Lateral Code
A Web Design Blog Focused on Code and Technology
Currently Browsing: Home
Automated Uptime Verification
By Patrick Lin on Tuesday, August 24th, 2010 | Tags: php, tutorial | No Comments »
Automated Uptime VerificationIf you have ever administered a website, you know that downtime is unavoidable. Creating a system to automatically check if your website is up can help deal with downtime and provide a better user experience. Doing so is quite simple if you have the following tools available:
- A web server other that that on which the website is hosted
- Cron (if you do not have this, you can use an online service)
- PHP with libcurl support
- PHP with mail support (optional)
Working with Addresses? Use the new Google Maps API! Part 2
By Karthik Viswanathan on Thursday, July 15th, 2010 | Tags: javascript | No Comments »
Working with Addresses? Use the new Google Maps API! Part 2A few days ago, our experiments with the Google Maps API resulted in static images of various locations. Today, these same experiments will continue in a new medium: JavaScript. As we expand our knowledge of the API, we’ll cover the creation of a dynamic map, fully equipped with both movement and zooming.
Working with Addresses? Use the new Google Maps API!
By Karthik Viswanathan on Monday, July 12th, 2010 | Tags: html | 1 Comment »
Working with Addresses? Use the new Google Maps API!Would you like to travel to Paris? Maybe Singapore? How about Hawaii? Many people love to travel to discover new places, meet family, or just have a great time. In order to get from place to place, they often use maps. Indeed, maps are a vital part of traveling, providing directions to new, exciting locations.
With the new technology age, maps have moved from tangible paper to the virtual world, allowing anyone to access them with a simple visit to Google Maps. More importantly, with the new Google Maps API Version 3, it’s simple to integrate these maps into any website.
In the following article, I’ll be explaining how to get started with the new API and embrace the technology from the folks at Google.
Elegant jQuery Slideshow Plugin: Lateral Slider
By Karthik Viswanathan on Thursday, July 8th, 2010 | Tags: javascript | No Comments »
Elegant jQuery Slideshow Plugin: Lateral SliderLet’s start with the defintion:
Slider – The easiest known way to showcase your images and photos on the web in style.
Who can deny it? This is the generation of web 2.0 sliders. A few JavaScript files, some CSS, and a bit of markup is all you need to generate an elegant showcase of your images. Best part? 99% of it is done for you.
Well, that’s the ideal situation. Unfortunately, it’s often times much more complicated. That’s why I created Lateral Slider.
Simple Snippet: Generate the DZone Button with PHP (Save HTTP Requests!)
By Karthik Viswanathan on Friday, June 25th, 2010 | No Comments »
Simple Snippet: Generate the DZone Button with PHP (Save HTTP Requests!)The folks at DZone provide a great way for developers to share links in one, concentrated area. URLs which rank highly in their system (those that receive many “up” votes) often get quite a bit of traffic. As a result, many developers use the DZone button to provide their visitors a way to rate articles directly from their own website.
Do you use the DZone button on your website? If not, you should definitely consider it. Unfortunately, each one of these buttons requires the inclusion of a JavaScript file, which adds an HTTP request (and thus slows down the page). With some quick studying of the included JavaScript, it’s possible (not to mention quite easy) to generate this same button with only PHP, thus saving a request.
