The Web Design & Development Megathread

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mmm11105: Apr 27, 2010

I'm doing a small site for a friend, that he needs to be able to edit. However, all he needs to be able to do is edit the text in a few boxes and upload photos (with auto resizing, and thumbnails). What would be the best CMS? Everyone seems either too complicated (he doesn't need page management or a blog of anything of that sort), or too simple to handle the photo gallery. I'd rather not confuse him with a UI that has a million options he won't use.

# ? Sep 28, 2013 15:53

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# ? May 8, 2024 22:23

wwb: Aug 17, 2004

spacebard posted:

This. Drupal is behind the curve (maybe able to swap in bcrypt/PHP 5.5).

There is a module called mass_pwreset, which will reset all passwords and send one-time login links, but you should remove that as it's a risk to keep it installed. Also look into using password_policy module.

Thanks, that makes sense. Not that many users involved so I would just go hit the password reset page for everyone rather than messing with adding / removing modules.

It seems like we aren't that bad off -- purportedly drupal7 has a per-user salt anyhow (see http://drupalscout.com/knowledge-base/improvements-security-drupal-7).

# ? Sep 28, 2013 16:57

PT6A: Jan 5, 2006; Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane

mmm11105 posted:

I'm doing a small site for a friend, that he needs to be able to edit. However, all he needs to be able to do is edit the text in a few boxes and upload photos (with auto resizing, and thumbnails). What would be the best CMS? Everyone seems either too complicated (he doesn't need page management or a blog of anything of that sort), or too simple to handle the photo gallery. I'd rather not confuse him with a UI that has a million options he won't use.

I'd recommend WordPress. It's pretty simple, and it can be extended if it's needed down the line. The problem with trying to get the simplest possible solution to any problem is that any given person uses approximately 20% of the features of any software/system/etc., but every user uses a different 20%, so unless you have extraordinary luck or roll your own solution, you're not likely to find a system that does what you want without having a bunch of additional, possibly confusing features.

# ? Sep 28, 2013 18:03

cbirdsong: Sep 8, 2004; Commodore of the Apocalypso; Lipstick Apathy

mmm11105 posted:

I'm doing a small site for a friend, that he needs to be able to edit. However, all he needs to be able to do is edit the text in a few boxes and upload photos (with auto resizing, and thumbnails). What would be the best CMS? Everyone seems either too complicated (he doesn't need page management or a blog of anything of that sort), or too simple to handle the photo gallery. I'd rather not confuse him with a UI that has a million options he won't use.

If you don't mind paying a one-time fee, you might check into Perch. It lets you just define areas of the page that can be edited using a super simple backend. If he starts wanting anything fancier, though, you'll quickly outgrow it, but it's great at what it does do..

# ? Sep 28, 2013 18:10

The Merkinman: Apr 22, 2007; I sell only quality merkins. What is a merkin you ask? Why, it's a wig for your genitals!

What's the right way to do breakpoints and/or how are they done in Foundation?
I know the new thought is make breakpoints based on your layout, not device. Problem is breakpoints are "max-width:800px" and with 4-5" phones and 7,10" tablets having higher resolutions than laptops wouldn't it result in no recent device getting a small form factor layout?

# ? Sep 28, 2013 18:19

jiggerypokery: Feb 1, 2012; ...But I could hardly wait six months with a red hot jape like that under me belt.

Can anyone give a definitive answer as to why (or even if) PostgreSQL is better than MySQL? It seems a lot of people just say it is without any kind of substance behind why.

# ? Sep 28, 2013 19:29

Oh My Science: Dec 29, 2008

I don't think you can get a definitive answer unless you tell us what you're looking for in terms of features.

