Published on April 1, 2008 by Steve
I have just received notification from Dreamhost’s tech support team that this web server, phobos.Dreamhost.com, has been illegally accessed by nigerian scammers. Sensitive log data, including geographic location information, IP addresses, TCP/IP port assignments, and data access timestamps has has been accessed.
Also, malicious server-side PHP scripting has been detected in the new Wordpress 2.5 install on SteveFarkas.com, TheStudioPhi.com, Iconoclastech.com, and other websites and/or blogs hosted on this server. While the code has been patched, your PC is still currently at great risk of data theft.
In order to minimize all risk of data theft, which may result in identity or credit theft, please follow these instructions:
- For detailed information on credit card hijacking and data theft, watch this brief instructional webcast:
Get the Flash Player to see this player.
- Call your credit companies and banks, and ask for immediate monitoring of your credit history on any credit or bank cards used online within the past 6 months.
- Call any banks with which you have online banking. Get your passwords changed immediately
Published on March 31, 2008 by Steve
VS
If you fall into the category of the standard web designer, which likely explains why you’re here, you’ve used some of today’s high-powered web IDEs: powerful tools for creating powerful websites and web applications, complete with built-in browser testing, some sort of crummy design view, version control, the works. It’s especially likely that you’ve used Macromedia (now known as Adobe) Dreamweaver.
Within the past two years, the eclipse project, a Java-based open source IDE, has been forked into two separate projects: Aptana, which is targeted primarily at AJAX-centric developers, and RadRails, which is a Ruby-on-Rails-targeted IDE, complete with version control, debugging, local testing and debugging, and remote deployment capabilities. The Aptana project has been growing fast with additions of full PHP and iPhone support and has recently incorporated the entire RadRails project, providing developers with the simultaneous advantages of a supported Ruby on Rails IDE with native AJAX development support. The Aptana Project has also found user-funded opportunities thanks to the development of Aptana Studio Pro, the beefier brother to Aptana, complete with JSON support, SVN & SSL control, Internet Explorer JavaScript debugging, and enhanced support features.
I’ve compiled some research done on both IDEs, and present to you a feature comparison chart that goes over the advantages and disadvantages of each choice. Since Aptana is free, I highly recommend you download it and try it out on something less-than pressing, such as a new theme for your new Wordpress install. While I’m hesitant to suggest that you try to convert your workplace to loyal Aptana followers, I think it’s a great way to get started learning Ruby on Rails or AJAX.
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XHTML
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YES
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YES
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Browser Compatibility Testing
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IE7, Firefox
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CSS
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YES
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YES
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XML
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YES
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YES
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JavaScript
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YES
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YES
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AJAX
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YES - Spry
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YES - All major libraries
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PHP
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YES
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YES
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ColdFusion
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NO
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YES
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ASP
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NO
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YES
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ASP.NET
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NO
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YES
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Ruby on Rails
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YES. Use the RadRails plugin
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YES. Spotty support on plugin
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JSP
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Not currently. Future possibility
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YES
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Version Control
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SVN
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File Check-in/Check-out. A bit buggy
Third-party SVN plugin available for $53
Support for MS SharePoint Servers
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JSON Support
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Studio Pro Only
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YES
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Secure FTP
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Studio Pro Only
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YES
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JavaScript Debugging
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Community: Firefox
Studio Pro: Firefox, IE
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YES. See Browser Compatibility Checking
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Support Plan
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Typical open-source support scheme for community version. Beefier and more comprehensive plan with Studio Pro
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Price
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Community: Free
Studio Pro: $99/$199 Initially. $79 Annually Thereafter |
$399 initially. $199 for the upgrade
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PROs
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Great Open Source IDE with boundless potential for growth. It’s the best Ajax/RoR solution you will find anywhere.
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Dreamweaver is clearly a mature, proven, and enterprise-ready product that has been in use by developers and designers alike for years. Dreamweaver is the best choice for mission-critical work.
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CONs
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It’s JAVA-based, and JAVA is notoriously bad at managing system resources. Expect to upgrade your memory. Support is what you pay for. Bug fixes and feature adds come only as fast as the development team can afford to make them.
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Support for Ruby on Rails is sketchy, and the price is prohibitive to entry-level developers and designers.
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Published on March 29, 2008 by Steve
WordPress 2.5, the culmination of six months of work by the WordPress community, people just like you. The improvements in 2.5 are numerous, and almost entirely a result of your feedback: multi-file uploading, one-click plugin upgrades, built-in galleries, customizable dashboard, salted passwords and cookie encryption, media library, a WYSIWYG that doesn’t mess with your code, concurrent post editing protection, full-screen writing, and search that covers posts and pages.
For a short overview of the features with screenshots, it’d be best to visit our sneak peek announcement for RC1. Or check out a 4-minute screencast of the new interface in action. If you just want to jump straight to the good stuff here’s where you can find 2.5 upgrade and download information.
This is a pretty major release. I’m still fiddling with it, but this page is definitely hosted on a working Wordpress 2.5 install. According to the Dreamhost blog, WP 2.5 is already available via 1-click install.
Fun new features include Dashboard Widgets, Multi-file simultaneous upload, EXIF extraction for JPEGs, page inclusion in the search engine, advanced tag management, a password strength meter, concurrent editing protection, one-click upgrades for plugins, enhancements in the visual post editor, and built-in gallery support.
So, fire up your XAMPP servers and take it out for a spin. If you’re a little bit of a risk taker, deploy it live too.
