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Category Archives: Computers
Processing A List Of Files In bash
When you’re working in Unix or Linux or even Mac OS X, there are often times when you need to apply the same command to a list of files. In this post I’ll show you a couple of quick ways to do this using the bash shell. Let’s assume you have a command called that [...]
Backing Up Data With rsync
This post shows you how to use the 'rsync' command to back up data from one directory to another (or one drive to another).
Google Now Considers Website Speed In Its Ranking
Google reported yesterday that their search engine will now include a website’s speed in the list of factors it uses to decide how high to rank the site in its search results. In this post I consider what this means for web developers and what steps you can take to make your site faster.
Firefox Search Shortcut
Wow. This cool Firefox feature has been around since 2005, but I just found out about it a few months ago! I swear I haven’t been living in a cave all this time. So if you’re like me and don’t know about this yet, listen up: In Firefox, you can bookmark a search with a [...]
TaskForest Write-up at SourceForge
SourceForge.net has a blog in which they feature a different hosted project every day. Today’s blog entry features my open-source job scheduler, TaskForest. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank SourceForge for their support of open source software.
Communicating During A Crisis
A couple of recent outages in the internet industry got me thinking about the importance of communicating with clients during a crisis. I write about the four key points to consider when trying to communicate with clients during crises.
The Performance Cost of Using WordPress
I recently tried to switch a website over from a homegrown content management system to WordPress. The results were thoroughly disheartening. This post illustrates the steps I took, and how I managed to move in the opposite direction and optimize my site even more.
Sometimes Text Files Are Better Than Databases
There are many classes of applications for which text files are the preferred means of storing data. One of the main reasons is that when data is stored in a relational database, editing it is not a trivial task. A well-normalized database is not easily updated via an SQL command line. More often than not, a dedicated, graphical editor is needed to model the complex relationships.
Adding A Grid To Your Websites
The #grid website has a great tool for web designers -it “inserts a layout grid in web pages, allows you to hold it in place, and toggle between displaying it in the foreground or background.” Go to their website and have a look. It’s pretty impressive. Simple, but impressive. I think I’m gonna give this [...]
In Search Of A Good Alarm Clock App