The following lists a number of web applications that allow you to create online forms and help you collect and track data via the Web. I am very interested in this area and will take a closer look at some of them.

• FormSpring - Make Online Forms for Free; The easy way to build, host and process online forms.
• JotForm -It is the web based WYSIWYG form builder. With it, you can design forms to use somewhere else and let the JotForm server collect the data for you.
• Sidewalk - The easiest way to gather and analyze customer information; Create custom forms in a matter of minutes. Then, place them on your Web site with a simple copy and paste. When people fill out your new Web form, Sidewalk automatically saves and organizes the information for you.
• StarterBase - It lets you create, organize, and share data on the web. With starterbase, you can create a quick and easy CRM system, and create customer feedback forms, among many other things useful for a startup.
• The Blue Form - It is the process automation service for creating and managing online forms in your organisation. It allows complete control over the form workflow, allowing you to select approvers, and keep track of the form after it has been filled-in.
• The Form Assembly - It lets you create and process web forms, and collect responses.
• Wufoo - It is an online tool that helps you build and host online forms. You can create a mailing list, a contact form, a marketing survey or even a complete customer management system.

I support using plain English in writing. I started to practise writing in plain English for some time. Here are the main ways to make writing clearer:

• Keep your sentences short
• Prefer active verbs
• Use ‘you’ and ‘we’
• Choose words appropriate for the reader
• Don’t be afraid to give instructions
• Avoid nominalisations
• Use positive language
• Use lists where appropriate

Take a look at this website: Plain English Campaign. You can appreciate the values and benefits of using plain English. If you do not know what plain English is, read the Free guides on How to write in plain English.

I record down a number of great Wordpress themes I found recently. It is for sharing and future reference.

• Flickred - by WP Designer - Live Demo
• Beach House - by Beach House - Live Demo
• Brajeshwar - by Brajeshwar.com - Live Demo
• WPAndreas07 - by Phoenixrealm - Live Demo
• LivingOS-Alpha - by Living Open Source - Live Demo 1, Live Demo 2
• Unsleepable - by Ben Gray - Live Demo

activeCollab is an open-source, web based collaboration and project management tool. I am excited about it after reading some materials from the web. Here I record down the steps I installed it on my newly installed Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (Dapper Drake) LAMP Server. I only use Putty (login as root onto the Ubuntu server) and a web browser to finish the task. It only takes me less than 15 minutes.

Step 1: Open a Putty session and type the following commands:

wget http://www.activecollab.com/files/0.6/activeCollab.zip

unzip activeCollab.zip

cp -r activeCollab /var/www/

cd /var/www

chown -R www-data activeCollab/

cd activeCollab

chmod -R 766 cache/

chmod -R 766 config/

chmod -R 766 public/

Step 2: Create MySQL database and database user. I use ‘activecollab’ as the database name, ‘acdbuser’ as the database username, and ‘******’ as the database password’. Type the following commands with the existing Putty session.

mysql -u root -p

Enter password: ******
mysql > create database activecollab;
mysql > grant all privileges on activecollab.*
to 'acdbuser'@'localhost' identified by '******';
mysql > exit

Step 3: Open a web browser and type ‘http://yourdomain.com/activecollab/install’ as the URL. Follow the instructions. You need to input the database name, username, and passowrd you decided earlier.

I record down the steps I installed phpMyAdmin 2.8.2 on Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (Dapper Drake) LAMP Server. They may be useful for my future reference. I can also pass this post to my friends who need to install phpMyAdmin on their web servers.

Please be reminded that the following steps are what I did to make phpMyAdmin installed and password protected on my web server. They are by no means perfect. There should be a number of different ways to complete the same task.

Step 1: Find a URL to download a phpMyAdmin-2.8.2.zip from here. I use http:// superb-west.dl.sourceforge.net /sourceforge /phpmyadmin /phpMyAdmin-2.8.2.zip. After that, type the following commands from the Ubuntu Server.

wget http://…/phpMyAdmin-2.8.2.zip

sudo unzip phpMyAdmin-2.8.2.zip

sudo cp –r phpMyAdmin-2.8.2 /var/www/

sudo mv /var/www/phpMyAdmin-2.8.2 /var/www/pma

sudo chown –R www-data /var/www/pma

Step 2: Create a file named config.inc.php by the following command. Type the content for it and press Ctrl-x then y then Enter to save the file.

sudo nano /var/www/pma/config.inc.php

<?php
$i = 0;
$i++;
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['host'] = 'localhost';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['extension'] = 'mysqli';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['connect_type'] = 'tcp';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['compress'] = false;
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type'] = 'config';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['user'] = 'root';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['password'] = '********';
?>

Step 3: Create a file named .htpasswd by the following command. Type the content for it and press Ctrl-x then y then Enter to save the file. Replace ***** with the appropriate passwords. The first one is the password for the root of the Ubuntu server. The second password is for entering the phpMyAdmin.

sudo htpasswd -cm /etc/apache2/.htpasswd mysqladmin

Password: *****
New password: *****
Re-type new password: *****
Adding password for user mysqladmin

Step 4: Create the .htaccess file. Type the content for it and press Ctrl-x then y then Enter to save the file.

sudo nano /var/www/pma/.htaccess

AuthUserFile  /etc/apache2/.htpasswd
AuthName  AccessToPMA
AuthType Basic
require user mysqladmin

Step 5: Configure the Apache2 by creating a file in the directory /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/.

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/pma

<Directory /var/www/pma>
     AllowOverride AuthConfig
</Directory>

Step 6: Reload the Apache2 with the following command.

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 force-reload