Auto generated code.

I've never been a big fan of auto generated code, a bit silly maybe since I've used MenuMachine for a long time to build most of my menus in GoLive. When it comes to server side code though, I have this strange idea that I'm "cheating" if I use the built in code generation in DW.

A week ago I decided to buy the "Super Suit" from webassist.com, a 50% discount offer can talk me into buying just about anything! :-) (I think the offer expires today, November 27, 2007)

Using it has been an interesting experience. In some situations I've actually found myself hand coding faster than I could produce the same result with the extensions. I guess that, to some extent, has to do with me not being accustomed with the webassist user interface and workflow. Another explanation could be that some extensions seem to be targeted towards user's who can't code while other products are made to enhance the code writer's productivity.

Some of the extensions have been fantastic time savers. One example is the common task of building and admin page where a user can search for, add, delete and edit database records. The webassist extension enabled me to build this in just a few minutes, it generated the pages, the forms and everything else needed, very impressing!

The webassist extensions have, no doubt, increased my productivity. I will return to this topic later, after using the webassist extensions for some time. If you are interested and want to check out the different extensions, product demos and recipes, please visit webassist.com

Adobe acquires buzzword.com.

Adobe is in the process of acquiring buzzword.com.

Buzzword offers a free online word processor, not a rich text editor.

The main reasons why you might want to test this service are:

• If you want to be able to access your documents from wherever you are.
  
  
• If you want to be able collaborate with other people and let them read and/or edit the documents.
  
  
• If you want a word processor that can do all the standard stuff, but is much easier to use.

This new product is based on Flex and Flash Player 9. I want to emphasize that it feels and works just like any regular word processor…but better.

In a near future it will also be available as an AIR application, in other words there will also be a desktop version that doesn't rely on a browser and a Internet connection. The two applications are identical, so it's very easy to move from one to the other.

You can get Buzzword for free at www.buzzword.com.

Dynamic tutorial posted.

My video tutorial on how to create dynamic pages in GoLive, that I mentioned earlier, has now been posted.

The tutorial will not make you a web developer, but it will help you set up your development environment and walk you through some of the basics.

At the end of the tutorial you will have installed Apache, PHP, MySQL and phpMyAdmin, created a database, connected to the database, and displayed records from the database.

To watch the tutorial please go here.

Migrate, upgrade, or…

There have been a lot of discussions among GoLive users on what to do after GoLive was removed in the CS3 suite.

Here is my take, depending on which user category you're in:

Satisfied GoLive CS2 (or earlier) user:

If you are mostly doing static sites with no server side scripting, there is probably no point in migrating to Dreamweaver right now.

Upgrading to GoLive 9 doesn't make much sense since you are pretty happy with what you got, and there is always a learning curve with a new app.

Not so happy GoLive CS2 (or earlier) user:

Upgrading to GoLive 9 might sound as a good idea, but GoLive 9 is quite different from GoLive CS2, and there are very few indications of more versions after 9.

Advanced GoLive CS2 (or earlier) user:

If you are working with server side scripting, XML/XSLT, AJAX, Flash or any other web technologies beyond HTML you should definitely migrate to Dreamweaver.

Features that disappeared between GL CS2 and GL9:

• Preview Tab
• Site Diagrams
• Co-Author
• Package4GoLive
• HTML Styles
• Visual tag editor
• Moveable Type, WML, QuickTime, Real, SMIL/MMS, SVG-t editing (not all were switched on by default in previous versions)
• SVG output from Illustrator smart object (only bitmaps now)
• Bridge extension (added Go To Bridge, Stock Photos toolbar)
• SWF Detect extension (added SWF detect tab to SWF inspector)
• MobileConvert extension (added Convert to XHTML Mobile to Special Convert menu)

To check out the new features please go here .

Solution…(Contribute and mod_security)

I earlier mentioned, at this blog, the problem when you configure Adobe Contribute with a site running on an Apache server with mod_security rules enabled. You get the error message "cannot verify your connection information", even if all your settings are correct.

The mod_security rules block access to any folder called "TMP" and that is what Contribute is creating for its tests.

Here is the solution (please note the security warning at the end of this posting!):

1. In GoLive, Dreamweaver or a text editor create a .txt file with the following content:
   SecFilterEngine Off
   SecFilterScanPOST Off
   
   
2. Save the file as htaccess.txt.
   
   
3. Upload it to your site's root folder.
   
   
4. Through the FTP interface change the name to .htaccess (note the dot before the name, the entire name is a file extension!)
   
   
5. Now configure your site with Contribute.
   
   
6. When the configuration is done delete the .htaccess file from the server.

This technique will open you up slightly to hackers for approximately 2-3 minutes. I think you must have really bad luck to get hit during exactly those 3 minutes…but the decision is yours!

As far as I know this is the only solution to the Contribute and mod_security problem.

Seeing is…understanding.

I have always believed in video tutorials, seeing and hearing how something is done always beats reading about it.

When I got the Adobe CS3 Master Collection it came with a gift, 31 days of lynda.com tutorials, and now my eyes have turned rectangular!

I must have spent 40-50 hours learning Dreamweaver, Captivate, Contribute, new stuff in Photoshop, etc, etc…

The lynda.com tutorials cover at least 100 different applications and include all the Adobe software, from Acrobat to Photoshop. The subscription is only $25/month, money extremely well spent!

I strongly recommend you to visit the site! They offer some free "appetizers", check them out and you will have a good idea of what quality level their tutorials are on!

It's not rocket science!

Many Adobe GoLive users seem to think that working with server side scripts and databases is something only Nobel laureates do.

I'm trying to change that by making a video tutorial covering everything from setting up a local Apache server, PHP, MySQL and phpMyAdmin - to connecting to a database and displaying the result.

This new tutorial will not make anybody a web developer, but hopefully it will make some people think - "that wasn't so hard!".

I'm currently making the last edits to the video and it will soon be posted at www.GoLiveCentral.com. I'll let you know as soon as it is available.

So promising...

After watching a number of Adobe Contribute tutorials at lynda.com I realized that Contribute would be perfect for a number of my clients.

My first step was to set it up with my personal site so I could take it for a spin.

During the site configuration everything looked perfect. Contribute connected via FTP and I could see the files on my site.

In the next step Contribute uploads a file (via FTP) and tries to read it (via HTTP). Now the problems started!

There is one folder name you never should use on an Apache server, "TMP". All attempts to access that folder through HTTP will be blocked by Apache's mod_security rules. Guess what Contribute names its test folder?

I have no idea of why the Adobe engineers chose that name, I guess they could have just generated some random letters instead. It's a shame since Contribute seems to be an excellent application, much better than Co-Author!