Tools We Use

Open Source Software

What is open source software?

From open source comes this definition: "The basic idea behind open source is very simple: When programmers can read, redistribute, and modify the source code for a piece of software, the software evolves. People improve it, people adapt it, people fix bugs. And this can happen at a speed that, if one is used to the slow pace of conventional software development, seems astonishing."

We like open source software a lot. We can find an existing package available to do just about anything a customer may desire. And for smaller applications, we will develop from scratch using only open source software. You may read much more about it at Wikipedia. Both of the next two tools are open source software.

If you need a complex system for your Web site, you may find an "off the shelf" system costing hundreds or thousands of dollars, and still need to pay someone to install and configure it for your needs. Then, you'll pay annual maintenance or license fees. And if something doesn't work the way you'd like it to, tough! Make a feature request, and in a couple of years, if enough other users want the same feature, the software company may perhaps add it, but not necessarily the way you had hoped, and you'd best not hold your breath waiting for it.

Sometimes, what comes off the shelf is all you need, or is what you must have for regulatory or other reasons. That's fine. And EON Webware is here to help you with it. But for more unusual needs, or for those with an open mind to taking a different path, or with a small budget, or with simple goals like basic e-commerce, or a user forum, you don't need to spend thousands of dollars. An open source program may already exist to do just what you'd like. Some will require quite a few hours of customization, some will not. It all depends on your needs. But if you want a change, EON Webware can do it.

Among the types of applications we've researched, installed, configured, adapted and customized are:

PHP (scripting language)

Our favorite tool, PHP "...is a widely-used general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for Web development and can be embedded into HTML." Currently used by over 19 million domains, it is ideally suited for rapid Web application development. Some amazing and wonderful software packages are available — already built and running on hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands of sites worldwide.

MySQL (database)

MySQL, "The World's Most Popular Open Source Database," is used extensively in Web development. It doesn't matter if your database will be small or huge, MySQL can handle it. Almost any application built with PHP is designed to work with a MySQL database, though many are capable of connecting to several others as well.

Perl (scripting language)

Perl is "a stable, cross platform programming language. It is used for mission critical projects in the public and private sectors and is widely used to program web applications of all needs." We've done a fair amount of work in Perl, but it is not our specialty. For beginning a complex application, we would choose PHP. If you'd like an existing application updated or enhanced, we can do that. For a larger project, we'd likely work with another developer.

Conventional Software

EON Webware is experienced with several common "brand name" applications (the ultimate in NON-Open Source software).

Microsoft Access (database)

We've been developing Access applications since 1998. Before that, we learned about databases with an early version of FileMaker Pro. Access is popular because it comes packaged with Microsoft Office Professional and has fairly handy tools to allow non-programmers to set up and use a database. Access can be used as a desktop application, can be shared among a small number of users, or can reside on an IIS Web host to feed data for an ASP-based Web site (see below). It cannot handle heavy user loads.

SQL Server (database)

SQL Server is Microsoft's database. Generally, in a shared environment it is preferable to have your data in SQL Server rather than Access, even if it is manipulated via an Access or Visual Basic application. EON Webware has been developing SQL Server applications for almost as long as Access. SQL Server costs a rather large sum of money.

Oracle (database)

The other major database used on Web sites is Oracle. EON Webware has experience developing with version 8i. Oracle has some wonderful features, but its high cost means few companies can afford it.

Active Server Pages (ASP)

"Active Server Pages or ASP, as it is more commonly known, is a technology that enables you to make dynamic and interactive web pages.

"ASP uses server-side scripting to dynamically produce web pages...

"The default scripting language used for writing ASP is VBScript, although you can use other scripting languages like JScript (Microsoft's version of JavaScript)."

Web Wiz Guide

EON Webware has created a lot of ASP pages over the years, using VBScript. While no particular application is needed to develop in ASP, to serve up an ASP Web site, IIS necessary on the hosting end. And neither is "open source."

We've developed a trip search program using ASP as well as an Adult Education course maintenance application.

Photoshop

We have extensive, long experience with Photoshop for image editing, batch processing of images, mockups of Web sites, simple animations, and — back when graphical buttons were popular on the web — for creation of roll-over effects.

Before specializing in Web and application development, we spent many years in graphic design, catalog layout, and pre-press for printing and advertising companies as well as direct marketing.

Freehand

From Macromedia, the top competitor to Adobe Illustrator for "vector graphics" is Freehand. We've used both for years, but currently are running only Freehand. There is limited use for it in Web design, but for print graphics, banners... quite handy.

HomeSite

Also from Macromedia, HomeSite is our production workhorse. It is a text editor with syntax formatting. Useful for PHP, VBScript, Javascript, and of course HTML and CSS. It also has project management tools that are stunningly handy, such as multi-document regular expression search-and-replace. Now that HomeSite is no longer being sold, we'll either have to stick with it forever or move along to a new product. So far, none can compare.

We do all Web coding in HomeSite. We code by hand, right here in beautiful Maine. We do not out-source. We code to current Web standards and therefore make extensive use of Cascading Style Sheets.

Programming Languages

Besides PHP, mentioned above, we are experts with HTML, CSS, and Javascript. We know the tags and commands and how to write code that adheres to current standards.

Visual Basic

Visual Basic is a programming language from Microsoft. We have developed a variety of Visual Basic projects and use VB extensively within Access applications. We can export your Access report to a formatted Excel template, or program the content of an email to be sent.

Tools We Do Not Use...