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[targetsports]

Knights in White Lycra

Words by Susan Burton

Why a group of foreigners bicycle to Fukushima every year – and what this says about charitable giving in Japan

The Knights ride out from Tokyo on the Friday evening bullet train, their bicycles dismantled and stowed in the obligatory rinko carry-on bags. They overnight in Takasaki city in Gunma Prefecture and the following morning they rise early to begin their quest – to ride 500 kilometres in four days to the Aiikuen Children’s Home in Fukushima prefecture and to raise money for the 72 children who live there.

In the peloton this year there are 42 riders from 14 different countries, ranging in age from 23 to 63. Twenty-six are attempting the ride for the first time. They are grouped together in seven teams of six, by experience, ability and willingness to stop for lunch. Each group is led by an able, veteran Knight.

Rob Williams (53, works in finance) is the Knights’ spiritual leader. In 2012, he and a group of fellow British expatriates were slumped disconsolately in the Hobgoblin pub in Tokyo staring at their beer guts. They concluded that they either needed to stop drinking or take up some form of exercise. They chose cycling because, “Brits are good at sport that involves sitting down.” There was also a more serious side to their quest. Following the Great East Japan Earthquake and nuclear disaster in March 2011, several of them had made repeated trips into the disaster area delivering emergency aid and public donations. But a year on, many places still lacked even basic necessities. One of these was Minamisoma, a city 25 kilometres north of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Minamisoma was partially destroyed by the tsunami and most of the surviving residents were forced to relocate outside the 30-kilometre mandated radiation evacuation zone. In April 2012, when the zone was reduced to 20 kilometres, some residents had been allowed to return but many still had no electricity, running water or medical facilities.  

That evening in the Hobgoblin pub, Rob and his friends decided they would cycle to Minamisoma to raise money to supply the residents of the city’s temporary accommodation with food and drinking water. Later in a karaoke bar someone stood up and sang the Moody Blues song, and the Knights in White Lycra (KIWL) were born. Their motto: get fit and give back.

Rob is also one of the ride’s team leaders this year. His team are strictly A to B cyclists, speeding to their destination in the shortest possible time. For lunch he allows them eight minutes to grab rice balls and Pocari Sweat drinks from the local convenience store.

Andy Abbey’s group prefer to stop for a sit-down lunch at a café or roadside noodle bar. Andy (British, 47, works in management consultancy) joined the Knights in its second year. Hours after the earthquake, a Facebook page called Foreigner Volunteers (now Foreign Volunteers Japan) appeared calling for contributions and helpers. Their first donation was a case of baked beans. When they had filled six two-tonne trucks, Andy and several other foreigners drove north. Recalls Andy, “Everything was just flat. It was terrifying.” The tsunami had swept away houses, cars and people up to 5 kilometres inland and 200 kilometres all the way up the east coast of Japan. Compounding the catastrophe was the nuclear radiation which was spewing from three exploded reactors and spreading unchecked on the spring winds and coastal currents. “It was very obvious that this was an unmanageable situation,” says Andy. Some foreigners went north only once, too traumatised by what they had seen to go back. Andy made repeated trips to the disaster areas. But he wanted to do more. He’s now a member of the KIWL committee.

Miho Inosaki (Malaysian-Japanese, works in public relations) is in Andy’s group. At 23, she is the youngest and least experienced rider and one of only five women in the peloton. She first encountered the Knights when she was tasked by her company Custom Media, one of the Knights’ sponsors, with filming their annual promotional video. Before becoming a ‘Knightess’, she had never cycled before and she averages one crash every third time she gets in the saddle. Within five minutes of picking up her new bicycle for this year’s ride she collided with a motorcycle. (During the ride, she somersaults over her handlebars and hits her head on a fence post.)

Egon Boettcher (New Zealander, 48, works in banking) leads another group and plans the Knight’s route, a difficult task due to Japan’s mountainous terrain and the fact that the ride takes place during the rainy season. Japan also has the world’s highest incidence of earthquakes, but the Knights have been fortunate. Earthquakes tend to strike in areas Egon has just left. This year, a magnitude 6 rattles Niigata two days after the Knights’ departure.

In previous years, the Knights had started their quest in Nihonbashi in central Tokyo but with heavily congested streets and numerous traffic lights it took more than three hours to clear the metropolis. Now they take the train and begin in another prefecture. This also enables them to vary the journey every year and to make it a challenge worth sponsoring. Tokyo is only 300 kilometres from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, a distance that has been imprinted on every Tokyo resident’s mind since the plant’s meltdown. (By comparison, Chernobyl is over 2,000 kilometres from London.)

