21
Aug
2008

Watch your back bloggers - A site hacking alert

sql injection icon

From 11th August, I have received SQL injection attack to my blog on daily bases (each try is 2 consequent attempts). Apprently it has started since 8th of August and not too many blogger/webmasters have realised this. Here a non-technical summary of what’s going on.

16
Aug
2008

Introduction to Google Analytics

Google Analytics Icon

Google Analytics may seems straight forward to most webmasters, everyone use it and everyone would know what it is… right?

That’s not true and thanks to CSS-Tricks released a comprehensive tutorial  to Google Analytics in ’spoon-feed’ mode! (aka/ video screencast).

Link: http://css-tricks.com/videos/css-tricks-video-31.php

Video screencast is 17 minutes long and covers following topics:

  • Introduction on Google Analytics
  • Setup Google Analytics in a WordPress blog
  • Talk on a possible cause of report poison
  • Using filter on your Google Analytics report
  • Setting up a Goal
15
Aug
2008

WordPress 2.6.1 is out

WordPress Logo Sticker Style

Exactly 1 month after WordPress 2.6 was released, first bug fix released today fixing 61 none critical fixes. WordPress 2.6.1 is described as a maintenance release and WP bloggers do not require to upgrade if their don’t want to.

You may checkout the complete list of changed files and this time I won’t be bother doing a detail compare between 2 versions because WordPress trac is going to do it for me!

15
Aug
2008

Breaking the Habbit: Be a Creative Programmer

I guess that’s the major reason I end up as web developer because of amout of creativity it involves. Surely, no programmer want to be sterotype and nerdy, thick glasses and incapable of socialising with human beings. This is a nifty article from LifeDev shows you why “Working with code is one of the most creative jobs one can have.

Here’s a sneak peak of the 14 tips in the box from creative programmers to get you out of the box.

06
Aug
2008

Google now spies on Australian streets

Google Street View is now available for Australia and Japan, which  allows you to see pedestrian eye views of most of streets. in all Australian cities. There’s no more to say but try it out yourself!

05
Aug
2008

Another Research Article

A follow up to last week’s research articles list. This is another must read for Web designers out there.

Factors that improve online experiences
http://www.idea.org/find-information.html

31
Jul
2008

Who’s Ready for OpenID

I am surprised that most of my techie friends are still not aware of OpenID and its existence. So I decided to start up with a very brief introduction on OpenID, and will move on talking about some of its issues and how we can ultilise OpenID.

25
Jul
2008

An inside-out look of WordPress 2.6

As soon as I got my hand on the latest WordPress 2.6, I have been wanting to write this comparison article on the difference of this to its previous release. And why would I (or should others) want to do that? as a programmer, it gives you some hints on how to improve your code by seeing how others did theirs; and also as WordPress theme designer, it gives you complete knowledge on what’s been changed and how you should look out when you using WordPress build in functions.

I analysis the code by comparing source codes of 2.6 to 2.51and their database structures (using Beyond Compare 2), there are plenty of surprises and suddenly you realized why isn’t your plugin/theme working any more after upgrades.

19
Jul
2008

This week: Reading Materials

Database: Maybe Normalizing Isn’t Normal
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001152.html

CSS: Fix Your CSS
http://www.search-this.com/2008/07/14/fix-your-css/

Security: Can You Hack Your Own Site? A Look at Some Essential Security Considerations
http://nettuts.com/…at-some-essential-security-considerations/

Flash: Building a better ActionScript
http://ajaxian.com/archives/building-a-better-actionscript

HTML: Useful tips to enrich your HTML Forms
http://woork.blogspot.com/…to-enrich-your-html-forms.html

SEO: Rethink that sidebar, Again! Advanced Wordpress SEO
http://seogadget.co.uk/rethink-that-sidebar-again/

SEO: What To Do When Google Bans Your Site Because Of A Bogus DMCA Take-Down Notice
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/…bogus-dmca-takedown-notice

General: How Not to Use Online Social Networks: 6 Tips
http://blogs.payscale.com/…/how-not-to-use.html