</load.a.pic>

eCommerce

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Layman) — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:18:00 +0000

Lately I've been testing out various different e-commerce platforms. Some of the notable ones are:

MAGENTO COMMUNITY EDITION v1.7.0.2
Admittedly, the best looking is the Magento e-commerce but certainly with the good looks, it demands more resource as well. However for most of the shared webhosting services out there, you're out of luck if you are looking to install Magento.

For all it's glory and rich features, there are also commercial editions available. Just as an advice before you jump into the Magento bandwagon, click on the link below to view installation tips and most importantly download the test php to check your webhosting service compatibility to install Magento.

Check out Magento eCommerce Community Edition - Click Here
Check your webhosting service compatibility - Click Here

PROS: Rich in features, easy to use functions, readily integrated plug-ins and add-ons. Suitable for various starter - semi big online store. It looks good.

CONS: Resource intensive sometimes, causing slowdown (especially when you are running on shared webhosting service).

OSCOMMERCE - v2.3.3

Comparatively, osCommerce is more robust and it has a huge community base contributing to the platform with over 7,000 add-ons. Thus you can make osCommerce as powerful as what you are capable to make of it. But the only downside is the learning curve maybe steep for some and easy for others.

Nonetheless once you understood the underlying structure, it becomes a very customisable platform. However, it's stock UI is pretty much dated and in need of a proper facelift. Every stock installation requires heavy duty to get it to a stage where it is a proper and presentable online store.

From the few years I've been working with osCommerce, the most challenging part would be to make each and every part work seamlessly together. When it is working, it is a great sense of achievement and relief at the same time.

Check out osCommerce - Click Here

PROS: Fast setup, huge add-on library, robust and many customisation available. Constant community contribution.

CONS: Time consuming integration of various add-on. Making sure everything works together perfectly. The stock UI is ugly.

As a summary, both the above is two of my favourite platforms. Well indeed there many more platforms out there that are equally as good. Just take your time and search them up and you may just find one that you are comfortable and confident in.

Good luck!

Random background image in a table cell

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Layman) — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 08:40:00 +0000

Been scouring the internet to look for this function: Making a table cell background to change randomly. There were many I came across but almost 80% were untested or too much work to integrate them into a website. By far the following script is the most simple and basic of them all.

The following is not my script is not written by me (I've forgotten which forum I found it..):

<body> <script type="text/javascript"> window.addEventListener?window.addEventListener('load',function() { ray.rand('thisCell'); },false): window.attachEvent('onload',function() { ray.rand('thisCell'); }); // FF : IE1 var ray= { bgArr:['url(bg1.jpg)','url(bg2.jpg)'], // Background you wish to show on the cell rand:function(el) { var num = Math.floor(Math.random()*this.bgArr.length); this.getID(el).style.background=this.bgArr[num]; }, getID:function(el){return document.getElementById(el); } </script> <table> <tr> <td width="900" height="600" id="thisCell">This is the cell</td> </tr> </table> </body>

Happy Coding!

Missing System Icons - Volume icon, Power icon, Network icon

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Layman) — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 02:07:00 +0000

This has been a problem for many Windows Vista users - The missing system icons:

Volume Icon
Power Icon
Network Icon

It happens every once in a while, and suddenly you're confronted with greyed out option boxes!

I've searched high and low for a solution on the WWW and there were many ridiculous methods out there that simply won't work.

I've found the following method that worked for me. It doesn't require a reboot.

====================================================================
Important Note: The following contains steps that requires editing/modifying of the windows registry. Please do a backup of the registry before proceeding - click here to learn how.

1.) On the keyboard hold Window Key+R > Type in "regedit" -> OK (Press OK if admin confirmation is prompted)

2.) Locate and then click the following registry subkey:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\TrayNotify

*Make sure the key location is correct*

3.) In the Details Pane, delete the following registry keys:IconStreamsPastIconsStream

4.) Exit Registry Editor

5.) Return to the desktop -> Open the Task Manager by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+ESC.

6.) Go to Processes tab -> Locate "explorer.exe" -> click on the "End Process" two times. You will now notice your Taskbar is now missing. No worries.

7.) On the Task Manager -> click File -> click New Tasks (Run) -> type "explorer.exe" -> OK

8.) Exit Task Manager. The taskbar is now back and the missing system icons should now be visible again. DONE!

====================================================================

Please take note that this fix may OR may not work for everyone. Have a try..at least it worked for me.

QR Code

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Layman) — Sat, 15 May 2010 01:28:00 +0000

I've just did a bit of reading on the differences between conventional barcodes and QR code (Sema-Codes or 2-Dimensional Barcodes). I'm rather amazed by the differences and it's rather big potentials for .

Read it here : QR Codes - Why should Advertisers care about QR Codes?

Here are some interesting QR Code generator websites that generates actual working QR Codes.

http://zxing.appspot.com/generator/

http://qrcode.kaywa.com/

Give it a try! I've personalized my very own website QR Code already and stuck it to my top right panels. Now it's time to get the barcode scanner apps in iTunes for my iPhone and check it out.

