Hey all—just a quick check-in from our temporary digs in Austin - where I’ll be attending the SXSW event and my family will be doing some sight-seeing in the area.  We arrived this afternoon after a 4 day visit with my parents in South Texas.

I’m not exactly sure what specific things I’ll be doing at SXSW - but will definitely be taking part in all of the EllisLab events - so if you’re also going to be here make sure to stop by and say hey.

Now it’s time for a quick cat-nap and then out to restock up on some supplies.

I’m pleased to announce the newest offering on Train-ee.com - and that is a just-shy-of-one-hour screencast called Designing an ExpressionEngine Architecture.

You can read the full description on Train-ee.com, but the main goal of the screencast is that it gets you over that panic-attack moment of looking at a finished site comp, and now wondering just how the heck do I configure ExpressionEngine to power this site?

I felt this was an important one to get out there, as through my consulting work I’ve seen a number of EE sites that have foundational issues.  And—just like trying to build nice straight and level walls on a crooked and irregular home foundation is tough, so it is with EE.  The trouble is when you’re new to EE it’s just so easy to make poor choices that come back to bite you later—so hence this screencast with some recommendations for a solid ExpressionEngine Architecture.

Just a quick heads-up for the ExpressionEngine users coming to Boyink.com. 

I’ve been getting a few more than normal spam comments the last couple of days.  I noted in my search logs that they are coming in with referrer phrases like

community “Remember my personal information” “Notify me of follow-up comments.”

then hand-entering comments for the sole purpose of linking to their site.

In other words, they are targeting EE blogs by using the default labels on the comments form in their searches.  I’ve changed the labels on my comments form this morning to some alternate wording to see if it helps mitigate the spam.

EE techie note - this was one of those payback moments for implementing my weblogs all with a shared comments form.  Even though I run four blogs on the site, changing the wording in one template took care of all of them.

I’m already quoted on the EngineHosting site, so if you’ve looked at their plans you already know I’m a big fan of Nevin and crew. 

But I just need to say it again—for ExpressionEngine-based projects or not, EngineHosting just rocks.  I’ve been a happy customer of theirs - for client sites, Boyink.com (and now Train-ee) - for a few years now and have had nothing but good experiences every time I’ve contacted them.  It’s so nice to be able to pitch projects and make a recommendation for hosting with 100% confidence that my clients will be happy with the service.

Lately I had an issue that was somewhat “outside of the box” and Nevin responded in a very generous manner.  I don’t know if he’s a drinking man but I am looking forward to buying him a beverage of his choice at the upcoming SXSW conference.

Thanks again EngineHosting!

What?

You’re working with ExpressionEngine and you’re not visiting the EE forums on a daily basis - gleaning tips and tricks to use in your project sites?

For shame.....

Yea - I know...there probably aren’t many of you coming here to Boyink.com and not also perusing the EE forums - but just in case I want to make sure you don’t miss an opportunity to Win a Building an EE Site Book via a giveaway sponsored by EllisLab.

Just post a reply in the associated forum thread to be entered into a drawing we’ll do over the weekend.  You can choose either the eBook (selling currently for $25) or the printed version ($29 + Shipping).

Good luck!