Hi,
I just wanted to announce that starting this school year (August 2014) my old high school is going to be using Studioweb as part of their core web design and programming curriculum.
Needless to say, this is somewhat of a personal thing for me. And if you knew me back in high school … the word irony would come to mind.
🙂
Stefan Mischook
KillerSites.com
Hi,
Web design and development keeps evolving and in the last few years, they’ve been in fact merging! Yes, if you do web design these days, you have to learn:
That all said, the web design process can be distilled into the following 4 simple steps:
You are done and so am I … for today!
Stefan Mischook
killerSites.com
A lot of people use WordPress and WordPress is hacked all the time. How do you prevent WordPress from being hacked? My top 4 things to do:
I recently had an old WordPress based site hacked and though I had updated it to the latest version of WordPress, will still found a malicious PHP file in this folder:
/wp-includes/images/smilies/ajax.php
… Yes, inside the images folder. That’s one example of where these bastards will stick their malicious code. Remember, they don’t want you to find it. We don’t know for sure but I am guessing they got in the file BEFORE I updated WordPress.
Final Comments
I have to tell you that over the years, the few times we’ve been hacked … it’s always been via WordPress.
We are really reconsidering our use of WordPress, since it can be such a liability. We are asking ourselves, how much does WordPress really bring to the table(?) and weighing that against the risks.
BTW, I am not picking on WordPress, all the major CMS’ out there (Drupal, Joomla) are major points of attack. The open nature of these products, makes them that much easier to hack than closed-sourced (code is not public) private software.
For our new projects, we are rolling out our own blog tool – with all the advanced PHP frameworks out there and given that our needs are fairly simple, it makes sense to us.
If you do end up using WordPress, be sure to follow the above steps.
I hope that helps,
Stefan Mischook
killerSites.com
Hi,
It’s been a few days since the xCode 6 beta and Swift was released by Apple to members of the iOS Developer Program. I’ve been working with Swift and created a few screencasts but because of NDA restrictions, I cannot post the videos!
🙁
But, I can talk about the language and teach you how to code in Swift – just without showing you xCode Beta 6.
I’ve already put out a quick article (on KillerPHP.com) a few days ago where I went over some basic concepts in Swift.
The NDA should be unlocked very soon and so my videos will have to wait until then. But in the meantime, I will be covering Swift and iOS programming using other code editors and releasing those publicly. In private though, I will be working on Swift screencasts and as soon as the beta period is over, I will release them all.
Thanks,
Stefan Mischook
killerSites.com
Hi,
Web development can be an exciting game but it is also all-consuming – you cannot casually code. You cannot casually write good software while listening to tunes. You must be 100% there or your code will suck. Burnt-out developers are not uncommon … and I was one.
How to Burn Yourself Out
I loved to write software, it was something I would do even on Friday nights! It sounds really bad now but at the time, exploring a new Java library or building out a new module to some app, was exciting to me. The weekdays were for writing commercial code and the weekend was for playing with new code.
I still remember seeing the first members on my dating site posting profiles and sending messages. It was great fun. You start with few messages here and there being exchanged, then hundreds and (to my amazement) soon thousands!
… I eventually shuttered that growing dating site because I was not interested in making big money with it; it was just a hobby site for me, a vehicle to learn with. Maybe I should have left it running!? I think all the swingers posting profiles on there made me shut it down … not sure now, it’s been 15yrs.
I could tell you about many other similar projects/sites … but I think you get the idea.
The burnout Formula
You get burnt-out when you go too deep, too long and too fast into something. After years of code, code and more code … I was burnt. So for several years after, I did everything/anything but technology. It was sometimes almost painful for me to even pay attention to KillerSites, KillerPHP or any of the other sites/communities/apps I developed. The people were great but I just didn’t care what was going on in the tech world.
