http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/rss.xml A blog by Digital Butter en Copyright 2010 by Digital Butter. All Rights Reserved. 120 http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2012/march/calling-more-captions-smwhk-2012.html Digital Butter recently built a funny-caption-competition app for Animals Asia. Go here to enter and, besides supporting a worthy cause, you'll stand the chance of winning a t-shirt or cute stuffed bear. :D The app was built during Social Media Week (which ran until February 17) by James and Jude, as they attempted to recreate the hacking/ drinking-game scene in The Social Network. With Jo having done the design groundwork before the event, our dynamic duo set out to get Animals Asia's app do Fri, 02 Mar 2012 08:00:00 +0800 http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2012/march/calling-more-captions-smwhk-2012.html http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2011/november/butter-presents:-complicated-scientific-stuff.html Butter is proud to announce the publication of our first scientific paper. Called "Mining Parallel Documents Using Low Bandwidth and High Precision CLIR from the Heterogeneous Web", this article deals with matters that interest nobody but the authors and was featured at the 5th International Joint Conference on Natural Language Processing! It's a 10 hands job, signed notably by Dr. P, our new French addition to the Digital Butter team. He brings smelly cheese to our fridge, megatron-like Mon, 14 Nov 2011 08:00:00 +0800 http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2011/november/butter-presents:-complicated-scientific-stuff.html http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2011/august/seo-in-modx-revolution.html In this post, we're going to take a look at five on-page SEO factors and how to make the most of them with MODx Revolution. Because MODx allows us complete control over our templates, markup, URLs, and allows us to create template variables to our hearts desire, it is perfect for creating optimized websites. I'm not going to focus too much on the purpose or content of each factor, as there are many other resources written by people far more knowledgeable than myself, but rather how to quickly an Mon, 22 Aug 2011 19:17:04 +0800 http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2011/august/seo-in-modx-revolution.html SEO, MODx, Revolution http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2011/august/modext-extjs-series.html We're pretty big fans of Sencha ExtJS here at Digital Butter - that said, almost everyone here aged a couple of years going through the brutal learning curve that comes with such a powerful framework, and like many others we considered joining this group at one time or other. Getting over that initial learning curve starts to feel great when you can build out full rich UI's for managing epic amounts of data in hours and minutes rather than days and weeks. So we decided we would start a tutori Tue, 02 Aug 2011 19:47:00 +0800 http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2011/august/modext-extjs-series.html ExtJS, MODx Revolution, MODExt http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2011/may/cooking-up-some-fresh-node-recipes-with-chef.html http://bit.ly/kzPa3r Wed, 18 May 2011 11:23:00 +0800 http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2011/may/cooking-up-some-fresh-node-recipes-with-chef.html TikiBooth, Nodejs, Chef http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2011/april/3-simple-tricks-to-get-a-video-viral.html It is a common misconception that all video's with 100,000 view or more were simply ‘found’ by the correct people, then, based on the quality of their content – went viral. More likely, these videos were tagged with popular words not relating to the video at all – the people that posted it were the ones commenting – and industry movers and shakers were paid to push it - but most people do not know the dark side of viral. Digital Butter Vancouver and Digital Butter Hong Kong have come t Thu, 14 Apr 2011 08:00:00 +0800 http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2011/april/3-simple-tricks-to-get-a-video-viral.html http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2011/april/nock-nock-is-coming-soon!.html Nock Nock.Who's there? Exactly. Nock Nock lets you 'peek' into your favorite bars and clubs and see who's there RIGHT NOW.  Just choose a neighborhood and you'll instantantly see the busiest places, along with who's there.  Now you can "see" the crowd in real time - how cool is that! You'll need to login to Foursquare to use Nock Nock.  