Iarfhlaith Kelly - Code agus Craic

Twitter Perch is a new app that lets you automatically follow other Twitter folk that post about things you’re interested in. It’s a small app that was very simple to build and uses a combination of the Twitter API and the Twitter Search API to do it’s magic.

How To Use It

It’s really easy to use. Just enter your chosen keyword into the form on the homepage along with your Twitter username and password and Twitter Perch will then add new followers to your account every day, automatically growing your list.

The Rules

To put off spammers, we’re restricting the maximum number of new followers to 20 per day for each keyword. We’ll be carefully managing its use and will kick off anyone who abuses the service.

The Good News

We’ve also open sourced the code behind Twitter Perch so that others can run the service privately if they have security concerns or want to extend its features. The source code is hosted in a Google Code repository available here: http://code.google.com/p/twitterperch/

Best Intentions

I’ve launched this tool in the hope that it will be useful for businesses who want to track their brands and engage with people on Twitter. I think if it’s used properly then it will be a very useful extension of the Twitter Search features already available. However, if it’s used incorrectly it could reduce the value that Twitter provides to its users and potentially dilute the strong community bond that currently exists there.

So with that in mind, I urge people who want to try the service (online or on their own server) that they use it responsibly and in moderation.

HomeHealthClubs.com is a new business that brings all the benefits of a health club right into your living room. Together, with a few of your friends, you can enjoy evenings at home with an experienced health professional to help you with nutrition, exercise and motivation.

The site was built quickly and simply in just a few days. I took the chance to use some of jQuery’s more subtle plugins to render the rounded corners and equalise div column heights.

Any feedback on the design is greatly appreciated.

Fuel Efficiency for Your Fleet

ECOdrive is a new web application that helps to manage training sessions on driver fuel efficiency. Commissioned by Authentic Solutions Ltd, it stores information on a driver’s behaviour both before and after fuel efficiency training has been provided. It also measures the differences and provides the trainee with a certificate upon completion.

Good Clean Design

It’s got a pretty clean UI and includes a reverse pyramid menu so that the user always knows where they are within the hierarchy of the application.

The project took just two weeks to complete and is built on PHP and Smarty with a MySQL backend. It also makes use of the excellent FPDF utility for generating dynamic PDF documents.

Private Installation

The application was built exclusively for a single client and won’t be available to the public. For those who are interested in taking a closer look at what I do, I’m currently working on some other projects that will be released soon to the general public. I’ll post more about those in the next week or so.

If you want to find out more about what ECOdrive is, visit www.ecodrive.ie for loads of useful information.