Have fun!

Non-unicode program on Microsoft Windows Vista - PPStream

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Layman) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:26:00 +0000

Characters not displaying properly on non-unicode programs such as PPStream

I've came across a problem when I installed PPStream on my laptop running on Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium. Apparently after having it installed, and eagerly waiting for it to launch...the PPS program displayed unrecognizable characters (as shown in the picture above) and nothing works.

At first i thought that this could have been due to my version of Vista doesn't have the Chinese language pack or LIP / MUI installed. After i tried searching for it on the Microsoft website and even tried a third party LIP / MUI...it did not work at all!

Eventually I found out that there's an easy and often OVERLOOKED easy way to solve my problem. It was just there all along! Ughh...Vista can sure be very user "FRIENDLY"....

What to do:
1) Go to your control panel. Access it through Start -> Control Panel. Double click on the Regional and Language Options (the icon of a globe with a clock).

2) It will open up with a few options, click on the Administrative tab. You will see the "Current language for non-Unicode programs". If it's in another language other than the intended language of the program you wish to run, in my case would be Chinese characters PPStream, change the option in the next step.

3) Click on the "Change system locale..." and select the appropriate language you need.

4) Once you have selected the correct language, click OK.

5) It will prompt for a system reboot. Just save up anything you're working on and click on "Restart now"

6) DONE! Your non-Unicode program should now display properly.

[RESOLVED] Brownish tint when viewing picture using Vista's Windows Photo Gallery

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Layman) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 05:56:00 +0000

I've recently encountered a problem when trying to preview my pictures using Vista's Windows Photo Gallery program which is my default picture viewing program...until the problem started.

It seems like a brownish tint over my images and it looked awful and annoying...

Before the fix

To fix this just follow the steps below....(finally!..).

First of all, go to your control panel and double click on "Colour Management". Tick the "Use my setting for this device" box and remove the existing ICC profile.

Next, click on "Add..." and scroll down and locate a profile named sRGB IEC61966-2.1 and click OK.

Once it has been added, click on "Set as Default Profile". You can now close it.

Reboot your PC.

Now it should return to normal like above.

Please take note that this fix may OR may not work for everyone. Have a try..at least it worked for me.

Resolving unable to send email using dynamic domain

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Layman) — Thu, 21 May 2009 01:44:00 +0000

For those who own or have plans to buy a domain name with a different domain registrar and have a separate hosting service with another hosting company, you may face a problem with sending outgoing email using the hosting service smtp mail server (which normally is mail.yourdomainname.com etc).

The usual error message would be:

"Sending of message failed.
The message could not be sent because connecting to SMTP server mail.yourdomainname.com failed. The server may be unavailable or is refusing SMTP connections. Please verify that your SMTP server is correct and try again, or else contact your network administrator."

It's already been known that all outgoing SMTP port 25 been blocked by Telekom Malaysia Berhad, Telekom Malaysia Berhad had further revised and announced on 26th December 2007 that effective 15th Jan 2008, only outgoing SMTP port 587 is allowed for all outgoing SMTP email activities.

With this implementation, Streamyx customers or anyone else who have their own mail server will not be able to send e-mails. As an alternative, TM has provided an open relay server for these customers or anyone else who uses dynamic IP addresses.

But this doesn't seems to help even if you have set to port 587, should you have a separate domain registrar from your hosting service.

To go around this issue, I'm using Mozilla Thunderbird as my standard email client. Try the settings below:

For incoming POP mail server, you can use back the one that is provided by your web host. In this case it would usually be mail.yourdomainname.com

All you need to change is your outgoing SMTP server. Fill in the setting as shown.

You may notice that in the outgoing port, I have set it to port 25. It will still work because the TMnut has block out all others from using this port and only allowing their SMTP proxy server to use this port.

Should you need to setup and configure for other email clients, please refer the links below:

http://webmail.tm.net.my/info/proxy.html
http://webmail.tm.net.my/info/smtp-proxy.html

FREE Feedback form

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Layman) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 10:59:00 +0000

It's been long for me to update this blog since i've been rather busy with work lately. For a long time, i've tried looking for a feedback form that is fully customizable and gives me the wanted results. Finally i've found what i have been looking for all this while.

I may not be php proficient, but it does a great job and easily understandable. Best of all, it's FREE (well as long as you keep the credit line in the code).

Check it out HERE

Features of the Feedback Form / Form to Mail Script

Plug and Play: All the necessary code for the feedback form is generated for you. Just plug and play.
Customizable: You can customize your form to suit your site decor if you like.
Easy to Create: Easy two-step procedure to get your Feedback Form.
Complete Package: All the code (scripts and HTML code for the form itself) necessary for the PHP and Perl versions to work are generated by this Wizard.
The messages sent by your visitors are delivered to an email address of your choice.
Compatibility: The messages sent are decoded from the form and sent as an ordinary email which you can read and reply to using your favourite email software or web email.
Spam Protection: Your email address is hidden from the visitor's view in the PHP and Perl CGI versions. Hopefully this protects you from some spam.
Bandwidth Theft Protection: The PHP and Perl CGI script versions have built-in protection against use by bandwidth thieves: they only send to your email address, so other sites cannot use your script to operate their own feedback forms.
PHP and Perl versions available: You can choose to generate either the PHP version (recommended) or the Perl CGI script version, depending on what your web host allows you to run.
Form field validation: The script optionally checks for empty fields before sending the message.
Free: What else can I say? It's free.
No Advertisements: There are no advertisements on the PHP and Perl versions of the feedback form script.

