Tuesday, November 25, 2008

3 best ways to Optimize your wordpress theme

One of most powerful and advance feature of wordpress is it themes. There are thousands of FREE and paid themes available for wordpress. It is not harder to create a new theme for wordpress even if you have only a little knowledge of php web development or html. Wordpress themes are what display everything on your blog, including pages, posts, categories, archives and your front page.You can create your own theme or you can use the Yvo Schaap’s online theme designer to create wide range of colorful and beautiful themes easily.Every wordpress theme uses many different functions, loops to load content on your blog. Wordpress’s core system itself calls many queries before loading your theme files. With few of following tweaks, you can easily optimize your wordpress themes to reduce server load and to provide faster output.

1. Define variables instead of calling functions each time
There could be many functions being used in themes. You can define variables in your header file to avoid calling those functions again and again and just use the pre-define variable by a single function call. For example, you may be using bloginfo, the_permalink, get_option etc. Define their variables and avoid using them again and again for same purpose.

2. Avoid loading unnecessary javascript, css
At some of your pages you may need additional javascript or css files to be loaded.

3.Use WP super cache is one of best plugins for me.
It generate static content for your blog. Even the function calls. It can generate static front page, single posts, category pages in form of html. So until the cache time is over, those html files will be loaded to user’s browser and generate only a tiny bit of load to your server.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Submit Your Design News

if you have facts related to design and want to spread, convey the message to large number of online visitors then these are the resources which will take you a step ahead to be published. just register and submit your news their.

http://www.designfloat.com/submit
http://designbump.com/submit
http://graphic-design-links.com/submit.php
http://devmarks.com/
http://www.wscoop.com/
http://www.dzone.com/
http://designm.ag/
http://design-related.com/
http://www.fuelyourcreativity.com/
http://cssglobe.com/
http://sharebrain.info/
http://www.youthedesigner.com/
http://help-developer.com/index.php/2008/07/community-links/
http://abduzeedo.com/user_news/
http://scriptandstyle.com/submit
http://kailoon.com/
http://www.crazyleafdesign.com/blog/submit-news/
http://www.stylegala.com/
http://www.noupe.com/
http://psdtuts.com/userlinks/user-link-feed/
http://vectortuts.com/features/user-link-feed/#add
http://nettuts.com/userlinks/user-link-feed/
http://csscreme.com/submit_news/
http://psdlearning.com/2008/07/user-links/
http://www.brushking.eu/submit_news.php
http://www.cssleak.com/submit_news.php
http://www.myinkblog.com/2008/07/06/user-link-feed-my-ink-blog/
http://www.knowtebook.com/community-link-feed-1112.htm
http://www.cssdrive.com/index.php/main/submit/
http://www.visual-blast.com/
http://www.smashingapps.com/news/linkslist.php?TB_iframe=true&height=300&width=450
http://freelancefolder.com/submit-link/
http://www.QBN.com
http://www.naldzgraphics.com:
http://styl.eti.me/
http://vot.eti.me/
http://www.psdtop.com/

Why Shopping Cart Software?

Don't let the name fool you, shopping cart software is a lot more than just a cart. Good shopping cart software can help your Internet business in other capacities as well, including:

Payment Processing – Many programs offer credit card processing as well as check, COD or other methods of possessing payments.
Webpage Design – Many merchants are not web designers, so some programs will include wizards to help you build your webpage without requiring you to know HTML.
Storefront Design – Store front wizards incorporate templates or other tools to help you set up your storefront.
Inventory Control – Good programs will keep track of your inventory and generate reports.
Shipping – Nearly all software offer a shipping tool that calculates shipping costs for customers based on parameters that you set, some can even link up to common shipping methods like FedEx.
Tax Calculation – Most shopping cart programs can calculate taxes, a valuable tool, especially since many states are considering requiring that merchants collect taxes for online sales.
Customer Management – Many shopping carts programs have features that will let customers view their previous purchases. The program will also recognize the customer when they come back for a return visit.
Marketing – A shopping cart is useless if you don't sell anything. Marketing help can be invaluable, some programs offer information on affiliate programs and help with merchandising. Many are able to create coupons, gift certificates or other incentives. In addition, they provide sales reports and 'hit' or traffic information as well.
Security – Customers will not want to purchase online if they feel the website cannot protect their personal information. Many shopping cart programs will offer protection by encrypting information, processing credit cards through reputable processing services and by allowing customers to move through their program without having to download cookies.
On this site, you'll find articles on shopping cart software and services and reviews so you can decide which software will best fit your business plans. At TopTenREVIEWS - We do the research so you don't have to.™

What to Look for in Shopping Cart Software

Choosing the right shopping cart is one of the most crucial steps to making your online business a success. Your customers need to be able to purchase your product(s) as easily as possible, with a sense of security. For the business owner, the software should be simple to use, with lots of useful features and great customer support when needed.

