1. In your WordPress admin dashboard, navigate to “Settings -> Permalinks”. Select the “custom structure” radio box and enter in:

   /%postname%/

2. For the .HTACCESS, copy and paste this in

   # Helicon ISAPI_Rewrite configuration file
   # Version 3.1.0.63
   
   Options +Followsymlinks
   
   RewriteEngine On
   RewriteBase
   RewriteRule /wp-(.*) /wp-$1 [I,L]
   RewriteRule /(.*)$ /index.php/$1 [I,L]
   RewriteRule . /index.php [L]

3. That’s it! Enjoy using Helicon ISAPI_Rewrite and WordPress Pretty URL’s.

Note: If this didn’t work for you, leave feedback to I can update the guide to better assist in different scenarios and environments.

    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteBase /

    # this adds trailing slash
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !(.*)/$
    RewriteRule ^(.*)$ $1/ [R=301,L]

    # this gets rid of index.php
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
    RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php/$1

via The Web Designer’s Guide to Font Replacement Methods.

TLS Web Solutions comment:
I am reblogging this article because I found it to be human-readable and informative to those wanting to get started with ORM’s or Doctrine.

Rich Internet applications built with Adobe Flex and Flash Builder have been steadily gaining a foothold in enterprise development for quite some time. As the platform has grown and evolved, PHP has also made amazing progress toward becoming a mature, powerful object-oriented language with rapid adoption and dozens of frameworks and design pattern implementations. As PHP continues to prosper, developers are able to borrow more and more of the things Java has got right, taking one check after another from the “Java-only” column. One outstanding example of this is object-relational mapping (ORM). A few different PHP ORM implementations are available, and all of them have positive attributes. However, after some experimentation, I’ve found that Doctrine is my favorite.

For those who haven’t used ORM before, I don’t expect it to be a hard sale. Before I used ORM, I had wished for it a thousand times in ignorance. ORM is, simply put, a way of mapping the objects you use in development to their representation in relational databases. Doesn’t it just seem natural that your Customer object should have a Sav method that automatically translates the object’s properties into persistent data? Take this pseudo-code as an example: [...] Read More

1. Fancy JavaScript alerts, dialogs, and validation.
2. JavaScript assets that will distributed to subsites / satellite sites.
3. Of these sites, some may or may not already have these assets already defined.

What I’m referring to specifically is jQuery. While building a tasty and user-friendly form.. I needed a way to check to see if jQuery didn’t exist, and if it didn’t include it dynamically by append it to the HEAD tag. This is commonly referred to ‘including jQuery dynamically’. Often times different phrases such as ‘check to see if jQuery is defined’, ‘lazy load jQuery’, ‘!window.jQuery’

Here is the JavaScript code to make the magic happen.

if(!(window.jQuery && window.jQuery.fn.jquery == '1.3.2')) {var s = document.createElement('script');s.setAttribute('src', 'http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.3.2/jquery.min.js');s.setAttribute('type', 'text/javascript');document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(s);}

As a recap, here is what the snippet above does. “Check to see if jQuery is defined. If it’s not, grab jQuery from Google’s API and include it in the HEAD tag”.

XZero Scripts

With an strong and eager community helping to further the development of the script, many people have taken the liberty to release their own mods. One modification we thought would be awesome to give back to the community is the expanding drop-down city list in the right side bar. Interested? Great!

You’re probably asking yourself “what’s the catch”? Truth be told, just a simple 1 file replacement. Follow these steps:

–> Download ‘cities.inc.zip’

Installation

1. Open ‘cities.inc.zip’ and extract the file ‘cities.inc.php’ to your computer / desktop.
2. Open your favorite FTP program and upload ‘cities.inc.php’ to the root of your XZero Classifieds installation. This WILL replace the old ‘cities.inc.php’ that came packaged with your original installation.

That’s it!

Enjoy!

Developer Notes

The drop down uses the jQuery framework for its animations. The framework is being remotely downloaded using Google’s JavaScript API script (jsapi).

Download Free jQuery Cities Drop down Mod for XZero Classifieds (1.51kb)
Downloaded 857 times.

The king ruled over all that was written, be they blogs, articles, ads, fiction, or a killer love letter. All that was copy sat at the feet of the king.

Nothing succeeded without content. Writing without it was cast from the kingdom, banished as self-serving junk mail and the much-loathed “interruption marketing.”

But the king is dead.

Okay, not exactly dead, just appointed Prime Minister. Content still rules, but it’s from a more evolved perspective.

Long live the new king: context.

Because nothing sells, nothing works, without it.

The inherent power that is context

At the center of every effective piece of content is an agenda, an implied pitch residing at the heart of the content.

Content is the license, if you will, to move forward with the pitch. Valuable content gives you the right to go on to sell or promote something. It’s the embodiment of a noble premise — to receive you must first give.

You give with the hope that the prospect will stick around and finally buy something. And that is the context behind content marketing.

A commercial context doesn’t diminish the value of strong content. In fact, acknowledging your agenda can be a very smart strategy. It’s like saying, Here, I have a gift for you. Stick around. Because there’s even more where that came from.

