Beware of the Trash in JotForm

JotForm is an excellent tool for building online forms. The problem with the service is they're a little stingy with storage space. This could be an issue if you accept file uploads. If you do, it's a good idea to clear out form submissions regularly. Just keep in mind that clearing submissions doesn't always free up space. [Continue reading]

Build Forms Quickly with JotForm

For those developing forms online (or if you want to), have you heard of JotForm? It's simple to use and it provides most of the features needed to build forms without knowing any code. Plus, they can be customized with CSS. There are even some useful features like having forms remember what visitors type. If someone's computer crashes while filling out the form, the information will be repopulated when the form is opened again. Let's take a quick peek at JotForm. [Continue reading]

Mid-Year Review: 2013 Goals

My goals for 2013 were posted at the end of last year. Instead of waiting until the end of this year, I wanted to share the progress towards meeting those goals. Some are going better than others to say the least. With a few course corrections, hopefully I can get back on track. [Continue reading]

Understanding How the Modulus Operator Works

I've used the modulus operator in PHP for a while, but I didn't truly understand how it works. Now, I know how to divide. I also know that the modulus operator returns the remainder when one number is divided by another. However, my calculation just didn't match the returned result. So let's look at where I went wrong. [Continue reading]

Build HTML Tables Dynamically with PHP Part 3: CSS Alternative

Using HTML tables for design is typically frowned upon in the Web community and the last two posts talked about using tables to display pictures and names in rows of three. For those unfamiliar with the CSS alternative, I didn't want to leave you hanging. So let's look into solving our problem with CSS. [Continue reading]

Build HTML Tables Dynamically with PHP Part 2: Simplify with array_chunk()

Last week we built an HTML table on the fly using PHP. The process required a counter for monitoring which column was being displayed and some tests to determine when to add row tags. Let's look into simplifying the process with a built-in PHP function called array_chunk(). [Continue reading]

Build HTML Tables Dynamically with PHP Part 1

There is a built-in PHP function which would have really been useful back when using HTML tables for design was popular. Instead of setting up counters and testing when to add the opening and closing tags, we could have just read in the data and displayed it. Let's pretend we're back in the heyday of table hacking and look how the function saves time. [Continue reading]

Reduce Hassle with Ad-Blocking Plug-ins

Installing ad-blocking plug-ins within my browser has been on my mind for a while now. There just haven't been a lot of reasons to follow through with the installation process. It's not that the plug-ins are difficult to install; it's actually very simple. It's just been easy enough to ignore much of the advertisements out there. There have been a number of websites, however, which are trying hard to make ads difficult to miss. Some even resort to trickery for getting a few clicks. [Continue reading]

Using phpMyAdmin as a Checklist for Columns Used in a Script

One of my many coding habits I've been changing is the use of select all (SELECT *) in MySQL queries. Scripts usually don't need all the columns and grabbing unnecessary data reduces efficiency. Fixing the references usually involves me digging through the code, remembering the column names actually being used, and updating the query. This method works well when there are only a few columns to worry about. It gets more complicated with more columns or when they're used throughout a large script. That's where phpMyAdmin comes to the rescue. [Continue reading]

Modify Profile Pictures within Facebook

For a while now, I thought Facebook removed the option for editing profile pictures. The feature was useful for pictures that the social network crops incorrectly. Maybe the text within the image was cut or the picture isn't framed as desired. I'm fairly certain that there used to be a second step in the upload process for profile pictures. The extra step asked us to crop and position the picture, but that appears to have changed. However, profile pictures can still be modified. The process has just been separated—and somewhat hidden. [Continue reading]