Xavisys» xavisys

Press Release: Xavisys Acquires Attackr.com – Web Development News Blogs

Aaron D. Campbell — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:00:16 +0000

Xavisys, a WordPress development company specializing in web design, custom module programming, WordPress themes, and ecommerce solutions, has recently acquired the website Attackr.com. Aaron Campbell, founder and lead developer for the company, has stated that he wants to continue and expand the great community already present on the site in the future. “I want to stress that I plan on making it the same great resource that Sean did,” he said. “Xavisys now has two such sites (Attackr & Web Dev News) and is committed to benefiting the community with them.” In making the announcement, Xavisys also has unveiled some changes to the site that should make it easier for bloggers to use and attract more traffic to the site through search results.

The first major change is an upgrade to WordPress 2.6, which will give the bloggers a more powerful and intuitive interface to work with when writing their posts. Plans are already in place to upgrade the site to WordPress 2.7 next month when the new release is made public, and Attackr will undergo constant improvements to keep it at the leading edge of WordPress design. Xavisys is also focusing effort on SEO, and the site will continue to be a good place for developers to link to their design sites in order to build Page Rank. Attackr bloggers are encouraged to cross-post their articles and links on Web Dev News, and it is hoped that more sharing of information and resources between the two sites will build greater community and business to business networking opportunities among Open Source developers.

Other improvements to the site include new support for tags on content posts. All of the old articles on Attackr.com have been tagged with the categories that they were listed in originally, and authors can log in and update the settings with new tags that they feel are appropriate. For readers browsing the site, the tags should assist with easily finding related content, as the tags will now be listed at the bottom of every blog post. “Article Contributor” links will now appear automatically in the sidebar for authors with more than three articles on the site. However, these links will disappear within one month unless the author posts another article. This is to encourage and reward regular contributors to Attackr, and will hopefully lead to a more active community on the site.

The advantage of the sidebar “Article Contributor” links comes through SEO, and the display name can be customized in the control panel of the user profile section. The display name can be a personal name, user ID, or business, and the link can be directly to a member’s home page or business site. Ads have been adjusted on Attackr.com to not display for regular users. If a member logs in frequently, the ads will disappear. This will hopefully increase the enjoyment of the site for community bloggers creating content, while retaining the revenue possibilities on the site that cover its operational costs. In any case, Attackr will strive to retain its clean and simple design ethic while avoiding the overloading of content with advertisements for readers in order to provide information and resources in a user-friendly manner for all visitors.

Community members can now follow Attackr on Twitter, as well as streams from Web Dev News using the “WordPress Twitter Widget Pro Plugin” designed by Xavisys. Users can also follow new posts on both sites via RSS feeds. To subscribe, simply bookmark the following addresses in your reader:

Attackr: http://www.attackr.com/feed/

Web Dev News: http://webdevnews.net/feed/

Both sites now include “Share This” buttons to simplify the process of submitting user articles to social bookmarking sites like Digg, del.icio.us, Technorati, Reddit, mySpace, Facebook, and others. Altogether, there is one click submission of articles to over forty social networking and bookmarking sites, as well as the ability to email or IM blog posts to friends. This should allow for contributing authors to easily network their articles on Attackr and Web Dev News online, and draw more attention to the information on the site.

Xavisys is also requesting user feedback and suggestions on how to make Attackr a better site in the future. Web developers and active contributors interested in collaboration and partnership on Attackr.com, or existing users with questions about the change-over and new features can contact the site admin through the Attackr.com contact form.

New users who blog about web development and web design issues can register for Attackr.com as well as register for Web Dev News.

To learn more about Xavisys, or to download their plugins and templates for WordPress, please visit http://xavisys.com/

Acquia Puts Drupal in the News

Aaron D. Campbell — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 21:55:18 +0000

As many know, Xavisys recently launched a web developer resource site called WebDevNews. Jeffery Scott really helped kicked things off right with a great article: Acquia Gets Ready for Release of Carbon – Commercially Supported Drupal

He talks about Acquia, a new company that was launched by Dries Buytaert, founder of Drupal. It will offer commercial support for Drupal. It seems that Acquia plans on supporting Drupal much the same way that Automattic supports WordPress and SixApart supports Movable Type. With this kind of support available to our clients, Xavisys will now be offering Drupal solutions in addition to the WordPress and custom solutions already offered.

