Blog Entry
Biber Ltd. released a new fieldtype for EE 2: Currency Field. This field enables you to easily have a currency fieldtype in your publish form. It supports dozens of currencies (pretty much everything except Monopoly money) and you can choose whether the currency is user selectable or not.
Using the template tags, you can leverage the Google Calculator to do currency conversions while also showing the original price (see the fieldtype docs for more explanation).
Currency Field costs $4.99 US and is available now for EE 2.
Blog Entry
Long-time EE development shop Solspace is looking to expand their team with a new EE developer contract position:
We seek a skilled ExpressionEngine add-on / CI / LAMP stack developer to help with both client jobs and our extensive add-on library. You will be employed on an hourly remote contractor basis with flexible hours, but we expect you to be generally available during regular business hours. Our need is immediate.
Does it sound like something for you? Read the details and get in touch.
Blog Entry
Earlier today Patrick Glynn posted the following question on Twitter about image positioning in ExpressionEngine:
What’s the best way to allow a client to position images in the EE backend? Can one dynamically apply a CSS class to the image?
I’ve done everything from creating custom formatting buttons to just using Wygwam. What’s your technique for allowing images to be easily positioned inside of content areas? Let us know in the comments.
Blog Entry
It was a nice surprise to see the ExpressionEngine Podcast nominated for Podcast of the Year for the .net awards.
This initial list will be shortened, so if you dig the EE Podcast, please vote for us! After you vote they will create a short list and from there the judges will decide the winners.
Can you help us out? Head over to the .net awards website and submit your vote for the ExpressionEngine Podcast. Thanks!
Blog Entry
From the shores of this balmy private island on which I live, I bring you this week’s add-on bounty:
OK, so there was only one new addition this week. There are still almost 900 more for you to peruse at devot:ee, any time you wish. A random favorite of mine is Publish Tweeks, which removes the “Quick Save” and “Preview” buttons when publishing. The key part for me is that it also cancels the redirect to the preview after saving, keeping the user on the edit screen. This is very handy when you’re making small changes and updates and saving frequently, and it works well if you’re using Live Look.
Blog Entry
There has been a lot of activity in the MojoMotor world since the software was released last month. Add-ons, community websites and websites built with MojoMotor have all surfaced.
Here’s a roundup of some of what has been going on.
There’s also been good activity in the MojoMotor Forums and even on Twitter. There’s even been a little controversy with some people complaining that MojoMotor add-ons are too expensive and some others calling people who think add-ons should be free “idiots” (probably not the best idea since some of those “idiots” might be your future “customers”). Hug it out, everyone.
As I mentioned when MojoMotor launched, I’ve been using it to power my ExpressionEngine 2 book website. I have a very simple implementation but with the add-ons mentioned above, you can already create more complex website with MojoMotor.
New to MojoMotor? Learn more at the MojoMotor website.
Blog Entry
Fans of Solspace’s Super Search module will be happy to know that the module now supports ExpressionEngine 2. This is great news for me because I have a project coming up where Super Search is needed.
A bit about Super Search:
The architecture of the module borrows from Google’s model of constructing search queries. Anything that you might want to query for, keywords, weblogs, categories, statuses, custom fields, date ranges, custom field numeric ranges, etc. can be loaded into a single URI segment by using the Super Search syntax
In order to run Super Search on EE 2 you also have to install the Solspace Bridge Expansion (which is included with the module).
Related: EE Insider review of the Super Search module.
Blog Entry
Today I launched a brand new site, Mijingo and the new ExpressionEngine 2 Screencasts.
Mijingo is the new home for my training materials (minus the ExpressionEngine book, which is still available from my awesome publisher) and those of future authors at Mijingo.
Learning ExpressionEngine 2
That’s the title for the new series of screencasts on ExpressionEngine 2. They’re beginner-level screencasts that walk you through, step-by-step, how to build a basic website in ExpressionEngine 2. The sample site we build this time is for Channel University. Is it real? No. But fake schools need websites, too!
This series is 8 episodes and runs more than 4 hours. I went through the first series and distilled it down to only the most vital information needed to get up and running with EE 2.
If you’re looking for more advanced material, don’t worry, all of that will be coming soon!
