E-com DevBlog Spider-ball-vacuum

LinkPost – Jan through April 2010

It's that time again. The time when I make good on those promises of finally posting all the backed up LinkPosts . The first quarter of this year has been fairly amazing, Google has started to include speed in page-ranking, jQuery released 1.4, and css3 is starting to build some serious momentum. There are links to all of that and more in this massive LinkPost

-=HTML JS PHP ETC =-

http://www.noupe.com/ajax/30-fresh-ajax-tutorials-and-techniques.html - More Ajax tutorials (in case you forgot )

http://www.webconfs.com/15-minute-seo.php - seo checklist, shows some ranking weight numbers (looks like for google and bing mostly).

http://perishablepress.com/press/2009/12/28/3-ways-preload-images-css-javascript-ajax/ - Image preloading using css, javascript, or javascript (heh heh, I mean ajax)

http://www.dzinepress.com/2010/01/25-high-quality-premium-as-free-wordpress-themes/ - WordPress themes for everyone! quick don't make your own, use these!

http://designreviver.com/general/the-best-google-chrome-extensions/ - mmmmm... Chrome links... I've been using chrome a lot more these days.

http://www.modernizr.com/ - Get your HTML5 and CSS3 on now dang it! Seriously though, pretty cool lib, it doesn't add HTML5 or CSS3 to your browser, but lets you control the fail-over features.

http://devmoose.com/coding/20-htaccess-hacks-every-web-developer-should-know-about - love that htaccess file.

http://jilion.com/sublime/video - This was featured on ajaxian, but here is a nice html5 video player (that means webkit (and it's variants) for now).  Looks pretty sweet

http://designreviver.com/tips/5-practical-ways-using-ajax/ - good list of resources that point out 5 great ways to incorporate a little ajaxery into your site.

http://blog.optimum7.com/anthony/website-design/pure-css3-animated-at-at-walker-from-star-wars-2.html - Grab a webkit browser and click the link, it's time for some CSS3 animation, AT-AT style (funny that you could use jQuery to do this for the last couple of years, but nice to see CSS3 starting to make serious dents in flash and animation).

http://firefogg.org/ - Great plugin that lets you easily encode ogg theroa video files.

http://diveintohtml5.org/video.html - Encoding guide for HTML5 video. It's an excerpt from a book, good reading though, shows fall-back support for IE with flowplayer.

http://camendesign.com/code/video_for_everybody - another take on html5 video, this time without javascript (although it does use conditional tagging... and plenty of it)

http://www.filamentgroup.com/lab/introducing_enhancejs_smarter_safer_apply_progressive_enhancement/ - a javascript framework that tests a browsers ability to handle new javascript and css features. Definetly not a bad idea.

http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?1007 - It's all about conversion Change up your forms to increase your site conversion rates... Good read.

http://devsnippets.com/article/getting-started-with-codeigniter-and-how-to-create-all-those-great-apps.html - fantastic tutorial on getting started with CodeIgniter.

http://www.klauskomenda.com/code/javascript-programming-patterns/ - a nice read on different programming patterns in javascript (singleton in js? yeah, this covers that).

http://nicolasgallagher.com/progressive-enhancement-pure-css-speech-bubbles/ - CSS3 is hot, seriously, it makes everything just so nice.

http://slimstat.net/ - free live stats for your site (php & mysql)

http://samuli.hakoniemi.net/debugging-and-testing-in-internet-explorer-made-easy/ - great article on tools to use for IE development, and I was using most of them (which is sad because they really don't stack up very well compared to say Firebug and the webkit inspector (Chrome and Safari), but it's a great set of tools if you don't have any at all

http://chrispederick.com/blog/web-developer-0-1-for-google-chrome/ - Chrome gets the Web Developer Tool Bar! yay! way to go Developer-Man!

http://speckyboy.com/2010/04/21/15-javascript-and-plugins-and-tutorials-for-adding-ratings/ - just like the link says, 15 links for plugins and tutorials on how to add a ratings system to your site.

http://ajaxian.com/archives/desktop-notifications-with-webkit - Webkit is winning over a little more each day...