We reviewed 22 of the leading shopping carts programs to help you find the program that will improve your chances of reaching your sales goals.

Below are the criteria TopTenREVIEWS used to rate shopping cart software:

Feature Set – The features range from a simple shopping cart to accounting and inventory functions. The programs that offered the most features and in turn, the most flexibility received high scores in this area. The most important goal is to find the program that includes desired features at a desirable cost.
Ease of Use – Good programs are easy for the entrepreneur and the customer to use. Wizards are helpful in webpage and storefront development, menus and help should be easily assessable and presented in a logical manner.
Ease of Setup – The software should install quickly and without errors. If it is a program that is accessed online, it should be easy to get to and use.
Help/Documentation – Excellent customer and technical support is paramount. The program should offer inner program support in help menus, user manuals, FAQs pages or other methods. The manufacture should offer support through telephone, email, mail or chat. The help should be useful and prompt.

Once your have your DBA ("Doing Business As") established, a bank account open, market desirable products and the perfect shopping cart software, you may be well on your way to a successful Internet business. If you're already in business, but are not happy with your shopping cart program or have out grown it, look into a new program that will help you manage all of your concerns more efficiently.

Top E-commerce Software

www.shopsite.com/
www.merchandizer.com/
ecommerce.networksolutions.com/
www.storefront.net
www.mercantec.com/
www.freemerchantcredit.com/
www.goemerchant.com
www.mivamerchant.com/
www.1shoppingcart.com
www.x-cart.com
www.vpasp.com/
www.actinic.co.uk/
www.justaddcommerce.net/
www.cubecart.com/
www.webmastercart.com
www.webgenie.com
www.salescart.net/
www.easycart.net/
www.americart.com

PHP web development, E-Commerce Solutions

Thursday, November 6, 2008

10 Promising Content Management Systems

When it comes to content management systems (CMS) and publishing platforms, there are plenty to choose from. They vary in technologies used, organization structure, performance, and license. You’ve probably heard of popular content management systems such as Drupal, WordPress, Movable Type, Joomla!, and Textpattern, but if you want to try a platform that’s a little less main stream – check out these excellent alternatives.

In this article, you’ll find 10 terrific content management systems that may not garner as much attention as their more popular counterparts - but should.

There’s a large amount of content management systems out there, so if your favorite isn’t on here, share it with us in the comments.

ExpressionEngine

ExpressionEngine - screen shot.
Go to ExpressionEngine demo

ExpressionEngine is a powerful and easy-to-use content management system. ExpressionEngine is known for its flexibility and intuitive Template Engine that lets developers easily mold the CMS into its intended use. It has a built-in caching feature that significantly reduces server load (helpful in times of high traffic). Check out the Showcase section on EE’s website to see live sites that use ExpressionEngine.

Concrete5

Concrete5 - screen shot.
Go to Concrete5 demo

Concrete5 is a solid content management system that’s a breeze to use. You can edit a web page live by entering "edit mode", which makes the regions and elements on the web page you are viewing editable. It has a very robust administration panel with a built-in system for gathering statistics so you don’t need to install a plugin/extension or use a third party application like Google Analytics to monitor your site traffic.

Radiant CMS

Radiant CMS - screen shot.
Go to Radiant CMS demo

Radiant CMS focuses itself for use in small teams. It’s designed as a simple and elegant CMS akin to 37 Signals applications, holding out on complicated and unnecessary features to provide users a straightforward interface for creating and editing website content.

CushyCMS

CushyCMS - screen shot.

CushyCMS is a "plug-and-play" content management system that doesn’t require you to install anything to get it working, which can greatly reduce your maintenance cost and development time. With CushyCMS, you define which areas are editable, making it a safe option to your not-very-tech-savvy clients. CushyCMS is currently being used by about 10,000 websites and is gaining popularity as a no-hassle, user-friendly CMS.

Symphony

Symphony - screen shot.
Go to Symphony demo

Symphony, created by Overture, is a CMS designed for developers, utilizing XSLT to provide developers flexibility in customizing Symphony. If you don’t know much about XSLT, Overture provides a large number of tutorials and screencasts on their resource center. With that said, Symphony isn’t for everybody and those looking for a content management system that requires little technical expertise should probably consider another option.

MODx

MODx - screen shot.

MODx is both a content management system and a PHP web application framework. MODx puts a high emphasize on web standards, allowing you to build XHTML 1.1 strict compliant websites easily. It comes with a build-in CSS menu builder for hassle-free site navigation development. For less-experienced users, MODx comes with a graphical user interface installer so you can get up and running quickly.

