A lean restoration
As I get older I get lazier which means writing leaner code. I get frustrated with large fragmented and overbearing code bases. Wordpress is good ...
Tech Blog
Clearing the swarf
Over the last few days I have learned that sometimes the change that most delights a client can be a small one: removing friction in ...
Stepping out of phase
This week has been a really odd mix, finishing some things off, planning for a few new things in January, reflecting on some experiences from ...
Scout rules still apply
This week I was asked a flattering question by a colleague during a mutual buddy chat. He asked: when you work with junior (sic) developers ...
Tips for running Entity Framework (6) and MySQL / Maria
My first forays into running Entity Framework with MySQL have been entertaining to say the least. Each challenge seems to have followed the next and ...
Lazy coding for the win
Its been a while since I wrote any new hook scripts so I thought I would refresh my knowledge before talking about them at phpconference.co.uk ...
Keeping my promise
This was very nearly about breaking my promise, in fact I had drafted a blog post full of excuses as to how my year had ...
No shoddy work in the free world
When evaluating a feature for value it's easy to fall into the trap of equating value with money; direct revenue is not the only value ...
Pausing for thought
Birthdays are always a good excuse for pausing, taking stock and checking life is still on the path you've chosen. For fun, and also because ...
A Promise
There were some very inspiring keynotes and talks at php uk 2015 which lead me to catch up with many of the speakers. I've been ...
Some things never change
The lessons here are ones I've taken a while to learn and they are relevant to coding and most things in life and they have ...
This weeks lesson : frustration
This last week has been a lesson in frustration - changing requirements, dependency on offshore decision-makers, flakey debugging environments and forgotten code constraints. These things ...
Three things I wish I'd known before …
… starting the Sun Java tutorial It's been over a month since the last blog entry and it's been a busy month: finishing off projects ...
My Unecessary csv Conversion
I'm finding that I'm doing some things the hard way, maybe it's just I'm looking at problems differently to others. Take my latest fun freelance ...
Navigation revisited and freeing your thinking
Revisiting Navigation Last month I set out my view of using <nav> and <ul> s for navigation purposes. This was as a reaction to feelings ...
HTML5 - the first full implementation
The last few weeks have been stupidly busy with too many changes in focus but one of the most important steps forward has been the ...
HMTL markup for navigation
There's been a lot of griping today about the use of an unordered list for a navigation menu (from @calevans among others). Although it is ...
Bitwise or bit stupid?
I'll hold my hand up right now and confess to being bit stupid, I was really disappointed with my score in a recent php proficiency ...
PHPUK 2009 Part 3: Chris and Closing
Who do you call... Myphp-busters! Reeling out of Hank's Microsoft talk I rushed to get a seat for my 'must see' talk of the day ...
PHPUK 2009 Part 1: Cutting edge and Community
I was really excited to find I was able to go to the PHP conference in London on the 27th February this year, following a ...
PHPUK 2009 Part 2: Contention and Clarity
The Microsoft talk could have been the most contentious presentation for many reasons. Are they moving in on our turf? What will the big bullies ...
Displaying html code listings in your blog
I've long admired technical bloggers who spout seemingly reams of code listings to illustrate and support their blog articles, whatever the subject. My recent forays ...
Fixing footer styling
Happily I appear to have fixed the issue with footer styling as detailed in my last post. Oh to have such an easy answer to ...
Do not adjust your set it's just HTML5
I'm lazy by nature and the less I have to type to get something working the better. This is what attracted me to HTML in ...
Confessions of a conference virgin
Up until November 2008 I was a conference virgin: no jollies, no hotel booking panic and no development talks. As I've been self employed as ...
Impossible expectations?
Although I'm self employed I keep my eye on the job market and this morning came across this corker: Ideally the successful candidate will be ...
Hackers - you gotta love em >:[
I generally have a neutral view of hackers, you could say that they come with a territory and are always a risk. Lock it all ...
Hello World!
I still love that title, it reminds me of the first program you ever write in any programming language, first attempted in Basic on a ...