WorldOWeb

Fix 3G Error after Upgrading Android on HTC Desire HD

Tracy — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 03:48:05 PST

Ever since upgrading my HTC Desire HD to the latest version of Android (2.3.5) I have had no 3G mobile network. This just requires a simple fix to set your mobile settings to its default.

Click on Menu Button on your phone
Click on Settings
Click on Wireless & Network
Click on Mobile Networks

Click on Access Point Names

Click on the menu button again which will bring up options on the bottom of your screen.

Click Reset to Default

That’s it you should now have your mobile network working again.

The Swiss Army Tool of Web Design Apps

Tracy — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 12:48:22 PDT

Have trouble finding a web app to use? Fed up of having to refer to your bookmarks to access them? I have recently come across a wonderful web app from Coded Bits that groups together other web apps to make a great productive environment and all within a click away. A great time saver for any web design enthusiasts and novices alike.

Here is a comprehensive list of all 56 tools on offer

CSS Tools

CSS3 Gradients
CSS3 Rounded Corners
CSS3 Button Generator
CSS3 Button Maker
CSS3 Border Images
Color Scheme Designer
Color Converter
CSS Menu Maker
3D CSS Text
CSS Text Shadow Effects
CSS Text Shadow Generator
CSS Text Shadow Generator with Multiple Shadows
3D CSS Ribbons
Clean CSS
CSS Warp
CSS Easing Animation
Mother Effing Text Shadow
CSS Desk
Animation Fill Code

Font Tools

CSS Type Test
Font Tester
Font Squirrel
Google Web Fonts

HTML

HTML5 Boilerplate
320 and Up
HTML Email Boilerplate

Grids

Less Framework
Blueprint
Variable Grid System
1kb Grid CSS
Gridinator
Gridulator

JavaScript

JS Packer
JS Beautifier
JS Fiddle

Placeholders

HTML Ipsum
HTML Snippet Generator
Lorem Ipsum Generator
Placeholder Images
Placeholder kitten Images
Flickholdr
Lorempixum
Samuel L. Ipsum

Images

QR Codes
Favicon Generator from Image
Favicon Painter
Stripe Generator
Color Ribbons
Noise Texture Generator
Preloader Creator
CanvasLoader Creator
CSS Sprite Generator
ASCII Text Art Generator
Seamless Pattern Generator
Patternizer

jQuery

jQuery Theme Roller

Web Design on Linux

Tracy — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 13:49:23 PDT

Microsoft and Apple computers are no doubt the web designers choice when it comes to creating websites. Adobe software has become the niche and the creative professionals favourite for many years. Linux on the other hand has improved considerably over the past few years and now it is possible to create beautiful websites with the plethora of tools available. Here are a few of those tools to get your creative juices flowing.

Graphics

I am sure by now you have probably heard of GIMP and Inkscape. Gimp is similar to Adobe Photoshop is excellent for touching up photos and creating pixel based designs. MyPaint is a paint program which is designed for pressure sensitive graphics tablets. Inkscape on the other hand is similar to Adobe Illustrator and is extremely useful for drawing and creating scalable graphics such as logos and icons. Xara Xtreme is also another popular tool for vector drawings. Shutter is a screenshot tool that is useful for capturing and editing screenshots for your blog or website. For resizing images with speed you could use Shrink O’Matic which is a drag and drop Adobe Air application. Trimage is a small utility to compress images and Gloobus-Preview is an excellent tool for displaying images quickly without the need to open them in GIMP or Inkscape.

Coding

Dreamweaver has dominated the web design market for many years for creating WYSIWYG websites. On the other hand coding your own website is always encouraged to be able to learn web design properly. Aptana Studio is a very powerful piece of software as is Eclipse, Komode Edit and Netbeans. Hardcore enthusiasts use Emacs and Vim. If you want a lightweight editor then Gedit, Bluefish and Geany are extremely popular.

Fonts

If you are designing logos then you may have lots of fonts installed in your system. Fonty Python is a font manager and organiser where you can browse and install fonts. Fonty python lets you create groups of fonts, known as pogs, which you can install/uninstall with one click. Another great feature also is having the ability to compress your pog or pogs into a zip file for easy transportation if you change to a different Linux distribution and require a quick install.

Testing Websites

The majority of browsers now are extensible and have tools for checking your websites for errors and tweaking code etc. Firebug and Web Developer Toolbar both come at the top of the list. Xampp for Linux is a web server and is excellent for testing your PHP/MYSQL powered websites.

File Transfer

Filezilla is great for accessing your server to upload or download your files. Cross FTP is also a useful Firefox extension that’s worth checking out.

Other Useful Tools

One of the most used pieces of software on my Linux desktop is actually a very simple piece of software. Clipit is a an excellent clipboard manager. If you copy and paste a lot this is the tool for you. I highly recommend a clipboard manager regardless of whether you do web deign or not. Meld is a extremely useful 2/3 way file and directory comparison tool. Getting Things Gnome is a excellent piece of software to organise your tasks which also synchronises with Remember The Milk and also makes use of the Hamster Time tracking applet. VirtualBox is great for testing your websites in alternative Operating systems without having to restart in your computer. Web Developer Tools (WDT) is like a swiss army knife of web tools including image processors, editors, decoders, compressors and server side tools.