On the first day, the Knights cycle from Takasaki to Yuzawa in Niigata prefecture, a distance of 55 kilometres in 27-degree Celsius heat under a sun unobstructed by a single cloud. The journey takes them through the Japanese countryside in early summer, past flooded rice fields sprouting green shoots and to a height of 1,200 metres, in sight of mountains from which the snow has yet to melt.

They spend the first night in the town of Yuzawa, in a mountainous region of Niigata prefecture known as ‘snow country’. Their lodgings, a resort called Twin Towers, is a complex of privately-owned apartments developed during the economic boom in the 1980s. More than two decades into an economic recession, many of the owners are unable to sell and now rent out the rooms to cover exorbitant maintenance charges. There are few guests in green season. Andy appears to have the 11th floor to himself. Egon rattles round a duplex penthouse that he learns was refurbished for the Emperor and Empress during the 1998 winter Olympics in nearby Nagano (but they never stayed there). “We never saw a soul who wasn’t with us,” says Egon. “It was like the Shining.”

On the second day, they pedal further north to Niigata city on the Sea of Japan along routes lined with lush spring greenery and across wide bridges spanning streams that will swell into torrents in a matter of hours. With the rainy season approaching, a searing heat reflects off the tarmacked roads and a thick, stifling humidity envelops the riders.

Rainy season arrives on the morning of the third day, bringing 50-kmh head and cross winds. Three riders are blown off their bikes on the 150-kilometre journey to Aizu Wakamatsu, where the riders ease their aching limbs in the steaming onsen (volcanic hot spring). In case of accidents, injuries and punctures, the riders are followed by two support cars. Padded cycle shorts and ‘bum butter’ are essential on the road. But a soak in a hot spring eases the muscles at the end of the day. And that’s one good thing about having so few women on the ride, notes Miho. There’s always plenty of room in the women’s onsen.

On the fourth and final day, the winds have blown themselves out but the rain continues to trickle down the backs of windcheaters and seep into microfibre shoes. The morning begins with a long climb to a plateau on which sits Lake Inawashiro, the fourth-largest lake in Japan, also known as the Heavenly Mirror Lake because of the glass-like clearness of the water. The sun reappears just as the riders reach the Aiikuen Children’s Home which is situated south of Fukushima city and, gallingly for the exhausted riders, at the summit of one of the ride’s steepest hills. As they round the final bend, the excited children are waiting to greet them, waving flags of the Knights’ home countries and stretching out their hands for high fives. “It was just a wonderful moment,” says Miho later. “Just this overwhelming feeling of emotion where you went, ‘Oh my god, that’s why we do it.’” The riders dismount and the children, aged from 2 to 18, rush up. They want to know all about the Knights’ road bicycles. One little boy tries on Andy’s cycling helmet. “He decided I was his best friend and would show me the children’s home,” Andy recalls. The riders are led by the children into the gymnasium where they sit cross-legged on the floor to listen to a speech of thanks.

Aiikuen was founded in 1893 by Uryū Iwako (1829-1897), an orphaned daughter from a merchant family who dedicated her life to the improvement of living conditions for ordinary people. Situated 49 kilometres away from Daiichi, the orphanage is outside the evacuation zone. But because it stands on a hill facing the plant, when the reactors blew, its seven hectares of thickly-forested grounds – sports field, campsite and lawn – were coated in caesium-137. The prefectural government paid to have Aiikuen cleaned, hosing down the modern concrete buildings, removing grass and chopping down trees. But hotspots remained and for several years after the disaster Aiikuen staff (like many parents in the Tohoku region) limited the children’s outdoor playtime. They also tested food for contamination and regularly checked the children’s health. The immediate danger may have passed but Aiikuen still needs more support, which the government is slow to provide.

Nationwide, only ten per cent of approximately 30,000 children in care are orphans. The rest have been removed from neglected or abusive homes or given up by families who are unable to care for them financially. Fostering and adoption remain rare in Japan because parents must give legal permission for their child to be cared for by someone else and for cultural reasons – predominantly loss of face – they are unlikely to agree to this. Adoption is registered on the koseki (the family register) which is a publicly available document, and the stigma of having an adoption in the family bloodline (suggesting an unplanned pregnancy or a lack of financial stability) can affect job and marriage prospects. Less than ten per cent of children in welfare are fostered or adopted. Most remain within the welfare system long-term (just under half live in children’s homes for more than five years), sometimes with little or no parental contact. They are termed ‘throwaway children’, trapped in a legal limbo until they must leave at 17 or 18.

