Blog: July 2009

Client Feature: Picture Kitchen

July 30, 2009

Picture Kitchen is a design and production company based in California specializing in exhibit, entertainment and branded environment design. They create and build interactive exhibits for product promotion, sets for photo and film shoots, and much much more. Check out the project section of their site for the many types of impressive work they do.

The company came to Hop Studios with a half-built ExpressionEngine site from another developer and wanted our help to complete it. They had a fresh ExpressionEngine install and were in need of further development. Being excellent designer-y types, they already had Photoshop design files ready for slicing and dicing.

Our first step was to update EE to 1.6.7, and then configure the site beyond a basic “blog and static pages” setup. We installed SimpleViewer in their projects galleries to display a slideshow of images from the different types of installation and exhibit work they do. We implemented graphics and HTML/CSS on the site based on the design files provided by Picture Kitchen. It was purely a development project, executed on a tight deadline, and the client is very happy with the results.

Posted by Rachael Ashe at 2:44 PM | Comments (0)

ExpressionEngine 1.6.8: The Security Hole and EllisLab’s Response

July 23, 2009

So, EllisLab just released an update to ExpressionEngine, bringing it to version 1.6.8.

There is a major reason you should update to 1.6.8: there’s a security hole in 1.6.7.  It’s not an out-of-the-box security hole, but it’s still a very significant one, and it’s one that many of our existing clients are exposed to.  How do we know? Because our programmer, Justin, found it and we brought it to EllisLab’s attention.

Now, I’ve said before that one of the biggest reasons we use and recommend Expression Engine is because of their security record.  Does that still hold true even in light of the problem in 1.6.7? Actually, yes, more than ever.  We reported our discovery to EllisLab by email just three days ago, on Monday at 5:30 p.m. There was a patched version of the file in my inbox on Tuesday at 8:30 a.m.  Seriously: when do these people sleep?

On Tuesday, together with EllisLab, we expanded the scope of the testing, and reported some smaller edge cases that still needed to be dealt with.  By the end of Tuesday, EllisLab had caught all the interactions relating to this hole and gave us a final patch.

I was then expecting that there would be a new build of EE in a week or two; and was even wondering how I might deal with the situation if EllisLab was slow to patch given how much else they had going on right now, and given that this wasn’t a known exploit.  I now know I had nothing to worry about.  Not only didn’t we have to wait a week, by Thursday morning there was a new point release, not just a build release—well, I know the EllisLab folks aren’t the ones to pat themselves on the back, so let me be the one to do so: Leslie and Derek, you guys are fast, smart and professional, and to anyone else involved in the release, I’m astounded by your responsiveness.

So if you’re wondering: does EE have a perfect safety record? Nope.  Neither does any software I can think of.  However, I can say that my belief in EE as the most secure CMS out there is further cemented by this recent experience. EllisLab took the problem seriously and dealt with it efficiently and appropriately.

Posted by Travis Smith at 1:17 PM | Comments (24)

Early Bird Registration for the EE Roadshow: Open!

July 23, 2009

Register now for the EE RoadshowHop Studios is, for the second year, proud to be putting on the ExpressionEngine Roadshow.  This year, as we mentioned earlier, it’s in Seattle on October 2. And registration is now open!

Come and learn, share your stories and be a part of the growing community of passionate ExpressionEngine users. The demand for ExpressionEngine sites is growing, and in just one day you can become a better developer or a more efficient user.

The show runs from 9am to 6pm with breakfast before, a party after and lunch in between, all included in the price of admission.  We’ve secured a special hotel rate, so out of towners need apply.

Whether you’re a whiz at EE development, curious about how to use it better, or just want to see the friends you know from the forums, register now before it sells out like last year.

Posted by Travis Smith at 2:12 AM | Comments (0)

Blogging For Dummies III: Look for it in 2010!

July 16, 2009

I did something pretty exciting this week: I signed a contract to write the third edition of “Blogging For Dummies!”

“Blogging For Dummies, 2nd Edition” came out in January of 2008. Shane Birley was my co-author, and we had a lot of fun (there was also some stress) in working through the book. We really poured as much knowledge as we could into the 368 pages of the book, but you can never cover everything. Doing a third edition is going to give us a chance to respond to the feedback we have received from readers, and to get even more great information into the book. So much has happened in the blogosphere in the year and a half since the second edition was published!

The third edition will be published in January 2010, and I’ll let you know as soon as it is available to pre-order on Amazon.com. In the meantime, we’re about to embark on the writing part of the job, so if you have any suggestions for things that simply must be part of the third edition, or that we got wrong or missed the first time, leave a comment and let us know! This is a great chance to shape how the book comes together so that it is exactly the resource your need!

imageThere was some other exciting “Blogging For Dummies” news in the last couple of weeks: I received copies of “Blogging For Dummies, 2nd Edition” that looked a little odd. Turns out the book has been translated into Italian! “Blog per negati” is what the book is titled in Italian. It’s pretty fun to see it, even though I don’t speak Italian myself. There is also a “Blogging fur Dummies” (German).

Posted by Susannah Gardner at 11:52 AM | Comments (1)

The Clean Bin Project: A Consumer Free Year

July 10, 2009

The Clean Bin Project was a year-long project whose goal was to get a shared household to buy nothing and reduce the amount of garbage produced to as close to zero as possible, undertaken by Vancouverites Jen, Grant and Rhyannon.

From July 1st, 2008 to July 1st, 2009, everything they consumed for 365 days was either reused, recycled or composted, and anything that couldn’t, made its way into one of the participants’ garbage bins to be weighed, measured and compared the end of the year. (Read the full details of the rules.)

Hop Studios gave free consulting, graphic design and Web development to the Clean Bin Project because we believed in supporting what they were trying to accomplish, and because Travis felt guilty about how many pairs of chopsticks he throws out in a month.

I love the idea of this project because it follows the current trend towards sustainable living, and clearly demonstrates people can reduce the amount of garbage they produce. By project conclusion on July 1, 2009 the trio had produced only about 12 pounds (5.4kg) of garbage; basically, one pound a month. Says Jen:

To put that in perspective, the US environmental Protection Agency estimates that the average American produces 4.6 pounds of garbage a day.  (Apparently in here in British Columbia it’s about 3.6 pounds a day, but I think it just depends on the report.)

Jen wrote about their garbage-free living on the Clean Bin blog, a hosted WordPress site. The blog continues to be updated even though the project is officially over; the lessons they learned and the experiences they had trying to live a TRULY sustainable lifestyle will last much longer than just one year. The group is currently working on a documentary film. It’s tentatively called Taking out the Trash: the Clean Bin Project. We look forward to watching it!

Posted by Rachael Ashe at 10:56 AM | Comments (0)

Announcing: Publish That Plugin for ExpressionEngine

July 2, 2009

Our new Publish That plugin is a twist on our popular Edit This plugin.

Just like Edit This, Publish That creates a link from the public side of your Web site to the control panel, if the user viewing the content is logged into the control panel and has sufficient permissions.  But here’s the twist: Instead of outputting a link to edit something existing, Publish That outputs a link to publish something new.  So if you’ve ever wanted to create a link from the front end of your site to create a new template, category, gallery entry, or weblog entry, Publish That makes it a snap.

This plugin was suggested by and developed with help from a satisfied user of Edit This.  Thanks, Craig!  And thanks to everyone who uses Hop Studios add-ons; we always enjoy working with you to make sure our add-ons do what you want them to do.

Download Publish That.

Posted by Justin Crawford at 11:03 AM | Comments (2)

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