DomainFunk.com

Parsing XML: XML to HTML using PHP!

DomainFunk.com — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 08:31:59 +0000

Lately I just finished scripting a nice little system that randomizes and publishes content based on an XML feed provided by partner content sponsor. While doing some research for this, I came to know I wasn’t the lone one who wanted to install such a system. The web app, for which I wrote this system, runs a script every week creating new .html files from an XML content feed and keeps creating these plain .HTML files on the fly, in essence growing my content library every week

Hope this comes in hand to you guys out there looking for this.

The Simple Parser

I needed a simple parser which would not need XSLT and the size of the parser would remain small. Since the parser would be placed as a cron job, I needed it to be simple and without the complexities of XSLT. So here is part of the code that made the parser worked.


$doc = new DOMDocument(); //We create a new DOM object.

$doc->load(’samplefeed.xml’,LIBXML_DTDLOAD|LIBXML_DTDATTR); //load all elements of the XML feed. Using LIBXML_DTDLOAD we  load external subset and use LIBXML_DTDATTR to set the default DTD attributes, both are PHP Lib XML constants.

$contentitems = $doc->getElementsByTagName( “books” ); // we are now fetching the elements, and with this statement fetching all elements enclosed within the  tags.
foreach($contentitems as $contentitem)

{
$titles = $contentitem->getElementsByTagName( “title” );

$title = $titles->item(0)->nodeValue; //we are not taking the values from each element nodes.
$authors = $metadata->getElementsByTagName( “byline” );

$author = $authors->item(0)->nodeValue;
$ISBNS = $metadata->getElementsByTagName( “isbn” );

$ISBN = $ISBNS->item(0)->nodeValue;
//below we are starting an HTML file and using a PHP variable to hold it.
$html = ‘
’;
/*main article starts here */
$html = $html.$title.”
”;

$html = $html.$author.”
”;

$html = $html.$ISBN.”
”;
$html =’

/*footer part of the html page */

’;
$ourFileName = “feedarticles/”.trim($title).”.html”; //keeping the title the same as

$ourFileName = str_ireplace(”?”,”",$ourFileName); //removing characters that get attached during char-set conversions or shall we say non-conversions.

$ourFileName = str_ireplace(”_”,”",$ourFileName);

$ourFileName = str_ireplace(”:”,”",$ourFileName);

$ourFileName = str_ireplace(”;”,”",$ourFileName);

$ourFileName = str_ireplace(”‘”,”",$ourFileName);
echo $ourFileName.” creating the file “; //Just echoing the statement while creating the file.

$ourFileHandle = fopen($ourFileName, ‘w’) or die(”can’t open file”); //init the file handle

fwrite($ourFileHandle, $html);//write the file.

fclose($ourFileHandle);//close the file handle.
}
?>
The XML Page
The below is the SampleFeed.xml file, with the fields that will be parsed.



Java Server Pages

SAMS

1234
Logistics

Tata Mcgraw Hil

5678



Note
Albeit, there are better and newer ways of parsing XML using PHP, this was suitable for me, because its pretty simple code  and it works wonders!
Resources
Here are both files zipped up, make sure the permissions are setup right for directories that you want to user write these files into. Here is the entire Simple XML Parser zip, that creates .html files from XML feeds.



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Jquery Feedback Tab
DomainFunk.com — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 13:08:35 +0000
  

Every one must have visited, one of the many interactive websites, with a feedback tab on the side or on the top, this tab keeps following as you scroll. Ever wondered, gee, how do I get that ? No? Yes? Well I did and I found out there are companies out there charging a bomb for this service/product.
So I set out on a quest to get me one of my own feedback tab. Since I love Jquery, I started to hunt for a jquery feedback tab, and I built one, with the help of a nifty plugin. Want to know how to do it?
Here’s how..
jQuery Feedback Tab Requirements
To get started we need the  latest Jquery release from here and a nifty jQuery based plugin, known as boxy.js from here. These two would give us the feedback effect you see on this site. Other than these two we require an image, or alternatively you can just have a div if you did like, for the side “Feedback” tab. You can download all of my jquery feedback tab files from here.
jQuery Feedback Tab Code
Here’s the code required in your page (File) which would be where you would require the jquery feedback tab. Alternatively, if you have a content management system, like wordpress or joomla, you could use the header or the index files, accordingly, if you need help, just drop us a comment or two  




1: 
2: 
 
3: 




The above three lines import the .css file required, that you can play around with and import/include the jquery.js file and the boxy.js plugin file. Make sure the “src” path is set up right, with the proper relative path for these scripts.




