8 Random Facts

Huh? The toughest thing to do on this planet is write about self. That really drives me nuts.

At times its good to write about urself, you will be less confused about urself

Okay, so guys-n-gals read the rules first!!!

1. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged, write a blog post about their own 8 random things, and post these rules.
3. At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and include their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment and tell them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.
4. If you fail to do this within eight hours, you will not reach Third Series or attain your most precious goals for at least two more lifetimes.

I am not worried abt the point #4, coz I dont believe in crap but its fun, how much time it takes to write 8 points. I would write another ajax tutorial in the same time

 Here are my 8 Facts/Habits:

1. I cant keep my wardrobe clean or atleast less messy

2. I am an addict to Web.

3. Daily I spend surfing atleast 15-20 new sites/blogs, most of them are related to ajax, php, mysql.

4. I hate washing clothes, which I have to do every weekend {I dont like giving them out, they kinda spoil them} 

5. I am committed to being a Entrepreneur, so always keep on working/reading/thinking about it {24*7}

6. I cant eat junk, attimes okay, but most of the time in hotels/offices everywhere its JUNK  :(

7. I daily pray before I go to bed

8. I am bit sentimental guy {Now, u stop laughing }

9. I love music, specially if its heavy metal or rock!!!!!

Oooops I got Nine. Awesome!!!

So now its my turn to get “Bakras”, Himanshu, Vibhash, Anil, Mahesh, Ashwin, Yousuf, Neha, Varun Krish, Pavithra

Guys enjoy exploring yourself!!!!

Cheerz
Sridhar

PS: My blog has crossed 10k mark. Cheerz

PPS: Thanks to Amit for tagging me and for such exploring post of mine.

Love Taj? Vote NOW!!!!

Were you a lover of the beautiful Taj Mahal?

Then its time to pay back, its not only a monument. Its a matter of honor for our country.

Please visit this site and vote it takes only 5 mins.  5 Mins of yours can bring heritage culture to the nation.

Spread the word. If you blog write abt it, if u read drop comments and inform your friends and family as well.

Visit to cast your vote:  http://www.new7wonders.com

I have casted my vote for Taj Mahal. Have you? Go now!!!!

Keep Voting!!!

Cheerz
Sridhar

PS: if you have casted your vote, then drop in comments so that others can get inspired.

Web Design Tips #2: Alternate Row Colors in Resultset!!!!

Web Design Tips #2: Alternate Row Colors

In my recent post of Web design tip, I have shown how to use Yellow Fade Technique. If you have missed it. Read it Here.

Okay, What is alternate row coloring?

Imagine you have a set of records in database, you fetched them and just “echoed” them as a bulk in form of table. How appealing right?

So we solve this problem. I know, I understand not everyone just echo’s the result directly. But then, how you show is, what your user sees!!!

Now, imagine this, we fetch the rows from database and then while placing them, we modify them in a way it looks more clear, decent and ofcourse appealing as well.

How do we do it then?

Simple. let us suppose we have got 17 rows as result of some fetch operation. Now using a while loop{for can also work}, use n/2 formula and get the even and odd results.

For every even result set we use a specific color, and for odd result set we use different color. This helps in making it in a readable and appealing form.

Wasnt it simple? Most of us, programmers make this mistake of choosing wrong colors for display { red/blue, yaak }, which is often called as Programmers Design!!!! No wonder why they call it

Accept the fact that design is not programmers cup of taste!!!!

Anyways, I am working on some script for my project, so soon I will post the result and code of this as well.

If you know/happen to work, or anything related to Design techniques, pls feel free to contact me, and you can be our guest author.

Cheerz
Sridhar 

If you are reading article, you might also be interested in the PHP and Scriptaculous Book I have authored.

The book gives you insights about effects, drag-n-drop, slideshows, applications, auto-completion, in-place editing and more. Complete code snippets and explanations.

