March 31, 2011 in Learn
Quick Tip: Use bit.ly for Local Development URLs
Recently I’ve been working on a new Master Class for Think Vitamin Membership on the topic of responsive design. One of the major goals of responsive design is cross-browser compatibility, so as you might expect, I’m teaching a project that…
February 14, 2011 in Learn
Encrypting Cookies in the Browser
Cookies are a convenient, often necessary way to maintain state and data in web applications. Since this is well known, cookies are a target and potential vulnerability you have to be aware of when developing for the web. There are…
February 7, 2011 in Learn
Tips on Learning JavaScript
In his seminal article Style Versus Design Jeffrey Zeldman wrote The web used to look like a phone book . What he should have written is: The web used to look like a phone book sitting in a tacky 70s…
March 19, 2010 in Learn
5 Important E-Commerce Themes for 2010
Editors note: In his first article for Think Vitamin Rob Smith looks at his top five themes for e-commerce for 2010. Whether you are considering starting an online shop or have one that isn’t performing as well as you would…
February 17, 2010 in Learn
5 Good Reasons Why Designers Should Code
Earlier today Elliot Jay Stocks commented on Twitter I’m shocked that in 2010 I’m still coming across ‘web designers’ who can’t code their own designs. His comment created a great little debate on Twitter. Personally, I agree with Elliot. I…
September 15, 2009 in Learn
How to Debug in PHP
Nobody enjoys the process of debugging their code. If you want to build killer web apps though, it’s vital that you understand the process thoroughly. This article breaks down the fundamentals of debugging in PHP, helps you understand PHP’s error…
September 1, 2009 in Learn
How to Create Bulletproof Sessions
In the first part of this series we went over how a cookie works and what can be done to secure them. In this section we’re going to go over ways to add additional security to the session beyond the…
August 26, 2009 in Learn
Top 10 UX Myths
Al Gore invented the Internet. Drinking alcohol keeps your body warm. You won’t get pregnant if you stand on your head after … well, you get the idea. Myths are those hard-and-fast rules that often start as a plausible idea…
August 14, 2009 in Learn
The Definitive Guide to GET vs POST
Unfortunately there is a lot misuse of GET over POST and vice versa. Both HTTP methods can achieve the same goals, but an incorrect choice between them can lead to unexpected and potentially harmful outcomes. So, to make sure we…
June 24, 2009 in Learn
Should you go Beyond Relational Databases?
Relational databases, such as MySQL, PostgreSQL and various commercial products, have served us well for many years. Lately, however, there has been a lot of discussion on whether the relational model is reaching the end of its life-span, and what…
December 17, 2008 in Learn
When you fail, it's time to try again
No one is successful 100% of the time. Just look at entreprenuers like Richard Branson (founder of Virgin) and Milton Hershey (founder of Hershey’s Chocolate). They are (were) both extremely succesful and yet they’ve also had some spectacular failures (remember…
August 7, 2008 in Learn
How to Debug in PHP
Nobody enjoys the process of debugging their code. If you want to build killer web apps though, it’s vital that you understand the process thoroughly. This article breaks down the fundamentals of debugging in PHP, helps you understand PHP’s error…