With the emergence of HTML5, a lot of people are wondering “what does this mean for Flash?” Until now, Flash has really been the only technology available to deliver RIAs (rich internet applications). And to be truthful, no one has been complaining because Adobe has done such a great job with it. As great as Flash had been for us, Google think that it’s time for a new era in web development. The purpose of this post is to define how each of these technologies work, explore the implications of HTML5, and predict how these technologies will evolve in the future.
Color Theory in Web Design
September 1st, 2010 by Eric RowellWhen designing a new website, you’ll inevitably ask yourself “what colors should I use?” – it’s a fair question. We’ve all seen strikingly beautiful and compelling color schemes that we admire, and we’ve all seen mutilated color schemes that practically stab our retinas. The purpose of this post is to explore the four major types of color schemes – monochromatic, analog, complementary, and triad – explain how each color scheme can tie your website together, and give examples of each. Let’s get started!
Automating your Web Experience with Bookmarklets and Browser Macros
August 25th, 2010 by Eric RowellHave you ever found yourself repetitively filling out the same forms, navigating to the same pages, clicking “OK” dozens of times, and checking countless flags? Perhaps you’re using a poorly designed web application on a daily basis at work, or maybe you have a great client who owns a not-so-great website. Ever wish you could just make a macro to automate repetitive tasks on the web? Well you can! The purpose of this post is to outline two major methods for automating tasks online, and then help get you started with a more efficient and time saving user experience.
HTML5 Web Storage Example
August 23rd, 2010 by Eric RowellWeb storage is just one of the new and exciting features of HTML5, which gives websites the ability to store information on the client’s machine without a time limit. The purpose of this post is to provide an example implementation of web storage, present a working demo, and outline the basic code for handling web storage.
Understanding the Difference Between Web Servers and Application Servers
August 22nd, 2010 by Eric RowellAlthough you might have heard the terms web server and application server used interchangeably, they are actually quite different. The difference comes down to HTTP protocols. The purpose of this post is to first define the HTTP protocol, explain how web servers are different from application servers with respect to the HTTP protocol, and also provide some links on how to get started with the most popular web servers and application servers today. Let’s get started!
HTML5 Autocomplete Using Datalist Tags
August 19th, 2010 by Eric RowellHave you ever created a web application that used autocomplete? Without HTML5, you’d have to create a floating div that contains the possible candidates which is dynamically generated with Javascript listeners like onclick, onmousedown, onmouseup, etc. This can be quite a task! With HTML5, autocomplete is drastically simplified using the datalist tag. Here we go!
How to Create 301 Redirects from a Sitemap
August 16th, 2010 by Eric RowellIf you’ve decided to change the name of your growing website, and you’ve now realized that you have to somehow create 301 redirects for thousands of links, this post is for you. Here are a couple of ways that you can create 301 redirects for larger websites.
Leveraging Event Driven Architectures
August 11th, 2010 by Eric RowellIn a world full of events and instant communication, it’s becoming more and more common for business owners to adopt event driven architectures. The purpose of this post is to define event driven architectures, provide a working example, and discuss its advantages.
Steps for Changing Your Website Name and Preserving Page Rank
August 9th, 2010 by Eric RowellThere are many reasons for changing your website, including a business merger, acquisition, an attempt to create a new image for yourself, or even simply because you don’t like your old website name. It happens to the best of us. Once the decision has been made to officially change your website name, there are some critical steps that you need to handle with care in order to make the transition as smooth as possible for your currently existing customers and users, while also doing everything you can to preserve your Google Page Rank.