The Journal of Baby Gekko



Gekko Web Builder v0.98ALPHA has been released

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 23:43:22 -0400

Gekko Web Builder 0.98ALPHA has just been released. It's about 4-6 weeks before final API freeze then I will release the BETA version. I am currently running it on my blog http://www.prana.bz (ex-Wordpress) and has tested this for the last couple of weeks and so far it's been great.

Please note:

Download here: http://www.babygekko.com/downloads/gekko_web_builder_v0.98ALPHA.zip

In Progress - New Template Manager

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:48:02 -0400

Just an update on this ongoing active development. We are still working on the Template Manager.

Template Manager

In Progress - Items with Multiple Categories

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 01:56:23 -0400

We're delaying v0.91 release as we're still refining the BasicMultipleCategories class (the framework). The application for this class will be e-commerce, business directory, etc.

Sample screenshot:

Gekko Web Builder - Item with Multiple Categories

Gekko Web Builder v0.91 to be released soon

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:55:48 -0500

Coming soon (first week of April): Gekko Web Builder v0.91ALPHA.

What's new:

Gekko Web Builder v0.90 released

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:31:33 -0500

Now you can download the code right here.

Some known issues:

Gekko Web Builder Demo

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:05:08 -0500

Gekko Web Builder demo can now be accessed from here:

http://gekkocms.babygekko.com/

We are still finishing the final package before releasing the PHP code next week.

Gekko Web Builder to be released soon

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 05:39:20 -0500

Gekko Web Builder v0.90ALPHA has just been finalized. Our site now runs on this software and we will provide the downloads within 72 hours after the final testing.

Please click here for more information.

Merry Christmas 2009 & Happy New Year 2010!

Fri, 25 Dec 2009 14:04:16 -0500
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas & Prosperous New Year!!

Seasons Greetings

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 10:54:07 -0500

Seasons greetings,

Our office will be closed from December 25 - January 6

We will resume our normal operation on Monday, January 7, 2007. Web hosting technical support (excluding web design) will still be available during the closing period.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a have a great New Year!

New things in September

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 10:44:03 -0400

We have several new things happening in September:

  1. We have slashed our web hosting prices. Currently we only accept Rupiah because our company is based in Bali and it's pretty hard to get a Paypal business account in Indonesia. But this will change next year, as this company will be based in Canada. We will start accepting USD and CAD in April 2008 and we will start accepting more international customers.
  2. We are no longer accepting web design application until next March 2008, when we relocate to Canada.
  3. There will be new extensions - Mambo and Joomla compatible - coming up next month.
  4. OpenSEF with Mambo 4.6.2 compatibility is available now from the download section.

Nifty Box 1.03

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 23:47:05 -0400

This plugin gives you the ability to easily add beautiful rounded corner box (niftybox) and multiple columns (niftycolumn) for a block of text with only CSS - no extra images at all! The box is useful for displaying quotes, stylish rounded box and creating multiple columns in your content. e.g: { niftybox background=ivory,textcolor=maroon,float=right} This is a sample of nifty box {/niftybox }

Note: We've tested this with several layout templates and the NiftyColumn is known not to work with the default rhuk_solarflare_ii template that is shipped by default in Joomla. However, NiftyBox works fine in all cases.

Download: niftybox_1.03.zip

Demo: http://www.babygekko.com/niftybox-demo.html

VERSION History

New support forum

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 23:09:00 -0400

New support forum is opened. Please use this facility to ask questions, comments, etc about our web design, hosting, or open source software: http://www.babygekko.com/forum/

Going to Mambo 4.6.x

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 23:35:09 -0400

Greetings everyone,

We'd like to announce that as of August 2007, Baby Gekko will support Mambo 4.6.2 and above for its web design packages, website templates, extensions. There will be new extensions and templates, both commercial and free for Mambo. Further development of existing extensions for Joomla 1.0.12 will be supported until December 2007. We will also support existing clients whose sites were based on Joomla 1.0.x, and there will be a migration path to Mambo when it is necessary.

We will not support Joomla 1.5 is due to licensing complication and lack of commercial quality extensions for our clients. Long story short, Joomla core team developers asked 3rd party proprietary extensions developers to change their license to be GPL compatible because they believe that any Joomla 3rd-party extensions are considered as derivative work. Joomla core team believes that any simple calls to Joomla core API is also considered as a derivative work. Discussion attempts have been going on for over 3 months and no agreements have been reached:

http://forum.joomla.org/index.php/topic,163492.0.html

As an answer, Baby Gekko has joined JCD-A (Joint Commercial Developers Alliance). Our statement can be viewed here. You can view the list of other companies who signed it here. We believe that the co-existance of both proprietary/commercial and open-source extensions provide users more choices for their web need. For us, Joomla is no longer a suitable web design platform because of the lack of choices in terms of commercial quality extensions in future versions.

