Script Perfect

         Random snips of code and bugs

Archive for the ‘Other’ Category

Optimizing Your Website – Speed and Performance

Posted by Tim On September - 14 - 2009

website optimizationNothing like listening to the whirl of your hard drive as the progress bar in your browser slowly creeps forward.  There are so many pitfalls which designers and coders fail to see when designing a website. CMS users beware, you too could be a victim. I have seen many articles on increasing performance as well as lists which show the “Top 10″ items, they are all great but let’s be serious for a moment.

Misuse, abuse, overuse, and just plain ignorance results in slow loading sites, these are not all the same. Sure there is poor code out there, but it can run better and faster than a clean written site when many obstacles are overcome. As high speed internet takes over and bandwidth becomes second to file size we can not lose focus on what is slowing our sites down.
For those who don’t like to read, a top 10 list is at the bottom

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LessConf – Jacksonville FL

Posted by Tim On September - 12 - 2009

It is that time of year, the Less Conf is now registering with some perks! If you are one of the first 200 guests to register you have the option to eat lunch with one of the speakers! The guests this year include Gary Vaynerchuk of WineLibrary, Derek Sivers of CDBaby, Mike McDerment of FreshBooks, Kevin Hale of WuFoo, Des Traynor & Eoghan McCabe of Contrast i.e., David Hauser of Grasshopper, and a special guest which is still unannounced.

The conference will take place on the 17th of October in Jacksonville Florida, hosted at the Times-Union center. The conference will run from 8am to at least 8pm ending with a social gathering. The conference is designed to inform, enlighten, and educate all flavors of web developers, designers, entrepreneurs, and enthusiasts.

Visit LessConf to register!

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PHP and APC – Tutorial

Posted by Tim On September - 12 - 2009

APC is most widely known for allowing the end user to be able to track the progress of file transfers. APC, which stands for “Alternative PHP Cache” does much more than that. Complex and large scale websites can benefit from it’s ability to cache data and as well as its optimization of PHP code.

If you are looking for a tutorial on using APC for tracking file upload progress then visit my tutorial for File Upload Progress

APC does not have a large host of commands, this does not ease the complexity. We will take a look at a few simple functions and explain their use, in addition I will try to explain the practical reasons to use them. There are a few warnings to adhere to when trying utilize alternative PHP cache, these will also be discussed.

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HTML and CSS Templates, Best Free Resources

Posted by Tim On September - 10 - 2009

There comes a time when designing a new layout becomes more than a chore or time becomes your main constraint. When trying to develop a well formed website which is cross browser compliant and validates correctly you could spend days just coming up with a basic format. Thanks to many designers and developers you do not have to do all of the leg work yourself.

This list details some of the best resources I could find which offer free HTML and CSS templates for your website. They are in no particular order but all offer great quality layouts. Enjoy…

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JQuery UI vs. Scriptaculous

Posted by Tim On September - 10 - 2009

scriptaculous vs jquery uiDoll up your website with great effects and widgets by using JQuery UI or Script.aculo.us. It is becoming easier and easier these days to impliment all sorts of effects to your site with just a few lines of code.  One question many people have is which one of these interfaces reigns supreme over the other? The answer is not really that simple considering how many different flavors of designers, code monkeys, and developers there are today.

There has always been a huge argument over the file size when using any plugin… “In the left corner weighing in at 450.5KB is JQuery UI! In the right corner weighing in at 621KB is Scriptaculous!”. It does not seem like that big of a difference, I mean we are only talking about 17oKB difference between the two.  If we were to minimize both of these files and enable file compression on our servers I doubt you could even notice a difference on a good 56KB modem connection. So what are the benefits of using one over another?

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Designing Websites for Mobile Devices

Posted by Tim On September - 7 - 2009

Since the iPhone many cell phone manufacturers are developing their own version of app stores and creating mobile content to try and attract a larger user base. Blackberry (RIM) has made some drastic changes, until recently their mobile phones came with a bite sized amount of memory that could be used for applications. Now that the iPhone and similar phones are out they have bumped their internal memory way up and added microSD capabilities to try and compete.

What this means for web developers is that you have a large potential to attract a rather neglected group of people. Everyone who has a crackberry, iPhone, or mobile Palm is basically walking around with a mini computer strapped to their belt waiting to find your site. Developing a mobile platform is easier than you may think.

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Mod_Rewrite Tutorial for WAMP (modrewrite mod rewrite)

Posted by Tim On September - 3 - 2009

There comes a time where you feel like shoving your head in a car door and slamming it repeatedly, this is that time. Mod_Rewrite made easy, as easy as it gets I guess, it’s like saying “Learn Quantum Physics in 24 Hours”. Well maybe that is not a fair comparison, either way if you are not familiar with regex and/or you are trying to implement mod_rewrite into an existing site you may need to set plenty of time aside to get it all working correctly.

This tutorial is tailored around WAMP for those looking for an easy way to get started shortening those url’s in preparation for that day you upload to the web. This tutorial will break down in a few simple steps how to enable mod_rewrite, how to write your first few basic rules, and some of the common pitfalls.

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About Me

I am an independent web developer and webmaster of many sites. The main goal of Script Perfect is to provide answers to some of the hard to find questions when it comes to website design and coding.

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