₦airaland Forum

As I have always said, the way you say things can either make someone move mountains (even for free) or sit there and look at you like a mugu.

When I see words like "very low cost", that right there is a turn off. That by no means implies that I wouldn't do the work for peanuts but when you come out plainly and say it, I guess to me it comes off as an insult, no offense.

Certain words are meant for private conversation ("hey, I know you are probably worth a lot and take pride in what you do but we are a start up and in need of funds so all we can afford to pay is (your amount here)". There, again within the confines of a private conversation, that sounds much better doesn't it? )

If you need help with something, just lay it out as you want it and leave the details for the one-on-ones.

http://www.clintonbushhaitifund.org/index.php

Usually, I would go off on how it looks but given that most likely, it was whipped up in quick response to the issue at hand (which to me is all about donations), I must say they are to be commended.

I did a whois of the site and Clinton himself is the registrant (or at least, in name). Hmm, I wonder if Clinton coded the site himself

Your thoughts

Its never been bad in my area but its been better in the last few months.

The above quote reminds me of Bill Clinton's, "I smoked but didn't inhale" and John Kerry's, "I voted for it, before I voted against it"

I am glad your issue has been solved. Just one request: next time, put it in a new thread, as opposed to going off-topic on another

Yep, Afam has pretty much said it all. But, how do you find these good developers. It starts with an interview. It's not just about "can I see your works?". If need be, and this applies to all on here, introduce the person on here and I will conduct the interviews myself, free of charge. Granted it will not be as good as a face-to-face, you can rest assured that I will be able to provide at least 80% cover for you

After completing masters in UK ( lets say software engr. ) do you still need any further certification.

Speaking in general as I bet the Nigerian landscape is different, I would say you don't need further certification after a masters but you do need further upgrading of your skill set through reading and constant practice. In our craft, this is the only way to stand out in the crowd. Just like computers, our skills are such that they are old school within days of use so you need to keep on reading to improve yourself. Our craft is also like the hydra - you master one area and 3 more news ones pop up almost immediately. sad, but true.

good luck!

you don't need knowledge of js/jq to copy and paste/install an animation. All you need to know is how to understand the English behind the installation (seriously).

Having said that, I would listen to pc guru: learn at least the basics of javascript. This way, if something goes wrong, you at least know enough to make modifications. For example, what you install might have a red background but your site has a black background. Most of these scripts set certain attributes in the javascript, not css. With a knowledge of the css, provided it isn't obfuscated, you will know enough to go in and make changes.

good luck!

joomla is a content management system (cms) and wordpress is blog software which recently has been converted to a cms tool.

The aforementioned allow you to concentrate on the content, while hiding the nitty gritty from view. In other words, the developer provides the skin/layout whereas the lay man can just go to a particular article and make modifications. without knowledge of web dev and armed with a default installation, you can still mess around with cms tools. That's where their beauty lies.

Your web dev learning path: html, css, javascript, php/jsp, mysql.

good luck!

jquery code consists of 2 files, for the most part:
1) the jquery core/parent code, jquery.js and
2) the code you want to implement

#1 is what sets up the core of jquery (so instead of document.getElementById(), you do $())
#2 is your own code (so like $(lanbaba).animate(), where .animate() is defined as a core functin in #1)

#1 can exist without #2 but #2 cannot exist without #1.

Make sense?

no. google only hosts the jquery.js (the parent code). the jquery code you write/the jquery plug in you upload, is hosted on your site. google doesn't control your code, only the jquery.js code. got it?

if the height pertains to the image, you specify it in the image (img, if css) not the div. Of course, the div and image can have the same specifications but for semantic reasons, specify them as part of the image.

Wow! I think I need some sugar. I haven't been challenged in math in a long time

Here is what I would say (probably matches exactly what dual just said):

Assuming google server = your server (which I doubt but will play along): If you have jquery on your server and it takes 30s and you have your own page, less jquery.js, that loads in 30s. Your page will load in 1 minute. If the jquery resides on google's server on the other hand, your page still loads in 1 minute. The difference? You are saving your server from "suffering" for 30s as the load is now on google's end. Also, don't forget that there is an added benefit: Suppose you need to upgrade your jquery for another project on the site. That means you would have to download it, upload it to your server, reference it and test. With it being on google's end, you have saved yourself 90% of the process. Make sense?

I usually test my sites for speed here: http://websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/

check it out and good luck

feel me (the name sounds dirty. oh well ):

3) If the image is a one-off, specify in the html. On the other hand, if you will have a bunch of images sharing the same attributes, declare a class in your css and dump height, weight, padding, etc there.

For example: suppose you have pages that have a thumbnail floated left with text around it. You can declare a class in your html and then in your css have like img.page-images { float: left; height: 100px; width: 100px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; } or something like that.

6) I actually meant to say longer, not shorter. The latter is the distraction. Sorry for the confusion.

Sorry to keep popping up with these terms and explanations, dual

he he, of course it does make sense. You think it is like some of our sites that, at most, get 5 - 10 hits a day? LMAO!

lanbaba:

Dual has said it all.  By the way, just in case you are wondering, the concept is called, "Distributed networks"

Some companies even take it a step further by hosting their CSS, JS and Image files on separate servers hosted by companies that specialize in just that.  An example would be Akamai.  If you go to the site of some big corps and as the page is loading you see something like, "loading from akamai (ellipses)), then you know you are hitting another server for those.  The advantage is, as already noted, you transfer the bandwidth (and cost) of hosting files to another server.  

As a real-life example, I know of a company that pre-distributed networks, expereinced 500+GB in traffic per day.  By moving their CSS, JS and images to akamai, they reduced the bandwidth to 240GB per day.  Impressive, isn't it?

ya ya ya wateva Angry Grin Angry

Yawa I think its time you should confess. Me thinks its about 10 pipz running this yawa-ti-de ID. Y'all take shifts Huh

Would like to know something you don't know Angry

The "you" above is referring to the 10 yawaz running this ID Tongue

Well, you got me dual

Yes there are 10 people running the "yawa" ID - 1 for each year of experience that I have, working in a corporate and personal setting. Remember, as I have said before, the key to success in our field is constant reading to keep yourself abreast of the latest. I may not have used a particular technology or language but I am at least familiar with them. I just got off the phone with someone looking for a webmaster. He asked what CMS I use and I said joomla. He asked why. And I laid it on him the pluses and minuses over drupal. Now, I have never coded in drupal but I know enough about it from reading to know that joomla is better, at least for what I do with it.

So congrats dual. You finally got me

There was, at least in the late 90s, a language known as Server Side Javascript. Whether it is still in existence or not though, is another matter. If it is, the fact that it is server side would mean that it would be unaffected by a user turning off javascript in their browser. Why? Because, technically, a user has no control over a server

Yes and I will start with your triple postings

not off topic at all.

Let me illustrate:

Take a contact form for instance. Let's say you have front end validation. If javascript is turned off, the form still processes when you hit "submit" (graceful degradation). This won't be good however as without backend validation you could get bad data BUT the form still works.

Another example:
Take google.com and autocomplete. As you type, via AJAX (javascript is the "J" in Ajax as I am sure you know), other terms similar to what you type show up below the search field. Now, if you turn off javascript, you can still enter a search term and the form still submits (graceful degradation). This is as opposed to your text field coming up blank and you not being able to submit the form just because javascript is turned off.

Make sense?

I will assume you don't have a budget for PPC (if you do, my apologies. Keep me honest so that I can fine tune my posts accordingly) and so concentrate from now on, on SEO.

Factors that help your pages rank high (among others), via SEO:
1) Your html validates. You are also following web standards (you can wiki for that one)

2) Your page don't take a while to download

3) Content on your site has keywords specific to your site "peppered" throughout

4) Your URL is well-named (for example, "lagosstate.com" more accurately describes what the site is about, compared to, "isaleeko.com"

5) Each page has a page title (both TITLE tag and actual page title)

6) You register your site with google analytics and google webmasters

Is this making sense thus far?

I could be wrong but I believe PM was disabled years ago. Why? That is for Seun to answer

and playing devil's advocate, what is the likelihood of one of google's many servers crashing versus yours crashing? 

