Over a series of 8 videos, watch and learn as Ryan builds an entire ExpressionEngine website from beginning to end. Get started now.
Follow along in this silent video as a test out the new rich text editor in ExpressionEngine 2.5. I’ve only played with the basics so but it seems like a nice, simple editor that outputs good HTML.
Posted on May 07, 2012 by Ryan Irelan
Update: I reported this as a EE 2.5 feature but it was actually introduced in EE 2.4. My search of the change log led me to believe it was new but I searched the wrong part. Apologies! Still, a nice addition. Thanks to Andy Gaunt for pointing that out to me.
A small but nice update to EE 2.4 is the simple link to create a new entry after publishing one and ending up on the (in my mind, nearly useless) View Entry screen.
Added link to publish another entry after publishing an entry.
Not a big addition but certainly one that makes a difference when you need to add multiple entries to the same channel.
Posted on May 07, 2012 by Ryan Irelan
Today EllisLab released ExpressionEngine 2.5. After delaying the original release date of March, the 2.5 version that contains the new rich text editor is now available for download and purchase.
From the blog post announcing the release:
ExpressionEngine 2.5.0 is a feature and security release. It features a new Rich Text Editor field type, a Rich Text Editor Module to allow use of the editor on the front end, and a Cookie Consent Module designed to help European Union (EU) users comply with privacy laws impacting cookie use. In addition to a number of new features, this release improves XSS filtering and redirect behavior. For developers there are a number of new hooks and improvements, and everyone will benefit from the stability improvements provided by over 50 bug fixes.
For developers there are some new hooks available and support for compliance with the EU cookie laws through the Cookie Consent Module.
Read all about it in the blog post or read the 2.5.0 changelog for all the details.
Posted on May 07, 2012 by Ryan Irelan
Posted on May 03, 2012 by Ryan Masuga
John Rogerson, Director of Web at Sewanee: The University of the South, joins the podcast again to share his tips for efficient EE development using DRY techniques.
John details his two-fold DRY approach in EE, starting with MVC approach of separating your data controllers (i.e. template tags, channel queries, etc.) from your views (i.e. html). John then discusses the DRY goal of using one embed per template with an add-on, like Stash, that maps your data output to your views. John even put together a DRY template example on GitHub to demonstrate this DRY method.
Posted on May 03, 2012 by EE Podcast
This month we added a new advertiser to the site. He needs no introduction. I’m sure most of you are already using at least one of his add-ons. I’m talking about Low Schutte and his Go to Low add-on site.
This month Low wants you to know about the update to Low Reorder, which makes it easy to reorder entries through the control panel. If you’ve used previous versions of Low Reorder you will pleased to know that you can now reorder entries across channels.
Thanks to Low for supporting EE Insider this month. And thank you to our other great advertisers for their ongoing support.
Do you have a product or service that you want to share with the smart, savvy, good looking, and moderately athletic EE Insider readership? Get in touch.
Posted on May 03, 2012 by Ryan Irelan
Speaking of comparison charts, Exp:resso put together a comparison chart of e-commerce options on ExpressionEngine.
The apps covered in the chart are: their own Exp:resso Store, Cartthrob, and BrilliantRetail. It is a comprehensive chart and even includes Buy Now links at the bottom for each add-on.
Awesome.
Posted on Apr 30, 2012 by Ryan Irelan
I don’t know when this was created, but via Twitter I found out about a EE search comparison chart on the Solspace Super Search product page.
The feature comparison puts side-by-side the built-in ExpressionEngine search, Low Search, and Solspace Super Search.
Very handy if you’re researching which search module is the best one for your site.
Posted on Apr 30, 2012 by Ryan Irelan
“We’ve always modeled content.”
That was the first thing I said to myself after reading the A List Apart article Content Modelling: A Master Skill by Rachel Lovinger.