This goes over the basic open source advantages http://www.postgresql.org/about/advantages/

Here is a relatively recent writeup of the 9.3 beta used by Heroku https://postgres.heroku.com/blog/past/2013/9/9/postgres_93_now_available/

# ? Sep 28, 2013 20:00

Thermopyle: Jul 1, 2003; ...the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt. �Bertrand Russell

jiggerypokery posted:

Can anyone give a definitive answer as to why (or even if) PostgreSQL is better than MySQL? It seems a lot of people just say it is without any kind of substance behind why.

Ask in the SQL or general programming threads.

# ? Sep 28, 2013 20:05

Mrs. Wynand: Nov 23, 2002; DLT 4EVA

jiggerypokery posted:

Can anyone give a definitive answer as to why (or even if) PostgreSQL is better than MySQL? It seems a lot of people just say it is without any kind of substance behind why.

It's pretty much just features. There are just more things you can do with PostgreSQL, more details implemented like transaction isolation levels. Materialized views, windows, superb custom function support for triggers and poo poo. You usually don't need any of those things but ever so often you run into a problem which really really does need them, and then you will be oh so happy you have them available. Barring that though, they are basically equal in terms of performance, support, tooling etc. Used to be pg was a little slower, this hasn't been the case for years though. You'll also find that very specific tasks may be ever so slightly faster on one than the other after exhaustive optimization strategies, but that will only really be available somewhere past the point where you'll have needed an expensive DBA consultant anyway (who will probably tell you to start thinking about Oracle).

So with that in mind, I'd argue that there just isn't any reason not to use PostgreSQL for new projects, but also no reason to switch to it away from MySQL unless you have a specific application for one of those aforementioned features. I do think it's still accurate to say that "PostgreSQL is better than MySQL", it's just that the ways that it is "better" may or may not actually be relevant to whatever it is you're doing.

Mrs. Wynand fucked around with this message at 20:12 on Sep 28, 2013

# ? Sep 28, 2013 20:09

pipes!: Jul 10, 2001; Nap Ghost

The Merkinman posted:

What's the right way to do breakpoints and/or how are they done in Foundation?
I know the new thought is make breakpoints based on your layout, not device. Problem is breakpoints are "max-width:800px" and with 4-5" phones and 7,10" tablets having higher resolutions than laptops wouldn't it result in no recent device getting a small form factor layout?

You can target higher-res devices with device pixel ratios, although you're still thinking too device-centric with this approach:

CSS code:

@media
only screen and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio : 1.5),
only screen and (min-device-pixel-ratio : 1.5) {
}

Try using an ems based layout, which intrinsically links viewport to content:

CSS code:

@media 
all and (min-width: 41em) {
}

Here's a good article that goes into more detail.

# ? Sep 28, 2013 22:11

Lumpy: Apr 26, 2002; La! La! La! Laaaa!; College Slice

The Merkinman posted:

What's the right way to do breakpoints and/or how are they done in Foundation?
I know the new thought is make breakpoints based on your layout, not device. Problem is breakpoints are "max-width:800px" and with 4-5" phones and 7,10" tablets having higher resolutions than laptops wouldn't it result in no recent device getting a small form factor layout?

Design for tiny screens first. Expand your browser window. When you think things "look dumb", set a breakpoint. Make things look not dumb. Expand your window more...

Basically let the content determine your breakpoints, not just default to 320/480/768/+ without thinking about it.

Here's an article that says that much better than I did, with pictures! http://www.creativebloq.com/responsive-web-design/determining-breakpoints-responsive-design-8122871

EDIT: Things with "retina" displays return their effective resolution, not their "real" resolution. So an iPhone 4 with twice the pixel density of an iPhone 3GS will still hit the same breakpoints even though "technically" it's a 640x960 device.

Lumpy fucked around with this message at 13:29 on Sep 29, 2013

# ? Sep 29, 2013 13:27

PT6A: Jan 5, 2006; Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane

Yeah, it's pretty confusing the first time you deal with it. I thought I was having a pixel density problem, but it turned out some third-party mailing list signup that my client wanted to use helpfully re-styled my goddamn website by changing max-width on all imgs on mobile devices. Whichever designer came up with that needs a good, solid beating. And, of course, because it loads itself asynchronously and pretty far down the page, there's no easy way to restyle it without putting little bits of CSS far down the page, or using the dreaded !important.

