List of Great Web Dev Optimization Tools
June 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Six Revisions has a bunch of great web development tips and tricks. Today he put out 15 Tools to Help You Develop Faster Web Pages, which is a great list worth reading. In addition to the standard fare (YSlow, Firebug, etc) he also lists some good stuff I hadn’t heard of like Cuzillion and DBMonster.
Tags: cuzillion, DBMonster, development, firebug, optimization, optimize, six revisions, web, web development, yslow
Simple JSP JDBC Example
January 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment
I learned to program on Java, but have done little to exercise those skills in the last six years, preferring to leverage PHPs simplicity whenever possible. So... when I had a need to put together a simple JSP script that queried Oracle, I found myself scouring for a truly simple example to start from. Here's the example I put together:
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<%@ page import="java.sql.*" %>
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<%
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try
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{
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//this is how you might get a POST or GET variable from the request to use
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//String user_id = request.getParameter("some_var");
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Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:oracle:thin:@HOSTNAME:PORT:SID","USERNAME","PASSWORD");
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if (rset.next())
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{
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out.println(rset.getString(1));
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}
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else
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{
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out.println("No records found");
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}
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rset.close();
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stmt.close();
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}
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out.println("Exception");
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}
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%>
Certainly for your own purposes you would need to write a lot more code than this. Yet, if you seek a simple example just to gain your bearings, this should do it.
Tags: code, driver, java, jdbc, jsp, oracle, oracle thin, programming, query, sql, thin, web
Site Uptime Monitoring
December 12, 2007 | 1 Comment
I highly recommend SiteUptime.com. It's been repeatedly helpful for me knowing when my site is having difficulty. The free version lets you have one monitor that checks every 30 minutes. Not great for super critical things, but perfect for a simple blog. You can even have it SMS you when there is an alert!
Tags: monitor, monitoring, uptime, web, webserver, website
Fiddler - Must Have for IE Development
October 9, 2007 | 3 Comments
If you do any web development for Internet Explorer, Fiddler is a must have application. Basically this is semi-equivalent to Firebug's "Net tab". If you have been using IE Developer Toolbar, this was a huge missing piece that can now be filled in.
Explanation of what it is from their site:
Fiddler is a Web Debugging Proxy which logs all HTTP(S) traffic between your computer and the Internet. Fiddler allows you to inspect all HTTP(S) traffic, set breakpoints, and "fiddle" with incoming or outgoing data. Fiddler includes a powerful event-based scripting subsystem, and can be extended using any .NET language.
Fiddler is freeware and can debug traffic from virtually any application, including Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, and thousands more.
You should also check out the video tutorial.
Tags: fiddler, fiddler2, firebug, ie, internet explorer, web, web development
Why Safari 3 on PC? For the iPhone!
June 12, 2007 | 2 Comments
I love Safari on my Mac. It outperforms Firefox for me, the built in RSS support is wonderful, the tabs work better than any of the other browsers, and private browsing (better known as porn mode) can't be beat. However... it's really no competition for Firefox or Internet Explorer on the PC platform as an overall browser.
So.. why Safari on the PC? Does Apple truly believe they can compete with Mozilla and Microsoft? I'd say they are not that misguided...
Safari is now available on PC purely to test iPhone applications.
There are a lot of web developers who will be able to develop small applications to deliver through Safari on the iPhone starting on June 29th. Yet, a large majority of the developers will not have iPhones and don't have Macs. This means Safari needs to be made available for testing on PC for those developers to add value to the iPhone. Although this would be made better if Apple cloned Firebug and rolled that in out of the box...
As far as actual browser usage, I would be shocked to see the web adoption pass 6% for Safari (Apple claims they currently get 4.9%). This may sell a couple more people on Macs, but Safari is not iTunes. It does not stand head and shoulders above competitor software. If they do expand market share in Safari and get a few more people onto a Mac, this is a bonus.
In conclusion... I'm glad to see Safari on PC. Hopefully more web applications will get tested with it... but don't be fooled this is a move to bolster the iPhone, nothing more.
Tags: apple, browser, explorer, firebug, firefox, internet explorer, iphone, mac, macs, mozilla, osx, pc, safari, web, web application
A Look at Joost
March 9, 2007 | 44 Comments
Jenny recently hooked me up with a much coveted Joost account. Sadly I do not have any invitations yet, and there is a long list of people who have already asked me for one, you know who you are...
I was initially frustrated by the lack of client for MacOS-PPC, since this is the machine running in my living room, hooked to my TV. With that aside, I downloaded the client onto my Windows Vista laptop, where it initially also would not run. Luckily, with Vista all you need to do is jump through a few hoops. Here's what you do:
- Right click on the shortcut, select properties.
- On the compatibility tab, un-check everything, except "Run as administrator", this must be checked.
- Then click "Show settings for all users", and do the same here.
- At this point you should be set to run Joost!
After the initial frustration of getting it running somewhere, I started to appreciate the potential here. In general, it runs pretty smoothly, the quality is surprisingly good for on demand web video. I think it is head and shoulders above the quality of YouTube or Google Video, probably comparable to VHS.
At the moment, the content is a bit limited, although I did watch the Green Day: American Idiot concert, which was very cool. I was extremely happy with the interface. I believe the channel based delivery of content will be familiar and intuitive to the general public who is familiar with cable TV.
My one final complaint would be the advertisement placement. It seems like the software just randomly decides to insert commercials from time to time, which I am OK with, but it doesn't have any intelligence for deciding when to cut in. For example, I say a stupid Maybelline ad twice, both time in the middle of a song. I think this will work out in time, but just an insiders view of what's wrong in the beta from my perspective...
Tags: american idiot, google, google video, green day, joost, macosx, Maybelline, television, video, web, windows vista, youtube
Great Mac Documentation: Flashing Icons and SSL
July 21, 2006 | 3 Comments
On two occassions this week I went looking for documentation on how to do "stuff" on my Mac. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of documentation I found from Apple with simple Google search strings.
I wanted to setup SSL on the web server that runs on my OS X.4 desktop. So, I searched for "mac ssl web server". This turned up Using mod_ssl on Mac OS X, which is a detailed guide which acts as a cookbook for getting this up and running using the infrastructure already in place on your Mac.
Later I was helping a co-worker who was experiencing difficulty with starting up his Mac. The symptom was a flashing globe. So, again a Google search: "mac flashing globe". This turned up another article straight from Apple, Mac OS: Flashing Globe When Computer Turns On. Again the document immediately explained that the network disk must have been mistakenly selected for startup. The solution: be patient, it'll eventually time out and switch back. Perfect!
Of course, after being patient, we got a new symptom... The flashing globe was replaced with a flashing question mark. Back to Google for a final run: "mac flashing question mark". This time the Apple document was second in the list, but equally helpful. It also told us to be patient, but listed a bunch of steps to take if this did not work out.
All I can say is that Google combined with the really good Apple Mac documentation is a powerful combination. I'm under the impression that a monkey with an internet connection could support a pile of Macs and still have time to screw around.
Tags: apple, documentation, flashing, flashing globe, flashing question mark, globe, google, google search, mac, macintosh, question mark, SSL, support, web, web server