PHP Developers Network

Hello everyone,

A week or two ago, I posted an idea for a PHPDN e-Magazine. The response was generally positive, but doubtful that we could get content. So, I'm going to see what I can do. The original suggestion was to get 6-months of commitment. I suspect that will never happen, so, I'm going to try to take this one step at a time. (If it's OK with everyone).

I want to aim for having issue 1 ready by Tuesday, May 11th, and posted for download on May 12th. If we can't have it for download here, I'll host the download on my own server, at least for now.

Any of the following information is subject to change based on feedback, but I want to TRY this, so, here goes.

My target dates are as follows:

4/29 - Article Drafts and Ideas

5/3 - Layout and artwork freeze

5/9 - Final editing (A version will be made available to contributors to proof their articles)

For this issue, we're looking at:

1. Introduction to the eMagazine
2. Magazine Naming (for now, PHPDN eMagazine)
3. Beginner's Tips: Strings in PHP (OmniUni)
4. Storing Images with PHP (Pickle)*

*Pickle, will you still do an article on storing images (or not) in databases? Please?

I'd like at least one more article for this premiere issue, so, any takers? Hardware, humor, draw a comic, anything is fair game here! Also, is there anyone interested in helping me with layout and design?

If you'd like to contribute, please let me know! I would request a good picture/headshot for use with the article, and if you can provide code or screenshots, that would be great.

Are you wondering "What if nothing ever goes past this first issue? Isn't this a worthless waste of time?" I respond: "There's always somewhere you have to start."

Hi, for anyone interested in writing articles, here's some more information.

Length depends on the content of the article. Less technical articles would be shorter, and more technical ones would be longer. Similarly, more code and screenshots means less text. Generally, try to be thorough and clear in your writing, and thorough in topic coverage. You can assume that the user you are writing for has a level of knowledge you would expect of someone trying to utilize your article. (If you discussing SQL queries, you don't need to explain what echo() does, for example) The end presentation will be landscape mode for viewing on screens. A good technical article would probably be around two pages double spaced. When formatted, this becomes roughly three slides. If you can't hit that length, that's fine, but it should be pretty easy to do so. Break your article into smaller paragraphs, add code snippets, and think about places where constructive graphics should go. For example, since I'm just discussing strings, my article may not hit that full length. The introductory letter will probably be one page.

For articles, I can accept most formats, but plain old .txt is best. If you do want to use some formatting like italic words, .rtf or .odt are preferred formats. Sure, I can take a .doc, but the markup is funky and fun to deal with. If you want to emphasize words and use .txt, you can use a little basic markup, and let me know what it means, like *this* might mean to emphasize a word.

If you are submitting a graphic, .svg or .png are preferred. If you're using a PNG, don't flatten it. Preserve transparency. If you're wondering what resolution to save it as, go for about 200dpi, and assume that the smallest it will be is 4 inches across. Inkscape SVG's are great, of course, because they can be easily exported to the right size. Please include any linked graphics in the document by Extensions => Images => Embed.

You don't need to be a graphic designer to utilize diagrams and illustrations. If you want a graphic, make a post on this thread, and someone will take care of it. (Either me, or hopefully, there will be some other volunteers too.)

Send drafts, portraits/avatars, completed graphics, etc. to daniel(a)omniimpact.com. If you contribute in any way, please send a reasonably professional and good resolution picture of yourself, for use with the article or in credits. If you don't feel comfortable doing that, choose an image to represent yourself. Also include a one to three sentence biography including your name, where you're from, and your technical background. An interesting fact would be good too. Once again, if you're not comfortable giving out one or more of those pieces of information, just work around it.

Ideas are welcome. Feel free to ask questions you think would make good articles or good quick answers, maybe you'll get it answered in the issue.

Quick tips are welcome. Have you just discovered a great little thing that has helped you out? Quick tips just need to be a paragraph and maybe a code snippet.

Hey All, I have one article so far. I'm still looking for submissions, even quick tips and tricks are appreciated.

I'd gladly write something for it, but I can't think of anything. Anyone, even if you don't want to write anything, please post any ideas you have.

Hey! Good to get another response. I just got out of school, and was hoping to get another article or two, and move it to mid-June. Let's see if we can get some ideas...