Over at Twinsparc we’ve released our first OS X application - [Headdress](http://headdress.twinsparc.com/). We made it for you, meaning we made it for web designers and developers like ourselves. The purpose of the app is to make it easier to setup fully functional sites locally. More literally, Headdress is a GUI for setting up Apache VirtualHosts via port numbers (sub-domain options are in the works).
The concept here is that you can design, develop and test your work in a local sandbox that more closely mirrors what you’ll upload to a server. This also means you can work on your stuff without an internet connection. In addition, Headdress makes turning on PHP a one-click operation.
Headdress takes advantage of the pre-installed Apache and PHP that comes with every copy of OS X. If you’re adept with Apache config files, DNS and the like, Headdress also comes with advanced options, and the ability to modify any other Apache config file.
Testing on Windows? Another nice aspect of using Headdress is that you can load up the websites you setup on other computers in your network. Just replace the localhost part of your site’s url with your IP.
I want to take a moment to thank the people who made the application possible. First off, we are not desktop app programmers at Twinsparc, so the biggest debt of gratitude goes to Marcus Zarra at [Zarra Studios](http://zarrastudios.com), who did all the heavy lifting and produced the app. Marcus continues to work with us on upcoming releases, so rest assured that new features are in the works. Next up, our application icon. Sure, we are designers, we’ve made many icons over the years, but sometimes doing work for yourself is the hardest. Thankfully [EnhancedLabs](http://enhancedlabs.com/) came through for us. Those guys are pros, and we recommend them. If you’re making an OS X app yourself, you might be interested to know that [AquaticPrime](http://www.aquaticmac.com/) makes licensing easy, and [Sparkle](http://www.andymatuschak.org/pages/sparkle) makes updating easy (appCast!). Lastly, many thanks to the Alpha and Beta testers. We went through 9 Alpha versions and 5 Beta versions; your fresh eyes and attention to detail were invaluable.
Have something to share related to Headdress? Feel free to leave a comment here, or you might prefer to post over at the [Headdress Forum](http://headdress.twinsparc.com/forum/).
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54 Responses to “Headdress”
May 19th, 2006 at 9:47 pm
One question for you,
How does this interact with MySQL. I found turning no PHP to be the easy part of a development setup. And nesting folders isn’t that big of a deal, it kind of makes sense when you think about it, Sites Folder > All the sites that you work on > Individual development files. What I found most frustrating though was working with mySQL to set up of development platform for say wordpress or MT locally. Does this come prepackaged and pre-set up, or no?
May 19th, 2006 at 10:29 pm
Hi Joshua. The quick answer is no, Headdress does not include MySQL. However we are at version 1.0, and we made the conscious choice to start with fewer features and add on as we go. One of the goals in this first release was to avoid installing a lot of extra software. We wanted to keep Headdress as streamlined as possible by taking advantage of pre-installed applications. MySQL is not pre-installed with OS X however providing a way for Headdress to auto-install and configure is on the desired features list.
In the meanwhile, you can work on web templates that make MySQL queries by pointing configuration files to live databases. For example I have a local version of my WordPress weblog that I use to develop WordPress templates with. The local version of my site functions just like it does on the live version, except it’s displayed through the local templates.
I hope this helps. We are actively developing the application, and are taking all feedback to heart. Please let me know if you have more feature suggestions, we’ve got a pretty good list going, and always welcome more.
May 19th, 2006 at 11:06 pm
But if you have a local copy of wordpress that points to the live database (great idea by the way) wouldn’t it require you to have a live connection since wordpress is all dynamic.
I would think this would work well with MovableType since it rebuilds the site and maintains static files, so you could just rebuild while you were connected and then develop offline, but if I understand you correctly, the only advantage that you are pulling out of this is the ability to develop the templates without having to upload them to see the changes, but you still have to have a live connection to actually do the work?
May 19th, 2006 at 11:18 pm
Ah yes, good point, with a local copy of WordPress that connects to a database on a live server, you’ll definitely need an internet connection to view your local WP site. So in this setup, the advantage is more about speedy local template building (since you don’t have to FTP files).
I’ll also investigate, to see if there’s a way we can accommodate local MySQL usage with Headdress sooner rather than later.
Also something that might be of use to folks looking to work with WordPress locally, we’ve got some links for local install instructions collecting [over here](http://headdress.twinsparc.com/forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=5&page=1) in the Headdress Forum.
May 20th, 2006 at 2:38 am
What would be really nice then I guess is a script that would somehow sync the two databases.
The first goal would be to simply copy a live wp database over to the local one, and of course and even more advanced one would sync the two, allowing you two write wordpress articles offline and then later when a connection is available it would simply sync the two.
Do you know of some method of simply copying a live database to the local one though? This would save me a lot of time.
May 20th, 2006 at 4:57 am
Sounds great, well done. Which version of PHP, & do you have plans to allow swapping between versions?
May 20th, 2006 at 10:40 am
Joshua - Interesting idea, but wouldn’t it be easier to just write article drafts in a text edtior when you’re offline, then copy/past them in when you have a connection? I’m probably missing something.
Simon - Headdress does not install PHP, it uses the version prepackaged with OS X. But - Automatic upgrading of PHP is on the desired features list.
May 20th, 2006 at 9:31 pm
What advantage would headdress have over MAMP? MAMP, or Mac Apache MySQL PHP, has been around for a number of years under the GNU license. It is free, and it allows you to customize port settings, choose between mysql 4 and 5, and best of all, can be stopped or started with a single click and won’t muck up your system native apache or PHP configs.
http://www.mamp.info/en/home/
May 20th, 2006 at 10:36 pm
Matt, it doesn’t have advantages over MAMP, there’s some crossover but the main point of Headdress is to provide a simple way to manage multiple websites, each with their own root domain. There are dozens of ways to setup websites on OS X, Headdress is more of an enhancer for the systems you already have - it’s not going to be the best for everyone, but it’s a new option.
May 22nd, 2006 at 7:35 pm
Looks interesting, well done keeping it simple. I watched the whole video posted on the Headdress site and was hoping you would go into the Advanced Features. Do you know where I can find screen shots or more information about those advanced feaures?
Oh, and if I buy the app, does my money get me free upgrades?
May 23rd, 2006 at 12:31 am
Hi Ryan,
For the moment, I have a screenshot of the advanced features posted to flickr [right here](http://flickr.com/photos/nate/149821110/).
And yes, if you buy the app you’ll get all 1.x updates for free. We also have a “check for updates” and auto check for updates feature options built into the app so you can find out immediately when updates are available and what’s been upgraded. In fact I’m about to post 1.1.
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This also means you can work on your stuff without an internet connection.
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