# ? Sep 29, 2013 17:11

DreadCthulhu: Sep 17, 2008; What the fuck is up, Denny's?!

Anyone got words of wisdom regarding setting up a VPN connection to a cloud-based subnet like Amazon's VPC? Kind of tired of keeping all my boxes Internet-facing, but the instructions on AWS also suck balls. I'm sure my lack of familiarity with basic networking concepts is making something trivial much harder than it seems.

# ? Sep 29, 2013 22:11

darthbob88: Oct 13, 2011; YOSPOS

Probably a stupid question, but what are the most common screen sizes for mobile devices? 480x800px, 640x960px, what else? I can't rely on percentages, so I need to use raw px for some things.

# ? Sep 30, 2013 07:43

Skiant: Mar 10, 2013

darthbob88 posted:

Probably a stupid question, but what are the most common screen sizes for mobile devices? 480x800px, 640x960px, what else? I can't rely on percentages, so I need to use raw px for some things.

It's a stupid question.
Use ems and percentages, do not try to cover all devices with absolute pixel values because those will change more often than you'd like to update your stylesheet.

# ? Sep 30, 2013 09:03

Mister Chief: Jun 6, 2011

I think he's talking about media queries and not his general css.

# ? Sep 30, 2013 09:05

Skiant: Mar 10, 2013

Mister Chief posted:

I think he's talking about media queries and not his general css.

Why would he want to use percentages in media queries?

# ? Sep 30, 2013 10:14

Mister Chief: Jun 6, 2011

Skiant posted:

Why would he want to use percentages in media queries?

He wouldn't and no where did I say he would.

# ? Sep 30, 2013 11:11

The Merkinman: Apr 22, 2007; I sell only quality merkins. What is a merkin you ask? Why, it's a wig for your genitals!

darthbob88 posted:

Probably a stupid question, but what are the most common screen sizes for mobile devices? 480x800px, 640x960px, what else? I can't rely on percentages, so I need to use raw px for some things.

This is related to the question I just asked. Do not think in pixels nor device speicifics. What's common today won't be common tomorrow.

# ? Sep 30, 2013 13:50

a lovely poster: Aug 5, 2011; by Pipski

I think it's pretty reasonable to say that if you're making a generic landing page that supports mobile and desktop users, pretty much any width above 320px wide should display "correctly" in that your content/images are all aligned appropriately and there are no major issues. You're only doing yourself a favor to stick to responsive design. It's the way the industry is moving and will be the standard soon (if you don't already think it is) It's about being able to say "any device that is over 320pixels wide, from a iPhone to a 60'' TV, will display correctly. Oh did I mention it's the standard that Google requests and suggests for SEO purposes?". That's what they want to hear in the business community and it's going to make it that much easier to sell yourself to an employer.

I've been a web developer for a little under a decade and the current push towards responsive/mobile-first design is basically a second gold rush in the web development world. I know nobody was asking questions in particular about responsive design... but uh... do it.

# ? Sep 30, 2013 17:35

Uziel: Jun 28, 2004; Ask me about losing 200lbs, and becoming the Viking God of W&W.

Lumpy posted:

Here's a too-fast visual stab at what Skiant posted. Info is consistent, the times and "important" number jump out visually. Layout for one hour box shifts (inline-block hooray!) but keeps the same "feel".

I finally had a chance to work on this.
Any further opinions?

# ? Sep 30, 2013 19:15

Fisticuffs: Aug 9, 2007; Okay you a goon but what's a goon to a goblin?

Have any of you actually learned to code using one of the websites in the OP? I'm going through CodeAcademy now(I've completed their HTML and Java sections, working on Ruby). As a complete newbie to programming I found it somewhat helpful but I would say I am still firmly in the beginner stage of learning how to work with these languages.

