Posts by Dani

Our entire site structure changed with the relaunch, and so it's been taking Google awhile to respider our entire site and really grasp our new navigation structure and how pages are linked together. We lost a lot of search traffic as a result. Unfortunately, it's taking Google longer than expected to "relearn" the entire site.

You can now log into the site with either your existing credentials or with Facebook.

Browse webmaster forums looking for creative features to add to DaniWeb. I'll then have a project on my hands and will no longer be bored with nothing to do.

Or I veg in front of the tv.

NoSQL databases are really good for packaging documents. For example, in a relational database, I will have a posts table, and a threads table, and a members table. Pulling this forum thread is going to pull the relevant posts from the posts table, the thread record from the threads table, and all of the members from the members table. In a NoSQL database, each forum thread is going to have its own document that includes everything needed to pull up that record in one place.

When it comes to doing searches though ... a lot of times Sphinx and Lucene are involved. I don't have any experience with Lucene, but essentially what Sphinx does is create an index of potential columns that are going to be searched on. You run the search against a cluster of search servers and it returns the relevant record IDs. You can then go pull up the complete records from MySQL, Cassandra, MongoDB, etc.

Davey, while Facebook developed Cassandra, a no-SQL database, they only use it for certain tasks. They still primary rely on MySQL. I went to a MySQL Performance conference last summer and had a realllllllllly long sit down with one of Facebook's database admins, who gave me a big jump start as far as designing the new DaniWeb system ... back when the system was just a twinkle in my eye.

Use your url

A lot of members tend to be hesitant with doing this for fear of being labeled a spammer.

Also there are people like me who want to get help with work-related problems without disclosing my company.

You can always use http://www.example.com :)

He just wants to play with client-side browser scripts (a la Greasemonkey) to get rid of it.

You need to completely remove the following snippet of code if you want to revert back to a standard text editor:

<script type="text/javascript"> <!--
var myEditordani<THIS IS GOING TO BE SOMETHING RANDOM> = CodeMirror.fromTextArea($('#dani<THIS IS GOING TO BE THE SAME SOMETHING RANDOM>').find('textarea[name="message"]').get(0),
    {
        mode: 'markdown',
        lineWrapping: true,
        tabSize: 4,
        indentUnit: 4,
        matchBrackets: false,
        keyMap: "daniweb"
    }
);
//--> </script>

If you want to keep the editor (which is tab-aware, etc), but just not have the color highlighting, just change the line mode: 'markdown', to mode: '',.

Go into the forum for a language (such as C++ or Java), and click on the yellow create new article button. Then, use the dropdown to select a Code Snippet instead of a Discussion Thread.

Found the cause of the bug :)

https://github.com/EllisLab/CodeIgniter/issues/744#issuecomment-3403196

It's because a few months ago, I changed one of the values in the configuration file. Apparently since that point, everyone will get a weird CSRF error from CodeIgniter until they clear their cookies.

COMPLETELY impractical.

You just did. This is a thread entitled "Hi".

I ask why can you not have a single 'upward arrow' and 'downward arrow' that both adds/decreases rep and upvote/downvote counter?

It was never like this. Just clicking on the arrows gives you a vote. Only a vote WITH comment affects reputation.

Looking at the graph in your member profile, which charts your change in reputation against your posts, it looks like you haven't had a lot of reputation lately because you haven't posted lately.

Go ahead with changing my name. Which I did.

5 am and I lost track of time! No sleep for Dani!

I made some massive changes to member profiles. Most of the changes are cosmetic, but there are two noticeable differences:

1. Activity points is now all time instead of just for today, because it was getting a little creepy stalkerish
2. The top lists are now more integrated into member profiles

No, Wordpress is PHP based. However, Wordpress uses a templating system so you can modify the position and look of things just with HTML and CSS. If you want to add or modify features, though, you're either going to need to know PHP or be able to install Wordpress plugins that are php files written by other people.

