Entries from 2015

Position Text Boxes in Photoshop Using X, Y Coordinates

When positioning text boxes in Photoshop, I typically use an existing composition, where the text box is already in the desired location, as a template. If a graphic slips through the cracks with a misaligned text box, I end up moving it pixel by pixel until it looks correct. But there is an easier way which lets you move a text box to an exact location using X, Y coordinates. [Continue reading]

A Faster Way to Block Senders in Outlook

To combat spam, I'm using the Block Sender feature in Outlook. Flagging messages to block is a fairly simple process, but an increasing amount of spam has been making its way into my inbox. The number of steps involved to flag all the messages adds up quickly. So I decided to look to my typical time saver when it comes to Microsoft products, the Quick Access Toolbar. [Continue reading]

Manage Tasks in Outlook: Flag Emails as Tasks Before They Get Lost in the Sent Mail Folder

Part of managing my task list involves monitoring the email requests I send to co-workers. Since I can't remember the details of every request, I flag the messages in Microsoft Outlook so they appear in my task list. The problem is that I don't always remember to go to my Sent Mail folder and flag the requests. And some of them end up being lost. So I am getting into the habit of flagging emails as they are being written. [Continue reading]

Lessons Learned: Follow Hashtags and Hootsuite

Previously, I mentioned that you can utilize Hootsuite to monitor hashtags in social networks like Twitter and LinkedIn. Just be aware that the service may not track hashtags as you expect. Let's take a closer look at using Hootsuite and tracking hashtags. [Continue reading]

Lessons Learned: Responsive Design and the SU4T Website

I was asked to develop a website for a one-day event. The project proved to be an excellent opportunity to sharpen my responsive design skills. Now, I have completed projects here and there where website content was adjusted on the fly to fit different browser window sizes, but I haven't spent much time making an entire website responsive. [Continue reading]

Add Delay Feature to Newsfeed

The newsfeed feature I developed a few years back works as expected. At times, however, I wish it would let me have a post automatically appear after a specific time. Especially now that I'm used to services like HootSuite that allow me to schedule tweets and other social media postings. [Continue reading]

Use MySQL’s Date Functions Instead of PHP’s

Many of the MySQL queries that I create include a date and / or time. My usual place to get this information was from PHP's date() function. At least until I discovered that MySQL has many built-in functions to do the same thing. Let's look at a quick example. [Continue reading]

Import Login Information for Database Connection Scripts

I'm starting to realize that importing the script used to establish a database connections isn't enough. Being able to import a script wherever the database is needed does simplify the process of changing a database password since it only needs to be changed in one place. However, I keep finding reasons to make major revisions to the connection script which usually results in having multiple versions and I don't always have the time to complete the upgrade process. All of those connection scripts need to be updated when the password changes. [Continue reading]

Prevent Browser Windows in Chrome from Closing When Multiple Tabs Are Open: An Alternate Approach

It's common for me to have several browser tabs open at the same time while developing a website. And since I use Google Chrome, I've been looking for a solution to prevent all those tabs from being accidentally closed. There used to be a plugin that worked perfectly, but the plugin is incompatible with the newer versions of Chrome. So my only option, besides switching browsers, was to be extra careful when closing a tab…or so I thought. [Continue reading]

Calculate Distance Between Zip Codes Part 2: Build the Search Engine

With a database full of zip codes, latitudes, and longitudes, you can get all the entries that are within a given radius using the Haversine formula…and a little help from Google. This week's post will build on the work done last time by developing a search engine where users can enter a zip code and a search radius. The script will then output all the records within the given radius. [Continue reading]