A good host is hard to come by, but Media Temple is by far the best I’ve come across in all the years I have been developing for the web. For low-traffic sites, their Grid Service seriously can’t be beat, and for more demanding applications, their DV service is a fifth of the cost of a dedicated host without the compromises you might expect.
Dropbox is an excellent and free tool that lets you share files among different groups and clients. I wrote more about Dropbox in this post. Sign up for Dropbox with this link and get an extra 250MB of shared space for free!
LockBox is a free, secure repository for all of your sensitive bits of information. Examples include passwords, account log-ins, product serials and more. LockBox can store almost any information you want. How you use it is up to you.
Link: http://lockbox.cc
A free online tool that quickly packs your JavaScript and CSS code for optimal download speed.
A free, open source, web-based tool for developers who need a visual tool to build MySQL queries quickly and intuitively.
Links:
New to web development? Here are five books that absolutely must be on your bookshelf. I use them so frequently, my copies are dog-eared and coffee-stained. I'm even on my second copy of two of them.
If you bounce between programming languages, and have to dust off the syntax, the PHP Cookbook is a fantastic resource. Well indexed, and exceedingly thorough, this book is a must-have.
Programming PHP is also a must-have given its in-depth explanation not only of the lexicon and basics, but also its detailed explanations of some more advanced concepts such as object oriented programming, script security, error handling, and performance tuning.
You'll learn more about optimizing MySQL in High Performance MySQL than you ever will from the MySQL manual.
Fat. Definitive. Exhaustive. Terrible if you're human. Fantastic if you're a book. JavaScript - The Definitive Guide is the bible for JavaScript.
Look, ma! Stupid web tricks! Actually, this is a handy way to get up to speed on DHTML painlessly. Like the indispensable PHP Cookbook, JavaScript & DHTML Cookbook will quickly become your go-to reference for real-world JavaScript.
Links:
MapTechnica.com offers free mapping tools like US 5-Digit Zip Code Maps and US County Maps. MapTechnica.com also sells ready-to-use map overlay tile sets that can be used for custom Google Maps applications, and processed data files that can be used for online geographical data applications. If you are creating online mapping apps for to visualize geographic data, visit MapTechnica.com for the mapping resources you'll need to succeed.
June 27th, 2010
Not to be outdone by Apple’s recent launch of their HTML5 playground, Google has launched their own HTML5 Developer Resource site called HTML5Rocks.com.
The site has some useful tutorials and an interactive sandbox, but for the time-impaired, they also have an excellent presentation that shows you quickly what is new and different. As with most things Google, it’s not the prettiest site, but it gets the job done. Check it out.
Sphere: Related ContentJune 6th, 2010
If you’ve been considering buying a MapTechnica Tile Set (c’mon, you know I’m talking about you), you now have a risk-free way to try a sample tile set to see if it will work for your map project. I created a special tile set that contains the Rhode Island tile set and supporting data, along with sample files that help you get going quickly. For more details, visit the Free 5-Digit ZIP Code Sample Set Information page over at MapTechnica.
June 4th, 2010
Apple has just launched an effort to support more widespread adoption of HTML5 in the developer community. This page showcases a bunch of cutting-edge demos, and this page digs into the demos more deeply and provides more resources to learn how to develop features using HTML5.
Sphere: Related ContentStandards aren’t add-ons to the web. They are the web. And you can start using them today.
June 3rd, 2010
I try to use this site for positive tips, tricks & posts about web development. No, really. I do. But every now and then I come across a site so horrible, so incomprehensibly broken, that I just need to call them out by name: Dish Network.
May 29th, 2010
Time to step up onto my organic soap box.
HGTV’s latest Green Home Giveaway web page represents web usability at its worst. They’ve sacrificed usability and accessibility in a needless effort to “force” their visitors into action. And they should be ashamed.
May 15th, 2010
Lots going on over at my side-project, MapTechnica, lately. In addition to the US 5-Digit Zip Code Maps and US County Boundary Maps, I’ve just turned on City maps.
Looking back, I should have started with these given how cool they turned out to be. In truth, though, I didn’t realize the data and shapefiles for the cities were in the vast Tiger/Line database since the US Census Bureau calls them “places,” not “cities.” Oh, well.
Serendipitously, the city boundaries work amazingly well with the city labels and information already embedded in the Google Map layer, so the effect is a truly additive mapping product without the need for map markers.
I’m still working on productizing the tile set and database, but that should be up in the next few days. In the mean time, head over to the free US Cities Boundary Map Tool and play around. As always, I’d love any feedback you might have.
Sphere: Related ContentSeptember 8th, 2009
Dropbox [link] is a highly recommended service that lets you share large files amongst different groups and machines that I’ve written about before [here]. MobileMe is a very not-free service that provides marginal utility for Mac users. If you’re like me, the only reason to use MobileMe on a daily basis is to keep my [...]
September 7th, 2009
By default, the root account is disabled in OS X. If you are a developer new to the platform, you will be needing to access many things that are available only with root access. This tutorial walks you through the process of enabling the root account in Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6).
NOTE: This guide is specific to enabling root access on Snow Leopard, (10.6). To learn how to enable root access on Tiger (10.4), follow these instructions instead. To learn how to enable root access in Leopard (10.5), follow these instructions.
Now, you are set to access protected areas of the system via the terminal.
February 27th, 2009
Dropbox [link] is a highly recommended service that lets you share large files amongst different groups and machines. A typical use would be to sync your files between two or more computers, but I find Dropbox incredibly useful for my client work.
Like many of you, I work with virtual teams that come together on a project-by-project basis. With Dropbox it’s easy to set up a shared folder for each project and control who has access to it. As soon as one person throws up a file, everyone in the group has it there locally on their computer. Brilliant.
February 20th, 2009
I came across this very nice gallery of Flash preloader screens. I am continually humbled in the presence of true creativity. This is well worth checking out.
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