i ran into quite a bit of disinformation concerning how to set up your blogger blog so that it resides at blogspot.com, but is accessed from a subdomain off of your personal domain; in my case, blog.ozzis.us.
first, most of the information supplied by blogger.com is for hosting your blog at the root of your personal domain, but this was not good for me.
it turns out that setting up the above subdomain scenario is a simple, two step process.
1. go to your host provider, in my case godaddy.com, and create four DNS A records:
blog.yourdomain.com 216.239.32.21
blog.yourdomain.com 216.239.34.21
blog.yourdomain.com 216.239.36.21
blog.yourdomain.com 216.239.38.21
2. on blogger.com, go to settings -> publishing and choose to publish on a custom domain. click advanced settings and provide your blog URL, such as blog.yourdomain.com. do NOT check the Redirect ... checkbox.
you can check the status of your DNS setting via an online tool such as kloth.net. after a few hours for the dns servers to update and you should then be able to access your blog via your own personal subdomain!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Friday, September 18, 2009
date diff in php
Friday, September 18, 2009
it is a common task to determine the number of days from one given date to another. and with php there are a number of ways to tackle this. one of the easiest i have found is to use the gregoriantojd() function.
the gregoriantojd() function requires three parameters: month, day, year. it will return you an integer containing the julian day. once you have converted each date, it is then a simple matter of subtracting one from the other.
this will find the number of days until january 1, 2010:
now call the datediff function which calculates the number of days:
the gregoriantojd() function requires three parameters: month, day, year. it will return you an integer containing the julian day. once you have converted each date, it is then a simple matter of subtracting one from the other.
this will find the number of days until january 1, 2010:
$today = date("Y-m-j");
$days = datediff($today, '2010-01-01');
echo "days until january 1, 2010 is : " . $days;
now call the datediff function which calculates the number of days:
function dateDiff($startDate, $endDate)
{
$date1=explode('-', $startDate);
$date2=explode('-', $endDate);
$startDate=gregoriantojd($date1[1], $date1[2], $date1[0]);
$endDate=gregoriantojd($date2[1], $date2[2], $date2[0]);
return $endDate - $startDate;
}
Thursday, September 17, 2009
jquery ui themeroller
jQuery's UI provides many useful UI gadgets as well as a themeroller which can help you create a consistent look and feel to your site.
Below are the few steps you need to get jQuery's UI integrated into your blogger site.
1. if you do not have jQuery installed go to the jQuery fan post.
2. now, let's add the jQuery UI code to our site by inserting the following line into our <head> tag, but BELOW the jQuery library line:
4. download this package onto your local PC. extract out the jquery-ui-1.7.2.custom.css" file and put it up on a webserver that will be accessible from your blogger page. in my case i put it on ozzis.us.
5. insert the following line into your <head> tag, replacing my server/folder structure with yours:
Below are the few steps you need to get jQuery's UI integrated into your blogger site.
1. if you do not have jQuery installed go to the jQuery fan post.
2. now, let's add the jQuery UI code to our site by inserting the following line into our <head> tag, but BELOW the jQuery library line:
<script src='http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jqueryui/1.7.2/ jquery-ui.js' type='text/javascript'/>3. new, let's head over to the jQuery themeroller page and either pick a theme from the gallery or create your own theme.
4. download this package onto your local PC. extract out the jquery-ui-1.7.2.custom.css" file and put it up on a webserver that will be accessible from your blogger page. in my case i put it on ozzis.us.
5. insert the following line into your <head> tag, replacing my server/folder structure with yours:
<link href='http://ozzis.us/bloggerui/jquery-ui-1.7.2.custom/css /redmond/jquery-ui-1.7.2.custom.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'/>that's it! now you are ready to use jQuery's UI within your blogger posts!
Monday, September 14, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
a decade of web 2.0
Monday, September 7, 2009
while web 2.0 still seems like a relatively new design principle, the concept of a new, interactive, multi-device web was first mentioned ten years ago! the term Web 2.0 was first coined by Darcy DiNucci back in a july, 1999 article titled Fragmented Future. interestingly enough, the previous link leads to the only text-based copy of the article I could find, which happens to be on Ms. DiNucci's own site.
With a great deal of foresight, she understood that the web would grow from its original incarnation as static information displayed on a computer monitor; That it would grow to encompass new types of information (video, interactive) which would be rendered in new ways over new form factors (tvs, car dashboards, and mobile phones). While this all seems commonplace now, that was a huge leap of imagination in the nascent days of the Web.
As evidence of the accuracy of Ms. DiNucci's insight, my son sits in our den, engaged in simulated competition with people from around the globe, the cell phone that is casually sitting on my coffeetable can connect me not only with people, but with information sitting on millions of computers around the world, and in my car sits a gps system that can pretty much guide me to any destination in the country. Ms. DiNucci, your vision of the future has been eerily accurate. Thank you.
the term web 2.0 has grown in the modern verncular and when we now think of web 2.0 we think of cloud computing, social networking and big colorful badges! : ) the tag cloud, which can be seen on this page, is also closely associated with web 2.0 development. if you want to know how to add a tag cloud to your blogger page, take a look at the A Simple Blogger Tag Cloud Widget at compender.com. Thank you Raymond, for sharing that with us!
