John Cox

Blogs · @wyome

Tagged tutorial · everything

View Source Tutorial: Content Site Using HTML5 Canvas + CSS3 - Ajaxian

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2010 User-Agent Blacklist • Perishable Press

The 2010 User-Agent Blacklist is a set of .htaccess rules that blocks hundreds of malicious bots while allowing legitimate search engines through, improving site performance and SEO by preventing bad bots from consuming server resources and bandwidth. The blacklist identifies problematic user-agents through careful server-log analysis and prevents them from accessing your site, which is especially important during search engine crawls when poor performance could harm rankings. However, the author emphasizes this requires active monitoring and isn't a set-and-forget solution, as false positives are possible and the list needs regular updating to remain effective.

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jQuery tutorial: Text box hints

This tutorial demonstrates how to build a jQuery plugin that displays hint text (stored in an input's title attribute) inside search boxes and form fields, hiding the hint when the field receives focus and restoring it when the field is empty and blurred. The plugin uses unobtrusive JavaScript so the form remains functional without JavaScript enabled, and includes a workaround for Firefox's autocomplete behavior by clearing the hint text on form submission and window unload.

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Quick Tip: An Introduction to Sammy.js | Nettuts+

This tutorial introduces Sammy.js, a lightweight (under 20kb) jQuery-based framework that uses URL hashes to drive single-page AJAX applications with browser back-button support, and it walks through building a small mailbox app with routes for inbox, labels, and compose forms. Its main argument is that Sammy offers a Sinatra-style, non-all-or-nothing alternative to heavyweight MVC frameworks like SproutCore, one that can be dropped into existing projects and even run several instances on one page. The piece is worth keeping as a concise, hands-on primer for developers weighing a minimal routing layer over full frameworks.

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Fun (a programming language for the realtime web)

Fun is a proposed programming language designed to make building realtime web applications as simple as building static websites with PHP, by automatically handling state synchronization, event management, and DOM updates without requiring developers to write networking or event-handling code. The language uses a declarative syntax with XML support and reactive data binding—when state changes, the UI automatically updates everywhere it's referenced—eliminating the need for complex polling, manual updates, or separate client-server synchronization logic. Though largely unimplemented at the time of writing, the author describes Fun's architecture (built on PEG.js parsing, JavaScript compilation, and node.js/Redis backend infrastructure) and promises a usable version by year's end.

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Untitled (http://html5boilerplate.com)

HTML5 Boilerplate is a professional front-end template that streamlines web project setup by providing a starter HTML file with recommended meta tags, a base CSS file with styles and media queries, server configuration files for performance and security optimization, and documentation on icons and additional best practices. It's designed to eliminate repetitive setup work and help developers launch projects confidently with modern web standards already in place. The template is used by professionals across the industry who want to avoid reinventing foundational project structure.

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Commonly Confused Bits Of jQuery - Smashing Coding

This guide clarifies seven categories of commonly confused jQuery methods by explaining their subtle but important differences: DOM traversal methods like `.parent()`, `.parents()`, and `.closest()` differ in how far up the element tree they search; `.position()` and `.offset()` calculate element location relative to different reference points; `.width()`/`.height()` return integers while `.css('width')`/`.css('height')` return strings with units; event binding methods (`.click()`, `.bind()`, `.live()`, `.delegate()`) vary in which elements they attach to and whether they handle dynamically created elements; DOM search methods `.children()` and `.find()` differ in search depth; filtering methods `.not()`, `.is()`, and `:not()` serve different purposes (filtering, testing, or selector syntax); and utility functions like `.filter()` and `.each()` process element collections differently, with `.merge()` and `.extend()` handling arrays and objects respectively.

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Building Persistent Sticky Notes with Local Storage | Nettuts+

This tutorial demonstrates how to build a persistent sticky notes widget using HTML5 localStorage, jQuery, and jQuery UI, allowing users to create, edit, position, and save notes that survive page refreshes. The implementation uses a modular JavaScript pattern with closure to manage note creation, deletion, and storage, alongside CSS3 styling for visual appeal and drag-and-drop functionality. localStorage automatically syncs the notes' content and position data whenever users modify or move them, with a status indicator showing whether each note has been saved.

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Fix Inserted HTML5 Content with HTML5 innerShiv | CSS-Tricks

When dynamically adding HTML5 elements to a page via JavaScript in older Internet Explorer versions, the browser fails to recognize and style the new elements even if the html5shiv has been loaded initially. The innerShiv utility solves this by wrapping dynamically inserted HTML content in a function that ensures IE properly recognizes HTML5 elements before they're added to the DOM, requiring only a simple change to wrap dynamic content calls.

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Annapurna Expedition 1970: Design Beautiful Retro Poster in Photoshop | webexpedition18

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Introduction to Corona SDK: Easy Cross-Platform Development

Corona SDK is a cross-platform development framework that allows developers to write applications once in Lua and deploy to iOS and Android devices without needing Objective-C or C++. The framework provides native performance through OpenGL hardware acceleration, access to device features like GPS and accelerometer, and a shallow learning curve due to Lua's simplicity, though it has some limitations in supporting newer native SDK features like Push Notifications and iAds. The tutorial walks through setting up Corona, choosing a Lua editor, and building a simple "Hello World" application to demonstrate the basic workflow.

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28 HTML5 Features, Tips, and Techniques you Must Know | Nettuts+

This primer introduces 28 essential HTML5 features that developers can begin using immediately, ranging from the simplified doctype and new semantic elements like `<header>`, `<footer>`, and `<figure>` to form enhancements like email validation, placeholders, and the required attribute. The guide covers practical implementations including audio and video support, local storage for persisting user data, custom data attributes, and newer input types like range sliders, while also addressing browser compatibility issues and offering JavaScript workarounds for limited support. The article emphasizes that many HTML5 features are ready for production use despite the specification not being finalized, and clarifies common misconceptions by distinguishing HTML5 from related technologies like CSS3, SVG, and geolocation APIs.

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