lol, kanirip - I thought I was the only one having problems accessing the NSE website during the day

I always have to wait till at least 10pm naija time to get the site. Consequently, on web projects that need information from that sites, I have ended up not using that site as I don't want the potential for embarassment on my part by the client(s).

With respect to the Nigerian Stock Market, probably not, but I could be wrong (this would be a nice time for those who know to chip in )

webmonk,

not bad, not bad at all. i probably won't ever trademark it so feel free to use it

webdezzi,

I dey ask the same question o! Perhaps I need to trademark that statement as I have seen that and, "hope this helps" pop up in various threads on NL

nduaj,

trust me, the idea of focus died back when the creed was, "from the cradle to the grave", with respect to work. Nowadays, diversity is it. If you are following the US economy, you will notice that many are losing all their money because they "focused" on their houses. In the late 90s, those who "focused" on the internet lost all their money as well. In Nigeria, IT is where it was in the US in the 90s. So is the stock market. They are booming now but trust me, all good things come to an end, so take advantage, save up and look to do other things. Google stock won't be $600, or whatever it is, forever.

I don't like spilling the beans with respect to my life experiences but will do so when the occasion calls for it. so here goes one:
I started working in IT in 1999. B/w then and 2001, I was retrenched twice because the economy had slowed down and business was no longer coming through the door. I was young then. In my mind, I could only see myself coding for the next 20 or so years. How dare I do something else? I graduated as a computer scientist and doing anything else was beneath me.

So what changed my mind? The last time I got retrenched, it was 6 months to my traditional marriage. I had barely started saving for it and whereas I was in the US, my wife-to-be was in Nigeria. In other words, I had to be sending money in advance for it. Of course, I had to stop sending money as I had bills to pay. In that same time frame, I attended at least 20 interviews. I still had hope. After 3 months, I was down to my last $400. Remember: traditional marriage in 3 months. Necessity is the mother of invention. I had to humble myself and do blue collar jobs to make up for lost time. Consequently, I was out of a job (not because I stopped interviewing but because the jobs just weren't there) for the next 2 years. It was during this time that, as we say, my eyes opened. You will see someone wearing tattered jeans and a worn-out shirt and has a degree in physics and is a university lecturer, yet you learn he is making $250,000 a year selling hot dogs on the side. That is when it hit me - you have to diversify. That was in 2003. In case you had forgotten, I just got married and b/w 2002 and the time my wife could cross over, I had bills to pay and had to send her money regularly.

From that day onwards, I have never been, and will never be, without at least 2 side jobs, one being non-IT. So nduaj, the focus may now be on IT but trust me, all good things come to an end. Whether you make 15K on a 5-page site or 400K on a 1-page site is irrelevant. Eventually, you have to get into other things. That's what happened to me a while back. Eventually, you want to set aside some money for a non-IT job. Take Afam for example, he codes and sells inverters as well. Personally, in the realm of IT, there was a time I did just coding. However, in order to compete with you guys I had to learn graphics and DB design. And guess what, I am still diversifying my skills so as to stay competitive with respect to coding jobs on the side.

D koko: Diversity and not focus is key. I am off my soapbox now

at best, this is what I have seen:

<script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://www.africancapitalmarkets.com/stock/reports/daily/marquee3.php"></script>

All the sites that have stock data scroll on their pages that I know of use the above, when I view the source.

B/w the above, hardcoding values yourself or bookmarking a stock search page, I don't think there is much else that is available. If I am wrong, I stand corrected.

