An EE site in 24 hours
2nd December 2007
My colleague Jamie Pittock, who also runs the successful ExpressionEngine “fan-site” Jambor-ee, has something special for you through this otherwise bleak and flu-inducing December.
Over the next 24 days we’re going to be building a website using the web publishing software ExpressionEngine. Each day a new tutorial will be published and will follow on from the last. Each tutorial will be intended to last no more than an hour. So really we’re hoping to build a website in less than 24 hours!
This is an ambitious project, but if anyone can do it, then Jamie can. I’m particularly excited that he’s using this project to build a site he’s been talking about for ages.
Head on over to Jambor-ee, grab the feed, and get your notepad out. This is one workshop not to be missed.
Erskine give Beatport its own Beatportal
30th June 2007
Over at Erskine Design, we’ve just cut the ribbon on Beatportal - a massive new site for another of our US clients. Beatportal is the latest project from the top-class chaps at Beatport.com, the recognized leader in electronic music downloads.
You may already be aware of their cleverly databased Flash-built store, and now the new portal (yes, it seems we do still use that word) provides lovers of bleepy, electronic music with up-to-date information and worldwide events whilst finally giving their customers a real sense of community. And thanks to some trickery-pokery, we’re able to deep-link directly from Beatportal into their Flash store.
Just about all of the credit needs to go to our Jamie Pittock, whose fine craftsmanship, unparalleled knowledge of EE (I thought I knew it all until he came along), and ability to dispense with sleep for months on end allowed the folks at Beatport to basically give us a complete wishlist of what they wanted. Naturally, the site is running off EE 1.6, which is perhaps the most exciting release from the EE team to date. I’m trying not to be quite so evangelical about EE for a while as I was going overboard, so I’ll let Veerle fill you in.
We ended up making quite a few layout amends at the end of the testing phase to accommodate standard advert sizes and other things, so if you spot any errors in our last minute changes then feel free to tip me off as usual. Don’t tell me that the site lacks guitar-based music - I tried to push for more but it was never gonna happen.
We’ve quite a few other juicy things to throw out in the next month or two, including some projects we’ve been desperate to talk about for months, plus (finally) exciting stuff such as a brand new office and our forthcoming call for staff. Keep ‘em peeled.
For now, Jamie, myself and the other Erskinites are off to spend two days in the remote Yorkshire dales without access to phone networks or wifi. It is a Summer Holiday of sorts, but also our annual opportunity to catch up with each other properly, drink ale, and chat in the saunas. Lovely.
#703 | 30/06/07 | EE Erskine Music Web stuff | More >
The ExpressionEngine team take four giant steps
8th March 2007
It is a very big day for my friends over at what was, until today, called pMachine. Originally named after their initial product (long since put to bed with the growth of ExpressionEngine) they have today been reborn as EllisLab inc, named after the founder Rick, who is modestly not responsible for the decision. Well, he blames the team…
The network
At last, the relatively wide network is consolidated through four glorious redesigns by one of my own favourite designers, the mighty Canadian and long-term EE design collaborator Jesse Bennett-Chamberlain:
- EllisLab (the company)
- ExpressionEngine (the world’s best publishing system)
- CodeIgniter (the powerful PHP framework)
- EngineHosting (formerly pMachine Hosting)
Update: A little birdie has just told me that the very first article in Digital Web Magazine’s forthcoming Working Designer series will feature Mr. Bennett-Chamberlain discussing the ins and outs of this very project. One too look out for during your post-SXSW hangovers, methinks.
The advisory board
Showing the team’s growing commitment to their user base, they’ve established an Advisory Board of web professionals, consisting of myself, the aforementioned Jesse, Veerle Peiters, Jason Santa Maria, Greg Storey and several other EE-obsessives. Our roles will involve providing fresh feedback to the EllisLab team, and ensure the products grow in line with their intended use “out in the field”. Oh, and all those critics suggesting women are disenfranchised on the web should note that the advisory board consists of six men and four women.
The future
Today, as if we needed reminding, any of us who staked our businesses and reputations on ExpressionEngine can sit back with pride, glee and a dollop of smugness and reflect on how far the platform has come, whilst speculating wildly about where it will be going. The near future will bring us the much anticipated EE 2.0 (that’s a version number, in case anyone thinks it is anything to do with bloody Web 2.0) with a remodeled engine and full Ecommerce.
The party
Anyway, head on over and check out the skinny, and if (unlike me, sob) you find yourself at SXSW this weekend, pop on over to the EllisLab meetup and pretend that I’m there with you.
Issue 2 of Jambor-ee
24th January 2007
The already hugely popular ExpressionEngine fansite/resource Jambor-ee pulls down your britches and smacks your arse with Issue 2, featuring some hot content for a cold day, including my first contribution Sortable, Colour Coded Search Results. It’s a piping hot geek soup full of chunks ‘o love. Get it down yer.