CHECK out and BUY the PHP and Script.aculo.us book {My Book} at Packt official site
http://www.packtpub.com/php-and-script-aculo-us-web-2-0-application-interface/book

Getting Real : Book from 37signals

37signls needs no introduction.

Yes, the same guys from Basecamp, Campfire, Highrise, backpack, ta-da list!!!! Never heard of these? Okay, Heard of Ruby On Rails framework? Yes, the same guys.

I must tell you, they are awesome.

“Undo your competition”. They focus a lot on design, technology and only essential features and dropping everything else.

If one wants to develop and deploy a successful web application, this book “Getting Real” is a must to read and follow.

Every aspect of project is covered, technology, hiring, users, customers.

Nothing great or something, but I would say these are essentails which we all must have come across but we fail to implement them.

Go ahead. Did I tell u that its free? Read on….

Cheerz
Sridhar

Myers Briggs Personality Type: Whts ur Type???

Heard of Myers Briggs Personality Type? If not, dont panic, even I heard and came to know about it today morning after Winslie’s mail.

I was surprised that such tests can really help you understand your self better and so does others can also.

It deals with ones psychological ability to think. Everyone has there own unique way to think and approach but when your planning for team work, everyones Personality Type comes into picture.

I also felt that, these TYPEs can also change with age, work, environment and other factors. Its about how you see things in different conditions and situtations. Though some people may resist this change.

I must admit that in India, this practice is yet to mature. Yes, some companies take Psychological tests but then it’s about the same meaning in different contexts.

My Personality type : ESTJ

You can read more about it Here. You can even take a free Personality Test.

www.personalitypathways.com/type_inventory.html

 Check your type and drop in comments.

Cheerz
Sridhar

For Open Source Lovers!!!!

I must admit, I love Open Source products and applications. I first got introduced to it during my days in Indictrans.

Since then I have always prefered Open Source!!!

Yes, now you will argue that my compaq notebook is running MSFT XP???? Now, everyone has their own stand, so my way to look at it is, something which does not cost you, can modify, distribute even build commercial apps on it.

If one loves Open Source, that does not mean you “MUST” hate MSFT products!!!!

Anyways, its a debateable topic, and we dont want to get into that.

Okay, so I write this post to introduce you, http://openproducts.blogspot.com

Yes, Its a new blog , dedicated to Open Source products. Most of the time, people get confused at what to use/ Is there any better alternative?

Thats not problem with users, coz everyday so many products are getting released and proposed. You cant keep track of everything. But, yes we shall try to keep in our blog.

What will this blog have?

1. Product Features
2. Applications Features
3. Plug-Ins
4. Categories
5. Scripts
And Lots more

Why the heck again Blog?? Anyhow, Web is full of Open Source.

It sure is full of open source, in this blog, I will try to organize things I come across and write about them as I use.

If you happen to work on Open Source products/plug-ins/apps drop me a line. Will put it up with full credits.

Cheerz
Sridhar

Technology Threats???

Have you even imagined that the benefits we are taking of Technology even the terrorist can take?

Imagine how dangerous it can be?

Cyber police says, it can trace the emails sent, scan them and then identify the anti-social elements.

Anti-Social #1[Place 1]: Writes the message in the email/blog and saves it without sending.

Anti-Social #2[Place 2]: Opens with same userID and Password, reads the same saved message and logs Off. 

What can the police do in such a situation?

This sure may sound, simple but trust me it can prove very costly and deadly as well.

Any thoughts??? views??? suggestions???

Cheerz
Sridhar

Embedding of PDF inside HTML using frames

Some days back, I wrote a article regarding which PDF library to choose and work with, either PDFLib or FPDF. I decided to go with FPDF, since its free

So now, what is the problem that almost everyone of us have faced using PDF documents?

Think again. No, not that one. Take another shot. Okay, let me tell you.

When we open up PDF file, it opens in “Full-Mode”, that means, we cannnot see the html links, page etc and it just ocupies whole web page. Now, this is a serious issue. Since, the only way is to hit the “Back” button.

