Even after having a talking to with the fine boys in blue at La Guardia, the publicity that Delta has given him for his app could not have been bought…way to go Delta, helping out the small business owners.

Read the whole story here: http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/05/09/delta-threatens-to-call-cops-on-viber-founder-for-using-voip-app-on-plane/

However, when it comes to running e-Commerce, the field is filled with competing systems that challenge the Drupal framework (Magento, osCommerce, OpenCart, Spree, Zen Cart, etc.) and push it to some possibly unforeseen limits.

The question is, does Drupal do an incredible job running as an e-Commerce platform?

The answer? As with many things, yes, and no, depending on some specific requirements.

Drupal has some definite advantages when it comes to building an e-Commerce system; namely, the Ubercart (http://www.ubercart.org/) and UberPOS (http://www.uberpos.com/) modules plug in seamlessly, and the store is up and running immediately, just awaiting item descriptions and pictures.

Need to accept credit cards online or at a POS? It interfaces with Authorize.net (both SIM and CIM) and Paypal, two of the leading credit card processors.

Reporting? It provides built-in, customizable sales and product information.

Have a physical terminal? UberPOS will utilize a USB card reader!

Here’s the catch – if the need arises for discrete reporting or refunds, prepare to hire an expert to get you what you need.

The reporting system of UberCart is robust, but lacks some features that many shop owners would require, such as sales analysis and accurate to-date calculations. In addition, refunds can be a challenge, requiring customization for the flow to work correctly, as UberPOS does not offer CIM refunds out of the box!

All deficiencies aside, UberCart and UberPOS make Drupal 6 a powerful e-commerce platform, which has only been enhanced by Commerce in Drupal 7!

Look for integration to become even tighter and seamless as the Drupal project continues to grow!

For more information, please see the project pages at drupal.org:

http://drupal.org/project/ubercart

http://drupal.org/project/uberpos

http://drupal.org/project/commerce

After many years of struggling to find the right combination of hardware manufacturer, operating system, software, integrated development environment (IDE), and server operating system, VM Ware came to the rescue.

Workstation 8 (Windows) and Fusion 4 (Mac) both offer the same benefit – an autonomous, quarantined development environment, into which one may SSH and be certain that there exists no bleed-over from other projects.

As anyone who has worked with Drupal knows, the environment can be very sensitive and create white-screens-of-death (WSOD) if even one semi-colon is deleted, or one .htaccess entry is mangled.

This is where VM Ware comes in – simply create a default environment (such as Ubuntu 10.04, Mint 12, or another preferred Linux release) and configure everything needed to be up and running as a Drupal developer in no time for each new project.

Begin by following VM Ware’s simple instructions for creating a virtual machine using a disc or an .iso file. When the machine is up and running, configure this as the default “template” machine, off of which dedicated project machines will be cloned.

Here are some suggested configuration niceties after (Debian flavor) Linux is installed on a default VM instance:

1 - break out of Ubuntu’s forced user scheme from a terminal with

sudo su -

passwd (reset root password)

2 - disable the default firewall (unless you are on a public IP)

ufw disable

3 – start creating a development environment

tasksel install lamp-server  (may have to run apt-get install tasksel depending on the version of Linux)

ssh-keygen -t rsa (to create a ssh keypair)

cat ~/ .ssh/id_rsa.cab (will print out the ssh key needed to connect to the Git   repository, if needed)

4 – install tools

apt-get install vim

apt-get install git-core

apt-get install drush

apt-get install openssh-server

5 - set up gui tools

apt-get install phpmyadmin

vim /etc/phpmyadmin/config.inc.php (uncomment AllowNoPassword so as   to log in as “root” with no password)

6 – create Drupal-friendly settings

a2enmod rewrite

vim /etc/apache2/sites-available/default (change AllowOverride to “All” on   every line)

/etc/init.d/apache2 reload

7 – get some nice Drupal settings for VIM

http://drupal.org/node/29325

8 – if there is no repository to clone, get Drupal

cd /var/www

wget http://ftp.drupal.org/files/projects/drupal-7.12.tar.gz

- or -

wget http://ftp.drupal.org/files/projects/drupal-6.25.tar.gz

tar xvzf drupal-X.tar.gz

9 – Run the Drupal install from a browser on the main system (127.0.0.1 / localhost), pointing to the IP address assigned by the VM Ware instance (use ifconfig in the VM Ware machine’s terminal to get the IP)

10 – Shut down the virtual machine

11 – In Windows, simply clone the the virtual machine just created into a name representative of the project. In Mac, go to Finder and copy and rename the file. Reboot the virtual machine so it assigns it a new IP address, differing from the template machine.