Rachel details the idea and work behind breaking website content and pages into different data buckets (in our case this would be Channel Custom Fields and Channels). Content modelling is important because we need make sure the people managing the website have the control they need over the content. Does that sidebar paragraph about the site need to be edited on occasion? Make sure you store it in a way that the website team can update it.
As people who develop with and on ExpressionEngine, content modelling seems obvious to us. This is what we’ve always done. It is an important part of being a competent web developer. It is not something that we should just leave to someone else to do.
To demonstrate this, read through this article by Justin Reynolds on content modelling with ExpressionEngine.
If you’re going to model content effectively you need a content management system that makes it as painless as possible to organise information into well defined data containers. I thought I’d take a moment to outline why I think ExpressionEngine by EllisLabs (sic) does this so well. It’s the primary reason I use it as my standard content management solution for larger websites. The system was designed from the ground up with flexible content modelling in mind: it makes it very straightforward to define ‘channels’ of infomation built of any type of data that can be displayed on a website: single lines of text, body copy, images, multimedia files, PDFs and other downloadable files, dates, categories - and so on. I’ll stress from the outset that I’m sure there are other systems that also handle content modelling well - it’s just that I like the way ExpressionEngine does it.
Posted on Apr 30, 2012 by Ryan Irelan
Hacking EE core is OK. The CMS isn’t perfect. Just document your changes and carry on. #eecms
— Ryan Masuga (@masuga) April 29, 2012
Whether it was a homegrown hack or one we found somewhere to work around a limitation or bug in ExpressionEngine, we’ve all done it at some point. The thing with hacking the EE core files is this: if you hack it, you own it.
You own the responsibility for letting those that come after you know about the hack. If it’s your site or one you will always maintain (unlikely), then you own the responsibility to always re-patch the core files with your hack when upgrading to a newer version of ExpressionEngine.
Rob Sanchez had a good response and technique for making upgrading site with hacks a little easier (this is only applicable to people who use Git or other version control system):
@masuga do EE as submodule w/ a hack branch, then you can merge newer EE versions back in later. plus your diff is your document of changes.
— Rob Sanchez (@_rsan) April 29, 2012
If you hack the core EE files, where do you document those changes so developers that come after you can know about them?
Posted on Apr 30, 2012 by Ryan Irelan
Posted on Apr 26, 2012 by Ryan Masuga
I’ve been working with the new add-on HelpDesk from Krea and I want to share my experiences so far.
This review is based on my own effort to create an integrated, single location for supporting my own ExpressionEngine add-ons. I’ve considered using a number of other existing packages, most of which do not have any integration with ExpressionEngine, as well as the possibility to build my own support add-on. I also considered building a support section on top of an existing tool such as my ProForm module. I even considered building something from scratch using ExpressionEngine’s core capabilities. While I do think that these other options could certainly do the job, HelpDesk has given be a huge head start on the job and because of it I’m nearly finished with this new section of the site after only a few days of concentrated work with HelpDesk.
If you’re looking for my one line recommendation, it is this: buy a copy of HelpDesk.
Now let’s get into some specifics.
Posted on Apr 25, 2012 by Isaac Raway
Last week I teased the new Minimalist override for the ExpressionEngine Control Panel. This week it is available to purchase and install on your EE site.
Minimalist is a completely overhauled look and feel for the ExpressionEngine control panel. Everything has been stripped down to it’s bare essentials, designed to help optimize the experience of managing and creating content.
Check out the screenshots and description at Devot:ee. The add-on costs $25.
Posted on Apr 24, 2012 by Ryan Irelan
If you have a product or service that you want to get in front of the smart, funny and passionate ExpressionEngine community, EE Insider has a premium ad spot available for the month of May.
Interested? Get in touch.
Posted on Apr 24, 2012 by Ryan Irelan
From EllisLab CEO Leslie Camacho:
Ethics: “I won’t push my software on you, cos what I really want: for you to succeed. If ExpressionEngine not right I’ll say so.”—@knight777
— Josh Clark (@globalmoxie) April 24, 2012
And that makes for a better community, too.