4: $(function() {
5:    /* set global variable for boxy window */
6:    var contactBoxy = null;
7:    /* what to do when click on contact us link */

8:    $(’.contact_us’).click(function(){
9:        var boxy_content;
10:        boxy_content += “
”;
11:       boxy_content += “
Subject
Your name and/or email:
Comment:

>\” />”;
12:        boxy_content += “
”;
13:        contactBoxy = new Boxy(boxy_content, {
14:            title: “Send feedback”,
15:            draggable: false,
16:           modal:true,
17:            behaviours: function(c) {
18:                c.find(’#feedbacked’).submit(function() {
19:                    Boxy.get(this).setContent(”
Sending…
”);
20:                    // submit form by ajax using post and send 3 values: subject, your_email, comment
21:                    $.post(”http://tweetfeat.com/wp-content/themes/default/suggest.php”, { subject: c.find(”input[name='subject']“).val(), your_email: c.find(”input[name='your_email']“).val(), comment: c.find(”#comment”).val()},
22:                    function(data){
23:                      /*set boxy content to data from ajax call back*/
24:                        contactBoxy.setContent(”
”+data+”
”);
25:                    });
26:                    return false;
27:                });
28:            }
29:        });
30:        return false;
31:    });

32: });




The above code is responsible for creating the modal box, just like the ones we see with facebook.com. The code is very self explanatory, again if you have any questions feel free to ask in the comments. There are comments above that would be of help to some.




33: #feedback{
34: position:fixed;
35: width:50px;
36: height:150px;

37: top: 150px;
38: z-index:1;

39: }




The above is the CSS code for the tab, now the tab can be an image or div or both, like in our case we have both, a div with the background as a gradient and the foreground being the text “Feedback”.




40: 





Place the above code just after the  tag. Since the position of the div is fixed, it would be appearing outside the normal frame of the browser.
Conclusion:
I hope this post would save you the cost for the feedback being implemented, as a give away, our first five followers would get a “Free Jquery Feedback Tab” installation from us. All you have to do is subscribe and leave a comment!
Download Entire jQuery Feedback Tab Source Code, With Example. Click Here.
Resources
For more on boxy, I suggest visiting @ http://onehackoranother.com/projects/jquery/boxy/



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Iframe and jQuery
DomainFunk.com — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 13:18:13 +0000
  
Most web masters have, or will, come across the “ol’ iframe resizing dilema”. I know, I have and How! I have tried any and everything from javascript ot PHP to resize the iFrame window according to the size of the page loaded within. And more often than not, failed miserably, because of the cross server scripting security instilled in every browser and platform.
Well, not until recently, with the help of jQuery I was able to resize the iFrame height even with the cross server security of all browsers and it was something that bought a smile to my face and simply because it did, I am in love with jQuery. Here’s how to…
The Problem statement.
The below code will guide you through the entire process of getting your iframe resized, even if the page loaded within the iframe is from a different server. I am still working on this code, to get the iframe resized exactly as the size of the page within the iframe, and as soon as I figure that one out, it will be out here.
The Idea.
For the resizing to work, we need a 
 to envelope the . And instead of resizing the iframe we resize the div to height and width we want…
The Code.
1. 

2. 
3. <script type=“text/javascript” src=“jquery.js”>script>
4. 
7. 
8. 
9. 

10. Google.com
11. 

12. 
13. 
The Explanation for the code.
Line 3: We import the jQuery file, that we have downloaded from herefor the latest version of jQuery click here
Line 5: Is a script that is written using jQuery and it essentially increases the size of the div by 1000px. You can use any value you did like to here. using the $() we use the div nodes css property and change/adjust the height as we require it to be.
Line 8: We call the function writing(Line 5) on the onload event of the . This function can be called anytime.
And Thats about it!
Resources
jQuery@ http://jquery.com/
More jQuery Tutorials@ http://docs.jquery.com/Tutorials



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An Interview with, Twitters @DCTH’s founder, Chad Engle!
DomainFunk.com — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 08:37:48 +0000
  
 This week, we bring to you an interview, with design community innovator, amazingly talented, young designer, -  Mr. Chad Engle, Co-founder of  @DCTH or also known as Design Community Twitter Hours. @DCTH, is completely community driven, first of its kind on twitter, a community for designers, by designers and from designers! A great place to get your inspirations, doodles, and just mingle with a community of over a 1000 designers! 
 Some of Chad’s designs











The Interview!