Interest slowly builds again
I don’t know why but starting a few years ago, my interest in technology slowly started coming back. Slowly. Psychology is a strange thing and any number of hidden variables can play into your mood. So for whatever reason(s), my interest is coming back and for the first time in years, I find myself learning a new language … it just seems like fun to me again.
Stefan Mischook
Killersites.com
Hi,
I think Apple’s Swift programming language will quickly become one of the most important languages you can learn. Besides being the language of MacOSX, you can use Swift to swiftly create iOS (iPad, iPhone) games among other apps.
… Did I mention games!!
iPad will become the Gaming Platform
I think iPad and gaming will become one. Consider these facts:
What makes Swift Special?
Swift was announced about 2 days ago and I just installed the beta yesterday … so I’ve only just written a bit of Swift code so far. That said, it looks like a powerful language that writes like a nimble scripting language – reminds me of Python.
What makes Swift special is found in it’s namesake – it’s fast, easy to learn and easy to write. Apple claims Swift runs much faster than Objective C and especially Python.
Swift Playground
Along with the Swift language, Apple created an app that allows you to view your code working in real-time, this application is called Playground and it comes with the iOS SDK and Xcode. You can learn more here:
https://developer.apple.com/xcode/
https://developer.apple.com/devcenter/ios/index.action
I just started looking at Swift and I plan to dive much deeper into it.
Stefan Mischook
killerSites.com
Hi,
About once a year we run a deal with Fatcow hosting, where Fatcow will pay for 80% of your web programming training and slash 60% of your hosting cost!
Why?
They hope that you will renew next year.
Some details:
Basically, you have to cough-up $23.15 (one time) + $3.15/month (60% discount from their normal price) for the first year of hosting. You are not obliged to renew. This deal gets you the hosting package + the Complete Web Programmer package – this normally goes for $99.
If you want to learn web development, this is as good a deal as you can get!
Check out out:
http://www.killervideostore.com/killer-offers/
Thanks!
Stefan Mischook
killerSites.com
Hi!
This blog post is for teachers teaching web design and programming … but if you are learning HTML and CSS (or any other language) many of these tips will be helpful to you too.
Let’s start with a teaser:
1. Start with an Easy Language:
Don’t use hard to understand languages like Java, C#, C++ to teach beginners programming or code! Stick to simpler languages like  HTML and CSS and then move to say PHP or JavaScript. Once your students have a grasp of basic coding and programming concepts, then you can move into the more complex languages … if you need to!
2. Don’t teach A to Z:
Teaching people to code has a lot more to do about leaving out the non essentially elements of a language. Don’t cover every nuanced aspect of the HTML link tag, don’t cover all the ways a method can be created in PHP … leave out the less often used aspects of a language and save it for later. Just expose your students to the key aspects of the language, just enough so they can move forward.
If you want the other 8 tips, follow this link.
Thanks,
Stefan Mischook
killerSites.com
Hi,
After years of the same old design for our DVD’s, I’ve finally decided that we needed a fresh new look. I felt inspired, so instead of getting our designer (Ben) to take care it … I broke out my old designers cap and did it myself!
– See more at: http://www.killervideostore.com/blog/2014/new-dvd-design-for-dvd-video-courses/
Thanks for reading.
Stefan Mischook
killerSites.com
I try to start with the point of the article whenever I can … so what is the best way to learn web design and web programming?
In a nutshell:
I’ve been teaching web design and programming for over a decade now and have been teaching for about 20yrs – give or take. And I can tell you that without a doubt, the best way to learn web design and programming is to build.
… With each site that you design, your skills will jump. With each dynamic database driven website that you build, your skills will jump.
Finishing the Job is Key
It is important that you complete projects. For some reason, leaving something half done, just doesn’t seem to have the same learning impact. That’s why smaller mini projects are great for learning because big projects take a long time to finish.
With that in mind, our Complete Web Designer training package follows these principles … which only makes sense since we created all the courses!
PS: If you want a DVD/USB hard copy sent you, we do that too.
Thanks,
Stefan Mischook
www.KillerSites.com
