Arndt.Wil

All you n00b server lords out there (like me):

Learn how to chown that file!
[user@localhost]$ chown theuser thefilemask

I recently came across a problem related to one of our custom CMS builds. For the browser user upload of images, the PHP application wrote an image file to the webserver with the owner set to ”apache” (I guess that’s because the PHP processes run as instances in the Apache server). So, when I tried to copy the apache-owned images via FTP to my local drive, it would not allow me ’cause I was logged on as the FTP user. That’s a problem if you’re migrating a site from a dev environment to a live environment on another server half way around the world.

So, rather than muck about with permissions, etc., I simply logged into our server via a shell, and changed the owner of all the images in question to the user account I’m using for FTP access. Done and done. FTP all good. Migration all good.

So far.

Tags: Web Servers / Unix, mod7 Project Research by wil
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Flash MP3 Player : This seems like a nice quick solution, with a JavaScript customization API and blog plugins!! Sweet!

Thanks to Darren from OpenRoad for the tip.

Tags: ActionScript, Audio, Cool Stuff, Flash, JavaScript, mod7 Project Research by wil
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Here’s an example of misleading IA/UI: http://www.gamespot.com/misc/top100_pop.html

“Most Popular Games”?? I don’t think so. Try “Most Popular Game Details Pages on Our Site”. Cause today it ranked “Halo 3″ as #4, and I damn well know that the third Master Chief installment ain’t even close to being released!

(Note the tiny “Ranking based on GameSpot traffic” text under the title.)

Tags: Design and More by wil
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NPD Funworld : Looks like this is the resource for gaming sales stats and other industry tidbits. If you have the dough to pay for it. And toys. Also interesting are stats on Canadian diet: http://www.npdcanada.com/store.food.html

Tags: mod7 Project Research by wil
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Gamasutra - Feature - “Paper Burns: Game Design With Agile Methodologies”

This article talks about the ”Agile” development method, as applied to game development. I can see this as quite applicable to interactive design. We kind of work this way already (though on a much, much smaller scale): we rapid prototype, get the client involved early and often, work flexibly, and test throughout.

The one thing this article alludes to but doesn’t answer to my satisifaction is how costs are controlled. Yes, the traditional ”Waterfall” method (akin to an assembly line) may be inefficient and lead to degraded products, but how does one plan and budget for the potentially limitless iterations of Agile? This may not be an issue in game design, but for projects with strictly fixed budgets and deadlines, I can’t see how this is “controlled” effectively.

Perhaps, I’m just not getting the point that this methodology may apply more for large teams developing really large, really complex projects.

Still, it’s nice to see our approach validated, even if not directly.

Tags: Building a Design Business, Coding + Development, Design and More by wil
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