Content creates value, and value builds trust. From trust springs the willingness to part with dollars in return for even more value.

The universal nature of context

Of course, context isn’t something we only find in commercial transactions. It’s the empowering juice of fiction, as well.

In the opening scene of Quentin Tarantino’s current flick, Inglorious Basterds, we see what would otherwise be an overly long, annoyingly irrelevant conversation between a Nazi officer and a terrified farmer.

Why is the farmer terrified? Why is the viewer hooked? Because of the context of the scene. Beneath every seemingly innocent line is a foreboding sense of dread.

Idle chit-chat about milk and neighbors form the content. Fear and unthinkable consequences form the context. Without the context, all you have is a rather dull conversation.

We know something really dramatic and truly horrifying is about to happen. Right after Tarantino teases and torments us into a frenzy of anticipation.

How does he do that? He has mastered the art of context in his scenes.

We copywriters should take note.

Context as strategy

Effective context doesn’t happen by accident. We need to consciously create it.

Context comes from the writer’s clarity about her goals, juxtaposed against the expectations and tolerances of the audience.

In the context of content marketing, first we deliver valuable content, free and clear. As a gift. As a solution. As narrative bricks and mortar. And in doing so we earn the reader’s trust.

Once we’re trusted, we are now able to expand on our own agenda. We get to talk more about the intended outcome of the piece. That outcome might be a sale, a subscription, or even conversion to a new idea.

In a blog, we set out to deliver value. In an ad, we pitch solutions and overcome objections. In fiction, we infuse scenes with anticipation and emotion.

And in each case, when we understand the context we’re working in, we achieve our goal.

And so, too, does the reader. Because their context isn’t what you’re selling, but what they’re seeking to take away from what you’ve written.

Long live the new king.

Article writen by Larry Brooks
on http://www.copyblogger.com/context-is-king/

PLEASE ENABLE POP IN YOUR GMAIL SETTINGS. IF YOU ARE UNSURE HOW TO DO THIS, PLEASE VISIT THE “What’s POP?” TAB.

In the newest release of Fontis for Magento (1.1.0), Lloyd Hazlett has informed me that they’ve added a WYSIWYG by default to the Transactional Emails page. Way to go guys! Keep up the great work! For those who want to see how it was done, keep scrolling.
http://www.fontis.com.au/ and http://www.magentocommerce.com/extension/586/fontis-wysiwyg-editor

One of the biggest issues / requested fixes for Fontis’s FCKeditor is to have it display the WYSIWYG editor in the Transactional Emails section [System -> Transactional Emails]. The following image is what the editor normally displays as (the undesired and raw one).

The Diagnosis and Cure

As you might guess, adding in raw text and trying to format it with HTML is fairly difficult. There are two ways to enable the editor on the Transactional Emails page.

The First:
On the Admin page [System -> Configuration -> Admin] you will see “WYSIWYG Editor”. Make sure in the Editor Type field that ‘FCKeditor’ is selected. In the Editable Areas, click the ‘Add textarea CSS ID’ button and a dialog will expand.

In the dialog, add “template_text” into the text box. After adding in the text, save the page. The textarea on the transactional emails page should work. However, if you’re like me and never happen to be graced with such luck… you have to do the recommended alternative, adding it in manually. See the next step for directions.

The Second (recommended):
In the case of the first step now working, we’re going to add a new region to the selectable area’s in the editor. Not sure what I mean? Below is a screenshot of all the currently selectable areas in the editor.

As you can see we currently have 6 selectable areas. If you click on any of the items in the blue you’ll notice that all the others deselect back to white. In order for the all of the editable regions to have WYSIWYG editors, you must select them all. You can do this by holding CTR and clicking all of the listed items until they are all highlighted blue.

You’ll need FTP access in order to manually add a new selectable item. With your FTP client open browse to ‘/app/code/community/Fontis/Wysiwyg/Model/Source/Editableareas.php’.

With Editableareas.php open, replace:

 'description',             'label' => Mage::helper('fontis_wysiwyg')->__('Product Description')),
array('value' => 'short_description',       'label' => Mage::helper('fontis_wysiwyg')->__('Product Short Description')),
array('value' => 'page_content',            'label' => Mage::helper('fontis_wysiwyg')->__('CMS Page Content')),
array('value' => 'block_content',           'label' => Mage::helper('fontis_wysiwyg')->__('Static Block Content')),
array('value' => '_generaldescription',     'label' => Mage::helper('fontis_wysiwyg')->__('Category Description')),
array('value' => 'text',                    'label' => Mage::helper('fontis_wysiwyg')->__('Newsletter Template')),
);
}
}

With:

 'description',             'label' => Mage::helper('fontis_wysiwyg')->__('Product Description')),
array('value' => 'short_description',       'label' => Mage::helper('fontis_wysiwyg')->__('Product Short Description')),
array('value' => 'page_content',            'label' => Mage::helper('fontis_wysiwyg')->__('CMS Page Content')),
array('value' => 'block_content',           'label' => Mage::helper('fontis_wysiwyg')->__('Static Block Content')),
array('value' => '_generaldescription',     'label' => Mage::helper('fontis_wysiwyg')->__('Category Description')),
array('value' => 'text',                    'label' => Mage::helper('fontis_wysiwyg')->__('Newsletter Template')),
array('value' => 'template_text',           'label' => Mage::helper('fontis_wysiwyg')->__('Template Text / Transactional Emails')),
);
}
}

We just added a new item to the array called “template_text”.

