From the monthly archives:

April 2009

jQuery tabs

I’ve finally had a chance to implement a solution with jQuery tabs and I was very pleased with the simplicity of creating a very simple tabbed interface. I’ve used several tab solutions before the jQuery UI solution, and I definitely prefer the jQuery solution (yet again).
To set up a basic tabbed layout, start with an [...]

Read the full article → April 30, 2009

jQuery autocomplete

Autocompletion of web-based forms has become so common that it has reached the point of being an expectation. Fortunately (again), there is a jQuery solution that makes this a simple addition to any form.
The first step is to download the jQuery Autocomplete plugin and check out the documentation. Make sure that you include the script [...]

Read the full article → April 28, 2009

jQuery parent(s)

I was recently working on an unordered list in which each item is displayed with a link that does two things: first, the metadata for the item is stored in a database via Ajax; second, the item is removed from the on-screen list so it can’t be chosen again.
For example, you might display a list [...]

Read the full article → April 27, 2009

Twitter, OAuth vulnerability, and service interconnectedness

It’s ironic that the day that my post on integrating Twitter OAuth (and other third-party authentication) appeared that a vulnerability in OAuth would be identified.
I didn’t write about the potential hassle that site owners will endure when third-party services become unavailable due to bugs or other problems, but it’s a huge consideration for web developers. [...]

Read the full article → April 23, 2009

Use Twitter, Facebook, OAuth or OpenID for login?

Now that OAuth is officially available for accessing the Twitter API, it’s technically possible to use Twitter’s services as an authentication method for logging into your web site. In fact, when setting up a new Twitter OAuth application, there’s an option suggesting that very use.

This is not a new concept, but with the recent proliferation [...]

Read the full article → April 22, 2009

jQuery solution: selected radio button value

The radio button element in an HTML form can be awkward to manage in Javascript. For example, assume the following form:

[-]?View Code HTML<form id="radio_form">
<fieldset>
<label><input type="radio" name="color" value="red" checked="checked" />Red</label><br />
<label><input type="radio" name="color" value="yellow" />Yellow</label><br />
<label><input type="radio" name="color" [...]

Read the full article → April 20, 2009

Follow-up to “How will it end?”

I finished reading Almost Perfect (mentioned here), a first-person account of the rise and fall of Word Perfect by Pete Peterson. Pete was one of the founding members of the company that changed the concept of word processing from one of dedicated machines such as Wang to the concept that we now know — specialized [...]

Read the full article → April 16, 2009

jQuery plugin: Media Gallery

I just released a small jQuery plugin and created an open source project for it. The plugin was written based on a request for something similar. I created the open-source project for it mostly as an exercise to see how Google Code works.
You can learn more about my jQuery Media Gallery plugin here.

Read the full article → April 15, 2009

Meet in the middle

I’ve been struggling with an overall concept for quite some time that relates to web development and web usage. The problem is that for all of the great innovations that have already occurred since Netscape made the internet accessible, there is still a long way to go before an average person can truly participate in [...]

Read the full article → April 14, 2009

Get latitude/longitude of Google map

I do a fair amount of work where I need to quickly get the latitude and longitude of a given address. Most of the time I just head over to maps.google.com and type in the address, then use the link button and copy/paste just the latitude and longitude. I find this method to be workable [...]

Read the full article → April 10, 2009

← Previous Entries