Every now and then I have an idea for a new CSS selector, which solves a particular problem but doesn’t already exist. A while ago I thought of the Regex-Matching Attribute Selector , that matches attribute values according to a regular-expression. And recently I’ve had another new idea, inspired by something I was working on at the time — what I’ve chosen to call the Contiguous Sibling Selector . To examine how it works,... 

Most people who work online are familiar with Google Alerts , and many use it to keep on top of news and updates on a wide variety of subjects. Here is an overview of Google Alerts including some easy-to-implement tips for getting more out of the service. What is Google Alerts? If you’re new to this service provided by Google, it’s a content monitoring service that allows users to track keywords and be automatically notified when... 

I have been talking about it for such a long time that you’d be forgiven for wondering if I was ever actually going to deliver, so I’m relieved to be putting my money where my mouth is and announcing the release of our new SitePoint t-shirts. Those of you that frequent the SitePoint forums may remember that we held a t-shirt design competition at 99Designs and then ran a poll at the forums to find the most popular design. The poll... 

Despite being just 2 years old, Chrome has reached version 6. On average, Google release a new version every 4 months and version 5 appeared at the end of May 2010 . Call me a cynic, but I’m convinced the rapid release schedule is pure marketing hype. By the time Internet Explorer 9.0 finally arrives , Chrome will be at version 8 and will quickly overtake Microsoft’s …  Read More →

There are many different philosophies that can be applied to email marketing, and one is not necessary better than another. In fact, you may find that you have many different approaches you use at different times for different reasons in your own email marketing campaigns. Despite how you craft your message, there are several items that combine to make what I consider a “must-have checklist” for every email marketing campaign. Here... 

It’s been a busy week for Google’s GMail developers. They recently added free telephone voice calls and now they’ve introduced a new feature to save you from email overload. A typical corporate user sends or receives an average of 110 messages per day and spends 8 hours per week dealing with their inbox. It’s a recognized cause of stress, can make people feel overwhelmed, …  Read More →

Episode 77 of The SitePoint Podcast is now available! This week your hosts are Patrick O’Keefe ( @iFroggy ), Brad Williams ( @williamsba ), and Kevin Yank ( @sentience ). Listen in your Browser Play this episode directly in your browser — just click the orange “play” button below: Download this Episode You can also download this episode as a standalone MP3 file. Here’s the link: SitePoint Podcast #77: Paper or Blu-ray? (MP3, 37.9MB,... 

The Dollar ReDe$ign Project is an open submissions project organized by New York designer Richard Smith to rebrand the US dollar. The concept behind the project is “that the ‘only’ realistic way for a swift economic recovery is through a thorough, in-depth, rebranding scheme – starting with the redesign of the iconic US Dollar.” Designers from all over the world have responded to the call and as is the case with many design... 

Are you ready to start freelancing full-time? There’s no magic formula for freelancing readiness. The point at which each person feels ready is different, and will depend on their lifestyle, goals, discipline, and target market, as well as a myriad of other factors. There are, however, indicators that can suggest you might be in a good position to strike out and do your own thing. These five factors were the signs that told me …  Read More →

One of the biggest sources of confusion for new iPhone developers is memory management. If you’re accustomed to using convenient, garbage-collected scripting languages, you may be wondering why memory management is even necessary. Although Cocoa does support garbage collection, it was deemed too great an overhead for a phone platform. Therefore, it’s important for developers to know how to allocate and release objects correctly.... 

Did you know that September is International Strategic Thinking Month? That alone might not mean much to you, but what if I told you that thinking strategically can make you more confident, improve your leadership skills, help you problem-solve, and give you the tools you need to make better decisions? Not a bad deal, right? Strategic thinking is the process of gathering information, analyzing the data and the impact it could have on you and... 

MPEG LA, the group that licenses the H.264/AVC codec, has announced that web streaming of video files encoded using the format is free. The group had previously stated it would remain royalty-free until 2016, but that deadline has been lifted. MPEG LA have not given specific reasons for the change, but the arrival of free codecs such as WebM would have influenced their decision. The big question: how will this affect HTML5 video? Although the... 

Yesterday, I wrote about how to build and sustain momentum in your business. One of the worst things that can happen to cause you to lose momentum is getting sick. And the most frustrating part is, even if you take care of yourself and try to avoid illness, you don’t have complete control over the situation. As the seasons start to cool off here in the northern hemisphere (soon, I hope!), everyone starts to feel a little off. It may be... 

A Facebook page has been set up by a group of lovers of United Airlines tulip logo in a bid to save it from obliteration in favor of a “mash up” of Continental Airline’s blue and gold globe logo. Continental and United are merging and the airline’s CEO’s have reached an agreement to place Continental’s stylized globe logo and blue color scheme on all jets operated by the new United. After the merger United will be one of the... 

In my previous post, I discussed the Closure Compiler’s REST API . In this article, we’ll develop a small PHP program that shows how the API can be used to compress JavaScript code whenever you need it. Why write your own system? You’ll find that several free tools handle this task; one of the first PHP JavaScript compressors was written by Ed Eliot . Sometimes, however, they require technologies you don’t use —...