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Dev diary
AutoPullRepo – a Bitbucket project
Nov 18th
I’m a Bitbucket.org user and please don’t judge me for that. There are a lot of different opinions about Bitbucket vs. GitHub, but mine is the only one that matters to me since I’m extremely satisfied with the features and the use of Bitbucket. Why would I switch to any other source control service? Now that we cleared that out, let’s talk about this post’s subject. :)
The problem:
Actualy two of them. I have a hosting account in Slovenia, they block all foreign IP’s to connect to FTP, so It’s pain in the but to make some changes on the script there. My other problem (while working on WhoAPI); if you have let’s say 20 hosting accounts all over the world and you need to update the same script that’s on all of them, how would you do it? (no control of the server modules, so no automatic deployment)
The research:
I found no scripts that can solve these problems. I’m sure that they exists, but I lost two (if not more) hours trying to find a finished and a working one.
The solution:
I made a script (one file) that you upload to your server, change two lines of code, set the Bitbucket settings to ping the script as soon as you make the change to your files on your repository (30sec. job) and you’re done! What this script does is it download’s your script from the Bitbucket repository and extracts it, so you have the latest version of your script always live.
No FTP, no drag&dropping files or scp-ing to the server directly. Out of the box solution for easy automatic script deployment. And yes, It’s in PHP :/ I would like to write the same thing in Python, and Node.js version would be cool as well.
Check it out here: https://bitbucket.org/edifreak/autopullrepo
Our first iPhone app in development
Feb 13th
Yep, after long wait we’re finally doing it. Here’s the story. We loved what we saw when iPhone was first introduced and the potential after Android showed what can be done with the apps (before the iPhone introduced the AppStore). We’ve been eager to get involved in all the hype these platforms created. So after three long years we bought a Mac Mini and started developing our first app. I must not forget to mention my brother Dino Budimilic who had the time to learn how to use the Mac, Xcode and all what comes with it :) He helped us create the app.
The app we’re making is all about our existing web service on http://crodns.com. It’s a domain availability checker with whois information on demand. We’ve already created the WebApp that works on all smartphones (at least we like to think so) which you can try here: http://m.crodns.com
Here are some screenshots of the icons we made. You may notice which icon we decided to go with on the Loading screen:
In-app screenshots and videos are coming after the release. My estimate is we’ll submit the app to the AppStore before this month ends. I don’t expect any problems with Apple’s approval :)
This version is intentionally made for regional market, that means it’s localized. But we didn’t forget the Global market, no! We’re planning to release the English version right after this one, as a separate project. We haven’t yet decided which domain to use for it, but we’re sure to find out using our first app ;)
How to create Ajax website that Google can crawl and index?
Jun 2nd
There are many methods to make Ajax operations crawable by Google and other search engines. Many are still saying it’s not the right time yet to use Ajax for all dynamic content. I disagree! Google already introduced their method to make this work but it’s too complicated and needs a lot of additional programming time to make it work properly.
I on the other hand have a great idea that’s stupid simple, works for Googlebot and browsers with disabled Javascript. Isn’t that great!? :)
Even dough I came up with this idea myself, someone elase in the world had the same idea before me and it’s called Hijax. So what is Hijax in definition?
Hijax is combination of words Ajax and Hijack and that’s it’s core functionality. Hijax uses both Ajax and Javascript when available (to create those magical effects that Desktop apps had for decades). Hijax is using Javascript when available to hijack HTTP request (when website visitor makes a click on a link to another page) and enables Ajax magic to happen. But, when you open the page in a browser that doesn’t have Javascript enabled, the website functions as it should (without fancy effects that Ajax can provide), it opens the page with preloaded content. Hijax method is a great time and bandwidth saviour.
And finally the interesting part.
The example, dead simple:
<a href="page-2.html" onclick="AjaxCall('page-2'); return false;">
* Use this method on all links intended to work with Ajax calls.
That’s it! So simple! We are already using this method on our new company website that’s currently in development.
Package full of updates
Apr 25th
Yes, I’m calling this post a package full of updates. Last few weeks I’ve taken more time to work on our own (GEM Studio) projects so here are few of those updates if you’re interested ;)
Sveznar.com
(Croatian only service for dream definitions, meaning of karma, lucid dreaming, lucky numbers etc.)
- additional SEO was done
- new content on Karma
- mobile version for dream definitions (iPhone, Android and others supported), just jump to the site with your mobile phone and you’ll be redirected to http://m.sveznar.com. Shown as cool iPhone w/ Android image below the menu on desktop version of the website.
CroDNS.com
(Croatian only service for checking domain availability in a smart way)
- footer iPhone image to tell the new visitors there’s a mobile version (m.crodns.com)
- ping has been fixed
- some security improvements
SuperCentar.com
This is our new service for banner advertising on our own network of websites with over one million pageviews a month and growing. The service was just released few days ago and it’s currently operating for Croatian market only.
This is it for now but many more updates will come soon. We plan to finish all started projects dedicated to Croatian market but right after that we’re starting with realization on international projects, not only on the web but the iPhone and Android apps too. Can’t wait! :)
Working hard on many things, one of them is titlovi.hr web service
Jan 6th
Hi folks. Titlovi.hr is on it’s way to finished within a month. Main idea is to build the best website for searching movie subtitles for domestic territories. But not just “best” like they all say :) best as usable, without ads and unnecessary content and of course, maximum use of Ajax technologies.
Here’s a screenshot of the latest template:
http://izrada.gemstudio.hr/titlovi.hr/
Gmail App for iPhone
Apr 9th
Finally, everyone wanted it but no-one made it .. until now! I didn’t like launching Safari, then going to Gmail and surf through it within limited space of the browser. And so I’ve made a full screen App without browser features.
I made it possible with a little cool browser meta feature “apple-mobile-web-app-capable”. To test it yourself go to http://gemstudio.hr/gmail/ and add this bookmark to Home Screen, there’s your Gmail App!
Download full source : gmail-web-app.rar (html, css, psd app icon)
Gmail for Safari - before
Gmail App for iPhone
CroDNS – small updates
Dec 17th
Hi folks, new updates on CroDNS domain search service:
- ajax loading animated icon while waiting for whois details on domain
- new page: proxy surfing
You can test the latest updates here: http://www.crodns.com/beta
My new mobile computer, it’s iPhone 3G!
Nov 13th
It’s here, in my hands, after so much waiting and waiting, even on D day I was waiting for half an hour in the line and 4 hours inside – waiting for paperwork to be done with some computer glitches on the way. That was 6 days ago and I still need to charge the battery almost twice a day. Already on the second day I got it jailbroken and filled with numerous apps, I’m starting to scale this apps to leave only the ones I will actually use. I’m still in need for few apps like GPS Google Maps where I can track a signal of my selected friends and myself at the same time – count distances and similar.
In overall, I’m very satisfied with the iPhone3G!
I will write about most useful apps now and then.
Development update
Oct 2nd
Just a small update:
1) upload.hr, we researched and reviewed the idea and decided to close it. Long story! Usually, we don’t quit from started project but this one is just a mistake.
2) crodns.com, old idea, to make a small service for domain availability checking. All Ajax, fast and very very informative. Design is already complete, programming at let’s say 10% :)
That’s all for now. Of course, we have many other client projects but I don’t like to talk about them, not the dev stage, it’s boring :)
Upload.hr – logo created
Aug 29th
Hi folks, I can hardly find the time to work on this project so it’s a bit slow but non the less in progress.
Just a small update here, I just made a first “beta” logo for upload.hr portal and here it is:
(fits better in the original header)
UPDATE: Check the other versions, first one is the simple default one..
