All – Page 2 – Julian and Francis' Blog

Here is a new screen shot of RapidFMS showing the Calendar, the File Format editing form that lets you create new file formats, the Sign on Glass form as well as the new Script Editor form which allows things such as workflow to be scripted visually.

Choosing your Web Technologies

All, Technology Comments Off

Feb 052014

RapidOS is a relatively new web technology based framework / platform for developing advanced desktop like web apps quickly.

We had quite a lot of requirements, but among the highest priority were:

1 – must be developed in a commonly used well established programming language.
2 – have maximum hosting options available including on mobile devices themselves.
3 – have few application architecture restrictions.
4 – have a low learning curve for current and future developers.
5 – must be relatively quick and easy to implement user requirements.

When we sat down to create RapidOS, we first looked at available programming languages as well as experimenting with many of their existing frameworks. We soon realised that although some of the frameworks were promising, they generally were not well suited to our requirements.

We had a good idea what the most commonly used technologies were, and a quick investigation of hundreds of popular websites / web apps proved what we already knew. w3techs.com is one of the leading web technology usage stats publishing websites – their stats also reflect somewhat our findings. Let’s look at the top 3 most popular techs in each of the categories below (stats taken from w3techs.com):

Server-side Languages: PHP 81.7%, ASP.NET 18%, Java 2.7%

Interesting these stats. Although we knew these were the top 3 platforms, we never reaslised how little used Java was as a server-side language. Java isn’t a bad choice, nor is ASP.NET, but of these only PHP satisfied our number 2 priority. In fact we have done POCs using ASP.NET and Java also should we require to develop a server in these techs one day, but at this time not a priority. We like the idea of JavaScript on the server but it isn’t even a blip in the stats nor does it satisfy our number 2 priority – over time this may change. We chose to code our current server in 100% PHP.

Client-side Languages: JavaScript 88.1%, Flash 15.3%, Silverlight 0.2%

We don’t mind what can be achieved with Flash, but it was never a consideration. Neither was Silverlight. In fact, we considered JavaScript, Java and PHP only for this – but if we chose PHP, our client wouldn’t be ‘as rich’.

A RapidOS App has a client component and a server component – both could be hosted in a browser but both could be hosted on a PC or Server. In the end we chose to use both JavaScript and PHP for the client (98% JavaScript, 1% PHP and 1% Java).

JavaScript Libraries: JQuery 57.5%, Mootools 4.9%, Modernizr 4.6%

As we had chosen JavaScript as our client-side language, we looked at whether we wanted to use any util libraries. We liked the way the JQuery selectors worked and the way it hid some of the browser idiosyncrasies and the fact that there is a vast array of plugins and 3rd party components that also use JQuery, so we chose to use JQuery. In fact we use a few other less common libraries too which are simple to redevelop should we ever need.

Markup Languages: XHTML 50.5%, HTML 50.2%

We use XHTML for most part, because the World is moving that way, but that doesn’t really matter so much for now. Our templates are 100% XHTML/HTML with zero logic or embedded funny extensions.

Site Elements: CSS 90%, Compression 54.2%, Cookies 46.5%

Cool, interesting to know that chances are, whatever we do in CSS (sans HTML5 extensions) are usable by most of the World.

Web Servers: Apache 62.7%, Nginx 18%, Microsoft IIS 14.4%

Related to our language choices, we mostly host on Apache, but our client and server also works on Microsoft IIS. That gives us at least 77.1% target hosting compatibility based on those stats.

Content Languages: English 55.5%, Russian 6.1%, German 6%

We only speak English, but our software is easy to cater for multiple languages. We have made specific effort to ensure that the core foundation of our software is Asian language capable due to one of our requirements.

Trusted Websites

All Comments Off

Jan 082014

It’s an all too common occurrence that you read in the news these days – this or that website got hacked and thousands of bits of private information has been made available to the public from addresses to credit card information. More often than not the website didn’t actually get hacked but rather the website was insecure and the owners of the website had made the data available to the public either through a mistake, ignorance, irresponsibility or negligence.

Mistakes can happen, we are all human and it’s in our nature. Sometimes data can be made insecure through process error. That’s unfortunate and such errors should be investigated as to what the root cause was. If it can be found, analysed and ideally the same or similar reasons for the insecure website won’t happen again. I put things such as wrongly applied web application permissions or even network administrator errors (making the host server insecure) in this category.

Ignorance is probably the next greatest cause of insecure website. That is… ignorance of the businesses for which the website was created for. Whether the website was developed in-house, purchased or outsourced, the business must take the responsibility to ensure the website is secure or at least do anything in their reasonable power to ensure that it is. Developers make mistakes, operations make mistakes. Some developers don’t actually care or even know how to develop websites in a responsible and secure way but… even if they do, it is always a good and responsible thing to do a security review. Security reviews should also be regular to ensure that bug fixes, updates, system patches or even configuration changes haven’t made what was a secure website insecure. I would strongly recommend that any website that hosts important private information be reviewed either by an in-house security analyst or outsource the review to a 3rd party who offers such services – they should be able to examine your system and give you a report on common security flaws and whether they exist or not in your website.

Because we are all human, errors are inevitable no matter what processes or good practices are put in place. The occurrence of such security breaches however should be much much lower than they presently are. The worst thing though is that it’s also more common than it should be for companies to hide or ignore breaches if they are discovered and even in some cases make outright negligent decisions to try hide the issues.

