What is the gravy train in your job? Mine struck me the other day.
I was completely exasperated with revisiting some very familiar code in some very old computer programmes i had written years ago.
A user had asked me to validate some figures a programme of mine was generating. This was a déjà vu moment. I look at this damn programme every year (usually post financial year end), i thought. Feeling very frustrated I thus spent most of my day deciphering code i had written years ago to understand this particular reports concept.
Once understood it became clear that the said figures and damn programme were correct. This information was gleefully accepted by the user, who then proceeded to tap said figures into a 30mb spreadsheet.
Upon returning to my desk and feeling like i had wasted a days work i then realised that i should write more computer programmes like this, as this was my gravy train.
Here is some very useful PHP code which queries Google AJAX APIs server side and returns data in JSON format.
There are a number of AJAX API calls you can use such as:
“http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/services/search/images?v=1.0&q=wedding”
“http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/services/search/local?v=1.0&q=wedding”
“http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/services/search/news?v=1.0&q=wedding”
“http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/services/search/web?v=1.0&q=wedding”
“http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/services/search/video?v=1.0&q=wedding”
You can simply paste the above url’s into a broswer to see the results.
The following code uses the Video AJAX API, returns a JSON data set and then prints the results.
Always wanted a quick and easy way to create those nice rounded corners using CSS? Well here it is people! Those nice people at the W3C have provided extra options for borders in CSS3. Enter the new property: border-radius. Firefox and Safari 3 already support these elements in their latest browsers, IE doesn’t support it but no surprise there.
As this is the very first post i thought what better way to start than at the beginning… So the main content of this post relates to extracts from the keyword directory press release…
The Keyword Directory provides an innovative approach to internet advertising by linking keywords directly to business websites. Keywords are words or phrases that have special significance in describing businesses or products. Keywords are used by search engines to search for relevant web pages.
The web site is the brain child of Richard Hoggard as he looked to move into online marketing after receiving a first class BSc(Hons) degree in Software Development from the University of Lincoln. During his final year dissertation Richard analyzed organic internet traffic in the business directory sector.
“The problem with business directories is that a business is categorized individually. If you are a Web Design business, wouldn’t you also prefer to be linked to terms such as ‘Cheap Hosting’ or ‘Buy Domain Names’ and not just simply ‘Web Design’? A business listing with the keyword directory provides a search engine optimized page for each of your keywords, with your business displayed on them.”
“In effect, The Keyword Directory cuts out the middle man and gives your business multiple opportunities to be found online at a fraction of the price of mainstream business directories.”
The Keyword Directory offers everything the stereotypical business directory offers, including maps, business details, logo and multiple back links.
More to come later, just need to plough through my inbox now…
