Web Developer Articles & Author Information

Below you will find a list of this website's articles and other informational pieces organized by category. Some of these are very popular, while others are just for fun. If you find anything on this website that you feel should not be here, is incorrect, or if you feel that something is missing, please send me a message with your comments/suggestions. The items you will find within this site are mostly pieces that I had developed while doing research for web development projects. Many of the items here are still in use by me in various ways.

Even though I had spent a few years as an independent web developer, I have spent the past several years as a full-time web developer as well. I have mostly been working with a real estate company doing web development. I still do some projects on the side (smaller ones), but my schedule has been pretty booked over the past few years between work and other personal projects (aside from this site). For those of you that may be interested, I do have an online resume available.

On June 20th, 2005, I passed the Zend PHP Certification Exam; therefore, I am officially a Zend Certified Engineer. There are now number of ZCEs in Minnesota (see for yourself).

Outside my work projects on the internet available to the public, I also do the web development and hosting for the local World Tang Soo Do Association studio Range Martial Arts here in Chisholm, MN. This project is very special to me since it is where I train. However, the impresive parts of that project can only be accessed by the instructors and students.

• PHP

  • ExpressionEngine2 Extension: entry_auth_dir

    This is my first EE2 extension. There very well may be more coming in the future as my currnet job position has be building and maintaining websites using ExpressionEngine. This one generates HTTP Basic Auth directories based on entry submissions in EE2 channels.

    Last Updated: 12/6/2011

  • Filling PDF form fields with HTML forms and PHP

    An example on using submitted HTML form values to create an XFDF or FDF file. The XFDF or FDF file can then be opened by a PDF viewer like Adobe Acrobat Reader to fill in the fields in a PDF file.

    Last Updated: 12/2/2011

  • HTTP Authentication With PHP & htpasswd

    A brief description and demonstration of using PHP with Apache's basic HTTP authentication to validate users with passwords. This method allows for authentication on single files rather than whole directories.

    Last Updated: 1/14/2006

  • Watermarking PNG and JPEG Images with PHP and GD2

    This demonstration page allows you to watermark a JPEG or PNG image by providing the image and choosing options from a from.

• Servers, Systems & Tools

  Since web developers often have to deal with different aspects of system configurations, I decided to start this section of articles. Everything that you find here are things that I have come across in my adventures. Some things may be trivial, and others may be a bit off-topic in relation to web development. However, I feel that it is necessary for me to make my findings public. If you find it here, then you can bet that it is something that I either had to piece together myself or I had found too many conflicting bits of information to deal with.

  • Encrypted Password Database and SSH Client on Flash Drive

    A handy solution for network administrators and others that need to remember passwords to multiple systems. Features a hidden, encrypted volume, encrypted password database and SSH client that all runs off the same thumb drive.

    Last Updated: 7/6/2010

  • Exim4 on Debian with SpamAssassin, ClamAV, Virtual Domain Alias Files and Message Size Limits per Domain

    A step-by-step HOWTO for setting up a mail server using Debian. I originally planned on just keeping this article in a safe place so I could reference it later; however, while searching for methods on how to do some of this stuff, I decided that someone else may benefit from it as well.

    Last Updated: 5/11/2006

• Lending a Helping Hand

  In the event that you are more interested in help this website (and me) out directly, you could make a donation to help build my knowledge or resources for keeping this site running smoothly.

• (Really) Old Stuff

  • SEO: Web Developer Help

    This is simply an article that I had put together after reading a bunch of other conflicting articles. This started out as a testing area for me, but now it is just general considerations to keep in mind to try and help your website.

  • SEO: Guitar Intonation: Setting And Adjusting Guitar Or Bass Guitar Intonation

    This is a quick article I put together to explain how to set the intonation of an electric guitar or bass guitar. Google picked it up so I decided to optimize it a little to see how the competing pages were reacting.

  • CSS: Nearly Pure CSS Menus With Multiple Levels

    My first entry for CSS content on my site. I had an itch to make a functional CSS-based drop-down menu so I could get rid of the Javascript system I was using. If you have a browser that isn't reported on that page, please let me know if/how it works, and what version your browser/os is.

  • SST: Webpage Rotation Viewer - WPRV

    A handy little utility for network administrators to rotate through pre-defined web pages on a cyclic timer much like a repeating slide show.

  • SST: Share NFS-Mounted NAS through Netatalk for Mac OS 9

    Attempting to share a network storage device with Macintosh clients running OS 9 or earlier? I was (Iomega NAS 100d), and after a few days of playing around, I managed to get it working!

  • JS: TTW WYSIWYG Web Editor

    This "through the web" wysiwyg editor works with Gecko engine web browsers (Mozilla, Netscape, FireFox, etc.) as well as with MSIE 5+. Includes OO Javascript and HTML code. Code last updated on 2/24/2005.

    I've stopped using this in favor of tinyMCE.

  • JS: Creating An Image Crop Area

    A javascript tool that works with Gecko engine web browsers (Mozilla, Netscape 6+, FireFox, etc.) as well as with MSIE 5+ and Opera. Includes Javascript and HTML code for making the selection as well as PHP code for cropping the image using GD2.

  • PHP: PHP work-around for Microsoft Internet Explorer's transparent PNG handicap

    This page explains how to make PNG-24 images with transparency work correctly when viewing with Internet Explorer 5+ using PHP to create a server-side solution. Includes PHP code.

  • PHP: Manual Registration of PHP Global Variables

    A method for manually registering global variables in PHP rather than trusting server settings for register_globals, gpc_order and variables_order.

  • PHP: PHP $_SERVER Superglobal Comparison

    A comparison of the defined keys in PHP's superglobal $_SERVER array running on Apache & IIS servers.

  • PHP: PHP Word Scrambler

    Simple little PHP function handy for April 1st. The old "Aoccdrnig to a rsecheearr at an Elingsh uinervtisy..." tactic.