Here is the interview, that was taken via email  and we are very thankful to Mr. Chad Engle, for sparing the time for us and this interview. We wish Chad, best of luck on all his aspirations and Thanks again! 
 A small bio about yourself?
My name is Chad Engle I am a full-time Graphic Designer for Charles Ryan Associates in Charleston, WV. I am 22 years old and have been in the field for such a short time but I feel like I have grown as a designer/person more than I can put words to.  I have been trying to extend my network through online connections such as twitter, facebook and linked-in. I have learned that in this field that it is all about who you know and have connections to. You can connect with me more at @chadengle
1. Hi Chad, so tell us something about you and your experience as a designer/artist?
I am a recent graduate from Marshall University and I have been in the full time world for about 6-7 months. I worked on several freelance projects while I was in college as well as having many different internships and work experiences along the way.
2. From tweets, its pretty clear that you want a podium, a community of designers to get together and talk about design and share ideas and resources, sorry to be brute, but the question being, why? And what do you plan to instill with this and when will you call it a success?
The why? I think that we as designers need feedback. We need places to bounce ideas of and learn from each other. It also pushes us as a community to challenge each other and move our designs into creative and innovative solutions. I think this has already been a huge success. When I started DCTH (Design Community Twitter Hours) I had no idea that I would even have 50 people interested. I have 1,000 followers that are on the twitter account for DCTH. I feel like the design community has grown more tight nit (those that have connected thus far) I think that this service will only continue to grow with time and will hopefully blossom into conferences and meetings.
3. Tell us about your design inspirations?
I think inspiration can be found in anything. I see architecture, photography, a coffee cup, anything that sparks that creative switch in your brain. I draw inspiration from all of my RSS feeds that I read and through my peers. There are many great designers that I draw inspiration from and even student work. Again, its what makes you “think” creatively. 
4. Any Specific tools that you use, that elevate your design process, help you get the picture from your head to your selected medium?
I have recently been reading a book called “Beyond Disruption” Changing the Rules in the marketplace. It talks about defying convention through the design and marketing process. I think we as designers need to implement this idea.  This mindset helps me push past the first stereotypical designs. I also have a Macbook Pro and Adobe Creative suite that helps me implement my ideas to a digital medium. 
5. Any words on designers block? Or lack of inspiration? How does a designer like you cope in such circumstances?
I think sometimes that you need to take a break to push through the block. I like to take a 15 minute break from technology when this happens. No iPhone, twitter, computer. Just me and maybe a cup of coffee. I feel when you take this “tech break” you can clear your head and then move forward with what you need to do. I also think that RSS feeds and surfing the internet help you get inspired again and continue to work.
6. There are a lot of design communities online, any according to you is just specifically for designers, helping you acheive your ideas of single collective of designers?
I think that any network is just as good as another. It just depends how much you put into connecting with others. If you do not have twitter I would suggest going and signing up for an account. There is a whole slew amazing people to draw inspiration from, pick there brains and just plain connect.
7. According to you, what are the incentives a designers looks forward to, money not being one of these, when he or she finishes acheiving the design?
Knowing that this piece of design communicates the best possible outcome. 
8. How do you start your design process for a client?
The first thing I do is brainstorm. I try to rack the clients brain as much as possible to see where they want to go and make sure that we are on the same page before I even start with the design process. Communication is key when it comes to working with others. Do not be afraid to ask questions. 
9. How do you approach a client and what if you have to convince him or her to actually go with you on the design consultations, rather than their inputs?
I think that you have to be able to communicate with your client that you are the person that knows about the design. My favorite saying is: “You don’t buy a guard dog and bark for it, let your designer do the barking.”
10. According to you, what are the pre-requisites for some one who wants to become a designer?
I feel very strongly about having higher education in the field. Ther are several talented self-taught designers but, I feel that with having higher education in the field you bring yourself to a higher awareness level which allows you to push your designs and your clients. 
11. Would you categorize, webdesign, logo design and the derivatives as the new age paintings with each designer being an artist?
I had a real hang-up with this concept in college.
12. According to you, who is the ‘Leonardo-da-vinci’ of the webdesign arena?
That’s hard to answer. I am not sure if anyone has really stepped forward at this point that could be compared to Da Vinci.
13. Does it get hard to make a living as a designer? 
Not at all. It is just like anything else I just depends on how much work you put into it.
14. Can web developer become a webdesigner?
I think one could. It just depends on how much they want to become a designer and learn about it.
15. Tell us something about DCTH.
This whole idea spawned off a random conversation with a friend Adelle Charles and Graham Smith. 
16. What made you start this community?
I felt that there was a gap in this area in the design community and figured why not try to change it.
17. What are your objectives, goal and mission with DCTH?
To connect with as many designers as possible and bring information to those who ask for it.
18. Why twitter.com for DCTH?
It seems to be a great forum for connectivity.
19. When will you call DCTH to be successful?
It already has been successful and will become more and more successful.
20. Any future ideas of innovation, for the design community?
There are several but I am going to keep them secret to peak suspense! ?
21. Any favorite websites where you derive or have derived design inspirations from?
I think a very solid network to find really amazing designs is the Behance Network. (behance.net) I feel that the designers that have portfolios on there are very high quality work. They have a very minimal site design so the work really stands out. 
22. For a design community, what is right mixture required for it to become successful?
I think the main indgredient for a community to become successful is involvment of the people. The strong community support that I have had from DCTH has been amazing. People have scheduled college classes around it, stayed up way late over seas to participate and just been amazing in getting more people involved. I am very humbled.
23. What kind of marketing strategies you use to attract designers and creatives to your community?
Personal connections. I have been following and trying to connect with as many designers as possible on @DCTH I think that people want to connect with others. It just depends if they will come out of there shell to connect with others. 
24. How do you mange your personal life, career and the community?
I think they are one in the same. I am a designers regardless of what I am doing. It effects my decisions and how I carry myself. Just be yourself throughout everything you do and people will love you for it.
25. What do you look for in a community like DCTH?
Involvement. I would love to have a conference one day where designers meet, listen to speakers and mingle with each other. Telling design stories and sharing personal connections with each other.
26. What would a newbie designer, on joining the community find as a resource or help on DCTH?
I think people new and old will find things to help them. Even if it just connecting with other designers. In this industry if you do not keep up with the times you will be left behind, plain and simple.
27. Any head way with the community innovating? And how can we help to get you there?
Yes every week there is more headway. There is a site up that will soon be finished http://DCTH.info You can help my by telling one designer about DCTH. If everyone tells one designer about DCTH the community involvment will be amazing.
28. Ever felt a design let you down? And, if yes how did you cope?
Yes. Every designer has felt this before. You have to know when to let go of a design and know that you cannot always make each thing innovative. Just try to keep your style and make it the best it can. Don’t let it get you down.
29. Any tips for newbies to market their talents?
Network. I can’t even imagine what happened before the world of the internet or the world of twitter. I have connected with so many designers/creatives that I only would have dreamed of before this.
30. Any comments, suggestions, anything you might want to add, that we might have forgotten?
No. I think you pretty much put me on the hot seat for as much information that you could pick out of my brain! I need to go take a break now. Haha Thank you very much for the interview and I wish you the best of luck in your ventures.
Are you a designer/creative? 
Get in touch with the DCTH community here. 

