Programming « Web Design Ideas

Archive for the ‘Programming’ Category

Is HTML5 Really Going To Replace Flash? Proof Is Here!

Friday, July 30th, 2010

Well for most of the practical uses, according to Apple, it just might. A new section on the Apple’s website dedicated specifically to HTML5 and the proof that “we” don’t really need Flash anymore. When I read about this first in a WebDesigner magazine, and even heard about this earlier, I thought it was just talk and propaganda Jobs was throwing around because he did not like Flash for some personal reasons, but after checking out what they’ve built and seen with my own eyes what can be done without Flash I could not believe my eyes.

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Tags: Flash, html5, support
Posted in Flash, Programming, Resources | 5 Comments »

Quick PHP Check if Your Server Supports cURL

Friday, May 21st, 2010

Some software and plugins out there require support of cURL and some website hosting service providers disable support for cURL for “security purposes”. So here is a quick way to check if your server supports cURL before you shell out a nice chunk of cash on that new plugin or software.

Create a PHP page with the following code in it:

<?php

function _iscursupported() {
if (in_array (‘curl’, get_loaded_extensions())) {
return true;
}
else{
return false;
}
}

if (_iscurlsupported()) echo “cURL is supported”; else echo “cURL is NOT supported”;

?>

Save and upload the page to your server and then open it up in a browser. The answer lies within.

Ok, later.

~ Valik

Tags: cURL, Hosting, server
Posted in Programming, Web Hosting | No Comments »

Adding reCaptcha To A Custom Contact Form Page On WordPress

Saturday, December 5th, 2009

no-spam
Image credit: Madison Magazine

At first I thought this was going to be easy, just install the WordPress reCaptcha plugin and add a couple of lines to the form and that should do it. Once I was ready to go and actually do it, I could not find any info on teh web on how to do this, so after two hours of research and trial and error I found the answer. I hope this will help someone out there.

I am building a custom contact page with a PHP contact form on it. I need the reCaptcha to sit at the bottom of the form and keep Spammers out.

First we needed to go and register an account at reCaptcha.net and get the public and private key for the domain the reCaptcha is going on. Then download the reCaptcha library PHP file that will be including in the form processing code.
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Tags: contact forms, forms, recaptcha, WordPress
Posted in Programming, WordPress | 7 Comments »

Some More jQuery Resources & Apps

Monday, February 16th, 2009

fancybox

There are more and more awesome examples of jQuery apps and uses that I find. This one is a list of 50+ stunning jQuery applications that is posted over at DeveloperSnippets.com. I’m going to keep adding the jQuery info that I find to this blog, so next time you need some info, remember to come here to WDI and search for the keyword “jquery” and you’ll get a list of great resources on this topic.

Tags: javascript. apps, jQuery, Programming
Posted in Programming, Resources | 1 Comment »

3 Practical Ways To Efficient CSS

Wednesday, January 21st, 2009

Most probably already know this but it doesn’t hurt to remind and have it down on “paper”. When writing CSS code and as you adjust things to make it all look good in the browser your CSS file becomes huge with extra lines of unneeded code that can be purged to make the size of the file smaller. All though this is not a complete list, this is practical and easy to remember steps that really make a difference. What I am talking about is Shorthand, Default Values and Multiple Declaration.

Shorthand

There are several elements that you can apply shorthand to font, border, background, padding & margin.

font


 Instead of declaring:

font-family:   Arial;
font-size:        12px;
line-height:   18px;
color:              #333;

You can say all that in one sentence:

font: 12px/18px #333 Arial;

border


 Instead of declaring:

border-color:    #ccc;
border-width:    1px;
border-style:      solid;

You can say all that in one sentence:

border: 1px solid #ccc;

background


 Instead of declaring:

background-color:         #fff;
background-image:        url(images/bg.gif);
background-position:    top;
background-repeat:        no-repeat;

You can say all that in one sentence:

background: #fff url(images/bg.gif) top no-repeat;

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Tags: CSS, efficiency
Posted in Programming, Recommended, Resources | No Comments »

jQuery Proves Very Usefull…

Friday, January 16th, 2009

Aha! Now we’re talking…SmashingMagazine just published 45+ New jQuery Techniques For Good User Experience. This is what I was looking for, it shows examples of what jQuery can do. In a previous article, Not Too Impressed With jQuery, I wrote how I could not find any useful information on how jQuery can be used in a practical web development situation. I was disappointed but at the same time I found MooTools very useful.

