Intro to Linux for Web Developers – Part One

One of the more important tasks of web development and your success as a developer is knowing how to properly configure and maintain your web server. As your abilities grow you’ll often run into things that require you get into the dirty technology behind your website.

My inspiration for this post was a memory of years ago when I had to learn this stuff. In the process I found that “beginners guides” weren’t really for beginners at all.

The beast that serves it to the world is more than likely running on Linux thusly requiring you to make updates to your server configuration through the command line or shell as some people refer to it.

Part one of this three part series will guide you through the most basic of Linux commands to help you get around your server and edit files that need a bit of modification.

Connecting to your server – SSH

SSH is a method of remotely connecting to your shell account. Much like HTTP and FTP, it is a protocol allowing you to access your machine without having it physically available to you.

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WordCamp Houston

Over the past few months Monica, Mr. Valdez, Katie and yours truly have been hard at work putting together the first ever WordCamp Houston. For those of you not familiar with the whole WordCamp thing, here is a brief description from the official WordCamp website:

“WordCamp is a conference that focuses on everything WordPress. WordCamps are informal, community-organized events that are put together by WordPress users like you. Everyone from casual users to core developers participate, share ideas, and get to know each other. WordCamps are open to WordPress.com and WordPress.org users alike.”

We have been incredibly lucky so far and have gotten an amazing venue, The Houston Museum of Natural Science and an amazing keynote speaker, Matt Mullenweg, the Houston-raised founder of WordPress.

The event is taking place on August 7th, 2010 and will be quite the event. For more information be sure to check out the website at www.wordcamphouston.com and head over to @wordcamphtx on Twitter for even more WordCamp Houston goodness. Tickets are on sale now and the quantity is limited so be sure to get yours today!

A very happy birthday to Mr. Chris Valdez

Every now and then we like to have fun at the office. One of my beloved business partners, Chris, had his birthday today. He’s currently living the rough life on a cruise somewhere in the vicinity of Italy right now to celebrate so we decided to make a little something for him while he’s on his journey to wish him a special day.

Why I Finally Switched to Google Chrome

I’ve used just about every browser out there as my primary internet wandering tool over the last decade or so, and I’ve finally switched to yet another one, Google Chrome, which has to-date provided the best experience yet. Many years ago I started exploring the good ole internet using Netscape, things have come quite a ways since then.

Most recently my weapon of choice has been Firefox, mainly for its capabilities as a development tool with all the plugins a geek could ever ask for to aid your day-to-day development. While I still wouldn’t say Firefox is a bad browser, it has definitely gotten bulkier and bulkier over time, while some basic third-party elements, such as Flash, seemed to work properly less and less. At the point when I started consistently having problems with Firefox stalling or closing due to failure altogether, I started to contemplate the big switch.

I have had Chrome installed on my machine since day one of the public beta, but had never really taken a huge dive into it until recently. Now that I’ve started using it full-time, I am extremely pleased. It’s fast, it’s smart, it’s easy, and it’s much more attractive while taking up less screen real estate.

If you haven’t tried it out yet, download it, give it a couple solid days of use, and you’re guaranteed to be in love.

Choosing a Web Host

Choosing a hosting solution for your website (hooray for “website” officially being one word now) is one of the most important choices in the development process. What good is your completely awesome website if no one can access it? There are seemingly endless different companies, providing numerous packages each, with a daunting list of specs to make sure that this won’t be an easy choice for you, but in all reality, it’s not that hard. Hopefully the things outlined in this post will help you feel confident about your web hosting descision.

Decision #1: Shared hosting VS Private server

The two main options offered by most hosting providers are shared hosting and private servers / virtual private servers. How many sites do you plan on hosting? If you’re hosting more than a couple, the private server route is the way to go. Another advantage to being on a private server is the ability to have complete shell access. You might want total control of your web server and the environment that it’s running in, this is something that would definitely make the need for a private server.

Now that I’ve talked up the private server, there are time when using a shared hosting solution would benefit you greatly. If you’ve just got a website or two, shared hosting would probably be your best bet. It’s cheap, it’s effective, and it will surely get the job done. Think of shared hosting as an apartment in a complex whereas a private server is more of a home in a community.

Decision #2: Linux VS Windows

This decision is actually a pretty simple one to make. If you’re an experienced developer, you already know the answer to this one without even thinking about it, but maybe you’re not an experienced developer, and maybe the difference between these two options is unknown to you. Most hosting companies don’t really make this option so blatantly obvious, but for some like Go Daddy and a few other mainstream hosting companies, it’s part of the initial signup process. There is really only one reason as far as I know to ever go with a Windows hosting environment and that is if you plan on developing in Windows languages such as ASP.NET, so unless that’s your jam, I’d highly recommend going with a Linux environment.

