John Cox

Blogs · @wyome

Tagged tutorial · everything

Dr Nic's Syntax Highlighting in Tumblr

The author created a free syntax highlighting tool for Tumblr after the platform failed to implement the feature natively, providing step-by-step instructions for adding it to custom Tumblr themes via HTML insertion. The solution supports Ruby, Javascript, CSS, and HTML code blocks, with customizable styling and the ability to extend support to additional languages through contributed language files.

Permalink

5 Ways to Make Ajax Calls with jQuery | Nettuts+

This tutorial compares five jQuery methods for making AJAX calls—load(), $.getJSON(), $.getScript(), $.get(), and $.post()—explaining when to use each based on whether you need to inject HTML into the DOM, retrieve JSON data, load scripts, or make general GET/POST requests. It demonstrates how to inspect these calls with Firebug and shows practical examples like passing parameters via GET or POST, executing callbacks on success, and handling different response formats. The guide concludes that while these five methods cover most needs, $.ajax() should be used when you need error handling or fine-grained control over request options.

Permalink

Writing Your First Twitter Application with OAuth | Snipe.Net

This 2009 tutorial explains how to use Abraham Williams's Twitter OAuth library to build web applications that authenticate users through Twitter without requiring them to share their login credentials. It walks through registering an application with Twitter, obtaining consumer keys, and implementing OAuth authentication flows using PHP code examples for login pages and callback handlers. The piece emphasizes storing Twitter user IDs rather than usernames in databases (since usernames can change and be reassigned) and cautions developers about Twitter's API rate limits and authentication throttling to avoid repeated failed requests.

Permalink

MySQL Triggers: An instruction guide

MySQL triggers are database objects that automatically execute procedural code in response to INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE events, enabling complex data maintenance across multiple tables without requiring application-layer logic. The article demonstrates this through a practical example where a trigger automatically updates a salesperson's performance statistics whenever a new sale is inserted, showing how triggers can maintain data integrity faster and more portably than equivalent application code written in languages like PHP or Python.

Permalink

A Fresh Bottom Slide Out Menu with jQuery | Codrops

This tutorial demonstrates how to build a slide-out menu that emerges from the bottom of a container, with menu items displaying titles, descriptions, and icons that animate on hover. The implementation uses semantic HTML markup with nested spans and icon elements, CSS3 for styling with shadows and rounded corners, and jQuery to animate the link and icon positions when users interact with menu items. The key technique involves positioning elements with negative values and then animating those positions on hover to create the sliding effect.

Permalink

jQuery SuperBox!

jQuery Superbox! is a lightweight jQuery plugin (2kb minified) that creates customizable lightbox windows for displaying images, galleries, external pages, or AJAX-loaded content using only the `rel` attribute on links. The plugin prioritizes accessibility by keeping the `href` attribute semantically meaningful, requires no default styling so everything is CSS-customizable, and supports multiple display modes including single images with optional dimensions, image galleries with keyboard navigation, page elements, and dynamically loaded content.

Permalink

jQuery Calculation Plug-in

This documentation describes a jQuery Calculation plug-in that extracts numerical values from DOM elements like input fields, divs, and spans to perform dynamic mathematical operations. The plug-in can calculate sums, averages, minimums, and maximums from parsed numbers, with error handling that highlights fields containing non-numeric values. It supports automatic recalculation when values change and can be applied to practical scenarios like computing product totals and grand totals in shopping carts.

Permalink

Grid Accordion with jQuery | CSS-Tricks

A "grid accordion" is a table layout where each column contains accordion-style content panels that expand when clicked, with the column width automatically enlarging to accommodate readable text while others shrink. The article walks through the HTML structure using semantic definition lists, CSS techniques for accessibility (positioning hidden content off-screen rather than using display:none so screen readers and jQuery animations work properly), CSS3 styling with :nth-of-type selectors, and jQuery delegation to handle click events efficiently and allow images to toggle column expansion.

Permalink

Triggers - MySQL Forge Wiki

I can't write a summary of this content—it's a product listing page rather than an article that argues or reports something. These are marketing descriptions of MySQL database products and services. If you saved an actual article *about* MySQL HeatWave, MySQL AI, or one of these products, please share that instead.

Permalink

An Introduction to MySQL Views - Techotopia

MySQL views are virtual tables created from SELECT statements using the CREATE VIEW syntax, allowing you to package and reuse complex queries—particularly those involving joins across multiple tables—without repeatedly writing the same code. The piece explains how to create basic views from single tables and more useful views that combine data from multiple tables via joins, then shows how to query views as if they were regular tables and manage them with commands like SHOW CREATE VIEW and DROP VIEW. Views are most valuable for simplifying the repeated retrieval of joined data that would otherwise require lengthy SELECT statements each time.

Permalink

DataTables (table plug-in for jQuery)

DataTables is an open-source JavaScript library for transforming HTML tables into interactive data grids with features like pagination, sorting, searching, and responsive design. It requires no dependencies, works with vanilla JavaScript and popular frameworks like React and Vue, and can be installed via NPM or CDN. The tool is designed for developers who need to quickly add advanced table functionality without building custom solutions from scratch.

Permalink

jQuery Dock Menu Tutorial Revisit - Dock at Bottom | Queness

This tutorial explains how to build a bottom-docking menu bar that minimizes to a thin strip and expands on hover, solving common problems like browser scrollbars and page length by using a wrapper div with calculated height and absolute positioning controlled by jQuery. The implementation prioritizes clean, minimal code while ensuring graceful degradation so the dock displays correctly even without JavaScript enabled.

Permalink

SimpleModal / Eric Martin / ericmmartin.com

SimpleModal is a lightweight jQuery plugin that provides a customizable framework for creating modal dialogs with flexible styling options, callback functions, and cross-browser compatibility. The plugin offers two invocation methods—chaining on existing elements or standalone function calls—and supports extensive configuration through options like opacity, positioning, dimensions, and animation callbacks (onOpen, onShow, onClose). It handles common modal dialog challenges including automatic centering, overlay management, keyboard/click-to-close functionality, and element cloning, while maintaining compatibility with IE6+ and modern browsers.

Permalink