Best Way to Plan Your Web Application

When contacted by potential clients, we are often presented with diverse  information including  links to competitors' sites, prototypes, feature lists, or wireframes, while other clients may come to us with just an idea.  However, presenting details of your vision clearly in writing will lead to a better web application. This will also enable professionals to more accurately estimate  the time and costs necessary to implement your ideas.

So how can you best identify the features and functionality you need when looking to build a new web application? Let's consider the three main formats for doing this: Wireframes, Feature Lists and User Stories.

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Rails 3 default cookie domain for subdomains

In Rails 3 the way you set your default cookie domain to allow your session to be shared across subdomains has changed. In Rails 2.3.5 you would add the following to your application.rb :

config.action_dispatch.session = {:domain =>".mydomain.com"}

In Rails 3 there is now a session_store.rb initialiser, in there you can configure your default domain like so:

Rails.application.config.session_store :cookie_store,
                                  :key => '_app_session',
                                  :domain => '.mydomain.com'

 

SVG Images and Animations on the Web with Raphaël

Last week I gave a talk at Google OSJam on Raphaël (a javascript SVG library), the library that makes it easy to draw and animate vector graphics on a browser.

SVG is one of the many methods of drawing images on the web. Some of the other technologies include Flash, Canvas and now WebGL.

The reason we used Raphael in some of our projects is that we needed to bind events to the shapes we drew. For example, we had to create an interactive gantt chart that displayed a form via Ajax when you clicked on a task. This functionality in Raphael is made possible by the fact that SVG paths are DOM elements, although it does mean you don't get the performance of pixel manipulation as you would with canvas. Raphael also renders VML when on IE, so in theory your graphics should be cross-browser compatible.

I gave a demo of an animated clock that I'd made a few hours beforehand with Raphael and the jquery.jclock library. The clock will eventually be apart of a Panic inspired dashboard we are building to increase visibility across all of our projects.

The clock itself is quite simple: I modified the jclock library to trigger a 'tick' event, which we later used to animate the SVG clock for the hand rotation. Since the talk, I have also developed an alternate style for the clock, but the original code and examples can be found here (the library is creatively called jquery.svgclock.js):

http://github.com/bitzesty/hud

Brought to you by Bit Zesty - a 'crack' team of Ruby on Rails web developers

What is Ruby on Rails and Why Should I Use it for Web Applications?

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MongoDB with MongoMapper and Ruby on Rails

Summary
No migrations (yes!), storing arrays and hashes as attribute keys (sweet), and inplace updates (ftw). We're not going to use MongoDB to build transactional systems any time soon, but for the majority of web applications it's a perfect fit.

Bit Zesty - Ruby on Rails Development (and MongoDB) UK

Web Development Terminology

While we are not big fans of technical jargon here at Bit Zesty, in some cases it is more helpful to use the correct term rather than rolling out a long and convoluted description of the thing in question each time. We use a few specific terms again and again throughout our site, so I have picked these out and expanded on them below to help new visitors understand what we do.

 

Web Application (webapp)

A web application is computer software which is accessible through the Internet. Social networks, e-commerce sites and wikis are all examples of web applications.

• Web applications enable you to deliver and update software without having to distribute and install it.  This makes it easier to reach new users as well as allowing you to maintain the software to a standard which keeps existing users happy.
• One big advantage of web applications is that they are not dependant on the user’s operating system. This means that you can cover a wider market without having to make changes to your software or release different versions.

Ruby on Rails (RoR)

Ruby on Rails is a framework for creating web applications using the Ruby programming language.

• We choose to use Ruby on Rails because it enables us to build applications more rapidly than on other frameworks, which means that the client receives more features at a lower cost.
• Another positive is that it encourages good development practices, resulting in higher quality code. This ensures your application is extendable and scalable.
• By providing excellent support for automated testing, it allows for robust code, which reduces the amount of maintenance required.

Agile Development

Agile is a development methodology which embraces collaboration with customers, face-to-face communication, self-organizing teams, frequent delivery, and the ability to respond to changing requirements.

• Agile enables you to re-prioritise or even introduce new features at any point. This allows us to react to changes in your business and thus ensure that application is tailored exactly to your needs.

Test Driven Development (TDD)

Test Driven Development is a technique wherein automated tests are created before the program code. This forces code to be written and improved upon until it passes the test.

• Test Driven Development helps to eliminate the majority of bugs, ensuring you get software that is robust and properly functioning.

This list is by no means complete and I intend to keep updating it, particularly when we add new terminology to our website.

 

Bit Zesty is a Ruby on Rails Company in London