Not so with Font Friend, a bookmarklet that simplifies the font selection process greatly. A click on the bookmarklet on any website will display it in an overlay in the lower left corner of the browser window. The font selector can be used to change various characteristics of the fonts used on a website. The options are divided into font family, font variant, font weight, text transform and a html element selector.

The html element selector defines the elements on the page that will be affected by the font change. Included are headline tags, body, paragraphs and the option to select a custom element.

The font family offers a selection of 23 different font families including the popular families arial, verdana, times new roman and georgia. Font variants can further change the appearance of the fonts on the active website.

Webmasters who are currently testing various fonts for their website might want to check out the bookmarklet which can be simply added to the bookmarks and executed by left-clicking it on the right website.

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Widerbug is a tweaked version of Firebug that has been specifically designed for widescreen monitors. Instead of dividing the computer screen vertically it divides it horizontally by displaying the Firebug information in a sidebar on the right side of the web browser. This is good news for web developers who use widescreen monitors to work on their web development projects.

A previous installation of Firebug has to be uninstalled from the web browser before Widerbug can be installed to avoid complications. The web development application can then be installed and uses the same shortcuts as Firebug with the only difference that the screen is opening in the right pane.

The only possible problem that users could run into are update delays as the developer of Widerbug needs to update his extension whenever Firebug gets updated.

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The most common server architecture on which PHP is found is called LAMP (for Linux + Apache + MySQL + PHP). All of the elements of LAMP are open source, meaning that the source code of the application is freely available. This means that the cost of setting up a server running LAMP is reduced (No License Fees), so LAMP based web hosting tends to be the least expensive solution available.

The Internet is built on a client-server architecture. On the client side we have the user and the browser. One the server side we have the server and its script interpreter (In our case, Apache and PHP).
Because PHP runs on the server side, we cannot use it for flashy client side effects, things like animations and auto-complete cannot be performed by php because php is only running on the server. For client side programming we could use javascript, Flash/Flex, Silverlight, or JavaFX.

What we can do with PHP is access a database, connect to other websites/services for information, and build a page out of smaller pieces, which we then deliver to the client for rendering.

I think it is important to indicate at this time that there are four levels at which you can work with PHP.

1. Scripting – this is where you take a small script and add it (integrate) into an existing page.
2. Coding – this is where you write scripts as needed to add basic functionality to your site.
3. Development – this is where you write an full application in PHP.
4. Architect – this is where you properly design an application that develop it into an application. Like development but puts a lot more thought into a good foundation.

Depending on your actual needs, several of these layers could be overkill for your task. The following articles will mainly be focused on the first two levels – scripting, and coding. In Scripting and coding we have two primary tasks we accomplish. One makes your job as webmaster easier. The second adds new functionality to your site.

Jeremiah Stover is a Software Engineer and a Business IT Consultant at Pragmatic Development. He has hands on experience and regularly provides practical advice in Business, Marketing, IT equipment and software. His Specialties include interpersonal communications, design skills, teaching and instruction. Right now he spends most of his time developing web applications in PHP and MySQL.

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The following web development articles have been published in January 2009 at Ghacks:

How does PHP work?
HTML Playground
PHP – what role does it fill
Standardizing variables to code faster
Web Development: A brief history of time()

You can download the pdf document by clicking on the link below.

ghacks web development january 09

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HTML is a markup language that lets us describe attributes of the text and blocks on our pages. This works great for simple requests, making pages much more interesting than plain text. However it leaves us with a very simple structure. One page from One url (address) results in one rendered content (every time this url is requested, the output is the same).

To give us more options we have programming languages. Some like PHP run on the server side. They modify the content that will be displayed before it is sent to the client and on to the browser. Others like JavaScript run on the client side and allow changes to be made in the browser after the page has been rendered – usually for interactivity or for adding a feature not normally available in that browser.

The very first thing you _must_ do before getting started with PHP is get a good grasp of HTML (and CSS). Many webmasters use a tool like Dreamweaver, Expression Web or KompoZer. To
work with PHP it is important that you understand the underlying HTML code. You will be modifying this code so you need to be able to understand the HTML well enough to understand what you see.

If you like video training try Lynda.com or VTC.com. If you prefer reading a book try “Head First html with CSS & Xhtml” or if you prefer free web instruction try w3schools.com and tizag.com.

Now that you understand the markup language which is what is sent to the browser (HTML) you are ready to tackle the server side use of PHP.

Jeremiah Stover is a Software Developer at Pragmatic Development. He specializes in client communications. While PD does offer a full range of IT services and consulting, they are currently specializing in website development in PHP/MySQL.

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HTML Playground provides the means to play around with all HTML tags (and a bit of CSS). It does not require any prior knowledge although that could be of an advantage. The website makes use of an interface that is divided into four columns. One holding all HTML tags, another that is displaying “live” examples of a selected tag and a third that is displaying valid HTML code used to create the example. Valid HTML code meaning a full html page making use of that code. Each HTML and CSS tag is clickable in the example code leading directly to an example page of that tag.

It would not really be a HTML Playground if the website would not offer the means to edit the example code. This is excellent to test changes to the code to see how the tags work.

Beginners might find it a lit difficulty to start and it is recommended to have read at least one article about learning HTML before playing around with the various elements. It is best for users who know the basic of HTML and want to start playing around with code.

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