PHP6 still under development

PHP6 is the latest, yet unreleased version of PHP. It is still under development and won’t be released for some time yet. Nonetheless, it is still important that we consider the changes we know about at the moment, and write scripts which are compatible.

If you want to make use of PHP6 when it comes, you’re going to have to write your new scripts so they are compatible, and possibly change some of your existing scripts. To start making your scripts PHP6 compatible, I’ve compiled a list of tips to follow when scripting:

1. FILE_BINARY and FILE_TEXT constants available for use with filesystem functions.
2. register_globals will be gone.
3. magic_quotes will also disappear.
4. $HTTP_*_VARS has been removed, in favour for $_GET, $_POST, etc.
5. ereg() no longer available in core PHP6.
6. Initiating objects with the reference operator (& new Object()) will generate E_STRICT error.
7. E_STRICT error messages are included in E_ALL errors.
8. {} for string offsets no longer available.
9. [] un-deprecated for accessing characters in a string.
10. ASP-style tags can no longer be used.
11. Better Unicode Support.
12. var will be an alias of public, and raises E_STRICT warning.
13. Support for 64 bit integers.
14. With ternary operator, the “true” expression is no longer required – this can be done: $a = $s ?: ‘b’; (Not clear yet exactly how this will work).
15. zend.ze1_compatibility_mode removed.
16. safe_mode is being removed.
17. Freetype1 and GD1 support removed.
18. dl() is only enabled when a SAPI layers registers it explicitly.
19. Support for dynamic break levels removed.
20. XMLReader and XMLWriter will be in the core distribution.
21. mime_magic removed from the core.
22. Fileinfo moved to the core.
23. ext/soap on by default.
24. foreach supports multi-dimensional arrays: foreach($a as $b => list($c, $d))
25. microtime() will return as float by default.
26. opcode cache included in core distribution, but turned off by default.
27. flags parameter available for file_get_contents().
28. before_needle parameter added to strstr() – allows strstr() to return part of haystack before occurence of the needle.
29. namespace, import, and goto become reserved words.

3 Top Tips for Great Web Page Design

Great web page design is very important to making sure that your customers see your company in the way that you want them to. Just as you put a great deal of effort, time and resources in ensuring that your bricks and mortar storefront is bright, clean, and attractive, your website needs the same kind of attention. This article will explain the top three ways to make your website work for you!

When I started Future Access in 1995, St. Catharines website design guru’s thought that good web page design was no more than putting up a few pictures, a page of text, and that was it. Little to no thought was given to how things made you feel, the logical path you would expect someone to take through the site, or where you wanted them to end up. It was much more about being trendy and cool by being one of the first companies in your industry to have a website at all!

Today, now that bandwidth limitations have been greatly reduced and multimedia content is everywhere, great web page design has become a way for small companies to level the playing field and compete on par with much larger rivals. In my experience, as we have developed better and better websites over the years, our customers’ customers continually give positive feedback (and their business!) to companies that have made effective use of their design.

People have enough stressors in their life as it is today, and they don’t need their experience on your website to add to them. Everywhere you look, busy, highly pressured individuals are seeking after a Zen-like experience, feng-shui, or just simplicity in general. So should it be on your website. Do away with the unnecessary extras, flashy gimmicks, and fancy doo-dads. Resist the temptation to say everything you want, or put a list of every single product you offer all on one page.

I have come to realize that less is more, and that users really appreciate the simplicity of a clean, uncluttered look on websites. The success of Google’s web page design is a prime example. Look how clean Google’s homepage is compared to its major competitors like Yahoo and MSN. They have so much white space, they even offered a black background for the 2008 Earth Day in order to reduce power consumption on the monitors of their millions of users.

The simplicity and ease of use have allowed a single company to capture half of the market share of the entire search engine industry, and catapult them to market leaders and innovators in many other areas as well. Remember this, give the user what they want (not what you want), and less is more.

Part of keeping your site clean and easy to use is simple, intuitive navigation. Many times in my online browsing experience I have come across websites that have a beautiful homepage, and then completely change the design on their inside pages. Menu items that were clearly outlined across the top have now moved to the left hand side, or have disappeared altogether. I have no idea how I am supposed to progress through the site, and in fact I can get lost altogether on some pages.

