5 Firefox plugins for website development

The age old debate: IE vs Firefox? Well, we already know that Firefox is fast taking over IE’s dominance as the favorite web browser – but there are still a those that choose IE because they don’t know any better. I hope that after reading this (if you aren’t already using Firefox that is) you will be convinced that Firefox is the way to go.

First things first, if you are not using Firefox to develop and build your websites you need to start. Firefox is the defacto standard and if you are trying to build a website in IE you are making things 10 times harder on yourself so, let’s make you a better person. (more…)

Tags: css, development, plugins, tools of the trade

Should I use a relative or absolute url?

There is nothing more annoying then moving a website to a new domain name, and finding you, or somebody else, used a ton of absolute links.

Now you have to scour code and articles to fix them, since they are pointing to the old domain. Is there a better solution? Enter, relative links. oookay, first things first. What’s the difference? (more…)

Tags: development, Joomla, useful tips

How to change your php memory_limit

If you build websites, at one point or another you will install or run a script and get a blank white screen.  Chances are, you will have this tell-tale look on your face.

Never fear, you have most likely just hit the memory limit on your server.  Memory limits are very important to have.  They help to keep scripts from running out of control or using up all of your free memory.  On the other hand, sometimes you are adding a rather fancy or elaborate feature to your site, that simply requires slightly more memory then the default 8mb that Apache gives you.   Let’s show you how to fix that. (more…)

Tags: hosting, technology

WideScreen your Mail.app in Snow Leopard 10.6

Did you upgrade to Snow Leopard and discover the Widescreen/3 pane plugins for your Mail.app no longer worked?  Well so did I and the past few weeks have been miserable in the default Mail.app view.

After using PC for years and getting my mail via Microsofts Entourage and/or Outlook I came over to the bright side and started using a Mac. Mail.app is an amazing little app that I always seem to come back to because it just works well. The only thing that bugs me about it, is the layout.  It’s not conducive to my workflow.  I just simply like 3 pane view.  Once I learned I could use plugins with Mail.app, I went hunting. (more…)

Tags: 3 pane, apple, mac, mail, mail.app, osx, snow leopard, widescreen

How to recover your lost admin password in Joomla

At some point in your life you will do something silly and somehow not be able to login to your Joomla install with your admin account.  Your client will change something or you mistype a password….who knows, but it happens from time to time.

Typically the first thing people will do is dig into their database, snoop around jos_users for the admin account, and then see an entry for password that is not what they remember putting in. This is because the password is one way MD5 hash, so if your site or database gets compromised your password isn’t sitting there in plain site.

Enough with the yapping.  How do I fix it?

First things first.  Let’s not forget the obvious.  Joomla has a “lost password” function.  Access it via this url:

http://site.com/index.php?option=com_user&view=remind

This should work fine assuming you know the email address on the admin account.  Otherwise, keep reading. (more…)

Tags: Joomla, joomla 1.5, security