Archives For framework

When I compose a newsletter, I look at my well of possible materials–questions, links, blog posts, etc., and try to come up with a theme, if at all possible. When looking at these this time around, the ones that seemed most worth sharing immediately all focus on, well, me. For example, there’s the presentation I gave to Boston PHP: you can view the slides and the raw video of it. Or there are some articles that I’ve published online that you might like. And there’s the status on “The Yii Book”.

So this newsletter is far more me-centric than most, but hopefully it’ll be of use to you still. Because, presumably, you subscribed to this newsletter in the first place because you were interested in what I’m doing, thinking, interested in, and so forth.

Also, if you do have something you’d like me to write about, address, or answer in future newsletters, now is a good time to send that in, as my well of topics is getting shallow. I think my next newsletter is going to be on goals, if you have any thoughts or questions along those lines (e.g., technologies to learn, ways to learn, etc.). I’ve also got an upcoming newsletter planned on public speaking.

And, as always, thanks for your interest in what I have to say and do!

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I haven’t written much about my book on the Yii framework on this blog in a while, so it’s high time for an update. As you may know, as of October 30, 2012, I began selling a self-published book titled, simply enough, “The Yii Book”. I’m selling the book in electronic formats—ePub, mobi, and PDF—to begin, and I’m selling it as I write it. I’ve been wanting to write a book about this excellent framework for some time, and thought such a book would be a good candidate for self-publishing, which I feel is an interesting little experiment.

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A reader of my “Effortless E-commerce with PHP and MySQL” book took the time to recreate the first example in the book, called “Knowledge is Power”, using frameworks.

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I am very happy to say that, after much delay, “The Yii Book: Developing Web Applications Using the Yii PHP Framework”, is now available for sale. The book has its own home at yii.larryullman.com.

Everything you need to know should be on those pages, but the most important information is probably:

  • The book is currently in version 0.2, which includes the Introduction and Part 1 (four chapters)
  • The book is available in PDF, epub, and mobi formats.
  • You can pay using Mastercard, Visa, American Express, Discover, JCB, and Diners Club. (I’ll try to get PayPal integrated soon.)
  • I’m going to be continuing to write the book from now until it’s complete, probably in February 2013. I’ll be publishing updates every 2-3 chapters or so. This is my main priority, and with most of the logistics worked out, progress should go faster.
  • Whenever you buy the book, you’ll continue to be able to get free updates as they are released, including a revision for Yii version 2.
  • The minimum price is $20.00, but you can pay anything you want more than that.

I had a “soft opening” yesterday in order to catch bugs (and I did; lousy bugs). I’m happy to say that 23 orders came since yesterday afternoon, averaging $35.39! My thanks to everyone for their interest in the book and to those that have already ordered.

The question I pose to you is: how much should I charge for the book? There will be a minimum charge (i.e., you cannot pay less than X), but the system will be set to allow readers to pay whatever they want above that. For example, one person has already offered to pay $50 (seriously). And she is the most awesome person in the world. But I’m not going to charge $50. From my perspective, the book is a ton of work, and I have no guarantees of income (especially compared with going the traditional publication route), but I don’t want to gouge readers, either.

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