Decision #3: Resources

When it comes to the lists of different packages, it always comes down to comparing resources available. How much hard drive space do you need? How much RAM do you need? How much bandwidth do you need? These are unfortunately all questions that I can’t really help you answer. There are many hosts out there with scalable solutions that allow you to monitor usage, then adjust allotted resources on the fly. Another great solution if you don’t know what you need is to just start with the lowest one that you feel might be adequate then just simply upgrade if you run into any problems. No web hosting company will ever make it a hassle for you to upgrade to a better package. You’ll be safe no matter what, don’t fret too much over the fine details, just keep an eye on your usage and adjust accordingly.

Decision #4: Provider

Choosing a hosting provider is the last step to take. Some hosting providers are better than others, but there really isn’t any hard data to base this choice off of. Everyone will advertise their 99% uptime, but that also always comes with a hefty hidden disclaimer excluding nearly everything that causes downtime from that percentage. I’ve worked with countless providers whether they were providers that a client was already setup with, or providers that I have had accounts with, and there’s only thing that I’ve learned from all of them is that none of them are perfect. I’ll give my input on a few below, good and bad, and let you do the rest.

The Good

DreamHost – I am currently on a DreamHost private server account and so far am quite pleased. They have excellent tech support, scalable resources, and a very awesome administration interface. Like I said above, no one is perfect, and I have run into a couple of issues in my time with DreamHost, but overall, they are definitely my favorite so far. Plus, they have one-click WordPress installs, a pure godsend.

Media Temple – Media Temple is also a great provider. They also have great customer service and an awesome administration interface. One of the great things about them is that they have a good variety of choices for everyone from first-time hosting customers to super-complex programmers, they definitely will have what you need.

Laughing Squid – With prices that can’t be beat, Laughing Squid is definitely my recommendation to anyone looking for a standard shared hosting solution. They recently started to phase out their old system and have been replacing it with a cloud solution to make their service even better. Like the two above, they also carry great customer service and are sure to satisfy your shared hosting needs.

The Bad

Network Solutions – I never have been a fan of Network Solutions. They seem to constantly have problems with one service or another and getting through to the customer service is a nightmare. Recently they have also had major security problems, check out Liz’s blog post for more details on that. Luckily she has moved and is now in a safer place.

Go Daddy – Go Daddy is a monster. Commercials, race cars, they are definitely in the public eye. I love them as a domain registrar, but their hosting leaves a lot to be desired. It seems as though anything running on their servers, including their own administration panel, runs about as slow as molasses.

Bluehost – I have never experienced as much confusion and downtime as I have with Bluehost. They have an incredible pricing structure, but once you use it for a while, you truly do realize that you get what you pay for.

The Geeky

Slicehost – If you’re into complete fiddling with your web server setup, Slicehost is definitely your love. When you initially signup for an account, there isn’t even an operating system installed. If you know your stuff, Slicehost is definitely a fun little venture.

There you have it. Have a good time on your search for a web host, and don’t worry, picking the wrong one is definitely NOT the end of the world.

Busy, Busy, Busy.

What a busy past couple weeks it has been, I feel like I haven’t even gotten time to breathe much less update the ole’ website. Here is my roundup of the past couple of weeks, and things to come in the future.

Twestival Houston 2010

Twestival is a wonderful charity event that takes place in hundreds of cities all around the world on the same day. I have been a part of the Houston Twestival since it started and gladly donated my live sound services once again this time around. It was wonderful to see how many people came out to donate their time and money to a wonderful cause; Concern Worldwide. It was great meeting all the new people that I never fail to meet at these events. The bands were great to work with, the people were fun to be around and the photo booth was surely a bad idea for me to step into (see above).

Golf at Jersey Meadows

I finally found a group of people to golf with after not having played 18 holes on a full course in well over a year. Regardless of how awful I played, it was still a great time and reminded me how much I love that game. Hopefully I can make this a more regular event and get my skills back on track because as I quickly found out, the driving range and the golf course are two completely different monsters.

Roadshow Blondes Send-off

Roadshow Blondes is a duo of, you guessed it, blondes, from Houston taking a roadtrip from Houston to New York to raise awareness and money for suicide prevention and the Jed Foundation. Basically, the idea is that they are driving across the country doing all sorts of crazy things decided by donation. The send-off was a wonderful event and much like Twesitval, it was full of meeting new people and all-around good times. There is still time to donate even though they are already on the road so visit their website and get your helping on!

WordPress 3.0, Beta 1

It’s coming, and it’s coming quick. WordPress released the first beta of WordPress 3 this past week. The upgrade is perfectly balanced having a great bunch of improvements to WP2 while still being the same familiar system we’re all used to using. Custom post types, built-in multi-user functionality, featured images, automatic thumbnails and a whole host of other awesome improvements make WordPress 3 my new best friend. While it may be a little bit before I start using it for production purposes, I have definitely started to dive in head first and love absolutely everything that I’ve seen so far.

Primer Grey + Colab Block Party

This coming Thursday is our ever-so-awesome block party. What originally started as an open house quickly turned into a full-fledged “everyone come and meet each other” party. We realized once we moved into our offices that there were a ton of creatives and other companies hidden in the area that no one really knew were there. That said, we decided to do our best to pull everyone from within our community and everyone outside of it together for a night of fun and excitement. We’ve also added a little twist involving One Day Without Shoes, a cause organized by Tom’s Shoes. Be sure to check out the links below for more details on the party, see you then!