I have found that a much better approach is to use clear, consistent navigation. This means that the links to your various pages should appear in the same place and in the same order on every page on your site. If you have many pages for your users to navigate, a drop-down menu can be a very effective tool. Everyone is used to clicking or rolling over a menu at the top of a program like Microsoft Word and have a menu drop down from there. If your website allows them to navigate in the same way, you keep the experience consistent and help users to get around your site with ease.

So now that we have established that your website should be clean, simple, and easy to navigate, how do we make it beautiful? What is going to create that emotional response that you create when people walk through your doors into your bricks-and-mortar storefront?

After years of St. Catharines website design at Future Access, creating hundreds of websites for our customers, I have come to realize that the use of high-quality photography really separates a great site from an average one. The key is to use the right photograph, and not to overdo it. A collage of 9 or 10 images a blurred together on your homepage, many of them indistinguishable because they are wide shots reduced greatly in size will not be effective. Instead, a single large, high-quality close-up photograph that showcases your product or service can work best.

If you want to use more than one image, a moderately paced Flash animation can create extra emotion by having them fade into one another, or by panning across the picture very slowly. A photographic technique called “depth-of-field”, where the foreground of an image is in sharp focus but the distant background is completely blurred really draws attention to the image. Don’t believe me? Check it out next time you are browsing the web and see for yourself!

Now you have all the essential advice you need to create fantastic website. Great web page design includes a clean uncluttered look that eliminates unnecessary information. You need an intuitive navigation system to help people get around easily. And finally, you should use great, high-impact photography to create an emotional response. That’s it! Now, go and check your website to see if it meets these criteria. If not, go to it!


About the Author: Bill Janzen has been doing web page design since 1995, and owns Future Access, a St. Catharines website design company.

30+ Web Design Mistakes

When you begin designing your HTML web pages, you may find that many HTML courses fall short when it comes to providing you with special effect HTML codes and tips.

However, there are many special effect HTML codes that will enable you to enhance your visitors’ experience tremendously.

When trying to decide what HTML codes to use within your web pages, keep in mind, if it doesn’t enhance your web page, it’s probably best to leave it out, as the more special effects you add to your page, the longer your page will take to load.


In addition, prior to using any of these HTML codes and tips within your web pages, you must ensure that the effect you’re trying to achieve doesn’t irritate your visitors.

For example, using HTML codes that load web pages within web pages may crash your visitors browser. In addition, using excessive pop up windows, frames and placing scrolling text within the status bar can be very irritating and cause your visitors to leave your web site and never return.

Please ensure you select your special HTML codes very carefully and use them to your fullest advantage.

Web Design Mistakes:

1. Confusing
2. Pop up messages
3. Poor load time
4. Over use of Java
5. Poor overall appearance
6. Poor use of HTML tables
7. Spelling/Grammar mistakes
8. Poor organization
9. Inconsistent page design
10. No contact information
11. No ‘about us’ page
12. No privacy policy
13. Different backgrounds on each page
14. Poor content
15. Poor navigation
16. Over powering music set to auto play
17. Broken HTML code links and graphics
18. Poor browser compatibility
19. Large slow loading graphics
20. Too many graphics
21. Large Welcome banners
22. Flashing banners
23. Pages scrolling to oblivion
24. Multiple colored text
25. Multiple use of animated graphics
26. Text difficult to read
27. Animated bullets
28. No Meta tags
29. Too many graphic and/or line dividers
30. Multiple use of different fonts
31. Under construction signs
32. Busy, distracting backgrounds
33. Scrolling text in the status bar
34. Multiple banners and buttons
35. Large scrolling text across the page
36. Poor use of HTML code frames
37. Large fonts
38. Poor use of mouse over effect

When you begin designing your web site, try to keep your main HTML page as small as possible. For example, instead of trying to cram all your information into a single web page, consider creating sections for your content. These sections can contain highlights of your content with a link to further information. You can set up your content sections in HTML tables with colored heading sections for information such as articles, products or whatever you’d like.

To keep your main HTML page smaller, it is much better to keep it down to the most essential elements. You can then use links to additional pages to provide the detailed information. A good rule of thumb is Less is More.