Erskine Update: New Consumer
17th January 2007
Latest from Erskine Design. We have just launched the revamped New Consumer website - a collaborative project with the mighty Jason Arber of Pixelsurgeon.
You Brits may well have seen the physical magazine in coffee shops, on trains and in book stores - well, this is the pixelated version. Passionate, irreverent, positive and fun, New Consumer exists to champion fair trade and ethical living throughout the world, and to ultimately change consumer and business behaviour by illustrating the ethical alternative. Read it, and you will be a better person. Hey, it is all about ethics here at Erskine!
You’ll find interviews with people like Al Gore and Kathrine Hamnett, plus a myriad of well-known contributors, including my favourite food-chap Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall.
A note for all you standardistas - we ended up building this site under immense pressure and as a result, the code is not as clean as I’d like just yet. Still, we are aiming for perfection, so it won’t be like that for long. Maybe I’ll even get it tidied before the launch party tomorrow (yes, the launch, which is why I am blogging it before it is 100% finished)...
We’ve several huge and exciting projects on the boil at the moment, and although Erskine Design is only three months old, I’m delighted with the way things are going. Great new clients, exciting collaborations with respected designers, and I’ll be looking for my first full-time assistant very shortly. I’ll post up a full spec about what I’m looking for soon enough (don’t send any CVs yet).
I also (amongst many other things) find myself mid-way through building a web app (it has a starburst on the home page and I’m not sorry about it) - and I’m building it with ExpressionEngine of course. A comprehensive tool for the food and drink industry, it is possibly the most complicated thing I have ever done, but it is shaping up very nicely and seems incredibly robust.
There is much, much more I’d love to talk about, but I simply can’t just yet. It has been a very tough three months getting Erskine Design off the ground, especially with a mass of unexpected events punctuating my personal life, and I’m grateful for all the help I get from the Erskine Corporation. It is so good to have a caring, sharing team behind me.
Finally, apologies to all of those who have emailed and not yet received a reply. I simply cannot deal with any non-work emails at the moment. That said, the interesting ones still get attention!
#679 | 17/01/07 | EE Erskine | More >
Issue One of Jambor-EE
2nd January 2007
If you have even the smallest interest in Expression Engine, then this is for you. The wonderful Jambor-EE was launched quietly over the festive season, helmed masterfully by Yorkshireman Jamie Pittock.
Featuring guest authors such as Mark Huot (Happy Cog) and Steve Sharpe (Gleam), plus a sites showcase (nice one!), blog and jobs board, this is the ultimate site for all of us EE fanboys. Keep an eye on it…
Friday’s Expression Engine snippet
10th November 2006
I’ll end this week with what I think is an utter gem. I’ve been banging on about how Expression Engine isn’t just a blogging tool, it’s a full-on content management / web publishing / whatever we’re supposed to call these things this week system. Problem is, it’s missing one key, critical feature - hierarchical pages. It’s certainly something you can fudge around, using nested categories for the structure, and one weblog entry per category for the pages. But this tends to get kind of awkward to explain to the people who are going to be using the system.
But now there’s a better way. It’s not a perfect way, but for me, it goes a long, long way towards plugging one of the few gaps in EE. Head over to the Aladdin’s Cave of Expression Engine pimping, download the Pages module, and pledge eternal gratitude to the author, Mark Huot. There’s plenty more information in the related forum thread.
And while you’re at it, try out the File extension too, which is pretty-much essential. In fact, probably best to just grab them all!
#663 | 10/11/06 | Agenzia EE Guest Author Web stuff | More >
Thursday’s Expression Engine snippet
9th November 2006
After a quick check of my days-of-the-week pants, I can tell it’s Thursday, so time for today’s episode. We’re going to be building a simple what’s on guide, so hang on to your hats.
#662 | 09/11/06 | Agenzia EE Guest Author Web stuff | More >
Wednesday’s Expression Engine snippet
8th November 2006
Where is this week going? Anyway, no time for such philosophical questions, it’s time to get dynamic with Expression Engine.
#661 | 08/11/06 | Agenzia EE Guest Author Web stuff | More >
Tuesday’s Expression Engine snippet
7th November 2006
Sometimes I need one of Expression Engine’s features to work for me in a slightly different way, and that’s when I reach for the Query Module. In a nutshell, this module lets you get data from EE’s databases using standard SQL, then make that data available.
#660 | 07/11/06 | Agenzia EE Guest Author Web stuff | More >
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This is the personal home of Simon Collison; web designer/developer and author. Simon runs Erskine Design, a web agency based in Nottingham, UK. Read more...
Note: I've stripped down the site for a while whilst I rethink it. I'll give it a fresh lick of paint really soon.
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