12 – Connect to the new development environment and clone a repository into /var/www if the project already exists.

There is now a separate “server” running an entire site in development, with no possibility of damage from other projects. This is very useful, especially if there are multiple collaborators (you never know who is messing with /var/www/sites/default/settings.php)!

Some final thoughts:

The “hosts” file can be edited to enable connection to a VM machine via URL (e.g. 192.168.213.132   www.mysweetnewdrupalsite.com).

Establish multiple SSH sessions using PuTTY or iTerm2 from the main machine into the VM machines, and scp files from here to there, or even ssh from one VM machine to another.

Use Chrome and/or Firefox on the main machine to develop on the VM machine.

Happy coding!

Searching exact word matches in a dedicated table (search_index) is much faster in MySQL (and other database servers) than running exact word or ‘LIKE’ queries against full text. However, this limits the results of searches to exact word matches, and often filters results that may benefit a user. For example, if a user executes a search with keyword “performance”, and there are nodes with content including “high-performance” (but not including the pure word “performance”), no results will be displayed.

Fortunately, there are several search enhancing/replacing modules available to remedy this behavior. To investigate these options and the resulting search behavior, I created the following Basic Pages and Articles in an otherwise empty Drupal 7 installation:

Basic Page One
One
blue, red, green, yellow.

Basic Page Two
Two
red, blue-green, yellowish.

Article One
One
yellow, blue-green, reddish.

Article Two
Two
yellow-green, blue, red.

Note that a search for “blue” returns only Basic Page One and Article Two, where as each node clearly includes the term “blue”.

Fuzzy Search

The Fuzzy Search module feels a little heavy during installation, as it requires the Search API module, which in turn requires the Entity module. Entity is handy for a lot of other uses, and may be installed as a dependency already, so it is really just that Fuzzy Search implements its functionality on top of the Search API, which is not a major concern.

Fuzzy Search takes indexed terms and breaks them down into partial terms of a configurable length. The default length is 3, hence “high-performance” becomes a vast array including “hig”, “igh”, “gh-”, … , “anc”, “nce”. Within the index workflow settings, you can edit the default partial wod length, and also set a minimum completeness (a sort of percentage of match for returning the fuzzy word result). The minimum completeness defaults to 40. This has the benefit of allowing partial word search and also accommodating/correcting most spelling errors in your search terms. You must be somewhat careful with this as leaving your configuration too wide open can cause a lot of false positive results that may seem odd to end users.

With the default settings, Fuzzy search does not impact our “blue” search results, which are still lacking the nodes with “blue-green” in the content. It does correct searches like “yellowgreen” which returns Article Two, containing the distinctly spelled “yellow-green”. Interestingly, Fuzzy search (with the default configuration) also seems to break some search results that were previously appropriate. For example, a search for “green”, which returns Basic Page One using the default search implementation, fails to yield any results with Fuzzy Search enabled.

Fuzzy Search definitely has the potential to enhance the default search behavior, but pay close attention to your configuration and keep an eye on how it impacts your search results.

Porter-Stemmer

The Porter-Stemmer module is more of a default search enhancement than a search replacement. It is much lighter weight than Fuzzy Search, and does not include any configuration options. It should definitely be considered an English-only (and predominantly en_US) enhancement. The technique used in Porter-Stemmer is to break words down by removing common modifiers like ‘ing’, ‘er’, or ‘ed’, and allow the search to process all such combinations of the word. This results in a search for “test” returning nodes with content including “tests”, “test”, or “testing”.

Porter-Stemmer is very convenient for a lot of use cases within the English language. It is also easy to setup. Nonetheless, for our example, the apparent lack of knowledge when it comes to the ‘ish’ suffix, and the lack of hyphen handling (which is appropriate based on the module’s functionality), leave something to be desired in our searches. In our example content, Porter-Stemmer does not enhance the default search behavior. It is important to note that Porter-Stemmer IS effective in a lot of scenarios, just not this particular example set.

Search API Solr or Apache Solr Search Integration

Apache Solr is a popular and capable java search implementation. There are many options and configurations available to use Solr as a search processor for Drupal, and the specifics of the various configurations are beyond the scope of this article. I will note that there are two popular Drupal 7 modules that support Solr, the primary distinction being whether or not they rely on the Search API module.

The Solr search engine requires JDK presence and must be installed separately within a Java container (Jetty, Tomcat, or some equivalent).

I will use the Apache Solr Search Integration module. Adequate instructions for a basic installation are available at Drupal.org, thought I recommend reviewing some of the links on that page when considering Solr use on larger production sites.

