The event, sponosored by Buffalo Bob’s and Element Design, was a part of Grand Haven’s Winterfest. Exposed to the Elements is a benefit for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

Read the full article

The issue is that when developers are developing sites using a URL structure such as: http://127.0.0.1/~mysite/images/dog.jpg, timthumb does not correctly parse the folder structure and returns a broken image. In this case, a proper path might be: /home/mysite/public_html/images/dog.jpg, however timthumb creates the broken path: /home/mysite/public_html/~mysite/images/dog.jpg.

For the record, I believe timthumb is a horrible idea and should be avoided at all costs (security and performance issues). However there are many instances where you might purchase a template to find it is completely integrated with timthumb, and the amount of time it could take to remove timthumb from the template is not worth it.

How to fix

Make sure you are using the latest version of timthumb. At the moment of this writing, the version is 2.8.5

At line 209 you will find the code:

$this->src = $this->param('src');

Replace that with:

//check if tilde is found in src
if(strstr($this->param('src'),'~'))
{
   $url_parts = explode('/',$this->param('src'));

   foreach($url_parts as $url_part)
   {
      //do not include any part with a ~ when building new url
      if(!strstr($url_part,'~'))
      {
         $new_dev_url .= $url_part.'/';
      }
   }

   //remove trailing slash
   $new_dev_url = substr($new_dev_url,0,-1);

   $this->src = $new_dev_url;
}
else
{
   $this->src = $this->param('src');
}

This isn’t the most elegant solution, however the only time you should be using it is while you are developing and debugging the site (tildes should never be in the URL of a live website). Once you go live, it will automatically skip over that extra processing and work just as timthumb is intended.

Additional fix for $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']

There might be a chance that timthumb is still not working, and that could be because $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] is not being properly defined. To get around this, we need to manually define $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] at the beginning of the document:

Above this line (line 23):

define ('VERSION', '2.8.5');

Insert the root path of your website, something like this:

$_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] = '/home/mysite/public_html/';

I hope that helps, and if it is still not working for you, I highly recommend visiting the official timthumb website and talk with the developers.

Currently the only way to re-enable vertical tabs (side tabs) is to roll back to an older version of Chrome. Here are the steps:

1. Uninstall Chrome
2. Install version 16.0.899.0 from http://www.oldapps.com/google_chrom…old_chrome=6660
3. Disable Chrome updates: http://www.chromefans.org/chrome-tu…tic-updates.htm
4. Reactivate side tabs

I recommend you setup Chrome Sync before this process, so you can easily restore everything.

Once you are back up and running, you might get a “This version of Chrome is older than the user profile on this machine” message. To remove that message, follow these steps:

1. Open Windows Explorer, show hidden files
2. Browse to: C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\
3. Delete the “Web Data” file
4. Close and re-open Chrome

Other web-based image cropping services have you upload an image to their server before you can begin working on it. One major disadvantage to this method is the amount of time it takes to upload the image. Depending on your internet connection and image size, it can be upwards to several minutes before you can start cropping. Another disadvantage is various privacy concerns, as your image is now residing on their server.

Croply performs everything in real-time on your computer. Image uploading is instant onto your browser (your image never leaves your computer), and all processing is completed through the HTML5 canvas element. From start to finish, you can crop and process an image in less than 5 seconds.

The results of the cropping process are fantastic as well, the image quality is identical to Photoshop and the file sizes are very similar. Below is a comparison between Croply and Photoshop.

Croply was originally designed for Photoshop-challenged clients. One of the largest hurdles for clients editing their sites was getting the images the correct size for various portions of the site. A feature added onto Croply is a “Share URL”, which is automatically generated based on the dimensions you input. You can create a “Share URL” for a client, and have them use that specific URL for creating images for slideshow areas, content posts, etc.

Croply is the perfect tool for novice to expert web designers, go ahead and bookmark http://croply.com now!

Some may argue it makes sense to open up multiple instances of the browser, but this will quickly fill up the task bar on your computer as well. Plus, how do you know which instance of your browser has the site you are looking for?

A very high percentage of people now have widescreen monitors. These monitors are often much larger than the size that websites are designed for (99%+ of websites are designed for 1024 pixels wide monitors). If you haven’t already, you will begin to notice how much wasted horizontal space there is when browsing the internet.

That’s why it makes much more sense to send the tabs to the side of the browser stacked vertically than it is to have them on the top. Compare the tabs in the image above with the image below to see an illustration of what I’m talking about (click the image to view a larger version)

Placing the tabs on the side gives you much more room to add more tabs without losing any information on what each tab contains. It takes some getting used to, but it is well worth it in the end.

If I’ve convinced you to make the switch, here is how you do it:

Enabling Side Tabs on Chrome

If you are using the latest version of Chrome, the following “Side Tabs” option might not be available to you. If not, please view my “Re-enable Vertical Tabs on Google Chrome 16” post.

1. Type in the URL:  about:flags
2. Find “Side Tabs”, then click “enable”
3. Right click a tab on the top of the browser, then click “Use Side Tabs”

Enabling Side Tabs on Firefox

Download an install an extension such as Tree Style Tab.

I’ve found that by creating tasks manually I take and manipulate information from the email messages into a format I can quickly go through. Emails are composed far differently than a task is, usually with much more filler text and conversation. I’ve also found that most people do not write their emails in chronological order, but instead write ideas as they come to them.

Adding to the confusion is that emails from different dates can relate to one task. As an idea evolves some of the original tasks from the first email may become obsolete. Sorting through the emails to find what information is the latest and most relevant becomes extremely difficult.

Copy and pasting information from emails into a project management system might seem like an extra step, but it isn’t. It is necessary time spent organizing tasks.

