Category Archives: Review

New CMS Review — Perch

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Several months ago I blogged about using Textpattern as the CMS for the Harry Ferguson Memorial website. It was while I was implementing that site I realised how Txp should really be used, and that it wasn’t really necessarily the best fit for a site of this nature, as it’s main use is for “publishing” with really no provision at all for page based content management. WordPress does a much better job of this, but still is very much aimed at publishing over curating content.

Perch

I came across the Perch cms and almost instantly knew it would be the right fit for the job. Perch is pretty simple: it has quite a small functionality set, a very clear and linear management console, a fantastic support channel manned by Drew McLellan himself, providing helpful and very prompt responses. At £35 it’s not too expensive for use on a cheap web development job.

Wishes

It would be great if the Solutions section on their website was to be beefed up a little with more code examples and tutorials as I’m sure there’s more that has been and can be done with the perch engine.

Usage

Basic usage is simple. Instead of (like WordPress) creating a series of templates, specifying which content goes to which type of page, and then creating the content with Perch you write each page as a file.php and specify content fields for it. Insert the perch runtime script in the header of each page, and then visit the page:



<?php include('perch/runtime.php'); ?>


<!DOCTYPE html>


<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en" xml:lang="en">

In your body create some content fields as such, and fill them with the Perch content tags.

<body>
<h1><?php perch_content(‘Harry heading’); ?></h1>
<?php perch_content(‘Harry intro’); ?>
</body>
Go into your perch management console and you will now find two fields available to select, choose their content type and fill in the content.

As the admin user, once you have filled in all the fields your “editors” (the name for all other users) can come in and make adjustments to the headings and the content.

No css, no html, no breaking. Perfect.

ps.. ruby ftw!

The Sky Mobile App: Review & How to cancel!

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In early November O2 iPhone and BSkyB announced that they were releasing a limited free trial of the Sky News & Sports Mobile App [iTMS link] for the iPhone.

Pretty cool? Yes, three months of free small-screen Premiership Football, NHL Ice Hockey and…. wrestling. Pretty lame? Well, craning your neck to watch a three inch screen while sitting or in bed really there isn’t a comfortable way to do it without some form of scaffolding in front of your face. Regardless you can’t look a gift horse in the mouth, and so I enjoyed the ability to flick on or off during a big game to see the score and maybe a highlight or two.

The service costs £6 per month and auto subscribes after the trial ends and I believe it’s on a rolling monthly basis.

I signed up on 11 November, the week the offer was released with an iCal event scheduled for the week before the free offer expired, so that Mr Mastercard didn’t come into play.

According to the offer’s FAQs page you can cancel by going to this SkyID website – I didn’t see that before I cancelled my subscription, so I can’t vouch for whether it works or not.

How to cancel

The MySky site claims that as a non residential Sky Subscriber I’m a ‘guest user’ and not able to view or manipulate my account – so [unless the above link works] you need to call Sky Mobile enquires, the number for which is 08442 411 531 in the UK (& ROI it seems). All you need to do is enter your home number, then confirm your username and email address and tell them you wish to cancel the contract. Quite easy.

Verdict

Good application well executed, but without a TV-out (does the iPhone have one?) or some form of phone stand to relieve your neck muscles it’s a bit of a pain to use.