Archive for the ‘development’ Category

  • Cloudflare – My experience.

    Date: 2012.04.29 | Category: developing, development | Response: 0

    H8gmQ1 Cloudflare My experience.Cloudflare is a service that speeds up your website or blog loading speed times by handling your website DNS and acting as a CDN for your sites content. I tried it out on MySchoolHolidays.com

    CF = Cloudflare.

    Some things that rock:

    • CF sped my page loading up by minifying my JS/CSS etc and reducing the hops to the static content.  Also DNS lookups were marginally faster (<5%).
    • Some of the plugins available may be of use to others but weren’t for me and some of them even introduced JS bugs.
    • CF introduced me to some new techniques for doing stuff such as catching client side JS bugs.
    • CF would help me scale quick
    • CF protects against exploits and scrapers.
    • FREE and if you want pro you can pay a small amount.

    Some things that suck:

    • No round robin ergo no high availability for sites that use this which means greater downtime.
    • Poor customer support.
    • Horrible console and back end.
    • Bugs, lots of bugs.  Everywhere…
    • Paid option doesn’t really give you much in the way of improvements if anything.
    • CF “always online” feature doesn’t work.
    • No wildcard domains.

    Cloudflare have a great opportunity and a huge audience but they have some massive problems to deal with if they want to make it a worthwhile service for me to adopt across the board.

    Note: I’m too lazy to include stats.

    Summary: Use the free version, get used to using a CDN for offloading some page content.  Make sure you setup analytics before so you can review your page speed load times.   Amazon and Google have similar offerings that will probably have a higher QOS ergo provide a better ROI.

  • When debugging IE stop it using cache

    Date: 2012.03.26 | Category: developer, developing, development | Response: 0

    I often have problems debugging Etherpad Lite in IE mostly due to IE having a hideous way of relentlessly holding onto files in cache.. well today I figured out to stop that problem and it’s super easy.. In Developer tools, Click Cache –> Always refresh from server

    how to debug javascript in IE 550x372 When debugging IE stop it using cache

  • Ajax CSV upload to a Table with jQuery and PHP

    Date: 2012.01.26 | Category: developer, developing, development, jquery, Php | Response: 2

    So I had to write a new user importer for School Email and I was looking for a simple plugin in solution but didn’t find one so here is a simple way of uploading a csv file that is uploaded to a file and rendered to a table..

    Projects used: CsvToTable & jQuery File Upload & Editable Grid *optional for live edits.

    Grab those two projects, grab the below files and put them in a /js folder then put the .js files into your head..

    Put the jQuery-File-Upload folder in your root, we will be uploading files to here.. You may want to add a layer of security in front of the upload function.

    <head>
<script src="/js/csvToTable.js"></script>
<script src="/js/jquery.iframe-transport.js"></script>
<script src="/js/jquery.fileupload.js"></script>
</head>

    At the bottom of your body add..

    <div id="csvToTable"></div>
<div id="fileupload"></div>
<script>
var loggedIn = 1; // you will want to modify this if you require auth
$(function () {
  if(loggedIn == "1"){
    $('#fileupload').fileupload({
      dataType: 'json',
      acceptFileTypes: '/(csv)$/i',
      url: '/jQuery-File-Upload/php/index.php',
      done: function (e, data, Users) {
        $.each(data.result, function(index, file){
          $('#csvToTable').html("");
          $('#csvToTable').CSVToTable(file.url).bind("loadComplete",function() {
            console.log("Loaded data into table");
            /*

            Call functions to manipulate data here

            */
          });;
        });
      }
    });
  }
});
</script>

    Want to make your table editor like the rest of the cool kids? Check out this jQuery plugin

  • Is it possible to build Metro Desktop Tiles without Visual Studio?

    Date: 2011.11.14 | Category: developer, developing, development | Response: 5

    It pains me that I’m asking this but I have spent the last 3 hours using my favorite search engine looking for an answer to this question and I’m literally licking the pink knotted balloon of the internet right now so please hear me out..

    I hate developing on Microsoft platforms, it feels dirty. After watching the Windows 8 developer talks where they introduced Metro and had a bunch of students create their own tiles I figured how hard can it be?