The only issue I found with Preview Pane was how the “People” widget and advertisements on the right of the page now waste a lot of valuable space (202 pixels on the vertical split, and 225 pixels on horizontal split).

This user script (for Chrome, or Greasemonkey for Firefox) removes that sidebar, allowing the preview pane to extend to the full width of the screen. Enjoy the extra space!

Download at UserScripts.org

11/4/2011 Version 0.4.2
-Fixed: Remove sidebar on “undo send”

8/14/2011 Version 0.4.1
-Fixed: Removed extra style

8/9/2011 Version 0.4
-Fixed: Chrome autocomplete now working

8/8/2011 Version 0.3
-Added: Now supports horizontal and vertical split views

8/7/2011 Version 0.2
-Fixed: Optimized code, now using GM_addStyle

8/5/2011 Version 0.1b
-Fixed: Attribute selector for Firefox

8/5/2011 Version 0.1
-Initial Release

Deleting your Font Cache File

1. Delete the file C:\Windows\System32\FNTCACHE.DAT
2. Restart your computer

Windows will rebuild the file once you restart the computer then everything should be back to normal! This also appears to work for other languages as well, please post your results if it works for you. I have no idea what caused this font cache file to be corrupted in the first place, but will post more if it happens again.

Understanding how your customers process information is a very important step to increasing leads. This session will cover a variety of psychology concepts used by leading advertisers and marketers that will help you formulate new strategies. Real-world examples will help explain concepts such as: reciprocation, commitment, authority, and others. You will also find how other companies have used these concepts to turn you into a customer, most of the time without you even knowing it!

For more details on the event, please visit the post on WZZM’s website, or at Mlive.com.

From MLive:

GRAND HAVEN – February’s 2E Network – A Social Media Workshop, will focus on measuring the success of websites by their rankings on search engine results and increasing the ranking through Search Engine Optimization.

Chad Huntley, owner of Element Design of Grand Haven, will be the featured guest speaker for the Friday, February 4th 2E Network held from 7:30-9:00 a.m. Huntley, a graduate of Michigan State University’s Advertising program, where he recently taught a web design class, has experience on website projects that included Steelcase, Herman Miller, and DOW Chemical. Huntley expressed that, “the internet has quickly become the most powerful advertising medium for any business,” going on to explain that it is the central hub for advertising, communication, and gathering information from customers.

“The success of your website can be directly measured by how high it ranks in search engine results,” continued Huntley.

The Chamber of Commerce Grand Haven, Spring Lake, Ferrysburg is excited to have Huntley present on the importance of Search Engine Optimization at 2E Network. In this workshop, attendees will work with a website that is poorly optimized for search engines. Expanding from this website, attendees will learn more about the evolution of search engines, what no longer works, and how to build a search engine strategy.

If interested in attending The Chamber’s 2E Network – A Social Media Workshop, register by calling 616-842-4910 or email Courtney at colson@grandhavenchamber.org. Held at JSJ Corporation’s Lower Level Training Room, the cost to attend is $15 for Chamber Members, $20 for community members. A continental breakfast is provided and attendees are encouraged to bring a laptop or smart phone if desired.

2E Network – A Social Media Workshop is a program of The Chamber of Commerce Grand Haven, Spring Lake, Ferrysburg. The Chamber understands the importance of social media for local businesses and the community, bringing in qualified guest presenters to educate attendees on various topics. Held the first Friday of the month from 7:30am-9:00am, those interested in more information, attending, or presenting should call 616-842-4910 or email colson@grandhavenchamber.org.

So with a site that consisted of the following links: Home, About, Services, Contact, it only showed hits for Home, and did not count any hits for About, Services, or Contact.

To fix this we need to manually add JavaScript events to each link we want to capture.

Copy the latest Analytics code to your website

After logging into Google Analytics, click on the website you need Ajax link tracking for, then click “Edit”.

On the top right of the new screen, there should be a link called “Check Status”, click that.

The new page should show you the code you need to copy/paste onto your website right before the </head> tag. For your reference, the code should look something like:

<script type="text/javascript">

  var _gaq = _gaq || [];
  _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-12345678-9']);
  _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);

  (function() {
    var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true;
    ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
    var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
  })();

</script>

Add Javascript Events to your Links

Now on your website, locate the code for each of your links. For example it could look something like:

<ul>
	<li><a href="#">Home</a></li>
	<li><a href="#about">About</a></li>
	<li><a href="#services">Services</a></li>
	<li><a href="#contact">Contact</a></li>
</ul>

This is where we start insert our link tracking code. Since a new page loads everytime we click on one of these links, we will want to add a onClick event to each link along with the necessary code.

The completed code should look like:

<ul>
	<li><a onclick="_gaq.push(['_trackPageview', '/home']);" href="# ">Home</a></li>
	<li><a onclick="_gaq.push(['_trackPageview', '/about']);" href="#about ">About</a></li>
	<li><a onclick="_gaq.push(['_trackPageview', '/services']);" href="#services ">Services</a></li>
	<li><a onclick="_gaq.push(['_trackPageview', '/contact']);" href="#contact ">Contact</a></li>
</ul>

The only part of the code you need to change is the last part of it (‘/services’), where you define what you want the page to be called in Analytics. Make sure you use slashes just as you would with a URL, where deep links could be something like: ‘/services/cleaning’

Now the analytics page will start tracking these page hits, and look something like:

Note that there are two different “pages” tracking the home page, “/” and “/home”. The “/” page is when people initially hit the website, where the “/home” page is if they click the “Home” link while they are within the website. This helps track the user’s behavior.

You can also do this in a more elegant way by assigning each link an unique ID then referencing them through an external JavaScript file, but for small sites this is quick and effective. You can also track these clicks as “events” which I will cover in a different article.