In todayz global economy, diversification and residual income are the name of the game. As the cliche goes, don't put all ur eggs in one basket. If you are in the stock market and don't put all your money in one stock, why do same with how you put food on the table?

what if your client has already purchased a hosting that has no support for php, you will have to use the best tool for the task at hand.

and letz not forget folks: if the client is rich enough, they can always buy their own server(s) upon which you can install anything

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/21/technology/21myspace.html?ei=5065&en=d3d8a3818bc03303&ex=1201582800&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print

Enjoy!

going by what i see on this site (I am not in Nigeria so those of you there, please confirm/verify this): http://www.virginnigeria.com (walk through the entire "book flight" option) - I don't think you need any script per se. You just add a button that links to interswitch and they do the rest. Now, I believe there is a N150K merchant account balance that is required(?) You will need to google their address and go see them in person to open the merchant account.

One thing I noticed about the process, at least on the VN site, the interswitch payment system only works in IE and not FF.

I hope this helps.

webmonk,

I am liking it already. Thanks man

Any one else want to comment on this or others? Thanks in advance.

So,

Some time last year, I decided to teach myself how to use the various PHP CMSs but due to lack of time, I could only devote time to Joomla! From your experience(s), is it the better candidate? If not, from your experience(s), which of the PHP CMS packages is best?

Please keep your responses pithy and provide your answers under the following headers:
1) Learning Curve
2) Set up
3) UI (does it use CSS vs tables, SEO, page weight, etc)
4) Maintenance (making updates, archiving, etc)
5) Features (polls, login authentication, etc)

Thanks

webdezzi,

which is y I asked that he give us the URL to his site so we can analyze the source

tosbi:
I almost forgot, please, after you echo the variables, pls put an "exit;" statement so that the form doesn't get processed. At this point, I would like to know if the variables are getting passed at all in the first place. so your code would look like so:

"first name is: ". $username . " and last name is: " . $password;
exit;

we are still waiting.

what can i say? it beats me. Off the top of my head, I would like u to do the following:

1) modify your processor code to say something like: echo "first name is: ". $username;

2) paste the URL of the site where this form resides.

I want to enter some values and see for myself what is going on if you don't mind (view source, etc). I would have said you should use "REQUEST_" but from abv it appears you have done that already.

In the event no one else can find what is wrong with your code, I will be waiting for that URL.

tosbi,

1) this is the form's HTML code and not the PHP that processes this code. May we take a look at that as well?

2) This probably won't work but try replacing "button" with "input". Again, this might not work. Just thinking out loud

3) Don't forget to post your processing code.

Efuah, the answer is simple. If the man loses his job, he ceases to be the head of the household, the woman can become the head of the household and take over all the responsibilities including finances and discipline.

Legally and Financially, yes. Biblically, no.

Of course Afam, to us in the web dev gig, we know the difference, but to Olabisi selling kpomo along Ikorodu road, they are one and the same. To such a person, all he/she cares about is when he enters say, www.mofejekpomo.com, that his site shows up. Whether it is one large jpeg or it is actually well structured, he could care less. It's like when you drive a car. You don't care what happens b/w the time you crank the car and the time the car revs up. All you care about is, once you turn that key, the car starts

The koko: Charge what you can/want. If you want to do it for free, no ya wa, nothing spoil. After all, when last I was in naija and visited a tailor, I had to negotiate on price. If I didn't like the price, I could have crossed the street and sewed my kaftan elsewhere. On the other hand, if I had settled for the first price quoted, I would had paid through my nose. It's all about demand and supply. At some point, the 2 curves will hopefully meet. I say, "hopefully" as it is up to the parties concerned to determine whether those 2 curves meet or not.

Sorry for the confusion

Free market capitalism is the best path to prosperity folks. If you can find anyone willing to pay N10million for a 5-page static site, so be it. On the other hand, if you can find anyone willing to pay nothing for the same site, again, so be it.

Static or "unstatic" site, to me, they are all the same - they both involve my time and my time is very precious to me, be it 5 mins or 5 hours, but thatz just me.

almond,

if I may, let me give an example that just might shed a little more light:

Prior to Katrina, there hadn't been a hurricane in New Orleans in 100 years I believe. Of course, the city council and FG planned and planned and planned. I also remember watching on CNN every hurricane system some special on "what happens if a cat 5 hurricane strikes New Orleans?" and again, they would show whatever latest technology they had that, including giant suction pumps, would help minimize the impact of a hurricane. We both know what happened when Katrina landed.