Soon to come DCTH website.

Connect with Chad.

Don’t have a twitter account?



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Win a free laptop skin!!!
DomainFunk.com — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:24:44 +0000
  
Ok, lets start with introductions, Welcome “DomainFunk.com - Magazine for Webconnoisseurs” an online publication that indulges in writing articles, creating video tutorials, creating brushes, vector art, themes, etc. for new and old webmasters alike. Now most of the topics are modern and have just been written in the past few months. I am a webmaster myself and love to write articles whenever I do get time. Albeit, I post atleast one article a week, if not more. 
DomainFunk.com, is now giving away free laptop skins!! How and why? Well, we would like to introduce ourselves with webmasters around the world and would like them to join the discussion. About what and where? Well we just came up with our twitter account and would like readers and fellow webmasters to subscribe and enhance are community here and on twitter. Follow us on twitter http://twitter.com/domainfunk
So whats the deal?
Well, very simple task actually, we are holding a contest for a month, starting today.. that is.. 18th of February, 2009 to 18th of March, 2009. In this contest, you being a writer/webmaster/any one who loves the web and the internet, has to write articles based on the categories listed below or submit original wordpress themes, photoshop brushes, vector art, articles, tutorials, photoshop video tutorials and the likes to win one. 
Whats Up for Grabs?
If you own a laptop, any make or model, you get a free laptop skin, one of the three designs shown and shipped free to you, no matter where in the world you are!!!
Win A free Laptop Skin
Topics/Categories?
You can write, create, record - the content can be anything and in a form recognized by us and it should pertain to the below listed topics.
1. ajax

2. Photoshop (Video Tutorials or writeups)

3. Vector Art for websites

4. Specifically created wordpress themes or joomla themes for domainfunk.com

5. CSS

6. jQuery tutorials, articles, examples, etc.

