SOLAERAWEBDESIGN

NEWS AND IDEAS

Building a basic database request in CodeIgniter 2.0

June 12, 2011 ~ CodeIgniter, Coding ~ 3 Comments

CodeIgniter is a very popular PHP framework designed to provide a starting point for developers looking to approach a potentially complex web application from a model-view-controller perspective without having a large file-size overhead. While the documentation is extensive and the framework can seem exceedingly complex at first glance, it is, however, relatively easy to get started once you know how to approach it. (Read more…)

Another Case for Favicons

March 17, 2011 ~ Design ~ No Comments

Favicons (the small icons representing a site in the tab bar) are an important part of a site’s design in that they provide another opportunity for a site to reinforce its branding in a simple, quick, and clean logo. It’s a simple step in the design process and one which provides a definite benefit to the site’s professional appearance.

However, the favicon’s purpose in a site’s brand recognition goes beyond simply reinforcing the logo and reminding the user of what pages they have open. It can also (depending on the site) actually encourage a greater number of visits. (Read more…)

HTML5 Structural Elements and How They Work For You

November 17, 2010 ~ Coding, Markup and Styling ~ No Comments

HTML5 is a step forward, that much is pretty sure. Heck, I’m in support of anything that tries to discourage the use of the div tag in the manner of someone strewing breadcrumbs to a flock of hungry birds. In the last few months I’ve begun making use of Modernizr and the absolutely awesome HTML5 Boilerplate template to start making the use of HTML5 tags more practical in the here and now of my own projects and have already noticed that my code has taken on a more streamlined feel, or at least seems to come together syntactically with a lot less confusion. (Read more…)

My Thoughts on the Google Redesign

May 15, 2010 ~ Design ~ 2 Comments

So apparently this is my new “Reviews of Things Google Has Made Recently” series, but it’s a topic that I’ve seen bandied about here and there and I’d like to take a crack at it, in the spirit of “You learn by paying attention to how others approach problems.” (Read more…)

A Disjointed Review of Google Chrome

April 18, 2010 ~ Uncategorized ~ No Comments

A couple of friends posted a while back on a message board I belong to, saying that they’d downloaded the most recent version of Firefox and that it was causing them trouble, and asking if anyone else had had a similar problem. I hadn’t yet downloaded the update, but assumed they were just overreacting. It’s easy to yell at Firefox for things but I’ve always been very pleased with it.

Then I downloaded the update myself and realized that they were right. Within five minutes after I had downloaded it, it froze. I restarted it and it worked for a while, then froze again. I restarted it again, and then it froze when I tried to quit it — after the window had closed, and then went on to suck up a remarkable amount of processor power for being, y’know, frozen; it actually jammed up my computer to the extent that other programs began sticking. (Read more…)

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