Note that with the default schema.xml provided in the Apache Solr Search Integration module, partial search strings are still not well supported. By default Apache Solr does include most of the functionality found in Porter-Stemmer (though with much more added administration and configuration). Adding an NGramTokenizerFactory tokenizer to the main “text” field type corrects this behavior, and adds partial search functionality. To highlight the behavior using our example content, with Apache Solr and an appropriate NGramTokenizerFactory tokenizer, a search for “ell” returns all content (matching “yellow” or “yellowish”).

Conclusions

At a high level, I prefer the configuration options and extensibility that Apache Solr offers. However, it is important to remember the goals of your site and your users when selecting a search tool. Keep in mind that in many cases Porter-Stemmer accommodates the bulk of your needs for automated search correction, and it does so in a way that keeps additional server overhead extremely low. The Fuzzy Search module is also a great step if Porter-Stemmer does not quite handle your desired scenarios, but as I mentioned read the docs and examples, and be sure that you understand what you are telling Fuzzy Search to do. It is a powerful module, and it is easy to alter the configuration in ways that can cause undesirable behavior. With the right configuration, Fuzzy Search can do a lot to improve your search results for users.

If you find yourself wanting more control or more advanced search features (like Faceted search results – a topic for another article), you would do well to investigate Apache Solr as a replacement for your Drupal 7 Search functionality. Keep in mind that very few shared hosting services support java servlet containers. This means that Apache Solr search is limited to sites on a VPS or dedicated server, or to those interested in a paid Solr search solution (like Acquia Search).

April 26, 2012 – Baltimore, MD: Leading interactive mobile & web design & development company, Accella announced that they are now a Google AdWords Certified Partner.  The new partner status with Google represents Accella’s commitment to helping our clients create, manage, and optimize their online advertising campaigns.

The Google AdWords Certification Program is a globally recognized stamp of approval which showcases a company’s knowledge of the latest AdWords tools and best practice techniques.  Companies that achieve AdWords certification have demonstrated proficiency in being able to effectively manage AdWords Campaigns.  In order to achieve certification, a company must pass at least two in depth qualification exams as well as manage ad spend of at least $10,000 over a period of 90 days.

John Rainey, Vice President of Business Development is looking forward to providing more services to Accella’s existing client base.  “While we have offered our clients AdWords management in the past, having our company certified through Google will give many of our existing and future clients a better understand of our skills and expertise with search, network, and display campaigns.”

For more information on Accella’s certification with Google, you can visit their Google Profile page

Mobile App, Today’s Document, Earns Top Honors, While Home Exchange Takes Home Silver

Baltimore, MD – April 13, 2012 –  Accella LLC brought home a gold Addy Award at an event held in Towson, MD.  Accella’s work with the National Archives’ Today’s Document mobile application won top honors in the Mobile App category.  In addition to the gold Addy, Home Exchange, a mobile app developed by Accella, took home a Silver Addy.

This marks the second year in a row that Accella entered the competition and attended the event. Last year, Accella won a silver Addy for its work with BreweryFans.com in the “Websites, Consumer HTML/Other” cagetgory as well as Runner’s World’s iPhone Application in the “Mobile Marketing” category

“The Addy’s is a huge event in our industry,” said Jason King, President of Accella. “The best of the best were represented last night; it’s great to have our work featured alongside the biggest agencies in Baltimore.  We may not be the biggest out there, but our work definitely can hold it’s own amongst the big boys.”

With a Gold award, Accella’s piece will automatically be forwarded on to the regional competition held in New York City later this year where it will compete with work from other agencies in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, and The District of Columbia.

“It is extremely gratifying to bring home a Gold Addy this year.  Last year we were very excited to win two silvers and were hoping that we could improve upon that this year,” said John Rainey, Vice President of Business Development at Accella. “We are hoping to move forward in the competition and can’t wait to enter again next year.”

Credits for those contributing to the two projects were:

For The National Archives

• Tom Coin, Project Manager
• Jacob Haskins, Director of Mobile Development
• Hank McLauglin, Application Developer

Home Exchange

• Steve Demby, Project Manager
• Jacob Haskins, Director of Mobile Development
• Mitch Maltese, Art Director
• John Zhao, Mobile Developer

For more information on the Addy Awards, visit the AAF website.

Funnels

Create funnels to track any conversion in your app using your existing events. Best of all, any new funnel you create will leverage all your existing data. This way you can explore the data you have without having to plan for every possible funnel. The power is yours today. Learn more about Funnels.

Alerts

Alerts keep you connected to what’s going on in your app exactly when you want. You can set up alerts to notify you when a key metric increases or decreases by a certain percent, or when a metric reaches a threshold you determine. Alerts ensure that you never miss a thing. Learn more about Alerts.