Learn more: ExpressionEngine 2 Screencasts
Blog Entry
On October 22, 2010 ExpressionEngine Camp will take place in Denver, Colorado. It is being organized by Q Digital Studio and is a one-day event for EE developers and users.
EE Camp brings hands-on ExpressionEngine presentations, sharing, discussion and ideas to Denver, Colorado. ExpressionEngine is a flexible content management system that designers, developers and clients truly enjoy using to build beautiful and feature-rich sites.
It looks like they’re still working out the details but the date is firm and the venue is the Casselman’s Event Venue in Denver. Registration isn’t open yet so you might want to check the site regularly for more information.
Looking forward to seeing this happen. I hope more camps take place across the world.
Blog Entry
This is a on-going series of entries where I highlight EE experiences.
Spent $518.83 on ExpressionEngine and add-on licenses for this project. Totally worth it. Saved me and the client countless hours.
Jason Siffring via Twitter
Completely agree. You could never create $518.83 worth of software in $518.83 worth of your time.
Blog Entry
Last in the Community News section of the EE forums, Darrell Wilson posted about a new EE 1.6 site he launched for Glasgow Tourism Service Initiative.
Darrell gave a few details of the add-ons used on the Glasgow website.
Fairly standard installation with a few extensions to simplify content entry for the client:
- Category Checkboxes
- LG TinyMCE
- LG ImageManager
- LG FileManager
- Moxiecode Authentication
Glasgow: Service with Style
Blog Entry
Good things are worth waiting for. And that’s certainly true with the newest installation of Stephen Lewis’ series of articles on building an add-on for ExpressionEngine 2.
This time he covers designing the user interface and walks you through the process of decisions and ends with a working wireframe/prototype.
I don’t want to waste your time reading what I have to say about it, so please click over to Stephen’s site: ExpressionEngine 2 Add-on Development
Blog Entry
I’ll admit that when I first came across this blog post by Jason Morehead on EE pricing that I rolled my eyes and quietly mumbled “Oh here we go again.” But then I realized who wrote it and then actually read it and, well, it was a nice change of pace in the conversation dominated by pricing complainers.
Jason talks through the common complaint that EE + add-ons is too expensive and WordPress is cheaper. We’ve all heard it a million times before and, honestly, I just ignore the topic at this point. I don’t give it publicity here on EE Insider and I don’t spend any time arguing with anyone. Why? Because if someone is approaching EE solely based on cost, they’re already missing the point of why EE is such a great deal.
In Episode 24 of the EE Podcast, we talked a bit about this. The topic was never supposed to be whether EE was too expensive (I say this because I noticed on Twitter that some people didn’t listen to the whole show before shooting off comments), but we did talk about it. One thing I mentioned is that I’ve found ExpressionEngine’s low price (compared to a lot of solutions that some of us regularly bid against) is the real problem. Some clients see that as a liability after years of paying thousands of dollars per year for some CMS that would make your eyes bleed.
In the comments of Jason’s post, I think Brandon Kelly summed it up nicely:
Pricing complaints are usually a sign that the pricing is spot on. If EE (and add-ons) were actually *too* expensive, people would stop complaining about it and just move on.
And Greg Ferrell wrote:
I think that’s the trouble that a lot of people have a hard time seeing. If you NEED those $430 worth of addons to get a website done, that’s a large website and needs to be upcharged accordingly. If you are charging $600 for a website that requires all of that, you might need to rethink your pricing.
If the cost of getting up and running in EE with basic add-ons is only $500, then I think that’s a great deal. If your site budget is less, then EE probably isn’t the solution for you.
Blog Entry
EllisLab Community Architect Leslie Doherty put out a call to the community to post panels they’ve submitted for SXSW 2011 next March in Austin, Texas.
Each year (it seems to be getting earlier and earlier) anyone can submit a panel to the SXSW committee for inclusion in the following year’s program. The panels are all placed in the “Panel Picker” and the public gets to vote on which panels they want to see at the conference. After that an advisory board will make the final selections based on the voting.
So, now it’s time for the community to speak out and post any panels they’ve proposed to the special forum thread. Support the members of our community and please vote for their panels!
