David C Dalton - Tutorials and Articles

How To Choose A Good Web Development Client

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 00:11:34 GMT

Choosing clients may seem like a silly idea to many developers but the fact is a lot of developers seem to accept any job that comes down the road completely unaware they may be walking into a minefield. I used to be one of those developers.

As I have mentioned before many times here I am very fussy about who I work for. No it's not arrogant it's experience! Over the many years I have learned the hard way that some clients just aren't worth the aggravation. I've also found what I think are warning signs that every developer should look for, signs that may point to a 'problem client' and they might just save you a lot of time stress.

How To Choose A Good Web Developer

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 00:10:35 GMT

Since I am limited in the amount of clients I can take on I turn a lot of potential customers down. Each and every time I do I am almost guaranteed to here the same question: "Can you recommend another developer or tell me how to find a good one?". Hopefully this article will help some of those people.

Finding an honest, qualified, experienced web developer is like finding a good car mechanic, once you find one you can trust you never want to let them go! In the every growing world of web development a good web developer is worth even more than a good mechanic.

One PHP Class + Standard List Items + CSS = GREAT MENUS Part Two

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 00:09:37 GMT

Properly created html standard menus using simple unordered lists can give your site (or your customers) some real power and great search engine crawling stats. Throw our the old Javascript driven nonsense and embrace the new world!

Well either you have been through the PHP in part one of this or you have skipped straight here so lets see our basic menu in it's "raw form"

One PHP Class + Standard List Items + CSS = GREAT MENUS!

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 00:08:39 GMT

I'm starting to sound like a broken record to myself about this stuff but I keep getting nonsensical flack from so called designers who insist on over blown, graphic laden, Javascript driven menu systems on clients websites. If I stopped hearing this crap from so-called designers I might actually shut up about it!

I could whine and cry here about the latest designer who irritated me with their 1999 "slice n dice" mentality and how I then had to give the same standards, accessibility and "other device support" speech to the client but this time I thought I'd try to show some examples of the right way to do it, along with a PHP menu building class to make matters even easier for most developers. Granted it's not cutting edge stuff and no I haven't made any earth shattering breakthroughs in coding, just some really REALLY simple practices put into use to build menus the proper way! Maybe, just MAYBE someone will get the hint and finally understand this tableless stuff isn't complete voodoo!

Stopping Form Spam With AJAX and Captcha

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 00:07:16 GMT

It's an ever preset problem that plagues every website owner, freaking form spam. Some moron builds a bot or tries to hack your contact form in an effort to try and grab quick links or send out emails. Maybe, just maybe, I found an answer.

As my Article Site Manager Application ™ gets more popular more of the sites that run it started experiencing the same problem. Hundreds of bogus articles were being submitted, thousands of fake contact forms being sent and even more fake requests for links, all of them nothing more than form spam. At first I approached the problem like most other developers, by adding a captcha image verification system, but that only slowed the nonsense down. I had to fight fire with fire!

What's Organic Search Engine Optimization - Part 5

Thu, 18 May 2006 15:26:08 GMT

The list of SEO "dirty tricks" keeps getting longer every day. I honestly don't know how the spiders keep up. What most people don't get is that a lot of these underhanded methods could cost you thousands of dollars and a lot of pleading with the search engine companies to get your site re-listed!

Ah where to start when discussing all the dirty tricks some SEO companies pull to get rankings. These companies suck in new customers every day with promises that are hard not to resist but if you value your long term existence on the internet make sure you don't get sucked in by them.

What's Organic Search Engine Optimization - Part 4

Thu, 18 May 2006 15:25:08 GMT

They say content is king on the internet and they would be right, as long as the content is properly formatted and uses the keywords you want to get indexed on within it. Fresh, original content that is well written and focuses on the topics (keywords) your potential users are looking for seems a simple idea but you would be amazed how often this "No Duh" element gets over looked.

What's Organic Search Engine Optimization - Part 3

Thu, 18 May 2006 15:24:02 GMT

Many of the problems I see with sites that come in to me for optimization could have been solved the first time the site was built. Honestly, even though I make a living fixing other developer's mistakes I feel sorry for the clients who have to pay twice for something they didn't have to. If these clients are anything like me it makes them crazy to have to "pay for the same real estate twice".

What's Organic Search Engine Optimization - Part 2

Thu, 18 May 2006 15:23:02 GMT

I get more chuckles from "other developers" when they find out I am master certified in HTML. But they usually stop chuckling when they can't figure out what half the tags I use are and why they get my sites better rankings. So who's laughing now?

What's Organic Search Engine Optimization - Part 1

Thu, 18 May 2006 15:22:07 GMT

I hear more horror stories from new customers about what they have been through with other "so called" SEO companies. Dirty tricks, expensive ad placements and banners that are nothing more than a band aid fix over some real problems. The answer? Get the site right FIRST and then worry about that nonsense!

The Earth in Seven Minutes

Thu, 18 May 2006 15:20:31 GMT

This fun little photoshop will make you feel like a supreme being as you create planets in minutes! Recommended for Photohop™ 7 it should work fine in CS or P'shop 6. If you'd like to download it for a later time you can get a .pdf (usable in MAC or PC) file here

Colored Line Drawings From Images

Thu, 18 May 2006 15:12:22 GMT

Ever once in a while I find a great Photoshop tutorial on the web and then try and expand upon it to come up with something different and usable in my web work. This is really, REALLY easy and one can really some subtle style to a website when plain old images just won't do.