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Weekend Links – MooTools Fancy Upload, 60 Second Tech, jSize, CSS Pull Quotes, PHP First Language

By David Walsh on May 3, 2008

MooTools Fancy Upload

Moo developer Harald Kirschner gave Fancy Upload a face-lift for MooTools 1.2. If you haven't seen Fancy Upload before, please check this out!

http://digitarald.de/project/fancyupload/

Sixty Second Tech

I met Cal Evans through my time as a PHP Zone Leader. He's a really bright guy and his newest podcast show aims to share his knowledge with people that aren't so techy.

http://www.sixtysecondtech.com/

jSize 1.0 - A Window Slider/Resizer Wonder for jQuery

This jQuery gem allows for you to use a slider to change the size of columns within the structure of a website. Cool!

http://www.gimiti.com/kltan/wordpress/?p=27

Better Pull Quotes

CSS-Tricks shows you show to avoid duplicating content to create pull quotes by using a little bit of jQuery goodness.

http://css-tricks.com/better-pull-quotes/

Is PHP a Good First Language?

This article outlines why PHP is a good first server-side language to learn. While I love PHP, I think Java is a better first language to learn. It's much more strict, which I think a developer needs to know first -- then be amazed at how PHP is much easier.

http://codeutopia.net/blog/2008/05/01/is-php-a-good-first-language/

Recent Features

By David WalshSeptember 18, 2017
Conquering Impostor Syndrome
Two years ago I documented my struggles with Imposter Syndrome and the response was immense. I received messages of support and commiseration from new web developers, veteran engineers, and even persons of all experience levels in other professions. I've even caught myself reading the post...
By David WalshJanuary 20, 2014
5 Ways that CSS and JavaScript Interact That You May Not Know About
CSS and JavaScript: the lines seemingly get blurred by each browser release. They have always done a very different job but in the end they are both front-end technologies so they need do need to work closely. We have our .js files and our .css, but...

Incredible Demos

By David WalshFebruary 10, 2010
Fancy FAQs with jQuery Sliders
Frequently asked questions can be super boring, right? They don't have to be! I've already shown you how to create fancy FAQs with MooTools -- here's how to create the same effect using jQuery. The HTML Simply a series of H3s and DIVs wrapper...
By David WalshJune 29, 2009
Highlighter: A MooTools Search & Highlight Plugin
Searching within the page is a major browser functionality, but what if we could code a search box in JavaScript that would do the same thing? I set out to do that using MooTools and ended up with a pretty decent solution. The MooTools JavaScript Class The...

Discussion

Will
In regards to your statement about PHP vs. Java. I would agree, but for different reasons. I think it’s beneficial to know a non-strictly-web language (unless of course you meant JavaScript?) before learning a web language, I would say it would have to be Java though. I learned Java (well, two college semesters worth) before I taught myself PHP, and it made it much easier.
david
@Will: I went the same route — college Java before teaching myself PHP.
Eric Wendelin
Hmm. That’s a tough one about first languages. My first language was HTML for interpreted and Java for compiled languages. If I was teaching, I would teach shell scripting first because it has some simpler but well defined constructs and I pretty much guarantee that you will use it for a LONG time.
Cal Evans
@David,
Thanks for the kind words and the link. :)

=C=