All Work and No Play

Aaron D. Campbell — Sat, 31 May 2008 01:51:21 +0000

Many of you may have noticed that my responses to comments have slowed, and new plugin releases and updates have slowed as well. I’m sorry for the lag, but I do have some great new stuff in the works! The good thing is, the reason for the delays is that Xavisys has been dealing with a higher than normal work load. Why is this good? Well, because the income from the work is what allows me to continue developing and releasing free stuff!

The work load has actually increased so much, that I’m looking for good, reliable help. I need a developer that I can count on who has knowledge and experience developing PHP. If you have experience with WordPress it’s a plus, but not required. Please contact me if you are interested.

The Heart of Open Source

Aaron D. Campbell — Sat, 10 May 2008 16:47:46 +0000

I really wanted to talk about open source software, how it relates to Xavisys and specifically me, why I believe in it, and why I support it. I knew that before I did, I needed to address the issue of profiting from open source. Take the time to read that, it will give you a more accurate picture of my relationship with open source, as well as some tips on how you can benefit from a similar relationship.

I personally love open source, because I love the idea of benefiting others. I enjoy giving someone else an advantage that they wouldn’t otherwise have. Take WordPress for example. It benefits two sets of people, the users who get a better experience and better functionality, as well as the companies and developers who use it as a platform to build on. Sure, some of those companies are competitors, but I want them to succeed too. I certainly don’t want to move ahead in life at the expense of others, I’d much rather move ahead by helping others. In the end we can all benefit. Whenever I hear the saying “It’s lonely at the top,” I can’t help but think that maybe they did something wrong then. If they’d have worked with people on the way to the top, and brought them along for the ride, they wouldn’t be so lonely. That’s my goal.

A Marketing Strategy You Can Believe In

Aaron D. Campbell — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 06:30:17 +0000

Do you remember in the good old days, when you went to the market down the street because you knew the owner, John, and his kids went to school with yours? When you went to the mechanic across town, because you new that Dave wouldn’t ever charge you for something you didn’t need? I don’t, I’m only 26 after all, but I wish I did. I’m tired of choosing a company based on impersonal tv commercials, that the owner of the company may or may not have even seen. I don’t want the cheapest, I want the best value, and I don’t necessarily want whatever the latest celebrity wants.

Building a company is hard work, but I’ve decided to draw a line in the sand. Xavisys is going to be a great company because I stand behind it, and I’m an upstanding, honest person that you can get to know.

The term “Marketing strategy” sounds like a group of people in a back room, devising ways to fool you, the consumer, into buying whatever they offer. It gives the impression that trickery or underhanded tactics are being used. I want to blow that out of the water. There are plenty of great businesses out there that have great people standing behind them. Rackspace gives me an account representative that actually answers the phone when I call, and works to get any issue (even the minor ones) resolved as quickly as possible. Not exactly status quo with hosting companies, but it should be. My good friend James Pearson has a socially proactive business called Acholi Beads, and I would be able to guarantee it was great even if I knew nothing about it except that he stands behind it. That’s the kind of business I like to deal with, and that’s the kind of business Xavisys is, and will continue to be.

There are other places out there where you can take your web development work. There are other places that have a thorough knowledge of WordPress customization and plugin development. There are even other people out there with years of real world experience. While I have all that, and am confident that Xavisys can stand on technical merit alone, that’s not why you should use Xavisys. You should use it because I’m active in my community (online and off), and have people who will speak to my character. You should use it because it’s a family owned and operated company, and my wife Christen and I personally guarantee you will never be charged more hours than were really worked, and that corners won’t be cut that will cost you in the long run. You should use it because you know that it’s named after my son Xavier, and I want it to be an example of how he should live, not how much he should make.

That’s my commitment, not at the expense of quality work, but in addition to it. It’s a high standard, and if you ever think I’m not living up to it, let me know.

Creative Brainstorming Meeting

Aaron D. Campbell — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:17:06 +0000

Over the weekend I had James Pearson (of Surviving America and Acholi Beads) and Steven Homestead staying at my house. I couldn’t help but take advantage of this abundance of creativity I suddenly found at my disposal. As a developer rather than a designer, I find the creative process to be mysterious, possibly even magical. Seeing phrases like “Enslave the Internet” written on the windows of my home, I was far from disappointed as I was treated to a rare opportunity to take a peek inside the creative mind.

