Entries from 2012
Goals for 2013
Reading "New Year's Resolution" by Marc Towler inspired me to share my own goals for 2013. Some of them have been on my mind for years now. However, little work has been done toward accomplishing the goals. As the Get-It-Done Guy says, "When you publicly say you'll do something, you're just more likely to do it." So here it goes. [Continue reading]
Compose E-mails Faster with Outlook Quick Parts
Over the years, I've found myself writing certain things again and again when e-mailing customers and clients. To save time from composing essential the same message, I tried looking for similar messages in the Sent Mail folder to use as a template. However, it can be difficult to locate those messages. That's where Microsoft's Quick Parts come in. [Continue reading]
Scrolling through a Page Quickly with Keyboard Shortcuts
When viewing pages on the Web, there are a number of ways to get around. Interacting with the browser's scroll bar is one of the more tedious options, in my opinion. Let's speed up the process with keyboard shortcuts. [Continue reading]
How to Avoid Conflicting Variable Names
On occasion, variables in PHP may conflict. This is easy to avoid when all the code appears in a single file. What happens when code is scattered throughout the website? Maybe there are variables tucked away in a template file which is brought in with a PHP include. How do you avoid conflicting variables within a file that's used by many other pages on the website? [Continue reading]
Mysteriously Changing Font Sizes When Viewing Websites
When browsing the Web, has the text ever mysteriously gotten smaller or larger? If so, you're not alone. There have been many times where I'm working with a website and all of a sudden something doesn't look right. I used to think that a mistake was made in the code, but it turns out that my mouse was the culprit. [Continue reading]
Before Deleting a Database Table, Change Its Name
When a MySQL table is no longer needed, it could be deleted. However, are you sure that the necessary changes have been made so that the website is no longer connected to the table? It's tough to know for sure when the old database table is still available for querying. If the table is removed and it's still being used, it takes time to fix the connection(s). The database table could be restored until everything is fixed, but that's going to take time also. Instead, let's consider renaming the table before permanently deleting it. [Continue reading]
Remove Test Code Quickly with a Simple Dreamweaver Search
Adding test code throughout your scripts may be necessary for troubleshooting or adding new features, but how do you go about removing the code? In a previous post, a few techniques for locating the blocks of test code were discussed, but the code still needs to manually removed. Instead, let's tap into Dreamweaver's search for HTML tag feature. [Continue reading]
Minimizing MySQL Queries with the implode() Function
After seeing the many warnings that MySQL queries shouldn't be executed within loops, I finally broke down and figured out an alternate solution for the majority of queries where I use loops. Most times, a loop feels necessary when one database table contains the core information and another has multiple entries of supporting information. Instead of going for the typically loop, let's look at using the implode() function. [Continue reading]
Building the Where Clause for MySQL Dynamically
There are a number of ways to dynamically build the WHERE clause for a MySQL query. You could, for example, run several if() statements in the middle of a query. Or one could tap into the power of the implode() function. [Continue reading]
Going Live with Incomplete Code; Is It Okay?
Even though it isn't required, should code be left incomplete? For example, the last property/value pair in a CSS declaration doesn't need a semi-colon. The code validates and functions normally. So why worry about that last character? [Continue reading]