Panel thread in the forums: SXSW Panels Promoted for 2011
Blog Entry
This week’s new additions, bringing the list of ExpressionEngine add-ons to a staggering 887 items (for comparison, there were about 300 add-ons cataloged in early 2009):
This week we’d like to point out the impact some of the CodeIgniter developers are having on ExpressionEngine. Two new EE2 add-ons, Rest by Phil Sturgeon and Backup by Thomas Myer are some of the most viewed, most talked about, and most purchased add-ons this year. It’s great that these developers can spend time creating useful things for EE2, now that it is built on CodeIgniter. Let’s hope we see more from these guys in the near future. Nice work.
Blog Entry
In the latest episode of the EE Podcast, Dan, Lea and I talked to our favorite houseboat owner, Lodewijk Schutte (“Low”). I’m sure you know Low through his EECI talks and his EE add-ons. We asked Low to join us on the show to talk about using PHP in your EE templates.
This past June, Lodewijk Schutte (“Low”) gave a fascinating talk at EECI in San Francisco about different ways you can use PHP in your templates and gain a ton of functionality in the process. It was one of my favorite talks of the entire conference. Low joins us on the podcast to further discuss PHP in templates and share his experience, tips and knowledge.
The show lasted about 30 minutes and was packed full of great advice for EE users. Listen or watch the whole thing over at 5by5: EE Podcast #27: Waiter, there’s PHP in my templates!
Blog Entry
The next generation of the popular ExpressionEngine Screencasts, completely redone for EE 2, will be available starting next week. I’ve been working over the last several months planning the new screencasts and over the last month and a half recording, editing and exporting. We’re tying up loose ends and putting together a brand new site. And we’re excited.
Just like before, the screencasts will be full quality, downloadable videos that you can take with you and learn on your own time, offline or online. I put together a preview for you. View it here or watch the full version via the downloadable video.
I want to make sure EE Insider readers are the first to know about it. If you want to be alerted to the availability of the ExpressionEngine 2 Screencasts and receive a coupon to save a little bit of cash, sign up below for the email notification list. Only subscribers to the list will get a coupon, so don’t forget to click Subscribe!
This offer is now over. The screencasts are available for purchase over at Mijingo. Thanks to everyone for signing up for a discount!
See you next week!
Blog Entry
Today EllisLab posted a new build of EE 2.1 that addresses a potential security issue in the previous build (released last week). If you updated to the 20100805 build, you should also update to the 20100810 build to patch the potential issue.
Complete changelog for the build:
- Fixed a potential security issue in build 20100805 where in certain circumstances guest users might be incorrectly recognized as an authentic member.
- Fixed a bug (#13516) where the language translation utility failed due to new language file naming scheme created in the last build.
- Fixed a bug (#13517) where the deprecated gallery modules language file was still present.
If you hadn’t updated to that previous build your EE install is not affected by the incorrect authentication issue.
Blog Entry
There is no better way to learn than with some context. Reading the EE documentation is a thrilling way to spend your weekend (what?) but learning about EE concepts with real examples and code is even better.
Not long ago we published A Primer on Relationships by Noah Stokes and it walked you through a real-world application of relationships in EE.
Tony Geer posted a nice walk-through on his site about how he used relationships to make it easy to organize and display multimedia content (YouTube videos) on a client site.
I created one channel that captured only YouTube videos. Next, I created a new channel for the projects and took advantage of ExpressEngine’s freedom and flexibility to assign a field group with over 15 fields so that we could easily capture every bit of information that was needed for each project, but no field for videos. Why? Because I’ll use ExpressionEngine’s related entry functionality to link individual YouTube videos to particular projects.
Brush up on your relationships and read the entire post: ExpressionEngine Relationships and Related Entries by Tony Geer.
Blog Entry
A new build of ExpressionEngine 2.1 was released by EllisLab and it includes several bug fixes as well as the following items:
- Added the ability to localize custom tabs on the Publish page.
- Changed default installation value for Database Caching to be ‘off’.
- Changed File Manager Modal to use jQuery Tools Overlay instead of FancyBox.
- Renamed all language files to match the CodeIgniter naming conventions.
- Temporarily disabled db caching for all installations until all db caching issues are resolved.
It’s always a good idea to stay up-to-date with the latest builds so be sure to download and update your sites.
ExpressionEngine 2.1.0 build 20100805
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