The attitude of some Japanese towards marginalised and disadvantaged groups is not always sympathetic, and the needs of children in care homes is not an issue that many Japanese wish to look at too closely. Says Andy, “I think there’s a blanket assumption here that the government takes care of everything. That’s good in some respects because generally the government kind of does but when something goes wrong – and the Tohoku earthquake was a perfect example – the government literally couldn’t take care of everything. No government could take care of that. It was impossible.” This is why KIWL has focused its money-raising efforts on children’s charities, in particular grassroots organisations for whom even a small amount of money can make a big difference.

In the gymnasium, the children present the Knights with certificates of appreciation printed by Aiikuen’s Digital Citizenship Club on its laser printer. With little or no parental support, a university education is impossible for young people coming out of the care system and they risk falling into low level work in factories or the sex industry. One goal of Aiikuen is to educate the children in skills that may enable them to find fulfilling jobs when they leave, particularly in the technology industry. During the ceremony, word arrives that the Knights’ cycle ride has raised just over ten million Yen (£75,000) for YouMeWe, the charity which supports the home. It will help to pay for more computing equipment and training in digital skills such as coding and video editing.

Most of the ten million Yen comes from corporate sponsorship. The Knights’ major sponsors are the international companies for which many of the riders work. This year, alongside the Knights’ logo (a plumed helmet and a shield depicting linked hands) there are 26 sponsor names on the riders’ jackets including Netflix, World Family, Land Rover, Boyd & Moore Executive Search and Allied Pickfords, companies which reflect the transient nature of expatriate life in Japan. In western countries, sponsoring someone to do a sporting challenge is a recognised way of raising money for charity. Egon’s first sponsored event at age 8 was cycling round and round a school track on a Raleigh bicycle. But in Japan there is no concept of the sponsored event. When Miho asked friends to sponsor her they were confused. “I got questions like, ‘Why would I pay you to do sports?’” In Japan, charitable giving more commonly takes the form of volunteering in the local community and doing chores – such as managing rubbish collections, street cleaning and watching over elderly residents – for your neighbourhood association. “It’s not that there’s no charitable spirit,” says Andy. “It’s just expressed in a different way.” 3/11 was a disaster on an unprecedented scale and many Japanese reacted immediately, collecting donations from friends and neighbours and forming residents’ groups to travel to the disaster area to provide volunteer labour. But paying foreigners to bicycle there was perplexing. Toru Akiyama, one of the five Japanese riders and at 63 the group’s oldest Knight, had to work hard for the money he raised from friends and colleagues. “He had to explain individually, this is what a sponsored event is,” says Miho. One result of the Fukushima disaster is that the number of charities seems to be increasing along with a shift in understanding about the many ways that donations can be raised. The 500-kilometre sponsored ride is not the only sporting challenge the Knights take on. There are marathons, pub quizzes, golf, futsal and even motorcycling. Once a year Andy organises a walk around the Imperial Palace and gives participants a KIWL t-shirt in return for a donation. “And for Japanese people that’s much more manageable psychologically than sponsoring Egon to ride 500 kilometres,” admits Rob.

In the days after the disaster, it was noticed by the Japanese media that some foreigners (known as ‘gaijin’ in Japanese) were attempting to leave, heading straight to Narita airport which was – ironically – marginally closer to the nuclear power plant. They were termed ‘flyjin’ and accused of ditching Japan in its time of need. In fact, just as many Japanese fled to southern parts of Japan where they had relatives. Most foreigners didn’t have that option. And many, like Andy and other future Knights, were driving in the opposite direction, right into the disaster area and risking their health, if not their lives, in the process. Andy says he never breached the 30-kilometre evacuation zone around the power plant. He drove around it. Nevertheless, he and the others were aware of the implications of a sudden rainfall or a change in the direction of the wind. Andy also took the iodine tablets the British embassy were offering. “He snorted them recreationally,” jokes Egon. The Knights are a good-humoured bunch but there is no denying the dangers present during those first weeks. While tourism (particularly foreign tourism) to the Tohoku region has since recovered, it should not be forgotten that the half-life of caesium-137 is 35 years. Wandering in the Aiikuen grounds after the ceremony the Knights come across a large radiation monitoring station. A nearby golf course appears deserted.

The Knights’ first sponsored ride, from Tokyo to Minamisoma in 2013, was abandoned when for the first time in ten years the region was hit by a blizzard. The highway was closed and several of the riders suffered hypothermic symptoms. Six of the original ten Knights returned two months later to finish the ride. That year they raised 2.7 million Yen (£20,000). Year on year they have doubled the number of riders and consequently the amount raised. In subsequent years, they have cycled to and on behalf of several different children’s charities in the Tohoku area. By riding to the charitable organisation the Knights can see first-hand where their money is going, which Rob observes has a greater impact on the riders. There are tears and, when the Knights move on to a new charity, some riders continue their support for a place they have visited. For two years, the Knights rode for Place to Grow (a charity supporting children and their families in Minamisanriku, a town that was 95 per cent destroyed by the tsunami). Andy and Egon continue to act as cycling Santas for them, delivering gifts to the children at Christmas. The Knights’ support for Mirai no Mori (a charity which offers American summer camps to disadvantaged children) has been maintained by BNP Paribas, a KIWL sponsor.

