http://www.practiproj.com All About Web Application Projects Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:38:36 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Awesome Wordle Tag Clouds tool http://www.practiproj.com/awesome-wordle-tag-clouds-tool/ http://www.practiproj.com/awesome-wordle-tag-clouds-tool/#comments Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:38:36 +0000 efimor http://www.practiproj.com/?p=24 Wordle is a wonderful tool to create effective and visually appealing tag clouds.
You can create tag clouds based on list of words, URL of any blog or RSS feed and based of a del.icio.us user name. A random tag cloud will be created and then you can change setting such as font, layout and color.

Many people discovered this tool and as of today ~1900 Wordle created maps were uploaded to flickr. See a slide show:


Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

With the tool, I created few Tag clouds for my activities. it will be interesting to see over time how the clouds change.

PractiProj links Base Tags
Wordle - PractiProj link base tags

My Delicious bookmarks Tags
Wordle - My Delicious bookmarks Tags

]]> http://www.practiproj.com/awesome-wordle-tag-clouds-tool/feed/ 0 Design Pattren – Link Records Repeaters http://www.practiproj.com/design-pattren-link-records-repeaters/ http://www.practiproj.com/design-pattren-link-records-repeaters/#comments Thu, 24 Jul 2008 07:12:10 +0000 efimor http://www.practiproj.com/?p=23 Most sites that display links lists, especially the social bookmarks sites tend to display information about each link in a repeater style (vs in a table or simple list). Since the PractiProj static Links pages were resigned into a Links base, I was looking into the various link repeaters styles to get ideas and design inspiration.

Below are screen captures of 18 hand picked link repeaters that stand out in design or simplicity.

Few Observations from those samples:

  • White is a dominate color for background (17/18)
  • ~50% use dividing line between links
  • Blue is a dominant color for headings ~50%
  • ~40% show small favcon of the user who submitted the link
  • Only 1 used hover to highlight the current viewed link.
  • ~25 display a small picture of the destination site. It is colorful and add visual effect to the site. However how useful it is? Small thumbnails hardly mean anything. On the other hand big thumbnails take too much space.
]]> http://www.practiproj.com/design-pattren-link-records-repeaters/feed/ 1 Best Icon Sets For Web Applications http://www.practiproj.com/best-icon-sets-for-web-applications/ http://www.practiproj.com/best-icon-sets-for-web-applications/#comments Tue, 03 Jun 2008 02:09:59 +0000 efimor http://www.practiproj.com/?p=22 Mini-icons are essential when developing applications. Good icon sets should be visually nice but not too dominant, so they don’t steal the attention from the application. Good sets should be big enough to cover common application actions such as: add record, delete record, edit, save, Next, prev, mark as favorite, vote up, vote down, bullets, arrows…

When you need to quickly develop a prototype and get feedback, you probably don’t want to spend too much time looking for the perfect icon set. Save in advance the icon sets that you like, they will be very handy at time of need. Nice simple icons can make big difference in your prototype and add the wow factor. Later on you can decide to stick with them or have custom icons made by graphic designer for your application.

Many of the icon sets are free to use, check the exact license agreement in each site.

And… if you need more fancy or unique icons check the following Icon Sites:

iconarchive

freeiconsweb

More icon resources:

]]> http://www.practiproj.com/best-icon-sets-for-web-applications/feed/ 0 When You Need To Explain What Social Media is… http://www.practiproj.com/when-you-need-to-explain-what-social-media-is/ http://www.practiproj.com/when-you-need-to-explain-what-social-media-is/#comments Tue, 20 May 2008 05:05:14 +0000 efimor http://www.practiproj.com/?p=21 Handful of people I talk with, still don’t understand what social media is, and what is all the buzz around it. So I gathered few presentations from slideshare for the next time someone needs to hear the story.

Going Social

Easy reading. Nice and flowing presentation, especially up till slide 36



Introduction to Social Media

Nice graphics



Social Media Is…

Another flowing presentation. Its all about the conversation



Social Media & Marketing

A bit more heavy stuff. Start at slide 21.


]]> http://www.practiproj.com/when-you-need-to-explain-what-social-media-is/feed/ 0 TwitterMania – So Much Buzz & The Cream of Mashup Applications http://www.practiproj.com/twittermania-so-much-buzz-the-cream-of-mashup-applications/ http://www.practiproj.com/twittermania-so-much-buzz-the-cream-of-mashup-applications/#comments Wed, 07 May 2008 22:00:03 +0000 efimor http://www.practiproj.com/?p=20 What can be added about twitter that has not been said already? I guess not much. So much on going buzz! It is amazing.

