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Building an XML Flash Application with PHP and MySQL Pt.I

In this two part series, Gareth is going to show us how to build a Flash application to display information stored in a MySQL database. Building on the XML tutorials he's recently published, this application will use PHP and XML to transfer the data from database to front-end.

The scenario is that our client has a Pet Store containing exotic animals and wants an application to display the animals available for sale, along with a quick description of them. This week we'll be looking firstly at the back-end of the application – that is the database, then we'll move onto the processing logic - the PHP pages and the form of the XML data we're transferring around.

Gareth Downes-Powell

17581

FREE

FREE! Eyetracking and the Web

While recently looking over some of the articles in Linda Goin's recent series Web Design Mysteries, I was struck by how much design I just completely overlook when I scan a Web page. Many of her insights, while familiar to a skilled artist like herself were a complete revelation to me.

Then while I was surfing the Web I came across a reference to eyetracking, sure I've heard of it before, but combined with Linda's articles this prompted me to delve a little deeper and try to find out what eyetracking studies had been done on Web sites and what the implications to Web developers may be.

Here I aim to share what I've found in my brief investigation – feel free to share any of your insights by adding comments to the bottom of the article.

Ian Blackham

3925

A Photo Album Site in PHP, MySQL, XHTML and CSS: Pt.II

In the first tutorial of this series we embarked on our mission to provide a website for displaying our holiday pics, by creating an XHTML/CSS layout that would provide a suitable framework.

In this second step we're going to look at how to create a suitable database for holding our photographs. The database we'll be using is MySQL and, as an aside, to carry out our tasks we're going to make use of a freely downloadable tool called MySQL Control Center.

This tool is available from MySQL and during the course of this tutorial we'll look at using it to work with MySQL. If that's not to your taste though and you prefer another tool, or even working at the command line, then no matter there's still plenty in the tutorial to keep you interested.

Rachel Andrew

9239

A PHP Based Opinion Poll: Pt. II

In last week's article we started building an opinion poll system using a pair of MySQL tables to store our polls’ questions and results, and PHP to interface between the web browser and the database. We built the database tables and a basic admin system to create new polls and questions within them.

In today’s article we’re going to finish off our admin section and build the front end to the poll so that users of your web site can vote.

Allan Kent

2727

FREE

FREE! Fireworks: Rollover Buttons

In this second free tutorial for Fireworks beginners Joyce J. Evans is going to take us through the creation of rollover buttons which have rollover code and slices added automatically.

Since it'll be a symbol automatically, you only have to make the button once and then can reuse your work.

Unusually for DMxzone this tutorial takes the form of a video walk through - so to view the tutorial just follow this link (don't worry about the lack of cursor icon change - the link works just fine).

This tutorial was originally published, on Joyce's personal web site, where Joyce has tutorials, reviews and resources to help the new Web developer develop their skills.

Joyce Evans

33994

Playing With the Edges: CSS and Curves

The problem with a great many CSS-based designs, is that they tend to look very blocky. Mainly due to the inbuilt box model and border controls that CSS contains.

But CSS designs don't have to be boxy. In this tutorial aimed right at beginners to CSS, we're going to look at ways in which you can take those sharp corners off a CSS-based design, by adding some curves and a bevel or two.

All you'll need is some basic experience of hand-coding HTML and CSS experience to make full use of this tutorial, but Dreamweaver MX 2004 will help you speed up the creation of the CSS. Don't worry if you haven't hand-coded HTML before, Matt will take you through it step by step.

If you enjoy this tutorial you may like to read Matts companion piece: CSS Tabs for Beginners.

Matt Machell

7131

A PHP Based Opinion Poll Pt.I

In today's article we're going to take a look at the steps involved in designing and building your own PHP based opinion poll for your site. You know the kind of thing I mean – in a sidebar area you see a couple of options you can choose from; you choose the one you want and click Vote, after which you can see how many other people made the same bad choice you did.

What we're going to investigate is an easy way for you to create and administer your own polls using a MySQL database. We'll look at what tables we need to create and why, how to build an administration system for it so that we can quickly create new polls, and a way of building the front-end for users to vote, capturing that vote and displaying the results.

Allan Kent

3864

PHP and XML #4: RSS Feeds

In this tutorial, we're going to look at processing RSS feeds, so we can take feeds from other websites, and add them to our own.

First, we'll look at what RSS is, and the format that an RSS feed used. We'll then look at how to read in an RSS feed from another site, and how to process the XML data contained using PHP and its SAX parser. Finally, we'll look at how to display the data extracted from the feed, formatted using CSS.

Gareth Downes-Powell

7056

Beginner's SQL: CASE expressions

There's more to SQL than SELECT columns FROM tables, just as there's more to life than Go, Dog. Go!

SQL can, to someone learning it, seem incredibly difficult beyond the simplest statements. There's nothing wrong with simple SQL, though. Part of the art of SQL is getting complex results with simple statements. And as parents who have read this book many times can confirm, even Go, Dog. Go! is filled with subtlety, intrigue, beauty, power, wonder, infuriation, surprise, and joy, all while being written in simple language. Just like SQL.

This article describes CASE expressions and what you can do with them. The syntax is covered briefly, mainly because there's little to explain, since it's rather straightforward. At least, so it appears on the surface. Then come the examples, which reveal how comprehensive, powerful, yet simple your SQL can be with CASE expressions.

Rudy Limeback

14315

FREE

FREE! Ten Quick Tests to Check your Website for Accessibility

Accessibility - it's a big deal, but how do you get a quick overview of the subject? Well try here for starters, as Trenton Moss from the UK based webcredible consultancy outlines ten helpful tests for checking the accessibility of your website.

Trenton Moss is the driving force behind webcredible; he knows an awful lot about accessibility and the Disability Discrimination Act.

Trenton Moss

6216

FREE

Fireworks Basics: From Navigation Graphic to Stretchy Table

In the first, free, tutorial Joyce J. Evans author of many well-respected books including Macromedia Fireworks MX 2004 Zero to Hero, takes us through some basic Fireworks manipulation to build an effective curved navigation graphic. Then Joyce extends this to show us how we can use the graphic to build a stretchy table in Dreamweaver.

This article was originally published, as a set of three, on Joyce's personal web site, where Joyce has tutorials, reviews and resources to help the new Web developer develop their skills.

Joyce Evans

9815

FREE

Hot Topics from the Blogs: July 2004

There's a whole lot of technical information out there on the Web, from major supplier press releases to 'amateur' extension coders, from opinions to tutorials. But with so much out there what's important and what isn't, what is influential and what is one person's soapboxing?

In this brief article, Ian Blackham attempts to highlight and summarize a few of the discussions that have been taking place on some of the more influential blogs in the Web development community. Some of you may read these on a regular basis and even take part in the discussions, however for those that don't, we hope you'll find this (a) an interesting insight into future trends and design points, and (b) provide a starting point for some stimulating and educational web surfing.

Ian Blackham

2881

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