Conclusion

Do you develop or design using Linux? Have I missed anything that you think warrants a mention? I am quite surprised that with all the Linux distributions out there no one has developed a web/graphic design based distribution. Who knows maybe in next few years we might be seeing one!

Fix Conky Transparency Issue!

Tracy — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 12:08:51 PDT

Conky is a lightweight system monitor that displays information on your desktop. There are a number of variations and designs that will show anything from the date and weather to how much hard disk space you are using. Conky doesn’t actually use real transparency so it may not look easy on the eye. This simple tutorial will help make Conky look more aesthetically pleasing.

Step 1

Install Conky from synaptic package manager or by opening up the terminal and typing

1	sudo apt-get install conky

There is no point starting conky just yet as it comes with a basic interface so lets spice things up a little.

Step 2

I installed a theme that was on a blog post Try This Great Looking Conky Lua Configuration For Ubuntu, Fedora Or Linux Mint. Follow the steps described in the blog post which creates 2 new hidden folders and a copies a file into your home directory. Please note other Conky configurations and designs may differ so this may not work for everybody.

Step 3

Now that you have installed Conky we are going to create a script to run Conky and also fix the transparency issue that you may have. First and foremost install a little program called feh.

1	sudo apt-get install feh

Now go to your home directory, right click on an empty space and go to Create Document -> Empty File. Name it start_conky.sh, open it with your text editor and enter the following.

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#!/bin/bash
feh --bg-scale ~/.themes/background.png
sleep 30 && conky

Change the path to your existing desktop wallpaper as you can see mine is in my .themes folder. Now we have to make the file executable. The easiest way is to right click on the start_conky.sh and select Properties. Go to the Permissions tab and make sure that the Allow Executing File as Program is checked as in the screenshot below.

All we have to do now is ensure that we set our start_conky.sh file to start automatically when our computer starts. For this open up Startup Applications click Add then Browse in the command section and point it to start_conky.sh that you have just created. Enter Conky in the Name section and fill in the Comment section if you wish. Close and restart your computer and Conky should start with a fixed transparent background.

Top 10- Websites to get your Inspiration from

Tracy — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 14:13:40 PDT

Everybody needs a little inspiration at some point in their lives. Have you ever visited a friend’s house, admired the decor, then go home and make changes to your own home or have you longed for a living room like one in a brochure. Here are a list of websites to get your inspiration from. Enjoy!

Pattern Tap

Web Creme

The Design Inspiration

Dribble

CSS Beauty

Most Inspired

Colour Lovers

Design Shack

Site Inspire

Apps Mania

Why I Would Choose Android over iPhone OS

Tracy — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 15:08:48 PDT

Back in January I renewed my mobile contract and got a HTC Desire HD smartphone free gratis. I love everything about it apart from the slightly poor battery life which is probably not helped with my Wifi being constantly on but hey I spend all my spare time on my computer so I can quickly charge it up.

Prior to getting the HTC I have always thought Apple built solid good looking products, the iPod and iPad are both excellent pieces of technology and I am in favour of the alternative OS which made me contemplate in getting an iPhone but I did not want to pay any extra, monthly, nor have to purchase a phone, so I opted for the HTC instead. Anyhow, having spent an hour or so fiddling with my friends’ iPhone as she had never even plugged it into her computer before, there was one main thing that Apple would have to change for me to even consider purchasing or recommending an iPhone.

It couldn’t be a standalone update feature by any chance?

In this modern world everything needs updating, from computers, routers, Digital TV and this is also true with Smart phones. This is where the Android based smartphone phone wins hands down. I have just recently updated my android device to version 2.3 which was a major update. This was painless I didn’t need any 3rd party appliances or tools in order for it to update. I simply connected to my WiFi at home and the phone did everything for me and all of my photos, apps and phone numbers were left intact.

Which begs the question why would you have a smartphone that you have to plug in to a computer to update it? Surely this is not smart?

To me this is a major stumbling block and flaw with Apple products. Smartphones and Tablets are incredible powerful. People often use them instead of switching on the computer which can be a long and laborious task. How many of you have a quick browse on the internet using your phone or iPad? How many of you out there have bought an iPad instead of a computer and then realise that hey “I need to buy a computer to update it?” How many of you have never even updated your phone? We live in a world where updates fix critical bugs which prevent harm. If you have answered yes to any of the above then I recommend hooking your iPhone or iPad up to your computer to update it. Please remember to back up your data first.

The iPhone is wireless capable and there is no reason for it not to have an update feature. Surely from a security point of view this should be standard. After all you wouldn’t run an original Windows XP computer with its factory default settings! I rest my case!

Does anyone else agree or am I being over critical I would love to hear your views! It’s 1-0 to Android I say.

Another Top 10 Linux Resources

Tracy — Mon, 30 May 2011 13:39:03 PDT

I must admit trying Linux again, after a unsuccessful attempt in 2007, has been a decision well made. I currently run Linux Mint 11 on one computer and Ubuntu 11.04 on another. My 8 yr old daughter can even navigate the unity desktop in a breeze, it’s as if she has been using it for years! I am not so keen on unity myself as I like the classic desktop. Anyhow enough of my ramblings, here are some more useful Linux resources for your perusal.

