Joss

Oh, I don't know - the few times I have worked on two minute commercials, we have even managed to hit official ratings! You can have a lot of fun and even build up a following - but you need VERY good writers, not just the same old stuff made longer.

Last update: Shoved the flat design info at the end as an afterthought and generally cleaned it up a bit

Oh, this is partly fun at this stage and I am intentionally going overboard. But it would be relevant in some circumstances. In this case, I might make it swipeable. I am intentionally avoiding Foundation because I really want to see the actual processes from the educational point of view and keep them as minimal as possible. For instance, I am using Pocketgrid for the layout and am keeping that very, very small, with any luck.

To be honest, this sounds more like a budget issue than anything else: So, what is the cost of rebuilding the original site in EE (allowing for the fact it is already in EE and allowing for any licencing issues) What is the cost of building a replacement site for the original in ProcessWire? What is the cost of building the new site in EE including any licencing? What is the cost of building the new site in EE? From the little I know about EE, it seems that it is possibly less work to build in PW - though I may have that very wrong! Once you work out the cost, you can then do a proper comparison. If the price works out similar, then just announce you will do it all in PW. If it is more expensive to transition to PW, but still feel he should have both built in PW, then you need to make the operational case (don't worry him with technology). So, "it will be better to spend the extra money because....."

There are so many ways to do this my head hurts. So, what would YOU do? The Brief I am putting together a blog for a friend (who needs to stay anonymous). Don't worry about the blog bit as such! The mobile version will have almost no header, just enough for a menu link and search button, it will only show the most recent article, full screen as an image, headline, summary and it will have a fixed footer with previous, next and read button. Rather app-like and all easy stuff. Tablet versions will vary a lot, showing more and more until we get to the desktop which will have several articles displayed and other rubbish. Now, how would YOU structure the templates? I will probably use ajax to get the next and previous for the mobile, but more normal pagination for the desktop. The design of the mobile will be very much more minimalistic than the desktop, so I will have different layouts, different image sizes, reduced bandwidth and so on. So, for my home template file I need to use jquery to work out the window width, I then need to call in different structure depending on the result (different header, footer and how the content is structured) and I need to call in different results from ProcessWire (the mobile will need just one, while the desktop might need several, and so on). Might be a good excuse to try out response.js The most important thing here is getting it all in the right order - making sure the jquery is firing at the right time, making sure the right information is being popped into the right holes and so on. I imagine I could end up with a situation where I call in a structure from a page using ajax, but it doesn't get populated with data because it happened in the wrong order! Lots of different ways to do this, so which would be your favourite? Joss

I have two clients and spoken to other companies who have hosting with their previous designers and have had real problems getting out of their relationships with them - the designer not answering the phone, changing passwords and so on. I have one case where the client has registered the .co.uk website some years ago and has just discovered that the designer registered the .com and is refusing to let it go. I am recommending a small, narrowly targeted nuclear missile. Consequently I make a point of "I will not tie you into me by buying your domain name for you or insisting you host with me" - that sort of thing. Apart from not wanting the hassle when the server goes down, I would just be a reseller, not a hosting company - it feels like cheating the client. I want the client to feel that they can dump me in the future (and vice versa) if the relationship breaks down. Loyalty is the goal - but loyalty out of mutual respect, not by contract.

I think that helps - if nothing else it remins me that this happens, and that is good. Thanks!

Just updated the pdf a bit.

There is a problem with TV and radio advertising in that all of us who do it always say if we had a longer commercial then we could explain our proposition so much better! But the reality is that the client comes along and says "since you have an extra thirty seconds, here is a ton of copy about my pet dog I want to get in there." When we only have a short commercial, all elements - audio, pictorial, text and so on have to work really hard and keep to the plot. If that is then translated to longer commercials, then you increase the power. if you simply add to it, you reduce the power. I think mobile first thinking is the same. In a way, it is an excuse to make sure all design elements work hard since size and space removes the luxury of "oh, they will get it by the time they get to the bottom of the page." In that respect, the look and feel of the design is part of the content as it not only frames the content, but is part of the brand and the company ethos and image that explains the content.

Yes, I realised I was a bit ambiguous about responsive and adaptive and so on - I will look at that. Diogo - the flat design bit was addressing a particular problem and a question that came up about clean design from the designer in question.. Although it is a little out of context here, I was keen make sure that it is not just the structure that is addressed but issues about clarity and so on. You and I can take any website and squeeze it onto a mobile, but that does not mean it will be usable. I need to get the idea of thinking simpler across, not just in layout terms, but in design terms too. I might take that bit out for a more generic version.