Plone CMS

Plone CMS - screen shot.

Plone CMS is a feature-packed content management system built on the Zope web application framework. It’s supported by a large and active developer community so you won’t have any trouble finding help. Plone has extensive documentation in a wiki format to help you get started and help you take advantage of its more advanced features.

Railfrog

Railfrog - screen shot.

Railfrog is one of the few CMS’s built on top of the Ruby On Rails web application framework (the same technology powering popular web applications such as Twitter and Basecamp). To help you get started on Railfrog, check out its Developer Portal where you’ll find guides that you can follow to get rolling.

TYPO3 CMS

TYPO3 CMS - screen shot.

TYPO3 is an open-source, enterprise-level content management system focused on providing companies a solution for websites and their intranet. While many CMS’s try to be simple and basic, TYPO3 provides users complex and powerful features to help you achieve complicated tasks and ability to integrate with other applications.

SilverStripe

SilverStripe - screen shot.
Go to SilverStripe demo

SilverStripe is a PHP-based, open-source content management system. It uses the MVC coding framework to offer developers great flexibility and potential for scalability. Check out the live demo on their site to see a basic installation of SilverStripe as well as to take a peak at how the administration system looks like.

Content Management System Resources

creating a fully featured registration script

PHP web Development

In this tutorial you will learn how to create a fully featured registration script, users will be able to enter your site, visit the registration page, fill in the info, submit the form, receive an activation e-mail and be able to activate there accounts.

Alright, this tutorial won't teach you anything about design, so the finalized script won't look pretty at all, but it is very easy to implement into any design.

First, we are going to need to create a table in our database so that we can store all of our registration info. We are going to call this table, users since that's what it will store!

MySQL:
  1. CREATE TABLE users (
  2. id INT(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  3. username VARCHAR(30) NOT NULL,
  4. password CHAR(40) NOT NULL,
  5. email VARCHAR(70),
  6. active CHAR(32),
  7. PRIMARY KEY(id)
  8. );

That little SQL creates our table to store all of our user information in, now we need a way to connect to the database.

PHP:

  1. // CHANGE THESE VALUES
  2. DEFINE ('DB_USER', 'database username');
  3. DEFINE ('DB_PASSWORD', 'database password');
  4. DEFINE ('DB_HOST', 'localhost');
  5. DEFINE ('DB_NAME', 'database name');

  6. $dbc = @mysql_connect (DB_HOST, DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD) OR die ('Could not connect to MySQL: ' . mysql_error());

  7. @mysql_select_db (DB_NAME) OR die('Could not select the database: ' . mysql_error() );
  8. ?>

This is just a file that we can use to connect to our database with, now all we need to do is include it any file that we want to query the database from.

Now that we have our table and mysql connection file setup, we need to create the PHP file that allows the person to register.

Let's start off by creating the form processing part of the file, it will be included in the same file as the form.

PHP:

  1. if (isset($_POST['submitted'])) {

  2. $errors = array();
  3. require_once ('mysql_connect.php');

This part is easy, all it does is start a new PHP section, then our first if() statement is saying IF our form is submitted, then continue. We also start a new variable, and assign an array to it. So that we can echo out our errors (if there are any) at the end. We also include our mysql_connect.php file, since we will be querying the database.

PHP:
  1. if (eregi('^[[:alnum:]\.\'\-]{4,30}$', stripslashes(trim($_POST['username']))) ) {
  2. $user = mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['username']);
  3. $query = "SELECT username FROM users WHERE username = '$user'";
  4. $result = @mysql_query($query);
  5. $num = @mysql_num_rows($result);

  6. if ($num> 0) {
  7. $errors[] = 'The username you have chosen has already been taken, please try again.';
  8. } else {
  9. $username = mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['username']);
  10. }
  11. } else {
  12. $errors[] = 'Please provide a valid username between 4 and 30 characters.';
  13. }

This is where we check our first field, the username field. We use regular expressions to validate that the username is good. It must only contain numbers, letters, periods and it must be between 4 and 30 characters. If our regular expressions passes all the tests, we query the database and check if the username has been taken, if it has been taking we add an error to our $error array. If it is not taken then we it is assigned to the $username variable.

**UPDATE V1.1** - I have fixed the error that so many people are getting, I made a mistake, I have now added extra security to the script and it should be pretty much bug free.

PHP:
  1. if (!eregi('^[a-zA-Z]+[a-zA-Z0-9_-]*@([a-zA-Z0-9]+){1}(\.[a-zA-Z0-9]+){1,2}', stripslashes(trim($_POST['email'])) )) {
  2. $errors[] = 'Please provide a valid email address.';
  3. } else {
  4. $email = mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['email']);
  5. }

This little tid-bit of code just validates there e-mail address using another regular expression.

