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Launch of TwtTwt – a Twitter service that uses unicode symbols
I'm happy to announce, at last, the launch of TwtTwt; a service that allows Twitter users to insert unicode symbols into their Tweets. The original inspiration came from my use of a JavaScript...
View ArticleOn using IDs in CSS
This year has seen a polite spat between web design “faces” on whether IDs should or should not be used in CSS files. In the blue corner is new kid on the block and CSS Wizardry owner, Harry Roberts,...
View ArticleResponding to slow page rendering on the mobile network
In London, my 3G network connection often has speeds of between 5 and 7mps: which is fine for casual browsing. But when travelling on public transport or at work, speeds are often pathetically...
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Using SVG in web design
Within a few years SVG, rather than PNG, will be the preferred icon format used in web design. Primarily this is because SVG is vector-based and so holds up well on high-DPI screens. I'm not so sure...
View ArticleCoders! Don't forget your CSS print styles!
I rarely read long articles on the desktop instead preferring to print them out. I don't know if there are statistics out there, but I would imagine that this is a common practice. Thankfully there is...
View ArticleIs using @import in CSS really such a performance roadblock?
Just recently I found myself returning to an old style sheet that I had coded last year. It was vanilla CSS written without the help of a pre-processor. Locating and rewriting the CSS involved far too...
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Creating breadcrumbs for Wordpress without an addon.
If you are creating a Wordpress website and you know PHP then it is good practice to avoid third-party plugins wherever possible. There is only minimal peer review of plugins on the Wordpress...
View ArticleUsing CSS3 animation with the JavaScript CSSOM API
One day IE7 and IE8 will die out and be a distant memory just like Netscape 4. JavaScript libraries like jQuery won't disappear but they'll be a lot less essential when all browsers conform to W3C...
View ArticleBe careful when buying electronic goods from Amazon Associates
Although I use a Mac at home, I also use Windows and Linux. For the latter I use an old CRT monitor. It weighs more than an elephant, but the colours and font-rendering is excellent. When LSD screens...
View ArticleCreating a reusable JavaScript form validation class
Just recently I was looking at some of my old code. For a website build I had used HTML5 form validation with a JavaScript fallback. The form itself was a long one and I had created a module that saved...
View ArticleA PHP class to create a Wordpress custom post type with dynamic metaboxes
On a theme I have been working on there was the need to create dynamic metaboxes for a basic jobs listing section. The listing page had four different fields for every job: Title, description, location...
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A quick way to add a URL redirect feature to Wordpress categories
My last job at a large multi-national company before my contract expired was to code their Russian website. A major problem that their Russian team faced was not having the resources to translate...
View ArticleUsing __autoload() in your Object Orientated Wordpress plugin
These days autoloading PHP classes is the industry standard and if you write your plugins using Object Oriented code then you should look to using it too. I've just re-factored my Affiliate Hoover...
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Books that helped me become a professional web developer
I've been working full-time as a web developer since 2009, previously creating my first website with Microsoft's Frontpage in 2002 (remember that?!). Apart from a taking a few modules on an Open...
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Which Content Management System (CMS) is the best?
There are dozens if not hundreds of different Content Management Systems (CMS) in existence. Many of these are free to use and are built using Open Source principles; that is, many different developers...
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Do web designers need to use Dreamweaver?
Adobe's Dreamweaver has been in commercial use for over ten years now and while other's have come and gone Dreamweaver's development and popularity has continued. As a piece of software it is widely...
View ArticleHow to dramatically compress your CSS and Javascript files by using PHP
This is a method that I use to shrink Javascript or CSS files using PHP. You don't need any knowledge of PHP to try this out as you can just cut'n'paste the required code. I've used it quite a few...
View ArticleThe Long Hard Road to a Successful Blogging Career
Let us use a typical real life example as an analogy for creating a successful blog. You move into a new flat in a different city. You spend a great deal of time picking the right flat to move into....
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How to style a HTML form with CSS and NO extra markup
If you haven't read it yet then I strongly recommend that you take a look at Cameron Adams article Fancy Form Design Using CSS if you are really serious about tackling this aspect of web design. It's...
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Styling Drupal file attachments with only CSS
I've been using Ben Sheldon's “shiny upload” code on a relatively busy Drupal site for a while, the idea behind which is to transform the particularly ugly node attachments box on the standard Drupal...
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