Archive for November, 2007

Using WordPress Tags

November 27th 2007 Posted to Site Development

I’ve implemented the new WordPress tagging feature and I think I like the results. You can see my current tags in the lower right corner of the sidebar (oddly enough, it’s the widget titled “Tags”). Did you notice that I said “tag list” rather than “tag cloud”? No? Not really paying attention? Just sort of reading words without attaching any meaning to them? Kind of letting your mind wander? Blah blah blah, words words words… Who has the time to pay attention? I can empathize. You need information and you need it fast.

Which is where the tags list comes in …
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How Smart are You?

November 21st 2007 Posted to Site Development

I’m trying to determine the education level of the average PixelWit.com visitor so I can write tutorials that contain the most relevant information. Please select the option best matching your last level of formal schooling.

[poll id=”8″]

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Intelligent Youth on the Rise

November 21st 2007 Posted to Site Development

It’s a rare occasion, but every now and then I actually pay attention to what’s happening on this blog. It was during one of these moments of heightened awareness that I noticed a recent trackback from a young whippersnapper (he ~claims~ to only be 16) linking to my Text Link Ads Needs Improvement article. With my curiosity piqued, I decided to visit his site and see what Mr. William Montanaro had to say about TLA.

I must admit I was quite impressed with what I saw …
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BlueHost Affilliate Random Ad Code for WordPress

November 14th 2007 Posted to Site Development

BlueHost Affiliate Program members can place BlueHost ads on their WordPress blogs using the standard code on BlueHost’s Affiliate Links page, but what if you’d like to show a variety of images to help combat ad blindness? The following code selects a random ad image from a list and then injects that advertisement into your WordPress blog …
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Text Link Ads Marginally Improved

November 08th 2007 Posted to Site Development

Shortly after writing my previous article Text Link Ads Needs Improvement which documents my poor experience with Text Link Ads (TLA) I received a generic e-mail from them which explained that, as a current member of TLA, I was invited to try their new ad program. A new ad program? I guess they thought they were doing so well that it was time to branch out and repeat their failures in new markets.

Anyway, the thing I found most interesting about the e-mail from TLA was that it was signed by the president of TLA himself AND it listed his e-mail address. Hmmm… maybe the President would like to hear about my less than stellar experience with his company. So I wrote him a letter …
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Flash CurveTo Visualization Code

November 01st 2007 Posted to Flash

If you’ve ever wondered how Adobe Flash draws a curve when issued a “curveTo” command this article will help you visualize the process.

As you probably know, Flash requires three points to draw an exponential curve.

  1. A Starting Point. Wherever the Flash drawing pen is currently located. If you have not previously moved the pen with “lineTo”, “curveTo”, or “moveTo” the pen defaults to the origin (0, 0).
  2. A Control Point. A point which the the Flash drawing pen will head toward before changing direction and heading toward the end point. The pen generally does not go through the control point unless your “curve” is nearly straight.
  3. An End Point. Where the Flash drawing pen will come to rest when the curve is complete.

But how exactly does the control point “control” the shape of the curve? How does Flash precisely map the vague concept of heading towards a point and then land precisely at another point? Take a look at the SWF file below …
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