People constantly tell me that as a programmer, I have to be creative to find solutions to more complex problems. However, it seems to be a different kind of creativity, because what I experienced this weekend was as foreign to me as nearly anything I’ve experienced.

I asked James if he might help me with work out a marketing strategy for Xavisys, and the first thing he asked for was a white board (preferably a few). I may not be creative, but I know the advantages of having space to scribble as you work out problems. Along the way however, I’ve gotten rid of the white board, in favor of my glass desk. I keep a collection of dry erase markers and Vis-A-Vis markers at my desk, and whenever I need to write something down, I grab one and write it right on my desk. Dry erase markers are for very short-term things, since moving things around on the desk can often erase what you’ve written. The Vis-A-Vis markers on the other hand stay just fine, until they get wet, which is perfect, because they can be cleaned off with a damp paper towel. Since it’s not very cool to cram a bunch of people around my desk in my office, I got out the markers, and we started marking up some windows in my house.

We started by talking about what Xavisys does, the mundane list of services rendered. Soon we were talking about what made Xavisys stand apart from other companies. Then, as we wrapped up the boring summation, things really stared to happen. James and Steve started spouting ideas at break neck speed. Nothing was thrown out or ignored, only built upon. I enjoy improv comedy and used to be part of a group that performed and I’ve even taught improv techniques. We had an exercise called “yes and” which taught players how to take ideas and run with them, rather than ignore them. Basically, you could not say no, or turn down any idea offered, instead you answered “yes and ____,” adding your own twist to the scene in progress. This was that game.

This method produces plenty of bad ideas. Among the tag lines that were later thrown out were phrases like “Enslave the Internet”, “Funk Shun” and “Make the internet your pool boy!” What amazed me, was that after a relatively short time, small nuggets of gold began to emerge from the dross, phrases like “Interface with the world” and “Take control of the internet.” All leading to the one diamond in the rough, “Control Your Internet.”

Google Maps API

Aaron D. Campbell — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:42:04 +0000

I started working some with the Google Maps API, and it’s pretty nice. The documentation is decent, the examples are good, etc. I realized that I’ve come to expect this from Google, so I wanted to take the time instead to point out that this is an exceptional product. For example, I began to look into making the scroll wheel zoom on my maps like they do on the Google Maps site. What does it entail? One line:

map.enableScrollWheelZoom();

However, as great of a product as it is, it seems to be lacking some things. For example, if I want an info window that gives the options to get directions to or from that location, I have to do all that myself. I have to generate the links, and make them replace the content of the info window with a form that I have to make, and I have to make that form run some JavaScript when executed to get the directions. Why? This has GOT to be a common task. Why not build it into the API? However, in the end, that pales in comparison to the real problem. There is no way to validate a Google Maps API key! Instead, you have to load JavaScript using that key, and it uses an alert to announce that the key was bad! No one wants a JavaScript alert to pop up on their page! Since I’m making a WordPress plugin out of this (teaser!), I needed to make sure that the users of my plugin wouldn’t have this issue. I ended up having to override the alert function on the options page for my plugin like this:

var KillAlerts = true;
var realAlert = alert;
var alert = new Function('a', 'if(!KillAlerts){realAlert(a)}');

Then I added a function that runs on page load, re-enables the alerts, and checks if the key was valid:

function load()
{
    // Re-anable alerts
    KillAlerts = false;

    if (GBrowserIsCompatible()) {
        // Key is valid
    } else {
        if (G_INCOMPAT) {
            // Key is NOT valid.
        } else {
            // Can't tell if the Google API Key is valid, due to the browser not being compatible with the Google Maps API.
        }
    }
}

There is no reason that it should be that complicated. They should have a web service where I can send a request to verify a key, or their script should set a global variable rather than send an ugly alert! In the end, it’s a great product, but I would have expected that these kind of rough edges would have been taken care of by now. Google, you make me sad.

Xavisys» xavisys

Press Release: Xavisys Acquires Attackr.com – Web Development News Blogs

Related Posts:

Acquia Puts Drupal in the News

Related Posts:

All Work and No Play

Related Posts:

The Heart of Open Source

Related Posts:

A Marketing Strategy You Can Believe In

Related Posts:

Creative Brainstorming Meeting

Related Posts:

Google Maps API

Related Posts: