Browsing Category: "Web Development"
Test Mail Server Tool
Web Development November 3rd, 2008
a full featured mail (SMTP) server emulation to test mail sending capabilities of a web or desktop application or to preview messages before they are actually sent. This is a great tool for web programmers or application developers who need mail server for tests but don’t want to install one.
Adios ILoveJackDaniels.com
Digg, Web Development, PHP Big Name Sites August 28th, 2008
Bureaucracy, politics, lawyers and money overcome. ILoveJackDaniels.com, one of the biggest cheat sheet provider for us developers in this world, it’s gone and become something else. David cheat sheets already helped me a lot, so let’s give the guy a help back. Check out his new site and the history about the domain name issue: http://www.addedbytes.com/blog/what-happened-to-ilovejackdaniels-dot-com/
Creating a template for Joomla 1.5
Joomla, Great Ideas, graphic design, Web Development, FireFox, PHP July 2nd, 2008
There is not too much secret to create a template for Joomla 1.5. The concept is the same as breaking a design for any site and you just need to know some content anchors and some “must have” files to make it work.
Let’s start with the “must have files”. No matter what kind of template you are building you will need the following:
- index.php
- templateDetails.xml
- template_thumbnail.png
- a css folder with template.css (or whatever name you want to use.css) inside
- a images folder with at least the logo.png file (must have this name)
If you have this, your template is half away to be complete.
The templateDetails.xml is tricky and it have changed from the 1.0.x version to the 1.5.x version. Anyway this file must have the following parameters:
- xml opening tag: <?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”utf-8″?>
- install open with version and type described: <install version=”1.5″ type=”template”>
- name: this will be the name displayed on joomla for your template, but it will be as well the directory of the template
- creationDate
- author
- copyright
- authorEmail
- authorUrl
- version: the version of the template
- description: the description that will be shown for the administrator on joomla
- and files: all the files that you use on your template
- with filenames (off course has to contain the “most have” files)
Now all you need to do is break the design and attach the content anchors on your file and this is how it works. When you go the module manager on Joomla you will see a bunch of module positioning availabe. Copy those names, you will need them. They are the current anchors that you have available to use on your template. You can definitly change what module is on which positioning on the module manager, and that can affect the use of your template.
Anyway, for any module positioning on your template, let’s say, left, you will use the following command:
<jdoc:include type=”modules” name=”modulename: left for example” />
You don’t need to write a html header, those Joomla will take care of, but you will need to tell Joomla to do that and for that you will need to use:
<jdoc:include type=”head” />
At the very first line of your index.php you will need to test if you can execute Joomla. It’s required for the template. Anyway, you still have to work out some other checks needed for Joomla to work, so this is how your header must be:
“<?php
defined( ‘_JEXEC’ ) or die( ‘Restricted access’ );
JPlugin::loadLanguage( ‘tpl_SG1′ );
?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd”>
<html xmlns=”http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml” xml:lang=”<?php echo $this->language; ?>” lang=”<?php echo $this->language; ?>”>
<head>
<meta http-equiv=”Content-Type” content=”text/html; <?php echo _ISO; ?>” />
<?php if ($my->id) { initEditor(); } ?>
<jdoc:include type=”head” />
<link rel=”stylesheet” href=”templates/system/css/system.css” type=”text/css” />
<link rel=”stylesheet” href=”templates/<?php echo $this->template ?>/css/template_css.css” type=”text/css” />
</head>
Now, construct your template how it should be. Add the anchors and for the content area, add the following anchor:
<jdoc:include type=”component” />
You are done. Keep these tips and tricks in mind and you will create a Joomla Template in no time.
Best Feedback System I’ve Seen To Date | Two Guys One Beer
Cool Shit, Great Ideas, UI Design, Web Development July 1st, 2008
Check out the feedback system they are using from (Updated: uservoice ). Best one i’ve seen so far.
Episode 12 - Viewer’s Recommended Brews | Two Guys On Beer
Unique Horizontal Scrolling Non Flash Navigation
Great Ideas, UI Design, Web Development June 25th, 2008
Phorsite.com has a unique horizontal scrolling navigation. I’ve seen this navigation before on flash sites. It is an intriguing effect. From a UI point of view, there are some issues. I clicked the “More Info” button on the homepage and didn’t realize that I was now on the solutions page. So I then clicked “solutions” tab at the top and received no interaction from the site at all.
Google webmaster tools
Great Ideas, Google, SEO, optimization, Web Development June 18th, 2008
There’s no easier way to add your site to Google index than using Google Webmaster tools.
The steps are simple: You create an account (if you don’t have one), add your site and verify it.
There are 2 ways to verify the site, you can either add a meta tag with one code that the tool will provide you or you can create a .html file with the code.
Once your site is verified, you will access usuable information such as:
- If your site is indexed (surprising enough, I had one that wasn’t)
- How Google webcrawler see your site
- Adding a site map only for helping the web crawlers (more known as Google bot)
- Keywords and phrases most searched
- Manage how fast the web crawler will search for your site (I’m still trying to understand how this works and why should affect your index position)
- Add tabs on your iGoogle with all information for each site you manage
- some other stuff that might be useful
I do recommend to use Google Analytics and AdWords together with the info from the webmaster tools to get more traffic to your site.
Setting PHP INI Settings with .htaccess
Cool Shit, Joomla, Web Development, PHP June 13th, 2008
Sometimes you just don’t have access to the PHP INI and now what?
It’s pretty simple, just use the .htaccess file to set the PHP.INI setting that you need.
For instance setting down Register Globals you would use:
php_flag register_globals off
Firefox 3 RC1 Released
Web Development, FireFox May 29th, 2008
I’m one of the biggest fans of the Firefox browser and I’m also a bigger fan of the Firebug extension.
As a developer, seeing how the page is being displayed and how the site is working is essential and Firefox and Firebug combined became a big tool for the development process.
Today I have received an email from a friend telling me that Firefox 3 RC1 just became available for download. As advertised, the new release is much faster comparing to the stable version and the interface and browser messages became much more friendly.
I must admit that I loved the new version, but Firebug extension does not work with this current release and one of my favorite tools for development is gone. This was definitely a downer.
I have returned to the old stable Firefox version and I will keep like that until the new version of Firefox and Firebug can work together again.
The Top Ten Stupid Ways to Hinder Market Adoption
Web Development May 26th, 2008
How to Change the World: The Top Ten Stupid Ways to Hinder Market Adoption
This list caught my eye simply because of Rule #1. I have an argument with a customer monthly regarding how much information they should request on registration, how much they should require, and how many site features the user has access to before registration is required.
Enforced immediate registration. Requiring a new user to register and provide a modicum of information is a reasonable request—I just think you should do it after you’ve sucked the person in. Most sites require that registration is the first step, and this puts a barrier in front of adoption. At the very least, companies could ask for name and email address but not require it until a later time.
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