To enhance your web page, you can format your text using bold headlines, colored HTML table cells, and graphic bullets and/or arrows.

If you use the same graphic bullets and arrows throughout your page, you can enhance your page’s appearance, but you won’t add any additional time to your web page load time. When you reuse an image, your image only has to load once. When the image has loaded, it will instantly be displayed in all of the other locations.

If you’re looking for some HTML codes and tips to spice up your web site, you’ve come to the right place. You will find a variety of HTML codes and tips below. Simply click on the links and copy and paste the codes into your web page according to the instructions.

Screen Capture Tools: 12 Free Tools and Techniques

Windows Only
By default, you can only do a full page and active window print screen on Windows. The following tools give you much more flexibility.

ZScreen
Open-source screen capture program that allows for region/window/full-screen screenshots. It can FTP screenshots and put the URL in your clipboard in a single keystroke. It supports automatic custom naming conventions with variables. [Download]

Screenshot Captor
Behave like most screen capture software. The most interesting part is – you can run it from a USB thumbdrive. Talking about print screen portability. [Download]

Cropper
Cropper is a screen capture utility written in C# on the Microsoft .Net platform. [Download]

Capture
Capture is a quick-and-easy screen capture utility for Windows (and NT), which allows you to capture the entire screen, at any color depth and resolution, and save it into a Bitmap file for editing. [Download]

MWSnap
Small yet powerful Windows program for snapping (capturing) images from selected parts of the screen. [Download]

ScreenPrint32
Free windows tool to print and/or capture to disk or clipboard, the full desktop, active window, predefined area, or user selected area of the screen. [Download]

Snippy
Useful free tool to copy webpage screenshot for sharing purposes. Interesting thing is that, when you cutting out a portion of an Internet Explorer window, the URL will also be copied to the clipboard; this makes it very convenient to select something interesting on a Web site and send it out in an email message. [Download]

SWBCapture
Screen capture utility that allows you to quickly and easily capture an image of any window on your desktop, or the entire desktop. [Download]

Screen Grab Pro
Screen Grab Pro features one-click grab of any screen for ease of use, Timer operation, Current window selection list and more. [Download]

Wisdom-Soft ScreenHunter
Wisdom-Soft ScreenHunter is a free screen-capture tool for you to easily take screenshots. ScreenHunter can capture a full screen, an active window, the client window, or a rectangular area. [Download]

Gadwin PrintScreen
Capture screenshots with ease. [Download]

FastStone Capture
Light and powerful screen capture application with whole screen, object-selective and region screencapture ability. Save files in various formats, BMP, GIF, JPEG, PCX, PNG, TGA, TIFF and PDF. [Download]

How to test Website?

Following are the validations done while testing a website.

User Interface or Usability Testing
Functionality
Interface testing
Compatibility Testing
Load / Stress Testing or Performance Testing
Security Testing
User Interface testing is done to check how the users navigation happens and to check how easy the application to use. Following are done while performing User Interface testing

- to check the site map or navigation bar
- to check the content like irrelevant or not, grammatical or spelling errors.
- to check the color or background
- to check the images like type of files, positioning, the size of the files etc.,
- to check the tables
- to check whether the wrap around happens properly.

Functionality testing is done to check whether system behave as per the requirements. Following are the generic terms done in the Functionality testing.
- Links like internal Links, broken Links, external
- Forms to validate the data, functionality check, error messages happenning correctly, mandatory fields which should not be left empty, optional fields,
- Verification of data to check the data saved correctly in the database as pper the business rules.
- If the system uses cookies it should be checked

Interface testing to check the server interface, external interface, client interface and the error handling when interfacing

Compatibility testing to check how the application behaves under different web browsers. Following compability are done like with operating systems, with Browsers, modem, printers etc.,

Load testing is done to check how the system reacts with the number of users per time period and how will it be divided over the period, transfer of large amount of data from each user.

Stress testing to check the system performance under the less memory space, to reduce the resources and to check the reaction of the system

Security testing to validate the
- Valid and invalid login
- Validating the users
- limitation of No. of attemps while logging
- Encryption of data sent over the network
- usage Secured link while data transfer happens




Example test case for website project


Test cases for shopping cart.