Bug fixed, thanks!

http://www.daniweb.com/search/query/pagination/17/code?q=site%3A%2A%2Fweb-development%2Fphp%2Fcode+pagination

Finally brought back an old feature that's been on DaniWeb for years upon years ... related articles. What do you think of their relevancy?

Aww, thanks for the super kind words about our community!! I'm touched :)

i do like the mouse hover to see the first few thread lines, but they don't stay up long enough to read.

Ah, those are the browser tooltips. They stay up as long as you don't move your mouse ... either way, it's a browser feature, so each browser treats them slightly differently (and it may actually be a configurable setting).

We're starting with the code snippet contest, but plan on getting into more different types of contests if it goes well, potentially with multiple contests going on at once. Trivia could be one of them :)

You can turn the ads off in your member profile if you'd like :)

Welcoming new members - big splashy email.

We already send out "We Miss You" emails to members who haven't visited us in awhile.

How about a return to badges and promo stuff for new members to place on their own sites?

There's a link to the Member Badges in the footer ... they're the same as always.

What if a good question gets a 'star' of something extra which means a 'mod/admin liked this question'.

That's synonymous, IMO, with a moderator giving reputation and having it weigh a hugely decent amount, as compared to the reputation power of an ordinary member.

So how to engage and entice higher-skilled programmers? What about a return to code snippets - create the best login snippet etc.

We're currently running a code snippet contest across the months of June and July. See Davey's thread in the Geeks' Lounge about it :) $500 in prizes. It's also currently being announced during this month's community newsletter (going out this week). We'll be doing a press release about it next week.

Do inactive members receive "you've been inactive for ... weeks" mails. I'm sure they do...

Yes

How about merchandise? THis has been mooted a few times over the last few years, but I've yet to see a merchandise link so I can get my DaniWeb mug.

We have a lot of the merchandise stacked up in the office in boxes, and we're currently paying …

The only time I look at it is when I post a link and can't remember which bit holds the url and which bit holds the label.

Hit Ctrl+L to insert a link. Much easier that way. :)

I've been hearing little bits about Pinterest lately, but I don't think it's as feature-rich, nor serves the same purpose as Facebook, and therefore most likely won't displace it from the social media throne anytime soon. I can see one of two things happening:

1. Facebook buys Pinterest, and adds to its already large collection of unmonetized acquisitions (a la Instagram)
2. Pinterest fades away on its own

No, don't send any money without a signed lease.

His account number and routing number appear at the bottom of every check he would ever write, so it's not exactly privileged information. If you send money to his account, it wouldn't necessarily be considered bank fraud and there's nothing a bank can do.

This sounds more and more like a scam, to be honest.

For example, I can scope out houses on Google Maps and pick a nice house. I can tell you that I own it, and give you my bank's account number. If you deposit money to my account, great! I can then go on and close the account, or deny having told you I own that house in the first place. Banks do not police bank and wire transfers.

PHP is a scripting language which doesn't get compiled into an executable (an exe) the way C or C++ would.

Top level forums don't display stickyness, as a general rule.

Plus, Davey, double posting is a rule for a reason. It can seriously hurt our SEO. Plus, I don't want to have to keep up with multiple threads when people are asking questions about the contest. Just sayin' ;) ;)

Hey everyone,

We haven't done a good contest here on DaniWeb for quite some time, so I'd like to start one up again :)

Throughout the months of June and July, I'd like to encourage members to submit fully working code snippets to our library.

Throughout the month of August, we're going to vote on the best snippets fitting the criteria of most creative functionality, most elegant code and most efficient algorithm. The three winners will each receive Amazon gift certificates up to $250.

More details to follow shortly :)

Happy coding!

Perhaps point 2 answers that question? It's not for anti-spamming purposes? You can get in trouble for getting subpoenaed to provide something, having it, and refusing to provide it, but if you don't even HAVE the IP addresses, how can you get in trouble for not complying with the subpoena?

