I’m always on the lookout for a content management system (CMS) that is powerful, flexible, and doesn’t require me going back to school for a degree in computer science to set it up. I’ve found one that has gotten me pretty excited. It is called MODx CMS.

My computer background is pretty solid. I have studied programming before and done well at it. I’ve been building and repairing my own computers for nearly 10 years and am very comfortable pulling open computers and working on them. I’m a self-taught web designer/developer and have had the good fortune to work with some gifted people who have guided me into standards-based web design. I even know my way around a server well enough to set-up databases and install software. But I still get stumped - often!

Most Open Source CMS packages have frustrated me. Many are incredibly powerful, allowing all sorts of automation and customization, but are just complicated enough that I have trouble getting them customized to my needs. It is usually the templating portion of the process that brings me to my knees.

I can design and code a beautiful standards-based web page, but usually get frustrated trying to translate the page into a template that will work in the CMS. At heart I’m more of a designer/developer than a coder.

The stated mission of MODx is to make a CMS for people like me. Within a few minutes of installing MODx on my server, I managed to create a basic template based on the HTML from one of my sites. I simply dropped a couple of simple tags into the existing code to replace the content and navigation areas, and hit save. And, when I viewed the finished page, it worked - how gratifying! This is a CMS made for me.

MODx is a breeze to install. Just unzip the files and FTP them to your website’s root directory. Set-up a new MySQL database and copy down the login information. Then run the setup script, plug in your database info and hit enter. The script creates your database structure and loads in all the initial data required. Now, you’re ready to start building your site.

My plan is to do a little more experimenting with MODx focussing on understanding how the system works, how to extend and customize the functionality of the CMS, and exploring how it handles user permissions for content managers and site users.

If it performs well, I’ll convert a site that currently has no CMS to run on MODx. I’ll keep you posted.

The Go-To Guy

In an earlier post called Record Your Voice for Fun And Profit, I had mentioned my recent purchase of an Olympus VN-960PC Digital Voice Recorder. My goal was to replace my dead micro-cassette recorder and possibly find an inexpensive solution for recording audio content that I could post on the web and maybe even sell as part of an educational audio series or audio book.

I knew from the product descriptions and reviews that this recorder compresses the audio pretty heavily and stores it in a proprietary format. My hope was, given the narrow dynamic range of spoken voice recordings, with a little tweaking in post production I could get an acceptable quality recording. I figured a close mike would also help by creating a strong input signal.

Digital Recorder Testing Procedure

My test was very simple. I recorded a short clip of myself talking into a low-cost headset (a likely recording scenario) and also into the built-in mike. The recorded was set to its highest quality settings. I also recorded a short clip on my laptop at high quality 48khz 32bit using the headset mike.

I created a processed version of the first two recordings in an effort to improve the overall quality of the sound. (I’m not a sound engineer, so I’m sure it is possible to do a better job with this. Mostly I normalized the levels and adjusted the EQ to boost the low and midtones a bit and roll off the highs where noise seemed most distracting.)

Finally I converted everything to 44khz 128Kbps mono MP3 files for posting on the web.

Listen to the sample audio recordings from the Olympus VN-960PC Digital Voice Recorder

Conclusions

The Olympus VN-960PC Digital Voice Recorder is a very compact and easy to use device. The controls are simple to operate and intuitive. I could start and stop recording, and playback recordings without having to look at the device. This is great for taking notes while driving and during other multi-tasking situations.

The recorder has long available record times (5 hours in HQ mode) and other nice features like voice activated recording that stops during the dead space in a recording without the user having to ride the pause button.

Functionally speaking, I was impressed with the recorder. But my hopes were deflated when it came to the quality of the finished recordings. As the samples make clear, they don’t cut it. They are acceptable for creating free podcasts, etc., but I’d be disappointed if I paid for a recording that sounded like that. It would undermine my impression of the value of the content. I was surprised to find that the built-in mike sounded so much better than the headset.

I think this device will be great for note taking and for snagging unexpected interviews, but my search for a high quality compact recorder goes on (Why doesn’t my Palm Tungsten T5 not have a mike jack and recording software… the previous version did?) In the meantime I’ll be transcoding audio bits through the USB connection on the Vn-960PC. That brings me to a pet peeve.

Everybody and their uncle uses MP3’s for high quality compressed audio. It does a good job of holding the important bits of sound while keeping file sizes low and every audio editing package and player can read and write MP3’s. It drives me a little nuts whenever companies (Sony, are you listening?) insist on proprietary compression formats. Olympus does this for their whole voice recorder line. This means everything must be transcoded as you transfer it to the PC before it’s useful anywhere else. And that brings me to another irritation.

Why must I be forced to install another audio program to connect with the recorder? It should show-up as an external storage device with files and folders. I should be able to plug in to the USB cable and open up a file for playback. Instead, I run more software to handle this one task. Maybe it’s incredibly useful and intuitive for fortune 500 executives and their personal assistants? Not for me!
In spite of these drawbacks, the Olympus VN-960PC Digital Voice Recorder is a nice piece of equipment that works as advertised - I was just hoping for a little more.

If you are taking notes or recording a meeting or lecture, the audio quality is much better than a tape based micro-cassette recorder. The recordings are intelligable and the built in mike does a remarkable job. But, if you have an Ipod or Pocket PC that you carry around anyway, get a microphone adapter and record to that. That way, if you ever need it, you’ll have a clean recording to sell.

The Go-To Guy

While reading an article on Yahoo! about search engine marketing, I was introduced to the work of Jennifer Laycock, managing editor of the online Search Engine Guide newsletter. The site turned out to be a useful resources, but the real treat was the free e-book she was giving away. It’s not your typical web market e-book.

Jennifer’s new book, Zero Dollars, a Little Talent, and Thirty Days, is a compilation of thirty daily articles she wrote chronicling her efforts to start a new online business with no cash, and turn a profit. She made money - not the overnight millions folks usually brag about - but a real profit. I also get the feeling she’ll continue to make money from the site and be able to work less to keep it going.

Zero Dollars, a Little Talent, and Thirty Days outlines what she did, day-by-day and step-by-step, while also helping you understand why she made the choices she made. Jennifer includes a running tally of her income and expenses throughout. You get to see both her successes and her mistakes and how they affected the bottom line. In the end she gave it all away - her profits to charity and her hard earned knowledge to us.

Read the book! You can’t beat the price ($0.00) and you will be entertained, inspired, and educated by Jennifer’s story.

Thanks for the great book, Jennifer!

The Go-To Guy