KIWL is a small group with a big impact. They have raised 62.3 million Yen (£469,000) since they first came together to “get fit and give back.” Says Miho, “The beautiful scenery, the challenge, the camaraderie, the drinking are all very nice bonuses but nothing really compares. Even the sensation of knowing that you’ve cycled 500 kilometres doesn’t come close to what you feel when you see all those kids look so excited to see you.” And Rob Williams has achieved another goal. ‘Fat Rob’ (as the others jokingly call him) has lost 10 kilogrammes since that drunken evening in the Hobgoblin.

[topjavatutorial-blog]

Handlebars.js - Creating Custom Helpers

Handlebars.js – Creating Custom Helpers

Handlebars Helpers Helpers in Handlebars.js are reusable functions that can be added to data to change its behavior in some way. Handlebars provides several built-in helpers such as if, each, unless etc. (For built-in helper, refer http://handlebarsjs.com/builtin_helpers.html)   Creating custom Handlebars Helpers We can create our own helper functions in Handlebars using the registerHelper()…

[carsai-precisionparts]

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[169pd]

2018 Character List update

Adèle Doucette(France, Independent, 2018): Artist who uses a Blackbox Innovations magic paintbrush and reusable canvas.

Alfonzo Vercelloni(Italy, Shadow-Ops, 2006): Sierra Team's main pilot and reconnaissance operative.

Ayumi Myeong(Korea, Military Juggernaut 001, 2009): The first Military Juggernaut of the new viking class operatives and ace paintball player.

Billis McPhail(Ireland, Detroit Outsiders, 2005): Pedro's roommate and pool hall employee.

Blackjack[James Riley](USA, Military Juggernaut Officer 100, 2008): Commanding officer of Charlie Team with a card game motif.

Blaque[Nathaniel Kingston](USA, Military Juggernaut 187, 2008): Automotive customization enthusiast and Charlie Team's engineer.

Bullshark[Bentley McGuffin](England, Military Juggernaut 108, 2008): Former SAS operative and Charlie Team's point man, an old man with a temper.

Charlie Biggins(USA, Military Juggernaut 007, 2008): Support unit for Charlie Team and main driver, known to be rather flamboyant and childish.

Chihiro Jihara(Japan, Tokyo Crew, 2004): Clothes store employee, Mr. Morris' love interest, and fastest character in the series.

Corina Dimesworth(Wales, Thunderfist Group, 2008): Genetic look-alike to Mina, and right hand woman of the Thunderfist Group.

Crokk [Hunter Ramsey](Australia, Military Juggernaut 121, 2008[was once scrapped, now revived]): Charlie Team's main sniper and good natured Ausie, prefers the DSR-1.

Crystal Tracey(USA, Wild Girls, 2006): Warm hearted adult video star, joins in on Mandy's antics.

Daedalus(Nethuron Realm, Reformed AI, 2012): Once the guardian of the Hypnophobia realm, currently Mr. Morris' AI helper.

Detective LaFrench(France, Independent, 2005): French entertainer and private eye with questionable track record.

Dissidius(Neturon Realm, Alien AI, 2010): Creator of the Abstraction Zone, and self aware Artificial Intelligence with access to universe warping technology.

Frankie MacDougal(USA, The Buddies, 2006): Alabama fat dude who's a man of simple tastes, one of the stars on the Buddies podcast & livestream show.

Freida Reinhardt(Switzerland, Military Juggernaut 141, 2016): Medical specialist for Foxtrot Team, close friend of Reiner.

Garry Thompson(USA, Kings Men, 2006): Clumsy squire on the TV show, The Kings Men.

Gecko Newt(Beastalia, Secret Agency, 2008): Anthropomorphic Gecko and secret agent for FBI-like agency.

Gerald Thunderfist(France, Thunderfist Group, 2007): Top hat and monocle donning terrorist leader with a handlebar mustache and 1930's villain motif.

Gold Rolla\Maxwell Keyes(USA, Detroit Crew, 2005): Bling salesman who gets involved in the various Detroit Crew antics.

Grimm Finch(USA, The Buddies, 2006): Grin bearing Alaskan dude with nerdy interests, one of the stars on the Buddies podcast & livestream show.

