Finally, there is a book available on MODx – it’s about time! MODx is an open source PHP CMS with an awful lot going for it. While gaining in popularity, it’s nowhere near as well known as the likes of Joomla or Drupal. Hopefully, this book is the first of many on the subject and will help raise its profile and encourage more people to give it a go.

I first came across MODx over 3 years ago, when online documentation was somewhat sparse. I could see great potential in it back then, but after using it for a couple of sites, my work changed and I didn’t have a need for it. More recently, I’ve been working on more complex projects where solutions like MODx come into their own. So this book could not have come at a better time for me. With a somewhat hazy recollection of MODx, I wanted to get up to speed on the fundamentals quickly and this book helped.

This book is most suited to those new to MODx and is also appropriate for those new to content management systems in general. The pace is fairly gentle for the most part. The first three chapters (forty pages) just cover a little background and setting up a local web server (XAMPP) and getting MODx up and running.

Next comes 28 pages devoted to templates. This chapter conveys MODx’s ease of templating, one of its major strengths. You have a basic blog up and running by the end of this chapter, without the content getting technical. The book takes the approach of showing you how to get common functionality up and running, without getting bogged down in explaining what the small pieces of code needed mean. The technical details are saved for a few more advanced chapters near the end of the book. This approach frustrated me a little, since as a coder I like to know exactly what everything is doing. However, I can see the merit of this approach for a less technical audience, which is the main market for this book.

The next three chapters (56 pages) cover authentication, content aggregation (the Ditto snippet) and creating lists and navigation (the Wayfinder snippet) respectively. These are the bread and butter of most websites, and the book provides a good grounding in these techniques. Chapter 5 on Authentication and Authorisation is available as a free download from the Packt website.

As an experienced web developer, chapter 8 on snippets was where things started to get a bit more interesting. This is where some of the technical gaps left in previous chapters start to be filled in. The content is still quite accessible, focusing on explaining how to install and use snippets.

Chapter 9 introduces Place Holders Extended or PHx, which was not only new to me, but also my colleague who has built a few MODx sites recently. So, while much of the book caters for newbies, there is the odd nugget in there covering lesser known features or more advanced material.

Chapter 10 brings the focus right back to the practical, covering popular modules for adding common functionality to websites. It looks at the SMF module (for integrating MODx with a SMF forum), the MaxiGallery image gallery snippet, the built in eForm snippet for creating email forms, the WebLoginPE snippet for implementing user profiles and, finally, how to show similar articles using the old reliable Ditto snippet.

Creating Snippets is covered briefly in Chapter 11, and Chapter 13 looks at Plugins and Modules, including how to create a very simple Plugin. These chapters are both just 16 pages long and I would have preferred some more coverage on these areas. This would not be expected from a beginner book, but since it delves into more advanced topics in places, it would have been nice to see a bit more meat to the coverage.

I was delighted to see a chapter devoted to SEO, deployment and security (ch 12); all vital real world areas, but so often neglected, particularly in introductory books. Alas, aside from information on migrating your site to a live server, there is little of note here. Several general SEO guidelines are included, but I feel that the SEO advantages of using MODx relative to other content management systems, which can often cause problems with search engines, would have been more beneficial.

Another gripe is the amount of pages taken up with large excerpts of HTML code, often only differing from previous excerpts by a line or two. Surely this is overkill, even for newbies. The writing also appears somewhat formulaic or clunky in places, but in technical books, that’s less of a failing. I did notice some typos along the way too, which is more unfortunate, but most were fairly obvious.

There is a very strong MODx community, and some excellent tutorials available online. The Coding Pad has a good list of these. While many find it easy to get up and running using these resources, for others, like me, there is no substitute for a good book. Although I don’t get much time to read these days, I have a large collection of computer books.

In this context, I would describe this book as “OK”. It’s not one of those dry, complicated tomes which I never got into. It’s quite an easy read, and gives you confidence about building real websites with MODx, and perhaps even creating your own snippets if needed. On the other hand, it’s not a bible which I will refer to again and again, but that’s not its aim. Overall, while a little clumsy in places, it’s a good introduction to MODx for new users or developers looking for a refresher course.

Disclaimer: Packt Publishing kindly gave me a free copy of this book to review.

I have had a good read of some chapters already, and I think that it’s a handy book to have. It’s well laid out with sections on buying, what you own, management, day to day life, finance, legal matters and insurance. There is a helpful glossary at the back too. The author has both a legal and property management background, which makes for a good mix – the book is very thorough, but it focuses on the practical issues. So while it explains all about management agencies etc, it also has helpful advice on how to deal with troublesome neighbours. Best of all, it is written in plain English, despite the somewhat complex nature of the legal aspects of apartment living.

I’ve already picked up a few things I was not aware of. I’ll be checking that I have my management company membership certificate for a start. Other points that I had a vague understanding of are much clearer now. While the material is not the most fascinating, the tone is quite down-to-earth throughout and it makes for lighter reading than I thought. The author shares his own view from time to time. Perhaps that’s not a great idea for a factual book like this, but it makes it a bit more entertaining. He informs us that there are “thousands of unreasonable people living all around us” and, therefore, “inevitably” “these individuals” will be in your apartment development. He finds that tenants do not “have as much regard for the considerations of their neighbours”, an opinion based on his own experience of 90% of House Rule breaches involving tenants.

Diversions like these may be better suited to a blog, and I discovered tonight that the book has an entire website to go along with it complete with forum, guestbook (how quaint!) and blog. It seems that you have to register to comment which I don’t like, but I think they are still working on the website, so that may change. While I know that neighbours.ie is great for individual developments, this is the first site I know of devoted to apartment living in Ireland in general, despite it being such a big niche. I’m increasingly out of the loop these days, so there are probably dozens of other websites already! Holler if you know any.

