Posted by admin on September 7, 2008 – 8:37 am
I am currently developing a Wordpress widget that displays a tiny map in the sidebar with a marker on the visitors city. It’s not very useful, but its a novelty some bloggers might like to put on their wordpress blogs.
I was looking for an API that could return a visitors city and country. Thanks to the member silv3r_m00n in #php on Freenode I found the perfect API to use for the task. Enter the following URL into your browser: (don’t forget to change the IP to your IP)
http://www.ipmango.com/api.php?ip=yourIPhere
It returns an XML page with the your IP, city, region, country, longitude and lattitude.
Have fun!
Many thanks to IP Mango
Posted by admin on September 6, 2008 – 4:24 pm
After developing a Wordpress theme for a friend I decided to give it a test run under various browsers. I added some dummy content using the WYSIWYG editor in the admin panel and launched Firefox.
The content I added, a list and an image, wasn’t displaying correctly at all. I immediately viewed the source code to try and scope out the problem.
It seems there were various <p> and </br> tags inserted themselves immediately after each new line. I was puzzled. At first I thought it might have been the WYSIWYG editor, so I disabled it in Wordpress and tried again.
The same thing happened!!!
I searched Google for at least an hour and found nothing. I tried all the various fixes and nothing seemed to work. In the end I joined the IRC channel on Freenode and asked a few members.
It seems a filter that’s built into Wordpress causes the problem. The fix is amazingly easy! Here is how to fix it:
- Locate the folder of the theme you are using (for example wp-content/themes/default)
- Within the folder is a functions.php file (if there isn’t a functions.php file, create one)
- Open the file and add this line:
remove_filter( 'the_content', 'wpautop' );
There you go – its fixed! I hope that saved you the frustration it caused me.
Posted by admin on September 4, 2008 – 7:28 am
I had this book in its .PDF format for a good 6 months, and decided its about time I put my hand in my pocket and make a paperback purchase. The authors put alot of effort into the book, so they deserve my money. Its a fantastic book for anyone wanting to learn C.
My reason for learning C would not be approved by the majority of readers, but thats besides the point. It transformed me into someone who knew nothing about C into someone who knows how to use C.
The book covers the C language structure, the standard library, pointers and arrays, Unix interface etc. As you progress through the book you will get deep into C programming. If you’re a competent learner you will grasp C in no time.
Posted by admin on September 2, 2008 – 7:03 am
As those who know me already know I spend amazing amounts of money on magazines. This months magazines came through this morning.
Usually I get Computer Arts, Linux Magazine and Imagine FX, but I have to go to WHSmith to collect those.
Posted by admin on August 31, 2008 – 1:22 pm
Image of CSS Master Book
From a personal view I would say CSS Mastery is the best book for learning CSS. The author, Andy Budd, covers everything from Doctypes, Backgrounds, Image Replacement, Positioning, Specificity, Lists, Browser Bugs, layouts, Hacks & Filters, Tables plus more!
At the start of each section the author lists a problem, such as Image Replacement, and then gives you a selection of solutions to the problem. The author will then explain the best method and why.
Its a very detailed book that covers near enough every aspect of CSS. I purchased this book about a year ago, and at the time my CSS was a little scratchy. After reading this book my skill level improved and it opened my eyes to the power of CSS.
Posted by admin on August 31, 2008 – 1:05 pm
Image of Javascript - The Definitive Guide Book
I’ve had this book on the shelf for nearly a year and began reading it when I was learning JavaScript. Douglas Crockford mentioned it in one of his YUI videos and rated it above any other JavaScript book on the market.
I only used it to go over the basics of JavaScript and I sometimes flick back to the chapter on Object-Orientation. The majority of the time I use it as a quick reference whenever I forgot something.
The chapeter on the XMLHttpRequest object (AJAX) is very detailed! I find myself flicking to that chapter every now and then.
This is the only JavaScript book on my shelf that I actually read, and it has never let me down.
Posted by admin on August 31, 2008 – 8:08 am
James and Rachel
Thought I’d drop you all a picture of me and the girlfriend (Rachel). Been together over 4 years now and still going strong.
Posted by admin on August 30, 2008 – 11:19 am
transcending CSS Book
Just got Transcending CSS by Andy Clarke, and although I have only flicked through the pages I have got a feeling it’s going to be a decent read. I have read alot of reviews about this book on various websites and the majority of them are all good.
Whilst my CSS skills are generally pretty good, it never hurts to recap on what you have forgotten or don’t know.
As I was flicking through the pages I can say they looked well presented and the examples are easy to understand and follow.
Once I have read the book I will post and honest book review online.
Posted by admin on August 22, 2008 – 8:30 am
SRP stands for Secure Remote Password and is a secure protocol for authentication on new and existing network applications. In cryptography SRP is considered very secure, and because of the way the protocol works it would make an ideal candidate for authentication on the web.
Due to the processes involved within the algorithm, SRP has to reply on JavaScript for browser based applications. JavaScript is still disabled in many browsers, assistive devices and other web browsing mediums, so it would not be feasible, at present, to implement SRP into existing web applications.
I was going to write a quick introduction and example on SRP but seen as the Stanford team have already done that, it’s probably worth checking out their introduction and tutorials: http://srp.stanford.edu/
Posted by admin on August 15, 2008 – 4:44 am
For all those who are wondering why my blog is empty it’s because I have been having connection problems and was unable to use the internet for just over 2 weeks.
I am back online now though. I have a few articles related to PHP that I plan to upload later today or tomorrow.