It's been a very long time, but I am pretty sure that there is some regulation somewhere up the chain (if not the government then the hosting company, etc) that requires us to have some identifiable information (aka IP address) of content submitted and posted on our site. I know that all forum and blogging systems store IP addresses of each post as a non-configurable behavior.

Pushed live.

A combination of AdWords and AdSense? Put AdSense on your blog, and any money you make from it, reinvest back into AdWords. I think most people would tell you that's the first line of attack.

Recent posts is in the toolbar at the bottom of any page. Each time you post in an article, it gets added to your "watched articles" list, available from the link at the top of every page.

Hi,

Thank you for your feedback :) Firstly, however, what "purple line" do you keep referring to?

What a lot of people fail to realize is that advertisers and publishers don't mind most ad blockers.

Most advertisers pay either each time someone clicks on their ad or each time someone views their ad. If you are the type of person who hates ads with a passion, and there's no way you would be interested in looking at it or clicking on it, advertisers paying per view would rather you use an ad blocker so they don't have to waste money on showing it to you if there's no way you would turn into a customer for them. They'd rather save all of the ad views they paid for to only be seen by people who would be swayed by them.

From the publishers side, an important statistic for us is click-thru rate, which is the percentage of people who click on an ad out of all those who have viewed it. This is a performance statistic that is used as a metric to determine the quality of advertising on the publisher's site. Of course, every publisher wants to be able to boast high performing ad units to their advertisers, especially when those advertisers are paying per view. For us publishers, showing ads to people who wouldn't ever click on them is just going to lower our overall performance statistics, and make our ad inventory worth less.

Now here is the …

It's just you who is saying something. But it's possible lots of non-registered members are experiencing the same thing, so that makes it a priority issue for me.

New feature ...

The bottom toolbar for logged in members has a button to Recently Viewed Articles.

Track where you've been on the site. :)

For example, suppose you were reading an article earlier in the day but then got sidetracked and can't find it again.

DaniWeb is written using CodeIgniter. I don't really have any experience with other frameworks, but I do like that it's not very in-your-face. It's super lightweight, and I can take advantage of what I want to take advantage of, and do everything else my own way (to the extent of ignoring CI's model layer entirely if I choose).

Nope ... Just follow the instructions in the start new thread page that says "search before you ask" ;)

The syntax highlighter is geared towards C/C++/Java-style languages and color-code VB/Python code optimally. For example, it doesn't recognize comments in code. In the near future, code posted in those forums will know to use syntax highlighters specifically for the specified language.

I blame Davey for writing the questions. Damn you, Davey! Daaaammmnnnnnn youuuuuuu!!!!!

P.S I also have one other minor issue with another project, should I make a new topic or is two topics in two minutes against etiquete?

I don't know Java but please start a new thread for a new question. :)

I would choose side projects that both interest you but also strengthen your skills that will help advance your career.

If you just click the arrow, you are voting without reputation.
If you hover over the arrow, and type a comment, you are voting with reputation.

The amount of reputation points you're affecting the member by is now transparent because I think this leads to more genuine voting, without letting how much you're affecting the member sway your vote about the individual post.

Unfortunately, I don't have either. I just changed something though. Please clear your browser cache (not your cookies, but your cache / temporary internet files) and tell me if the problem has been fixed?

Airshow ... <b> and <i> are NOT the same thing as <strong> and <em>.

<b> and <i> are font-style tags defined in the first versions of HTML (HTML 2.0 I believe, but I could be wrong.). They were created to be used for styling.

The <em> and <strong> elements were introduced in HTML 4.01 as a means of denoting emphasis and strong emphasis within content, and NOT just for styling purposes.