Party Details @ Primer Grey >>
Facebook Event >>

Essential Web Development Tools

So you’re just starting out in web development and wondering what tools you need to start getting on par with the big boys? Here is a great starting point, but by no means the web development tools bible. If you find something that works for you, roll with it.

Google Talk
Everyone needs a way to instantly communicate online. There are all sorts of services to achieve this, but Google Talk is by far the best experience I’ve had in my days. You can access it through your gMail account, by the official client, or through any multi-IM client you may have (Adium and Pidgin are some great choices in this department).

A Good Text Editor
There is nothing you will use more than your text editor. I think I’ve used just about everything on the planet for all platforms, but certainly have a few preferences. There are loads and loads of text editors out there, so it’s just a matter of finding the one with the features that work best for you. I’m a man of simplicity and ease-of-use so I tend to go for the basic ones. Windows users, check out Sublime Text, it’s a champ. If you’re on OSX Text Wrangler is your new best friend.

A Solid FTP Client
Next in your list of most used tools is definitely your FTP client. If you don’t end up with a text editor with built-in FTP capabilities, this is definitely an important decision to make. FTP clients vary, what I look for is one with a good bookmarking system so that I can easily open up my client, click a button, and be inside of the directory I need. It’s all about speed and usability. OSX users, I’d strongly suggest Cyberduck. If you’re on Windows, take a look at WinSCP, it’s functionality is superb.

An Efficient Workspace
A tidy workspace is a happy workspace. Be sure to keep yours clean and you will be rewarded. Working at an actual desk or table is essential as your wrists are your friends, sitting with your laptop on your lap, or a coffee table is definitely not the way to go. Ergonomics baby! The one workspace add-on that all developers will agree is absolutely essential is a dual-monitor setup. I set mine up to have my web browser on one screen and my text editor on another, this makes for quick testing and speeds your development process up essentially.

SSH Client
As you development, chances are you’ll need to get in and edit some things on your server. This could be your Apache configuration or your PHP configuration among a vast host of other things. If you’re working on OSX, you can do this through Terminal, however Windows doesn’t have SSH functionality built-in so you’ll need to get your hands on PuTTy, a fantastic tool for all of your SSH needs.

Sugar-free Red Bull
Okay, maybe this one isn’t completely necessary, but, if energy drinks are your jam (I don’t do the coffee thing), I’d definitely suggest keeping them sugar-free. You don’t need the sugar crash, no one wants that feeling in their body.

The Magic of 960px

One of the biggest questions I’ve been faced with by people just beginning to design for web is: “How big should I make the website?” This single question causes more stress and consideration than any other in the web design world. There are so many different variables to take into consideration that the concept of an ideal width seems impossible.

The first place your mind will likely delve into is trying to determine what the average resolution is. There was a time when the answer to this was a much simpler one, 800 pixels by 600 pixels. Now it’s a different story, with the standard resolution being more of a debate. Should you design for the minimum? Should you design for the most common? Or should you design for the more advanced user? The easy answer to all three of those questions is “yes”. That being said, you can’t typically do three things at once, so why not cater to the common?

Modern monitors typically support up to 1024 × 768 and most new machines these days ship with either 1024 x 768 or 1440 x 900 as the default.

This brings us back to the original question; the generally accepted answer is 960 pixels wide.

Designing to 960 is surely going to fit within browsers on screens at 1024 or 1440, but there’s quite a bit more magic to the choice of using 960 pixels for your design width. This magic is given birth by the sheer mathematical flexibility of the number, it is divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 20, 24, 30, 32, 40, 48, 60, 64, 80, 96, 120, 160, 192, 240, 320 and 480. Imagine how much easier that layout math will be with all of those numbers producing a whole number though basic math!

So there you have it, the magic of 960 pixels. Now that’s not nearly to say you should always stick to 960 pixels, hell, my site is based on the 960 system, but I do break it off to the left. Some people would also argue that a fluid layout is much more practical, but I’ll leave that argument to the birds.

Now go get your 960 on!

If this is the first time you’ve heard about the magic of 960, be sure to check out the places I’ve read about it before to stay on top of your game:

“Optimal Width for 1024px Resolution?” – Cameron Moll
960 Grid System – Excellent site with a framework of sorts

Welcome back, me.

Well, I’ve finally got my website back up with a new theme and all. In the near future expect to see a couple plugins as well as free WordPress themes for download hosted here. I’ve created quite a few WordPress goodies over the past few years, and would love to share them with everybody.

I had a great night tonight, especially considering it was a Wednesday. Met up with some dear friends at Beaver’s to celebrate Andrew quitting his job. Everyone wish him luck in his future endeavors with music and the like.

Well, that’s all I’ve got for now. Working on my goal of trumping Monica’s web traffic, so you should surely see more posts from me here soon, and the obligatory bio.

Adios.