1.Enter the URL
2. select the required item
3. Select the quantity
4. Select the payment gateway
5. Enter the amount
6. Enter the address to delivery
7 if you want to continue click on home and continue shopping or else quit

Test cases for Email field

1.- test the long of the field
2.- test without the @ character
3.- test without any character before the @ character
4.- test without any character after the @ character
5.- test that you can sing in alphanumerics characters

Why You Should Use Article Directories to Promote Your Website?

If you are online and are not already using article directories to promote your website, you are missing out on a free and highly effective marketing option. Article directories are great ways to draw traffic to your site without paying for advertising. However, to get real traffic to your site using an article directory, you must know how to use them correctly.
What Article Directories Are?

Before you can use an article directory, you have to know what one is. Article directories are websites where thousands upon thousands of articles on just about any subject are posted. They are generally categorized to make it easier for readers to find information they want. They are also linked together, so a reader reading about “Hawaii travel” will naturally go from article to article on that topic. People can use the articles they find in the directories on their own websites, either for free or for a small fee. Authors pay nothing to submit to article directories.

How Article Directories Benefit Online Businesses?
You are probably thinking, “Sure, that’s great. But how does an article directory help me promote my business? Doesn’t giving away free content defeat my purpose as an online business?”

These are great questions. When you submít an article to an article directory, it will contain a bio with a link to your website. Since you are the author of the article, you are allowed to include this information.

This means that anyone who is searching online and comes across the article directory will see a link to your site. Not only that, but the people who use the content on their own websites are required to keep it exactly as it appears in the directory. This means that your link could show up on hundreds of websites.

Article directories are generally large websites. This means that the web spiders are attracted to them. Having your link in these articles is a crucial part of an online linking campaign.

How to Make Your Submissions Effective?
If you are going to submit to article directories, you need to do two things. First, you need to learn about proper keyword usage. You need the right percentage of keywords in your article, and they need to appear naturally within the content. This will draw the search engine spiders to the article, thus exposing people to your link at the bottom.

You also need to make your content unique and helpful. If your article is the same as thousands that are already online, other website owners will not want to use it. Also, if the information is not helpful, people will not read the entire article. Your goal is to have them read the entire article so that they will click at the link on the bottom.

Having helpful information in the article also helps the reader view you as an “expert” in the field. This is important, because you want them to have a reason to click on the link. If they are reading useless information, they will have no desire to visit your site. Also, proving that you are knowledgeable about a particular topic will show that whatever product or service you are marketing is worth buying.

What to Do if You Can’t Write?
At this point you are probably wondering what you can do because you can’t write. You are an entrepreneur and business owner, not a writer. The good news is that you have options.
You can hire a freelance writer to “ghostwrite” the article for you. Ghostwriting means writing the article in your name. Instead of placing his or her name on the article, the freelancer uses your name and your business link. You will need to pay for this service, but the amount you will pay for a quality article is far less than the amount you would pay for an advertising campaign, and a well-written article placed in the right article directoríes will draw more traffíc to your site than just about any other form of advertising.

Where can you find ghostwriters? There are a variety of online classifieds where you can post your job requirements or search for available writers. You can ask for quotes to help you learn what the going rate for a writer is. Keep in mind that you will pay more if you have detailed information that needs to be researched or if you are working on a tight deadline. You can also hire a content creation company to help you if you require numerous articles that would be too much for one individual writer.

If you do use a ghostwriter, be sure that you proofread the article before submitting it. You may find that the writer did not approach a particular topic as you would have wanted. You can ask the writer to rewrite the material, but posting something that is inaccurate or does not sound well written will detract from your goal of drawing traffic to your site.
Risks of Using an Article Directory?
There is only one main risk to using an article directory, and that is that someone will download your content and use it on their site without including the link. You can do some work to check for this, but it is hard to police. However, the occasional unscrupulous website owner who uses your content incorrectly is a risk worth taking for the many users who will give you a link on their site.

Post Much and Often
Once you get the hang of using an article directory, post many articles, and post them often. The more fresh, relevant content that links to your page, the greater traffic you will receive. Be sure to continually research your keywords, because the keywords that people search for constantly change.

