How to use XSLT to style an RSS feed

June 17th, 2009 By nFriedly

Take this!XSLT is a fairly well-supported technology. It allows you to take any XML file – including RSS – and transform it into a styled HTML document. It’s kind of like CSS on steroids.

Unfortunately, most browsers think they know better and go off and do their own thing on RSS feeds.

We’re going to look at how and which browsers can be brought into line, and how to use XSLT to improve the look of your RSS feed in those browsers.

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How AJAX Security and Twitter callbacks work

June 16th, 2009 By nFriedly

The twitter callback feature is nice – it makes it extremely easy to to add a twitter feed to a page. But to get the most benefit out of it, you really need to understand what it’s doing.

We’re going to look at how AJAX security works, specifically the Same Origin Policy, how Twitter gets around it, and the type of callback that twitter uses.

Note: the callback that twitter uses is entirely different from callback in the sense of passing a javascript function around as a variable. We’ll look at that in a future article.

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Advanced Javascript: Objects, Arrays, and Array-Like objects

June 10th, 2009 By nFriedly

Javascript objects and arrays are both incredibly useful. They’re also incredibly easy to confuse with each other. Mix in a few objects that look like arrays and you’ve got a recipe for confusion!

We’re going to see what the differences between objects and arrays are, how to work with some of the common array-like objects, and how to get the most performance out of each.

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Advanced Javascript: Logical Operators and truthy / falsy

June 7th, 2009 By nFriedly

Nearly every website on the internet uses javascript in some form or fashion. Yet very few people, even those who write it and teach it, have a clear understanding of how javascript works!

Logical Operators are a core part of the language. We’re going to look at what logical operators are, what “truthy” and “falsy” mean, and how to use this to write cleaner, faster and more optimized javascript.

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How to build a spam-free contact form without captchas

June 7th, 2009 By nFriedly

data_security_3Most anti-spam methods used by websites today are annoying at best. They use impossible-to-read captcha images, or they make users jump through some kind of hoop to get the email address instead of just clicking on it. This can mean lost sales and opportunities for you, because each hurdle turns away more users.

This article looks at how to use some simple HTML, CSS, & Javascript to protect your private information without making your guests jump through hoops.

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