Just use your existing account, or create a new account if you dont have one -- it only takes a minute. At the moment Nock Nock works in New York and San F Fri, 08 Apr 2011 16:33:23 +0800 http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2011/april/nock-nock-is-coming-soon!.html http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2011/march/hello-vancouver.html ‘Like’ us VANCOUVER! Digital Butter has brought their talents to the beautiful city of Vancouver! If you have questions about developing a brand, initiating a digital presence, establishing e-commerce for your business, leveraging social media, creating mobile purposed websites or producing online software - we are here to help. Email: info@digitalbutter.ca We have worked with some of the largest companies around the world including Jardine Matheson Group (Fortune 500), luxury bran Thu, 31 Mar 2011 06:03:32 +0800 http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2011/march/hello-vancouver.html Vancouver, Khan, Education, Technology http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2011/march/education-and-technology-is-this-a-definite-future.html At Butter, we are heavilydevoted to being a leading and knowledgeable company with respect to the online applications of web tools in any given industry. Whether they be design trends, best practices in development and programming, new features and functionalities for websites or software development - we strive to stay ahead. Technology continues to take significant strides and we rely on it more and more in our everyday lives.  Although we continue to integrate technology with our soci Wed, 30 Mar 2011 11:52:00 +0800 http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2011/march/education-and-technology-is-this-a-definite-future.html Vancouver, Khan, Education, Technology http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2011/march/diary-of-a-nodeler-code-reuse-in-node-and-the-browser-(1/n).html Inheritance in JavaScript is kind of a touchy subject since it is one of those JavaScript things where it feels like whoever designed the language couldn't really decide how it should have been done (prototypal or classical) and everyone else can't decide what the best practice for it is. This is also compounded by the fact that JavaScript is such a flexible language that if you really wanted to, you could implement a way of re-using code differently in every single project that you Wed, 16 Mar 2011 08:00:00 +0800 http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2011/march/diary-of-a-nodeler-code-reuse-in-node-and-the-browser-(1/n).html TikiBooth, Nodejs http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2011/february/modx-file-elements-mirror.html Most of you out there working in teams are most probably using a version control system of some sort to manage your files in projects. Once you get used to the workflow and peace of mind it brings - that every change is marked, commented and reversible, it's pretty hard to not like it. This brings us to the long discussed topic of how MODx stores its snippets, chunks and templates (amongst other things) in the database (see http://modxcms.com/forums/index.php?topic=54902.0). At butter, we've d Tue, 01 Feb 2011 08:00:00 +0800 http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2011/february/modx-file-elements-mirror.html MODx Addon, FEM http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2011/january/the-digital-butter-modx-revolution-code-jam:-introducing-upfront-editor.html A month ago we dreamed up an idea to build out a front end editor for MODx Revolution to make ours (and our clients') lives easier when managing their MODx sites. Regular updates to be posted on Saturday 8th January, 2011 here. Update @ 12:05AM 08/01/2011: Excited for the Jam tomorrow! Update @ 09:00:  As Billy Joel sang: 9 o'clock on a Saturday, the regular crowd shuffles in...  Beautiful sunny morning here in Hong Kong to accompany our hot coffees and some good tunes.  Time to stretch Sat, 08 Jan 2011 00:08:00 +0800 http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2011/january/the-digital-butter-modx-revolution-code-jam:-introducing-upfront-editor.html upfront, modx, modx revolution, codejam http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/december/using-sammy.js-with-modx-revolution.html For a recent project that we will announce and provide further blogging insights upon, we were presented with a particularly tought challenge. We had to build an ecommerce site where purchasing a product is a significant workflow for a user. This site is about purchasing custom tailored suits - it allows users to completely customise their suit; the fabric, number of buttons, type of pocket and so on. This does not lend itself to a simple checkout process, and having mind-mapped and wireframed o Mon, 20 Dec 2010 18:50:00 +0800 http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/december/using-sammy.js-with-modx-revolution.html Sammy.js, MODx Revolution http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/december/client-management-what-do-you-do-with-difficult-clients.html At what point does our integrity fold over? How far does a company bend for a client in the name of a stronger portfolio? Are concessions provided to all with an unlimited supply of ‘condiments’? These are examples of questions many web development companies, like