Also, submit your articles to a variety of sites. The most popular article directories may not draw a certain demographic of people. The more places that have your article and your link, the better your traffic results will be. Since these sites are free to use, you might as well submit to as many as you can.
(Source blog.tuvinh.com )

10 Steps to Finding Your Target Market in Facebook

Everyone is talking about social networking, and many claim social networking to be the panacea for all of your marketing ills. Marketing on social networking sites like Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter can help you boost the size of your email list and help you grow your business. The key to success with this strategy is making sure that members of your target market are in your network.

Facebook is very strict and very particular about how its participants contact each other. Facebook limits the number of new invitations that can be sent in a given day or week. The exact number is a Facebook secret and unknown to the public, but if you exceed this secret amount you can get booted from Facebook. However, I think if you stick with no more than 10 per day, you will probably stay within their limits. Secondly, you are permitted only 5000 friends in Facebook, so if you’re successful in this strategy, you may ultimately need to create a waiting list of friends.

How do you find your target market in Facebook? Whether you’re an experienced social networker or just a newbie, here are 10 secrets to growing your target market network in Facebook:

1. Update-to-date profile and/or Fan page: Before you begin a “friending” (i.e. request to become another’s friend), be sure that your profile is up-to-date with an accurate description of what you do, your interests, and your contact info, including your web site URLs. If you have multiple businesses, invite people in your appropriate target market to become fans of your niche-specific fan page.

2. Follow the gurus. Follow leaders in your field/industry and “friend” them. Anytime you make a friend request, include a personal note, as that will improve the likelihood that they will accept your request. Say something like, “I’m a big fan and have been on your ezine/blog list for several years. I’d love to have you in my network in Facebook.” Once they have accepted your invitation, make comments about their status updates to help you get on their radar and in front of their networks.

3. Friends of friends. Take a look at the people in the network of your industry leaders, as they are probably part of your target market as well, and send friend requests to those of interest to you. When you friend someone that you only know by association, send a personal note as well, like “I discovered your profile in ’s network and would like to get to know you better by adding you to my network.”

4. Use groups. Look for groups that may contain your target market. In your search for groups, use keywords that describe your niche, your industry, your geographic area, the interests of your target market, or whatever other terms you might use to find members of your target market. Join and begin to participate in the group so that they begin to get to know you. Then peruse the member lists for good prospects, sic as the members you’ve connected with or have gotten to know. Since you won’t be able to view the profiles of the group members because they aren’t in your network, much of your decision-making about whom to friend may be based upon appearance or how you might be connected to them via other friends in your network.

5. Check your lists. Friend people that you already know from your high school, college, alumni associations, and places of employment if they fall within your target market definition.

6. Facebook-recommended friends. Facebook typically recommends friends based on your current friends list when you log into your profile. I’ve found these recommendations to be pretty solid. Take them up on their recommendatíon and add those folks to your network.

7. Add by interest or industry. Do a people search by job title, industry, geographic location, or interest. Those people with those terms in their profile will show up in your search, and you can request to add them based on common interests.

8. Build the relationship. Once you friend someone, you need to begin to get to know them and start them on the like, know and trust journey so that you become their top-of-mind expert in a particular area. Begin building the relationship by posting a quick “thank you” note on their wall, as well as a comment about something on their profile that interests you or in which you have in common. Watch for their status updates, as well, and comment on these when appropriate.

9. Create a group. Once you’ve got about 500 followers, create a group for your target market. Provide the group with useful content and and ask questions to stimulate discussion and get the members to return to participate in the group. You can post articles, links to blog posts, or videos you have created. Invite group members to any free virtual or face-to-face events you’re hosting.

10. Integrate into your plan. No marketing strategy works unless you consistently implement it over time. As a newbie to Facebook, you might want to spend as much as 60 minutes per day researching friends and participating in groups. As your network grows, you many spend only 15 minutes 3 times per week on Facebook. The key to success is to put this strategy on your calendar and make it a routine part of your ongoing Internet marketing tasks.
While social networking is an inexpensive marketing tool and can be effective in helping you grow your business, maintain your other marketing strategies, as well, and simply add this strategy to your marketing mix. A well-rounded Internet marketing plan that includes social networking and is implemented consistently will mean that your prospect well won’t ever run dry.

(Source: www.sitepronews.com)