Category Archives: Web Development & Tech.

Nikon Coolpix P100 – Part Deux

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I wanted to follow up on a post I made recently where I tried to find out what a non-photographer could do with a so-called “easy to use” point and click camera (Nikon Coolpix p100). The problem is, I feel like on my previous attempt I was trying too hard to fiddle with all the settings. This sort of negated my original goal of finding out how the camera performed in a real-world application.

I wanted to do another post, but only use the camera on the “auto” settings mode. This way, all my pictures could basically be reproduced by anyone using the camera – regardless of their ability to fine-tune the settings.

Over the past few weekends I’ve been taking my daughter out for drives in the morning (sometimes very early) when she wakes up. I figured I could get some pictures, and let my wife sleep for a bit. The pictures below are just a few from these drives.

All pictures were taken using the AUTO mode, with AUTO focus enabled. I did use the zoom. In fact, most of these are zoomed WAY in. I didn’t do anything to the pictures, aside from scaling them way down for use on the web. After all said and done, I think you’ll see that the Nikon Coolpix p100 is in fact a great product for the price. Even the complete amateur (me) can get somewhat decent pictures without need to tinker too much with the settings.

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Using WordPress as a CMS – Posts & Pages

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I seem to be building numerous websites lately that clients want to be able to manage themselves, and I’ve been using WordPress to power them. For years WordPress was considered a blogging tool only, but within the past few releases it’s definitely proving itself as a very capable, light-weight Content Management System (CMS). In fact, aside from a more advanced permissions model, there really isn’t anything I can think of that WordPress can’t be configured to do right out of the box. For a normal, basic website WordPress allows non-developers to manage their own content easily, using an interface that is not too challenging or technically demanding.

For developers, building templates for WordPress just takes a little understanding about what the content of the website is going to be. It’s important to understand when to use the post type “Page” and when to use the post type “Post”. After a lengthy discussion with a client of mine, I wrote out an overview that I figured I’d share in case anyone else was trying to figure out how to use WordPress as more than a blogging tool.

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Create valid xHTML-Strict, Search-Friendly iFrames Using jQuery

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Web Developers continue to argue whether it’s really that important to validate every website using the “Strict DOCTYPE”, or if valid website markup code is really even that important. While this is a discussion for another time, I try to publish every site I author in valid, Strict xHTML. I believe standards are made for a reason, and if you wish to write good code – just follow the standards.

Occasionally I find the need for a page element that is not considered valid xHTML-Strict markup. One big one that has come up is the good ole’ “iFrame” tag. Granted you can always change the DOCTYPE to “Transitional” and still have valid code, or you can use the “Object” tag to get the same results and be valid. In the past I’ve done both of these, but I’d rather use the Strict DOCTYPE and let’s face it; “Object” tags simply do not play nice across browsers.

Also, sometimes you want to embed xHTML strict iFrame Vimeo videos, or Amazon iFrames that are SEO-friendly. I’m sure there are other ways to display this sort of external web content (ajax, CURL), but I’ve yet to find any useful when building simple pages. Regardless, I found what I think is a MUCH better solution to including iFrame content, both technically speaking and considering Search Engine Optimization (SEO; search bots don’t like iFrames).

Note: This outline is designed for people with at least a little to moderate web design and developing experience. Also, this technique is a workaround that is Search Engine friendly for use when iFrame content is inevitable. It should be noted that iFrames are not valid elements for a reason and should be filtered out if possible. While this will allow your pages to “validate”, it’s really just tricking the browser.

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Home network, backup solution – now I can sleep.

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It’s been about two weeks since I updated my home network with a file server and backup drive. So far, the performance is fast and the backup has been flawless. I didn’t have a ton of cash to spend on setting it up, so I went on the “frugal side”. Here is an outline of the set up if anyone is thinking of doing this.

Need

I realized not too long ago that all my music, client work, finances, pictures, emails and everything was in danger of being completely lost in the case of a drive failure. It hit me with an uncomfortable unease to think that I had no way of saving any of this data because I had no copy or backup solution for home (big) media files. I needed to set something up, asap. Once I realized it was all at risk, I became all paranoid about even faintest “odd noise” my laptop made.

I also have a big media collection on my machine (80 or so gigs of mp3s). I share the library across the network to my wife’s laptop, but it’s availability was contingent on my machine being on. And, she could only “read” the files. This meant that I had to actually burn CDs when she wanted one. I wanted a way for her to be able to manage the same library as me, but of course did not want to actually duplicate it on her machine. I also stream media to my PlayStation 3 from my laptop. Again, my machine needed to be on for this to work.

I figured it was time to build a backup solution and media server at home to deal with all this. Besides, I’m a web developer/techie anyways. My home network was lacking to say the least.

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WordPress on PHP 5.3.0, “General Settings” blank screen bug fix.

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I recently ran into a frustrating issue when WordPress (2.8.4) started acting bad once the server was updated to the latest php 5.3.0. The main issue is pretty well documented if you search Google, and is not a WordPress code problem rather a php bug. My issue was that my “General Settings” screen stopped loading, and hung with a mostly blank page. This was nothing more than a pain. I’ll wait to update my php for a real fix, rather than rolling back to 5.2.

Here’s what I did to make the problem go away.

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Track downloads with Google Analytics using jQuery

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If you currently use Google Analytics for website statistics, but want to get even more details on what your visitors are doing on your site – you may want to implement custom event tracking. Using this method, you can track nearly every action a user takes on your site. External link clicks, email link clicks, file downloads and more can all be tracked and recorded. Any webmaster will tell you; the more details you can get about your visitors – the better you can cater to them and increase your return on investment.

I am constantly trying to better my understanding of my site’s visitors. Using custom tracking has allowed me to adjust my content ever-so-slightly, creating a significant increase in conversion rate. For example, one big item has been the ability to track what links people are clicking to leave my sites. I found that there were a few links that got clicked way more than the rest. Using this knowledge, I created content on my site that was similar to the link the users where clicking. After a bit of tweaking, I was able to retain that visitor and increase my conversion rate.

I’ve asked new clients before about their current site activity, and received confused “i have no clue” responses. After installing Google Analytics and generating some reports – the client is always amazed. They had no clue certain pages were the best traffic, or that certain pages rank for certain keywords.The bottom line is this; If you don’t have detailed reports on your web traffic, you’re missing the boat. The method below just adds a new layer of detail to what your site is (or can be) doing.

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Best Web Developer Tools

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I’ve been a developer for nearly ten years. I’ve used a ton of developer tools for code authoring, editing, statistics and debugging. I’ve come to realize that some of the best programs for web developers are not that expensive, in fact – they’re FREE! I wanted to make a quick post and list some of these tools. Hopefully it will help out some of you developers out there.

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