Postcode validation and verification
If you run a UK website which collects any sort of address information, you will no doubt have come across the potentially thorny subject of postcodes. Specifically, you will want…
Usernames in web applications
Nelson Minar has an interesting post on username restrictions in web applications (via rc3.org). I agree that email addresses are better than usernames, as they can be remembered easily, rarely…
Pub Gateway launched
Last week I launched Pub Gateway, a directory of pubs in the British Isles which focuses on precise geographical data and no intrusive advertising. It's written entirely in PHP with…
flickr Lookup released
Over the weekend I released the first version of flickr Lookup, a PHP library for accessing flickr via its API. It's a simple wrapper which turns API requests into PHP…
MaPit Lookup released
I've just released the first version of MaPit Lookup, a PHP library for MaPit, the mapping information service from the chaps at mySociety. It's a simple wrapper which turns MaPit…
WordPress 3.1.1 is out
It's only a minor release. but the 26 fixed issues make upgrading worthwhile.
Thoughts on Zend Framework
I've been trying out a few frameworks recently for a couple of projects, and this week I've been playing around with Zend Framework. These are my thoughts from having gone through…
Overriding default PHP settings in Debian and Ubuntu
For most PHP sites the default settings in php.ini will be sufficient. However, in some circumstances you may find yourself needing to override the defaults -- for example if you…
Apache access control by IP address
If you're running a PHP application, particularly a web service, you may want to restrict access based on the client's IP address. Whilst this is not a fool-proof method of…
Correct headers for file downloads
Most of the time on websites you will simply link directly to a file if you want to allow visitors to download it. However, there are two occasions when you…