Pixic.se progress > Purpose


Dynamic site

Some years ago (around 2000), I had the domain www.pixic.com but when I was going to move it from www.godaddy.com to another host, GoDaddy claimed that I had to wait until the contract expired and then move it to the new host. To make the story short, suddenly Pixic.com was owned by someone else and I couldn't use it anymore.
When I checked the site, it was just up for sale and no real content. It was priced $60k.
I check it every now and then, and some years ago it actually had some content, which looked like a Camera store and now (February 3, 2014), it is still up for sale, but potential buyers can make an offer.

I registered Evoliq.com instead, since I was thinking about starting my own company with the name EvolIQ (like Smart Evolution). Since I wouldn't start it up in a while, I used it as my personal website and built it in plain HTML, CSS and I also made some simple JavaScript to randomize banner links.

Since a long time back I wanted to learn Server Side programming and when I started to read Database Course in Computer Engineering (Bachelor program at Chalmers University of Technology in Göteborg/Gothenburg, Sweden), I felt it was time for me to start up a new dynamic site.

Learn more programming

As you have read under heading Dynamic site, I wanted to learn Server Side programming and as my web hotel supported PHP and also has been one of the favourite web programming languages of my brother, I thought it was a good language to start with.

I started very simple by learning the basics of PHP and MySQL, just to create some data tables in MySQL, connect to the database through PHP and echo it out on a web page. Then I wanted to have a Login functionality and followed a very easy one, without encryption, and got it to work. Since it wasn't secure, I learned PDO (PHP Data Objects) and how to crypt passwords and secure login.

Since then, I have also implemented some other existing "plugins", such as

and also written some PHP functions, JavaScripts to manage data to fit data requirements of the above.

Showcase

Another purpose is of course to have something to show companies that I actually can do things, i.e. not only written on my CV. I want to show that I can implement existing plugins/APIs as well as build my own.
An example of building my own is the Pixic.se Backlog.

Currently (February 3, 2014) I have one page where you can see my backlog sorted by In Progress, Backlog and Published and then I have another page which is still in development. The new page (which will supersede the old one), will have a filter function, where you can filter out entries on

  • Free text - from an entered string
  • Date span - to limit filter between two dates
  • Status - matching status of "Backlog" OR "In progress" OR "Published"
  • Phases - matching development phase dates to date span
After a selection of filters and the magnifying glass button is clicked, a table of matching rows will be displayed. A preview of the new Backlog page can be viewed here.

Tracking my...

Around half a year before I started development of Pixic.se, I started to track my own weight since I needed to lose some weight. Therefore another purpose of the site was to visualize my progress.

Since then I have also been worked out some and have tracked it using Endomondo, but I still want to have my own tracking and be able to join information regarding my weight with work out. Therefore I will further develop the database with tables and set up some nice visualization for it as well.


Updated: February 3, 2014