Custom Dashboards

Create a dashboard of your most important app metrics for convenient access, all in one place. Administrators can create global dashboard views accessible by all users, and individuals can create additional dashboards for groups of metrics they value most. Get immediate access now. Learn more about Custom Dashboards.

Flurry SDKs for iOS

There are now two Flurry iOS SDKs available for your iOS apps. One version continues to use the UDID, and the other does not. To learn more about which SDK is right for you, or to download either one, please click here.

• Set your Cover Photo and Profile Photo
  Your profile photo is the small square at the top of your page, this should be a logo or other image that is closely associated with your brand.
  Your cover photo is the much larger image that spans the page. This should represent your brand, who you are, what you do, what you are about. Consider putting in a company photo, or some logos of companies you work with. Here are some tips along with what you can’t do with your cover photo.
• Add Milestones to Fill Out Your Timeline
  Consider adding information about when your company started, when you launched a new product or service, when key people joined your staff. This should be an interesting, visual overview of your history. For instance, On Coca-Cola’s page, you can see their original stock certificate.
• Pin Important Stories to the Top of Your Page
  Previously your stories all were fed on your wall in a running fashion, now you can pin important stories to the top of your page for up to a week at a time. Perhaps you have an important announcement, or an upcoming event, make sure you are pinning those top stories to the top of your page.
• Post To Your Page Daily
  It’s recommended that you interact with your page as often as you can, which means posting to it on a daily basis. This will keep your fan base interactive as well as keep your page from going stale. If you can’t post on a daily basis, at least try and post something one or two times each week. Consider having multiple people within your company post to the page. If you want to keep it personal, you can have them “sign” their posts by adding “-jon” to the end of their comment, or whatever their name would be, you don’t have to use mine. And don’t just post promotional things for your company like “download this” or “try this today,” keep it informative and fun.
• Manage your Page Through the Admin Panel
  The admin panel gives you a lot more insight to how people are engaging with your page and the posts on it. So make sure to use it to see what posts and things your users like, and give them more of the same.
• Respond to Personal Messages
  While companies can’t directly message their fans, fans can now send messages to a company’s page. So make sure that you respond to those messages to keep the conversation going. Remember, Facebook is not about how many likes or impressions you can get, it’s how reach and interaction with your fans. This new medium of advertising offers companies a two-way version of communication never before available.
• Rearrange Views & Apps
  At the top of the page you have apps listed, the first one is always Photos, but the other three can be determined by the page’s admin. Make sure to put things that are interesting, engaging, and important to your fans. You can have an “about us” area, or a “recent case studies” area. Make sure to keep things fresh.



• Star Updates
  You can “Star” posts, which gives you the ability to take advantage of the entire width of the page.
• Claim Your Vanity URL
  If you haven’t already done this, make sure to get on this. By claiming your vanity URL, such as http://www.facebook.com/AccellaLLC, you give yourself an easy way to promote your Facebook page in marketing materials and online, and an easy way for your fans to find you.

Keep up with Accella’s Facebook page and watch our transformation from a blank slate to a full-on Facebook Fan page over the next month. We haven’t started yet with building out our new Facebook page, so it will be good to follow along and see what we do.

Now, it seems that technology has caught up to make that vision a reality.  The advent of the iPad and Android tablet market has empowered a myriad of robust solutions to help reduce the increasing cost and environmental damage of using paper.  Tablets have also increased the efficiency of the work flow process as well.

We have seen a dramatic increase in the interest of mid-sized and large companies to use tablets in order to create efficiencies in many areas such as field services, route accounting, sales, customer accounting, general communication and digital document management.  This is mainly due to the after -market of refurbished iPad’s and lower cost Android tablets that make the deployment of these devices a cost effective reality.

The ability to add a signature, make changes, save and store digital documents has also helped a great deal in garnering interest in utilizing tablets.  Security, which is always a concern, can be maintained with a host of device management software suites to track the usage of deployed tablets over a wide array of employees and geographic areas.

What’s helping with the lower cost of entry in the tablet market?  Last year the tablet manufacturers fell short of being able to produce enough tablets to meet market demand with about 52 million units created.  This year the manufacturers will be more prepared to meet that market demand with an estimated production capacity of roughly 80+ million units.

Obviously this market will take more time to mature, but clearly it will not be a fad that disappears.  Tablets will be with us in one form or another for quite some time and hopefully reduce the amount of that pesky paper that still clutters most workers desks.

While the process may seem a bit cumbersome when you first embark upon it, this tutorial, created by Accella’s Director of Mobile Development, Jacob Haskins, will teach you the necessary steps you need to take in order to successfully submit your app.

Submitting Your Mobile App to Apple – Tutorial.