7. Inspiration for webdesign

8. Web Graphics
Can I be the chosen one?
We have a criteria setup for selecting three winners for the month!!! We will be reading, analyzing and judging your entries and would be anouncing the winners via another blog post such as this one on the 22nd of March, 2009.
Ground Rules?
1. No SEO required for any content submitted.

2. No Promotions of brands, advertising of websites, products, etc will be tolerated.

3. Decisions are final and DomainFunk.com reserves all rights in deciding the winners.

4. All work sent in will be not used, printed or replicated any where on the internet, and should not be copied from other sources. Any copyright violations due to submitted work/entries, the sender will be held liable of all charges as per US and International Copyright and Patent laws.

5. DomainFunk.com and partners, entities, associates related to or in partnership with DomainFunk.com, including DomainFunk.com are not liable for submitted content/enteries.

6. Entires sent in should be related to the above mentioned topics only.

7. Be creative guys! Its not difficult to earn a skin!

8. All material submitted will become the sole property of DomainFunk.com

9. Subscribe via RSS or email to DomainFunk.com

10. All Content should be in English.

11. Files sent to us should be scanned and zipped.

12. Last date for entry 18th March, 2009.
If you agree to the above mentioned guidelines and think you have it in you to win a skin! Send in your entries at skins@domainfunk.com.



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Common Sense Mistakes That  Web Designer Makes
DomainFunk.com — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 18:04:22 +0000
  
Every web designer, is first and fore most, a designer, or more aptly an artist. Being an artist, inspiration and creativity for a web designer is always constrained to the screen resolution and the

“web safe colors” and “web safe images”. Albeit, a web design or web graphic, more often than not is an inspiration from real life canvases. So being constrained within these parameters, many of us web designers, lose sight of certain no-no’s where web design is concerned. Now, this not a top ten list of web design no nos. 
I don’t make now web design “miskates”…
This is a list of mistakes that a common web designer, in his pursuits of interpreting the client requirements, his creativity and inspiration and delivery of brilliant design, always tends to forget. Although some of the mistakes pointed out the list below, may seem repeated while you, as we designer, were learning, but none the less it is important to keep this is in mind.
1. Attention Seeking, aren’t we? 
Ok, this one mistake that I make, almost every time I design a website. I try to give more attention to my design, rather than thinking about the user and his experience. A web design is suppose to make the user see what he or she came looking for on the website you design. As a designer, I have always wanted my designs to get the center stage, rather than content I am designing for… which in itself is the greatest and most common mistake I could ever make while designing. This is one thing that has to be thought out aloud when starting the design of any website.
2. Fancying the fancy?
Another common mistake that I have made while designing for the websites, is that I tend to use a design strategy that is more than fancy for the general masses. Two things go wrong when you make your website look too funky, one – its just too funky and two – content gets left out! Most of us try to find a balance between fancy and just right by using even fancier fonts. This again leads us back to the tail of the snake, that because of the fancy fonts, the website looks too fancy. So? 
So try to find a balance between the most aesthetic funky and more attention given to content type designs and I am sure, it will make the world of a difference. 
3. Even my grandma visits websites and buys clothing!
Ok, for the artist and web designer with more oomph! out there. Keep in mind, that small size of fonts really does make your design look “sleek”, but…. my grandma wears glasses, among other things and she can’t really read a lot of content, because either the content is made to look too “Sleek” or there is no way to increase the font, using the font sizer or font switcher… well what we need to do is make our designs more readable for people who can’t read small fonts or who have too big a screen to actually notice what’s written. Normally a user will come on a website and have a look at it, at the most and during the first 3 seconds of having a “look” the content should clearly be visible, amongst the design, to actually make an impression and make the user say. Off course there are standards set in for this and many designers do abide by these standards, but for some they don’t and generally this is where a designer goofs up, believe I have been in this precarious position before.
4. Remember people do hate windows! [at least in the computer they do]
This is another big mistake, when designing the navigation part of a website, a web designer may thing opening more windows for every click, but mind you! This just defeats the purpose of usability and the entire purpose of design! So make sure, that new windows open only when required to.
5. Remember, people hate change!
It might be a way life – change; and it might be something everyone cannot avoid, no matter how much one hates it; but that does not mean you make users go through change! What I mean is every website should have one consistent look and feel, so that the users can identify it and the brand if the website deals with any. Along with consistency, do not try and change the window size too, infact, try to keep everything on the website consistent, colors, fonts, look and feel, everything! But, again at the same time, make it engrossing so users can and want to stay on the website in question!
6. A very vocal no-no
Many websites, have audio playing as soon as some one comes on the website. Now, if it were a website for a band or a music troupe, great it works. But if its a website for say, an online shop or plain personal web space, then either make sure that he or she can stop the music from playing or do not play any music and save yourself and others the trouble. Why? Simply because not everyone will like the music playing and if you are going to provide options, provide one in every genre of music! 
7.  Navigation, the way ships do!
Ok, every website design comes down to this – Navigation. You made him or her stay on the website congratulations, now what?? Well provide him or her with a navigation that is easy to use and can be used and understood by a 10 year old! That’s right. The simpler the better! Do not user drop down lists or if you are using drop downs, make sure you provide an adequate alternative to the same. Make sure the navigation does not break between different browsers and is again consistent all across the website. Do not cloak links, I mean its a SEO self kill any which ways, but if you are designer, make sure the links are not cloaked! Avoid using javascripted links, many web browsers don’t support these and if you are using these, you provide for an adequate backup for the same. 
Conclusion
Ok, so most of your design problems go away, if you keep an eye out for this; barring off course CSS related problems, but that deserves another post and will get it in the near future. So adios and have a great day!



