For the last couple of months I have been using the new version of Expression Engine to create Travel Codex. Expression Engine is a paid for content management system created by Ellis Labs. Version 2 brings many improvements to the system, including being built upon Code Igniter. I have used the Code Igniter framework for several personal projects and have really grown fond of it. I was planning on writing the content management system to run Travel Codex and other network sites, however, I quickly decided I would much rather spend the time on getting content together than developing a backend. The new version of Expression Engine caught my eye and I decided to take the plunge because it allows me to related data in ways many other content management systems don’t. Another big plus for me is that it’s not as cumbersome as some systems such as Drupal. Throughout these couple of months I’ve come across several add-ons for Expression Engine 2 that come in handy.

Channel Images (Paid) – This add-on provides something that is surprisingly absent from EE2, a way to add multiple images to an entry.

Playa (Paid) – This add-on expands on the relationship system in EE. It allows you to relate multiple entries and set rules for what can be selected down to the category level. No longer do you have to sort through a drop down box of potentially hundreds of entries looking for a single entry.

CP Analytics (Free) – This add-on connects to your Google Analytics account and shows the data on a tab in your control panel.

Freeform (Free) – This add-on allows you to easily create contact forms. Data submitted through these forms get dropped into a queue that’s accessible through the control panel. It also provides the option to send e-mails when a new item has arrived.

Facebook Connect (Paid) – This add-on integrates Facebook’s single sign-on method with EE.

User (Paid) – This add-on brings user template functionality to regular EE templates.

MX Google Maps (Free) – This add-on adds a Google map fieldtype to EE, which allows you to easily display a location in Google Maps in your entries.

Wygwam (Paid) – This add-on adds a full WYSIWYG (in the form of CK Editor) editor to the control panel for entry textarea fields.

These are some of the most useful that I have come across and have personally used. Most of them do cost money, but I believe that if they provide a functionality you’re looking for in EE2, then they are more than worth the money.

When creating a virtual machine in VMWare Server, do not create a second ethernet device unless the machine physically has a second network card. If you do add a second one it will cause the router to stop functioning as well as the network card on the machine. You will have to reboot the machine the virtual machine is hosted on and possibly the router as well.

By default Firefox has some ports blocked to prevent exploits to vulnerable services. This proves problematic if you need to access a site that uses one of these ports. For example, port 6000 is blocked because X11 uses it, but if you had a workstation running VNC’s HTTP server on port 6000 Firefox would block your access.

To unblock a port in Firefox goto about:config in the address bar.

Look for the following key: network.security.ports.banned.override

If the key isn’t present you need to create it. Right-click in the about:config window. You’ll want to click New and the String.

Give it the name of: network.security.ports.banned.override

Give it the value of the port you want to allow such as 6000. If you want to unblock more than one port use a comma to separate the ports.