ITT #8: Finding the Right Tools

In web development, as with most crafts, you're not limited by your tools. However, having said that, it's also arguable that having the right tools can help turn a skilled programmer into a master (or at least give that extra edge to increase speed and accuracy while simultaneously reducing stress levels and the murderous impulses that accompany staring at code snippets that "can't possibly be wrong!").

In this installment of Instant Tip Tuesday, I'll be sharing the tools I use to keep my productivity high and my blood pressure low.

1. Eclipse SDK

Eclipse Screenshot

First and foremost, every developer should have their development kit. I've used several different development environments over the years, and I found, with many of them, that I had trouble switching between the programming languages I... read more

ITT #7: Dynamically Change Width and Height in HTML Markup

A Quick Note from the Guest Author Hello everyone, I'm Brenley Dueck or better known as Brenelz. I currently run my own business called Brenelz Web Solutions which focuses primary on web design in winnipeg. The web technologies I most specialize in are CSS, jQuery, AJAX, PHP, and the MySQL database. Please make sure to visit my web design blog and follow me on twitter.

Defining the Problem

In a recent project I was working on we had to allow the client to embed videos within the site. This had to be done using an easy-to-use customized CMS. The thought is that they can take the embed code right off the YouTube site and save it to the DB for use throughout the site.



YouTube's... read more

ITT #6: PHP Arrays as Return Values

In this installment of Instant Tip Tuesday, we're going to talk about arrays in PHP. According to the PHP manual, an array is "an ordered map that associates values to keys." The benefit of using arrays is that we can pack a ton of data into one variable, which means we can pass that data back through a function.

What's So Cool About Passing Arrays?

I use arrays as return values to keep my processing of data separate from the formatting of said data. This is done in an effort to make code maintenance easier in the future. For example, look at the following code:

<html> <body> <?php require_once '_db/mysql.php'; // Connect to the database $data = getDataFromDB("blog", 5); // returns latest 5 blog entries ... read more

ITT #5: Transparent Overlay with Slide-Out Description

I'm going to try something a little different this week and talk about CSS. I'm working on a client project that needed to overlay a PNG over the top of various thumbnails in order to make the thumbnails sit in nicely with the design. I'd never done anything like this before, so I thought it might be worth sharing.

If you're deeply offended that I've strayed away from programming-related posts, let me know in the comments, but don't worry! I added some jQuery in for good measure!

View the Demo | Download the Files

The Markup

I'm a firm believer in using as few HTML elements and classes as possible. I also really hate seeing empty elements that only exist to have styles applied to them, so I try to make sure that every... read more