My point(s): Though we should always hope for the best and plan for the worst, there are things that are beyond our control. Such things, ala Katrina, are referred to as, "acts of God".

What exactly is your point.

Hmmm, letz read my post again, or at least part of it:

there are things you can't plan for

almond,

i c u miss my point (being) there are things you can't plan for. Not even Alan Greenspan, as good as he was, could plan for it all. But on that note, letz just agree to disagree.

almond,

Yep, different strokes for different folks. However, no condition is permanent and though I don't wish you any ill will, u should heed what someone said to you up top, because u never know. Thatz all I am saying.

wow almond, u really hv it made

I can't speak for all women but I doubt many would not stoop so low as to sleep around to bring in the cash. Please note I didn't say "all". I said "many". That's the same as saying a man who has a woman who can't cook at home will end up spending more time with a woman outside who can.

There is a reason why the Bible says (paraphrase), "and the 2 shall become one". I seriously pray your marriage isn't that of convenience.

i c 2 main problems:

1a) Long download times

1b) You have to find a way to deal with your images. Many are dithered and many, I can see, were scaled in the code rather than on the backend. Typical example: http://www.justumagazine.com/logo.jpg alone is 100K!!! If you had scaled it (proportionally) using fireworks or photoshop so that it met the same proportions as it exists on your site, I bet you, you could have cut at least 90K from that file size

2) Your site architecture doesn't seem to follow a particular style, the most popular being the grid style. Compare your site to (note: I am not endorsing this site. I just googled for a comparable magazine site and chose the one I liked best) http://www.ovationinternational.com/ - see how ovation's site is better laid out?

From research, the human eyes scans a web page from top-left and then proceeds in a way that "draws" out the letter "F". The way your site is laid out, I don't know what to look at first, not to mention, most of the items are below-the-fold. Also, as a side note, perhaps you should tone down on the red? Just a suggestion.

I hope these help.

honorable sam,

quick, "no offense" question: When I pay you N25,000 for ur services, what happens to my change?

Just curious

he that findeth a good wife obtaineth favour from God

To the men:
many people in naija like to quote this portion of the bible but don't read in b/w the lines. Based on this post, I am forced to bring up what many may have overlooked: "He that findeth".

So guys, go "find" and don't let anyone do that for you, or at least, let it not be against your will. A good woman will not fall on to your laps from heaven. Don't for a woman based primarily on looks, how good she is in bed, her educational qualifications, etc (you get the picture). Take the time to "find" and God will bless you with one.

To the women:
Likewise, don't go for a man primarily cos of his bank account, the shoes he wears, looks, sexual prowess, etc (again, you get the picture). What you think you can change or overlook will come back to haunt you 5 years down the road.

To all:
Don't be like a woman I read about a few years ago who divorced her husband after 25 yrs of marriage because, "he watches too much TV". I am sure he was watching too much TV while they were dating, right after marriage and over the course of their first 24 yrs of marriage. Again referring to the man in question, I am sure the laziness didn't start yesterday. I still insist, it was in him and was noticed but ignored.

The dating/courting period is when you should explicitly or implicitly probe for behaviours you know you won't like in a spouse. If you don't like the way things are going, end the relationship there and then. To this effect, ladies, don't give your body away easily in the name of love. Sex is superficial. It feels good, yes, but can blind you with respect to how a person really is.

People don't change. I believe we say a leopard can't change their skin. If out of 10 things you are looking for, your spouse-to-be has 5 or 6, accept that and deal with the rest. After all, no one is perfect.

I must confess, I don't understand why punch online is ranked higher than vanguard on alexa given its poor layout (as in news placement, graphics scattered here and there and a search field that never works, etc).