ours, ask themselves on a daily basis. When a client asks for his website to ‘pop’ and when we don’t produce exactly what ‘pop’ means in the eyes of that ‘client’ because of that vague, poorly articulated, direction, Thu, 16 Dec 2010 19:00:00 +0800 http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/december/client-management-what-do-you-do-with-difficult-clients.html http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/december/code-jam:-part-i-front-end-resource-editer-for-modx-revolution.html A couple of years ago in a previous job I had gathered a little momentum in my team for a code jam - the idea being that a few intense hours of collaboration on an otherwise ignored idea could be the springboard for a fun project. In the end it never happened, getting people together for a code jam on their own time isn't the simplest thing. As anyone in the web development industry knows, client projects always find a way to take precendence above unproven internal projects. I put the idea asid Mon, 13 Dec 2010 08:00:00 +0800 http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/december/code-jam:-part-i-front-end-resource-editer-for-modx-revolution.html MODx, MODx Revolution, CodeJam http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/december/12-reasons-why-butter-is-better.html Our employees were born on a computer that was designed, programmed and sold by our own hands. We had a programming competition with superman. The loser had to wear their underwear on the outside. Our design team also work as consultants. You may have heard a few of their clients: Da Vinci, Gaudi etc… We have a core belief of  “being porno.”  Side note “Knock Knock.” “Who’s there?” …….(very long pause)…. Flash.  When life gives us lemons, we create a spiritually upliftin Thu, 09 Dec 2010 17:34:00 +0800 http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/december/12-reasons-why-butter-is-better.html http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/november/david-siegel-pull-at-web-3.0-asia-conference-in-cyberport,-hong-kong.html Just had the opportunity to listen to David Siegel's keynote speech - which to say the least was very enlightening and thought provoking.  David started his presentation by acknowledging that Web 3.0 is an evolution of the way in which we perceive and utilize the web.  He asked how can the web solve fundamental problems in business considering that we spend 53% of our time searching for the "right" kind of information - roughly half the time spent researching is spent on filtering information Tue, 16 Nov 2010 12:33:00 +0800 http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/november/david-siegel-pull-at-web-3.0-asia-conference-in-cyberport,-hong-kong.html http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/october/make-me-a-sandwich.html You may be familiar with xkcd's comic #149, and the ensuing tee-shirt. This has been a bit of a running joke in the Butter office, often coming up when teaching someone the basics of linux commands. As it's one of our developer/project manager's, Eve's, last day today, I decided to put together a little parting gift in the form of a bash script. For anyone that's interested here's the code: #!/bin/bash if [ "$UID" -ne 0 ]; then echo "make your own damn sandwich."; exit $E_NOT_ROOT; el Fri, 29 Oct 2010 14:55:05 +0800 http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/october/make-me-a-sandwich.html bash http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/october/joss-crowcofts-jquery-appmenu.html One of the most interesting people we've come across so far during our developer hunt is the extremely talented developer Joss Crowcoft. Joss was passing through Hong Kong last week, and we were lucky enough to meet up with him for lunch. After lunch, Joss demonstrated his upcoming jQuery plugin - jQuery AppMenu and I'm happy to tell you that he has since released it. The plugin creates an Apple flavoured alt+tab menu for websites. Although it currently doesn't work on Windows (due to keyboard c Wed, 13 Oct 2010 14:51:04 +0800 http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/october/joss-crowcofts-jquery-appmenu.html jQuery, jQuery AppMenu http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/october/north-american-steak-pt-iii.html I'm in Solvang getting very drunk - and of course, along the way punishing more steak. This is what North America is for right? Wed, 13 Oct 2010 14:20:00 +0800 http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/october/north-american-steak-pt-iii.html Steak, ThisIsWhyWe'reFat http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/sept/were-hiring!.html We're hiring! Looking for a developer in Hong Kong who can find our easter egg. Watch out for the rickroll... Wed, 22 Sep 2010 22:02:48 +0800 http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/sept/were-hiring!.html butter http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/sept/happy-mid-autumn-festival!.html Wed, 22 Sep 2010 21:03:55 +0800 