Tux Files

Ghacks

RSS Feed | Follow on Twitter

Linux Bsdos

RSS Feed

Tech Drivein

RSS Feed | Follow on Twitter

Ubuntu Vibes

RSS Feed | Follow on Twitter

Really Linux

I can count and I am well aware there are 11 here. Really Linux was recommended by Afiate Kriese in my previous Top 10 Inspiring Linux websites so I added it to the list. I am positive there are probably tonnes more websites out there which just goes to show that the Linux user base is getting stronger!

Top 10 Inspiring Linux Websites

Links for 2011-05-12 [del.icio.us]

Fri, 13 May 2011 00:00:00 PDT

designbyIZO | The online showcase, and blog, of logo and brand identity designer Ian Cylkowski.

jQuery Disable/Enable Form Elements Using a Checkbox

Tracy — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 11:54:15 PDT

Here is a simple little snippet that will enable or disable text input boxes in forms using jQuery. When disabling the text boxes it prompts you to confirm it so that you don’t accidently delete your data. This might be useful for forms elements that need to be enabled or disabled when a certain checkbox is checked like in a options page. The code itself is quite self explanatory but please feel free to ask if you are having any problems.

Demo

Please type something into the text input boxes and click on Enable

Code

HTML

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<form method="post">
<label title="Enable" for="enable">Enable</label><input id="enable" name="enable" type="checkbox" /><br/>
<label title="First Name" for="first_name">First Name</label><input id="first_name" name="first_name" type="text" /><br/>
<label title="Last Name" for="last_name">Last Name</label><input id="last_name" name="last_name" type="text" /><br/>
<label title="Age" for="age">Age</label><input id="age" name="age" type="text" /><br/>
<label title="Country" for="country">Country</label><input id="country" name="country" type="text" />
</form>

Javascript

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$(document).ready(function($) {
$("input[name='enable']").click(function(){
if ($(this).is(':checked')) {
$('input:text').attr("disabled", false);
}
else if ($(this).not(':checked')) {
var ok = confirm('Are you sure you want to remove all data?');
if(ok) {
var remove = '';
$('input:text').attr ('value', remove);
$('input:text').attr("disabled", true);
}}
}); });

Top 10- Must Have jQuery Plugins

Tracy — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 02:31:44 PST

jQuery is one of the most used frameworks there is and it is renowned for being simple, flexible and easy to learn. There are literally hundreds, if not thousands of plugins to choose from. Here are a few plugins that I have previously used or would definitely use in the future. I hope you enjoy them!

jSquares

jSquares is a image grid plugin which pops up an image and a description in an overlay. A good example would be the ted.com website. jSquares can be configured to suit your needs and works on all popular browsers.

License: MIT
View Demo | Download

Cloud Zoom

Cloud Zoom is a jQuery image zoom plugin, a comparable alternative to products such as Magic Zoom. Compared to the popular jQZoom plugin, Cloud Zoom is smaller, has more features and more robust compatability across browsers.

License: MIT
View Demo | Download

Qtip

qTip is a very user friendly robust enhanced tooltip with many features including rounded corners and speech bubbles.

License: MIT
View Demo | Download

WOW Slider

WOW Slider is a jQuery image slider with stunning visual effects (Blast, Fly, Blinds, Squares, Slices, Basic, Fade) and tons of professionally made templates. WOW Slider is packed with a point-and-click wizard to create fantastic sliders in a matter of seconds without coding and image editing.

License: Free for Non-Commercial
View Demo | Download

Ajax Zoom

AJAX-ZOOM is a powerful image zoom & pan gallery plugin with 360° rotation option based on jQuery and PHP. With over 250 options AJAX-ZOOM is very flexible and can be seamlessly integrated into any website. AJAX-ZOOM also doesn’t require any browser plugins such as Flash, Java or Silverlight. It’s all cross-browser javascript and PHP.

License: Free for Non-Commercial, Limitations apply
View Demo | Download

GalleryView

GalleryView aims to provide jQuery users with a flexible, attractive content gallery that is both easy to implement and a snap to customise.

License: MIT
View Demo | Download

jQuery Vertical Mega Menu

This plugin creates vertical mega menus using nested lists, which allow users to view all available menu options for each top-level menu item.

License: MIT
View Demo | Download

WowWindow

WowWindow is an advanced modal window script and Lightbox alternative, which allows you to create zooming windows from images, inline content, or videos (YouTube or Vimeo). It uses CSS3 transformations (rotate or zoom) to present the windows, but still degrades sufficiently for browsers that do not support this.

License: MIT
View Demo | Download

gMap

gMap is a lightweight jQuery plugin that helps you embed Google Maps into your website. With only 2 KB in size it is very flexible and highly customisable.

License: Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0
View Demo | Download

Meerkat

Meerkat is a unobtrusive pop up container/overlay that can be used to hold information, advertising and or used as a splash page. Easily customisable to suit your needs, Meerkat is cross browser compatible and degrades nicely when Javascript is disabled.

License: MIT
View Demo | Download

Top 10 jQuery Tutorials

WordPress Navigation- Dropdown Menu Image

Tracy — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 14:54:55 PST

Having just updated my theme to make use of the WordPress navigation menus I decided I wanted to have a indicator to display that there is a drop down menu. This can be done many ways with plugins etc but I wanted to do it without the need of a plugin. So I had a think and came up with this idea which requires very little knowledge to carry out.

Create a Image

To start this tutorial off we need a image. The source files are available to download at the bottom of this post. I used Inkscape which I used for this particular project but you can use any other software. I first created a triangle and then I scaled it down to 15px by 8px. I placed the triangle hard to the left and left some space to the right. This stops the image from being pushed to the edge of the container which improves it’s appearance and prevents us from adding any padding to our CSS which may destroy the look.

Enable Hidden Options

Go to the WordPress admin and click on Appearance and then click on the Menus.

Go to Screen Options and check the CSS Classes checkbox.

Back in the menu section in my case I have Tutorials as a parent and the children are Windows, PHP and Linux.

Expand tutorials by clicking on it and type drop-down into the CSS classes input box. Save your menu!

Add the CSS

We of course now need add a few lines to your stylesheet. Open style.css in your favourite editor and enter the following

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li.drop-down a
{
background:url(images/down_arrow_8.png) no-repeat center right;
}

If you refresh your browser you may see that multiple images are being displayed like so.

To prevent this we add the following to the stylesheet.

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#menu-navbar .sub-menu .menu-item a , #menu-navbar .sub-menu .menu-item a:visited
{
background-image: none;
}

Conclusion

As you can see with the above image the extra images have disappeared. Hope you have enjoyed this simple tutorial and please feel free to contact me if you are experiencing any problems as not all navigation menu’s are the same so there maybe a little tweaking required.

PHP & jQuery checkbox array with a hint of Jquery UI

Tracy — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 12:00:46 PST

I have been learning jQuery alongside PHP to help with my event manager project. Here is a tutorial on how to get the values of a checkbox array, post it via a jQuery Ajax call and subsequently delete the values from a MYSQL database. This tutorial also makes use of the jQuery UI which will display our dialogs.

Prerequisites

I am assuming that you have access to a PHP web server and have a MYSQL database. I highly recommend Xampp for your testing needs. I am also assuming that you know the basics on uploading and using an FTP program and have the use of a text editor or IDE.

Database Setup

For an in depth explanation on how to setup the database setup visit one of my previous tutorials. Download the source files and edit config.php in the lib directory to include the details of your database. Upload them to your server. Navigate using your browser to the files. For example: http://localhost/jquery_checkboxes/lib/setup.php
Click on the Setup button and this will setup the database for you and re-direct you to index.php.

Index.php

The main files are index.php, checkbox.js and process.php. First we will have a look at the main part of index.php

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PHP Checkbox Array Tutorial

nbsp;
These items will be permanently deleted and cannot be recovered. Are you sure?

require('lib/Database.class.php');
$db->connect();
$query='SELECT * FROM events';
$rows=$db->query($query);

if (mysql_num_rows($rows)) {?>

Here we fetch the data from the MYSQL database and place it into a form. Line 21 is very important as it contains our checkbox array name deleteCB[] which we use via jQuery to obtain our values.

Checkboxes.js

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$(function() {
$("#selectAll").click(function()
{
var checked_status = this.checked;
$('input[name="deleteCB[]"]').each(function()
{
this.checked = checked_status;
});
});
$("#delete_form").submit(function(e) {
return false; });

var $dialog = $('

')
.html('Item(s) have been successfully deleted')
.dialog({
autoOpen: false
});
var $dialog2 = $('

')
.html('No checkboxes are checked!')
.dialog({
autoOpen: false,
title: 'Error'
});
$("#deleteBtn").click(function() {
if ($('input[type=checkbox]').is(':checked')){
$( "#dialog-confirm" ).dialog({
modal: false,
buttons: {
"Delete all items": function() {
$(this ).dialog( "close" );
var data = $(":checkbox:checked").map(function(i,n)
{
return $(n).val();
}).get();
$.post("process.php", { 'deleteCB[]': data },
function(){
$('body').load('index.php', function() {
$dialog.dialog({title: 'Item(s) Deleted'});
});
});
},
Cancel: function() {
$( this ).dialog( "close" );
return false;
}
} //end buttons
});
}
else
{
$dialog2.dialog("open");
}
});
});

Now lets get to grips with checkbox.js. Lines 2-11 are for selecting or de-selecting all checkboxes. Lines 13-23 are for the creation of the jquery UI Dialogues in which we use for displaying messages. Line 24 is the start of the click event when the delete button is pressed a event is triggered. Line 25 checks to see if any checkboxes have been selected. If there are no checkboxes selected it fires a jQuery UI error dialog. If there is a checkbox selected a jQuery UI confirmation dialog appears to check whether you want to delete the items selected. Clicking on Delete all items will take you to line 31 where we assign the variable data to get the values of the checked checkboxes. Line 35 is the start of our jQuery Ajax call which posts the deleteCB[] with its corresponding value to the file process.php. Then we reload the page once the call has been processed and display a dialog to confirm that the deletion has been successful.

Process.php

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require ('lib/Database.class.php');
$db->connect();
foreach ($_POST['deleteCB'] as $value)
{
$query_delete = "DELETE FROM events WHERE id='$value'";
$db->query($query_delete);
}
$db->close();
?>

Process.php is a simple foreach loop which receives the data from checkboxes.js and deletes the values from the database.

Links for 2010-12-19 [del.icio.us]

Mon, 20 Dec 2010 00:00:00 PST

Links for 2010-12-15 [del.icio.us]

Thu, 16 Dec 2010 00:00:00 PST

Logmein Client using 64-bit Linux « Roachys Weblog

Links for 2010-12-08 [del.icio.us]

Thu, 09 Dec 2010 00:00:00 PST

Welcome to Nu-gems.....Different by Design!

Links for 2010-12-05 [del.icio.us]

Mon, 06 Dec 2010 00:00:00 PST

WorldOWeb-Event Manager Project

Tracy — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 07:55:11 PST

I have been quite busy over the past few months. First of all I have built a website for my friend from scratch and I have just started working on my event manager, which is on version 2. You can read about version 1 here.

Version 2 which I first started working on in June has more security features and the login page has been re-written to include a remember me function. It has built in RSS feed creator which you can turn off if you do not require it. I have also added a html editor to the add, update and copy pages, which can also be switched off. I have changed the layout a bit and have included an option to mass delete events.

There are lots more ideas in the pipeline like exporting to various file formats, multiple language support. So I have plenty of more things to do so it might be a while before I can get a stable version released. Here are some pictures for you to look at. If you have any ideas for this or future versions then please feel free to comment.

[View with PicLens]

Event Lister

Links for 2010-11-30 [del.icio.us]

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 00:00:00 PST

JQuery

Links for 2010-11-29 [del.icio.us]

Tue, 30 Nov 2010 00:00:00 PST

RO IT Systems - Free Autotrace Web Interface

A phone call with a scammer!

Tracy — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 07:49:53 PDT

No doubt you will have heard of spam, phishing, viruses and trojans. After all they are constantly a threat to our security and it is the main reason why we have firewalls and anti-viruses on our computers. Threats are not entirely computer based though you may be also subject to telephone calls from people pretending to be from your ISP or even from Microsoft themselves!

My first encounter was back in March when I got a phone call from a confused neighbour who asked me to have a look at her computer because someone had telephoned her saying that she had an error on it. She was asked to switch on her computer and was directed to the logs where of course there was a little red warning sign. They went on to tell her that the error would wipe her hard disk and render her computer utter useless unless she was to go to this website. The website was LogMeIn which of course is a reputable remote desktop company. It wasn’t until they asked her for a fee for them to fix her computer that the alarm bells started ringing. She immediately said that she wasn’t going to pay for anything and she took their phone number and got in contact with me.

I also received a call in August from an asian guy claiming that he was from my ISP and that Microsoft had got in touch with them to tell me that there were errors on my computer. I went along with it just to find out what they had to say after all I run Linux. This time they directed me to a different website to download ammyy which is legitimate remote desktop software. When it come to the payment I just said no and he said well you don’t want me to fix your computer then I said no. Eventually he told me t F*ck off and hung up.

The point in this post is to simply get the message across that if you receive any phone calls saying that they are from your ISP or Microsoft then do not entertain them. Never ever give your credit card details out to anyone that contacts you, even if they say ‘Can you confirm the credit card number that we have on file for you?‘ Once they have got your credit card details then they will of course start defrauding you.

On another note there is a company that keeps phoning us saying that they are from sky and that our warranty has expired and it will cost £65+ for the year. When questioned they could not tell us that they were officially calling from sky, which could only mean one thing. This company is not official endorsed by sky and they are using sky’s good name to sell you a warranty package. Whether or not the company is official it is still using the sky branding to illegally sell it’s products. Be aware!

Have you ever received a phone call from a scammer or have you ever been fooled by one? Have you had any other so called company that has contacted you trying to extract information? Please feel free to comment.

Install iPlayer on Mint 9 or Ubuntu Lucid

Tracy — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:02:08 PDT

I have been wanting to install BBC iPlayer on my Linux Mint 9 to download and watch a TV show as my Internet speed is not the fastest and fluctuates from time to time so I wanted to download without the disruption. When I tried to install iPlayer with Google Chrome 6.0.472.53 I received an error message and was unable to install despite several attempts. I then tried my trusty old Firefox 3.6.9 and the same happened again. I tried also to find an offline version and could not find one. My thoughts were that if I can’t install it on 2 of the most popular browsers and can’t find an offline version then I give up, or should I?

Enter Opera to save the day. I downloaded and installed the latest version of Opera 10.61 and navigated to http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/install/ and it installed without a hitch so then I could download my TV show at last. I had to browse iPlayer from Opera to download the show put that’s the least I could do.

Whilst I am on the subject Opera is a pretty nifty browser. I will definitely be using it more often.

