Form Builders

I came across a couple of free form builders on digg.com The two were Wufoo and FormAssembly.

These both are web-based tools which allow you to build really good forms. You can build varied forms and do authentication on them based on their properties (alphanumeric, password etc)

Both tools are in their beta but are worth the mention. Wufoo has a demo which allows you do see what you do with it. You can't however download or do anything else with it.

A seemingly better tool would be FormAssembly. Better to use interface, more options and you can download the form source along with the CSS to use on your website. You can even host the form on their website and manage responses. They have Form templates, so if you need to setup a survey, an invite - easily done. Also available is a bunch of CSS styles to fix your form.

I'm going to look at the latter to learn some JS to authenticate forms. About time I learn it with AJAX and stuff going around.

PHP Editors Ahoy

I have finally found the PHP Editor of my choice. My months of search for a good one has ended. I am currently using MPSoftware's PHPDesigner 2005. This is an excellent editor and also may seem to some as a PHP version of MS Visual Studio. It may seem like it but it is very nice. Some of the features what I like is:

• Auto-Complete PHP functions - Some of the functions get really long!
• Function/Class List - It lists all the functions and classes of a particular file in a neat window. Very useful for me in some scripts of mine where I have to deal with a lot of functions.
• Project Setup - I can setup multiple projects and associate files with them and easily open and close projects with relative ease.
• Code indenting! - This feature a lot of editors dont have. An editor like PHPEdit doesn't have indenting, which makes it really annoying.

There are also tons of minor handy features which makes it really useful.

A second editor would be Gilad Novak's PHPStudio. This a lightweight PHP editor which also is quite nice. Auto-Complete, code indentation, a good file explorer and html support are some of its nice features. Gilad Novak reads the PHP-Editors.com forum and answers question in this thread. One of few occasions where a thread guides the development of the product :)

Nevertheless, PHPDesigner 2005 is my preferred editor. I may even check out his beta ('2006')

The Stealth Switch

Say Hi to the Stealth Switch. A must use for anyone who does shady things at work. Whether be porn, downloading movies or playing games.
This handy little gadget from ThinkGeek.com will minimize and hide all your applications or the ones you specify from your computer screen at the touch of a button. Hooked up via USB this can be put under the desk and you can "frag away in peace"

Silverorange's Swat Web Application Toolkit

Earlier today I discovered Silverorange Lab's SWAT Web application toolkit. This is an open source web application toolkit (PHP5) built by the guys at Silverorange.

Although this is version 0.0.4 I must say this is a really good set of widgets. It has almost every widget from the basic text and integer entry to Calendar entries to Pagination. From the sample code given it seems simple to implement. This is done completely with AJAX AFAIK.

A very handy tool. I will trying to use it in future projects of mine.

Download SWAT

CSS Code Optimizer

I recently discovered the CSS Code Optimizer. It is a very handy online tool which optimises your CSS code. What optimization? Well for one it removes your erroneus spacing, brackets/braces indentation and makes it look good for viewing.

Also if you would have CSS code like this:

p {
 font-family: verdana;
 font-size: 12px;
}

It would be converted to

p {
 font: 12px verdana;
}

This is just a simple example but there are many more scenarios like and it does keep the CSS code easy to read.

Extremely useful when you are new to css and also when you are expecting people to view your CSS.

LightBox JS

A very useful JavaScript called LightBox. Used to overlay images on the current page. It's javascript so no fancy flash/shockwave plugin crap.

Oh did I mention this will be my virtual bookmark page ;)

First

Just a first post for my personal blog.