http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/sept/happy-mid-autumn-festival!.html butter http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/sept/womguide-macau-launch-party.html We recently launched http://macau.womguide.com, the first bilingual site by WOMguide (word of mouth guide). The guys at WOM put on a good launch party so we didn't turn down our invitation. Jude was lucky enough to be serenaded by the cheeky guitarist, he doesn't look at all uncomfortable. WOMGuide Macau Launch Party from Digital Butter on Vimeo.WOMGuide had a launch party for their Macau site (http://macau.womguide.com) last night (09/09/2010). Beer, pork buns, egg tarts and a questionable Fri, 10 Sep 2010 08:00:00 +0800 http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/sept/womguide-macau-launch-party.html WOMguide, Macau, ThisIsWhyWe'reFat http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/sept/butter-office-inspiration.html Having been talking about how we could maximize our office's space recently, here is a site that I found inspiring: http://wherewedesign.com And some good examples that I picked: Raw Design Studio SelgasCano Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:33:00 +0800 http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/sept/butter-office-inspiration.html inspiration, design, butter http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/08/internationalization-in-modx-revolution.html As our company is based in Hong Kong, our clients often require a multi-lingual site. Luckily for us, the MODx team have given us the perfect tools for internationalization, or i18n, in MODx Revolution. In this tutorial I'll show you how we handle i18n, making use of contexts and lexicons. There is two parts to achieving this. First, we create a context for each language, and set up a plugin to handle the request and load the appropriate context. Then, we'll use lexicons to handle any text in ou Wed, 25 Aug 2010 17:59:00 +0800 http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/08/internationalization-in-modx-revolution.html MODx, MODx Revolution, MultiLingual http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/08/friday-night-pigout-session.html I should feel guilty about showing this massive pigout Jude and I had a couple of weeks back, yet somehow I don't... Fri, 20 Aug 2010 18:41:00 +0800 http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/08/friday-night-pigout-session.html ThisIsWhyWe'reFat http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/08/douglas-young-startupsaturday.html Douglas Young inspired everyone in the room with his version of how G.O.D has gotten to where it is now. Fri, 20 Aug 2010 18:00:00 +0800 http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/08/douglas-young-startupsaturday.html SUS2010, Hong Kong http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/08/a-custom-tv-in-evo.html A few months back I created a custom TV renderer for Evo that I thought was super cool, until I saw some of the things extJs will allow you to do in Revo and then forgot about it... Still, I came back to a project I used it on and where I used the CMS as an editor (rather than developer) and really appreciated this TV so I thought I would show it and see if anyone had any ideas how this might be best employed in Revo. It works off a very similar structure to Jeff Whitfields plugin for EvoGalle Sun, 01 Aug 2010 08:00:00 +0800 http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/08/a-custom-tv-in-evo.html MODx, MODx Evolution http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/07/postmark-app-modx.html We’ve got a few projects on right now where email delivery is really important (ecommerce order confirmation etc). Postmark seems to check all the boxes for features, pricing is fair, and they have a nice API for us to be able to integrate it into our own ‘app’. I’m about 25% through these basic ‘wireframes’ for the email control panel we’re intending to use in multiple MODx Revolution projects. The panel will be a third party component (3PC), initially Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:02:00 +0800 http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/07/postmark-app-modx.html MODx, MODx Revolution http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/07/proof-that-using-extjs-for-the-modx-manager-was-a-great-decision.html I think this is an example where we’re *really* starting to see now the power of the new MODx manager together with extJs. I can’t wait to see what else people start to come up with as more start learning MODext. zaigham: RT @splittingred: Updated Gallery 1.0 for #modx #revo - now adds custom TV with resizing/rotating/crop/more : http://bit.ly/8ZyHWD Some vids of this in action: http://assets.modxcms.com/videos/gallery-crop2.movhttp://assets.modxcms.com/videos/gal-resi Sat, 24 Jul 2010 08:00:00 +0800 http://www.butter.com.hk/blog/posts/2010/07/proof-that-using-extjs-for-the-modx-manager-was-a-great-decision.html MODx, MODx Revolution