Magento’s ungood.

Back in the early 00′s, I had the responsibility of cleaning up a project that was way off track. At the time, I was working for EYC out of Brussels; our client was a specialty steel company who’s problem was simple: for each new order, find existing scrap from previous orders that could be used to fulfill the new order. It was a simple problem; the solution (in print) filled about 4 large binders. They (the code monkeys) had built a rocket to Mars.

My last remaining (ever!) PHP project is for the implementation of a Magento shop. The owners are friends of mine so it was with great pleasure that I offered my services. Now, a few weeks into it, I can’t help but draw comparisons with that recycled-steel/rocket-to-mars project.

Magento is overly complex. So much so that typically trivial things such as moving hosts, changing basic configuration, importing and exporting data, theming and extending, etc require heavy doses of sedatives and near-Papal patience.  Here’s just a few specific examples:

1. Themes. Themes and styles are in completely different locations making customisation a real pain in the ass. There’s no easy way around this; structure is in app/design/frontend/design/default/YOURTHEME with styles hunkered down in skin/frontend/default/YOURTHEME.  Even using Nautilus’ tabs, this is a nightmare.
2. Extensions. Want to include custom XML layout in your CMS WYSIWYG editor? Magento’s got that mastered.
3. Configuration. This one rocks! Configuration is completely obscured (app/etc/config.xml and app/etc/local.xml) and is mystically merged together with other configuration settings from dis-joined locations; yes, including configuration from the DB. If you’re not a fan of simple configuration, Magento’s for you!
4. MagentoConnect. Fans of WordPress’ cool remote installation feature might like this for about 10 seconds. It’s a built in extension-manager that sorta works. I’m not entirely sure who the audience is for this feature but if it’s for the site’s non-technical staff, prepare your diapers and stiff drinks for support calls.
5. A class called Object. Oh my!

I could go on an on about how ungood Magento is. In their defense, I can tell they had two primary motivations (aka: they’re not stupid folks) for this architecture:

1. Build a consultancy out of an open-source solution.
2. Maximize flexibility.

Finally, I’d be completely idiotic to not mention that once everything is in place and you’re bald from the learning curve, things work. For an open source solution, that’s already something ain’t it?

Vote Moj tehnik and maybe I’ll sing you a song

A few weeks back, Anej and I set out to develop a no-nonsense Android application for submission to the Mobitel Android competition. The basic premise was to create an application that provided the full range of services offered by mobitel: a blog reader, an application installer, support information (mobitel centers, etc) and a subscriber’s quota information including support for ordering new quotas.  Jan Ferme has a great write-up of the application complete with screenshots.

A bit about the competition …

There were 54 applications submitted. Some of them are really quite impressive and were obviously created with as much commitment and enthusiasm as we put into Moj tehnik. I’m in awe at the amount of skill and creativity that has, well, oozed from the woodwork. Not that I should be surprised, Slovenia is a technologist’s dreamland.

So, how can you help?

At the bottom of Moj tehnik’s submission page there is the omnipresent “Like” button. Just click it. The more votes, the happier we will be. They kindly don’t have any geographic restrictions; anybody, anywhere is accepted.

One more thing. There’s an easter egg in Moj tehnik. The first person who reports it will have a video of me singing about them in the shower submitted to Facebook. (No nudity of course.)

Fin

Resizing images in an Android WebView

In one of my current projects I have to show HTML “the app” pulls from an RSS feed. Unfortunately, the editors of that site felt it necessary to hard wire height and width attributes into each image; a little hack was necessary to override the widths … “no horizontal scrolling” is pretty much the rule, right? So, thanks to an old tip from lexandera, I was off.

Read the rest of this entry »

ota10

There is a lengthy discussion about possible improvements to the overtheair event and, well, to hack-a-thons in general over at Cristiano Betta’s blog. The conversation — which is a better read than this will be — sent my head spinning and somehow it landed in Microserf territory. This post is a month late. Awesome!

Read the rest of this entry »

Hot on the Press

This is Catharsis.

This was a place where I wrote a complete (thesis) response about a certain set of requirements in old English. It has been redacted based on completely nonsensical grounds. I digress, and digress for the last time.

I’ll keep this short yet still cathartic: please, people, don’t waste other people’s time with nonsense. If you don’t know what you’re doing, start the conversation with “I don’t know but …” and not some unjustified list of demands. On that note, I hence forth ignore demands. Questions and concern are accepted at par.

Catharsis over; off to higher ground.

Thanks.

Network abuse

Spent the last days filling holes in my online profile. It’s ironic, I always say people should eat their own dog food when I’m guilty on all counts myself.

Read the rest of this entry »

Looking for a place to happen.

I’ve been a jack of all trades since 1996. The choice at the start of my career was simple: generalize or specialize. I generalized out of curiosity and boredom prevention. Now I wonder, is that approach a mistake? Is the question of generalizing or specializing still relevant? A friend of mine (Rod) said it perfectly: “People with broad interests are rarely successful.“

Read the rest of this entry »

The Grand Parade

The last great adventure left to mankind
Screams a drooping lady
Offering her dream dolls at less than extortionate prices
And as the notes and coins are taken out
I’m taken in, to the factory floor …

Read the rest of this entry »