Google Tutorials

  • Thoughts on Google+

    It's been a few weeks now since Google+ has hit the scene and and I've had a good amount of time to play with it.  The following are some unorganized thoughts about Google+:

  • Create a Google+ Mac App for Your Dock

    If you follow me on Twitter, you know that Google+ is my new tech porn.  Google+ is the same technological marvel we've come to expect from Google apps, but the elegant but still simplistic design is a welcomed change from Google.  I want to get used to using Google+ but I don't want to be conscious of keeping the tab open in Chrome.  Luckily MooTools developer Olmo Maldonado shared a slick method creating a custom Google+ app without the need for Fluid, and you can place the app in your dock for easy access!

  • Add a Google+1 Badge to Your Website

    Google's new Google+ service is taking the development world by storm, and why shouldn't it?  It's minimalistic UI, use of cutting edge web techniques, and overall usability make it Google+ one of the more impressive web applications I've seen in quite a while (I was going to say "since Google Wave", but that one didn't end up well, did it?) Google+ allows you to share photos, links, statuses, and much more;  consider it a mesh between Twitter and Facebook.

  • Google+ Invites

    Whenever I get an invite to a hot new web app, I feel like Charlie when he got the golden ticket.  Obviously I'm easy to impress, but I'm sure some of you may be too.  I could just give them to whoever asks, but that's far too easy.  And if I'm honest, far too boring for me.  When Google Wave came out, I ran a contest where I made users post their favorite picture of Christina Ricci in order to get an invite.  It was, in a word, glorious.

  • Edge & Mobile Browsers

    From a developer's perspective, the Web is moving faster than ever. Thanks to reinvigorated browser vendors, frequent releases of new mobile devices, and our own need for better APIs and tools, we're seeing loads of movement across each platform. Since browser venders like Mozilla, Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer, and Opera know we need the ability to test these features on desktop and mobile platforms, they have mostly been helpful in providing edge versions of their browsers. This post will show you what each vendor provides in the way of edge versions, as well as how to get them.

  • Track AJAX Link Clicks Using Google Analytics

    4/22/2011: This blog post was completely rewritten to describe page tracking with Analytics' asynchronous loading method.

  • Google PageRank PHP Class

    It appears that Google has changed their Page Rank mechanism. I'm currently investigating ways to restore the functionality of this class.

  • Translate Content with the Google Translate API and JavaScript

    Note:  For this tutorial, I'm using version1 of the Google Translate API.  A newer REST-based version is available.

  • Google URL Shortener PHP Class

    Google has had a URL shortening domain for quite a while now but it wasn't until recently that Google exposed the URL shortening API to the public.  I took a few minutes to review their API and created a very basic GoogleUrlApi class that will shorten long URLs and expand shortened URLs.

  • Implement the Google AJAX Search API

    Let's be honest...WordPress' search functionality isn't great. Let's be more honest...no search functionality is better than Google's. Luckily for us, Google provides an awesome method by which we can use their search for our own site: the Google AJAX Search API. Let me show you how to implement this awesome API within your own website!