Next, browse to and open ‘/app/design/adminhtml/default/default/template/system/email/template/edit.phtml’.

With Edit.phtml open, replace:

new Ajax.Request($('email_template_load_form').action, {
               parameters: Form.serialize($('email_template_load_form'), true),
               area: $('email_template_load_form'),
               onComplete: function (transport) {
                   if (transport.responseText.isJSON()) {
                       var fields = $H(transport.responseText.evalJSON());
                       fields.each(function(pair) {
                          if ($(pair.key)) {
                              $(pair.key).value = pair.value.strip();
                          }
                          if (pair.key == 'template_type') {
                              if (pair.value == 1) {
                                  this.typeChange = true;
                                  $('convert_button').hide();
                                  $('convert_button_back').hide();
                              } else {
                                  this.typeChange = false;
                                  $('convert_button_back').hide();
                                  $('convert_button').show();
                              }
                          }
                       }.bind(this));
                   }
               }.bind(this)
            });

With:

new Ajax.Request($('email_template_load_form').action, {
               parameters: Form.serialize($('email_template_load_form'), true),
               area: $('email_template_load_form'),
               onComplete: function (transport) {
                   if (transport.responseText.isJSON()) {
                       var fields = $H(transport.responseText.evalJSON());
                       fields.each(function(pair) {
                          if ($(pair.key)) {
                              $(pair.key).value = pair.value.strip();
                          }
                          if (pair.key == 'template_type') {
                              if (pair.value == 1) {
                                  this.typeChange = true;
                                  $('convert_button').hide();
                                  $('convert_button_back').hide();
                              } else {
                                  this.typeChange = false;
                                  $('convert_button_back').hide();
                                  $('convert_button').show();
                              }
                          }
                       }.bind(this));
                   }
               var fontis_trans = document.getElementById('template_text___Frame');
               if(fontis_trans) {fontis_trans.contentWindow.location.reload(true);}
               }.bind(this)
            });

We just told the Fontis WYSIWYG editor to refresh itself in the Transactional Emails page whenever we select a new template.

Now, we return to Magento [System->Configuration->Admin]. You should now see Template Text / Transactional Emails as a selectable item. After selecting it, your screen should now look like the following:

Note: If you still have the “template_text” you input from the First Step, you can delete this by clicking the (x) icon next to its name. We no longer need this, we want to have your screen display exactly like the screen shot above.

After selecting this, saving the page, and browsing to the Transactional Emails page and clicking on ‘New Template’ to confirm that indeed the fix was applied… the New Email Template page should now appear like the screen shot below.

That’s it! You’re all set and ready to go.

It has been confirmed that after applying the WYSIWYG to the Transactional Emails page, Magento will no longer load in any of the default mail template’s content. After anaylzing the code, I found some things that prove to be interesting.

On line 717 of the New Email Template page source code is the following

load: function() {
            var form = new varienForm('email_template_load_form');
 
            if (!form.validator.validate()) {
                return;
            }
 
            new Ajax.Request($('email_template_load_form').action, {
               parameters: Form.serialize($('email_template_load_form'), true),
               area: $('email_template_load_form'),
               onComplete: function (transport) {
                   if (transport.responseText.isJSON()) {
                       var fields = $H(transport.responseText.evalJSON());
                       fields.each(function(pair) {
                          if ($(pair.key)) {
                              $(pair.key).value = pair.value.strip();
                          }
                          if (pair.key == 'template_type') {
                              if (pair.value == 1) {
                                  this.typeChange = true;
                                  $('convert_button').hide();
                                  $('convert_button_back').hide();
                              } else {
                                  this.typeChange = false;
                                  $('convert_button_back').hide();
                                  $('convert_button').show();
                              }
                          }
                       }.bind(this));
                   }
               }.bind(this)
            });
 
        }

When Magento loads in a new email template, it calls this exact function. Generally, it will find the textarea (template_text). However, Fontis likes to remove this textarea with something that tends to be the bane of most developers, frames.

Take a look at the code before Fontis:

<textarea id="template_text" class="textarea  required-entry" style="height: 24em;" cols="15" rows="2" name="template_text"></textarea>

And now after Fontis:

As you can see, it’s changing the ID of ‘template_text’ from the main editor by adding ‘___Frame’ to it. Additionally, there is security issues and a lot of problems when having JavaScript write to another frame. In short, looks like there has to be some JavaScript added specifically for loading in templates. I am attempting my hand at it, I’ll post back.

javascript:document.getElementById('template_text___Frame').contentWindow.location.reload(true);

And BEHOLD, it reloads the frame as WELL as the new content it SHOULD be loading in. I’m writing a custom solution for this fix and will be adding it in the solution section of this post.

What’s a favicon you ask? Click the “Faviwhat?” tab below.

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