As if I needed another project… Functional Fusion is a new site that will offer tutorials, tips and code snippets for building applications in ColdFusion. The idea is to provide solutions to practical problems and information to those in the beginner to intermediate skill level.

I put together a quick WordPress site and began writing a tutorial on creating an accessible sorting list that also uses JQuery. I had to cut it into three parts, as there’s just too much to explain if I want this to follow the mantra of the site.

Check it out, if you’re into code porn.

http://functionalfusion.com

My friend Stephan unveiled his new site yesterday at http://sbritt.com. Design-wise, I think it’s top notch and perfect for the artistic content he provides.

I helped him build it over the past few weeks. He sent me folders with all of the pages meticulously mocked up and then each image section sliced and ready to go. This is a real treat, as mostly I don’t receive such precise direction from my usual clients.

In the process of putting the site together, I had to learn a little more about WordPress. I used both hand-built and WordPress pages to power the site. In hindsight, I probably could have used WordPress for everything, but it would have been a clunky affair, especially for the pages with multiple subpages of image thumbnails.

My initial plan did not include WordPress at all. I would simply code the HTML, CSS, and provide a mechanism for Stephan to display his thumbnails and images. I made folders for each section of Stephan’s site, and he uploaded his images into them. Then, I used PHP to scan the folders and display the thumbnails accordingly.

After doing this, I realized that we needed a backend for Stephan to enter the text for non-image pages and manage his news section, and I knew that WordPress would get us there faster than me building something myself.

While I was working on that, Stephan asked for the ability to put unique captions on his images, so I created a database and built a backend for it directly in WordPress. This method is nice, but it is prone to being wiped out by upgrading versions. What I did is not really plugin-worthy, as it’s totally unique to this particular site, and I would have to build many, many options into the plugin to make it useful. For, now, I need to re-upload the backend pages I added after an upgrade and tweak the navigation. At some point, I’ll figure out a way to handle this in the future.

Check out Stephan’s site, leave him a comment if you like what you see. He’s amassed a truly staggering collection of brilliant art.

I’ve been helping a friend of my wife’s with a web site for a new business she started, called DeVoDa Gardens CSA. Her and two partners have formed this CSA (community supported agriculture) and will install and maintain gardens in your yard! The food from these gardens will go into a community “pot” and be redistributed to all of the members just after harvest.

I think it’s a great idea, and I’m sure they will be very successful in this area. Here’s their web site if you’re interested in becoming a part of their project.

During a meeting with the partners to discuss their web site, I mentioned a presentation I watched two weeks ago. It was given at a conference for personnel of the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

The guest speaker, James McWilliams, was invited in from Texas to give the audience, comprised largely of academics and researchers, his view on the state and future of food-based agriculture. An agricultural historian, McWilliams opened his presentation with an admission of his own anxiety speaking in front of so many “experts.” Whatever anxiety was actually present drifted away immediately after he launched into his talk.

McWilliams believes in taking the middle road, to finding the best balance between the large farming techniques and technologies, and the small, organic farm’s emphasis on sustainability and lessened environmental impact. Ignorant in a sea of the enlightened, I was still able to sense how controversial some of his ideas are.

He calls for expanded use of biotechnology, a true globalization of food production, and a very diminished reliability on meat as a food source. To say all this and also pitch sustainability and a decreased environmental impact lies contrary to what we’re used to hearing.

Needless to say, I was deeply impressed and will read his forthcoming book Just Food. You can read an interview with him here.

My four-year-old son, Hayden, loves writing letters and numbers. He picked it up early and has continues to hone his skills every day.

This weekend, I saw him writing his and a friend’s names on some poster paper. He had correctly written most of the letters with the exception of the “e.” We talked about the way threes and e’s are drawn, which he often confuses while writing. Then, he tried it again, and wrote it the same way.

That’s when I realized he was just experimenting in leet-speak. Pretty soon, he’ll be writing |-|4yd3|\| and hacking my Xbox.

My coworkers and I had some publicity photos taken yesterday. Can you guess which of us is the math wizard? The boss? The designer? I’ll give you a hint, I’m not any of these.