Web

Drupal 'Access Denied' errors for anonymous user

Drupal can be a pain. After a whole day of development, we started getting 'Access Denied' errors on all content that should be accessible by the anonymous user. The cause turned out to be something to do with a module incorrectly altering the node_access table.

Running this query fixed it:

Web standards pragmatists vs. idealists

Joel Spolsky on the myth of web standards, IE 8 and pragmatists vs. idealists.

Should important web content always be “above the fold”?

Fluidesign on why you don't always have to cram content above the fold when designing websites: Demystifying “Above the Fold”

Scaling Drupal for a heavy load site

We've recently been asked by a client to look into creating a Drupal installation that can cope with heavy load. Here's some useful instructions from johnandcailin.com.

I'll post a follow-up in the near future explaining what we ended up doing and how successful it was.

ASP redirect script

PHP (or non-ASP) developers: if you ever need to create a redirect script on an IIS server using ASP, just create a file called 'index.asp' or 'default.asp' and add the following line:

A Gradient Tutorial

"There is a dedicated gradient tool in Photoshop, but just like with anything 'obvious' it turns out to be anything but. There are multiple ways of producing a gradient in Photoshop, and I’m going to show you the way I always use because it’s pretty non-technical and produces reliable and reproducible results."

Full article: A Gradient Tutorial

Rounded CSS-based corners without images

The basic idea of Nifty Corners is to get some coulored lines to get the rounded effect."

Full article: Nifty Corners: rounded corners without images

CSS Frames

How to emulate frames using CSS: CSS Frames

5 HTML elements you probably never use

This is a list of HTML elements I've found to be very poorly represented in most markup on the web today. Many of these elements offer more semantic value than actual functionality, but with the rising popularity of CSS driven design where HTML elements are used for what they were actually intended for, I felt shining a little light on them was appropriate.

  1. <address>
  2. <q>
  3. <optgroup>
  4. <acronym> or <abbr>
  5. <fieldset> and <legend>

Full article:

  • Read more
  • Displaying categories in a Drupal block

    PHP code to display up to 30 categores.

    <?php
    if (user_access('access content')) 
    {
    	$result = db_query("SELECT d.tid, d.name, \ 
    			COUNT(*) AS count FROM \
    			{term_data} d INNER JOIN {term_node} \
    			USING (tid) INNER JOIN {node} n USING (nid) \
    			WHERE n.status = 1 GROUP BY d.tid, d.name \
    			ORDER BY count DESC, d.name LIMIT 30");
    	$items = array();
    	while ($category = db_fetch_object($result))
    	{
    		$items[] = l($category->name .' ('. $category->count .')',
    				'taxonomy/term/'. $category->tid);
    	}
    	return theme('item_list', $items);
    }
    ?>
    

    Applying customised backgrounds to HTML forms

    " This article demonstrates how to apply customized backgrounds to HTML forms, while preserving stucturally clean markup and accesibility."

    Full article: Fun with forms – customized input elements

    Drag and drop web buttons

    Site that allows you to create web buttons online.
    Buttonator.com

    Rules to better google rankings

    "Ever wondered why your site or blog can't get a better google rank? Maybe these tips and tricks fromSSW.com.au can help you understand why your site has a low rank and also how you can improve it."

    Full article: Rules to better google rankings.

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