There was a great post on the Adbusters blog earlier this month by someone who reflectively quit using Facebook:

For the vast majority of people experiencing the fragmented, fast-paced modern world of 2008, a Sunday pause at the end of a hectic week may cause them to become all too aware of the lack of content in their lives. So we update our online profiles and tell ourselves that we are reaching out.

…the time we waste on Facebook only makes our search for comfort and community more elusive. Online networking sites are marketed as facilitators of community-orientation but when I think about the millions of people – myself included – who spend large portions of their waking lives feeding off an exchange of thousands of computerized, fragmented images, it doesn’t add up to community-engagement…

Read the full article here

The past few weeks I’ve been at work on a couple of different projects, two of which I’m excited to tell you about:

Make Things Fair

For a while I’ve dreamed of setting up a site that will act as a source for information on Human Trafficking and Fair Trade, telling stories as well as offering ways to take action. A few months ago, after a little brainstorming with some friends (thanks Mark), I purchased the makethingsfair.com domain name. I hope that it will become a valuable resource and a place for sharing ideas and activities.

If you care about these issues, please show your support by:

1. Subscribing to receive email updates (click here)
2. Following @makethingsfair on Twitter
3. Contributing stories by email (stories [at] makethingsfair [dot] com)

Click here to visit Make Things Fair

Looks Can Kill

The website of my web design and development company, Looks Can Kill, hasn’t changed much since I first started the company back in 2005. I wanted to freshen it up, and to integrate it with WordPress, in the hope of expanding my portfolio offering, and having a place to file web related blog posts.

Click here to visit Looks Can Kill

Apologies to my readers who are less than interested with tech and code related posts. I’m plotting a way to separate my posts, so that you won’t be subjected to this much longer. Thanks for your patience!

This post continues from yesterday, since I ran into problems trying to implement the easy file upload in the SAEF (Stand Alone Entry Form).  After much searching in the forums, and Google, I discovered how I could get this running smoothly.  The following assumes that you have already installed Mark Huot’s File Upload Extension and have it up and running through your control panel.

1. Modify your mod.weblog_standalone.php (found at /system/modules/weblog/mod.weblog_standalone.php) so that instead of reading:
   $data = array(
'hidden_fields' => $hidden_fields,
'action' => $RET,
'id' => 'entryform'
);

   It reads:
   $data = array(
'hidden_fields' => $hidden_fields,
'action' => $RET,
'id' => 'entryform',
'enctype' => 'multipart/form-data'
);

   For more information read this article by Chad Crowell.

2. Find out the Field_ID, for the custom field that you are wanting to add to, in the Control Panel by going to Admin > Utilities > SQL Manager > Manage Database Tables and browsing the exp_weblog_fields table
3. Add the following code to your SAEF (below the {/custom_fields} tag), exchanging 9 for your unique Field_ID

<label for="content">File Upload:</label>
<input class="required" id="file_content" title="Please upload a file. This field is required." name="field_id_9_img[]" type="file" class='file' />
<input type="hidden" value="" class="file" name="field_id_9"/>
<input type="hidden" value="file" class="file" name="field_ft_9"/>
4. And, finally, test to see if it works properly before going live with a client’s site.

For more on this, please take a look at the following links from the EE forum:

• How to get Mark Huot’s File Extension to work with SAEF/Stand Alone Entry Form
• An extension that can be used instead of hacking the mod.weblog_standalone.php
file.
• Mark Huot’s actual Extension

Until yesterday I felt that the biggest weakness in using ExpressionEngine as a Content Management System was its roundabout way of handling image and file uploads. For my less tech-savvy clients this was particularly troublesome because it meant that some of them felt they were unable to upload images themselves.

However yesterday I discovered Mark Huot’s File Upload Extension. The extension makes managing files much easier, giving users a simple ‘browse’ button for searching their hard drive, and even manages resizing and cropping site wide (without users ever having to face questions like “would you like to resize your image,” or “would you like to delete the original?”

I did, however, have to customize the extension slightly due to the fact that images with a .jpg file extension were pixelating. After a quick search of the forums I discovered that if I replaced the following code (in the extension file, under the heading ‘Write File’):

if(@imagegif($dst_img, $dst) !== false) {}
else if(@imagejpeg($dst_img, $dst) !== false) {}
else if(@imagepng($dst_img, $dst) !== false) {}

With:
if(@imagejpeg($dst_img, $dst, 90) !== false) {}
else if(@imagegif($dst_img, $dst) !== false) {}
else if(@imagepng($dst_img, $dst) !== false) {}

I could avoid this pixelation and display better quality images.

Update:
I’ve been using this extension on a Windows 2003 server and had some difficulties with the extension accepting the server paths. This post helped me resolve the issue.

As part of my internship with All Nations I’ve been given the responsibility of developing their African/South African web presence. Part of this involves integrating their book store and contact database with a simple, central, social networking site. It won’t be anywhere near the complexity clutter of facebook, but may involve a customised version of WordPress MU, utilizing Buddypress.

The most tricky part of this process is that Paypal do not allow funds to be withdrawn into a South African bank account.  There are so many wonderful, simple, ecommerce solutions that make use of Paypal, and as a result save the merchant a lot of money.

So what are the alternatives?

Right now I’m looking at the following options:

• Use Shopify and find a payment processor which works well (and is low in cost) in South Africa.
• Use Magento and their VCS payment module.

Please do let me know if you have any ideas!