Michel Hiemstra
hello! i’m michel hiemstra, 22 years old and currently working as a web developer and consultant where my main focus is PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, CSS, HTML and trying out the latest stuff.
Homepage: http://www.michelhiemstra.nl
Posts by Michel Hiemstra
My top Mac apps for web development
May 13th
I’ve seen many blogs from colleague web developers sharing their top 10 mac apps or something like that, I always find it interesting to read what applications they use. So here I am sharing my top applications I use daily for my work.
I am not putting the apps in a Top # order but in order how many times I use it, or the importance for the app to me.
Coda
Coda is in my eyes the holy grail of web development apps in the genre Text editors, but it’s so much more then just a text editor. Many people prefer Text Mate, I’ve tried that too, but once using coda u never go back. Hehe. Coda is lightweight and fast to use, It has build in Sites to save your sites obviously, very easy to use. And it has a build-in preview option, but I don’t use that, I prefer switching to Firefox. What I do use is the build in Books option, this lets you view for instance the PHP documentation, and you can easily search the books. For more information about all functionalities of coda like Sites, Preview, CSS, Terminal and Books visit their website.
Trying out Apple’s Magic Mouse
May 12th
I needed a small keyboard for my new HTPC, so I bought the new wireless keyboard from Apple. While I was at it.. I saw the Magic Mouse. I’ve had a mac since 5 years now, and mac accessories too, but I always had a ugly logitech mouse next to the keyboard. So now I’m trying out the new Magic Mouse. First impressions are good, it feels good in the hand and it responds better then I expected. The smooth scrolling is nice too, but sometimes when I’m reading an article I accidentally scroll down because my hand rests on the mouse. That’s annoying but need to learn to keep my hand still I guess 
Project #2: Building an HTPC with Snow Leopard 10.6 and XBMC
May 2nd
I had fun building the Xen server in my first project, since that one is completed it is time I start with project 2! Building an HTPC with Snow Leopard 10.6 and XBMC.
I’ve been using my Xbox 1 chipped with XBMC for over 4 years now, and it has served me some good times. But as the movie quality keeps improving, or increasing in size, the Xbox doesn’t have what it take’s anymore. For example, viewing a movie in 1080p quality is simply not possible. Mostly because the file format MKV is not supported, or weakly supported.
A friend of me was talking about his new HTPC running on Snow Leopard with XMBC and it got me thinking, running Snow Leopard om my TV sounds good to me anyway. And being able to finally view Full-HD movies on my TV (witch it has never done before) is something i really want, I’m done watching crappy DivX’s.
Of course it never comes cheap, for a reasonable priced hardware configuration you come somewhere near 400 – 450 euro’s. And if I want a nice casing that fits next to my amplifier it costs me even more. The same goes for ’sound reduced’ hardware. So I think I’m just going with the average hardware and put this in a basic casing, and hide it behind my couch Maybe put some sound reducing stuff in the casing to reduce the annoying fan noise.
- Edit, Turns out HTPC casings are not that expensive after all. Found one for 60 euro’s, Looks like it’s going to be next to my amplifier afterall 
Project #1: Installing and configuring Xen 3.0.3 on CentOS 5.4
Apr 28th
Hi there,
I don’t often write something to my blog, mostly because I can’t find the time or the subject to write about, or the subject I can disclose to the public that is ^^. Anyway, I want to bust two bugs in one slap. That is writing something that is helpful to anyone interested and also for an archive of my projects. Often I start a personal project, mostly it doesn’t get completed because i get pulled of due other projects that actually bring food on the table. But this time I’m approaching it from another direction. Making my projects public for anyone to read. This keeps me motivated to complete the project and hopefully get some nice feedback from it.
My first project I’m posting is installing Xen 3.0.3 on a fresh server. Recently I’ve sold my webhosting company because I did not have the time, nor the long-term motivation for it. I’ve sold the company including the servers. But I managed to keep one server for myself and friends. This server is going to be used in this project so that I and my friends can have their own Virtual Machine.
Note that this is entirely new for me, and I don’t have any experience on virtualization what so ever, if you can provide me with any helpful feedback it will be appreciated
For some reason I have chosen to use Xen, why I don’t know exactly, other then its open source and according to the manual very easy to setup. I did look into other possibilities but it seems Xen is the most complete, and free software for virtualization. Also build by some of the most experienced companies out there, that gives me a big boost in confidence on support, communities etc.
I will update this post frequently on the status of the installation, how I did it and a complete log of installation commands that worked for my server. So if this post intrigues you, bookmark it!
Project is finished. This website is now running on a Virtual Machine! More >
Project #0: iGoogle-like Drag & Drop Portal v2.0
Sep 14th
Because i am getting alot of visits for the js-portal i decided to fine-tune it a bit. So, in follow up of version 1 here’s version 2
Visit the demo for download, and please comment if you like it and use it, it’s kinda fun to see it in a working project.
Update: On request i added MySQL database support, the script now saves the blocks into DB and pulls them out
Update2: I get allot of good responses but also many feature requests, so i decided to ask you script users what you would like to see as a new feature in the script, and i will try build it all in. Please type a comment on what you would like to see build in
Making local development a little bit easier on Mac OS X Leopard
Aug 20th
I’ve configured a local DNS server that makes it a little bit easier to develop locally, because i always work with local domains like e.g. project.local.dev i always had to add them to my host file, and that’s very annoying. I stumbled upon the little app DNS Enabler and it saves me allot of trouble installing a local DNS server, and it saves me allot of time! It costs 15 dollar but worth every penny. Whenever i add something in my addressbar, like blabla.local.dev it automatticly goes to a local folder on /data/www/blabla. This is how i did it:
What makes you a better webdeveloper: problem solving
Aug 19th
With multiple browsers, platforms, etc, problem solving is a must for any web developer.
Your footer that bitches about how your site doesn’t work in IE6 and you don’t care, tells me that you don’t know enough about your profession to make it work in IE6. Don’t whine that your code doesn’t work, figure out a way to make it work. There is more than one way to mark up a page.
No one wants to hire a whiner, they don’t even want to know there was a problem. It’s your job to find it and fix it as if it didn’t even exist. If you can do that, you will surely go far.
By http://noahstokes.com
Installing Apache, PHP (with xdebug) and MySQL on Mac OS X Leopard
Aug 19th
Actually, this is very easy to do, since Apache and PHP are already installed we only have to enable PHP, install MySQL and install xdebug.
Some people like to install other software like MAMP or XAMPP but i like to do it without installing other software other than Mac OS X shipped with, well of course we need to install some things but no all-in-one packages.
HowTo: Installing Subversion and Trac on CentOS 4
Aug 13th
I installed Subversion on a CentOS box with Trac, and although there are many, many howto’s on the web none of them seemed to work for my configuration. This is what i did, and worked for me on CentOS 4.
Create gestures with your mouse with JavaScript
Jun 16th
A friend send me this link on a script that allows you to create your own gestures, and use them to provoke an action, its pretty cool made; only downside is that its based upon mootools You should check it out
