Archive for Web Design
03.03.07
Posted in Web Design at 2:42 pm by stark
Recently the team behind the popular blog engine, Wordpress, released version 2.1.1 of their software but now claims that the version was compromised by a cracker. Anyone running Wordpress is strongly urged to upgrade to version 2.1.2 immediately.
It was determined that a cracker had gained user-level access to one of the servers that powers wordpress.org, and had used that access to modify the download file. We have locked down that server for further forensics, but at this time it appears that the 2.1.1 download was the only thing touched by the attack. They modified two files in WP to include code that would allow for remote PHP execution.
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02.27.07
Posted in Web Design at 7:38 pm by stark
Ever wanted to use Wordpress as the basis for your own non-blog based community website? I know I have. Wordpress is so simple to setup and easy to customize, it would make a great platform for many different sites. Well, if you’re goal is to setup a review based site where users can visit and contribute comments on various products and services you have listed, this new plugin might be just what you need to make it a reality. The DGRS plugin allows you to convert a standard blog into a site for reviewing anything from electronics to dvd’s, and the best part is it includes everything you need to implement the community aspect as well by allowing your site visitors to contribute their own reviews. Of course, you’ll need to modify your theme to support the plugin’s layout, but that’s a small price to pay for such an interesting tool.
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02.26.07
Posted in Technology, Web Design at 10:42 am by stark
If you’re just starting out with your web design business, one of the hardest things to figure out is just what exactly to charge your customers. Well, worry no more with this step by step checklist that practically builds you an invoice right before your eyes. I particularly like the fact that a lack of Photoshop knowledge, drives the price through the roof 
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02.17.07
Posted in Technology, Web Design, Programming at 7:21 pm by stark
Although you might not know it by the name, a captcha is one of those little boxes you see, more and more lately, that ask you to type in a random code to verify that you are a human being and not a robot. There are many different varieties, but the basic idea is an image that is obscured slightly but readable by a human and used as a passcode for secure entry to a system or task. Something similar to this:
The user is asked to type in the string buried inside the image, and if it matches, they are given access to a specific resource, such as posting a comment or logging into a site.
The 7 step captcha breakdown
The basic idea behind adding a captcha to any website can be summarized by the following 7 steps:
- Generate some random text.
- Add that text to a cookie/session/database so you can retrieve it again from another page.
- Write the text onto an existing image.
- Display the image to the user wanting access to a resource.
- Provide a form, where the user enters the code and submits the form.
- Verify the code against the key you stored in step 2.
- If the codes match, then grant access.
In the next few sections, I’ll step through the code for a very basic example of a captcha script for your own website.
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02.08.07
Posted in Technology, Web Design, Programming at 2:33 am by stark
I know personally, I’m not one of those people that can remember every detail of every language and never look anything up. It’s nice to have a cheat sheet with a quick summary of some of the most commonly used procedures, tags, tools, syntax, etc, saving time that would have been used to look it up on Google or dig through documentation either online or in printed text. The following is a list of links to several different cheat sheets on a wide variety of tasks and tools. You can print them out and hang them on your wall (my personal choice) or simply bookmark them for easy access down the road. If you have any additional suggestions or see something I’ve missed, let me know…
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