Voodoochilli Design

Google is planning to release more data and tools to help combat click fraud on it Google Adsense program. Apparently members of Google Adsense will soon be able to scrutinise clicks from visitors to enable better detection of fraud. This will be a welcome upgrade after many people have criticised Google for not sharing such data. Google estimates that around 10% of all clicks are fraudulent, something it is working hard to improve on.

I have just upgraded to WordPress 2.1, and I had some major problems. For a start off I forgot to turn off all the plugins before upgrading! Luckily I had a backup of the database and I was able to manually turn off the plugins using PhpMyAdmin. I simply searched for the plugin names, found the column that that contained them and emptied the data. I then removed all the old files off the server and re-uploaded. If you are about to upgrade, make sure you turn off all plugins first as this will save you a lot of hassle! Its also a good idea to make a full database and file backup before you do anything.

Well here is something I was sure was impossible until the other day. I managed to use a remotely hosted include file in one of my pages. The reason I did this was because all of the coding needed to connect to a database on another site. I think the only reason it worked though is because although the code was on another site, it is on the same server. Still, it worked for me!

Sadly, this just isn’t possible. You would think you would be able to do the following:

[source: php]

include (“filename.php?variable=123″);
[/source]
But you just can’t. There is an alternative though. You can set the variable just before you include the file, for example:

[source: php]

$variable=123;
include (“filename.php”);
[/source]

As someone that is always trying to improve my own skills, I find it important to read around the subject of web design and development. I have list below my three favourite web design and development books, all of which I would recommend.

3. Web Re-design 2.0  Workflow that works by Kelly Goto and Emily Cotler

This book is written by two experienced web designers and its focus is project workflow. The book concentrates on site re-designs but the information within can just as well be applied to new projects. I brought this book as a way to better understand the workflow of my own projects and it has given me significant insight. It discusses project management, project scope, clients and pretty much everything to do with a web design project. My only small criticism about this book is that when mentioning software, the authors seem to concentrate mostly on the Macintosh.

Have a look at this classic clip from the 80s that shows the “Hi-tech” Commodore Amiga in action! It uses the all new “WIMP” (Windows,Images, Mouse and Pull-down menus) Looks a bit like early versions of windows.

We have just recently launched another website created for a solicitors based in Hereford. You can visit the site by clicking here. Our full portfolio can be seen here

I just found out today that one of the sites we designed last year has featured on the BBC news program “Click”. It’s great to know the site is doing so well.

You can read more here and view the archived video here (Starts at 19 mins)

The Green and Easy website can be viewed here

Since its friday I thought I would share a funny website with you that will make you laugh. I once had a student that when I told her to “right click” on her computer she began to actually type “C-L-I-C-K”. This site has some even funnier examples:

Customer: “Email! I won’t have anything to do with that Internet or modems of any sort! You should be careful about those. Don’t you know that once you install a modem, the government can look into your computer and watch everything you do? That’s why every night before I go to bed, I turn the monitor to the wall.”

And…

Customer: “I’ve been connected to the Internet for about ten minutes now, and my computer started smoking about five minutes ago. Is your building on fire?”

Have a look at the other funny quotes on http://www.rinkworks.com/stupid/

I have noticed a lot of spammy comments lately, which I guess means the site is getting in all the search engines. I wish that instead of adding nonsensical comments, these spam bots would click on my ads! I am going to have to look into spam filtering on wordpress blogs. If I cant find a solution I might employ my own methods as used on some of my other sites.