Even if Punch has better news than vanguard, speaking for myself, the layout irks me. I do visit Punch but seldom go beyond the home page. Oh well.

Then by the time my family finishes with him

Hmm. After marriage, do you belong to your respective families or to each other? Why air your dirty laundry? You attempt to solve your problems on your own and if that doesn't work out, you can (if you want) alert your respective families. However, letting one's family "deal" with the other spouse to me is out of the question. If that is the case, then they might as well be having sex with the 2 of you as well cos when you expose each other, you are basically uncovering your respective unclothedness.

na wa o! Things done change for naija o (both on the man's and woman's side) and it is most likely thanks to "freedom" and "enlightenment". The same oyibo (who have a 50% divorce rate) we are desperately trying to copy are the same ones who have acknowledged that their ways were perhaps wrong and are trying to get back to traditional ways.

Class and function declaration as of PHP 5 , and the intro of interface implementation and other, make id spec.

Granted I can't really make out some of the above, still I must say that this is what I am looking for when it comes to giving reason as to y one is better than the other

again (for the umpteenth time ), read my post again:

I am not saying the argument has to be based on one's beliefs. I am giving my answer based on my own beliefs. Now, when you retort, you are free to answer based on your beliefs, but don't rubbish another's in the process. So for example, you could have said, "yeah, I understand where you are coming from but based on my beliefs, this doesn't make sense". I could have said, "that atheistic manner of thinking is crap" but I didn't say that now, did I?

As for opponent, I don't see us as such. I see us reasoning in which case we are peers who are just battling it out ideas-wise. If you approach this (and perhaps) other parts of your life on an opponent-based system, you have a long way to go mi amore.

I don't regard that book as important as you claim. It's just a bunch of arranged chapters written by different authors. As a matter of fact even the bible itself contains different numbers of books according to the so many forms xtianity. How credible can it be? Not even a bit.

Again michelin, you argue based on emotions and have forgotten the very basis of debate 101: reading the opponent's argument in totality. Read my posts again. I blv I said words to the effect that, "if he is a christian". That qualifies all my posts. From your quote above, there is no need going off on this tangent with you cos it wouldn't apply. I knew you would be giving something up eventually. I just knew it. From my experience with humans, give them time and the real them will come out. That's not to say I now dislike you cos you aren't christian. What I am saying is, sooner or later, what you believe in will find a way into your conversation and in this case it did.

So on that note, I will not reason with you any further (not because you aren't a christian but cos based on my premise above, there is no way you and I will see eye to eye).

i don't preach suffer-head mentality.a man must respect his woman to get her submission.

coolkaboom, you hit the nail on the head!

Also, and this is perhaps what has gotten so many people's g'strings knotted in a bunch, being head of the family has nothing to do with money. It has to do with making the difficult decisions and dealing with the consequences of such decisions, good or bad. It has to do with protecting your family when they are down. It has to do with raising children in a way that they don't become a menace to society. Of course, to satisfy some of these, you need money. Money however is what enables you achieve these goals and not the goal in and of itself. Before I make a decision, I ask for my wife's (and eventually my kid's) input. however, in the end, I make the call and good or bad, we live with the consequences. If I am wrong, I am man enough to apologize to my wife and incorporate more of her way of thinking into my (emphasis on "my" decision-making. No wonder so many women are girlfriends and not wives. Who would want to deal with all the crap? That way, if the woman (or man) too do, you dump am, move on. Why buy the cow when you get the milk for free?

The way I see it, we have veered as a society from a situation where the woman is the body and the man is the head to a situation where the woman is the neck and the man is the head (and we all know what role the neck plays in terms of where the head is pointing at any given time). It crept up subtlely and we ignored it. Now we are in too deep and can't swim out. Am I a male chauvenist? nope. Just saying it like it is. You won't get any political correctness from me.

Finally, of course I am pretty sure all religions acknowledge the man as the head of the household, but I don't like to talk based on emotions but on facts.