Passing variables through the URL is awesome but how do you update, say, the id or the page when there's twenty different variables (index.php?id=2325213&page=30&view=210&sort=213&user=231221). Here's a quick function to create a new URL string that will replace values of specific variables. You can also remove variables which are not necessary.
Working with MySQL and PHP is awesome. Its one of the best way to manage your data, but once in a while you may want to do some randomizing. One problem I came across recently was how to select a random row from your MySQL table with PHP. Using the ORDER BY rand() method in your query maybe a bit slow so here's what we've got.
At some point of working on your website you'll want to back up you MySQL database. This is they key for all of you building dynamic sites. If one day your server goes down or something you may have the files backed up but without the database you'll have to start from scratch again. If you operate a very slow-paced site then manual back up is fine but if you want to backup your database daily then it becomes tedious. I, myself is lazy so I came up with a PHP and Cronjob solution to automatically backup MySQL database.
I've been a bit absent from Crankberry because 1. I've taken on a bit of design work and 2. I've been redoing my portfolio – JerryLow.com. This was not one of those reskin design its a full on rebuild from scratch. I thought it was going to be small but ended up taking a few weeks. A lot of focus on making a smooth and fluid experience. Well if you need a designer or programming check out the hire me button.
It doesn't always have to be "all work and no play makes webmasters a dull person". Here are some comics that can maybe lighten up the day.
As I'm recoding my portfolio right now, I thought to myself – how great would it be to have a thumbnail maker tool. Some PHP or Javascript solution to crop images dynamically without the use of Photoshop. I would hate to fire up Photoshop every time I want to upload something. I'm sure you've all been there before. Anyways I landed upon a script that suited my need exactly. The Rectangle Marquee Tool. The tool looks great but was a bit confusing for me to get working and based on the comment for a few others too. Now I've also done some slight PHP modification to get the script working to my needs and generating the correct thumbnails.
See what I'm mumbling on about right here:
Demonstration of Marquee Tool
If you operate a user registration script on your website you may want to ensure users are protected. There are certain aspects of this you cannot control such as the user's self selected password. Here I have a script that will detect the user's password strength and base on that you could reject the password or just make notice to the user their password's strength.
Between a good design a good development there's a path in between that we all must cross which is converting your design into a functional website. An aspect to really consider now a days is loading time of the website. There are many variables that contribute to a site's load time which includes server and client aspects and everything in between. Today we will focus specifically on loading the images on the site and how you can optimize them for best performance.
Well, the Google Wave has been out for a couple months now and I'm still not sure what's so crazy about this thing. Either way, I've got some invites sitting here, if you're interested in joining the crazy crowd and seeing what this new Google product is all about just leave me a line. Try it out and then let me know how it has worked or not worked for you!
Its been overdone but a friend of mine asked me to show him how to draw a realistic coffee cup in Photoshop, he said he's not using it for web design so I guess I'll show him here. This is what the final result looks like:
