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The publisher of this book, SitePoint.com, is offering a free DHTML Quick Reference Poster for ordering directly through their Website ($39.95 - just like BN.com). They also sell the poster seperately for $9.95. It looks useful and very cool.

Sadly, NetDrive appears not to be free, technically. According to the comments on this article, NetDrive is a Novell product that is covered under the Novell (Netware?) 6 license. :(

"Ultimately think this a showdown between "Process / Fork" (LAxP) vs. "Runtime / Thread" (J2EE / .NET). When asking "does PHP scale?" you're really asking "does Process / Fork + X persistent store scale?".

In many ways that questioning whether *Nix scales..."

"And on a serious note: Who was the moron who made the onreadystatechange event handler? Why couldn't you just pass in a reference to the XmlHttpRequest object so people wouldn't be forced to use global variables to store the reference? Is that so hard?"

See "XMLHttpRequest and Javascript Closures" - http://www.sitepoint.com/blog-post-view.php?id=171 725 - explains how to get round this.

For a while I've been looking at different CMSs to use with my site, and the one which consistently came to the foreground as the easiest and possibly the best option for a community-driven (i.e. with forums and other means of user activity/feedback) CMS in discussions, is XOOPS.

Just now browsing through the Drupal site, I'm left totally unimpressed by the forums and general features their own site seems to offer, not to mention that the screenshot gallery appears to have some CSS issues with Firefox.

SitePoint

Apperently if you did run Visa or Mastercard you would already know that all fruad to sent back to the merchant in the form of a chargeback. This chargeback process usually takes 90 days to complete for the merchant to dispute. If the merchant can prove that the customer recived the goods or service then the chargeback is dropped and the customer is left with the bill (IE son or daughter stole daddy's credit card the customer would have to file charges against them).

The reason why merchants like starbucks and whatnot do not require you to sign if the order is under 20 dollars is because it would cost more to dispute the chargeback with a valid signature than it is to just give the person their $6 coffee back.

A quick google search found this site that is very informitive. http://www.sitepoint.com/article/chargeback-challe nge

I was surprised a couple months ago to see the web-development site sitepoint.com employing odd scripting to subvert Mozilla's blocking. It's saddening to see a resource for inovative web programming discussions blazing a trail in the employment of abusive scripting.

Well, with all the marketing articles, I guess it's not that shocking. Never mind.

Maybe browsers should expose a method which sites can call "isUserEverGonnaClickOnTheFarkingPopupAdd()" and if the response is "not-in-a-million-years", pass...

Maybe browsers should expose a method which sites can call "isUserEverGonnaClickOnTheFarkingPopupAdd()" and if the response is "not-in-a-million-years", pass...

I also get popups at SitePoint with Firefox 1.0 and IE6.0 w/ Google Toolbar 3.0beta.

SitePoint has managed a way to defeat Firefox's popup blocker too.

The publisher is offering 4-sample chapters in PDF Format for this book on their Website: SitePoint.com/books/phpmysql1/ - It's definitely more useful in helping me make a decision than reading through a Table of Contents or Index, at least for me.

Let's get things straight. This book is for newbies or for those who want a quicksearch reference. After all, what non-newbies title doesn't include "build your own"? (For more advanced users, I recommend the PHP Anthology which deals with more complicated stuff, like FTP, thumbnail generation, search engine friendly urls, etc.)

I began programming in PHP+MySQL around 2 years ago, and this book practically taught me everything.

The book had a nifty section on administrating your MySQL database (specially useful when you forget your password :-P ). But the part that has helped me the most is the reference (Appendices).

Appendix A: MySQL syntax (with all the optional parameters)
Appendix B: MySQL functions. For example, what command do we use to search a substring in mysql? Quick search Appendix B... there! LOCATE.
Appendix C: MySQL column types. I don't use MySQL commands often, except when I add a module to my PHP framework (programmed by myself). so when I want to know how to specify a certain type, it's all there.
And finally, Appendix D: PHP functions for working with MySQL.

When you have read this book and have it in your office drawer, flipping thru some paper pages is definitely much faster (at least for me) than typing the search terms on the keyboard. So I recommend it to anyone wanting to learn PHP and MySQL. And to anyone who wants a reference handy :)

(off-topic Grammar Nazi hint: It's "waste", not "waist". Waist is what you get when you waste too much money on junk food)

You should check out http://www.sitepoint.com/ for contract and legal tips dealing with web programming. They even have a newsletter about it.

Harry Fuecks has some ideas also.

Harry Fuecks has some ideas also.

Since it's based on PHP and pretty extensible, I would think getting a quota function established (if eZ publish doesn't already have one) would be easy enough.

Now, can someone help me get the damned 3.4.4 version to run on FreeBSD? ;)

Try Sitepoint. is a very good web design site. At first there were only technical articles, but they added an art column, and now they got their art and design newsletter.

Here's the article: Good designers copy, great designers steal. Two thumbs up for that one. They even give you examples of how to do it right.

Might wanna try.

Try Sitepoint. is a very good web design site. At first there were only technical articles, but they added an art column, and now they got their art and design newsletter.

Here's the article: Good designers copy, great designers steal. Two thumbs up for that one. They even give you examples of how to do it right.

Might wanna try.

Well, just speaking for myself, after throwing together a little mysql/php scheduling calendar for the local elementary school (my fiance is a teacher there) to learn the language, I bought The PHP Anthology.

If someone where to ask me about learning PHP, I'd tell them to scratch an itch, using php.net, then buy The PHP Anthology from sitepoint. Great stuff. I think it has been reviewed here before but I'm too lazy to look. Anyway, you can download a couple of sample chapters to see if you're interested.

IMHO, it's best to look at a language, see what you can do with it, then hopefully before you've developed some shitty habits with the language take a look at how it should be done.

For hierarchies, Modified Preorder Tree Traversal would work nicely. It is a method for storing hierarchical data in a database in which it is fast to retrieve any sub-trees of any part of the tree using a single query.

The only blatant rip off is you repeating ideas that have no factual basis. If you're going to spout bullshit, please come up with original bullshit.

It's not even funny how much MacOS resembles the desktop interface at Xerox PARC, right down to the colors, look, and feel. There's even a mouse!

It's not a blatant rip off when you pay to use a technology.

Real history of the GUI

A walk in the Parc

Please try to gain a bit more knowledge instead of repeating nonsense that you've heard. There's this thing called the internet that you can use to check facts. Look into it.

Why is it that everyone outside the FOSS community thinks that PHP is only for web-apps? You can write GTK-PHP apps, it's actually almost the frigging holy grail.

The references I gave talk more about the general GUI concept as popularized by the Mac, but we can talk about icons specifically. First, what do we mean my icon? For this post, when I refer to an icon, I'm talking about a graphical representation of an object (file, text, etc) that can be maneuvered and manipulated using the mouse. I seem to remember reading somewhere that Xerox used icons to represent "actions" rather than "objects" (kinda like a toolbar). Unfortunately, I can't find the reference right now.

This source claims that " the Apple work extended PARC's considerably, adding windows that can be overlapped, manipulable icons and..." This source quotes an unnamed Lisa developer: "[the Xerox Star] didn't use icons at all..."

Now that's not to say the Xerox didn't come up with, and develop, the idea on their own - I'm just supplying evidence to counter the convential wisdom that Apple got all of their GUI ideas from PARC. I believe that Raskin, Tessler, and a lot of the PARC/Apple GUI people knew each other before the formation of PARC and Apple, and it was likely that they were all working off concepts they had researched in the 60's and early 70's. (of course that doesn't mean Apple didn't think they were stealing ideas - supposedly Mac programmers spent lots of time working on overlapping/self-repairing windows because they thought they saw that at PARC, but it turns out they didn't:)

But you have to look at the context of the trip: the GUI was new to Jobs, but not to Raskin. Raskin convinced Jobs to go on the trip, not to "discover" the GUI, but because Jobs kept trying to kill the Mac project, and Raskin wanted him to see an implementation of a GUI so he could see for himself that it wasn't a waste of time.

You also have to look at the context of the interview: Jobs was cementing his status as "Father of the Macintosh." Raskin had a few comments on the interview (Search for "Raskin" and then scroll up a little bit), and later Cringley acknowledged Raskin's contributions.

Go read Michael S. Malone's Infinite Loop:How Apple, The World's Most Insanely Great Computer Company Went Insane . It goes into great detail about the origins of the Mac.

Here are the URL's for samples of the first 4 chapters (so you don't have to give your e-mail address to SitePoint).

ZIP format:

http://www.sitepoint.com/books/phpant1/phpant1-sam ple.zip

StuffIT format:

http://www.sitepoint.com/books/phpant1/phpant1-sam ple.sit

tar/gzip format:

http://www.sitepoint.com/books/phpant1/phpant1-sam ple.tgz

Here are the URL's for samples of the first 4 chapters (so you don't have to give your e-mail address to SitePoint).

ZIP format:

http://www.sitepoint.com/books/phpant1/phpant1-sam ple.zip

StuffIT format:

http://www.sitepoint.com/books/phpant1/phpant1-sam ple.sit

tar/gzip format:

http://www.sitepoint.com/books/phpant1/phpant1-sam ple.tgz

Here are the URL's for samples of the first 4 chapters (so you don't have to give your e-mail address to SitePoint).

ZIP format:

http://www.sitepoint.com/books/phpant1/phpant1-sam ple.zip

StuffIT format:

http://www.sitepoint.com/books/phpant1/phpant1-sam ple.sit

tar/gzip format:

http://www.sitepoint.com/books/phpant1/phpant1-sam ple.tgz

> Only if any part in the string is tainted (like deriving from user input).

That's what SQL Injection IS. The whole point is tainted input. Perhaps I wasn't clear about that being part of what I was referring to. let's see...

here's an explanation of SQL injection for those not aware of it. Google also shows up a ton of useful links, a number of which are PDFs so I'm not linking them

The beauty of the FireFox design IS the plugins - you can do this kind of thing.

Oh, and by the way, there are many other ways to do this, and you can also do it in Opera and Mozilla. Here's a comprehensive article on how to manipulate the User Agent strings.

The Firebird SQL server (based of Borland's Interbase) has been ported to C++. Actually, most C++ server software I know of tends to have a Windowsish background.

I tried these changes, and Firefox is noticeably faster:

There is an interesting post on WebMasterWorld, on how to decrease the loading/rendering time of Firefox. I have tried the settings, and have noticed a mild improvement. Just wanted to share the information.

http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum21/8007.htm

Edit: Updated Instructions:

open about_:config (without the underscore).

1.) network.http.pipelining = true
2.) network.http.pipelining.firstrequest = true
3.) network.http.pipelining.maxrequests = (the poster says 32, but suggest 8 is the limit)
4.) network.http.proxy.pipelining = true

Don't do number #5.


http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1 73568&highlight=pipelining

As such, most crapware is not opt-in - only experienced and security-aware users know how to configure their systems to avoid it. Binning Internet Explorer is a good start, but using web-filtering software to block ActiveX, Java and Javascript (like Proxomitron, WebWasher or a firewall like Outpost), an application firewall (like System Safety Monitor) and a crapware scanner like AdAware or Spybot Search and Destroy are also necessary steps.

Linux users should not be complacent here either - almost all crapware currently targets Windows but can be written to run on Linux once it gains signifcant usage amongst mainstream users. Check Adware and Under-Ware - The Definitive Guide for a history of crapware.

> Where does one go to look for people to collaborate with technical (hosting, DB management), artistic, and web design help?

There are tons of good resources for technical talk. A good start can be found at web hosting talk or SitePoint

> What have your web site startups been like, have you any advice to offer?

To choose the software to power your community, check out successful ones at http://www.big-boards.com/ . When looking at the statistics, it seems the php-powered vbulletin is the most popular amongst large communities.

This site also has a couple of interesting interviews with admins sharing their thoughts on what made their community successful, how did it start-up, are they making money etc.
Gaia Online interview
Neowin interview
NASIOC interview

The notion of templating in PHP (or any web platform) is described by Martin Fowler in Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture as the Template View.

Implementation of the Template View is examined in some detail at http://wact.sf.net/index.php/TemplateView, which begins looking at "Why use templates" then examines different styles of templating, in terms of their markup and the API they provide to populate the template with data. The purpose is to lay this discussion to rest once and for all.

Where PHP's concerned, the real question is why has everyone (and their dog) written their own template engine? In an ad hoc survey we counted over 80 public domain template enignes "out there"

What's even more puzzling is why 90% of them all look the same with markup like;

...and a pinhole API like;

My guess at the reason why is public here

As to what template engines in PHP are actually worth using, there are only two IMO;

The first is PHP itself - use some self discipline and keep the pages where code gets mixed with HTML to the most basic PHP syntax - just the flow control statements like if/else, while and foreach.

The second is any which can offer templating capabilities similar to Java's JSTL or ASP.NET. Which is where WACT comes in. Check the examples to get the idea.

Check out the SitePoint forums for Advanced PHP. The pro's and con's of template engines have been discussed over there in length and it is just a great resource for advanced PHP topics. SitePoint Forums.

Also, take a look at Harry Fuecks website PhpPatterns. He also has detailed information about PHP templating and the theory behind the code.

http://www.sitepoint.com/article/1218/

About (in the opinion of the article author) the superiority of smarty.

Introduction of the article :

In general, template engines are a "good thing."

I say this as a long time PHP/Perl programmer, user of many template engines (fastTemplate, Smarty, Perl's HTML::Template), and as author of my own, bTemplate.

However, after some long discussions with a co-worker, I've decided that the vast majority of template engines (including my own) simply have it wrong. I think the one exception to this rule would be Smarty, although I think it's simply too big, and considering the rest of this article, pretty pointless. There are, however, a couple of reasons why you might choose Smarty (or a similar solution), which will be explored later in this article.

This article discusses template theory. We'll see why most "template engines" are overkill, and finally, we'll review a lightweight, lightning fast alternative.

I wish the grandparent poster would bother posting something more informative than simple assertions.

In the strictest sense, he is correct. SQL is based on relational calculus, but manages to mangle it pretty badly.

Suffice to say that employing many relational concepts in SQL is not really possible, and SQL makes the remainder a lot more complicated than they need to be.

this thread manages to cover the bases, I think...

Bluntly, you are wrong; the poster you responded to is right.

Actually, what I'm saying here is already in countless books and studies.

Javascript (even Flash) have their uses, according to people who actually do these studies.

The GUI itself could have been patented if software patents had been around at that time. In 1981, just one of the innovative ideas coming out of the PARC project, the Xerox Star 8010 was unveiled at a Chicago trade show as the first computer with a GUI. The Apple Lisa came soon after, having much better commercial success. If these guys can't patent such things, why should anyone else be allowed to?

I don't mind so much the fact that you can't have servlet-like objects which handle entire sections of your URLspace (as opposed to one URL -- how very un-spider-friendly.

Nah, it's easy http://www.sitepoint.com/article/485 -- no question marks needed!

You really believe Microsoft invented graphical user interfacing? (aka 'Windows')

You should get out more.

Here's one of several short summaries available on the web covering the development and history of the GUI.

A good site with lots of information is SitePoint, and more specifically, SitePoint Community Forums.

That said, you will earn nothing from advertising. Nobody clicks on banner ads any more. In the future we will see many sites opting for the "micropayments for content" model.

I bought the first version when I was a newbie to the topic. I found it to be a good introduction, except that there was NO INDEX. That made it very difficult to use as a reference: so much so that, unless the second version has an index, I recommend you give it a pass. The on-line table of contents doesn't mention an index...

Get those chapters here. This link is what you get by email when you give Sitepoint your address. This is not an endorsement.

You can buy the book directly from the publisher ($34.95): http://www.sitepoint.com/books/

The home page of SitePoint has a lot of articles on planning, designing, and coding (client- and server-side) for the web.

There's even a picture of the pretty-boy author.

You can buy the book directly from the publisher ($34.95): http://www.sitepoint.com/books/

The home page of SitePoint has a lot of articles on planning, designing, and coding (client- and server-side) for the web.

There's even a picture of the pretty-boy author.

You can buy the book directly from the publisher ($34.95): http://www.sitepoint.com/books/

The home page of SitePoint has a lot of articles on planning, designing, and coding (client- and server-side) for the web.

There's even a picture of the pretty-boy author.

You can get it from the source where they also make the first four chapters available as a free download. My copy should be arriving any day now...

here

S