Izumi Morimura[Previously Ichigo](Japan, Tokyo Cafe, 2006): Catgirl super heroine who specializes in hand-to-hand & whips.

Jason L. Wilson(USA, Marine Corps, 2007): USMC sergeant and man of cultured tastes.

Joe Johnson(USA, Military Juggernaut 221, 2004): Sierra Team's sniper, husband to Molly and tallest character in the series.

John "Snake" Bauer(USA, Shadow-Ops, 2008): Charlie Team's stealth operative who makes use of long range rifles, prefers the M24.

Kaori Asayama(Japan, Tokyo Crew, 2004): Meteorologist for JNN Tokyo News, obsessed with Satomi.

King Haroldson Flooperbottom(USA, Kings Men, 2016): The king on the TV show, The Kings Men.

Kotone Takamura(Japan, Military Juggernaut 086, 2017): Fire Ant operative of Foxtrot Team, has immense pyrophilia and gets gassy when arroused.

K-Rocka\Karl Stansfield[Previously The Thug](USA, Detroit Crew, 2005): Regular homeboy of the Pimpuh's Homies, the more rambunctious of the brothers.

Krummy the Crabber(USA, Kings Men, 2006): Source of surreal comedy on the TV show, The Kings Men.

Larry Connors(USA, The Buddies, 2006): Main star of the Buddies podcast & livestream show, has a showman's voice and optimistic personality

Lenny Floyd(USA, Kings Men, 2006): Nervous squire on the TV show, The Kings Men.

Maleena Binks(USA, Detroit Outsiders, 2005): Obnoxious girl who resides in Detroit, originally from Arkansas.

Mandy Miller(USA, Wild Girls, 2006): Short and stout adult video star who often gets into silly shenanigans, boisterous and dominant.

Mark Beavis(USA, Military Juggernaut 134, 2004): Sierra Team's engineer with farmboy like physique and deep voice, mostly uses assault rifles.

Maurice Serpent(Neo Gaia, Independent, 2008): Broody edgy vampire from a earth-esque planet.

Mavis[Real Name is Mahir Majrashi](Israel, Independent, 2006): Israeli refugee who lives with Sierra Team.

Megumi Chisaka(Japan, Western Industries, 2018): Head scientist of Western Industries in Barrie and source of cuteness.

Mikey Carlson(USA, Military Juggernaut 127, 2004): Sierra Team's demolition operative, with a Cartman-like voice and personality, shortest character in the series.

Millie Summers(England, VSAC, 2017): Lead scientist for Valkyrie Star, warm-hearted and good with galactic mapping.

Mina Aimoto[Previously Mint](Japan, Tokyo Cafe, 2006): Birdgirl super heroine with gassy tendencies, proficient with bow-type weapons

Mindy LeBlanc(Scotland, VSAC, 2017): Lead scientist for Valkyrie Star, bluntly honest and vulgar with a knack for pulse engines and machines.

Molly Johnson(USA, Johnson Family, 2008): Wife of Joe, southern belle and embodiment of the rural south.

Mr. Morris(Canada, Military Juggernaut Officer 169, 1998 [Revised in 2004]): Main hero, commander of Sierra Team, Chihiro's love interest & wielder of the Electro-Blade.

Oscar Warner[Usually called the Jazz Man](USA, Independent, 2006): Louisiana jazz musician who gets involved with everyone's antics.

Pedro Fernandez(Mexico, Detroit Outsiders, 2005): Billis' roommate and occasional luchador.

Pimpuh Simmons\William Stansfield(USA, Detroit Crew, 2005): Detroit pimp and lead of the Pimpuh's Homies, the mature and rational of the brothers.

Quince "The Boo Man" Brandis USA, Detroit Outsiders, 2005): Hitman for hire on the streets of Detroit, was once contracted to assassinate Malina.

Reiner Vorschlaghammer(Germany, Military Juggernaut Officer 116, 2004): Sierra Team's medic, arrogant but intelligent, and uses shotguns.

Ross Pilkington(USA, The Buddies, 2006): Boisterous muscular man with manly interests, one of the stars on the Buddies podcast & livestream show.

Ryoko Makino(Japan, Tokyo Cafe, 2018): Dolphin-girl super heroine who is left-handed, wields a bo staff.

Satomi Nozaki(Japan, Ex-Shadow Ops, 2016): Tallest female character, admirer of anything cute and owner of a plushie store.

Tim Jenkins(USA, The Buddies, 2006): Short boy with meatwad-like voice and prankster tendencies, one of the stars on the Buddies podcast & livestream show.