As for the problem it could be flash or the air plugin. Has anyone successfully got it working with Firefox or Chrome?

Getting to grips with PHP Radio Buttons

Tracy — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 14:08:24 PDT

Following on from getting to grips with PHP Checkboxes I decided to write a little tutorial on radio buttons. As you know radio buttons can only have 1 state either on or off and only one can be selected at any one time. Here is a simple tutorial on how to get data from a database, select the radio button, get data from the form and update the database. If you have previously read and completed the setup procedure the process is the same so you may want to go straight to the demo.

Prerequisites

Database Setup

When it comes to the database I like the simpler things in life so I use a MYSQL class from Ricocheting.com. This will be included within the script in which you can download from the bottom of this post. Unzip the download file and upload it to your server. As you can see the checkbox_demo folder has 1 file and 1 folder containing 3 files. Inside the lib folder there is the Database.class.php, config.php and setup.php and in the root folder there is index.php. First and foremost you need to open config.php and put your database settings in the appropriate places and save.

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//database server
define('DB_SERVER', "");

//database login name
define('DB_USER', "");
//database login password
define('DB_PASS', "");

//database name
define('DB_DATABASE', "");

//smart to define your table names also
//define('TABLE_USERS', "");
//define('TABLE_NEWS', "");
?>

Now navigate to lib/setup.php with your browser. Below is the source of the setup file to give you an understanding.

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Database Setup

Setup

if (!isset($_POST['submit'])) { ?>

}
else
{
require ('Database.class.php');
$db->connect();
$query= "CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS options(
id int(1) NOT NULL auto_increment,
radio varchar (20) NOT NULL,
primary key (id))";
$db->query($query);

$data['id'] = '';
$data['radio'] = 'cat';
$success=$db->query_insert("options",$data);

if ($success)
{
$myFile = "setup.php";
unlink($myFile);
header('Location: ../index.php');
}
}?>

The Radio Button Demo

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include('lib/Database.class.php');
$db->connect();
$query = "SELECT radio from options WHERE id='1'";
$result = $db->query_first($query);
$radio = $result['radio'];

if ($radio == 'cat')
{$pet1 = 'checked="checked"';}
else {$pet1='';}
if ($radio == 'dog')
{$pet2 = 'checked="checked"';}
else {$pet2='';}
if ($radio == 'bird')
{$pet3 = 'checked="checked"';}
else {$pet3='';}
if ($radio == 'rabbit')
{$pet4 = 'checked="checked"';}
else {$pet4='';}
if ($radio == 'horse')
{$pet5 = 'checked="checked"';}
else {$pet5='';}
?>

Now as for index.php which I have split into 3 parts. The opening lines connect, query and get the value of the radio button from the database. It stores the value of radio to the variable $radio and then it checks to see which radio button value it matches and appropriately selects it.

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if (isset ($_POST['submitted']))
{
$selected_radio='';
if ($selected_radio == 'cat') {
$pet1 = 'checked="checked"';}
else if ($selected_radio == 'dog'){
$pet2 = 'checked="checked"';}
else if ($selected_radio == 'bird'){
$pet3 = 'checked="checked"';}
else if ($selected_radio == 'rabbit'){
$pet4 = 'checked="checked"';}
else if ($selected_radio == 'horse'){
$pet5 = 'checked="checked"';}

$selected_radio=$_POST['pets'];
$data['radio']= $selected_radio;
$db->query_update("options",$data, "id='1'");
$db->close();
header('Location: index.php');
}?>

The second part deals with the saving the data to the database. First it checks to see if the hidden field has been submitted then the variable $selected_radio is assigned the value of the radio button that has been selected and then the database is updated accordingly with the correct values and the page is told to refresh.

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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en" >
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
<title>Simple Radio Button Test</title>
</head>
<body>
<form action="" method="post">
<label title="Pets" for="pets" accesskey="p">Which one of the following is your favourite pet?</label><br/>
<input type="radio" name="pets" id="pet1" value="cat" />Cat<br/>
<input type="radio" name="pets" id="pet2" value="dog" />Dog<br/>
<input type="radio" name="pets" id="pet3" value="bird" />Bird<br/>
<input type="radio" name="pets" id="pet4" value="rabbit" />Rabbit<br/>
<input type="radio" name="pets" id="pet5" value="horse" />Horse<br/><br/>
<input type="hidden" name="submitted" value="true" />
<input type="submit" value="ok" name="ok" />
</form>
</body>
</html>

As you can see in the 3rd part this is the basic form where the contents of the radio are determined by the values that have come from the database or have been changed by user input.

Getting to grips with PHP Checkboxes

Tracy — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 12:26:06 PDT

The aim of this tutorial is simply to get the data from a checkbox and store it in a MYSQL database and on page load the data is retrieved from the database and is shown which would be suitable for an options page in a web app.

Prerequisites

Database Setup

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//database server
define('DB_SERVER', "localhost");

//database login name
define('DB_USER', "your login name");

//database login password
define('DB_PASS', "Your MYSQL PASSWORD");

//database name
define('DB_DATABASE', "Your Database");

//smart to define your table names also
//define('TABLE_USERS', "");
//define('TABLE_NEWS', "");
?>

Now navigate to lib/setup.php with your browser. Below is the source of the setup file to give you an understanding.