http://www.noupe.com/tools/the-importance-of-cross-browser-compatibity-tips-and-resources.html - Good round up of toolsl to make sure your site renders correctly in different browsers

-= jQuery =-

http://james.padolsey.com/javascript/cross-domain-requests-with-jquery/ - cross domain issues be gone! thanks to an almost-exploit with yahoo

http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/javascript-ajax/jquery-1-4-released-the-15-new-features-you-must-know/ - Nettuts brings you the quick and dirty updates to what jQ 1.4 can do.

http://james.padolsey.com/javascript/jquery-lint/ - If you've used lint before, you know what this is, if you haven't, prepare to get your feelings hurt.

http://speckyboy.com/2010/01/20/25-tutorials-and-resources-for-learning-jquery-ui/ - I haven't used jQuery UI since it's first version, but if I ever wanted to, here's where I'd start learning to use it.

http://colorpowered.com/colorbox/ - lightbox with many good features (pre-loading, ajax, iframe, etc)

http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/javascript-ajax/how-to-test-your-javascript-code-with-qunit/ - Unit testing js has never been so fun (well if you can call unit testing fun)

http://demos.usejquery.com/ketchup-plugin/ - nice form validation, simple, easy to customize, nice plug in.

http://pixelmatrixdesign.com/uniform/ - Lets you customize all form elements, and makes them look the same cross-browser

http://razorjack.net/quicksand/ - Effect transition library for jQuery.

http://code.google.com/p/jloader/ - This is a content pre-loader plugin for jQuery, rather than just pre-load images, it can work with a div, or the entire page.

http://www.learningjquery.com/2010/03/using-delegate-and-undelegate-in-jquery-1-4-2 - live and die are used slightly differently with the new delegate and undelegate commands

http://www.learningjquery.com/2010/03/detecting-ajax-events-on-the-server - a nice read on handing the returns or xhr's

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/03/12/45-fresh-useful-javascript-and-jquery-techniques-and-tools/ - The smashing list of jQ hotness for the last month.

http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/resources/top-jquery-chart-libraries-interactive-charts/ - 5 jQuery charting libs for your charting goodness, I've used at least two of them.

http://nivo.dev7studios.com/ - Easy awesome (with 9 transition effects) image slider powered by the one and only jQuery.

http://www.noupe.com/javascript/35-fresh-javascript-jquery-tools-and-resources.html - Round up of jQ goodies from Noupe.

http://www.jstorage.info/ - While not limited to jQuery (also works for prototype and moo), this is a good tool to enable html5 local storage, or if not available will default to the userData variable.

http://aext.net/2010/04/jquery-shadow-motion-effect/ - interesting idea using the standard animation package with jQ. The author is also hinting at releasing a plugin in the future.

http://css-tricks.com/resolution-specific-stylesheets/ - Good post on using a little jQ to change your style-sheet based on window size. And yes you could go fluid, but this is for MORE features, not the same thing in a smaller/bigger space

http://www.codenothing.com/archives/2010/8-jquery-micro-optimization-tips/ - some great tips to speed up your jQ.

-= Tools & Misc=-

http://harthur.wordpress.com/2009/12/18/getting-the-color-scheme-of-a-website-using-canvas-and-hierarchical-clustering/ - Firefox pluginery for color palatte grabbiness.

http://winebottler.kronenberg.org/ - Get yer winders apps running on your macapple.

http://getmediacore.com/ - jinzora may have met its match.

https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/idhfcdbheobinplaamokffboaccidbal - Resolution Test, if you're using chrome to develop, here's your window resize tool

https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/gbkffbkamcejhkcaocmkdeiiccpmjfdi - Pendule is a Chrome extension that allows you to do various tasks that the Developer Toolbar in Firefox lets you do.

http://code.google.com/webtoolkit/speedtracer/ - This is a Google developed tool for Chrome that helps you speed up your site (js, css, layout, dom execution, dom handling, ajax, etc). For windows and linux, you just start chrome with an option, mac users get to install a little somethin' somethin'.