PHP:
  1. if (!empty($_POST['password1'])) {
  2. if ($_POST['password1'] != $_POST['password2']) {
  3. $errors[] = 'The 2 passwords you have entered do not match.';
  4. } else {
  5. $password = $_POST['password1'];
  6. }
  7. } else {
  8. $errors[] = 'Please provide a password.';
  9. }

This is where we validate our password(s). First we check if they entered in the first password, then if it isn't empty, we make sure that password 1 and password 2 are the exact same (password, and verify password). If they do not match each other, we add an error to our $errors array. If they do match each other, we continue.

PHP:
  1. if (empty($errors)) {
  2. $a = md5(uniqid(rand(), true));
  3. $query = "INSERT INTO users (username, email, password, active) VALUES ('$username', '$email', SHA('$password'), '$a')";

  4. $result = @mysql_query($query);

  5. if (mysql_affected_rows() == 1) {

  6. // Send the E-Mail
  7. $body = "Thank you for registering at the User Registration site. To activate your account, please click on this link:\n\n";
  8. $body .= "http://www.whateveraddressyouwanthere.com/activate.php?x=" . mysql_insert_id() . "&y=$a";
  9. mail($_POST['email'], 'Registration Confirmation', $body, 'From: admin@sitename.com');

  10. // Show thank you message
  11. echo '

    Thank You!

  12. You have been registered, you have been sent an e-mail to the address you specified before. Please check your e-mails to activate your account.';
  13. } else {
  14. echo 'You could not be registered, please contact us about the problem and we will fix it as soon as we can.';
  15. }

This is the part where we do our error checking, if our $errors variable is empty (no errors) then we continue on with the form. So we insert everything into our users table, run the query, then check if it worked using mysql_affected_rows() == 1. If our query only affected 1 row (only inserted 1 user, no more and no less.) then our query worked, you are shown a message and the e-mail is sent to the user.

**UPDATE V1.2** - The query has been fixed, and everything has been personally tested and works now. If there is still more bugs please tell me.

If it didn't work, (the query didn't work) you are shown an error message.

PHP:
  1. } else {
  2. echo '

    Error!

  3. The following error(s) occured:
    '
    ;

  4. foreach ($errors as $msg) {
  5. echo " - \"red\">$msg
    \n";
  6. }
  7. }
  8. }
  9. ?>

This is the finishing of the PHP section of our registration script, this is always where we check for errors. If the $errors array was not empty then the user is shown an error message and we use a foreach loop to display all of our errors and echo them out to the user. Then we end our PHP section.

HTML:
  1. text" name="username" value="<?php if (isset($_POST['username'])) echo $_POST['username']; ?>" size="30" maxlength="30" /> Username


  2. type="password" name="password1" size="30" maxlength="40" /> Password


  3. type="password" name="password2" size="30" maxlength="40" /> Confirm Password


  4. type="text" name="email" size="30" maxlength="30" value="" /> Email Address


  5. submit" name="submit" value="Register" />

  6. hidden" name="submitted" value="TRUE" />

So I lied, there is still a little tiny bit of PHP but very simple stuff. Here we just create our form, with the corresponding names as in our PHP script. Make sure you name your the hidden input as submitted, this is how our PHP script knows that the form is submitted.

That is it for our registration part of our script, now we just have to do the activation part, this is a simple little script.

PHP:

  1. if (isset($_GET['x'])) {
  2. $x = (int) $_GET['x'];
  3. } else {
  4. $x = 0;
  5. }
  6. if (isset($_GET['y'])) {
  7. $y = $_GET['y'];
  8. } else {
  9. $y = 0;
  10. }

  11. if ( ($x> 0) && (strlen($y) == 32)) {

  12. require_once ('mysql_connect.php');
  13. $query = "UPDATE users SET active=NULL WHERE (user_id=$x AND active='" . $y . "') LIMIT 1";
  14. $result = mysql_query($query);

  15. if (mysql_affected_rows() == 1) {
  16. echo "

    Your account is now active. You may now log in.

    "
    ;
  17. } else {
  18. echo '

    Your account could not be activated. Please re-check the link or contact the system administrator.

    '
    ;
  19. }


  20. } else {

  21. echo 'Activation link not valid!';

  22. }
  23. ?>

This is just a simple little script, we start off by checking the x and y values in the URL to check if they are valid (or if someone is messing with us), we inclue our mysql_connect.php file into our script, since we will be using the database to query the right user. A user is considered active when the active field for there name is NULL (empty), so if the x and y values are right and everything works, we then set the active field to NULL. If only 1 account was affected, we echo out a success message and everything is done! If not, then the appropriate error message is echoed and the script stops.

Source - http://www.example.com/php/registration-script/