I am working with a designer who's experience lies mostly in print. So, I have written a document explaining the fundamentals of modern adaptive web development. This is not a technical manual, but rather looking at what needs to be considered by the creative designer when coming up with something that a developer can deal with well. Since we have a good assortment of multi-disciplined souls here, would a few of you care to read it and suggest anything I perhaps should add, without making it heavier or much longer? Some of you may find this useful for your own purposes too and you are very welcome to use it. UPDATE I have done a new draft, removing the adaptive idea which kind of got lost as I wrote - the trials of writing an essay off the top of my head with no planning whatsoever! Silly me. It is now called Responsive Websites UPDATE 2 Cleaned up version - the chat about flat icons is now shoved at the end as an after thought Responsive Websites 2.pdf

The first thing to do is leave the technology completely out the conversation, even if the client starts asking. Websites are, in the end, marketing and communications tools and it is vital to get the client thinking about the brand, the message, the need and the customer. If I was making a TV commercial, I would not expect the client to ask which recording desk I would be using for the soundtrack, but I would expect him to tell me whether commercial will be aired on cinema as well as television. In above the line advertising, the client wants clear results above anything else and it is worthwhile to encourage the same expectations for their website. Since a website may also involve the client or someone from their organisation working on the site, then it is also important to make the point that the site should also be easy to use. There is not need to say "ProcessWire" is easy to use, since that is meaningless if they don't know what a processwire is, how much to feed it or where you can get one kennelled. So, again, no technology speak, this is about assurances that YOU can fulfill the brief not that the software can. Coming from an old world creative production background, one of the most frustrating things I have found is this huge blurred area between the needs of the brand and the technology needed to get there. I suppose it is because many people in creative roles are also in technology roles, whereas in film production, for instance, the two roles are often separate and have been so traditionally for a hundred years. The client therefore has a clear route: Account Manager -> Creative -> a great big, magical, foggy bit when the technology is handled by people he is not introduced to -> final product to be signed off and paid for. Much better for all concerned

Worth reading this from Comodo as it details the schedule for all of this: https://www.comodo.com/e-commerce/SHA-2-transition.php

Tell him the benefits ....oh, Alexander sort of beat me to it. But basically, tell him that this time you will be building in ProcessWire because it is what is required now, together with a mobile first website. Unless he is insisting on using EE, I wouldn't even tell him the pros and cons, just say why PW is ideal, without saying why EE isn't. As my brother always said (he is the proper salesperson of the family), stick to the plot. If what happened in the past isn't part of the plot, don't go there.

Yep, Hanna - she is much safer. If you want to make it less techy, you could create a drop down with preset values that are then written into the template with the logic: If include value is "Graduate" include this file

Yep, the certificate authorities are rubbing their hands in glee.

Got a wee problem here. If I use This in a template <?php if($options["pageTableExtended"]){ echo "<h3>{$page->headline}</h3>"; } else { // load of other stuff } It is not rendering the headline field. If I remove the IF then it works. Turning debug mode on in the admin gives me: Notice: : Undefined index: pageTableExtended in /home/joss/public_html/site/templates/image.php on line 3 What I do wrong?

Just a thought: maybe by default the item template should NOT have the show in add new shortcut menu set to yes, but rather to no. Or have that option as part of the create form. I have just had an interesting selection of things appear on my add new button!

Does it come complete with ProcessWire release deadlines?

Ah, I think I predate that. I grew up in London in the 60s, and was working in London in the seventies when the IRA were setting off bombs in Oxford Street (100 yards from the studio I was at) and Baader Meinhof were regularly on the news.

You know, you never see pink cars until you own a pink car, and then you see them everywhere. Same with Sendy - never heard of it till yesterday and now it is everywhere....

Using Sendy/SES, how is it with not getting rejected by the likes of Google, Outlook.com and so on? I notice that one of the things that Mailchimp and CampaignMonitor talk a lot about is building their reputation so that emails get through as much as possible. Are you guys having to build your own reputations? And if so, how are you doing it?

Settings for the CKeditor in the wire folder should actually be put in the inputfieldCKeditor directory in the site/modules folder, so they do not get overwritten by Wire updates. That also includes any additional plugins you might install.

Well, gentlemen, I think Soma is always looking for volunteers to help....

So far, with my experiments, I have found INK by Zurb very good. I even fired up Dreamweaver to use it. What I like is in their documentation they have compatibility tables for various ways of using it. For instance, there are problems with media queries on some combinations. So they offer alternative ways of doing things. They also have a free inliner on their site, which is very gracious ... Certainly it seems that even more than with web, a mobile first design philosophy is paramount.