With a great deal of foresight, she understood that the web would grow from its original incarnation as static information displayed on a computer monitor; That it would grow to encompass new types of information (video, interactive) which would be rendered in new ways over new form factors (tvs, car dashboards, and mobile phones). While this all seems commonplace now, that was a huge leap of imagination in the nascent days of the Web.
As evidence of the accuracy of Ms. DiNucci's insight, my son sits in our den, engaged in simulated competition with people from around the globe, the cell phone that is casually sitting on my coffeetable can connect me not only with people, but with information sitting on millions of computers around the world, and in my car sits a gps system that can pretty much guide me to any destination in the country. Ms. DiNucci, your vision of the future has been eerily accurate. Thank you.
the term web 2.0 has grown in the modern verncular and when we now think of web 2.0 we think of cloud computing, social networking and big colorful badges! : ) the tag cloud, which can be seen on this page, is also closely associated with web 2.0 development. if you want to know how to add a tag cloud to your blogger page, take a look at the A Simple Blogger Tag Cloud Widget at compender.com. Thank you Raymond, for sharing that with us!
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
semantic html (or inoculating divitis)
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
what is divitis? well it is the compunction a person who is just learning CSS to put everything in <div> tags. just wrap it (whatever it is) in a <div> tag, apply an ID/class and move on. the term divitis, along with its related sibling classitis, was coined by Jeffrey Zeldman in his book Designing with Web Statndards.
now i do not want to be scaring anyone, so i want to make it clear up front that divitis is treatable. whew. but it involves a really big needle. ouch. ok. just kidding.
ok, so what is semantic html? is it just some fancy, geeked-up version of html? nope. is it just some esoteric interpretation of html? nada. is it the satanic offspring of html and xhtml? no, you are confusing the lineage: xhtml is the sat..., ack, offspring of html and xml. is it the ... ok, now i am bored. semantic html is, simply put, using html as it is intended. using list tags for lists, table tags for tabular information, and header, form, and all other tags as they are intended. and YES, using <div> tags where appropriate.
maybe a small example would help clarify:
divitis: <div class='header'>this is my header</div>
semantic html: <h1>this is my header</h1>
since you can just style a header class as easily as you can style an h1 element, they render the same either way. has not css rendered html plumbing obsolete? why not just render everything in <div> tags and be done with it?!?
well there is a bit of truth in that. you can pretty much write an entire site using nothing but <divs> and have it look and perform exactly the same as a site written using the full range of html elements. but there are some definite benefits to taking that big old horse pill called semantic html.
first, let us talk about web accessibility. Writing a site using proper, semantic html allows screen readers to more correctly interpret your site when converting to speech or braille. see the w3 org's page on people with disabilities using the web. it is an important read.
second, it helps your SEO, and therefore your CEO, which in turn helps Y-O-U. those creepy little web crawlers that meander across your site and pass back information to the search engine mothership, are helped tremendously by your markup. for instance, when you put something in header tags, <h1>, <h2> <h3> ..., it is interpreted with more importance than text laying in a cocoon of <div> and <span>s. so by using your header tags correctly, you are telling the search engines which terms are important, and thereby helping your site get ranked.
i will post a follow-up with examples on proper semantic html, and will focus on using some of the lesser known/used html tags so that you can add these to your growing arsenal of html tools.
see now, that old pill wasn't so bad was it? better than a big old shot anyway! : )
go on now, get outta here. go outside and play!
now i do not want to be scaring anyone, so i want to make it clear up front that divitis is treatable. whew. but it involves a really big needle. ouch. ok. just kidding.
ok, so what is semantic html? is it just some fancy, geeked-up version of html? nope. is it just some esoteric interpretation of html? nada. is it the satanic offspring of html and xhtml? no, you are confusing the lineage: xhtml is the sat..., ack, offspring of html and xml. is it the ... ok, now i am bored. semantic html is, simply put, using html as it is intended. using list tags for lists, table tags for tabular information, and header, form, and all other tags as they are intended. and YES, using <div> tags where appropriate.
maybe a small example would help clarify:
divitis: <div class='header'>this is my header</div>
semantic html: <h1>this is my header</h1>
since you can just style a header class as easily as you can style an h1 element, they render the same either way. has not css rendered html plumbing obsolete? why not just render everything in <div> tags and be done with it?!?
well there is a bit of truth in that. you can pretty much write an entire site using nothing but <divs> and have it look and perform exactly the same as a site written using the full range of html elements. but there are some definite benefits to taking that big old horse pill called semantic html.
first, let us talk about web accessibility. Writing a site using proper, semantic html allows screen readers to more correctly interpret your site when converting to speech or braille. see the w3 org's page on people with disabilities using the web. it is an important read.
second, it helps your SEO, and therefore your CEO, which in turn helps Y-O-U. those creepy little web crawlers that meander across your site and pass back information to the search engine mothership, are helped tremendously by your markup. for instance, when you put something in header tags, <h1>, <h2> <h3> ..., it is interpreted with more importance than text laying in a cocoon of <div> and <span>s. so by using your header tags correctly, you are telling the search engines which terms are important, and thereby helping your site get ranked.
i will post a follow-up with examples on proper semantic html, and will focus on using some of the lesser known/used html tags so that you can add these to your growing arsenal of html tools.
see now, that old pill wasn't so bad was it? better than a big old shot anyway! : )
go on now, get outta here. go outside and play!
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