Useful articles and links 5

• Free Admin Template For Web Applications
  It is a 3 column design with a tabbed menu. The idea is having the standard categories in the tab menu for an easy reach and have all the detailed ones in the left menu. And there is an info box at the right to inform users what’s going on at that page. You can customize it however you want to fit your project. It has a listing and a new entry sample which covers %99 of an admin screen.
• Lightweight JavaScript Accordion with CSS
  The JavaScript accordion above is 1.65 kilobytes when packed. If you have a small project that could use an accordion and don’t want to include an entire JavaScript framework to do the job then give this script a try.
• 5 PHP 5 features you can't afford to ignore
  There are dozens of reasons to switch to PHP 5—not least the fact that, if you're still stuck on PHP 4, the PHP team is about to pull the rug from under your feet. Despite the fact that you may not have a choice in the matter, upgrading comes with a number of bonus new features that can help you write better code and gain access to new functionality that required a fair amount of hacking in previous version. Here's a quick list of 5 personal favourites
• 30+ Unusually Awesome Freshly Created Designs
  Today we got you some incredibly awesome website designs that is freshly created with unique ideas, graphics and layouts.

Useful articles and links 4

• Build custom templates for your data-driven Web sites
  Most developers dread dealing with HTML tables and cells to build their Web sites. For one thing, tables make it difficult to modify the site later or to change its appearance. Discover some basic techniques for writing Web sites that you can later re-skin by using templates during the site's initial creation. Also, learn why you should use data-driven techniques for your own Web sites.
• 30 Exceptional CSS Techniques and Examples
  In this article, I’ve pieced together 30 excellent CSS techniques and examples that showcases the capabilities and robustness of CSS. You’ll see a variety of techniques such as image galleries, drop shadows, scalable buttons, menus, and more - all using only CSS and HTML.
• Interview with Donald Knuth
  Andrew Binstock and Donald Knuth converse on the success of open source, the problem with multicore architecture, the disappointing lack of interest in literate programming, the menace of reusable code, and that urban legend about winning a programming contest with a single compilation.
• So long TextMate?... Hello NetBeans? Really? Yeah, really.
  I'll admit it, I'm one of many folks that used to treat NetBeans as a whipping boy. Questioning why Sun would bother dumping money into the horse that so obviously lost the race to Eclipse and IntelliJ to win the hearts and minds of Java developers around the world.
• Build a customizable RSS feed aggregator in PHP
  You'll appreciate this article's fully functional PHP code snippets, demonstrating the use of PHP-based server-side functions to develop a customizable RSS feed aggregator. In addition, you'll reap instant benefits from using the fully functional RSS feed aggregator code, which you can download from this article.
• Website Screenshots capture services
  Here’s the list of some websites that are offering website screenshots services which you can use if you are planing to start a web gallery for example.
• jQuery Thumbs: A JQuery plugin to easily create thumbnails
  jThumb dynamically wraps images and/or link images with a div. You can add them an specific size (width and height) inside the css file. And optionally it can automatically center the image inside the frame.
• SQL Injection Attacks on IIS Web Servers
  You may have seen recent reports that have surfaced stating that web sites running on Microsoft’s Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0 have been compromised. These reports allude to a possible vulnerability in IIS or issues related to Security Advisory 951306 which was released last week.
• How to install RESTful Authentication on a Ruby on Rails 2.0 application
  It’s time to upgrade your Rails 2.0 application with user authentication, and we hear that RESTful Authentication is the way to go, but all the instructions out there (even on the plugin repository sites) are out of date or don’t completely work or only work on Rails 1.2.x. In this tutorial, however, we’ll go step-by-step to install a complete RESTful authentication suite with all the trimmings your advanced Rails 2.0 application requires. Best of all, we’ll maintain complete control of our user administration code instead of relying on 3rd party and/or outdated software.

IT Outsourcing Job Trends

On oDesk, there is new part that could be very useful for us. If you plan to learn new technology, you can make your decision easily after you see the trends on oDesk Job Posts. As you see there Visual Basic is going down while Rails is going up. It means you better start learning Rails instead of Visual Basic ;)
Here you go; http://www.odesk.com/trends

7 days tutorial of Symfony 1.1

With the completion of the new Symfony 1.1 framework, there are many changes in store for the average Symfony developer. Some less visible changes in the framework include a refactoring of the core classes to increase modularity. The largest change, by far, is in the handling of forms, validation, and the helper system. During the next seven days, we'll be covering the new approach to Symfony forms and validation. The new solution is a MAJOR improvement over the old system- it will allow for faster development and greater control. Gone are the days of mindless form generation. The new system isn't perfect, but it's definitely worth your time.