What can be done to make this experience better?

Embed the PDF document inside a html frame. Consider the pdf file as a widget and we can load it inside the frames of html.

If you are wondering, if I am speaking arabic or something. Have a look at this.

http://www.jewishpress.com/TESTPDF1.CFM

But, there are serious flaws in implementing this way. Coz you cannot navigate through the pages in the PDF. I am trying to hack and fix the issues.

If you have tried anything similar to this. Please drop a comment.

Cheerz
Sridhar

PS: Please spare the commercial/licenses one. Yes, I am aware of Macromedia Flash Paper. But something free is more tasty

If you are reading article, you might also be interested in the PHP and Scriptaculous Book I have authored.

The book gives you insights about effects, drag-n-drop, slideshows, applications, auto-completion, in-place editing and more. Complete code snippets and explanations.

CHECK out and BUY the PHP and Script.aculo.us book at Packt official site

PHP and Script.aculo.us Book

http://www.packtpub.com/php-and-script-aculo-us-web-2-0-application-interface/book

Web Tip #1: Yellow Fade Technique (YFT)

Web 2.0, Web 2.0 *Yawn Yawn*

I guess the web is half full with Web 2.0 jagron. I wont go deep in explaning what exactly  web 2.0 is, but I would stress on one point.

“No Refreshing of Whole Page” {AJAX, as we call it}

I surf web for more than 20 websites {new} a day, one thing I find pretty common and uncommon is the UI. Some sites suck so-much that I never visit them again, and some are so awesome that i fall in love with them.

So here, I am starting a new section “Web Tips” for web workers to plan and design sites in a way to impress the users.

Web Tips #1: Yellow Fade Technique

When you are using AJAX in your site, often one feels it’s a big deal to implement AJAX and then they feel like next Google. But, most of them fail to understand that the user is unaware of what happened just now? For god sake, he doesnt understand AJAX

So the user panics, can be to an extent, he says “Goodbye”

What can be done to avoid such things? Tell the user you have posted/got the data.

How? Simple

Yellow Fade Technique

Just change the background of the DIV to light yellow and then once the operation is done, again with a time duration fade it out to the original color. This really helps users in understanding that something has happened.

If you are one of the fans of WordPress, it has that implementation in the comments tab.

I am implementing it as well, so you can expect a YFT treat tutorial soon from me.

If you are reading article, you might also be interested in the PHP and Scriptaculous Book I have authored.

The book gives you insights about effects, drag-n-drop, slideshows, applications, auto-completion, in-place editing and more. Complete code snippets and explanations.

CHECK out and BUY the PHP and Script.aculo.us book {My Book} at Packt official site
http://www.packtpub.com/php-and-script-aculo-us-web-2-0-application-interface/book

Cheerz
Sridhar 

Book Review : AJAX In Action

     

I have recently finished reading this book “Ajax In Action” By Dave Crane, Eric Pascarello and Darren James.

I thought I would share some key points from the book with everyone.

I recommend this book to everyone, who wants to learn Ajax or for those who have already fallen in love with it

The book talks about the basics as introduction and example code are given to explain various ajax libraries covered, which includes Prototype, Rico, Dojo, Sajax etc.

It is also written keeping in mind only about the client-side programs and not heavily on server-side, which helps individuals to use it with any of these PHP/Asp/JSP etc.

This 680 pages book is what you need to master the concepts and start using ajax in your web apps.

Cumon, u still waiting for more reviews??? Go and buy here

Its a weekend, I have some plans too.

Happy Weekend!!!!
Cheerz
Sridhar

Examine a Clarity: First word you use????

Which is the most frequent “First word you use when you wake up”???

Your options:

1. GOD

2. DAMN

3. SHIT

4. FCUK

5. If any other drop in your comments….

Cheerz
Sridhar

PS: I personally use either of 3/4

Sena heated up over SNS(orkut)!!!

Before you read this article, I would appreciate if you can read my previous post Here.