*Features taken directly from http://www.thesitewizard.com

I've given it a test drive and rather satisfied with the results.

Give your support to the cause.

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Layman) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 02:31:00 +0000

Click here to view the Earth Hour 2009.

FREE CS4 Upgrade for any CS3 license - limited time

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Layman) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 17:15:00 +0000

Here's a promotion from Adobe that could be very tempting to many people - especially corporate and SME. Purchases of any Adobe CS3 products within the period of 23rd September - 22nd December 2008 will be entitled to a FREE* Upgrade (*terms & conditions applies) to the equivalent Adobe CS4 product.

Example - Buying Adobe Photoshop CS3 will get a free upgrade to Adobe Photoshop CS4.

If you have purchased the Adobe CS3 products after 23rd September 2008, give Adobe a call (claim details at the end of this post) and verify your details and check your product's eligibility. Once you are qualified, they will courier the upgrade DVD to your doorstep - courier fees are borne by yourself.

The tempting sticker....

What's included inside? Just 3 things.

Paid RM1.5k++ for just a short row of alphanumeric keys..

The plain simple designed expensive DVD..

Time to load up and get it rolling.

You could always download the free trial and use up the 30 days trial and just key in the serial key later without having going through the installation though. Both Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 came standard with a guide book, manual and 2 DVD content (Adobe Creative Suite 3 Video Workshop DVD + Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 installer DVD)

Go visit www.adobe.com/go/freeupgrades for further details.
Check your CS4 FREE Upgrade Eligibility Requirement here

Claim period from 23rd September 2008 -to 22nd December 2008
Last claim date - 6th January 2009

For those who had purchased a CS3 product after September 23rd 2008, it is advised that you contact Adobe customer service for further details immediately. Don't miss out on this!

Favicon.ico Generator - FREE!

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Layman) — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 04:16:00 +0000

Well in addition to the previous post Free ICO plug-in for Photoshop & Illustrator I stumbled upon a better alternative to the plugin method - A web based ico generator.

http://www.favicon.cc/

Well it's pretty user friendly and offers simple and basic editting tools. You can either draw your own original favicon or import an image (of which it will be automatically resize to fit). The rest of the feature are simply self explainable. Just fiddle around with the tools and first time users will just get a hang of it in no time.

Once you have completed you desired favicon design, just click on the "Download Favicon" button in the bottom middle. Save it to a location on the computer and upload it to your web server root folder.

Once uploaded to your webserver, you can put a link on the portion of your site html codes. Below is an example of how the two line of codes should look like, your site will automatically load the ico image by default:

<head>
<link href="favicon.ico" rel="shortcut icon"/>
<link href="favicon.ico" rel="icon"/>

If you are on a free blog host account such Blogspot/Blogger/Wordpress, you will need to a free web space host which lets you upload and host .ico file. Just simply do a google search with the keyword "FREE WEB HOSTING" and you'll find plenty of them. Well all you need is just a little space to upload the ico file.

Here's one i would recommend (Very good ICO file uploader - NO account creation required) : http://www.shokimages.com/

Once uploaded on the free web host, just replace the link path with the direct path to your ico file (shown below) and you're good to go.

<head>
<link href="http://www.yourwebhost.com/favicon.ico" rel="shortcut icon"/>
<link href="http://www.yourwebhost.com/favicon.ico" rel="icon"/>

Free ICO plug-in for Photoshop & Illustrator

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Layman) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 03:27:00 +0000

I've found something rather useful for those who want to create icons using Photoshop.

Here's a link to download the plug-in.

ICO (Window Icon) Format plugin (click below to download)
WIN / MAC

Check out more details on the official website : http://www.telegraphics.com.au/sw/

A quick note: It works with all versions of Photoshop (3.0-7.0, CS, CS2), under Mac OS X, 9 and earlier, and Windows. But still, check the system requirements before doing anything.

Well basically it's rather useful for those who wanted to create personalized favicon.

I've installed it and it's working fine. I know there are better alternatives out there but hey, this is also one of them.

P.S. - As with anything you download from the Internet, use it with caution. Run the downloaded software at your own risk.

Welcome to </load.a.pic> !

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Layman) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 02:47:00 +0000

This blog is dedicated to web designs, graphic designs and everything about design. Sharing my experiences and things I come across. I'm no guru or professional but just another learner among the many others out there.

This blog shall also be a place where I note down designs I want to keep track. Comments are all welcomed.

Thanks for coming and hope you enjoy it here. ^_^