I really liked CodeAcademy's interactive setup, and prefer it to using textbooks, which I've struggled with in the past. Is there something available that's similar to CodeAcademy that has more difficult problems? I've looked at their user-submitted content but I am a bit wary of taking on lessons that aren't really vetted; I don't want to pick up a bunch of lovely habits. For anyone that has tried CodeAcademy, what would you recommend as the next step?

E: I like your advice OMS, I'll try just starting a project or joining one while utilizing some of the books and resources I already do have.

Fisticuffs fucked around with this message at 03:38 on Oct 1, 2013

# ? Oct 1, 2013 02:39

Oh My Science: Dec 29, 2008

Fisticuffs posted:

... what would you recommend as the next step?

Trial by fire?

Many of the structured online resources for learning are strictly for beginners, although for some languages more advanced courses exist. Once you've exhausted your options with codecademy, treehouse, etc... it's time to solve real world problems by contributing to open source projects or your own ideas. You can always ask people to review your code if you're worried about things like bad habits. Maybe you would benefit from pair programming?

If you can be more specific in terms of what you want to learn we may be able to point towards more specific resources.

For ruby you can check out http://pragmaticstudio.com/ruby which I myself found to be a decent resource that covers more than the basics.

# ? Oct 1, 2013 03:07

A MIRACLE: Sep 17, 2007; All right. It's Saturday night; I have no date, a two-liter bottle of Shasta and my all-Rush mix-tape... Let's rock.

You could try finding a programming job. My first job, I got hired with basically no outside experience and only two years of CS classes under my belt. It was $30K with benefits (good when your rent is only $200). I sucked rear end but I got a lot better, a lot faster than if I was teaching myself. I find learning a lot easier when I'm programming every day, and getting paid for it. Now I work on all different kinds of projects and run my own consulting company with a few friends.

Just show up with the right attitude, lots of places are hiring.

# ? Oct 1, 2013 13:08

Lumpy: Apr 26, 2002; La! La! La! Laaaa!; College Slice

Fisticuffs posted:

Have any of you actually learned to code using one of the websites in the OP? I'm going through CodeAcademy now(I've completed their HTML and Java sections, working on Ruby). As a complete newbie to programming I found it somewhat helpful but I would say I am still firmly in the beginner stage of learning how to work with these languages.

I really liked CodeAcademy's interactive setup, and prefer it to using textbooks, which I've struggled with in the past. Is there something available that's similar to CodeAcademy that has more difficult problems? I've looked at their user-submitted content but I am a bit wary of taking on lessons that aren't really vetted; I don't want to pick up a bunch of lovely habits. For anyone that has tried CodeAcademy, what would you recommend as the next step?

E: I like your advice OMS, I'll try just starting a project or joining one while utilizing some of the books and resources I already do have.

To reiterate what Oh My Science said, you can pick up syntax and some concepts form those beginner sites (which is a good thing), but you learn to program by solving real problems with code. Find something you really want to exist that doesn't yet, and make it. Maybe start small, but make sure it's something you will find useful or interesting when it's done; that will keep you working at it.

Have others look at your code while you learn, as you get the benefit of their experience as well as the experience you are gaining.

# ? Oct 1, 2013 13:38

Fisticuffs: Aug 9, 2007; Okay you a goon but what's a goon to a goblin?

A MIRACLE posted:

You could try finding a programming job. My first job, I got hired with basically no outside experience and only two years of CS classes under my belt. It was $30K with benefits (good when your rent is only $200). I sucked rear end but I got a lot better, a lot faster than if I was teaching myself. I find learning a lot easier when I'm programming every day, and getting paid for it. Now I work on all different kinds of projects and run my own consulting company with a few friends.

Just show up with the right attitude, lots of places are hiring.