Posted on Apr 24, 2012 by Ryan Irelan
Fresh off their release of Link Vault yesterday, the chaps at Masuga Design unveiled another add-on today: Devot:ee Monitor.
The devot:ee add-on keeps you up-to-date on what add-ons are out-of-date on your ExpressionEngine sites
[…]
A great free developer tool for use on any size ExpressionEngine site. View what is installed on your site at a glance, and see what add-ons need updating. You can view release notes, and click right over to devot-ee.com to download updated versions.
[…]
This add-on was a joint effort between Masuga Design/devot:ee, EE Coder, and Antistatic Design. Many thinks to EE Coder’s lead coder Aaron Kuzemchak (@akuzemchak) for the initial development, Shawn Maida (@eecoder) for support and feedback, and Mark Wells of Antistatic Design (@antistaticdsgn) for the design and layout.
The Devot:ee Monitor add-on is free and available from Devot:ee.
I’ll definitely be installing this!
Posted on Apr 19, 2012 by Ryan Irelan
Working on the web automatically means we’re all some type of remote worker. But, what about when you expand your network? How does working in a distributed company differ from a solo situation? What are some benefits and pitfalls in structuring a company where none of your co-workers meet in person or share the same space on a regular basis?
EllisLab CEO Leslie Camacho joins EE Podcast this week to answer those questions and more about remote teams. Leslie fills us in on organizational structure, communication protocols, collaboration tools and legal considerations when working in a distributed company. Tune in!
Posted on Apr 19, 2012 by EE Podcast
Posted on Apr 19, 2012 by Ryan Masuga
Two sites recently launched on ExpressionEngine that I want to tell you about. The first is a site for locating dog walks in the UK.
It’s called Walkiees and was built by an officer in the UK Border Agency. He previously had no web development experience but learned as much as he could about EE and just went for it. He wrote about the site in the EE Forums:
A buddy of mine, who is a web designer, said that they had recently switched all their site builds to EE, and that I should look into it.
I started consuming as much tutorials, podcasts and information as I could. […] I’ve never touched EE before, and I had VERY limited knowledge of HTML/CSS, but with the great support that I received here, Solspace, gwcode, and many many more support forums, I finally managed to get the site ready for its initial launch.
The site uses Solspace User and Favorites, Navee, SEO Lite, CP Analytics Settings, Accessible Captcha and more. Read the forum post for all the details.
He also notes:
I doubt very much that I have put the site together in the most efficient way, and its somewhat simplistic at the moment, but I think I have a good base to keep working and developing on.
Well, that’s how everyone starts. My first site is an embarrassment. Hell, there are things on this site that I wince at. Welcome to ExpressioneEngine and congrats on the launch!
The second site is Gallery System, a site that sells picture hanging systems. The site was developed by Versa Studio. In a forum post they listed the following add-ons in use: Structure, Wygwam and Matrix. UltraCart powers the e-commerce part of the site.
Interestingly, this site was originally done in EE1 but completely rebuilt in EE2. From the forum post:
The site was a from-scratch rebuilding of the previous EE1 site. Since we were changing a lot of information, we found it easier to start fresh than try to adapt what we had, especially since we switched to Structure for the new site.
Posted on Apr 18, 2012 by Ryan Irelan
Masuga Design (who owns and runs Devot:ee) released a new add-on today called Link Vault. This is a classic case of taking what you built for your own site and turning it into something everyone can use.
Link Vault is what powers the Devot:ee add-on downloads and how they are able to protect those downloads from leeching and link sharing and track downloads.
Link Vault allows you to protect your local and remote download links, track all downloads, track and block leech attempts and disguise any other link URLs you’d like to protect. There are also hooks available so you can extend Link Vault’s functionality.
Link Vault will let you create download links or download buttons and it tracks the downloads for you so you can create reports.
The add-on is available now and costs $25 per site license.
Congrats to Ryan and the team!
Posted on Apr 18, 2012 by Ryan Irelan
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