There are many times we might want to retrieve some data from the server or database without taking the user away from the current page. One such example of this is when a user is registering for a website and they need to verify if a username is available for use or not. Using an AJAX XMLHttpRequest is a quick and efficient way to check the availability of the username. The javascript XMLHttpRequest retrieves information from the server without using a page refresh.

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When it comes to developing new applications for the web, it doesn’t take long for plans to spiral out of control. The development track usually starts off simple, but somewhere between initial planning and final release there is this thing we here like to call “Feature Creep”.

our application vs. good application

What might start off as a simple idea is turned into a three headed monster as more people add their input. The longer it takes the application to be completed, the more features are added to it until the next thing you know, the application has forms, polls, feedback, email to a friend, embed, etc all added to this small 300 x 300 pixel box. Read More

I have put together a “tool” kit of sorts to help anyone who is just starting out with scripting with javascript. I used javascript sparingly the first few years that I was scripting web applications and sites and it wasn’t until the last year that I really became infatuated with the scripting language.

My understanding of javascript has increased as I have scoured google.com looking for functions and frameworks to fulfill my page or project needs, but I still feel there is a lot more to learn. I have decided to create this list to help anyone who might just be starting out and needs some direction. Read More

Having to mess with forms all the time, I was beginning to go crazy tweeking different messages. One for success, one for failure, one for help, etc.

I decided to try to combine some css with some javascript to make a nice reusable piece to display my form messages. Here is the fruit of that labor.

The function is going to take three arguments. The first argument is a message and or list of messages. The second is the id of the node you would like to stick the message before. The last argument is a classname.

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There are so many great tutorials on the web about setting up a Linux box for web hosting, but why not add one more… right? Actually this tutorial is written specifically for a co worker that is not familiar with Linux, so this tutorial is being offered to “assist” him with the migration process. His old hosting company provided him with CPanel and he is reluctant to change, but who in their right mind would pass up hosting at the price of “free ninty-nine”.

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UPDATE: Please disregard all that is below (I was talking out my arse). All was good for some time and then I began getting this error again. After some extensive google searching, I found a lot of articles that indicated that using localhost.localdomain for host would cause the mail to be rejected. I changed my hosts file (keeping localhost.localdomain localhost of course) and rebooted. Still didn’t have much luck so I installed sendmail from scratch again using the following instructions from howtoforge and all was good.

http://www.howtoforge.com/configuring-sendmail-to-act-as-a-smarthost-and-to-rewrite-from-address

Again DO NOT USE THE DESTRUCTIONS BELOW

I noticed last week that my emails were not being delivered properly. After taking a look at when the issue started, I realized that it was about the same time I updated my box.

My email was being returned with the reason: 550 Banned rcpt apache@localhost.localdomain. There was also another error 554 5.0.0 Service unavailable. Both of these errors on their own were not to helpful. I asked a friend (the one who sold me the box) to help and he gave me some good advice, but I was unable to resolve the issue and several Google searches didn’t reveal any solution.

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