Hats off for the twitter team for having a product / platform that gained so much buzz and being able to maintain it over time. I guess it helps that influential bloggers have adopted twitter and promote it like they are on the payroll of the Public Relation team.

So much buzz, I had to check it out. So I opened a twitter account and joined the party. Do I like twitter? Yes, for many reasons: well, it is fun; Short and to the point message are always better then long ones; Seems an excellent place for networking, and getting to know people who share the same interests as yours and get to know them on a different more personal level then reading their blog and for a few other reasons.

As you get more people on your network it gets more interesting. You are welcome to introduce yourself and follow me on twitter.

Now days, it seems Twitter is gaining momentum and increasing rate of growth. Still many of the users are early adaptors, web geeks and social media enthusiastics. Twitter has basic functionality and still lacks useful features (for example – following conversations, advanced search).  Many potential enhancements can be added. To fill this gap, so many Twitter mashup sites started to show up. But you really have to be a big Twitter fan to go through the effort of using multiple tools. The gate for Twitter to become more mainstream is to fix the scalability issues and enhance the application with necessary features.

Twitter has captured the imagination of so many talented developers who adopted the API and created many Twitter tools. The useful API helps to keep the buzz going and a major contributor to Twitter’s success. Included is a list of the mashups that seem most useful, either by providing a new missing feature or excel in design or innovative idea. Probably the list is not complete, so if you are aware of additional worthy Twitter tools, let me know and the list will be updated.

Twitter Tools

 

Statistics

 

Follow the conversation

  • http://www.twitterverse.com/ – Cool! What is being discussed today in twitterland
  • http://twitturly.com/ – Aggregates stories in last week according to twit count. Very useful
  • http://quotably.com/  – follow the conversation. Nice application, but seems there is a bug. It is not following conversations properly. At least there is a fix threading option.

 

Search

 

Finding new friends

         Twit for fun

Other tools

 

 

Extra twitter reading

 

]]> http://www.practiproj.com/twittermania-so-much-buzz-the-cream-of-mashup-applications/feed/ 0 The Power of a Good Simple Code Example http://www.practiproj.com/the-power-of-a-good-simple-code-example/ http://www.practiproj.com/the-power-of-a-good-simple-code-example/#comments Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:38:28 +0000 efimor http://www.practiproj.com/?p=19 Recently I came across this article – Use the YouTube API with PHP. I didn’t plan on creating a YouTube mashup, but thought it would be a good exercise. In fact this is the first PHP script that I am trying out. But with some HTML and CSS knowledge and armed with a good example I was able in short amount of time and little effort, to create –> my first API page <– which shows tech related YouTube videos sorted by rating and views. It is simple and not perfect, as it seems few non tech related videos get in. but still, my first mashup page works! Cool.  

Thumbs up  to Vikram Vaswani who provided such a good example, explanations and links to extra resources!

Simple examples of working code are priceless, as you can build on top of them until they become more complex and the desired result is reached. They can be a huge time saver. Of course you need to know enough to read and understand what is going on in the example. But good examples will be simple enough to demonstrate the point, and will eliminate the need to read a lot of documentation.  

As they say “one picture is worth 1000 words”. Same goes for a simple code example, that you can just copy / paste and it works!

Have you ever needed a developer’s help and got the arrogant response: “Oh, it is so easy, no problem. Just do this and that”, then you try it for a while and it never works. So you ask this smartass to show you how simple it is, and for an hour the developer will sit with your computer trying this and that until he gives up and admits it is not so simple.  

On the other hand, there are other developers that when you ask them for help, will say “let me check and I will come back to you”, and after an hour you get an e-mail with a simple working example. Problem solved!

Collecting simple code examples that work well will pay off big time. Having friends to share the examples with, is the way to go. 

So if you have good examples or know sites that have – Just bring it on!

]]> http://www.practiproj.com/the-power-of-a-good-simple-code-example/feed/ 1 Is design critical to success of new web applications? http://www.practiproj.com/is-design-critical-to-success-of-new-web-applications/ http://www.practiproj.com/is-design-critical-to-success-of-new-web-applications/#comments Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:43:28 +0000 efimor http://www.practiproj.com/?p=18 Several web applications do so well, although on the design side they are mediocre at best. On the other hand, Many well designed and inspiring web applications are not doing so well…

When starting up a new web application, if you have a good idea with identified market need, focus on: Functionality – giving an added value, with capabilities other web apps are lacking and Simplicity for ease of use.
Users will like it and adopt the application even if design in very basic

In several projects I was involved in the past, customers and sponsors didn’t put emphasis on design and didn’t dedicate budget for graphic designer. It was frustrating. For me design is a hobby and it was hard to understand the lack of focus on design

But when seeing sites like craigslist, del.icio.us doing so well with basic design, it give some food for thought

So… how much energy should be spent on perfecting a web application design?

