Web414 - Milwaukee's Web Community

"It's a poor craftsman who blames his tools."

An old adage, but one I also believe. So don't take this as me blaming PHP for the bad PHP code I've written through the years. I'll take ownership for it, just like all the other bad code I've written in all the other languages before and since.

But sometimes PHP seems to actively discourage good coding habits.

Michael Booth, over at mechanicalrobotfish.com, is seeing the same thing.

He was writing a Drupal utility in ruby (pacem, read the post if you're outraged; I'm just being the messenger, here) when it occurred to him to wonder what kind of good testing tools he could find for PHP.

His quest led him to compare what he had known in ruby with what was in PHP, and the difference is drastic. Have a look at the differences between the two testing files and see what he means.

I know I've run into it more than once. It's quite possible to write good, even elegant, PHP code. I've seen and I've even done it myself. Still, the klunky syntax doesn't help; in fact it often gets in the way.

But the point here isn't to hammer PHP. I just want to encourage you to expand your horizons. Oliver Wendell Holmes once wrote "A mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its former shape." In this specific case, someone who had encountered testing tools outside of PHP, brought the ideas back and is hopefully enriching the PHP culture with it.

Matt has a BarCamp session on exotic languages. Come on out for it, and if you happen to know about something off the well-travelled PHP/javascript/C# track, bring it along and show us why you like it.

Or, if you don't, come on along anyway. Get your mind stretched. And then bring that bit of stretch back to your corner of the dev world, and see what it comes out looking like.

You'll be better off for it.

Our friend, and patron Phil Gerbyshak (The Make it Great Guy) brightens the July 9th Milwaukee Business Journal with his trademark smile.

What to go Phil! Keeping Social Media real in the Cream city!

I thought that people in the group might be interested in the upcoming Netroots Wisconsin conference in Madison on Sept. 25. Please come visit http://netrootswisconsin.org for more information and to register or propose sessions.

Unite the Cheddarsphere!

For the June 2010 Web414 Show (uh, Meeting) I am in need of a sidekick.

We'll be interviewing Todd Sattersten about the future of publishing, and while I'll be sitting in the captain's chair, I am in need of a second-in-command.

Sidekick duties include yelling loudly, making comments, laughing, and providing witty banter.

If you are up for it, reply here, or if you can do it in 140 characters or less, reply to @web414 on Twitter.

(We also need a camera operator, so if that's more your bag, let me know!)

Web414 Alum Nikol Hasler needs some dental work. Here's a way you can help her out.

The eponymous Matthew Wayne Selznick, author of the sublime "Brave Men Run" novel, puts it this way:

 
Sure, she's not in the 414 anymore, but she's still one of our own. Chip in, if you can.

If you missed the talk about Tumblr, maybe because you were out havin' fun at SXSW, you can still enjoy the Web414 discussion via this handy recording.

Great show last night. Thanks to all us poor folks who made the March 11, 2010 Web414 show one for the record books. Who needs SXSW? We had the Chaos Show.

As always, photos at The Decemberman's flickr.

Hey! We got a Web414 comin' up.

I'm proposing the following tweaks for the March 11 meeting:

1. I would like to have the Web414 show start at 7:30 and run to about 9 at the latest. This means that we'll start the welcome and introduction segment at about 7. WHAT?!?! Yeah. that's right. I'd like to move the community building stuff outside of the flow of the show, but not outside of the event. Community building is too important to skip over. But stopping the show to go around and introduce ourselves interrupts the watchability of the show later.

2.This also means that there isn't going to be an intermission. There may be a short break, but I'd like to do away with the 10-minute stop and talk in the middle of the show. Instead, we'll take a 1-2 minute video break, I think.

3. Is the old Web414 set still available? Or do we need a new set? Who wants to take the lead on having a set set up for me?

4. I want to stream the show live, and plan to, but it depends entirely on the venue.

Proposed Agenda
1. Welcome.
2. Creative Commons/Cameras disclaimer.
2.5 Spin the Wheel of Web414 Ideas.
3. We will watch a video together.
3. Discussion and talk with Nate from http://ItStartsWith.Us
3. ???
4. Jason "LittleTinyFish" is using his Tumblr powers for good instead of evil, and will rally the Milwaukee Tumblrs for discussion about tumblr, tumblelogging, and the awesome MKE Tumblr community.
5. We will watch a video together.
5. Informal discussion of your camping plans for 2010. (
6. Web414++

Suggestions, additions and discussion? Post it here.

All Hail Mike Rohde, who's continued commitment to chronicling the process of excellence has landed him a guest slot on the 37-signals Signal Vs. Noise blog.
In this first of two-parts, Mike, a longtime Web414 member and friend of the Milwaukee tech and visual thinking communities, explains how he came to land his recent gig illustrating the 37-signals book REWORK and what the process was for turning ideas into art for the book.
I have especially enjoyed reading the comments (I know! Right?) that follow Mike's article; Love and appreciation for Mike's work is quickly growing beyond a Web414 phenomena.
Spread the love. Tell your friends. Order REWORK.

Condolences and compassionate thoughts go out to the family and friends of Marc Wolfgram of MacCetera, LLC in Hartland Wisconsin.
Marc died in a car colision this week. He was a Macintosh resource and a great pioneer of the computing scene in the Lake Country.
I had the privilege of working with Marc on a few small projects and it was joyful surprise when he arrived with his robot kit tucked under his arm at BarCampMilwaukee2.
His collection of essays is currently posted at the "Marc's Notes" page on MacCetera.com.

Marc will be missed.

