As requested by everyone, PDF versions of the PHP, CSS and mod_rewrite cheat sheets are now online. Enjoy!

 

Things I Want To Do

Things I've Done

 

A simple PHP code fragment to block Mozilla and Google's prefetching, useful in CMSes and other areas where GET requests may perform actions.

 

With the release of the amazing Opera 8 (the voice stuff is mindblowing), I can now upgrade my LiveSearch to use XMLHTTPRequest. I used Opera 7 before and it wasn't supported - but I still wanted LiveSearch - so I came up with a new way to do the same thing. XMLHTTPRequest is the better way though, and the upgrade was easy. All those with modern browsers should now see, if you type into the search box, results as you type. I've also introduced pagination in the results.

 

Apparently in order to "claim" ilovejackdaniels.com on Technorati, I need to link to my Technorati Profile. So here's my link.

 

A selection of user scripts for use with the excellent Greasemonkey Firefox extension - and now also Opera 8.

 

As most people who examine their log files every so often have also no doubt noticed, sometimes you find information in there that just doesn't make sense.

Take these two common referrer strings for example:

"XXXX:++++++++++++++++++++"
"Field blocked by Outpost firewall (http://www.agnitum.com)"

The first - well, nobody appears to have yet been able to determine where that comes from. It certainly does a good job of hiding the authentic referrer though. My personal guess is that "XXXX" replaces "HTTP", and the +++ replaces the actual referral URL. It looks like a personal firewall product that simply hides the referrer.

The second is actually spam. Well, it is and it isn't. Anyone using the Outpost Personal Firewall from Agnitum can hide referrer URLs with the program. It unfortunately then replaces the referrer with what is essentially an advert. Unfortunately, blocking this referrer really isn't an option as it isn't the user at fault - it's the shortsighted company that produces the firewall.

What to do about these is the interesting question. Personally, I leave them alone. Both are easy to filter out of a referrer log, and as far as I know it is authentic users leaving these marks. Another option I've had suggested is to filter users with these referrers to a page explaining why they are being redirected, and what they can do to stop it happening again - explaining, of course, that it isn't their fault.

The only thing that we can do as users is to not use products that do this. Use ones that hide the referrer, by all means, if you want to. No problem there. Just don't use products that replace the referrer with rubbish data or an advert - all that does is make life harder unnecessarily for web developers.

 

It struck me today, while working on a project, that sIFR (a way of dynamically replacing normal text titles with a Flash alternative for those users who have Flash available), while very useful for titles, could be put to good use to allow people to style forms as well.

I must confess, I've not used sIFR myself, so am not sure how easy this might be, technically. However, the premise is simple enough. With sIFR, you replace an normal HTML element with something visually improved, without losing out in terms of accessibility or semantics. Forms are still, despite the problem existing for some time, almost unstylable due to inconsistencies in browsers.

sIFR in forms should, in theory, allow people to create icons in flash for different element states. For example (this is what got me thinking about this) a checkbox has two main states - checked and unchecked. They look awful. It would be great if there was a way to replace the checked state with a decent tick icon and the unchecked state with a cross icon.

As I said, I don't know how tough this is to do. Managing disabled elements would be tricky. Text boxes could well present a problem. Radio boxes might require a couple of boxes to be changed at once. Selects don't look fun. But it should be possible. Does anyone know if this has already been attempted? Is anyone willing to give it a go? If it worked, it would make a massive difference to web designers everywhere, helping them to work around the inconsistencies in form styling and finally get some control.

 

That was damn close. Poland has asked for the text of the "Directive on the Patentability of Computer-Implemented Inventions" to be changed (see BBC article), so software cannot be patented. If it had not been blocked, the effects would have been almost unimaginable - had this been introduced twenty years ago, technology would now be at little more than 1984 levels. Thanks Poland!

 

I've finally actually decided to check out Flickr, and am quite impressed. I still hate the way people combine their content feed with their Flickr feed, but that's what the unsubscribe button was invented for. Now I've found my digital camera, it's time I made use of it! I do have my own page up there, with a few photos from Twickenham at the time of writing. More will follow!

 

PHP and SQL Server are a powerful combination, however sometimes data stored in a text type column is truncated for no apparent reason after 4096 characters. Here's how to fix the problem.

 

It's a late post, yes, but I've recently moved flats and have only just managed to dig out my camera and grab the photos off it. England massacred Canada at Twickenham on November 13th and me and Mrs Dave were there - here are a few (bad) pictures.