1. Sync Textmate Bundles Across All your Macs With DropBox

    March 12, 2011 by J.P.

    If you’re a heavy lifter with Textmate and create and customize bundles all the time this post is for you.

    Copying bundles from one machine to another is cumbersome and easily forgotten.

    I always find myself adding one command to a custom bundle at the office and then forgetting to add it to one of my machines at the house.

    Before we begin you will need a Dropbox account. If you don’t already have one you can get a free one here

    Once you have Dropbox running you can run these 3 steps in Terminal.app

    It is highly recommend to run a backup of your bundles before attempting the steps below.

    Step 1. Move to your the folder where the Textmate bundles are located:

    $ cd ~/Library/Application\ Support/TextMate/

    Step 2. Move the Bundles folder to your Dropbox folder:

    $ mv Bundles ~/Dropbox/Bundles

    Step 3. Create a symlink in the DropBox folder to the “Application Support/TextMate/” directory:

    $ ln -s ~/Dropbox/Bundles/ Bundles

    Repeat steps 1,2,3 on any machines that you need to sync up.

    Category: applications, coding tool, osxTags: , , , | Comments (0)

  2. CSS3 Gradient Code Generator

    September 11, 2010 by J.P.

    css3Generator

    Checkout the CCS gradient code generator I created this morning.

    Click Here

    Category: CSS 3, coding tool, css/html, html5Comments (0)

  3. Use Textmate to Compose email with OSX Mail

    July 27, 2009 by J.P.

    mailtextmate

    Recently I started using Textmate for more things then just coding websites since thats bascially the tip of the iceburg then it comes to the most powerful editor on the mac.

    If you interested in trying something new with Textmate here are basic instructions to use texmate to compose messages with OSX mail.

    1. Make sure you have installed the “Edit in Textmate” Bundle. This is found in “Bundles>Textmate>Install Edit in Textmate bundle.
    2. Once the bundle has been installed you will be able to edit your email message in text by hitting the following short cut keys “Control + Command +E” or optionally going to the edit menu in Mail and the very last option will be “Edit in Textmate”.
    3. Once you the command has been keyed a blank Textmate text file will be opened.
    4. Type your email message and then save. If your done editing the email you can close the Textmate window and you will see your message in message window of the Mail app.

    Other Mail features you can with Mail

    • Increase quote level “> or shift+.”

    Category: applications, coding toolTags: , , , | Comments (0)

  4. QA with Mantis

    June 15, 2009 by J.P.

    mantis

    As an on again off again freelancer I’ve encountered a many different ways to run through QA (Quality Assurance).  Each team has is own process… Excel docs getting emailed around left and right or a better method but not best, Google docs. None of these tools are ideally designed for the QA process. Since my last QA frustration, I decided to look around and see if there was a easy tool that I could use with a team working from different locations via extranet type login etc.

    MantisBT is a free popular web-based bugtracking system (feature list). It is written in the PHP scripting language and works with MySQL, MS SQL, and PostgreSQL databases and a webserver.

    drstrangelove2

    Many agencies seem to be using Mantis and its been around for a while as well as a simple set up. I was instanly impressed with how easy it was to use. You can easily setup a new project and assign team members to bugs. Color code key helps clearly display what is going on for each bug aswell many other helpful details. If you have been trying to imrpove your QA and haven’t tried Mantis Bug Tracker I highly recommend checking it out.

    Category: applications, coding toolTags: , | Comments (1)

  5. BluePrint CSS Framework (Updated)

    June 1, 2009 by J.P.

    blueprintRecently been reading alot about CSS frameworks that are working off a grid that are easy to use and work with… Sort of been mulling around with trying one for my next project. After reviewing a few of them from this post. I’ve decided to give BluePrint a shot.

    BluePrint seems very easy to work with. It’s just the matter of how best to work with the framework while adding custom content around it. view the test pages here that come with the default install. Pretty nice grid working cross browser. (Update) Some great plugins for the framework can be found here.

    Over the next week or so I’m going to remake this entire blog with BluePrint and updating this post with progress and thoughts on about the CCS framework. Stay Tuned…

    Update

    06/2/09

    Today I have been playing around for a couple hours with the framework, so far so good… its been easy to align copy and set widths. Only issues have come across so far are using <ul/> for navigation and have divs floated to the right.  Still TBD if the framework supports this type of functionality or not.

    06/3/09

    After playing around with framework for a couple hours I was able to get a decent understanding of things. Like many CSS designers I have had a self made framework that I used to approach projects. However BluePrint is definitely a nice tool to be using. After 3-4 hours of playing around I became comfortable using it… the only thing that is a little hard to predict is how it will act with my own styles that I’ve been adding.

    More updates to come…

    blueprint1

    You can view progress of the updated design in real time by clicking here.

    Category: coding tool, css/xhtmlComments (0)

  6. BluePrint CSS Framework (Updated)

    by J.P.

    blueprintRecently been reading alot about CSS frameworks that are working off a grid that are easy to use and work with… Sort of been mulling around with trying one for my next project. After reviewing a few of them from this post. I’ve decided to give BluePrint a shot.

    BluePrint seems very easy to work with. It’s just the matter of how best to work with the framework while adding custom content around it. view the test pages here that come with the default install. Pretty nice grid working cross browser. (Update) Some great plugins for the framework can be found here.

    Over the next week or so I’m going to remake this entire blog with BluePrint and updating this post with progress and thoughts on about the CCS framework. Stay Tuned…

    Update

    06/2/09

    Today I have been playing around for a couple hours with the framework, so far so good… its been easy to align copy and set widths. Only issues have come across so far are using <ul/> for navigation and have divs floated to the right.  Still TBD if the framework supports this type of functionality or not.

    06/3/09

    After playing around with framework for a couple hours I was able to get a decent understanding of things. Like many CSS designers I have had a self made framework that I used to approach projects. However BluePrint is definitely a nice tool to be using. After 3-4 hours of playing around I became comfortable using it… the only thing that is a little hard to predict is how it will act with my own styles that I’ve been adding.

    More updates to come…

    blueprint1

    You can view progress of the updated design in real time by clicking here.

    Category: coding tool, css/xhtmlComments (0)

  7. Don't Forget Wire Frame Everything

    April 23, 2009 by J.P.

    Since reemerging in to freelancing I have noticed that not many people use wire frames that should be. I guess a lot of people think its an extra step that’s not needed or will add unnecessary time/cost to the project.  When this approach is taken things start to veer off the path as the project goes from one phase to the next. The designer, coder, and client are all expecting different things to happen at different parts of the site. By creating even simple wire frames you can show the flow of the site and how the content will be presented. Even if it is just a quick pass(though not recommended) it can prevent major headaches down the line.

    Here are a few good resources I found for wire framing.

    List of wire framing applications:

    A few good reads on wireframes including examples:

    When all is said and done wireframing things out helps better communicate the goals of the project and will give everyone a roadmap to follow.

    Category: coding tool, designComments (1)

  8. Great Resources for Greek Copy

    March 13, 2009 by J.P.

    lipsum

    Here are the two sites I turn to for copy filling.

    • html-ipsum.com – Great resource while coding.
    • lipsum.com – The classic… great generator and the best for designing

    If you have anymore you would recommend please comment below.

    Category: coding tool, design, lipsumComments (0)