February's meeting turned out great. We had a lot of really awesome, engaging discussions about people's workflow as well as the future of web development with a discussion on frameworks vs CMSs. Matt Gauger wrote a recap of the meeting on his blog.

Part 1: Workflow
-What do you use for bug tracking?

Mantis, Trac, Bugzilla, Pivotal Tracker, Intervals

Hacking OpenAtrium case tracker to support bug tracking
What do photographers use? (Photographer Workflow)

* Lightroom, Photoscape (John December)
* The DAM book: thedambook.com

Bandwidth, backups

* There isn’t enough upload bandwidth to mirror all your content if you have a lot of data.
* Everyone sign up for Google’s fiber program.
* Amazon S3(Jungle Disk), Dropbox, Carbonite.

...

Part 2: Frameworks versus CMSes

A web application framework has some things written, but things like delivering web pages is up to the coder. -> An incomplete web application, a framework that you hang your business logic on.

Arlen: “The future of the web is in frameworks, not in CMSes.”

* Every CMS does things its own way. “one size fits all.”

Arlen: ”I’m fighting the CMS. The CMS has a way it wants to do things. I have to write the business logic in such a way that the CMS can do it. Every CMS brings in POV.”

The big three of CMSes:

* Drupal
* Joomla
* Wordpress

Example web app frameworks: PHP:

* CakePHP
* Zend
* CodeIgniter (behind ExpressionEngine)

Other languages:

* Ruby on Rails for the Ruby language.
* Django for Python
* Catalyst for Perl
* Seaside for Smalltalk
* Lift for Scala.
* ASP.NET MVC or .NET Webforms

Derek: “Are we arguing the semantic difference between being a developer and being an integrator?”

Go read the full wrap up here.

February 23, 2010 at 6pm

Piano Blu: 179 W. Wisconsin Avenue, Pewaukee, WI 53072

Included for all conference attendees!

Admission to the After party is included for all attendees of the Think Tank Live Internet Marketing and Social Media Summit thanks to Piano Blu and SunAnt Interactive!

Can't resist? Want to join us?

Additional tickets are available to the public to join us for networking, drinks, and hors d'oeuvres at 6pm.
Fee: $22.00

* 2 Drink Tickets for Red Wine, White Wine, Beer or Soda
* Amazing hors d’oeuvres by Piano Blu
* A fantastic location & quality networking with Think Tank Live! speakers in the Rhino Room at Piano Blu

Piano Blu. The perfect nightspot in the Lake Country. Fantastic live music, lively conversation, a menu and wine list to tantalize a variety of palates. Two levels of fine dining in a relaxing atmosphere overlooking beautiful Pewaukee Lake.

Register for the After Party Here!

We will meet for drinks in the delightful Rhino Room, a unique room sure to engage your senses! The Rhino Room was designed with comfortable elegance in mind, their beautiful Lakeview dining is sure to please. Many successful ventures, both business and personal, have been started on the shore of beautiful Pewaukee Lake.

Take some time after a busy day to network and connect with the Think Tank Live speakers and attendees.

Be sure to follow Piano Blu on Twitter at @PianoBlu for event updates and specials!

Getting hungry?

This is on of those places in Lake Country that you just can't afford to miss!

Since I won't be at tonight's meeting, I wanted to tell you guys something.

I like this comment on Read-Write-Web. It inspired me to write a post at Writelarge.com that pretty much sums up how I feel about Web414. Web414 is for the people who are working together to make The New Web. It's about people who want to build cars, make art, raise families and dance in new ways using the web as a platform.

We do that by learning and using and talking together once a month. That's Web414 at its core. And no amount of tinkering can break that. But let's not try, ok?

I try to remind everyone in the audience at each of our Web414 meetings that it is our community that makes us special. That we are greater than the sum of our parts. That we can make a new web that is better and brighter and more opener for ourselves and our kids and our partners and our friends and our neighbors. That we add value to the world just by showing up and being part of a community that embraces openness and collaboration for the greater good.

Web414 is your party, Milwaukee. Enjoy it!

As the founder of Integrated Marketing Think Tank I am proud to announce our first live event for internet marketing and social media training on February 23, 2010.

Think Tank Live! Milwaukee 2010, Search Marketing and Social Media Summit at the Country Springs Hotel, 2810 Golf Road, Waukesha, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Great Speakers, sourced from IM Think Tank!

Our speakers include an array of experienced digital marketing professionals from the Milwaukee and Chicago areas who will provide content rich programs that are useful for today’s business leaders, marketers, and communications specialists.

Seminar Focus:

The seminar will focus on helping you to use internet marketing and social media to increase customers and profits on your website.

Topics include:
• Digital Marketing Strategy
• Search Engine Optimization SEO
• SEM/Pay Per Click
• Website Analytics
• Social Media
• Online Reputation Management
• WordPress/BuddyPress

Local Talent includes:
Lisa Sabin-Wilson, Author of WordPress for Dummies and BuddyPress for Dummies
Jo Stumpner - Search Engine Marketing Expert from Top Floor Technologies
Anthony Verre - aka MilwaukeeSEO
Mary DuQuaine - I.M. Think Tank Founder

Tickets:

$225
For more information or to register visit the Think Tank Live! website at http://www.thinktanklive.com.

Use Promo Code: Think50 for $50.00 off

Relive this month's amazing panel and audience discussion about radio. Marvel at things said by representatives from local stations, Ryan Schleicher of WMSE, Tarik Moody of 88.9 Radio Milwaukee, Jim Conigliaro of Journal Communications and James Brust of online radio station Limbiq Frequencies.

What? You caught the live stream?! You Lie! There was no live stream! This is the only way to experience this once-in-a-lifetime meeting over and over again.