• 7 Days of Symfony 1.1 – Forms, Widgets and Validators (Day1)
• 7 Days of Symfony 1.1 – Forms, Widgets and Validators (Day2)
• 7 Days of Symfony 1.1 – Forms, Widgets and Validators (Day3)
• 7 Days of Symfony 1.1 - Forms, Widgets and Validators (Day4)
• 7 Days of Symfony 1.1 - Forms, Widgets and Validators (Day5)
• 7 Days of Symfony 1.1 - Forms, Widgets and Validators (Day6)
• 7 Days of Symfony 1.1 - Forms, Widgets and Validators (Day7)

Other symfony related posts from Thatsquality.com

• Symfony 1.1 Forms - Customizing your Form in the View (Part1)
• Symfony 1.1 Forms - Customizing your Form in the View (Part2)
• Symfony 1.1 Forms - Customizing-your-form-in-the-view
• Symfony 1.1 Forms - The Evolution of Functionality

Useful articles and links 3

• Google Code University
  This website provides tutorials and sample course content so CS students and educators can learn more about current computing technologies and paradigms. In particular, this content is Creative Commons licensed which makes it easy for CS educators to use in their own classes. The Courses section contains tutorials, lecture slides, and problem sets for a variety of topic areas:
• AJAX Programming
• Distributed Systems
• Web Security
• Languages
• 10 JavaScript Effects to Boost Your Website’s Fanciness Factor
  Here’s a collection of 10 powerful – yet easy-to-implement — JavaScript effects to supplement your web page’s interface. These were picked using a “bang for your buck” methodology; meaning that these effects were chosen specifically because they provide high-impact effects with very little effort in installing and using them.
• 10 things IT needs to know about Ajax
  The introduction of any new Web technology will affect a network's infrastructure in ways that range from inconsequential to earth shattering. Ajax is one of the more disruptive new Web technologies traveling across networks today. To help you minimize future surprises on your network, we've outlined the 10 things you should take to heart about Ajax.
• Calling WebServices via AJAX
  how do you call web services from JavaScript? At least, that's what they asked me, but not really what they meant (I'll explain what their real question was in a subsequent post).

4 places for developers to make money

I have been spending times to search for a places where buyers outsource their various software project to offshore developers, especially to cheap countries.

1. oDesk
   Most qualified providers and most qualified suppliers, developers. Rate are either hourly or fixed. Competition is much more than other places.
   oDesk is a global service marketplace for small and medium sized business to hire, manage, and pay remote freelancers or teams.
2. Rentacoder
   Not always software jobs. sometimes translation, edition etc... Buyers are not so qualified. They try to find someone to do their job under $1. They have even 5$ bid there :)
   Rent a coder is an international marketplace where people who need custom software developed can find coders in a safe and business-friendly environment.
   
3. Scriptlance
   Again cheap place.
   Outsource your projects to freelance programmers and designers at cheap prices. Freelancers will compete for your business. Get programming done
   
4. GetaFreelancer
   Freelance programmers and web designers. Get custom web design. Freelancers bid on outsourced projects. Outsourcing to India, Romania, Ukraine and many ..
5. Elance (updated on 17/04/08)
   Outsourcing to Freelance programmers, copywriters, graphic designers and consultants who submit competitive bids for your projects.
   

Symfony vs Zend framework vs Cakephp vs Others

You are here because you are trying to compare these PHP frameworks to each other. You are spending your time for nothing. These frameworks are all have their own features and purposes. Zend framework is not actually framework, it is just library of useful PHP components, While cakephp and symfony are port of ROR into PHP. If you are familiar with PHP, you don't need to start new language, ruby. Instead you can use either of them. My choice was Symfony. Maybe you will like cakephp. Do not try to compare them. Just start from one of them and you will see how easy to switch among them after learning the general MVC structure and usage. Just start.

Why you should use Symfony?

Actually, you can find plenty of reason why or why not you should use symfony framework. I think advantageous facts are much more than its disadvantages. Thierry Schellenbach has listed 10 reasons why you should use Symfony.

1. Ajax and Javascript
2. Instant admin interface: Advanced crud generation for admin interface
3. Nice Urls: The Routing System
4. Form Handling: Fillin, Validation and Creation
5. Debugging on Steroids
6. Internationalization and Localization (i18n & L10n)
7. Caching
8. Development environments
9. Do not repeat yourself!
10. Bridges to other frameworks

As you see, these reasons are enough for anyone who wish to rapidly develop web2.0 style web applications. Please find whole article from here.
http://www.mellowmorning.com/2007/08/18/ten-reasons-why-symfony-rocks-part-1/
http://www.mellowmorning.com/2007/09/08/ten-reasons-why-symfony-rocks-part-2/