The good news is: Mambo 4.6.2 is available. We chose Mambo 4.6.2 because it is already a step ahead of Joomla 1.0.12 with better database backup, WYSIWYG editor, and internationalization support. Many existing Joomla components, both commercial and free, work without needing any modifications. Moreover, Mambo was the original product until Joomla project came separated itself from Mambo. We believe that Mambo will be getting more and more 3rd-party products - both commercial and open source, and thus provide the best tool for the job for users.

We assure our existing web design clients that we will support their existing clients. Users who use Joomla 1.0.12 do not need to upgrade.

Space Clearing launched

Thu, 21 Jun 2007 23:28:49 -0400

On June 20th, Baby Gekko web development team finalized the development of Space Clearing's website. Space Clearing website, operated by Karen Kingston, the author of international bestseller "Creating Sacred Space with Feng Shui" and "Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui", has over 350 content items, 3 e-commerce stores (USA, UK, Australia), a mailing list with over 10,000 subscribers. Visit the website: www.spaceclearing.com

How we solved the client's problem

Prior to having this new website, Karen has to update the website manually with Dreamweaver (on her own). The Space Clearing practitioners need to request Karen to update their profile, which then uploaded by FTP. The mailing list system was also manual, i.e: user who signs up must wait until Karen's staff download copy & pasted the e-mail address from Microsoft Access database on the server and do manual mailing with Outlook. Workshop booking was done manually as the e-commerce store doesn't have the capability to set expiry date automatically. The e-commerce store was also static HTML with manual button.

With this new Joomla and Zen Cart based website, it is much easier for the reader to navigate since all of the contents are automatically linked. Karen and the Space Clearing practitioners can work on updating the web content simultaneously without having to worry about overwriting each others' content. Her practitioners can also update their locations of availability on Google Map without having to go through Karen. The workshop booking is also fully automated. Mailing list subscription is also done automatically without having to be copy & pasted manually. The Zen Cart e-commerce store is also easier to maintain than the older one.

We were glad when we were told that just 2 days after the website went live, the website has received warm feedback from many people, including the Space Clearing practitioners.

Nifty Box v1.02STABLE released

Wed, 30 May 2007 12:26:21 -0400

Nifty Box v1.02 has been released. In case you didn't know what Nifty Box is: it is a lightweight, fast plugin (mambot) for Joomla Content Management System that displays rounded corner box and columns without any images or javascript - just pure CSS. Niftybox can also display equal height column. Nifty box is designed for Joomla web developers looking to make their content prettier without the bloat.

The turquoise box that you see below was created with Niftybox.

{niftybox background=paleturquoise, width=300px, float=right}

Please be sure to enable the plugin once it is installed. To do so, you need to do the following:

  1. Go to Joomla Administration panel
  2. click Mambots --> Site Plugins.
  3. Click Niftybox
  4. Set "Published" radio box to "Yes"

Click If you enjoy using this component, please take a 3-minute of your time to write a good review for us in Joomla Extensions Directory!

Nifty Box v1.02STABLE

Tue, 22 May 2007 08:00:00 -0400

Nifty Box v1.02 Mambot will be released next week (Tuesday, May 29, 2007). This will fix the line break bug when you are typing in Joomla WYSIWYG editor.

New website is up and running!

Tue, 22 May 2007 08:00:00 -0400

Our website has been revamped! We hope that it makes it easier for our users to browse {ln:faq 'Frequently Asked Questions}.

Link your website in our site!

Wed, 16 May 2007 12:43:47 -0400

We have incorporated a link-exchange directory in our site. If you'd like to be listed for FREE, you can submit your website link along with a reciprocal link to our site here: http://www.babygekko.net/links/index.html

B21 Concepts

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 12:20:03 -0400

We have just released the first version of B21 Concepts development! The web consists of static pages with Flash and Lightbox (Ajax) for image display. Despite its simple looks, we spent countless hours developing B21's site with Cinema4D R9 (older) and Flash.

How we made the Flash menu

Steps involved:

  1. Gerard (our client) took a shot of B21's floor at their office.
  2. I developed the whole animation in Cinema4D, using B21's floor picture for the texture of the stones.
  3. Once it's done, we exported the whole frames as PNG.
  4. Rinto (our web designer) did further optimization by cropping the stone pictures in Photoshop and animate it with tween animation in Flash.

Caveats

Visit the website here: www.b21concepts.com