While I have no objection to Noel sharing his tips on positive thinking, most people will buy the book to find out all about cosmic ordering, how Noel managed to change his life around using it and how they can do the same. Noel Edmonds’ fanatics (of which there are a scary number if the small sample of my referrer logs are anything to go by!) will also be searching for answers to important questions like what the strange symbols drawn on his hands on Deal or No Deal mean.

Well, save your money, because the only place where “cosmic” anything is mentioned in Noel’s book is on the cover, and while he shares many personal anecdotes, he does not discuss strange hand symbols or any other weird rituals he might have. Instead, the book is just autobiographical snippets enveloped by lots of positive thinking tips.

As self-help books go, it’s not too bad. It focuses on practical ways to think more positively and is broken down into bite-size chunks. Each chapter concludes by summing up the key points, and Noel suggests plenty of small things you can easily do to take a more positive approach to life without changing your whole mindset at once. However, while the examples of how he has adopted these principles in his own life help drive the points home, they do become quite boring for anyone not completely obsessed with Noel Edmonds!  I’ve read worse drivel, but this book was not really up my street.

Noel has more right than most to try and make some money out of cosmic ordering, since he was the one who popularised it in the UK. However, I wish he had actually written a book on the topic rather than just misleading people into thinking that he has!

Well, actually it sounds like a load of rubbish. However, my Mother (Deal Or No Deal fanatic!) recently bought Barbel Mohr’s book, The Cosmic Ordering Service. This is the book which Noel Edmonds read when he was in the doldrums and just look at him now! Originally published in German, it sold over a million copies in Germany alone. It was only £6.50 stg at Amazon just a couple of weeks ago at the time of purchase, but is £10.50 now. But the RRP of $13.95 is not much to pay in exchange for learning how to get anything you want by just asking the cosmos to grant your wishes!

Except that the book does not contain any deep revelations. In fact, at just 101 pages long, it does not contain much of anything! Yet, this made it even more appealing for a light reader like me: just a night or 2 and I’d be ordering away. So, I gave it a go and started reading. Fair play to Barbel, she does not try to hype up or complicate her ideas. She is the first to admit that the whole concept is extremely simple. You don’t even need to read the book from cover to cover. In fact, Barbel advises just dipping in here and there. Repeatedly, she emphasises the simplicity of the method. You don’t even need to believe in the process for cosmic ordering to work. She claims that she made her first order just to prove to her friend that it didn’t work!

It is clear that the book is a translated work and perhaps subtle meaning was lost in translation. There is really no need to buy the English version of the book. Spare yourself the 101 pages – just tell the universe what you want and when you want it and wait and see if it works.

Never one to miss a trick, Noel Edmonds will be publishing his own book about Cosmic Ordering in time for the lucrative Christmas Market. Maybe he will be able to fill even more pages with so little. No doubt, he is ordering a bestseller from the universe as I post…

It sounds bizarre, but I’ll give it a go myself and let you know how I get on!

Generations of students have fond memories of stocking up on cheap stationery at this institution. It’s a great place for refill pads, pens and binders but my favourite purchase has to be buying highlighter pens in 8 colours for 50p a go. In recent years, they have disrupted the cosy bookselling trade somewhat by selling current bestsellers at substantial discounts. They even give you 10% off magazines too.

When Eason took over Fred Hanna’s up the road, Reads plastered their windows with posters making direct favourable comparisons with Eason prices. All good news for the consumer! Alas, the rivalry has now come to an end. While the press releases state that this will give Eason a larger share of the discount book market, I’m not so sure that the bargains at Reads will continue. When I think of good value, I’m afraid that Eason are not the first retailer to pop into my head. I can only hope that Reads will not lose any of its charm or cheapness.

This book is easily the most "coffee table" of my extensive computer book collection. It is based on the groundbreaking CSS Zen Garden website. This site takes the exact same standard HTML coded web page and makes it look completely different on every page of the site just by changing the CSS. Anyone can suggest a design for inclusion and there are now well over 100 completely different versions on the site. It’s a great place to go to see the power and beauty of CSS.

This newly published accompanying book illustrates what CSS has to offer, by taking 36 of these designs as case studies. The approach works well. The designs have been split into 6 chapters, each focusing on a particular aspect of CSS design: design, layout, imagery, typography, special effects and the coding process itself.

It is fascinating to find out where each designer took their inspiration from, the story behind their design and the challenges they faced. It is easy to forget the blood, sweat, tears and testing that are part and parcel of putting templates together when looking at the stunning result on the website alone.

While all this talk of the joy of CSS may be of interest only to those involved in the nitty gritty of web development, the great thing about CSS is that it is easy for non-technical users to reap the benefits. Bloggers, in particular, can take full advantage. If you are using any popular blogging software, it should be possible to transform the look of your site by replacing one file. Just choose the look you want from one of the blog template sites around. BlogSkins is a good resource whatever your blog type, while MovableStyle caters specifically for Movable Type users like me.

WordPress users are also in luck. Alex King organises WordPress theme competitions, and the winners of the version 1.5 competition were announced just a few days ago. You can even zip through the impressive entries using a theme browser. Even the ever stylish AnthonyFinucane.com is currently trying one of them out for size.

CSS can bring inner peace to all our lives

i have realised that i now own over 40 books, mainly on web development. i don’t intend calculating how much this has cost but phone directory sized geek bibles do not come cheap! my collection includes:
4 javascript books
4 php books
5 xml books
and 5 .NET books
eeekkkkk!

even scarier, i have not read a fair few of them! but someday, when i have the time, i’m sure i will. when i have even more time i may review a few on my blog because some are not great but others are all time classics that should be on everyone’s shelf – in fact they should probably be on the leaving cert syllabus