Something new, not necessarily blue...

Ever wanted to add a comments section to your Blogger page? Here's one way of doing it if you are hosting on IIS: blogcomments, an ASP based commenting system for weblogs

I have tested blogcomments on this site and it is easy to setup and utilize. Give it a try and leave a comment.

Updated May, 2004 - Sorry, I removed this example of blogcomments in favor of the new comment system being implemented by Blogger. More to come on that topic.

I came across this page recently...some of these are no-brainers, but all are pretty important things to keep in mind when working with CSS. I've found it helpful.

CSS Crib Sheet

Automate your CSS

Using different style sheets to match the reader's browser could help fix some design flaws and make your site appear more consistant. Of course, you have to know what browsers support which CSS rules. Unfortunately, not all of the web browsers like to place nice with the W3 standards (I'll resist naming any one particular company).

Displaying Stylesheets Dynamically

Page hit counters made simple

It never ceases to amaze me how many little "easter eggs" there are hidden in Internet Information Server. For example, I was reading up on how to implement a hit counter in ASP. There are lots of ways involving writing to a text file or a database. Who would have guessed that IIS 5 has a Page Counter Object? Apparently there's little documentation on it, but it is found in the IIS Resource Kit.

To read more, check out this article by 4guysfromrolla.com: Recording Page Hits with Microsoft's Page Counter Object

Free stuff!

For all you Visual Basic .NET coders out there, Microsoft has released a free resource kit. I've ordered mine on CD, so it will be a few days before I can post any comments. But, there's also a download option for those that need instant gratification: The Visual Basic .NET Resource Kit

End of an era?

On the heels of media ownership battles at the FCC, the "ownership" of certain segments of the Internet may be the next target of debate: FCC policies threaten Internet

Fool me twice, shame on me

Ok, I'll admit, a long time ago I clicked on a link that was in an e-mail message and that led to a web page exploit that took advantage of a security hole in Internet Explorer 5 (hangs head in shame).

Now there's a flurry of new e-mails crafted to look very much like it came from Microsoft and supposedly has a security patch as the attachment. Well, of course, that attached file is infected (the one I got contained the 'Swen' virus).

What really tips it off to me is the poor grammer and lack of proper capitalization in the body of the message. I mean, really, would a large corporation like Microsoft send out such a poorly written message?

How to Tell If a Microsoft Security-Related Message Is Genuine

Subnetting Class-C IP addresses in a home network
Network security has become a large concern for even the avid home internet user. With more and more wireless routers and broadband connections out there connecting to the internet there is one thing that you can do to help isolate your private computers from the internet and still allow them to access the web. All you need are two standard home-use routers. I prefer the Linksys ones but any that are configurable for NAT will do.

Subnetting :)

Take a look at this network page from TCPIPPrimer.com to help you split up your current Class C network into 4 separate networks (Daryl says 2 but with this configuration, you can do 4), each isolated from each other yet all accessible to the internet.

http://www.tcpipprimer.com/routing.cfm

How to set up multiple domains on an IIS server with only one IP address.
Try this tutorial, down and dirty, very easy explaination on how to set up multiple webs when you have only one IP address and are running IIS 4 or 5.

http://www.iisanswers.com/Top10FAQ/t10-hostheaders.htm

Mini-tutorial on DOM
While experimenting with some JavaScript, I wanted to create a button that would change the background color of a web page. The result is a good example of the "Document Object Model" that most new designs are based on today. Using the "onClick" function of the button, the new hexidecimal color code is passed to the browser. Adding an inline style to the button code, the button's color matches the color the background would be changed to.

Here's the page: Changing Background Colors

Read, learn, code
Another good site with plenty of tutorials on PHP and graphic design: Olate - Tutorials, Articles and Scripts

Look ma, no tables!

Unless you've been on the moon the last couple of years, one cannot help but notice the trend towards using CSS rather than the <table> tag in page layouts.

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to do a three column page layout using style sheets and a little Javascript: Exploring the Limits of CSS Layout

Publishing made easy

Here's two content management systems (CMS) that are either free or low cost:

CityDesk: Desktop Content Management

eZ publish Open Source Content Management System (CMS)

And an article that tells you all about eZ publish: eZ publish 3.1: Take It For A Spin

Perl for the masses

Here's an excellent online course that also covers security issues when using CGI: Ovid's Web Programming Using Perl

Big Brother is just around the corner

And I'm not talking about the TV show. George Orwell may have been off by 20 years, but I think what he predicted is soon to be reality.

FBI targets Net phoning: "if broadband providers cannot isolate specific VOIP calls to and from individual users, they must give police access to the 'full pipe'--"

For those that ever wondered about this question: What Is a DLL?

Web Matrix update

The popular (and free) ASP.Net development tool has been enhanced with J#.Net and now has support for connecting to MS Access databases. Along with several bug fixes, the newest version is available here: ASP.NET Web Matrix Project

Have a Tech question?

Found an excellent tech message board with answers to lots of those strange little problems that crop up: TechSpot OpenBoards

Another web exploit

There's a little "bug" that effects every version of Windows since Win98 and allows a malicious web page to execute code. Of course, we all know what havoc this can play on your computer. The most nefarious method is to send the malicious page via e-mail after which some e-mail clients will preview the page and let the code execute.

Here's the link to Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 814078 with instructions on how to patch your system: Flaw in Windows Script Engine May Allow Code to Run

Here's an interesting tutorial from SitePoint which even includes source code: Create Your Own Guestbook In ASP.NET