Tag Archives: Web Design and Development

Pixelary

So, for the last year or so, I’ve been tinkering around with a new client management system for naturalaxis, and even partially coded it at one point before losing the code. Anyway, I took another shot at it, and it’s currently coming along alright. I’m already using it in a production environment to track my active accounts for the company. The current features — which are limited to the consultant’s interface — include:

  • Support ticket functionality, including the capacity to add notes on ticket items
  • Streamlined timesheet review and posting
  • Contact management: each account can have multiple people associated with it

Percentage-wise, the code is probably about 40% complete, at least in terms of being able to use it for both clients and consultants without any bells and whistles. Some things I still need to finish to put this code completely into production:

  • Complete the coding for the billing interface, which I haven’t even started yet. This is the really important part of the program, since it sends the bills out and provides me with the up-to-date information on each account’s standing.
  • Add e-mail functionality, which I have a component for, but haven’t wired into anything yet. Ideally, the component will be wired into anything that generates output. I’m likely using PHPMailer to save myself a lot of work here.
  • Completing the code for account credits and charges.
  • Making the generation of some information more dependent on the configuration files to make generalizing the system easier.
  • Finish any code I haven’t finished (duh).

That’s the short list, but contains most of the major stuff. There are some things I’m holding off on until the software is initially released:

  • E-mail gatewayAbility to e-mail a support address and automatically add a ticket to the system, provided that the originating e-mail address has an account within the system itself. I expect that this article from evolt.org will help quite a lot.
  • Client management of multiple accountsOne user in the system should be able to manage multiple accounts within the same system on the client side. The way the code is currently implemented, a single user can only be assigned to a single account unless multiple user names are used.
  • System configuration wizardThe skeletal framework for this is there, but probably won’t make it into the initial release. I’d love to be able to change the system configuration without actually using the configuration file.
  • System installerThis is an involved component in and of itself. The installer would automatically set up the MySQL databases needed for Pixelary, create the configuration file, create initial users, and populate the databases accordingly.

The goal here is to get something that I can release via SourceForge — probably under the BSD license. We’ll see about that — for now, I just want a running system that I can be proud of.

Hearing and Web Sites

I had to come back home a day early without Amanda due to a problem with my hearing aids. Despite my troubleshooting of one dead left hearing aid, I apparently missed moisture in one of the tubes, which led to me hurrying back down here and going to the audiologist.

Okay, false alarm, but I was going to go in anyway. Needed new molds made, and I got to hear about some new hearing aid advances, which, of course, is always a subject that gets my attention.

Oticon has released a new model called the Synchro, which is basically one level up from the aids I’m currently using, the Oticon Adapto models. The really big differences here have to do with the way in which the directional microphones on the hearing aids work. On the Adapto, there are really only two ways in which the microphones can work — they can either focus on a narrow amount of noise while still allowing background noise or they can act as a sort of omnidirectional microphone. That limits the Adapto’s ability to — well — adapt to some situations well, since its intelligence is limited to two preset programs stored within the hearing aid itself. With the Synchro, there’s apparently quite a bit more flexibility. Instead of two programs that the aid depends on, the Synchro model does a form of parallel processing, considering several different noise scenarios at once. Based on whatever scenario seems best at the time, it will adjust the volume of the aids to whatever’s most appropriate for that situation. In addition, the Synchro improves on the Adapto’s noise cancellation and feedback cancellation systems, which makes it both better at isolating sounds and better at preventing other people from getting annoyed at hearing aid users because of the whine generated when the aid doesn’t have a tight seal. Both are good things.

Oh, and let’s not forget that a wide selection of colors is available: beige, light brown, dark brown, light gray, dark gray, transparent, yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue, and green. For some, I could see where this would be nice. Personally, I like the clear ones — my audiologist had a display of some of the available colors out.

In addition to that, I’ve been doing some web site work. I’m planning to update the naturalaxis web site with a new layout that depends entirely on CSS (which, I admit, puts me a little behind — there are lots of other sites that have long since gone to CSS-only layout control, but better late than never). I’m also hoping to redo the portfolio section to be more of a case study section on one or two good projects.

In addition, I’m still working with Evergreen’s Web Team and Access Services actively, though progress is a little slow. I’ve also thrown together an informational web site for the Enrollment Growth DTF, which I’m serving on for the duration of the academic year — it has yet to be approved, so, thus, has not been posted.

I’m looking forward to seeing my good friend in Port Townsend. It should be a good weekend.