http://www.drumbot.com/ - Tools for musicians

http://lifehacker.com/5484934/run-your-own-free-proxy-through-the-google-app-engine - free proxy is good...

http://dimdim.com/ - Wicked easy, and free screen-sharing/meeting from your browser.  Works pretty well too.

http://bigbluebutton.org/ - if you happen to have an ubuntu server just sitting about you can use this to set up your own video conference sessions (or meetings with desktop sharing, file sharing etc.)

http://matthiasschuetz.com/pixelzoomer/ - cool plug in for Firefox to help you steal, I mean acquire those hard to find colors and measure space for accurate rerepresentation.

http://speckyboy.com/2010/04/12/mobile-web-and-app-development-testing-and-emulation-tools/ - great list of emulators for mobile development

http://lifehacker.com/5515093/qsynergy-makes-multi+system-control-easier-and-prettier - I used to use Synergy all the time, it's great to hear that someone has given the interface a good look and control.

http://mariocrossover.com/ - wow... best flashy app ever... EVER I SAY!

http://www.webresourcesdepot.com/open-source-media-framework-from-adobe/ - Adobe, open-source media goodness.  Sure I haven't checked it out yet, but I will.... soon

-= Images & Fonts =-

http://www.webresourcesdepot.com/12-amazing-and-free-stock-photo-resources/ - the link name says it all, a round up of free stock image resources.

http://speckyboy.com/2010/01/13/50-photoshop-brush-collections-1000s-of-brushes/ - Holy brushes batman!

http://www.junauza.com/2010/01/20-more-awesome-gimp-brush-sets.html - Yay for gimp brushes (and sorry to those who can't hit deviantart due to a freakishly restrictive opendns setting and/or proxy)

http://designreviver.com/freebies/50-free-dark-grungy-fonts-and-textures/ - Some of the fonts I've linked to before, but it's always nice to group your grunge.

http://www.noupe.com/freebie/free-grunge-styles-and-resources.html - Some nice grunge styles for the photoshoppers in our audience.

http://www.texturepalace.com/ - Lots and lots and lots of textures

http://speckyboy.com/2010/02/22/a-round-up-of-50-fresh-photoshop-tutorials-and-techniques/ - Nice photoshop tutorial list

http://www.iconfinder.net/free_icons - something like 10k free icons for the taking

http://www.noupe.com/tutorial/40-outstanding-photo-manipulation-tutorials.html - a round up of photo manipulation tutorials

http://speckyboy.com/2010/03/08/14-free-mobile-app-development-icon-sets/ - free icons for the next time you make a mobile app

http://365psd.com/day/23/ - a free psd every day of the year... could be meh, could be great, time will tell right?

http://webdesignledger.com/freebies/the-best-e-commerce-icons-all-in-one-place - Yep, just what the link says.

http://pc.de/icons/ - 4 free icon sets. Yay for free!

http://findicons.com/ - an icon search engine.

http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2010/03/techniques-for-squeezing-images-for-all-they%e2%80%99re-worth/ - fantastic article on how to maximize your image squeezery.

http://www.noupe.com/fonts/10-free-beautiful-calligraphic-fonts.html - Get your calligraphy on with these free* fonts (*always check the free, cos sometimes free is personal use only).

http://www.webdesignerwall.com/general/30-free-fonts-for-creative-projects/ - more font round up, yes they include some fonts that have been listed before, but I think I saw a few new ones in there too.

http://www.browsercover.com/ - while the layout sucks, the site is pretty cool, upload an image and have it place a browser around it

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/04/15/the-ultimate-free-web-designer-s-icon-set-750-icons-incl-psd-sources/ - huge icon set, plenty of goodness for whatever you are working on.

-= Mac =-

http://devsnippets.com/article/20-new-extremely-useful-mac-apps-for-designers.html - Mac users, I haven't forgotten about you, here's another list of utils you can use when you develop.

That should keep you busy for a while, hopefully long enough for me to get next months LinkPost ready to go.  As always, corrections, concerns, and the like are appreciated in the comments.

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