Version 2 of MarcGrabanski.com Launched!: My Work, CakePHP, jQuery

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Version 2 of MarcGrabanski.com Launched!

Tags: My Work, CakePHP, jQuery | Written on 25/6/08

CakePHP Logo  jQuery Logo 

Note on June 27th: The website is now usable on IE6 and IE7.

Rebuilt from scratch on top of CakePHP and jQuery, version 2 of MarcGrabanski.com has been launched!

The first version was on top of PHP and HTML, which turned into a mess to maintain. This time I really thought long and hard on how to code the website from the ground-up. It is a psuedo CMS, blog and takes advantage of much of CakePHP's strengths.  The code is 100% hand written in a text editor, as well as the design was done in illustrator. I purchased the computer/face, then heavily modified it and illustrated all of the items around the monitor and keyboard. I enjoy illustrating but don't get to do it very often (too much coding). 

Finally I feel like I have a website to be pleased about - despite the compliments on the old website by far and wide audiences, I was never too happy with it.  But, this one I enjoy and am pleased with.  Which is ultimately what matters.  With this website I will be able to post more (hopefully) and definately have a much easier time maintaining.

Enjoy the new website, I know I will!

P.S. Please report any bugs you find in the new site to m@marcgrabanski.com

Comments

#1. gwoo on 25/6/08
Looks sweet. Nice work. Glad to see all those questions paid off in such a great site. Enjoy posting without having to go into phppMyAdmin ;)
#2. royalol on 26/6/08
ROFL! Marc, you posted blog articles on the previous version using phpMyAdmin?!
#3. Jonathan Snook on 26/6/08
Looks good! I like the illustration on top. It really gives the site personality. The comment form might be a tad on the large side (it's larger than the article itself!) but otherwise, rock on.
#4. Luke Brookhart on 26/6/08
Grabanski does it again. Very cool, Marc.
#5. Dave Golding on 26/6/08
Good work, Marc. It's that redesign time of year, ain't it? You've done well. Say, any news about your work on getting jQuery into Cake's core?
#6. Marc Grabanski on 26/6/08
Snook: Thanks for the compliment and feedback. I tightened up the comment form a bit, it is still big, but not as crazy.
Luke: Thanks!
Dave: I need to finish my web latest web application. Then I plan to work on a tighter integration of CakePHP and jQuery / jQuery UI projects - this will happen probably Fall of this year.
#7. Matsimitsu on 27/6/08
This design is really well made!

Do you have some screens / inside info about the backend?
Since everybody is making a blog/cms in cake these days i'd like to see how people do the backend stuff, since you don't see it in public very often.
#8. Thomas Danemar on 27/6/08
Hey Marc, looks great! Well done!
#9. Marc Grabanski on 27/6/08
Matsimitsu: Check out Snook's open source blog system on CakePHP, snogs. You can either use that, or it serves as a great reference if you chose to write your own blog.
Thomas: Thanks!
#10. Felix Geisendörfer on 30/6/08
Congratulations Marc!!! The new design is most excellent, I love it!
But you have to change the header to show you're on a macbook! : )
#11. Marc Grabanski on 30/6/08
Felix: Thanks for the compliment! You are correct about the Mac, I will incorporate my MacBook into the illustration when time allows.
#12. Baz L on 2/7/08
I hate you designers :), you always make me just how far I am from great web design.
But seriously, excellent work. My 2 Fav things: CakePHP and JQuery!
#13. Colin Grist on 8/7/08

Nice site Marc, in IE 7 on XP though there are extra scroll bars on the front page, one next to the normal window scroll bar and one along the bottom horizontally, makes it look like the content below your banner is in an i-frame?

#14. Marc Grabanski on 8/7/08
I checked out IE7 on two computers and don't see what you are talking about. Thanks for your comment, but it seems like a very minor thing you are talking about. I'm mainly concerned that IE users can see the content.
#15. Colin Grist on 8/7/08

Ah ok, fair enough then. I wouldnt call it minor though, here's a screenshot of the problem anyways!



Image.

#16. Marc Grabanski on 8/7/08
I wish I could reproduce the problem, I'll make it a point to check it on IE7 on a few computers as I go about my day - if I see that issue then I will fix it. My #1 question though, is why not use Firefox?
#17. Colin Grist on 8/7/08
lol. I dunno, I do use firefox, especially for checking out sites i've built across browsers, but I dunno, must have a soft spot for IE7 I guess. IE 6 --> Spawn of the devil, but I dont mind 7, I can live with it =)
#18. Marc Grabanski on 8/7/08
I'm surprised you use IE7 for development. I just can't live without Firebug - in case you haven't tried it, download Firebug for Firefox. It allows you to inspect elements on the page and see what styles are being applied. Also it is a great JavaScript debugger.
#19. royalol on 28/7/08
I ran accross this website.
I thought the desk design similarities between marcgrabanski.com and this one is interesting. The designer even used fade in mouse over tooltips! Creepy...

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