May I ask what you specifically did in your first programming role? I'd be taking a pay cut to make that move but I also have cheap rent right now and I think I've about maxed out what I'll make in this role, so I would prefer to move to a field with long term growth prospects even if I take a paycut at this point. I'm not sure I'd be similarly unencumbered in the future.

Lumpy posted:

To reiterate what Oh My Science said, you can pick up syntax and some concepts form those beginner sites (which is a good thing), but you learn to program by solving real problems with code. Find something you really want to exist that doesn't yet, and make it. Maybe start small, but make sure it's something you will find useful or interesting when it's done; that will keep you working at it.

Have others look at your code while you learn, as you get the benefit of their experience as well as the experience you are gaining.

I was working towards feeling confident enough to put together a website that I am aiming to have functional within a year's time for a small business venture. I'm going to get started on that this weekend.

Can anyone point me towards any solid design references? I'll probably pick up a book or two as well this weekend, if you guys have any recommendations in that arena. Thanks for all the help, everyone, I really appreciate it.

# ? Oct 1, 2013 17:38

Oh My Science: Dec 29, 2008

Ugh I have this multi page doc with design notes mentioned in the thread / found in real life. Might be bothered to post it.

Most books in a physical store will be outdated (unless you're getting just a design book - not web design ) so your best bet is to scoure the web. I still like hack design as an introduction to the subject, A List Apart has some good books on the subject. Resources like these change so often it's hard to keep up.

# ? Oct 1, 2013 17:53

A MIRACLE: Sep 17, 2007; All right. It's Saturday night; I have no date, a two-liter bottle of Shasta and my all-Rush mix-tape... Let's rock.

Fisticuffs posted:

May I ask what you specifically did in your first programming role? I'd be taking a pay cut to make that move but I also have cheap rent right now and I think I've about maxed out what I'll make in this role, so I would prefer to move to a field with long term growth prospects even if I take a paycut at this point. I'm not sure I'd be similarly unencumbered in the future.

.NET development. I had never touched C# before but I was able to answer their OO questions well enough, and knew enough javascript to get the job. Spent the first few months building out custom websites for clients (that used our SASS product as a backend cms), and was able to ease my way into developing the main product that way. Spent 18 months at that job, got a raise to $20 / hr, then left soon after to start my own thing, where I make approx. double doing custom RoR work.

# ? Oct 1, 2013 18:31

Lumpy: Apr 26, 2002; La! La! La! Laaaa!; College Slice

I'm going to be designing a web UI for "event management", creating events with start / end dates and a bunch of other related data. Anyone know of any well-done solutions for me to look at? Obviously I've checked out a bunch of calendaring tools as they have similar functionality, but they all seem to use very similar patterns, and while it's a good solution, I'd like to see something different / out of the box that solves the problem well. Suggestions?

# ? Oct 2, 2013 15:55

Oh My Science: Dec 29, 2008

I know at least a few people in the thread were impressed with Macaw so I thought I would mention the Kickstarter campaign.

I was under the impression is was almost complete last time it came up but I guess they want to hire more devs.

# ? Oct 2, 2013 18:34

The March Hare: Oct 15, 2006; _{Je r�ve d'un}
Wayne's World 3; Buglord

Oh My Science posted:

I know at least a few people in the thread were impressed with Macaw so I thought I would mention the Kickstarter campaign.

I was under the impression is was almost complete last time it came up but I guess they want to hire more devs.

Moving pretty fast too, they were at ~25,000 about 2 hours ago. Program looks cool, I hope they get everything working properly and make something really worth using.

# ? Oct 2, 2013 18:38

pipes!: Jul 10, 2001; Nap Ghost

Oh My Science posted:

I know at least a few people in the thread were impressed with Macaw so I thought I would mention the Kickstarter campaign.

I was under the impression is was almost complete last time it came up but I guess they want to hire more devs.

