Recently, I set out to build a CMS with php in my free time. The project will never be released, as I feel there are so many amazing CMS’s availbale already. The point was to simply improve my php development skills and overall knowledge. Often during the project, I found myself wanting to slack, copy and paste, or just google the answer to my issue. For instance, early on in my project, I found myself wanting to implement an image resizing class and method to take any image I gave it and resize to a desired width and height of my choice. I knew this would not be awfully hard to figure out, but would take quite a bit to tweak and mold into perfection for the result I desired. I wanted to be able to instantly upload any image via AJAX and crop or resize the image to my choice.

As a user, this would be such a convenient and simple tool to use while writing an article. As a coder, I was secretly thinking how easy it would be to forgo some of the ease of use for a little less coding. I decided to go ahead and go through with the original idea. I ran into many obstacles and road bumps if you will along the way. It was stressful running into so many errors and at times humiliating not being able to figure out what I was doing wrong. I am even embarrassed to admit I ran into issues while coding due to my sometimes large ego as a web developer.

So what’s the point? Well, first of all, I don’t give a shit who you are. You have run into stressful errors and issues while coding. But, did you give up? Or did you continue? I took many nights and hours looking into my errors, scanning the manual and asking peers for advice. I have never learned as much about php and web development in general before. Fact is, when you struggle implementing a feature or function, it forces you to either quit or figure out the answer. When you force yourself to carry on and do some problem solving, you will find you are forced to read through lines and lines of code and manuals. Through this process, I probably learned more in 6 hours than I have in a very long time.

In closing, my whole point is when you find or think of a feature that would be useful to end users, do whatever research is necessary to find your answer. Even if you are truly unable to accomplish your goal, I guarantee you will learn an invaluable amount about the web language in which you are coding.

I don’t care if you succeed or fail miserably. Take some time to truly do some research and debugging of your code, ask peers, and get help. You will learn more than you ever thought possible. There is no shame in asking for help or struggling with code, there is only shame in being ignorant about it.

Happy coding everyone, stay well and stay healthy!

Hi guys! It’s been quite an amazing start to 2009 hasn’t it? A new president, a lot of new stuff hitting the web, especially jQuery 1.3 (well it’s cool news for me!). I’ve got some great news to share about the world of web development and my role in it.
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Salutations. You may have noticed I have been a bit busy lately, and this is because I have working very hard on launching a new site. I’m proud to say that Dev-Tips.com has launched. I encourage you all to check it out, and let me know what you think. I’ll post some screenshots and go over what dev-tips is all about below.

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Its been a while since I wrote part 2 of this series and its time to move full speed ahead and go all out with user input to create images with the help of php. In this article, we will accept nothing but user input to create an image. We will want the user to be able to:

• Choose the width and height
• OR choose a pre made background image
• Choose the font-type (we will embed fonts today!) and font-size
• Choose the background color and font color
• Choose the text and text starting position

Dont be put off be all this options, it actually doesnt require as much code and time as you might think!
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Today I will be releasing for download the second free theme featured only on creatingdrew. iBlog is a functional html theme perfect for a blog or personal website, complete with twitter updates and working contact form, even font embedding! Check it out below for a full list of features and to download the zip. As always, the psd is included. You can use this them in any non commercial manner you wish. As always, a link back to CreatingDrew is appreciated if you download or use this theme
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I recently wrote a guest article for ThemeForest on 15 CSS tricks that I feel every developer should know. I figured my readers would enjoy this article as well, so be sure to check it out and let me know what you think! Read the Article.

Update: I just noticed this excellent article written by IT guru, Simon Stapleton. It deals with why developers and designers need freelance marketplaces, such as Elance or ThemeForest. Its an excellent read and I suggest you check it out!

I hope everyone has enjoyed their holiday and is nice and stuffed. I thought I would put up a quick post to those of you who are going to be shopping for some deals tomorrow thru monday. If your a web developer/designer looking for some awesome deals on hosting, the nice people at Web Hosting Search are offering coupons for up to $6.99 off hosting, depending on the package. Below are the list of savings you can get depending on the package:

Savings

• blackfriday ($5.99 off all plans)
• cybermonday ($6.99 off all plans)

If you want to view all the deals and specials on hosting, just check out this page. Enjoy the hectic but fun black friday and happy savings to everyone!

Hi everyone. Today we have an excellent guest article written by Emma Best, from laptopical.com – a well respected guide to laptop computer reviews and the latest laptop related news. If you enjoyed this article, you can follow Emma on twitter.

A well organized and easy to edit website will utilize cascade style sheets, more commonly referred to as CSS. There’s a large array of CSS code available for designers to use, but certain commands are essential for the successful creation of a modern website.

The code listed below is basic, something every experienced CSS coder will be familiar with, yet it’s important to remember and use when designing your website.

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Hi folks! Recently, I wrote about Simon Stapletons generous cancer charity drive. This fundraiser started in late October, has been extended through November, and is really generating some great donations and awareness. At the time of writing, Simon has raised $625.50! This is quite an accomplishment, I think Simon deserves a round of applause for his generosity and empathy towards those battling this disease. You can track all of the progress of the donations on the Research Totalizer. Again, I encourage all of you to do what you can to help, we have all known someone who has battled cancer and we can all do our part to help. Keep up the great work Simon, and to all of the people who have donated so far, thanks so much for your kindness! Lets all rally together and help Simon reach and surpass his goal of raising $1000 for cancer awareness

Here it is, our first free wordpress theme fore creatingdrew readers! Introducing Splat!, our wordpress theme with tons of functionality and jQuery. Read on to view screenshots, a live preview, the original .psd, and to download the zip file. As always, you may not sell or redistribute any part of this theme without the permission of CreatingDrew.
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