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Simplifying Backlinks
DomainFunk.com — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:20:58 +0000
  
Since a very long time, many webmasters and website owners have been wanting to get the major share of the Search engine game. So much so that today, many professional webmasters have been using SEO techniques learned over the years, or improvised and stumbled upon methodologies that work where Search Engines are concerned. 
For newbies, SEO is a completely new field with a whole encyclopedia of does and donts for each of the three flavors of SEO; viz., White hat SEO, Black Hat SEO and Gray hat SEO techniques. Many, webmasters find themselves into a pool of these techniques and for them the boundaries of the above mentioned “flavors” of SEO are blurred to the point that they get confused and in turn damage their SERPs or no matter what they do, their SERPs remain unchanged. This article deals with simplifying a major White hat SEO methodology, known as “Back Linking”.
What is Back Linking?
“Back Linking” ,as a term, is used widely in the SEO world. Back Links are nothing but inbound links or links that link back to your website or specific webpages on your website(s). Every time, some one, it may be you, links to your website, a back link is created, pointing to your website(s). For e.g. If you submit articles on article directories and link back to your website where more information about the article or its contents is present, a back link is created. 
Why Back Linking?
Well, within a given time interval all search engines “appraise” your website. A major factor for consideration of your websites to be given an higher SERP from what it is currently are back links to your website. For e.g. Google, checks or appraises your websites every three months and assigns PR based on the these back links and content. Does that mean you don’t give a dam about your content? NO! It means that have content that will be linked back by people all around to your website. The content should be THAT good! It should give something back to the reader and so the reader might link back to your website or webpages for others to read what you have written. Pretty simple eh? So back links are the second thing you should base your SEO strategy on, right after good ol’ content. 
Hence, as a webmaster, you would want to develop or write content or information that is back link

“worthy”. Many webmasters, use ebooks as a means to lure in back links or bait links! (Next seo article would be on link baiting!) 
How Back Linking?
Put up blogs on your website, that has additional information which is maybe a day to day update about the information presented in general on your website. A blog certainly goes a long way. Social bookmarking goes longer here. You can use various social media platforms to generate these back links.  You can even exchange links with other “Relevant” websites. Yes! Google and other search engines do keep an eye on where your back links are coming from. It they are coming from websites which have similar information or content as compared to your website, in that case it is an added advantage.
Other ways to generate back links is to write for blogs as a guest writer! This is by far the best way for generating back links, that I have come across and its completely “white hat”.  Make sure that whatever you are writing for some one else’s blog, should not be an advertisement article, should be informative and should be able to engross the reader to click on the link and get him to your website!
Yet, another way of generating back links are “link directories” - the legitimate kind. For e.g. Dmoz is the best place to start and Google places a lot of weight if your link backed from dmoz. Make sure you where ever your linking back from are Search engine friendly websites! 
Always, remember, people when looking for information, are looking to find a major chunk of it at a single place, and they want to know more about whatever they are looking for, so write for users and link for users not Search engines! 
Back Linking No! No!
Do not ever buy links! Thats a very big No No! In the SEO industry. If  you are buying links, make sure you know the consequences, may be you will get a boost in your SERPs for now, but later the giants always catch up, take it from personal experience! 