I know Kickstarter isn't technically a shopping site, bit I'm annoyed that the effective buy-in for untested, unproven software that's tackling an extraordinarily nuanced, complicated issue starts at $99. I'm definitely going to keep it on my radar since it's such a strong idea and (apparent) execution, but I'd like to see some... proof? It sort of seems disingenuous to launch the site and promotional video, then flip around and ask for the money after a month or so of silence.

# ? Oct 2, 2013 21:36

Oh My Science: Dec 29, 2008

pipes! posted:

I'm definitely going to keep it on my radar since it's such a strong idea and (apparent) execution, but I'd like to see some... proof? It sort of seems disingenuous to launch the site and promotional video, then flip around and ask for the money after a month or so of silence.

Yeah that's exactly how I feel about the situation. If they offered a lower tier that got me in the beta I might be tempted to drop $25 on it but as it stands I don't know enough about its limitations. It *might* be a cool tool for designers but I have a hard time believing a full time dev will find it useful.

I don't really deal with static sites anymore anyway.

# ? Oct 2, 2013 21:56

a lovely poster: Aug 5, 2011; by Pipski

pipes! posted:

I know Kickstarter isn't technically a shopping site, bit I'm annoyed that the effective buy-in for untested, unproven software that's tackling an extraordinarily nuanced, complicated issue starts at $99. I'm definitely going to keep it on my radar since it's such a strong idea and (apparent) execution, but I'd like to see some... proof? It sort of seems disingenuous to launch the site and promotional video, then flip around and ask for the money after a month or so of silence.

https://www.google.com/webdesigner/

Google is going to destroy them anyways

# ? Oct 3, 2013 02:05

Nebulon Gate: Feb 23, 2013

Anyone have any recommendations for an intro to programming math book? My math aptitude is probably at a 10th grade level now that I've let it go to poo poo.

# ? Oct 3, 2013 04:11

Thermopyle: Jul 1, 2003; ...the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt. �Bertrand Russell

Ask in the general programming questions thread. (where you'll get more/better answers, which is good because I want to know what the answer(s) are)

# ? Oct 3, 2013 08:41

Suspicious Dish: Sep 24, 2011; 2020 is the year of linux on the desktop, bro; Fun Shoe

"Mathematics for Computer Science" by Lehman, Leighton, and Meyer is exactly what you want.

# ? Oct 3, 2013 15:17

o.m. 94: Nov 23, 2009

Winter is Cuming posted:

Anyone have any recommendations for an intro to programming math book? My math aptitude is probably at a 10th grade level now that I've let it go to poo poo.

Rosen's "Discrete Mathematics and its Applications" is a very good book; lots and lots of progressively difficult exercises (as opposed to a handful of head-scratchers) which is the best way to drill this stuff into your brain. Most important topics are covered - logic, sets, functions, graphs, recursion, algorithms & complexity; even a little number theory and proofs.

o.m. 94 fucked around with this message at 15:32 on Oct 3, 2013

# ? Oct 3, 2013 15:28

bobua: Mar 23, 2003; I'd trade it all for just a little more.

Node.js/express question, hope this is the right place.

In app.js:

code:

app.get('/', routes.index);
app.get('/users', user.list);

In the routes folder, there is an index.js, and a user.js file. In user.js, there is an exports.list function. I assume line 2 from above calls the file user.js, and the exports.list function. What confuses me is that index.js has an exports.index function... So if the generated code wasn't already there, I would think I would need to do something like

code:

app.get('/', routes.index.index);

instead. or add a

code:

var index = require('./routes/index');

line, which isn't there...(although there is a routes var that points at the routes folder.

My only guess is that maybe index is a special case, and get's called automatically? The documentation and tutorials on all of this has been terrible:(

# ? Oct 3, 2013 19:13

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# ? May 8, 2024 22:23

Oh My Science: Dec 29, 2008

bobua posted:

Node.js/express question, hope this is the right place.

You might have more luck in the JS threads, I haven't seen a specific Node thread

# ? Oct 3, 2013 19:36

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > The Cavern of COBOL > The Web Design & Development Megathread

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