When XHTML 1.0 came around in 2000, it marked the beginning of using CSS and beginning to separate content from styling. However, the <b> and <strong> tags, and their italicized counterparts, coexisted. The <b> tag was meant to be used when the sole purpose was to embolden a word or phrase for stylistic purposes. The <strong> tag was meant to be used when you wanted to use markup to denote a particular word or phrase as being important and needing emphasis, and this was factored into the page's SEO (as Google used the tags as a directive of what the content author considers important, similar to how they do with the <h1> tags).

The latest incarnation, HTML 5, takes this a step further to actually deprecate the <b> and <i> tags since they were created just for styling purposes, and styling should no longer be mingled with content. The <em> and <strong> tags should be used because they are used specifically to denote important text and therefore don't exist for styling reasons.

Hi there! Welcome to DaniWeb :)

pritaeas, did you by any chance have your < and > in reverse??

This is what ended up working for me ...

function highlight_search($string)
{   
    $query = fetch_search_query();

    if (!empty($query))
    {
        $replace = array();
        $with = array();

        foreach (explode(' ', $query) as $key => $query_word)
        {               
            $with[] = '<strong class="search">\1</strong>';
            $replace[] = "|(?![^<]+>)(\b$query_word\b)(?![^<]+>)|iu";
        }

        return preg_replace($replace, $with, $string);
    }

    return $string;
}

I stole the regex from CakePHP's highlight function, and then added in to check for word boundaries so that it would only match whole words.

I just made a change. Let me know if the key bindings are working now.

Slowly but surely, I'm making changes to our editor to get it up to speed with other editors out there. Firstly, I made the font size for the live preview larger at I forget who's recommendation (sorry!). You can click on it to hide the preview so it doesn't get in the way while you're doing other things on the page, but it will reappear as soon as you start typing again.

Secondly, I "fixed" the behavior of some of the buttons. (Not all are done yet!) But now if you click on Bold, Italic, Inline Code, Link, Heading or Sub-Heading, you can toggle them on and off. Still working on Code, Quote, and List!

The Code button has additional functionality as well, in that if you click on it without selecting anything first, it will popup a new modal window for you to enter code to be inserted. Hopefully this will be easier for newbies.

The Link button also operates differently, so give it a shot.

Also, some of the buttons are mapped to keyboard shortcuts now.

Bold => Ctrl/Cmd + B
Italic => Ctrl/Cmd + I
Link => Ctrl/Cmd + L
Heading => Ctrl/Cmd + H
Inline Code => Ctrl/Cmd + K (This may change to trigger a new code block, we'll see. You can already hit Tab to trigger a code block so I thought another keyboard shortcut would be redundant, but now I'm rethinking having something available to trigger the new code …

Keep It Organized if it's a complete thread hijack. However, if it makes sense as part of the thread, then it's fine. I would rather have my question answered late than never. It can still help other people even if the OP doesn't need help anymore.

OK, it should be working now :)

No, because in the new system, all moderators have access to all forums (mods aren't limited to certain forums), effectively making all moderators super moderators. And now we have four active admins, although Julienne will be missed.

The old DaniWeb was really flawed :( It really was. This new system has much better bones but it's still an evolution process. To receive email notifications, click the Watch this Article button at the bottom of the page. You can also go into your Edit Profile page and select "Automatically Watch Articles I Post In". There is a link at the top of every page called Watched Articles that will show you all articles you're set to receive email notifications for.

Have you tried FORCE INDEX?

I had to switch two columns of the index around. It still didn't work. Then I chose USE INDEX and now it's super speedy. Thanks!

I've been working on our editor a bit tonight, and there are some changes to its functionality. Now, when you click the buttons such as Bold, Italic, etc., the editor automatically gets focus and highlights the dummy text. Therefore, you can immediately start typing to replace it.

Also, I went ahead and took Ancient Dragon's suggestion to highlight to quote something. If you want to quote text in a post, click and drag your mouse to select the text (as if you were going to copy/paste it) and then simply click in the textbox where you want to insert it. It will automatically insert it and skip a blank line, ready for you to start entering text replying to the quote.