February 2007

If you are building a web application using MySql for the db, be sure to checkout these resources:

• Mysql On Demand Webinars
• Kal Henderson breaking down MySql and Flickr (PDF)
• Google Mysql Clusters
• Google: Performance Tuning Best Practices for MySql

Also keep an eye on Jay Pipes’ blog.

From the MySql webinars, I particularly enjoyed…

• Web2.0 and MySql
• Web 2.0 Tags and Folksonomy: Schema Design for Scalability and Performance
• MySQL Backup & Recovery for the Enterprise

[tags]mysql resources, web development, lamp[/tags]

Get Some..

Checkout the video: @ Google Video

Abita Brewing Company

If you are a web designer, you are probably familiar with css Zen Garden. We are working on our front end xhtml document for the websites Simulagent users will create.

As usual, I started sketching out layouts and converted the sketches to graphics. When I started creating the xhtml and css for the designs, I wondered how I could create something similar to the CSS zen garden for to handle different designs.

The competition in the real estate CMS arena is fierce. Other companies offer users lots of template choices (most of which I think are extremely weak). I want the slickest and coolest templates for our users, but I really don’t have the time or resources to create hundreds of templates. So, how will we compete?

Here is the Plan.

To kick things off, I’m going to create 4 differently structured xhtml/css documents. I’m going to ask every web designer I know and don’t know to have a look and let me know what they would do differently. Based on their feedback, we will devise a standard; our own little zen garden. From that garden, Simulagent will launch a competition. We are going to get freelance designers from everywhere involved and provide them a platform to earn money with the templates they create.

There was an article written by Mani Sheriar over on ThinkVitamin earlier this year about real world css zen. I am going to take what I know and apply it to the zen garden methods described in Mani’s post.

Real Estate Agents don’t know CSS, How are they going to change the design?

Most real estate agents I’ve worked with stay far away from anything close to code. But some have the do-it-yourself mentality. This system will allow the agents to, design the site themselves, hire a designer to customize a template or purchase one that is already created. I am starting to build a network of designers to assist our customers in this process. If you are designer interested in designing some layouts and making some cash contact me.

Look No Further. My friends over at Voodoo Ventures just announced the open-beta release of SiteMighty.

If you are involved in affiliate marketing or have ever thought of starting an affiliate business, you definitely need to checkout siteMighty.

siteMighty is, hands down, the best web publishing platform available to affiliates.

Bringing a web app from concept to reality is no simple task. Chris, Blake, and their dev team have been working around the clock building SiteMighty. The Voodoo guys are experts in affiliate marketing, and through Site Mighty, they are providing people like myself, and other affiliates, ways to manage very complex websites with simple and effective tools.

They have started with what they know best, credit card affiliates. Currently you have the ability to manage offers through their partner, icommissions.com. Development for integrating ComissionJunction and possibly other affiliate management partners is in place.

For the interested web app developer like me … Their system is built on the Ruby on Rails framework with a slick user interface powered by some handy dandy ajax.

This is just the beginning for siteMighty. In just the past couple months, while helping with some beta testing, I have watched these guys listen to user feedback and make efforts to better the system. This latest update shows that they are listening to the users, taking action, and working with affiliates to make our lives easier.

Congrats on getting to this point!

[tags]siteMighty, affiliate business, startup, beta, web 2.0, ajax, ror, open-beta[/tags]

Getting real, the book by 37signals is now available online for free. 97 Essays on building a Web 2.0 startup from the creators of Ruby on Rails.

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