Sometimes having a discount web hosting company at your side is a great thing. Other times, it can just be a nightmare, especially for those little tweaks like pretty permalinks. For those of you who don’t know what “pretty permalinks” are, the simplest way to describe them is to show you a comparison:

Not so Pretty: http://www.timdietrich.net/?p=1234
VS
Pretty: http://www.timdietrich.net/wordpress-IIS6Play-Nice

As you can see, the pretty links are much easier to read, are more search engine friendly, and less confusing to users who are looking at your pages.

This is where your hosting service comes in.  My web host is IXWebhosting, which offers either Windows or Linux hosting, but not both at the same time. Now, for most people, I’m sure this doesn’t cause any issues, as most people develop web projects on either platform, and not often on both, as I do.  I am a Microsoft developer by trade and training, and love to use C# with Silverlight to develop websites for my customers. That being said, quite a few customers have asked that I give them WordPress based websites, as they are already familiar with the interface. You may also have guessed that this site is powered by WordPress® (those paying attention have also noticed that the link to this post using pretty permalinks!).

Being a Microsoft web developer means that I need a Windows™-based host to run my .NET web applications. IXWebhosting uses IIS6, which does not play well with pretty permalinks in WordPress – in fact, unless you have access to the server to install a filter, you are out of luck for the most part.

Enter this little tip – running IIS6 with PHP installed, while using pretty permalinks in WordPress:

more…

I can’t begin to tell you all of the fabulous features that the latest release of Silverlight has. From the Silverlight website:
Out of Browser

Network Status (Offline)
Pixel Shader Effects
Bitmap API
Theming at runtime
Enhanced Control Skinning
Accessibility – System Colors
Bitmap caching
Perspective 3D
GPU Hardware Acceleration (for video and bitmaps)
Text Animation
H.264 Support
Raw A/V Support
File Save Dialog
DockPanel, WrapPanel, Viewbox
Local Fonts
Element to Element Binding
Local Connection
Binary XML
Component Caching (share resources across apps)
Scene caches (to Bitmap)

I hope tobe able to preview these items, and report back to you soon.  I am just waiting for my MSDNAA subscription to have the download for Microsoft Expression Studio 3, and I will be all set!

I just added the “Sociable” plugin to my website.  I wanted to see how integrating social networking into my blog posts would affect my visibility on the web.  I plan to post an update after some time using the plugin, and discuss the results.

Stay tuned for updates!

I just posted a new download available for all who have been having trouble finding a way to get their Silverlight applications to resize and center dynamically, while still maintaining their aspect ratio. I have been having the same issue for quite a while now, and although there are many different solutions available online, there wasn’t one that did exactly what I wanted it to do, so I went ahead and coded a solution for myself.

I figured that it could be of assistance to other coders out there, so I have made it available for download.

I hope to post some more details about what it accomplished, and maybe a tutorial to go along with it, but it will take some time, and I am extremely busy at the moment. Please feel free to leave any comments you may have, along with any suggestions which may make it better. I am always looking for a way to make things more efficient.

Hope you find it helpful, and happy coding!

-Tim

So, I went to pick up the business cards from the printer, and I have to say, I think that they turned out amazingly well.  I couldn’t be happier with the finished product, and over the weekend, I gave away half of them.  It’s amazing how fast they go.

Here is the finished product, and please let me know what you think:

The print shop could not have been more supportive and quick in printing this card for me.  It took all of THREE hours to get it proofed and printed.  Now, I may have just gotten lucky, but I really feel that the small-town touch goes a long way these days. So, if you need printing done fast and inexpensive, I strongly suggest giving Spence Print Solutions a call.