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I will use this article to collect interesting tips and tricks about using the Linux cron. This is not so much about setting up a cron, but about little things I use or discovered!

What is a cron ?

The cron daemon is a long-running process that executes commands at specific dates and times. You can use this to schedule activities, either as one-time events or as recurring tasks.

What is the crontab?

For commands that need to be executed repeatedly (e.g., hourly, daily, or weekly), you can use the crontab command. The crontab command creates a crontab file containing commands and instructions for the cron daemon to execute.

Format is: MIN HOUR DOM MON DOW CMD
Minute field
Hour field
Day of month
Day of week
Command

Run every 5 minutes

Run yearly, monthly, weekly, daily or on reboot.
@yearly will run at 00:00 on Jan 1st for every year.
@monthly will run at 00:00 on 1st of every month.
@weekly will run at 00:00 on starting of every week.
@daily will run at 00:00 on every day.
@reboot  will run after the server has been rebooted


TIPS

1. Send cron output via email

2. Use a real cron for WordPress

A real cron does not rely on website activity and executes independently.

Do not forget to disable the virtual WordPress Cron in the wp-config.php!

3. Prevent Emails being sent, when cron executes > /dev/null 2>&1

4. Set Standard Variables

5. Output Redirection

TOOLS

  1. Crontab UI (NodeJS) – Easy way to edit your crontab visually. @Github
  2. Chronis ( >= PHP 7) – Chronis will help you define cron jobs using natural language / YAML and will generate the crontab files for you. @Github
  3. PHP Cron Expression Parser – Standard (V7) compliant crontab expression parser/validator with support for time zones. @Github
  4. PhpGt/Cron (PHP) – Define background jobs in standard crontab format and the Cron Runner will execute them when they are due. Jobs can be either normal scripts, or calls to static functions with automatic autoloading taken care of. @Github
  5. Cronicle (NodeJS) – A simple, distributed task scheduler and runner with a web based UI. @GitHub / Website

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Gatsby is a free and open source framework based on React that helps developers build blazing fast websites and apps.

What they have to say

  • Go Beyond Static Websites. Get all the benefits of static websites with none of the limitations. Gatsby sites are fully functional React apps so you can create high-quality, dynamic web apps, from blogs to e-commerce sites to user dashboards.
  • Use a Modern Stack for Every Site. No matter where the data comes from, Gatsby sites are built using React and GraphQL. Build a uniform workflow for you and your team, regardless of whether the data is coming from the same backend.
  • Load Data From Anywhere. Gatsby pulls in data from any data source, whether it’s Markdown files, a headless CMS like Contentful or WordPress, or a REST or GraphQL API. Use source plugins to load your data, then develop using Gatsby’s uniform GraphQL interface.
  • Performance Is Baked In. Ace your performance audits by default. Gatsby automates code splitting, image optimization, inlining critical styles, lazy-loading, and prefetching resources, and more to ensure your site is fast — no manual tuning required.
  • Host at Scale for Pennies. Gatsby sites don’t require servers so you can host your entire site on a CDN for a fraction of the cost of a server-rendered site. Many Gatsby sites can be hosted entirely free on services like GitHub Pages and Netlify.

What I have to say …

While researching some popular static site generation tools, GatsbyJS comes up often. I have played with NuxtJS and Hugo in the past, but what I REALLY like about GatsbyJS is the plugin / modular system. You can build your website with plain-old React and CSS styles, but make your development more efficient by adding node_modules.

Also being able to import any data source with ease, using GraphQL, is amazing. And when it comes to content management, you can easily hook a headless WordPress or Drupal setup into the mix and consume their REST APIs :)

I am not switching my own website to GatsbyJS anytime soon, but its another tool in my toolbox for future project consideration !

There are many tutorials on Youtube about getting started, maybe something to consider for the next freetime testdrive ;) Enjoy …

GatsbyJS @ Github

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Manet is a REST API server which allows capturing screenshots of websites using various parameters.

The Node.js server can use SlimerJS or PhantomJS as headless browser engines.

I have build similar with CasperJS, but this is far better for those that want a simple straight solution.

@GitHub

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A nice set of CSS3 Animations that can be easily used to spice up your design.

The animations can be triggered through Javascript, jQuery and the timings can be tweaked through pure CSS. The package also provides gulp, so that you can tweak every aspect easily.

Demo
Github

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  1. SPRITEOWL is a Photoshop extension that takes over the boring part of working with sprite images and CSS.
    Retrieves x, y, width and height info of all sprite elements
    Exports retina ready PNG files and required media queries of your Photoshop sprite file
    Supports preprocessors LESS, SASS/SCSS & Stylus
    Spriteowl
  2. CSSOWL is a mixin library that works with Spriteowl.
    LESS, SASS/SCSS & Stylus support
    Open source
    Cssowl

Two tools that can enhance your workflow immensely. Enjoy!

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Since I started in 2002, all iterations of portalZINE have been pure english content websites. You can read about the why on my services page.

I had potential customers in Germany complain about that a lot over the past few years. But your own website often suffers, while your customers get all the attention. That is how it is and how it should be!

Creating Multi – Language websites has been part of my services & portfolio for years, with an extreme application setup handling 13 languages in 2014 for the soccer world cup.

Multi-Language setups have come a long way and it was time to showcase that on my own setup as well. Not only to calm those potential customers, but to testdrive new functionality and possibilities on my own setup. portalZINE has always been my testlab for stability and new feature sets.

Most of my static pages are available in English and German now, the blog itself will remain pure English.

Need help setting up a multi language website, get in touch!

Cheers
Alex

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PHP dotenv loads environment variables from .env to getenv()$_ENV and $_SERVER automagically.

You should never store sensitive credentials in your code. Anything that is likely to change between deployment environments – such as database credentials or credentials for 3rd party services – should be extracted from the code into environment variables.

Add your application configuration to a .env file in the root of your project. Make sure the .env file is added to your .gitignore so it is not being checked-in.

DEFINE

LOAD

ACCESS

GitHub

Enjoy coding and be secure …

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30. August 2017

GreenApe is breathing again

After some downtime, GreenApe is breathing again. I revived the brand with a good friend of mine and we will be reopening shop options shortly.

Michael and I have been friends for a long time. We have been working on many different projects over the years.

He launched GreenApe in 2011 and I helped him with his first steps. A couple of months ago we decided to merge our competences and expand what GreenApe offers and stands for.

From the website:The GreenApe brand was established in 2011. GreenApe’s career began with the 1st Single Malt Whisky Coffee.

As the first of its kind, our coffee is refined with Original Single Malt Whisky. To this day, he pampers many connoisseurs and gourmets with his unique taste. Now there is another reason to rejoice.

From now on, we are continuously expanding the GreenApe product world with several stylish gadgets and useful accessories. For you this means that you will be able to discover even more beautiful, special or practical things in the future.

GreenApe is all about lifestyle & leisure products, fun gadgets and unique food & drinks.
portalZINE NMN | Development meets Creativity | slogan

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Font Face Observer

is a fast and simple web font loader. You can use it to load fonts and customise your browser’s font loading behaviour.

Font Face Observer gives you control over web font loading using a simple promise based interface. It doesn’t matter where your fonts come from: host them yourself, or use a web font service such as Google Fonts, Adobe Typekit, Fonts.com and Webtype.

Font Face Observer @ Github

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PHP

.htaccess

 

 

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