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Tag: web dev

  • Release: wpDirAuth 1.1

    Thanks to a lot of help from the support and development groups (special thanks to Richard and Adrian), and despite having focused on my upcoming job switch and WPhone in the last month, I finally found some time to release version 1.1 of wpDirAuth, an LDAP authentication plugin for WordPress I also maintain.

    The new version adds support for more directory server configurations and vendors by supporting privileged pre-binding. It also adds a few interface and documentation tweaks, and has been tested under WordPress 2.2.x and 2.3.

  • Release: WPhone 1.2.0

    Thanks to Warren Wilansky, owner of the excellent Plank Design, who was kind enough to lend me his iPod Touch for the weekend, we were able to finally view and use WPhone on an actual Apple device and hammer out most of the display glitches our original releases had. Well, that and a whole lot of tweaks and new features, such as some fixes in the bundled iUI Javascript library for which I started submitting patches upstream, etc.

    Sure feels good to not be flying blind anymore! Though I did have to give the iPod back today, which was about as painful as cutting off one of my own fingers… :p

    So, if you had downloaded an earlier version, be sure to try the new 1.2.0 release. Or if you’re into the whole living on the edge thing, checkout the development branch of our Subversion repository, where we’ve already started to add some neat new features after 1.2.0 came out (otherwise known as rapid fire development).

    Now, since our core focus is actually full support for the widest possible array of mobile, lightweight and accessibility devices (smart and non-smart mobile phones, PDAs, micro tablets, screen and braille readers, etc) what I really would like for the next step is to somehow gain access to some of the other targeted devices.

    So if you happen to be in Montreal, have any of the following devices/environments and are interested in helping us out, please drop me a note (comments or wordpress-AT-tekartist-DOT-org) and maybe we can get together for a bit of geeky fun. 🙂

    • Nokia devices running the S60WebKit browser or earlier versions (w/ or w/o JS),
    • Blackberry (any xhtml capable generation),
    • Windows Mobile smart phones or PDAs (EDGE and/or WIFI),
    • Symbian-based devices,
    • Opera Mobile and/or Opera Mini capable devices,
    • Jaws or other accessibility device/software,

    … or anything else that you would like to use WPhone on really.

    Who knows, maybe I’ll luck out at one of the countless tech events organized in Montreal, such as the BarCamps, etc.

  • Release: WPhone 1.0.0

    See, I told you I wasn’t all there today…

    I guess it takes a nasty fever for me to have forgotten to mention that Doug Stewart, Viper007Bond and I have jointly released the first version of WPhone last night, a plugin to bring the WordPress Administration to the world of mobile and accessibility devices.

    The project was, originally, in response to a challenge sent to the wp-hackers mailing list, but our take on it actually goes beyond the original parameters by trying to support full universal access instead.

    We’re now in the debug phase, since we’ve never actually had the chance to preview the souped up iPhone/iPod mode of our interface, but we’re hoping to be in a much better place on this front by the end of the weekend. The lightweight version of the interface, used for all non-WebKit browsers, is a lot more stable and seems to work like a charm on even my feature-deficient Motorola v551 (pre-RAZR, less RAM, about the same browser).

  • Release: Moostick 1.0

    Moostick is my take on a Mootools-powered, unobtrusive, Javascript news ticker library.

    Moostick will take in any type of <li> container (<ul>, <ol>…) and turn it into an animated news ticker, fading between each entry at a set interval.

    This project is an experiment in mootoology. Quite arguably over-engineered for its core purpose, I use it to hone my MooTools skills while trying to still provide a fun and stable tool for others to use.

    The unobtrusiveness aspect of the project is key in keeping the content accessible when pages are loaded without Javascript and/or CSS, whether by users or machines, and is one of Moostick’s top goals.

    See the project page for more information.

  • CBC New Media sites upgrade and consolidation

    I just noticed that CBC Radio 3 has finally upgraded three massive sites for which I designed the backend software seven years ago, while living in Vancouver.

    Mind you, they did also run the innovative Zed site in the meantime, but the latter has now passed on after four TV seasons. On the other hand, 120seconds.com, newmusiccanada.com and justconcerts.com have all been consolidated as sections of their main site.

    My team and I built all the software used to run and manage the three sister sites, while the interface design was handled by a stream of super creative artists. Features included audio streaming, Flash-based UI (120seconds) and components, admin tools up the wazoo (for admins, DJs, artists, etc) and quite a bit more.

    I think six years worth of use isn’t a bad ROI. If nothing else, I can’t be blamed for not designing and writing long lasting software. And it did score them a Webby nomination (though heavy.com wan this one).

  • Release: wpDirAuth 1.0

    I have now released the first version of wpDirAuth, a WordPress LDAP connectivity plugin I have been working on for the last month, after an extensive community-based peer review period. The latter helped a lot with hammering desired functionalities as well as coping with the countless configuration permutations found in the directory server sphere.

    Fun stuff. 🙂

  • Release: wpRedirect 1.1

    I just released wpRedirect 1.1, now with WordPress caching goodness. I am also now packaging the generated code documentation for download, per release.

    You can find more information on wpRedirect, a handy WordPress post and page redirection plugin, on the related project page.

  • Release: wpRedirect 1.0

    Since I’m getting wpDirAuth peer reviewed before releasing the first version, due to its security implications, I have released another project as my first official WordPress plugin instead.

    You can find more information on wpRedirect, a handy WordPress post and page redirection plugin I developed for my site, on the related project page.

  • Testers needed for new WordPress Directory Authentication plugin

    After getting in touch with and having gotten “approval” from its author, I’m attempting to fork off and revive wpLDAP and would like the upgraded code to be peer reviewed by other developers before I release anything into the wild.

    The current development version is in my SVN repo at:
    http://labs.tekartist.org/wordpress/svn/branches/dev/plugins/wpDirAuth/

    If you decide to try and/or review it, please add your constructive criticism and test reports to the related WordPress Forum entry.

    Thanks for any help I can get. 🙂

  • New MooTools-related section and repository

    Since we’ve committed to MooTools for our RIA and AJAX development needs in the McGill WPS, I’ve been using it on my recently released personal site as well, so I can experiment outside of work but still try to gain from it professionally.

    Therefore, I just opened a new section and repository under tekartist.org to feature little projects I plan to release publicly, as FOSS, for people to download, use, comment on and modify as they please.

    You can currently only find more information about my source repository, but I will release a little project I’ve been toying with shortly, after I document it properly.