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Photoshop: Day turns to night!
DomainFunk.com — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 08:07:38 +0000
  
A quick photoshop video tutorial to convert day pictures/images into night pictures/images. Pretty Simple and straight forward. 

    
      
      
      
      
      
      
        Photoshop Tutorial: Day to Night
      
      
      
    




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Website Quicky!
DomainFunk.com — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 11:45:20 +0000
  
From the beginning itself, the whole idea of a website has been to provide information in any form or kind. Web Standards from the W3C, state that all websites should provide any and all information  they want to, in a user friendly and accessible manner. “Accessibility” being the keyword of this post, we delve into some checks that you should check your website against, to ascertain your websites accessibility. Accessibility for all, even the physically challenged! 
Checks for a website quicky!
1. Alt tags for all objects and images
Ok, the first check we would do is check our website for all objects and images having an ALT tag with suitable description or information about the object or image. To do this, Use a browser like Internet Explorer and place your cursor on any informational image on your website or objects on your website and wait, let the cursor hover, you will notice a yellowish tag, explaining the image. For e.g. If its your company logo, it should contain your company name, other info you might want to add.  If the image is only a part of the document formation or web design, you can definitely use it for the website description or keywords; it only will boost your on site SEO. ALT tags also display the text enclosed within them, when the image cannot load or the browser does not support images, for e.g. Lynx! 
2. Subtitles for Video based content
Have your ever seen a movie or video without audio? Thats how physically challenged person would be watching it! So if you can afford to put up subtitles in your videos, believe me it will go a lonnng way!! No subtitles? Ok, so provide a transcript most biggies like Download.com, Cnet.com, etc provide this feature. These websites display transcripts of the video. Unlike video, its transcripts can also be converted into any language using Google translation tools! Again these transcripts also elevate content and will only boost your onsite SEO too!
3. Forms check
 Check your forms. Many of us leave our forms the way they are, empty, single and unexplainable! Contrary to what might you guys think, web forms are on the front line where Customer Relationship Management is concerned. So pay attention to forms. Display text next to the input objects so as to clearly mention what you want the user to input. Also make sure, while entering values in the form, the “tab” key should be used as the standard keyboard navigation key. You can read all about web contact forms here!
4. Resizing text
Sure, many standard browsers do have the feature of changing text size as per users default requirement, but that does not mean you don’t give an option to users to change the text size! Use CSS to provide for an interface and mechanism where a user can change text sizes to view your browser! Also note the effects on your website layout/design, when fonts are changed. Remember, its all about accessibility.
5. Use Lynx!
As stated above, Lynx is CUI or character user interface based browser. Lynx mainly only displays text and links. It cannot render frames, iframes, objects and image tags. So make sure you check your websites appearance in Lynx. Most search engine crawlers look at your website as lynx does, so it will go only to your advantage if you check your website against Lynx!
6. Website with a mouse!? 
Yes! Your website should be accessible with your mouse. Users should be able to navigate without using their mouse! This only goes to make sure you care about your business or your personal website and look at it as serious tool for communication, advertising, support related relations with your visitors!
7. Make sense of text links!
Make sure that all your text links on the website, precisely describe where your visitor will be and what he can expect when he ore she clicks on the said link. Again text links, ideally should not be more the 3-5 words! The less words the better!
8. Auto check website!
There are plenty of programs available on the internet that will check all webpages on your website for miscellaneous problems. They won’t be checking for accessibility, but more so syntax, design, visitors and more. Two of these freely available programs are WebXact and Wave. WebXACT is from IBM and checks for web security. Wave on the other hand deals with the basics of website accessiblity and checks your website for some set standards. I would suggest you use both.
9. Sitemaps
Make sure you have two versions of the sitemaps for every website you own, design and deliver. One in HTML for your visitors and the second one in XML, which would be compatible with the standards stated over at Sitemap.org and can be crawled by Yahoo, Google and Live! Sitemaps boost your websites accessibility and visibility where visitors and search engines, both are concerned!
Website Accessibility Resources
WebXACT@ http://www-01.ibm.com/software/rational/offerings/websecurity/

Wave@ http://wave.webaim.org//

Sitemap Standards@ http://www.sitemaps.org

Free Sitemap Generator@ http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/