    I’m not willing to use Visual Studio. Microsoft said Metro supports CSS/HTML/JS so I want to build my tile in notepad++. I don’t mind creating my own manifests, that’s fine, but I want to keep it open. I just don’t see a way to do this without installing an “app(has to be a binary)” and then binding that app to the desktop and hoping that Windows finds the manifest for the tile and implements it.

    Anyone had any luck? I’d love a little tutorial that just shows me how to get started.. Once I’m up and running I will be good to go!

    Thanks icon smile Is it possible to build Metro Desktop Tiles without Visual Studio?

    TLDR: I refuse to use Visual Studio so I want a way to create a desktop tile for Microsoft Windows Metro that doesn’t involve compiling anything.

  • 10 Android Apps for Primary School

    Date: 2009.10.17 | Category: android, classdroid, classroom, development, education, ICT, opensource, primary, Primary School, Primary School ICT, teacher, teachers, teaching | Response: 1

    To use an Android phone in your classroom you will find a great deal already available to you on the device however you will probably want to get some applications from the market…

    To get an application simply goto your home page on the device, Click Android Market, search for one of the below apps:

    FEATURED – Classdroid is an app I work on.  It is open source and free.  It is used as a simple assessment app where a teacher takes a picture of a pupils piece of work, grades it and assigns it to a pupil.  The work is then uploaded to the pupils learning portfolio.  Visit here to find out more about Classdroid



    zebra paint android 1 10 Android Apps for Primary School
    1. Zebra Paint – Paint with your fingers! Pick your favorite color and paint the image. Use the menu button to pick one of the dozen built-in templates. When ready, save your images and share with the world! Tested with 4 to 5 year old kids. Requires a touch screen.

    2. Maths Workout – Test your mental maths and exercise your brain once a day. Maths Workout is a daily routine for thousands of players worldwide – both young and old. Get competitive! Play the World Challenge and submit your score for ranking with other players around the world.

    braintrain 10 Android Apps for Primary School
    3. Brain Genius Deluxe – Get a head start to getting smart by playing through a daily dose of teasing and original brain exercises. Brain Genius Deluxe is the Android game to train your brain, with 24 touch and motion-controlled games as well as bonus puzzles including Sudoku! It’s pure Genius!

    4. WordPlayer Art of War – WordPlayer is a book reader that allows you to add to your library from amongst thousands of instantly downloadable books or load epub books. WordPlayer’s page navigation, highlighting, bookmarking, and customizable settings make reading a breeze. Comes with Sun Tzu’s classic book of strategy, Art of War, already installed.

    5. My Maps Editor by Google – Create, edit, share, and view personalized maps on your phone synchronized with the My Maps tab on Google Maps. We provide full editing functionality for markers, lines, and shapes, plus you can mark your location using GPS or attach a photo directly from your phone.

    device8 10 Android Apps for Primary School

    6. WikiMobile Encyclopedia – Being a walking encyclopedia is now at your fingertips. With WikiMobile, you carry 2+ million Wikipedia articles with you, including pictures. Faster and uses just a fraction of the network data vs. the Android browser. Download free for a limited time!

    7. Google Sky Map - Google Sky Map: A star map for Android. Google Sky Map turns your Android-powered mobile phone into a dynamic window on the night sky. When you point your phone up you will see a map of the brightest stars, constellations, and planets in that part of the sky.

    8. Pintail (not educational but useful) – Lost your pho
    ne? Find it with an SMS: Pintail replies automatically with your phone’s location to a PIN protected message. Let friends and family ea

    Dmx.u.cs 10 Android Apps for Primary School

    sily find out where you are by sharing your PIN number with them: They send an SMS, Pintail replies with your location.

    9. School Email (UK only as of yet) – You don’t need to download this! School Email is the easiest and safest service for emailing between pupils and teachers. Pupils emails are checked for sexual predators and bullying. The service runs over Activsync which means pupils are always “up to date”.

    10. Keepy Uppy – If you are struggling getting young boys who enjoy football(soccer) to use their device you may want to think about using an app such as Keepy Uppy as a reward for good work.