This opens more doors for me personally … Sweetness … Gonna go check out the demos…

Tags: JavaScript, jQuery, Programming
Posted in Programming | 2 Comments »

Drag And Drop With JavaScript & CSS

Thursday, January 15th, 2009

It can be used for various purposes but one is sorting things in a list, like a menu. Even WordPress Uses this function in the admin side to order the widgets on the sidebar. Drag and drop lists have many uses and I’ve never made one before so I am goign to follow the tutorial that I found and see if I can make this thing work.

dragdrop

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Tags: CSS, drag and drop, JavaScript
Posted in Programming, Recommended | 4 Comments »

Smashing WordPress Hacks

Saturday, January 10th, 2009

If you do not read Smashing Magazine blog you are missing sooo much!!! Among loads of tools, examples and tutorials, they publish lots and lots of resources. This time I found a Smashing post where Jean-Baptiste Jung put together 10 Killer WordPress Hacks. If you have one or are thinking about using a WordPress blog this is a must-read and a must-bookmark post.

1. Display AdSense Ads to Search Engines Visitors Only
2. Avoid Duplicate Posts in Multiple Loops
3. Replacing “Next” and “Previous” Page Links with Pagination
4. Automatically Get Images on Post Content
5. Create a “Send to Twitter” Button
6. Using Normal Quotes Instead of Curly Quotes
7. Deny Comment Posting to No Referrer Requests
8. Using CSS Sliding Doors in WordPress Navigaton
9. Display a Random Header Image on Your WordPress Blog
10. List Your Scheduled Posts

Awesome hacks!! Go there now: 10 Killer WordPress Hacks

Tags: hacks, Programming, Tools, WordPress
Posted in Programming, Resources | 1 Comment »

MooTools Is Cool

Friday, January 9th, 2009

While on the subject of Object-Oriented Javascript tools and taking a look at jQuery in the previous post Not Too Impressed With jQuery I also looked into MooTools.

MooTools seems to be a lot more useful than jQuery, now I do realize that I did not go too deep into researching either one yet and that they might not have been created to perform similar functions but just from browsing around their websites and looking at demos and reading through some of the documentation, MooTools by far do a better job explaining what it is they’re there for.

The demo section on MooTools has excellent examples of things that can be done with it, jQuery’s demo page has some examples too but half of them don’t even work. The website’s CSS is broken, for IE7 anyway. Yes, I know it is not cool to use IE and I am suppose to use FireFox, and I try but sometimes I just forget and go to my old habits of using IE.

Having said this, I do realize that jQuery is a good tool if I learn how to use it and as Henrik Joreteg said in his comment on the previous jQuery post:

There’s a reason so many major web companies use it. Tons of plug-ins that add the funk. (Not Impressed With jQuery)

But just from my personal opinion and from the “first impression” I will be taking a look at MooTools before I will try jQuery.

Tags: JavaScript, jQuery, mootools, Programming
Posted in Programming | No Comments »

Not Too Impressed With jQuery

Thursday, January 8th, 2009

If you’ve been around the web for any amount of time you’ve probably heard of jQuery. I have also heard of it but never actually looked into it to what it is and what it does. Well…today is the day when I finally decided to check it out.

I went to jQuery.com and looked around, read some of the documentation and did some of the tutorials. Now I only gave it about a couple of hours but I have to admit I did not find it too much useful except for the show/hide text feature. Please, if you are familiar with jQuery and have worked with it and find it useful, please share with us. Tell us how you used it and what you can do with it.

Right now, we’ll take a look at the show/hide text function.