ImpressCMS Community - ImpressCMS Blog

1.3 Update - Benchmarking Our Progress

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 02:30:26 -2200

Today we held a developer's review of the work being done in the trunk for the release of ImpressCMS 1.3, and while we talked a lot about the approach Marc and I took for this project, the real benefit shows in the benchmarks we have comparing 1.2.2 and the latest revision of 1.3. The greatest amount of effort has gone into the new architecture for the classes used by ImpressCMS - consolidating duplicate files and functions into single classes and separating each class into its own file. This has been a rather comprehensive work, because no one has done this in any other project before ImpressCMS - none of them have taken the time and made the effort to create a unified code base for their project.

We didn't do this just because it would make us different than the other projects or to break compatibility with previous versions, we did it to gain better performance, more stability and more scalability. We are in a time where most people have access to the Internet through a broadband connection, but also at a time when more people are browsing the Internet using mobile devices - those devices are not using broadband connections, so sites built on ImpressCMS, or any other platform, must be optimized for viewing on devices with less than highspeed connections. We also want to be considered for enterprise-level sites, where high traffic is normal and performance is an issue. So, we need to be critical about what code is included in our core and how well it performs. Let's have a look at how the numbers are stacking up, shall we?

ImpressCMS, PHP5, Code Architecture and 1.3 Beta

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 02:54:06 -2200

The past week has been an interesting one - Marc-André and I have set about refactoring the core architecture of ImpressCMS, which is no small task, given that we have code that dates back to PHP Nuke!

ImpressCMS 1.3 will be a big step in establishing our own framework and clearing out some of the very old and somewhat inconsistant coding practices. We have been touting this release to be smaller, faster and better and that is definitely going to be true. Some of my early tests are showing a significant decrease in the number of queries used, the amount of memory used and a better page load time. As we get closer to releasing the beta version, I'll put out some statistics about the actual improvements.

Getting Out of the Box - Textsanitizer Plugins for ImpressCMS

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 15:54:06 -2200

Off the shelf applications don't always do what you want them to do, so usually, a little customization is in order. For some applications, it is like wading through the bayou as you look through their code to find the right spot to make your change. Other projects have their stuff in order and you're surprised at how easy it is to modify and extend what they've packaged up for you. ImpressCMS is definitely falling into the second category!

After using hashtags and mentions on Twitter and Facebook, I thought 'This would be a cool little addition to ImpressCMS!' So, I started out to create plugins to allow me to use these common tags.

How Far Can You Get With a Roadmap?

Tue, 04 May 2010 13:44:47 -2200

The first day of CMS Expo has been fantastic! Not only are we able to be around some of the open source greats and let people know a bit more about ImpressCMS, but I have been able to finally meet some of our own community in person. Marc-Andre and Steve M have joined me here and we have had a great time getting to know each other and talk about the project. One of the topics we've covered and heard a lot about at the expo is roadmaps.

Open Source - is it a community, a philosopy, or a license?

Sun, 25 Apr 2010 01:55:14 -2200

At its core, ImpressCMS is an open source project. But, what does that mean? A few recent events have brought this forward today.

The Open Source Initiative (OSI) focuses on the licensing of software as the definitive answer. In an earlier post, Marc-André talks about our open SVN structure. And in another post -

People. People connecting with each other. This is the true asset of an open source project. It is not code, it is not developers, it is the people. The people using the software, the people creating the software, the people helping each other, the people solving problems, the people creating greatness !

CMS Expo 2010 - A Special Offer for ImpressCMS

Sat, 10 Apr 2010 18:40:59 -2200

I was just contacted by the organizers of CMS Expo 2010 (www.cmsexpo.net) and we have 2 free 1-day passes to the conference (each valued at $249) to give away! Here's how we'll do this -

You'll need to comment on this post to be entered into a drawing (which means you have to be registered here on community.impresscms.org)
You'll need to be available to attend the conference in Chicago on any of the days, 3 - 5 May (tell us which day in your comment)
You'll also need to have an active ImpressCMS powered website (post a link in your comment)
You have until 10 PM Central Daylight Time on Monday, 12 April (3 AM Tuesday, GMT) - I need to let the organizers know by Tuesday who'll be attending and which day they'll attend.

Of course, travel and accomodations are your own responsibility. If you wish to attend additional days, you can register at the CMS Expo website and we'll let them know you get 1 day free (if you win)

We look forward to seeing you there!

CMS Expo 2010 - ImpressCMS's First US Conference

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 02:41:33 -2200

CMS Expo 2010 (www.cmsexpo.net) will be held in Chicago on May 3 - 5 at the Hotel Orrington Conference Center and ImpressCMS will be participating as an exhibitor. This event attracts some of the top CMS talent from around the world and it will be an exciting 3 days for all of us!

Random Thoughts

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 03:06:13 -2200

There have been a lot of little things wandering across my desk these past few weeks, some of them worth mentioning.

Simpler is Better

I've found sections of code that don't make any sense. And, a lot of times, they don't always do what you expect them to do. Clarity in defining your desired outcome boosts your effectiveness tremendously.

Form (user input) Validation

All entries posted in a form are passed as string values, even when you want numeric data. Here's a simple little script that will help you understand how this works and how you need to validate entries in a form.

Make it Faster (and Better) - Part 5: Text Functions

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 02:46:41 -2200

Time once again to bore you with tiny little details and snippets of code. Some time ago, ImpressCMS announced it would only run on PHP5 and be removing support for PHP4. Well, PHP5.3.x is now released and many of the old functions have been deprecated, with many more to be removed in PHP6.0. ImpressCMS 1.3, in addition to focusing on code optimization and performance, will also bring PHP5.3 compatibility to the platform.

Some of the changes needed are pretty straightforward and have simple replacements and I'll talk about a few of them in this post.

Make it go faster! Part 4 - Caught in a Loop

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:46:06 -2200

In all my previous posts, I used looping to execute actions multiple times, which saves code and also makes your program easier to read later on. But, used unwisely, loops can severely reduce speed and memory usage.

Let's take a real world example this time and see what kinds of things to look for.