Tommy C\Thomas Stansfield[Previously The Goon](USA, Detroit Crew, 2005): Regular homeboy of the Pimpuh's Homies, the calmer of the brothers.

Tony Antoini(USA, Mafia Boss, 2005): Mob boss, sometimes gets wrapped up in the schemes of Gerald Thunderfist.

Vanessa Dixon(USA, Independent, 2001): Gassy woman and McFatty's enthusiast, Mr. Morris' online friend.

Yumei Jiang(China, Military Juggernaut 097, 2016): Support operative of Kilo Team and expert cook, uses robotic arms.

Yumeko Minohara(Japan, Shadow Ops/Western Industries Asia, 2017): CEO of Japanese branch of Western Industries, once was a pilot during Second Korean Uprising operation.

Zakuya Fujima(Japan, Tokyo Cafe, 2011): Coyote-fox-girl super heroine, fashion model and movie star, plasma beam sword specialist.

[hackersandslackers]

Handlebars Templating in ExpressJS

Node for Noobs

Writing HTML sucks, thus we should do everything to minimize this aspect of development where possible. Enter Handlebars , a savior to those who hate repetitive code (and percentage signs). If you do any sort of development work, you're probably familiar with Handlebars. I thought I was, but it isn't until we need to start a new project from scratch that we realize that we totally forgot the configuration process we took last time. That's why I'm here. Let's have a quick refresher on the parts that make up Handlebars Layouts are the most ambiguous high-level layer; these are commonly used to set underlying page metadata as well as general layout (for lack of a better term). Pages are templates which equate to one type of page. For example, the 'post' page on this site is unique from, say, the homepage. Because all posts share elements with one another, hundreds of posts share this same template. Partials are snippets which can be shared between pages, such as navigation. A Context is content which is passed to templates and result in being the page's content Helpers are the closest we get to logic in Handlebars: these allow us to display or omit content based on conditionals such as if statements. For example: showing an author's avatar only if they have uploaded an image. Project Setup We're going to use the Express /views folder to contain all of our handlebars goodness. Our project should look something like this: myapp ├── bin ├── build ├── routes ├── src ├── views │ ├── layouts/ │ ├── partials/ │ └── error.hbs │ └── index.hbs │ └── login.hbs │ └── etc └── README.md └── app.js └── package.json It's important to distinguish that we've separated our views folder into three classifications for layouts , partials , and pages , where pages occupy the root /views directory. It's important to keep this distinction as our structure affects how we serve up these templates. Configure that Ish Install handlebars: npm install handlebars --save Crack open your app.js file or whatever it is you call that thing. Require handlebars: var hbs = require( 'express-handlebars'); Next we'll configure Express to use Handlebars as the view engine, and tell Express where to find these files: // view engine setup app.set('view engine', 'hbs'); app.engine( 'hbs', hbs( { extname: 'hbs', defaultView: 'default', layoutsDir: __dirname + '/views/pages/', partialsDir: __dirname + '/views/partials/' })); Express assumes by default that we're storing our views in the '/views' folder, which we are. We take this a step further by specifying which subfolders our partials and layouts are in above. We can save pages directly in /views . Notice that we're also setting a default layout. We can override this in our routes if needed, but setting a default layout is useful for loading pages in an html wrapper container page metadata. Kicks on Route 66 Let's create our first route in routes/index.js . We're going to load a view called home into a layout called default : var express = require('express'); var router = express.Router(); router.get('/', function(req, res, next) { res.render('home', {layout: 'default', template: 'home-template'}); }); This will render views/home.hbs into views/layouts/default.hbs , provided are views are set up correctly. We also pass a custom value template which is user-defined; more on that below. Basic Usage Let's finally take a look at our actual Handlebars views. Here's default.hbs : Best Website

We have three values here: and , and . is a value with double brackets, thus is expecting linear data. We passed template in our route: this sets the body class to equal home-template on the chance that we'll want to apply page-specific styles or logic in the future. is rocking the triple brackets, and is reserved specifically to serve this purpose: loading templates into other templates. Lastly we have . This will load a partial named footer from views/partials/footer.hbs , provided that we create it. The difference between how and are being loaded have to do with a general workflow philosophy; pages are the main event and thus are loaded into layouts by their command. Partials can be called by pages at will whenever we please. There's obviously a lot more to Handlebars- the fun doesn't truly begin until we pull dynamic values from databases or wherever. We'll get there.

- Todd Birchard

[womensadventuremagazine]

WordPress CMS Verses Craft CMS

Any web developer who has been working in the industry for more than a few days has probably heard of WordPress. Stay for a couple more months and there’s a good chance you’ve worked on a WordPress site– it’s a popular platform since it’s well-known, easy-to-use, and free.