Snap Chat big lol

http://www.theage.com.au/it-pro/security-it/snapchat-hacked-leaking-46-million-usernames-and-phone-numbers-20140101-hv7b9.html

the Australian Government’s Public Transport Victoria cannot get some basic things right

http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/schoolboy-hacks-public-transport-victoria-website-20140107-30fkg.html

Dodo won’t exist any more if that happens too often

http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/security-it/website-glitch-exposes-dodo-customer-details-20121106-28v85.html

Australia Post Can’t Get it right, and someone wants to buy them?

http://www.news.com.au/technology/australia-post-hit-by-security-breach-again/story-e6frfro0-1226507720654

Companies that rip you off for years

All Comments Off

Dec 312013

An interesting article in the Sydney Morning Herald today “Putting a price on your bill-paying laziness” which we totally agree on in relation to companies that rip off their customers for years, that is why we reward our customers for loyalty in many cases giving them discounts for repeat or ongoing business. Giving only new customers a reward and neglecting the ones that helped grow your business is just plain wrong!

Bringing RapidOS Products to more of your devices…

All, Technology Comments Off

Dec 222013

This weekend managed to test and find that RapidOS is compatible with:

SONY Playstation 3 (works flawlessly)
Blackberry Playbook (works flawlessly)

Inefficiencies and Off Shoring

All Comments Off

Nov 162013

Was thinking about how some projects seem to be run where the developers think they are being paid per line of code, e.g. $1 per line – 100 lines = $100. At least some of the off-shored projects that we’ve had re-develop for our clients must have been taught this at school – 10,000+ lines of code for a form that should have been a tenth that? 😀

I wonder if in a typical project, a form could be gauged to be 1000 lines on average for a good developer, you’d end up with better code by the off shored service providers if you paid them for the lines less than the average that the developers didn’t code ‘below’ the average? You could have $1 per line as a starting value for a good developer and potentially double it for a master… Any lines of code outside the average, maybe they didn’t deserve to be paid.

Ideally such a metric isn’t perfect and would require some more thought… Time factors could also be added in a similar way in paying people for their efficiency rather than their deficiency. Could be a fun way to encourage projects to be more efficient.

Planners vs.Reactivists – you certainly wouldn’t build a house without putting up a ‘planned out’ frame first

All, Business, Project Management Comments Off

Nov 122013

I was having a good discussion with JC last night around the Agile project methodology and a few good points were raised.

For example, when implementing an Agile Methodology it is important not to forget about Planning and Reflection to become a more efficient team.

This is clearly outlined in the very last paragraph of the Agile Manifesto – “At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.” – http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.htm

It is also clearly outlined in Agile’s Declaration of Interdependence – “We improve effectiveness and reliability through situationally specific strategies, processes and practices.” – http://pmdoi.org/

It is too easy to get bogged down in simply delivering to a customer and “keeping them happy” and not devoting or allocating any time to Planning. The Agile Methodology dictates a fine balance of Planned and Re-Activist based approaches therefore a lean towards either direction also means to stray away from being Agile.

A ‘Spike’ is a very important part of Planning and I can’t stress how important they are to an Agile project.

Therefore make sure they included in between sprints within your Agile based project.

“Spikes will usually take place in between sprints” – http://agile101.net/2009/09/29/using-spikes-in-agile-software-development/

I suppose I just wanted to stress to all ‘Agilists’ out there that they should at least try and allocate more time to Planning to ensure resources are being used efficiently throughout all aspects of your Agile project. This will surely bring success to all involved.

“Agile on the other hand is a truly open and transparent system of working, one that still gives the client the secure knowledge of fixed charges and fixed timescales by simply adjusting the breadth of features that can be accomplished. So whilst the product owner might not get all of the lower priority features they wished for at that the project’s conception, they are still guaranteed a viable, usable, and working product for no extra or hidden charges. Likewise, less of the job’s budget is spent on project management, change orders and scope limitation so more money goes straight to where its needed: design, development and content.”

http://8gramgorilla.com/applying-agile-development-to-web-projects/

Web Renovators certainly prides itself on delivering quality solutions to it’s customers and agrees that correct use of Agile project management can certainly assist with this.

laughable comment by DevExpress – supposed #1 Visual Studio Magazine Readers Choice Best Component Suite Manufacturer

All Comments Off

Oct 212013

I just read this laughable comment by supposed #1 Visual Studio Magazine Readers Choice Best Component Suite Manufacturer… “In web MDI applications are rarely used because they reduce the website performance much and do not provide a good look and feel” – www.devexpress.com/Support/Center/Question/Details/S137676 – I guess if your product doesn’t do it, then… pretend it’s not possible 😀

Leading the pack with a modern Web App Framework, Web Renovators can provide best fit re-implementations of your legacy Client Server Apps to the Web, including MDI VB6 Apps – www.youtube.com/webrenovators

Web Renovators MDI Apps are FASTER than your standard Web App and they look fantastic too!

Bringing RapidOS Products to your devices…

All, Business, Technology Comments Off

Oct 032013

Just noting the devices that RapidOS is compatible with:

Windows PC (Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8) (works flawlessly)
Mac with OSX (Leopard, Snow Leopard and Lion) (works flawlessly)
iPad, iPad 2, iPad 3, iPhone 3G, iPhone 4 (works flawlessly)
Various Android based phones 2.2 and later (works flawlessly)
Various Android based Media players (works flawlessly)
Google TV (works flawlessly)
Nintendo Wii (works suprisingly well if not a little slow – likely due to lack of RAM)
Blackberry Bold (the browser sucks, it works but not really nicely)

Older Entries Newer Entries