I was going through a Daily Newspaper, The Times of India, 12th june edition, in the front-page an article quoting ” Sena Cubs are part of target website”, Which was written in the context of Shiv-sena’s attacking some cyber cafes to protest against Social Networking site, Orkut.com.

Shiva Sena’s attacks were due to some posts/articles on orkut quoting wrong about Shiva Sena supremo, Bal Saheb Thackery and his party.

What’s the point in attacking cyber cafes? Orkut is run by those people.

One more interesting fact is that, the “cubs” of shiv sena have their profiles and more than hundred friends on orkut.

Why dont they break computers at their home, rather than cyber cafes?

I was wondering, if this is going to be the mentality, soon sites like Desimartini, yaari.com etc will have treat and also causing treat to wanna-bes.

Check out the article in the newspaper here.

Drop in your comments/views on this!!!

Cheerz
Sridhar 

PodWorks : My Experience!!!!

Podworks, India’s biggest podcasting unconference was held on 9th-10th June 2007 in Tidel Park, Chennai.

I must admit, it was a great learning experience for me as I was a newbie to Audio/video podcasting. Got to meet people, share ideas and fun as well.

I started on Friday 8th june in Shatabdi Express, along with Himanshu, Vibhash, Anil, Yousuf and Alok. Reached around 10pm to Chennai, Damn it was fcuking hot there. After finding them a nice hotel to stay, I went to IIT-Madras.

I met friends there, Jitendra, Venu, Sagar and prem. Then we spent around 3 hrs just gossiping around with jitendra and venu. {they are my close buddies}

Next morning, I got geared to attend Podworks. Day one.

When I reached I saw other folks have already reached, and kiruba was making an opening speech, basics of podcasting, professional podcasters etc.

Then some topics came out on which people were willing to learn. I along with Himanshu, Vibhash took a topic “Basics of Blogging for WordPress & Blogger”. It was mainly about how to add widgets to blogs.

Guess, it was good and informative. If not, mind-blowing, atleast svenks got benefitted out of it, as he learnt to make a blog and how to add widgets

Then was time for some “Vitamin M”. A talk by Sunil Nair, CEO of Nautanki.tv on how to make money!!!! Hmmmmmm

Followed by talk by Karthik Kannan about how to create a Audio Podcast. It was very useful, as I did some hands-on as well

Then, time for lunch, their did some networking with folks from findnearyou.com, Mr.Krishna Prasad of Churumuri.com, Preethi, Mr.Suresh Bhagavatula, Vijay Anand, Syed  and a lot of other interesting people.

Noon, session went with some more talks and finally in the evening we went to Beach House. Mr.Seshadrinathan of findnearyou.com arranged a Band, named “Hang-over”, trust me they were awesome!!!

I even made a small instant theme their for podworks.

Check the video here

Then after that, kept talking with John and Venkatesh. Some real serious talks. Went to beach near by. Slept at 6am

Next morning, got quickly ready and then left to Tidel Park. Had breakfast first :)

Attented some talks, met some people and same stuff. Did some photo-sessions too.

In the evening, I came back to IIT, then me, venu and jitu went to a near-by hotel. Had nice dinner, then both of them came to drop me.{I insisted not to, who listens to me}

Then, got a volvo to Bangalore and next morning when eyes opened, I was back to my Den.

It was my second unconference and like previous one, this too was good in terms of learning and making new friends.

Cheerz
Sridhar

my fav video

See you in Podworks!!!

Much awaited unconference, Podworks is on 9th-10th June. Its in Tidel Park, Chennai.

I will be there in Chennai for 2 days, If you happen to know me/met me before or attending Podworks, or even better want to have some business networking.

Most welcome for a cup of Coffee!!!

Its been a year now, I have left Chennai, will meet some of my friends in IIT {Hira, Venu, Sagar, Vivek(Pumba, will not be there)}. Will cherish the memories and time spent there.

In life, you make some friends, you loose some, but life goes on…and on…

Cheerz
Sridhar