Icon Reference Chart

An excellent piece of reference material - almost a cheat sheet, in fact. All the sizes, formats and related information you need to be able to create favicons, iphone icons, android icons and more.

Icon Reference Chart (posted from ZooTool).

13 July 2010   |   2 comments   |   icons, reference, cheat sheet

PHP Querystring Functions

Adding and removing variables to and from URLs using PHP can be a relatively simple process admittedly, but I have a couple of functions I use often to make the process even less time-consuming.

Add Querystring Variable

A PHP function that will add the querystring variable $key with a value $value to $url. If $key is already specified within $url, it will replace it.

function add_querystring_var($url, $key, $value) {
    $url = preg_replace('/(.*)(?|&)' . $key . '=[^&]+?(&)(.*)/i', '$1$2$4', $url . '&');
    $url = substr($url, 0, -1);
    if (strpos($url, '?') === false) {
        return ($url . '?' . $key . '=' . $value);
    } else {
        return ($url . '&' . $key . '=' . $value);
    }
}

Remove Querystring Variable

A PHP function that will remove the variable $key and its value from the given $url.

function remove_querystring_var($url, $key) {
    $url = preg_replace('/(.*)(?|&)' . $key . '=[^&]+?(&)(.*)/i', '$1$2$4', $url . '&');
    $url = substr($url, 0, -1);
    return ($url);
}

05 December 2006   |   49 comments   |   links, code, development, url, querystring, reference, php, functions, programming, tips, variable

Internet Country Codes

A list of country level domain names, ordered by country or domain name.

Click here to read this post »

07 October 2005   |   21 comments   |   cheatsheet, webdev, reference, domain, domains, tld, codes, dns, internet, resources, country

Block Prefetching

Mozilla and Google's prefetching functions are a nice addition to browser technology in many ways. Unsurprisingly, they are not very well thought through. The main two problems with the prefetching idea are that it messes with log files and it means every link on a page could potentially be followed despite the consequences (dangerous in a site administration context).

It appears from the FAQ that Google only intends their accelerator to prefetch specific pages, that have been specified with the <link> tag. However, many people are claiming that normal links have been prefetched.

To prevent prefetching of a page is simple: add the following PHP to the page you do not want prefetched:

if ((isset($_SERVER['HTTP_X_MOZ'])) && ($_SERVER['HTTP_X_MOZ'] == 'prefetch')) {
    // This is a prefetch request. Block it.
    header('HTTP/1.0 403 Forbidden');
    echo '403: Forbidden<br><br>Prefetching not allowed here.';
    die();
}

This will serve a "forbidden" header to the prefetcher. Normal browsing should be unaffected.

20 April 2005   |   3 comments   |   webdev, block, mozilla, prefetching, google, reference, php

Text Readability Scores

A tool to give an indication of how easy text is to read, using the Flesch-Kincaid, Gunning-Fog, Coleman-Liau, SMOG and Automated Readability scoring systems.

Click here to read this post »

07 July 2004   |   141 comments   |   design, language, literature, readability, reference, resources, tool, tools, usability, webdesign, writing

Flesch-Kincaid Reading Level

Functions to count the number of syllables in a word or sentence, and work out the readability of text.

Click here to read this post »

07 July 2004   |   14 comments   |   reading, webdev, text, programming, reference, php, writing, readability, language, accessibility, algorithm

Faux Columns for Liquid Layouts

Using CSS for layouts can be a problem when using backgrounds for two columns that are not of equal length. This article expands on the solution to this problem from AListApart.

Click here to read this post »

22 June 2004   |   30 comments   |   tutorial, html, fluid, layout, reference, liquid, design, web, faux, webdesign, css, hacks

VBScript Date Format Functions

Date formatting in VBScript is not quite as powerful as PHP. This function gives you plenty more ways to format dates and times in VBScript with the minimum of effort.

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15 March 2004   |   68 comments   |   scripts, development, reference, programming, vbscript, javascript, time, unix, date, asp, vb, webdesign

US States Select Box

A populated select list (input box) with the states of the USA as options.

Click here to read this post »

14 February 2004   |   26 comments   |   select, webdev, development, html, reference, resource, design, forms, webdesign, states, resources

VBScript Regular Expressions

Regular expression reference and examples for VBScript.

Click here to read this post »

07 November 2003   |   31 comments   |   code, regex, regexp, reference, programming, asp, vbscript, vb, regular, scripting, expressions, regular-expressions