Devit!

Lists for development tools are often posted with the top 10, 15 or 25 tools for a particular task. Cutting through those list we’ve produced a list of tools that we think will save you time. Whether you work for an organization or you’re a freelancer these tools should help you succeed. If you think we’ve missed some feel free to post comments with links to tools you’ve found save you the most time when delivering high quality code. Web Development wouldn’t be where it is today without these tools below and many others available online.

1. Firebug (Firefox Extension – Can’t live without it)

2. HTML Validator (Firefox Extension – Based on HTML Tidy , Helps catch your mistakes)

3. Google Suggest (Often one of the best tools for solving a problem or finding an alternative solution)

4. Umbrello UML Modeller (Opensource – Plan ahead, save time!)

5. ColorZilla (Firefox Extension – Grab any color on any website with the click of a mouse)

6. Pearl Crescent Page Saver (Firefox Extension – Take screenshots, various options)

7. VMware (Virtual Servers – test in any environment)

8. SEO for Firefox (Important SEO information in google and yahoo search results)

9. Notepad++ (Lightweight text editor supporting multiple programming languages)

When creating a new website for a client a lot of effort goes into creating the visual look. Elements such as colour choice, photography and illustration, intuitive navigation and your company’s brand all play important roles in shaping your customers’ perception of your company. When it comes to your website’s search engine performance, however, none of these things really matter. To the search engines’ computers content is king.
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Switching gears from strictly software development topics, we’re going to look at the benefits of working in London, Ontario. rtraction calls London home and has enjoyed growing it’s business in The Forest City (is the nickname for London). London has a lot to offer to both businesses and employees alike. The city has the infrastructure available to support Information Technology companies and there are many organizations that are designed to help businesses flourish.

Organizations such as Techalliance, London Chamber of Commerce, The London Economic Development Corporation and many more. There are many cultural events and attractions making London a very exciting, vibrant city to live in. If you’ve recently moved to our city or are considering it you may want to check out the Newcomers Club.

Some of London’s most successful companies revolve around software development:
Digital Extremes – developers of Unreal and Unreal Tournament, Dark Sector, and Epic Pinball
Big Blue Bubble – developers of Mobile and Console games
Info-Tech Research Group – is a global leader in providing IT research and advice
Activplant – a leader in enterprise manufacturing intelligence
Autodata – provides tools for the automotive industry

For more information about London, Ontario try these sites below:
The City of London
Ambassador London

For a look at our heritage and other attractions try these sites below:
Landmarks London
Tourism London
London Arts Council

It’s been quite a while since the first Javascripts were written to obfuscate emails from the SPAM bots. With more bots than you want to admit on the loose, it became essential real quick that we find a way to avoid our clients emails being harvested for use by the not so savoury.

Since that time the need for websites that pass accessibility standards has increased. Many clients want their site to be readable by the widest possible audience. In some cases, those with visual impairments are the target audience. Although javascript is fairly common, their is a small percentage that go without because of company policy or otherwise. With the growing number of mobile devices that usually have limited Javascript support it is becoming more important to have a backup system.

This article details adding a secondary level of accessibility to obfuscated email addresses without losing the small audience of people (6% according to w3schools).

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/gracefulemailobfuscation

If you’ve ever worked with AJAX then you can probably relate. When it comes to debugging complex problem over AJAX it can be difficult to pinpoint the problem. For example if the AJAX call is failing to retain the session or something similar it can be very difficult to determine why. Often we might look at the AJAX debug information built into most libraries but that won’t necessarily point you in the write direction. The AJAX debug information may prove to be no help at all if the calls back to the server are failing before the execution of your AJAX functions.

For a solution to this problem – look back and go simple. Debug the problem by outputting information to a file on the server. Write out all the session information, and record the passed data. Doing this will hopefully save you some time and frustration if you’re having problems with debugging AJAX.