I saw an interesting article on Yahoo! the other day. It appears that someone at Carnegie Mellon came up with the idea to use a CAPTCHA script to mask e-mail addresses. Basically, they provide you with special link code to put in place of your normal mailto link. You can use the link anyway you want, but the script generates some HTML code automatically that looks similar to:

user<a href="http://mailhide.recaptcha.net/d?k=01quxf658CWzRNQC34kj75Ug==&c=5Sc_I7orZzXLkOX6E7fontrPSKXj6NS2QC0a-5mV5Gk=" onclick="window.open('http://mailhide.recaptcha.net/d?k=01quxf658CWzRNQC34kj75Ug==&c=5Sc_I7orZzXLkOX6E7fontrPSKXj6NS2QC0a-5mV5Gk=', '', 'toolbar=0,scrollbars=0,location=0,statusbar=0,menubar=0,resizable=0,width=500,height=300'); return false;" title="Reveal this e-mail address">...</a>@example.com

In the example above, the whole e-mail address would actually be username@example.com, but the rest of the username is obscured by the script. Of course, they also supply you with just the address to the CAPTCHA page, so that you can build your own link any way you want.

The link, in turn, leads to a page with a CAPTCHA script. Once you correctly answer the CAPTCHA question, you’re lead to another page with the complete e-mail address. The script is called Mailhide, and it appears to be a completely free utility. It’s such a simple idea that I can’t believe no one thought of this before.

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Before beginning this tutorial, it is assumed that:

• You have installed a Relational Database Management System (RDBMS)
• This system uses the Structured Query Language
• You have configured the RDBMS
• You have read the documentation and know how to access the RDBMS
• You know how to execute a query statement within the RDBMS

Part I - What is SQL?

The goal of these tutorials is to teach you everything you need to know about SQL. We will start off easy, the first few tutorials will be extremely simple, and somewhat short. As we progress into the more detailed features of SQL, they will grow in both length and knowledge. I used Microsoft SQL Server for this tutorial. The queries presented within this tutorial, however, should work on any ANSI SQL-92 RDBMS. I hope you enjoy.

Abridged Background of SQL

The acronym, SQL, stands for Structured Query Language. It is commonly pronounced as ‘Sequel’, though this is not the proper way to pronounce it. SQL is simply pronounced, ‘S Q L’. You say each letter individually. It is an acronym, not an abbreviation; there by it has no spoken form. Now that you know how to pronounce it, let’s discuss what it is.

SQL is a Relational Calculus developed by Codd in the early 70’s. It is commonly used in Relational Database Management Systems (known throughout the rest of this tutorial as RDBMS). It is, without a doubt, the easiest ‘language’ you will ever learn. Actually knowing the language, and being able to use it, however, are two separate issues. There are very few keywords, phrases or ‘methods’ within SQL. The power behind your queries is not in the language, but the developer using the language. You will learn, throughout this tutorial and in general practice, that no matter how much you already know about relational data … their is always more to learn.

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I installed a Wordpress blog on my development server the other day and began playing with it. The first real challenge I faced was how to pull my Wordpress installation into my Web site’s template.

My issue is, I’m using a content management system (CMS) to manage the bulk of my Web site’s content. However, I wanted to use Wordpress to manage my various blogs. I obviously wanted my blogs to look like the rest of my Web site, so I needed to come up with a plan to integrate my Wordpress installation into my CMS, somehow.

Basically, what it came down to was that I needed to find a way to store all of my Wordpress output into PHP variables. Once I had done that, I could plug those variables into my template. The main problem I ran across, however, was the fact that 99% of the functions Wordpress uses to build its output utilize echo commands rather than simply returning the output.

That was no good for me, obviously, as it started printing content onto my page before the template had been processed.

PHP came to my rescue, and with very little headache. PHP’s output buffer was the simple answer to my problem.

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Web usability is about making your website in such a way that your site users can find what they’re looking for quickly and efficiently. A usable website can reap huge benefits on to your website and your business.

• Every £1 invested in making your website easy-to-use returns £10 to £100 (source: IBM)
• A usability redesign can increase the sales/conversion rate by 100% (source: Jakob Nielson)

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I was working on a script the other day at work and came upon the need to determine the dimensions of some images. Because the script was being written in VBScript, I was basically stumped, since, although I’ve figured out a great deal about simple scripting in VBScript, I’m still an absolute novice when it comes to file manipulation and the more advanced features available.

I hit the Web and started googling. Luckily, I came across a great solution on one of my first tries. The Four Guys from Rolla (which, if you’re working with VBScript and haven’t bookmarked this site, yet, I highly recommend it - they seem to be the number one authority on VBScript) offered a great tutorial, with code, explaining how to obtain the dimensions and a lot more information from any image.

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Last week, Brightegg announced a private label CMS option. Last month I had the chance to speak with Brightegg CEO Jim Kieffer who provided some background on what Brightegg is. Below are my notes.

Brightegg provides templates and hosting to easily create a Web site. It appears to target small businesses where the owner isn’t ready to hire a Web developer and/or designer but is looking for a cookie-cutter approach and a few clicks and they are live online.

Jim noted that they are building a strong designer community by allowing designers to earn a revenue share on any of the “premier” themes purchased on Brightegg. The share is 50/50 and there are free designs to select from as well. If you select a premier theme, you can select exclusivity as well. The exclusive custom themes start at $699 with non-exclusive starting at $199.

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I recently discovered a very neat program that we’ve begun using on one of my hobby sites.

IMANDIX Cover Pro automatically converts any image into a 3D preview of what it would look like as the cover of a CD or DVD case.

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I’ve recently become aware of an issue with managing comments in Wordpress 2.5. I’m not sure if it’s a bug or if it’s simply a poorly implemented “feature”, but I’m going to call it a bug.

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Several popular websites have let their homepages be customised by users. New web technologies have made it possible to add slicker customisation interfaces so more sites are allowing users to customise their pages. But, should you do the same? Will it make your website better for users or will it make it unnecessarily complicated? Will users even want this feature on your site?

Types of customisation

Currently websites offer a variety of customisation methods, allowing users to:

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While working on one of my Web sites the other day, I had the need to install some sort of file browsing script that would allow the user to choose a particular file, then insert a link using TinyMCE.

I realize that MCEFileManager is available, but it is commercial software, and I was really looking for something free.

I happened across a script called fileNice. It’s a pretty nice file browser and is extremely simple to use. There are quite a few things I probably would have done differently had I written the script, but it works pretty well, and it took me about five minutes to install and configure rather than five weeks (or months) writing my own full-featured file browser.

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