Blog for 2005
12/11/2005: Reusable Form Functions
Like me, you are probably confronted with many requests for surveys, questionnaires, feedback forms, registration forms and so forth: forms where the processing requirements are very simple (store in a database or e-mail to a particular address).
Despite the simple requirements, there is often quite a lot of work involved: crafting a database to store results, writing a function to store the data to the database, one to verify submitted data (e.g. make sure that if you’ve asked for an e-mail address, it contains an @-sign), and marking up the form itself (which can be quite a task if you want to make correct use of <label>, <th scope="blah">, etc.
So I introduce my reusable form functions, with the rather unglamorous name of inc_surveytool.php v1.0.
They are far from finished (expect a 1.1 and a 2.0 version…
19/09/2005: On Custom DTDs
Dylan Parry wrote:
Of course, but validating against a custom, non-standards controlled DTD is a complete waste of time for HTML. That would be validation for validation’s sake. If you can’t validate against a recognised doctype then there is truly no point in attempting to create your own to cover your problems
Using a custom DTD can be very useful.
22/08/2005: Reusable Table Functions
Ross wrote:
I am seeking your advice on the programming language for such an action. i prefer a web table capable of sorting by size, length and so on, therefore built-in function for sorting is appreciated.
Down below are a couple of nice PHP functions that may be of use. I’ve taken them from my CMS at work and munged them a little to make them independent of it. I’ve not tested these munged ones, so they may need a little adjusting.
08/06/2005: The User Interface of the Future
GreyWyvern wrote:
Soon (real soon now) we’ll be progressing to voice-controlled systems. “Copy Document to desktop”, “Empty trash”, “Open Slashdot”.
This is precisely an argument for the command-line paradigm! What you are describing is a command-line, with the keyboard simply being replaced with a microphone…