Craft is a small CMS that was developed fairly recently by ExpressionEngine add-on developers Pixel & Tonic. Having worked with ExpressionEngine for a while, it’s obvious these guys really know the pain-points in any client-facing CMS. Everything they’ve built into Craft solves a problem I’ve had on almost every site I ever made with WordPress. If I had to make a CMS myself, it would probably resemble Craft pretty closely.

You may have also heard of ExpressionEngine, Drupal, Joomla, and a few other CMS heavy-hitters. They all have their benefits and flaws, which is a topic for another time. I ‘d rather talk about the next up-and-comer and my new favorite, Craft.

How does Craft stack up against the industry go-to?

The Good

Craft is like WordPress if it was stripped naked and then clothed in Advanced Custom Fields

Craft, on the other hand, starts with just the basic building blocks and minimal defaults. The Sections and Fields it does provide let you build up your content types and inputs to get to the custom dashboard you want. I would even say it takes less time to build Craft up to WordPress status than it does to fight with WordPress settings to take out all of those Blog-centric things you don’t need.

Another win for Craft is that its Fields build your content interface in much the same way as WordPress’s Advanced Custom Fields plugin (a must-have tool with WordPress in my book), but without downloading and installing another piece.

WordPress strives to give its users as much as possible out-of-the-box, whether that user is a novice blogger or a talented developer who needs a good admin panel. The result is often too much functionality, which forces developers to strip out or disable features to meet the needs of your very custom website (like Comments or the Links Manager, pre WordPress 3.5).

Building instead of Manipulating

There is no API to coerce into the markup that you want and there is no lazy settling for the default because there is no default. As the O.C.D., semantic-obsessed front-end developer that I am, this is perfect. I set all my own HTML (with Twig templates in Craft), styles, and attributes from scratch. <3.

One thing that is a recurring pain to work around in WordPress is its lack of relationships between Post Types. If one Post Type needs to be related to another Post Type, you have to make some middle-man taxonomy or category to relate them, do some PHP magic to make your own custom inputs in the post editing screen, or find a plugin that meets your need. With Craft, Entries (the Crafty brother to Posts) are easily related with a simple Field type. Drag, drop, done. Hallelujah!

One other great client-serving feature of Craft is its handy Matrices. With Matrices, you can set up your interface in Blocks, which your client can then use to build their page– it’s a win-win-win for clients, designers, and developers. Clients can control the order of their well-designed content without hacks or careful content input into a catch-all Editor; designers can rest assured that their designs won’t be fouled-up by user error; and developers have complete control over the mark-up which is generated by these blocks.

This difference in the platforms’ philosophies is apparent in their templating tools. WordPress supplies and spits out a lot of its own default HTML that requires manipulation of the API to change. Craft comes with nothing. No HTML at all. Which is glorious.

A Common Example: Say a non-profit site has a Section of “Social Causes” pages and they want all of their News and information to be categorized by and related to these Causes. Creating those relationships is far more difficult in WordPress.

Relationships are Hard.

Welcome to the Matrix.

In comparison, WordPress can do repeating blocks of the same content in a row. Not too bad. The catch is that you need Advanced Custom Fields, plus their Repeater Field addition which, unlike the main plugin, does cost a few bucks.

Less PHP! And More PHP! Wat?

You will find PHP in Craft’s plugins. Since Craft does not have Themes, there really isn’t anywhere to put your common template helpers and useful functions. Instead, be prepared to write your own Plugin to add what you need. Gone are the days of plopping in a random PHP function into functions.php. This is great since your site is then based off of good modular code and proper PHP Classes, but you may need to read up a bit to get there.

This last “Good” point is relative to the type of developer you are, so I admit this could easily go in the “Bad” section. Craft is built off of PHP like WordPress, Craft uses Twig templates. This is great for front-end developers already familiar with other templating languages like Handlebars or Liquid, but may not be for all you PHP gurus. I personally like the change, since loops feel a little less clunky and the data syntax is closer to JavaScript.

How Does It Look?

Caption: Lawbar – Wellington Lawyers

The Bad.

As Apple found out the hard way, it can be tough to beat the big dog in the market. WordPress has been around longer, has more resources, and has more developers actively contributing to it. If you hit an issue with Craft, resources are few. I’m sure the Craft community will catch up, but in the mean time I recommend making a few new Twitter friends. @Craftcms, the folks from Pixel & Tonic themselves, and Viget’s own Trevor Davis are good follows. Those passionate about Craft are happy to answer questions.

Google Maps vs. Apple Maps.

Craft? Crafts? Kraft? Minecraft?

I search “Craft CMS” for the best results and include “Twig” if it’s a templating problem.