And when google crashes, yawa crashes  Grin

Inasmuch as that's a joke, that's a possibility.  Tongue

Possibility: 0.001%.  Inasmuch as that's a joke: 1000% (good one by the way, he he)

pc guru: There is something called, "graceful degradation". In other words, whenever you are writing your javascript code, you have to assume that someone will be using a device that either doesn't support javascript or has it turned off by default.  By gracefully degrading, your module will work regardless.  Maybe you should check the term out.

Thanks for posting the news though. It was very much appreciated

Well, they are usually backwards compatible. Besides, if you are like me and reference the google repository for jquery, as opposed to uploading and downloading your own personal copies, it shouldn't be a problem.

It's a major release, yes but it shouldn't affect the core of the "language".

feel_me, I feel you well well

It is actually a good layout. The only thing, looking at it from 30,000 feet I would say is you should learn to:
1) Indent your code, for readability and maintainability

2) Move your page-level css and js to external files

3) specify heights and widths on your images (when you leave it to browsers, it could slow them down, if you have a lot)

4) avoid using double or triple (or whatever) BR tags. There is a reason we have padding and margin

5) Use external calls to javascript libraries (as in reference the ones hosted by google) - it reduces page weight.
5a) If you are using jquery, no need adding flash. Just use one of the many jquery animations

6) Reduce the time for your fading photos, to avoid/reduce distractions.

Other than that, looks good bro.

you may want to ask seun that.

Ok, here goes it again, albeit abridged (still fuming):

(S)earch (E)ngine (M)arketing, in lay man's terms is all the "stuff" you do to your site that enables it to rank highly on search engines. It comprises (S)earch (E)ngine (O)ptimization and (P)ay-(P)er (C)lick.

SEO is the "free" or "natural" version and refers to all you do on your site as a developer (meta tags, code structure, page weight, content, etc) to ensure high rankings (left hand side of the page).

As the name implies PPC is where you pay a search engine, having bought (after bidding) some keywords to ensure that your site shows up, per a search engine's algorithm, at a guaranteed spot on the search results page (in google, it's the top (yellow) portion and the right hand side).

I will stop here in case the post gets canned again and to allow others to chime in and to ensure full assimilation before I continue. I prefer taking baby steps in my teachings. No need to be the proverbial dog returning to their vomit

Question answered:
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-381836.0.html

So Yawa, u dey diss other pple works, and your sites are not for see abi, hmm, guess no client and server side contact form validation on them

Oh, they are "for see" alright, just not on nairaland. google is too dangerous. I don't want anyone tracing anything to me

Seek (privately) and ye shall find. That is all I can say

myhonour, i guess my point was, there is no need downloading 55kb of code for just 1 function or 2. There are things you can do in pretty quick time using regular javascript than with jquery.

Yes, I agree with you, with respect to those who don't understand who are trying to use it by force, granted i do know of someone I begged to learn regular javascript first and he said no and is now, actually a pretty cool jquery coder

Don: to each their own then

but if u are as brilliant as dual and wanna be professional as yawa

deltalife:
I am thinking of arranging such a seminar (or whatever you want to call it). You have to realize that such training takes time and time is money. Obviously I am not saying you should shell 100K willingly for such (though I am not against it) but that it will cost you something. When you make the statement you have made, for me, it is discouraging up front. Learn to keep such to yourself and bring it up privately with the person you are dealing with.

My format, when it comes to fruition, will most likely be 2 weeks at at least 20K. Will you learn all you need to learn, A-Z in web development? NO! What even a university teaches you isn't everything you need to know but what you need, "foundationally", to inspire you to go out and learn more on your own. Will you learn what you need to make you a professional, disciplined coder? ABSOLUTELY!

donpozu:
Your site froze my browser for a few minutes. Na by force that I should bookmark? Just provide a link somewhere and let me make the decision for myself. I believe it is called "user-initiated interaction"

212:
Check out the php mail() function. Basically, you check to see if your required fields meet your specifications (not empty, email formatted properly etc). If they do, you call your mail function (I would also surround my mail() function with an "if" statement, so that if mailing fails, I output an error message, but that's just (the paranoid) me). If not, you output the fields with errors.