Writing a Freely Distributable Script

Posted August 19th, 2008 by Mike Cherim

This article is about the pros and cons of writing a script, then freely sharing it with others via distribution on the web. Specifically I’m focusing on a script, but believe me when I tell you the points raised in this article are equally applicable to open source templates, themes, widgets, and more. I’m writing this so that you, as a script author to be, will be better informed and prepared for what’s involved if you want to do it right. The information herein is based on my own experiences as a script writer, both good and bad.

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Picture This

Posted July 28th, 2008 by Mike Cherim

Picture this, there’s this guy who loves web development, but lately hasn’t done much of it. You might wonder why. Well, I’m that guy, and I have been telling you for a month or three that I’ve been up to something on the side. The deal is, as you may have gotten from the title, I have been hard at work on becoming a photographer. I enjoy photography, I have been an amateur since I was a boy, and it suits me. How it suits me and how I got to this point is a bit of a story.

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Mad World to Mad Web

Posted July 10th, 2008 by Mike Cherim

I’ve been trying to find the time for a post — and I have a couple of good ones in draft form — but nothing is ready to go. Then again, I have been trying to cut my hours to something resembling a normal person’s, so less time is being devoted to… well, everything. That is why this post is so strange in my opinion. It’s really out of the blue. Conception to completion happened in the blink of an eye. I rewrote the lyrics for Mad World, the Gary Jules/Michael Andrews version (originally it was written and performed by Tears for Fears). I gave the song an angle a web developer might appreciate. Here’s Mad Web:

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Web Excessibility

Posted June 12th, 2008 by Mike Cherim

They say too much of a good thing isn’t all that good. It’s true, and this fact remains as the statement is applied to web development. Especially when it’s applied to the web accessibility branch. Let’s explore this. Web accessibility is a good thing, right? You bet it is, from its benefits to myriad users to its benefits to the site in the area of search engine indexing. It’s win-win all the way. But before jumping in and going wild with its application and adherence on your next project, making sure your site is accessible to the nth degree and all that, it can be overdone.

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My What-I’ve-Been-Up-To Post

Posted June 3rd, 2008 by Mike Cherim

I haven’t been posting as much, roughly once a week I guess, but not as much as I used to. This post is meant to explain why. To tell you what I’ve been up to — or not up to as the case may be. I have been purposely cutting back. I have family, it’s the nice time of year, and I have a life-long hobby I’m taking to new level, or trying to. I’ll offer more about that at another time. I have been dong fewer web and blog projects, or perhaps you could say I’m allowing more room between projects, making time or all of my other pursuits. Which are varied.

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Web Semantics and Search

Posted May 27th, 2008 by Mike Cherim

Semantics, schemantics, right? If that’s your view, you might want to start questioning it now. The importance of web semantics may be on the rise. Semantics is meaning. On the web semantic HTML conveys this meaning to the user and his or her user agent. It lends itself to web accessibility, and the clear content organization is extraordinarily helpful to being properly indexed by search engines. Someday this fact may be more important than ever thanks to an interesting new approach to search.

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Killing Off Web Widows

Posted May 14th, 2008 by Mike Cherim

I miss my words. Please, let me explain. I speak not of wives without husbands. I am instead talking about a typographers’ term that defines an undesirable situation that looks bad in print and is best avoided for reasons of both aesthetics and readability. The term pertains primarily to print as said, but it also applies to a web page situation that, in my opinion, is also best avoided. I’m not going to provide graphical example of the aforementioned malady, but I will offer a quick definition of the term I’ve introduced you to.

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Protecting Forms from Spam ‘Bots

Posted April 30th, 2008 by Mike Cherim

Spam robots or spam ‘bots abuse comment forms, contact forms, and any forms they can. A true scourge of the web. They exploit insecure forms to send spam. Fortunately there are individual methods of slowing them down. And when used jointly, ‘bots can actually be stopped. This post shares four scripted operations I’ve found particularly helpful to prevent illegitimate posting. In the following examples, at least one variable will be posted, and will appear in this article as $posted_var (meaning it’s captured by $_POST['var']) to offer greater clarity, but this variable can be whatever you need it to be: name, email, etc.

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Will the Road to HTML 5 be Rough?

Posted April 18th, 2008 by Mike Cherim

I am really impressed with the HTML 5 work being performed by Ian Hickson, as the draft editor, and the others who are part of the WHATWG. I’m a fan of the work, and I believe it has promise. From the updated meaning of some of those gray area elements, to the deprecation (made obsolete) of some of the garbage that has littered the web for the past fifteen years, to the introduction of new elements that will offer organizational value where none exists today, to the introduction of new attributes to give all elements clearer meaning, it all bodes well with me. But I cannot help but wonder how we will get there.

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