Nov/090
My Development Environment
Occasionally I meet other Web Developers, despite my efforts to avoid them – and one of the very first questions I am asked is what set up I use for developing my websites. After a quick glance around me to check for the presence of any females, I launch into my well rehearsed explanation, and here I share it with the world:
Sep/090
Set Alert per Email Account in Thunderbird with Mailbox Alert
If you’re like me then there’s a high possibility you have more than one account set up within Thunderbird – none of which ever receive any email of any importance, other than your main account. You also may be using Thunderbird as your RSS Reader; with multiple subscriptions in place that alert you of articles that still go without being read.
The issue I had here is that I did not want an audio alert when an RSS feed was updated, or when one of my Admin email address for a website of mine received an enquiry via a contact form. Far too many times I heard the Thunderbird audio alert, ran into my room, each step being like a journey up the stairs to heaven as I anticipate hearing from a loved one – only to trip and fall to the depths of below as I realise it was a mere ‘undelivered email’ notification from my server.
Aug/090
RSS Feed Generation with PHP
RSS Logo
I'm sure many of you can relate to my position, with life being a constant party, I don't have time to check my favourite sites every day. From stepping out of supercars to climbing onto private jets, my crazed antics leave no time for browsing for updates. Thankfully with the advent of RSS, I can set up my feed reader to check for updates periodically, saving up to a full minute - and he who owns a machine capable of getting me from 0-60 in 3.4 seconds should not have to wait for a webpage to load. Yet jokes aside, RSS feeds provide a real benefit, for both users and webmasters - it could be considered the web 2.0 newsletter and creates a bond which exceeds beyond a visit to your site.
In this article I provide a solution I make use of on my sites to generate an RSS feed each time a new article is posted, covering each aspect from reading the data off a mysql database to running file operations that create and write the XML file. Read on for a summary of RSS and the steps needed to achieve syndication bliss ...
Aug/090
Turn URLs into clickable links with the Firefox Linkification Add-on
Text URLs made click-able
As a heavy computer user, I am forever looking for shortcuts - any tweak or tool to make my daily life that little bit easier. I wouldn't put that down to being lazy, I'd say it's more to do with wanting to be as productive as possible. Although if I spent my time working rather than looking for shortcuts, by now I would have made enough money to last me the rest of my life - providing I'm dead by next Tuesday.
The Problem at hand
By default, browsers assume little - in an effort to be compatible and render pages as intended, it is left to the developers and content writers to state functionality. This applies to links, where domain names and URLs are not click-able by default. This was only ever a minor inconvenience but with the ever growing popularity of forums and blogging, content can now be placed online by those having no programming skill. This is of course a positive and important step in the sharing of information online - yet one side effect is that it is increasingly common to find URLs and domain names posted without being coded into links.
Aug/090
Guide to simple batch photo watermarking
Screenshot of the program
It happens to all of us, we catch Megan Fox strolling through our local supermarket - she catches your eye and teasingly winks before placing her hands on her hips and throwing her head back - while you casually pull out your camera phone. You return home, post the picture on the internet, only to find that other sites on the internet have managed to get the exact same shot - after your initial amazement at how coincidental the event is, you realise your photo has simply been stolen. One way to protect against this is to watermark the image to identify it as yours.
In the most simple case, a watermark can be a plain text URL of your website but can be as complex of a logo image as you'd place. This guide illustrates a simple method to watermark a group of photos, suitable in the scenario where you have an album of photos taken at an event and want to upload these to your website or facebook profile to share with the world, while keeping credit.
Aug/090
A journey of a thousand miles…
Dear internet - this is the start of my journey.
The last 21 years are irrelevant.
Welcome to a blog of software, internet and life lessons.
As a computer science graduate who is about to start a masters in Web Technology, I'll be writing guides of computing and web development. As a fitness freak I'll be posting about my workouts and progress. As a lover of all things music I'll be posting on my findings and thoughts. But most importantly, as a person, I'll document events that we all go through - maybe my accounts will aid you in some way, at least to help you realise that life could be so much worse. Hah, lets see where this takes us...
"sometimes life isn't the party we hoped for
but since we're here, we should dance"
I have just decided to learn a new language. Wanting to give myself a tough time, it's not a common one. More info to follow!
Update: With Software and Web Develop to be such a large focus of this blog, I've decided to focus on those topics - and have launched my personal blog which will cover other aspects of my life such as fitness and music.