towards web developers who work with PHP and jQuery and is built using PHP and jQuery.

The PHP framework is based on CodeIgniter. The Javascript framework is based jQuery extensions. Many of the ideas that mold this system come from members of the Ottawa PHP developers group. 

Aside from providing documentation the goal of this website it express ideas that reflect the philisophy behind the OPCMF system.

 

I recently found a clients that still has 15% of users on IE6. It sort of blew my mind but it is a common problem for web developers. Google threw in the towel with IE6 Janauary 2010 but a lot of IT departments are procrastinating the inevitable update. IE6 not only renders things badly and runs crazy slow, it is extremely expensive to support from the development side and puts the brakes on many initiatives. A lot of developers are now focusing on fixing the user rather than the browser. Here's some samples listed in order of aggressiveness: Twitter Campaigns Posters CSS Javacript jQuery

These two guys talk about how they took a personal project and turned it into a multimillion dollar business. Their work hard and have fun work ethic helped them to stay creative while pursuing their goal.

Desktops are old and loyal but not really exciting. Outside of the developing world, they are simply utilities in a market that matured long ago. Software developers looking to express new ideas rarely use the desktop as their primary delivery platform because it is monopolized by large and entrenched corporations. The convergence of web services, browsers and portable wireless devices has created new territory where developers can test new ideas and get immediate exposure. It is where they can collaborate and get peer review. It is a social space, not a bunker. This is where the future markets will grow and desktops will eventually die.

Now that I have stated the obvious, here's my point.

A lot of large and established organizations are now struggling to crawl out of their desktop paradigms to join the growing number of organizations that have already migrated their data and services to the Cloud. Migration to the cloud is the transfer and refinement of existing ideas and methods from one paradigm to the next. Our biggest customers now are taking bold steps to migrate desktop applications, Access/Excel spreadsheets, and paper/fax based administration to the web. This will take years to accomplish.

My point is that this is a HUGE market and it has really just started.

You may feel your work isn't valued despite working longer hours, taking more chances and spending more energy than your peers. Unless you make a concerted effort to get noticed, you will not stand much apart from the guy who fondles a red stapler all day fantasizing about burning the building down. Unless you MAKE people know how valuable you are, your will have no value. Scott Belsky describes an experiment to clearly demonstrates this point. If you feel ufairly sidelined, take a couple of minutes for this talk.

Once again we have a new term that gets used and abused by "experts" in the boardroom. This one is called Web 3.0. What exactly it means turns out to be nothing specific but rather it is a term for which the true meaning is still being debated. Watch this video so you can kick your web consultants butts the next time they throw "Web 3.0" terms around the boardroom with a position of authority.

Over the years I have worked with senior managers and several CEOs who have difficulty understanding what motivates software developers and why open source projects are often better choices than commercial ones. It flies in the face of what many of them have been trained to believe about HR management. I think this fun video based on a study sponsored by the Federal Reserve will help make it clear.

Ok so I just made up a word, but why not! Convergesphere is not a real word but I use it as a variation on what is termed  The Cloud (decentralized and universally accessible information).

The Cloud is inevitable. We see it everywhere. Online software APIs, Twitter, Posterous, Online Banking, etc, forever. Wireless mobile devices are everywhere. Cellphones have evolved to the point where the ability to talk to people is just a minor function.

Companies like Apple and Google don't just work in the cloud, they expand it with tools like Google Docs and iPhone. They are at the centre of the Cloud. Most organizations are beneath it.

Fernando Martinez from 3dA describes organizations stuck in the desktop paradigm as Digital Silos. They have the bulk of their information locked within paper and proprietary data systems. When requests for information come in, members of the organization become "information ghosts", wandering the hallways looking for data.

A lot of CEOs may not know the specifics of what need to be done, but their instincts are acute to long term needs. Many CEOs ask us how to "modernize" or "centralize" their systems. What they are really asking is how to become part of The Cloud. I use Convergesphere to describe a stage where we can safely reassemble organizations to prepare them for The Cloud.

The world is always changing and that can be fun, but it can also be dangerous if you lose track of what is really happening. At 3da, we are happy to see a new generation who grew up with the web driving change and entering the workforce as professionals and working in The Cloud. Although a lot of them are having a difficult time finding their place in this sluggish economy, those fresh minds will eventually find their place but they will have to challenge many old ideas to get there.

CSS frameworks are no magic bullet, but working with them is a great way to learn CSS, even if you don't plan to use a CSS framework. This video introduces and explains the "reset" CSS method and how it can be used to force a "leave no stone unturned" rule to your website layouts.

See also:

• Elasticss 
• 960 Grid System
• ContentWithStyle
• Blueprint 
• Tripoli

This is a great talk from someone who really understands what it takes to make something out of your own vision and determination. He isn't talking about methods so much as the mindset and confidence in your own ideas that will leads to success with online ventures. Sit back and enjoy!

Ordinary web site development is pretty much reduced to building Joomla or Wordpress themes, which is not a great way to make a living anyway with all the template chop shops operating out of India nowadays.

Small organizations migrating their desktop systems to the web are now driving web development as far as small web shops in North America are concerned.

Small organizations that cannot justify the cost of setting up and retraining staff to use proprietary systems are now looking to use their own websites to automate processes they already have in place but based on desktop systems (PDF, Excel and Access mostly). They also tend to be run by CEOs leery of getting roped into long term license agreements (software license slaves). 

Tools like jQuery for the client side and MVC frameworks like CodeIgniter for the server side allow developers to quickly built scalable applications that are based on solid, industry accepted standards. These standards mean that one developer can easily pick up where another left off. This is a BIG factor in long term scalability. It is a paradigm shift that large corporations like Microsoft cannot easily adapt to because they are an active alternative to large one-for-all proprietary systems like SharePoint. Even large consulting and HR companies are starting to look for the same tools and standards us small web shop guys use because they are recognizing the importance of long term scalability and ease of maintenance, which is as far as they are concerned, not having to look on the dark side of the moon for a developer with skills to take over a project.

Over the last 4 years, I have been doing less web sites and more web applications based on jQuery and MVC frameworks for organizations with less than 100 employees. This is a growing market and I think the methods we (as in ALL of us) develop will eventually be adopted by more and more large organizations as well.