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Database setup

Setup

if (!isset($_POST['submit'])) { ?>

}
else
{
require ('Database.class.php');
$db->connect();
$query= "CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS options(
id int(1) NOT NULL auto_increment,
checkbox ENUM('Y','N') NOT NULL DEFAULT 'N',
primary key (id))";
$db->query($query);

$data['id'] = '';
$data['checkbox'] = 'N';
$success=$db->query_insert("options",$data);

if ($success)
{
$myFile = "setup.php";
unlink($myFile);
header('Location: ../index.php');
}

}?>

Setup.php is a basic form when the user clicks on setup button the script creates the table called options within your database, then creates the checkbox column which is of a type enum, a string that can only take 1 set of allowed values, in my case ‘Y’ or ‘N’. Then it adds data to the database, deletes the setup file and then re-directs you to index.php.

The Checkbox Demo

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include('lib/Database.class.php');
$db->connect();
$query = "SELECT checkbox from options WHERE id='1'";
$result = $db->query_first($query);
$checkbox = $result['checkbox'];
if ($checkbox == 'Y')
{
$selected='checked="checked"';
$value='Y';
}
else
{
$selected='';
$value='N';
}

?>

Now as for index.php which I have split into 3 parts. The opening lines connect, query and select the value of checkbox from the database. It stores the value of checkbox to the variable $checkbox and then it checks to see if the value of checkbox is ‘Y’ or ‘N’. If it is ‘Y’ then the variable $value is given a ‘Y’ and the variable $selected is then given ‘checked=”checked”‘. This is then passed on to the form which will tick the checkbox and set the value of the checkbox to ‘Y’.

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if (isset ($_POST['submitted']))
{
if (isset($_POST['flowers'])== 'Y')
{
$value='Y';
}
else {
$value='N';
}

$data['checkbox']= $value;
$db->query_update("options",$data, "id='1'");
$db->close();
header('Location: index.php');

}?>

The second part deals with the saving the data to the database. First it checks to see if the hidden field has been submitted then it checks to see if the form flowers value is ‘Y’ or ‘N’. if it is ‘Y’ the $value variable is set to ‘Y’ and then the database is updated accordingly with the correct values and the page is told to refresh.

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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en" >
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
<title>Simple Checkbox Test</title>
</head>
<body>
<form action="" method="post">
<label title="flowers" for="flowers"> Do you like flowers? </label>
<input type="checkbox" name="flowers" value="" />
<input type="hidden" name="submitted" value="true" />
<input type="submit" value="ok" name="ok" />
</form>
</body>
</html>

As you can see in the 3rd part this is the basic form where the contents of checkbox are determined by the values that have come from the database or has been changed by user input.

Web Hosting: Defined

Tracy — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 12:23:04 PDT

You can’t have a website without a web host. It’s like having a house without having any land to build it on. Until you get that virtual real estate, all you have is a design and a plan. Before you go shopping for a web host, you should be aware that there are different kinds of web hosting, with different benefits and different price ranges. Here’s a breakdown of what different types of web hosting mean, so you can decide exactly what you need before you get into a hosting contract.

Low End Hosting: Shared Server

Just because shared server pricing is on the cheap side doesn’t mean it’s low quality. A shared server plan may only cost you a few dollars a month, but this is only because it doesn’t take up too much of the web hosts resources. When you enter a shared server arrangement, you get to use part of a server to host your website. The rest of the server is used by other people to host their websites. There’s no way that any of their websites can bleed onto yours, but you do share an IP address and control panel, and things that affect the entire server will affect you as well as them.

Mid Range Hosting: Virtual Private Server (VPS)

With an arrangement on a virtual private server, you’re still using the same server as other people, but it is partitioned so that your part of it acts as if it were its own server, with its own IP address, control panel and functionality. It costs a little more, but it’s cheaper than a private server while still giving you many of the benefits of a private server, including increased disk space and bandwidth, and more freedom with your use of tool sets and applications that go with designing and maintaining your domains.

High Level Hosting: Dedicated Server

In this case, you’ve got a server all to yourself. This one can be pricey, because the web host can’t make any money off of the server other than what they get from you. However, if you’ve got a big Internet business with lots of websites and pages and lots of traffic, this is the way to go. You get massive bandwidth and disk space, and complete freedom and control over administration of the server, including the ability to change operating systems and programming languages if it suits you.

Other Options: Cloud Computing, Reseller Hosting

Cloud computing is a plan where you purchase services, disk space and bandwidth a la carte, you just take what you need and pay for what you take. If you’re planning long term server use though, you should probably make the move to at least a shared server eventually. A reseller hosting plan is sort of like subletting an apartment. You pay for the whole server and sell pieces of it to your own clients. This is a good option for a web designer or a budding web host.

About The Author

Kirsten Ramsburg is a semi-techie single mom who is currently working as a senior writer for Webhostingsearch.com.