Lynx Website Viewer@ http://www.delorie.com/web/lynxview.html



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CSS Tips: The Absolute Theory of Relatively
DomainFunk.com — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 16:17:48 +0000
  
Many webmasters, who are still new to the webmaster world or are still learning CSS, have often pondered on this… Many of my students have asked me about this… many of my friends who are in to the same business as I have wondered why we, who have learnt the hard way do it.. What am I talking about? Positioning in CSS, more so the relationship between absolute and relative positioning in CSS.
So is it Relatively absolute or Absolutely relative?
Whenever you are designing with CSS, more often than not, there will be times when you would have to nest divs. These nested divs could be relatively positioned or absolutely positioned. The more often used one would be nesting an absolute positioned div within a relative positioned div, albeit a relative positioned div wrapped around an absolute positioned div is also quite as famous. Huh?
Ok, Sherlock, here’s the 101 on it. An absolute positioned div or element is positioned with regards to the containment block. Any and all elements are considered to be positioned elements if they are either have relative, absolute or fixed positions. Any of the values, except static, assigned to the position property of a element, gives the element a “position”. Static is default value for most browsers, and if no value is specified(one of the values from the above three), static is taken as the default value. Static also means that the element is within the “normal flow” of the document, in regards with other elements in the web page.
An absolute-positioned element within a web page, having no containing block(s) [i.e. Having no ancestor elemets or having ancestors elements that are not positioned] is always placed in regards to the web page/browser render screen boundaries. Then such an element is known as the “initial containing block”.
For e.g :
#Main_Wrapper{

position:absolute;

top:0;

left:0;

}
The above element [i.e. Element with the id parameter set to “Main_Wrapper”] would be positioned on the top left hand side of the web browsers render area or screen media, only when the said element has not ancestral elements. But, if the above mentioned elements has any positioned ancestral blocks, the element would be positioned on the top left corner of that ancestral element.
Absolute Twist, anyone?
If, the above shown element, has any siblings, their positions are now reset to the boundaries of the ancestral element block! Not of the absolute-positioned block.
CSS Yap Yap Yap…
This does sound unwinding and at the same time ever winding to me. Lets see it action..

During the design of one of my templates, lets call it AlphaZone, I had positioned the

right column as absolute. Since I wanted the right hand side column to be appearing right below my template header. I never wanted an overlap or gaps between the header block and the right column block. My Header contained, a logo, a few links and a “call statement”. Because the links were in h1 tags and were basically texts. This is the reason the navigation could be resized by the browsers, since many people have different default text sizes along with different browsers rendering texts differently. This was the reason behind, me not positioning the right column in context to the screen media boundaries or page boundaries. If I would have, the right column would have overlapped the header for a number of people, using various browsers. So, What I did is absolute-positioned the header, and then created a wrapper block known as #wrappercontent, that would engulf the right column, main content pane and the left column. The main wrappercontent block was relative-positioned. This provided the container or wrapper to flow with the normal flow of the page. This way I achieved the results of having the container block being present below the header no matter what text size or browser or resolution.
Now for the relative revelation…
Since the main wrapper is relative-positioned, all the blocks or elements within the container block would have their positions reset and would have the position adhering to the #wrappercontent block as the containing element or ancestral element. Thus, the right column #rcol, would be auto positioned on the right hand side of #wrappercontent and would be positioned based on this ancestral element. It wouldn’t bother to be positioned on the top left or top right corner positions and this would also allow the right column to adjust vertically for different resolutions. 
CSS Butt Hugging, are we?
Ok here is the rope-a-dope. I would have directly set a top-margin property for the top navigation, but I did not. Why? Same reason as above, texts, browsers and resolutions. The border or margin would have resized based on the above three influences. So what was eminent and still is, that The navigational links within the h1 tags were put into an element, which was relative-positioned within an ancestral element that was absolute-positioned, adding to this relative positioning, I also stated the height in pixels, 122px for the nav div, or #nav. This solved the margin or border dilemma.
The other way out …
Off course there are other ways of resolving the problem statement above, but to give you guys a rough idea of ancestral elements and the relationship of relative and absolute positioning, I took the above mentioned example. Perhaps this technique is now more clear to you guys.
CSS Resources..
Absolute Vs. Relative Positioning@     webdesign.about.com/od/advancedcss/a/aa061307.htm

Layers, Absolute and relative positioning@ www.yourhtmlsource.com/stylesheets/csslayout.html



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