Archive for DM Products
June 29, 2009 · Filed under Cycling, DM Products
I have started a new cycling blog called Velominati – keepers of the cog! The goal of the blog is as-yet not clearly defined, but it will be cycling-specific and I 
will do most of my cycling posts over on Velominati from now on, so make sure to add it to your news aggregator. (For now, all I”ve done is copy all my cycling-related posts to velominati.com, but new stuff will be posted soon.)
The reason I started the blog is partly because I love writing about cycling, but I am also hoping to find other people who enjoy it and want to contribute as well. Topics could cover local racing, pro racing, Pacific Northwest cycling routes, technique, bicycle maintenance, gear reviews, or something cool I haven’t thought of. So, I am inviting anyone who enjoys cycling and writing to become a contributor and help make the voice of this new blog. Contact contribute@velominati.com add tell us why you would like to contribute!
January 10, 2008 · Filed under DM Products
Since officially releasing the DM Albums™ plug-in for WordPress at the beginning of December, I have been amazed at the response from users. Perhaps most shocking is
that it appears that people actually are using the plug-in and had been looking for something similar. Between direct downloads from the main DutchMonkey Productions site and the downloads through WordPress directly, there have been almost 3000 downloads in just over a month.
I firmly believe that the best way to improve a product in a meaningful way is through feedback from the user community so I openly invite users to contact me with problems or suggestions. One of the most rewarding experiences of my career in software development has been working with the users who have contacted me. It’s only natural that most people contact me with problems (who in their right mind drops someone a note to say they’re happy?), but their eagerness to work together with me to solve their problems and to make suggestions has been wonderful.
DM Albums™ has been particularly well-received by photographers and artists because it seems to be one of the only blogging tools that provides an easy way to display high-quality images in-line with the post. Visiting their sites and seeing how they’ve chosen to use and configure the plug-in has been another of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had in this field.
I don’t really have a point other than to say that the open-source community is great, and it’s no wonder that some of the best software available is open-source. The downside of these types of projects is that there seems to be little or no opportunity to actually make any money with this – not because I want to get rich, but because it is so rewarding that it would be great to do it full-time.
I feel like the Underpants Gnomes in South Park:
Step 1: Build DutchMonkey Products
Step 2: ???
Step 3: PROFIT!
September 7, 2007 · Filed under DM Products, Technology
Well, it’s officially ready for public beta testing. I finished the DM Albums™ Plugin for WordPress, which is an embedd
ed version of my online photo album tool called DM PhotoAlbums™. (DM PhotoAlbums™, along with my online file management system called DM FileManager™, will be ready for public beta testing in a few months’ time as well.)
I have been diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder, and while it’s not like Jack Nicholson in As Good as it Gets, it is bad enough that when I get something stuck in my head it’s curtains until I finish it. In fact, Michelle experienced this while I have been working on this post:
Michelle: “Hey, Frank. You want a beer?”
Frank: *glare*
Honestly, who glares at their partner when being offered a beer? I need medication. But the beer will cover it for now. Vicious cycle.
Back to the point, I have no Earthly reason to build this plugin other than that it bothered me that I had links to photo albums in my posts which, if my readers are anything like me, don’t get clicked on. But I definitely want people to see the photos so having the photos in-line is the solution. And, because I’m I’m in the software development business, I am not about to use a service like Flikr for managing my photos. I want things the way I want them, not the way a service dictates I should want them. That feels very “Microsoft” to me.
The more detail-oriented (and dorkier) readers among you may have noticed that I’ve silently been testing my plugin in my blog. Instead of seeing the links to my photo albums (Photo Album: {link}), the photo albums are shown embedded in-line in the post, like this:
You can view a live demo and download the plugin on the plugin’s home page at http://dutchmonkey.com/wp-plugins/dm-albums/.
Nerd Alert: The rest of this post (after the jump) will not include any more English, and will consist entirely of GeekSpeak. But read on, it’s good for you.
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