6 iPhone Apps for Web Developers

Perhaps the biggest reason for the staggering success of the iPhone is its thousands of applications that are available. iPhone apps ranges from games, productivity tools, entertainment programs but there are also apps that can be a great addition to a web developer’s toolbox. If you have an iPhone, here are some apps that you’ll find useful. Please note that the URLs for the applications below will automatically load the Apple Store within iTune.

Developer Notes

Developer Notes is an application built exclusively for software and web development community. It allows you to organize development tasks with ease. Each tasks can be assigned to a specific type like todo, fixme, idea with different tracking status like new, pending, on-hold or done. You can also prioritize tasks and set their due dates or move tasks between different versions. DeveloperNotes also comes with built-in email features that allows you to email tasks to yourself or your lead developer.

iCheatSheets

CheatSheets is for every seasoned developers that needs a quick refresher course. It is a free reference application that gives web developers quick reference to a variety of useful functions right at their finger tips. It has quick function and command references for most popular web technologies like ASP, PHP, HTML and also includes reference for topics like Mod Rewrite and Regular Expressions.

FTP on The Go

FTP on The Go is an FTP client for the iPhone with all features of a desktop FTP client. It allows you to fix your web site, and view files on your FTP server from anywhere. Other than the default FTP features like upload and download, it also support editing text file with its built-in editor. Its Find/Replace and Go To Line Number enables you to fix your codes faster. FTP on The Go can also store your files on your iPhone and you can view,edit or email any of the saved files.

DatabaseViewer

DatabaseViewer is a commercial application with its price tagged at $19.99 - a little expensive for an iPhone application, in my opinion. It will allow you to view any database on your iPhone and you can synchronize data wirelessly. It support SQL select queries, filters and you can sort the fields. DatabaseViewer currently supports most of the popular databases like MS Access, SQL Server, MySQL, PostegreSQL and any other ODBC compliant database.

WorkTimer

WorkTimer is a time management application that allows you to track how long you’ve spent on various project so that you can eventually bill your client accordingly. This is pretty useful for web developers that works both from office and home and need a convenient way to track their hours. At the end of each month, you can email yourself (or anyone else) a monthly report of all the hours worked in different projects.

Source Viewer

Source Viewer is a handy application that enables you to view a web site’s HTML source code - just as you would with the ‘view source’ option in your web browser. The source code of the web site is presented in an easy to read format with code highlighting feature. The best thing about this application is that it also collects all images and links (CSS links, JS links) from the source code and these can then be viewed separately.

Source : http://www.hotscripts.com/blog/iphone-apps-for-web-developers/

10 Principles of the PHP Masters

1. Use PHP Only When You Need it

PHP was created out of a need to solve web development problems. However, you can't use PHP for everything. PHP is a just like a tool in your toolbox, and that even PHP has limitations. Trying to use PHP for everything isn't efficient, and it certainly isn't the best use of your time as a web developer. Don't be afraid to to use other languages if PHP isn't working out for your project.

2. Use Many Tables With PHP and MYSQL for Scalability
3. Never, ever trust your users
4. Invest in PHP Caching
5. Speed up PHP Development with an IDE, Templates and Snippets
6. Make Better Use of PHP's Filter Functions
7. Use a PHP Framework - Josh Sharp

There has always been a debate as to whether to use a PHP framework like Zend, CakePHP, Code Igniter, or any other framework. There are upsides and downsides to using one, and many developers have their own opinions about whether or not to go down this road.

Josh Sharp is a web developer who makes his bread and butter creating websites for clients. This is why you should trust him when he says it's a good idea to use a PHP framework to save time and eliminate mistakes when programming. Why? Josh believes it's because PHP is too easy to learn.

But PHP's ease of use is also its downfall. Because there are less restrictions on the structure of the code you write, it's much easier to write bad code. But there is a solution: use a framework.

PHP frameworks help standardize how you program, and can save lots of time in the development process. You can read more about the benefit of using a PHP framework at Josh's blog.

8. Don't use a PHP Framework - Rasmus Lerdorf

Contrary to Josh's belief that one should use a PHP framework, Rasmus Lerdorf, the Godfather of PHP himself, believes that frameworks aren't that great. Why? Because they perform much slower than simple PHP.

During Rasmus' presentation at Drupalcon 2008(http://szeged2008.drupalcon.org/), Rasmus compared the response times to a PHP page with a simple "Hello World" example, and compared it to a few PHP frameworks (http://talks.php.net/show/drupal08/24 - slides 24-32), and showed that PHP frameworks are much slower than straight PHP.

You can listen or watch the entire presentation where Rasmus shows the performance losses with PHP frameworks. In short, Rasmus shows that performance takes a major hit when you use a PHP framework as opposed to using pure PHP.

9. Use Batch Processing
10. Turn on Error Reporting Immediately

Source :- http://nettuts.com/articles/10-principles-of-the-php-masters/

Recent Trends in Custom Web Development

In the early days of Internet, having a website was looked upon as a luxury. However, with the winds of change the whole concept of Internet usage has transformed enormously. If you are a businessman and do not have a website people will look at you with wonder struck eyes. And why shouldn’t they? Internet has today become an important tool of online business and therefore custom web development is necessary for all companies who want to make a mark in their area of business.

Custom web development is the foremost tool to get you a professional website that will cater to the needs of the visitors. Today the developers look for recent programming languages and templates to give an ultra modern look to websites. With every passing day the web developers are provided with more tools to make their sites livelier. So it is of utmost importance to look into the details of the recent developments in custom web development.

With the high demand by webmasters for a dynamic and updated site loaded with features, there has been a revelation in the field of custom web development. Ever evolving world of computer programming has come up with new features that can be incorporated with Java and PHP programming language. Let us take a plunge into the world of web development and find out what is hot.

Protect Your Private Data With PHP 5

Recently launched PHP 5 has come up with a feature that will keep your data protected and therefore is a great tool for custom web development. By using PHP 5 you can create private data members who will have the sole access to the protected areas of your site, which contains vital information about the organization. PHP 5 makes the work easy for the developers to work with public, protected and private class members. As a developer, you can categorize the visitors according to the webmaster’s wishes. This avoids all chances of information leak because PHP 5 creates three distinct levels of members under- public, protected and private. You can pour data in your website according to your wish and then categorize them for viewing purposes.

Make Effective Inputs to Your Site With iText

iText sharp is a great addition for Java language programmers. With the use of this new development programmers can incorporate lively pictures into their sites. It has been widely seen that texts alone cannot attract web visitors, so there is always need for images. With the use of iText one can incorporate vibrant graphics into a PDF document. iText supports all types of images and graphics and has no complexities involved in the process. You can also effectively position the images as per your liking, if you want to have the image on the extreme left of your website then you can do so with the use of a simple code. By using iText a web developer can style texts in various ways, align the text according to his choice and use indents and spaces in many ways.

If you are a webmaster, it is high time that you look for these updates and get custom web development in your site using these effective and updated tools. Updated websites impress visitors and they make good money for the webmaster. So if you want to have a profitable e-commerce website custom web development is important.

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