]]> http://www.practiproj.com/is-design-critical-to-success-of-new-web-applications/feed/ 0 Project Plan For Creating Web applications http://www.practiproj.com/project-plan-for-creating-web-applications/ http://www.practiproj.com/project-plan-for-creating-web-applications/#comments Wed, 05 Mar 2008 20:27:00 +0000 efimor http://grungybit.com/Practiproj/?p=9 Transferring from software project management to web applications project management is a big jump. Many steps will still remain the same but there are few more aspects that are very important to the success of the project. Typically projects (smaller or bigger) will include at least the following processes:

  • Charter document
  • Stakeholders analysis
  • Budget planning
  • Risk mapping
  • R&R definition
  • Communication plan
  • Milestones Definition
  • Project Plan
  • Requirement gathering
  • Design
  • Development
  • Testing

Web applications projects will include all the above processes and will include more aspects:

  • SEO – is a whole new world. Planning in advance for good SEO and knowing how to maintain SEO on regular basis and can make a big difference in the success of a web project.
  • Public Relations – Publicity for your new web application done by popular blog coverage and social sites promotion can virally spread the word and quickly expose your application to many potential users. Getting the network to ensure you get such coverage and promotion – that’s the tricky part. Luckily there are so many resources with tips and advice on this matter. For example: 50 Social Sites That Every Business Needs a Presence on and 27 Secrets to Linking Like a Master Networker.
  • Gathering requirements for a web2.0 application can be tricky. You may get some beta site users for testing and suggesting more features , but how committed they are to the success of the project is questionable. Maybe starting small, building more functionality as you get more users and feedback is the way to go.

So… as I am trying to fill gap and learning the extra steps needed for creating successful web applications, the search for good project plan has started. It is always good to start a project plan based on a template filled with knowledge from past projects, and adjust the details as needed for the current project. After all, many web projects will have much in common (project plan wise) and working with a detailed project plan that will guide you, can help keeping you to the right direction. So far I have found some project plans with good information, but not exactly what I was looking for. Take a look at:

Surely there are more good web applications project plans out there, but it is a bit hard to find them. Pls share if you found one!

]]> http://www.practiproj.com/project-plan-for-creating-web-applications/feed/ 1 Tons Of Resources For Web Developers And Designers http://www.practiproj.com/tons-of-resources-for-web-developers-and-designers/ http://www.practiproj.com/tons-of-resources-for-web-developers-and-designers/#comments Thu, 14 Feb 2008 21:36:00 +0000 efimor http://grungybit.com/Practiproj/?p=8 Who really needs so many long resources lists?

I rather have sorter list of the best useful resources.

Here are few resources lists that I like.

So many resources to explore… not enough time

 

Those lists can be very useful and help easily find good resources on various topics of design and development. Still so many times the list will contain links to resources that are partially useful, and it will turn out as a waste of time.

 

Characteristics of useful development resource site:

  • Simple explanation
  • Click to demonstrate how the code works
  • Option to download the code

Of course the code needs to be simple, clean, documented and working!

All this may sound trivial but surprisingly not many sites will score well on all those aspects.

 

And even if the world does not need another best recourses list, I have started to collect links for a new resource list, which hopefully will include only the best, useful and practical links.

Recommendations on such resources are welcome!

]]> http://www.practiproj.com/tons-of-resources-for-web-developers-and-designers/feed/ 0 Where To Find The Best Hosting Service? http://www.practiproj.com/where-to-find-the-best-hosting-service/ http://www.practiproj.com/where-to-find-the-best-hosting-service/#comments Thu, 07 Feb 2008 18:10:00 +0000 efimor http://grungybit.com/Practiproj/?p=7 Finding a good web hosting service is not trivial. There are so many hosting services, with different prices and different packages. What a headache!!!

There are many sites that grade web hosting services according to service categories, but it is so confusing as the lists of hosts each site recommends is different. To make it harder I suspect that the reliability of some of those directories sites is questionable (as the grading of the hosting services is not supported by measurable data). Also, to confuse you more – if you search the net for info on one of the recommended hosting services you will find some good reviews along with bad reviews.

So how to find a good host? first you need to understand your needs such as space, Cost, bandwidth, support, programs and scripts (see articles about this topic, in one of the links below).

Then:

  • Browse web hosting directories for recommendations
  • Ask for recommendations in hosting forums and development forums


Once you find a host you want to try:

  • Search the web for reviews on the host service
  • Make sure the host provides money back guarantied option
  • Test customer support by calling or on-line chat
  • Try out the service for a trail period.


Few hosting related resources:

And hosting forums

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