bookmark_borderXAMPP

In my copious spare time I have been known to design and build websites. The first website I ever built was for the first company I worked for, back in 1996, so I’ve been at it a while.

However it’s only been the past couple of years that I’ve started to get some larger clients with grander ideas, and that has meant getting a bit more organised. As such I now have a standard questionnaire that I ask all prospective clients to fill in, a standard design proposal document which I use to present back my ideas based on the answers to the questionnaire, and I have a nice little area of my PC which is dedicated to building websites.

The key part of which is XAMPP.

I discovered this marvellous application about 3 years ago, and if you are building websites, or installing and customising anything that requires MySQL and PHP then you must give it a look.

Many people know from their own experience that it’s not easy to install an Apache web server and it gets harder if you want to add MySQL, PHP and Perl.

XAMPP is an easy to install Apache distribution containing MySQL, PHP and Perl. XAMPP is really very easy to install and to use – just download, extract and start.

It really is that simple. Once you’ve downloaded it, start up the Control Panel, start Apache and MySQL, then head to http://localhost. Done!

A lot of my web design work is creating custom themes based around WordPress, sometimes it is just a look and feel but more often than not custom code is required. Now, rather than having to upload a file to a test web server somewhere, I can work locally on the php files, and just refresh the browser to see my changes. Much faster.

XAMPP is one of those applications that, after you’ve used it once you think “how the hell did I manage without this!”.

Given that a lot of technical communicators are looking towards other distribution models (blogs, Wikis and so on), then XAMPP is an easy (and free) way to get a test system setup, allowing you to run short proof of concept projects. I hope you find it as useful as I do.

bookmark_borderNota Bene

Just a quick note to say that there is nothing of note to note here because, like everyone, I’m pretty busy at the moment.

I’m heading into a period of 6 day work weeks, from now until the end of June.
I’m close to finishing off a website for a client despite a fairly snag ridden build. Something I’ll need to invest some time in to investigate a better way of working.
I’ve started going to the gym. Aiming for 3 times a week.
I’m also off to Spain for the first week in June.
We are getting quotes to get a new bathroom fitted.
I really must get the car booked in for a service soon, MOT is due soon as well.
I’ve got a presentation to write for a conference in September (about blogging!).

So, obviously, this evening I’m off out to the cinema. Angels & Demons apparently.

Anyway, if you are really bored feel free to scour my archives, they really are quite good.

bookmark_borderPodcasts

No, don’t worry, I’m not going to subject you all to my dulcet tones but I would like to mention two sets of podcasts which are well worth monitoring.

Not normally something I make time for, I’ve recently started going to the gym and it’s an ideal time to zone out and catch up on these. For those of you using iTunes, you can subscribe to RSS Feeds for both and they’ll be downloaded whenever they are published.

First up a fellow Scot (even if he is from the ‘wrong’ side of the country 🙂 ) Alistair Christie produces a regular podcast on a variety of technical communication related topics. He’s been at it for a few years now and has some excellent interviews which you can find in his archives. Well worth subscribing to this one.

Also worthy of a listen is the Tech Writer Voices sessions by Tom Johnson. He has interviewed many well know names in our field of interest and, like Alistair, has been publishing podcasts for a while now. His archives are chock full of fascinating interviews, and of course you can subscribe to his podcast series as well (via iTunes too).

Any other podcasts I should be listening to?

bookmark_borderStar Trek

IMDB information
Metacritic reviews

Star Trek sucks. There, I said it. I’ve never been a fan, never really ‘got’ the whole vibe of the show and so it’s far to say that I really don’t understand the fanaticism that surrounds it. But then I don’t really understand why anyone would want to dress up as a Dalek StormTrooper Bajoran and go out and spend a weekend wandering round a lifeless conference centre with other fans.

Yet still I found myself watching the opening scenes of the latest Star Trek movie in the hope that it would prove me wrong, that this particular universe was one worth getting to know. Having seen the original TV show a few times, I had half a mind what to expect and given that JJ Abrams was at the helm I knew, if nothing else, that it would be slick and funny if nothing else.

A couple of hours later I left the movie with a big smile on my face. What a blast!

First things first, the choice of actors/accents. I think that, overall, the visual and vocal similarities to the original characters was spot on. Without losing the new actor within them, each gave a nice portrayal that gave a respectful nod to the original character. Quite a hard thing to do and whilst it didn’t always hit the mark, I think it was a nice homage.

The plot of the movie is fairly straightforward, with time travel being the main device in play. You are, of course, being introduced to Capt. Kirk, Bones, Spock, Scotty and all the others for the ‘first time’ and there were no real surprises. It’s not really about character development though, it’s about how the crew of the Starship Enterprise ended up together. No spoilers from me though.

Overall this is a big summer blockbuster movie, set in space. The fact it’s about Star Trek makes it somewhat familiar but don’t let it put you off, like me, you need no nothing about the particulars of this universe to enjoy the movie. And you should enjoy it. It’s smart enough with being complicated, well paced, the dialogue is crisp and funny, and there is a huge sense of fun about everything.

Definitely one to see if you are in the mood for a nice big sci-fi blockbuster.

bookmark_borderAuthor-it Tidy Up

Firstly a quick thank you to everyone who has commented on the previous post. What a fantastic bunch you are, and as I mentioned in the comments, I’ll be using your first names and locations in an infographic for an upcoming presentation. Fame will be yours! (Note: fame not guaranteed)

In other news I’m deep in the trenches of 2000+ Author-it Topics, stepping through each one to clean up formatting, correct hyperlinks, set the correct template and so on. I’m working my way through all our old content, imported using the MIF Import. It’s not the most stimulating work but needs must.

On the way I’m fixing bits and bobs in both Author-it and the Word template that we’ll use to generate the PDFs of our documentation from. If nothing else the context switch is keeping me sane!

One annoyance is the fact that I’ve had to add a “Reset Numbering” paragraph style as without it you’ll find your numbered lists (that we use for procedures) roll on and on through your document. I’d have thought the Procedure Heading style would’ve been setup to handle this out of the box but, alas, not. So far it’s the weakest area for me, and I’d certainly love to see some more example templates, either provided by the company, or on a community submission basis.

I’ve also spent a fair bit of time dipping in and out of the Author-it Yahoo Group which is a fantastically helpful resource. Well worth joining if you are an Author-it user.

Right, best get back to it. Hoping to get that number below 2000 by the end of this week!