Monthly Archives: June 2011

Don’t Assume a User’s Browser Window Size

Chris Coyier has an amazing article that finally puts the screen resolution myth to rest. Despite screen resolutions getting progressively bigger, the available width for your web designs is not. If you have a ginormous 30-inch monitor, you probably don’t keep your web browser full-screen. You probably have it at a more comfortable size and use the extra space to keep other things visible simultaneously. (This goes double for Mac users, who don’t really have the whole “full screen” habit to begin with.)

The post also demonstrates a way to use a bit of jQuery magic to record users’ browser window sizes and dump it into a database, since Google Analytics does not yet provide this metric.

Practically, it’s still best to use the old “keep it under a thousand pixels” rule. It matches up well with the most common browser window ranges, and many of us have lower screen resolutions anyway. I primarily use a 13″ laptop with a 1200-pixel wide LCD. That means I keep Firefox resized to be around one thousand pixels wide, leaving some breathing room while still being able to view most web sites without annoying horizontal scroll bars.

Screen Resolution ≠ Browser Window [CSS-Tricks]

Get Twitter and Facebook Link Statistics with JSON and jQuery

Both Twitter and Facebook have little JavaScript widgets that allow you to share a page using the respective service, displaying a running total of users who have done so. While that’s fine for most purposes, what if you just need the count, for some…

Pure JavaScript QR Code Generator with jQuery

Need a fast and lightweight way to generate QR codes in-browser, without relying on a third-party service? There’s a new jQuery plugin that’s exactly what you’re looking for. Weighing in at only 4kb, it generates QR codes using only JavaScript—no image resources, no calls…

BlogBuzz June 18, 2011

How to Defeat Cyrillic Spam in WordPress

Lately, I have been getting a lot of Cyrillic comment spam. It tends to slip past Akismet, as well as the built-in WordPress spam filters. They’re always spam, never legit comments. (As this is an English-language blog, there wouldn’t be much point for somebody…

The PHP Forking Has Begun

I previously mentioned my wish for an overhauled, more object-oriented PHP, a desire shared by many developers who work with PHP on a regular basis. Well, the long journey toward such a thing might have just started. Someone has forked PHP, making quite a…

WPTavern is Back: New Owner, Same Great Flavor

Back in May, the popular WordPress blog WPTavern (home of the WordPress Weekly podcast) was put up for sale by its owner. It was taking up too much of his time and “real life” was getting in the way. If you’re a reader of…

Lions and iClouds and iOS 5: WWDC 2011 Roundup

Too busy to watch the liveblogs of Apple’s big WWDC keynote? Here’s a quick rundown of some of the most noteworthy links. There’s a lot changing in iOS, and OS X Lion is just around the corner. Then there’s iCloud, the crazy service that…

BlogBuzz June 4, 2011

Smartphone Users: Where do You Surf the Web the Most?

Whether you have an iPhone, and Android device, an iPod Touch or a BlackBerry, where do you most use it to surf the mobile web? Where do you flick through Twitter, comment on Reddit, check emails or play Angry Birds? Do you use it…