Top 10- Inspiring Linux Websites

Tracy — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 07:23:25 PDT

I am relatively new to Linux and have used is as my primary OS for the past year. I have come across some wonderful inspiring sites that have helped me through the process and made it easier. Here are my top ten Linux Web sites.

WebUpd8

Webupd8 have an extensive amount of posts covering Linux, Windows and the web. They have recently launched their own launchpad PPA so that you can update your software with ease.

Follow @webupd8 on twitter.

OMG Ubuntu

OMG Ubuntu features include tutorials, reviews, polls and application releases. Their posts are concise and informal making them easier to understand for all.

Follow @omgubuntu on twitter.

HowtoForge

HowtoForge hosts easy to follow Linux tutorials covering all topics. Topics include Distributions, servers, DNS, Email, FTP and many more.

Linux.com

Linux.com is a product from the Linux foundation. Harnessing the power of Linux users worldwide to inform, collaborate and connect on all matters Linux. Linux.com is for the community by the community.

Follow @linuxfoundation on twitter.

Ubuntu Geek

Ubuntu geek is an informative website that aims to help the transition easier from Windows. This blog contains Ubuntu Tips, tricks, howto’s, news and articles.

Follow @ubuntugeek on twitter.

WorksWithU

WorksWithU is produced by Nine Lives Medai inc. They track the strengths and weaknesses of Ubuntu and deliver content via their blog.

Follow @WorksWithU on twitter.

TuxRadar

TuxRadar, backed by the magazine Linux Format, is a website devoted to supporting the free software community by providing news, reviews, tutorials and more for free. They also publish a podcast about free software every two weeks.

Follow @tuxradar on twitter.

Distrowatch.com

Distrowatch started out as a very simple table that tracked the 5 major Linux distributions. Now with 317 active distributions, distrowatch has grown into very popular website that keeps you informed of the latest releases and keeps you informed on Linux news via a weekly newsletter.

Follow @DistroWatch on twitter.

Opendesktop.org

openDesktop.org is one of the biggest online communities, social networks and portals for the free desktop movement in the world where developers, artists and users can share applications, tools, wallpapers, sounds, icons, themes and other artwork and stuff for the open desktop.

Follow @openDesktop on twitter.

Ubuntu Tweak

Not only is Ubuntu Tweak a website that provides a online catalogue of software and sources it is also a application that is designed to configure Ubuntu and make it easier for everyone. It provides many useful desktop and system options that the default desktop environment doesn’t provide.

Follow @Ubuntu_Tweak on twitter.

Do you have a favourite website that is dedicated to Linux users?

Another Top 10 Linux Resources

My Switch To Linux and Why I Will Never Look Back!

Tracy — Thu, 20 May 2010 03:34:29 PDT

Brief History

Back in 2007 I discovered this Linux OS called Ubuntu and how everybody was raving about it. So I tried it on my desktop computer and I could not get my wireless usb stick to work so I gave up. Roll on 2 years and I was slightly curious again so I installed a different distro, this time Mandriva. Everything worked perfect and I was instantly converted.

Having had a bad experience with Ubuntu I discovered Linux Mint 7 in August 2009. Having previously used the KDE desktop I was curious to see what Gnome was like. After installing Gloria I knew instantly that I have found the one distro for me. From the looks to the speed, everything was great.

Mint is now on version 9 which has got to be the best version yet. It took me 10 minutes to install and I had most of my programs up and running within an hour. The speed of my laptop when running Mint compared to XP is noticeably different, which allows me to do far more with mint, especially running multiple programs.

Future

What does the future hold for Linux? Well after my experience in 2007 I was glad to try it again and that my computer actually runs better and has a little eye candy. There is a good range of software and with the likes of Ubuntu Tweak and Ailurus, tweaking, adding sources (latest versions of software) and cleaning have been made simple, thus making it very user friendly.

Now as for gaming and the news that Steam are going to release a version for Linux can only make Linux stronger than ever. I have often dreamed of playing my Football manager game on my Linux box.
I would, however love to get my Belkin USB network hub working so that I can print and access my external hard drive. I am sure Belkin would also gain some popularity aiming there products for all OS’s.

To draw a conclusion If you have had a bad experience with Linux in the past don’t ever let it put you off. I didn’t and I made the switch and that’s why I will never look back. My computer runs Linux perfect and I can still do everything I want with Aptana, Gimp, Evolution and Firefox to name a few. If I bought a new computer tomorrow I would first install Mint.

Were you pleased with making the switch? Did everything go plain sailing? What future do you think that Linux holds? I would love to hear all of your stories

WorldOWeb

Fix 3G Error after Upgrading Android on HTC Desire HD

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Graphics

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Step 1

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Top 10- Websites to get your Inspiration from

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Site Inspire

Apps Mania

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Top 10- jQuery Tutorials

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Moving Boxes

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The Easiest Javascript Sliding Door Effect Tutorial with jQuery

jQuery Tabbed Interface / Tabbed Structure Menu Tutorial

Animated Form Switching

Display Switch Tutorial

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Code

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WowWindow

gMap

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Conclusion

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Index.php

PHP Checkbox Array Tutorial

Checkboxes.js

Process.php

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