Craft picked a pretty tough name in the Googleverse. Searching for common problems becomes a real chore, simply because you have to sort through 50 articles about Minecraft before getting to the few sources that are available. Compare that to WordPress results, which will stretch for pages and probably include at least five well-written solutions to your problem on Stack Overflow.

The Deal-breaker.

One obstacle for some clients when it comes to Craft is the price. One can’t help but second guess the choice to throw down $299 when the usual go-to CMS is FREE. It’s not such a tough sell on the agency level since clients have usually come prepared to spend much larger sums, but freelancers might have a harder time justifying the cost. Even so, I recommend you try– it’s a one-time fee that then unlocks all of Craft’s best features and goes toward the support and further development of the system.

For good reason, Pixel & Tonic have restricted Craft’s Matrix a bit. Some things I would love to see in future releases:.

Can I get both Pills? The Matrix + Inception.

Re-using Blocks: I ‘d like to use already made Fields or sets of Fields inside Matrix blocks. If the same “module” exists both inside and outside of my Matrix, keeping the data the same requires careful duplication.

Matrix Inception: Please?

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[toddbirchard-architect]

Handlebars Templating in ExpressJS

Node for Noobs

Writing HTML sucks, thus we should do everything to minimize this aspect of development where possible. Enter Handlebars , a savior to those who hate repetitive code (and percentage signs). If you do any sort of development work, you're probably familiar with Handlebars. I thought I was, but it isn't until we need to start a new project from scratch that we realize that we totally forgot the configuration process we took last time. That's why I'm here. Let's have a quick refresher on the parts that make up Handlebars Layouts are the most ambiguous high-level layer; these are commonly used to set underlying page metadata as well as general layout (for lack of a better term). Pages are templates which equate to one type of page. For example, the 'post' page on this site is unique from, say, the homepage. Because all posts share elements with one another, hundreds of posts share this same template. Partials are snippets which can be shared between pages, such as navigation. A Context is content which is passed to templates and result in being the page's content Helpers are the closest we get to logic in Handlebars: these allow us to display or omit content based on conditionals such as if statements. For example: showing an author's avatar only if they have uploaded an image. Project Setup We're going to use the Express /views folder to contain all of our handlebars goodness. Our project should look something like this: myapp ├── bin ├── build ├── routes ├── src ├── views │ ├── layouts/ │ ├── partials/ │ └── error.hbs │ └── index.hbs │ └── login.hbs │ └── etc └── README.md └── app.js └── package.json It's important to distinguish that we've separated our views folder into three classifications for layouts , partials , and pages , where pages occupy the root /views directory. It's important to keep this distinction as our structure affects how we serve up these templates. Configure that Ish Install handlebars: npm install handlebars --save Crack open your app.js file or whatever it is you call that thing. Require handlebars: var hbs = require( 'express-handlebars'); Next we'll configure Express to use Handlebars as the view engine, and tell Express where to find these files: // view engine setup app.set('view engine', 'hbs'); app.engine( 'hbs', hbs( { extname: 'hbs', defaultView: 'default', layoutsDir: __dirname + '/views/pages/', partialsDir: __dirname + '/views/partials/' })); Express assumes by default that we're storing our views in the '/views' folder, which we are. We take this a step further by specifying which subfolders our partials and layouts are in above. We can save pages directly in /views . Notice that we're also setting a default layout. We can override this in our routes if needed, but setting a default layout is useful for loading pages in an html wrapper container page metadata. Kicks on Route 66 Let's create our first route in routes/index.js . We're going to load a view called home into a layout called default : var express = require('express'); var router = express.Router(); router.get('/', function(req, res, next) { res.render('home', {layout: 'default', template: 'home-template'}); }); This will render views/home.hbs into views/layouts/default.hbs , provided are views are set up correctly. We also pass a custom value template which is user-defined; more on that below. Basic Usage Let's finally take a look at our actual Handlebars views. Here's default.hbs :

Best Website

We have three values here: and , and . is a value with double brackets, thus is expecting linear data. We passed template in our route: this sets the body class to equal home-template on the chance that we'll want to apply page-specific styles or logic in the future. is rocking the triple brackets, and is reserved specifically to serve this purpose: loading templates into other templates. Lastly we have . This will load a partial named footer from views/partials/footer.hbs , provided that we create it. The difference between how and are being loaded have to do with a general workflow philosophy; pages are the main event and thus are loaded into layouts by their command. Partials can be called by pages at will whenever we please. There's obviously a lot more to Handlebars- the fun doesn't truly begin until we pull dynamic values from databases or wherever. We'll get there.

- Todd Birchard Read post