How to Jump on the iPad BandWagon

Hello my AWESOME readers, It's Guest Blogger Paul O'Shit, CEO of Clog The Internet PLC. Here once again, to tell you how to boost your site ratings, like a 50 year old with a weekend supply of VIAGRA in a CHEERLEADERS dressing room.

You know, I was at a school reunion the other day, and some of my former classmates, through hard-work and dedication, had found considerable success. One friend had a successful surgery, another a partner in a law firm, and another running a successful manufacturing business. After the reunion, I was thinking about their success, and you know what ? I have something much better than that, I have the illusion of success

Listen to me ranting away here, its time to get on with this month's SEO Advice. Today my awesome readers, I am going to tell you how, you can boost your website awesomeness by jumping on the bandwagon of the iPad.

If you have been following my advice so far, no doubt you have a blog/s over loaded with how to how to and how to state the bleeding obvious. Now, some of you more awesome readers (don't worry, if you keep reading my posts you will all become awesome) may be asking me, why I have waited for now to tell you about how to monetise on the back of the ipad and not two weeks ago. Well, that was to wait for the so called edited websites to get out of the way, I mean, who really wants to read engadget ?

Now onto, how you can turn the iPad into a success for YOU!

Firstly, you don't need to buy one, I am certantly not going to waste my money on what is essentially a high tech tea tray. You can say, you are an expert on the iPad. I will be opening up all my posts with the fact, that I have been using it for three years.

Before continuing, I would like to point out, I normally charge $900 for this kind of advice, but beacuse you are awesome. YOU CAN HAVE IT FOR FREE - but please, keep it a secret.

Remember where I said before, that if you have been following my advice you should have by now, blog/s overloaded with tedious crap ? well, take a look at my how to how to post, and now look at the below

How to Write the How to, How to for the iPad


1. Firstly if you are going to write a How to How to for the iPad, academics and the rest of the world might argue that it takes at least 10'000 hours to become an expert. They are wrong, you too can be an expert by simply googling the subject you have choosen for your blog and copying and pasting the results. This works especially well on the ipad. If you really want to sound like you know what you are talking about, you can even use wikipedia.


Remember, you should spend at least a whole five minutes rewording what you have copied and pasted so that content is ORIGINAL. iPad readers, love original content. I often find copying the opening paragraph from one source and the second from another can speed this process up.


2. Next thing is KEYWORDS, these are vital so your blog appears high on people searching the terms iPad.....

See what I am doing ? I am recycling all my old posts and dropping in the word iPad where I can. Look, heres the opening paragraph from the How to state the bleeding obvious post rewritten.

Hello, its Paul o'Shit here again on his iPaid, SEO Bollocker for Clog the Internet PLC. I hope you are looking at the picture on your iPad and thinking - gosh Im SEX in my new clothes, and how successful does that Jacket make me look!

The key thing is to just just randomly dig out your old posts, stick the word ipad in there every few lines and repost with iPad in the title. Don't worry about the danger of someone reconising the content, no one comes back to your blog anyway.

Keep thinking you are AWESOME!

Paul O'Shit
SEO Bollocker
Clog the Internet PLC

Ps. If anyone in the San Francisco area needs babysitting, grocery fetching, dog walking etc. please get in contact.

A Bit of a Waffle on TikiWiki,Elgg,Xoop,SMF,phpBB and Joomla

I took bit of a wander into the world of opensource on monday. I would like to say it was an eye-opener, but frustrating seems a far better choice of word. I started the day off, with a cup of coffee, a list of requirements and the world wide web. This is my story.

I was looking for a solution for a real world community society I am involved in. Cutting short the requirement's list, I was looking for something that would do the following;

Allow members to join
Set permission levels of access across the site.
A Discussion Forum
RSVP Calendar events
File Section (public/private)
Easy to support

Pretty much what smartgroups.com did (8 years ago?), before it was slaughtered by Orange. I do not want to use Facebook, as they just steal our data, and Meetup.com (current service) does not represent value for money. Also, looking to brand our society and host it on our own domains.

I started off first of all with TikiWiki, a groupware CMS system. I was attracted by what it said on the side of the tin;

Wikis (like in Wikipedia)
Forums (like in phpBB)
Blogs (like in WordPress)
Articles (like in Yahoo News)
Image Gallery (like in Flickr)
Map Server (like in Google Maps)
Link Directory (like in DMOZ)
Multilingual (like in Babel Fish)
Bug Tracker (like in Bugzilla)
RSS Feeds (like in Digg)
Free Open Source software (LGPL)

Sounds good stuff, so I downloaded the files, went to the documentation and started through the initial set up, making sure my server met all the pre requirements. I then ftp'd the software onto my site, went to continue the installation and...  Started to run into permission problems. I should of really wrote down what the error was, but it was along the lines of not being able to access certain directories - chmod to 777. So I did, and then I got myself an internal server error 500.

It was young in the day, and I was full of coffee, so I decided to start again, paying extra attention to the instructions. Again, I ran into the 500 permission error. Now on the installation guide, under step 4. it says

"Too many permissions
If you are getting Internal Server Error 500, blank pages or similar, it could be that the permissions on the files are not appropriate for your webhost.


If you have shell access, you can run:
sh setup.sh
...

Great, I don't have shell access, what I am meant to do ? It doesn't tell me.  I did try a bit of googling for the answer, but after about 15 minutes, I was beginning to loose patience.  Having already tried two attempts, I was not in the mood for trying a third.  So it was in the Bin for Tikiwiki

Next up on the list was Elgg which describes itself as a powerful social engine which empowers individuals, groups and institutions to create their own fully-featured social environment.

I downloaded the software, went through the presteps, created a database and uploaded the software. I then started to go through the set up screens and got stuck on the entering in database information screen. Nothing seemed to happen. I entered in my details, re-entered my details and double checked. But for some reason, it was not letting me passed this screen. Again, onto the help, google and not much useful information to be found - except for checking credentials which I knew to be right. I did see people with similiar probems around the database screen, but they seemed to get error messages or a blank screen after this step. Either way, I had enough at this point and chucked elgg into the bin with Tikiwiki

Third up was XOOPs who bill themselves as an easy to use dynamic web content management system - sounds good, so I downloaded the files and got ready to install.

Having a quick look at the files I have downloaded, I see a htdocs folder. That looks familiar, I have a htdocs on my server with some files and folders, which cause problems if I delete them. There is no problem adding files (before someone says it, I know its the root), but before proceeding, I want to know exactly what xoop intends to do in my htdocs folder. I do not want it deleting anything.  Can I find an answer to this ? No, and that was the end of me trying out Xoop.

Moving away from CMS for a moment, I then decided to try Simple Machines which says

Simple Machines Forum — SMF in short — is a free, professional grade software package that allows you to set up your own online community within minutes.

I did have a false start with the installation, which was my fault (missed one of the mod 777's) but pleased to say, on the second attempt it worked - Hoorah! Success and just in time for lunch too. After some healthy rice and some oily fish, I was able to sit down and start evaluating the software against my requirements. One thing that did impress me, straight from the start, was the ease of being able to set up different discussion groups and set permission levels. It also handles files, so that was another tick.

I then started looking into the plugs in and customisation options. I am a bit confused about how you are meant to install them, but I think that will come from further reading - it does not seem to be straight forward. Missing also was the RSVP functionality, but from searching around, I did find a mod that seems to be in development for that.  I say development, as in the comments, I see that it works on previous versions of the board and you can manually install it on the current.  I do not understand why I can't automatically install it on the current version and why I have to go around such a long winded process to manually install it.

Nor, am I prepared to spend the time finding out. The author in the comments has stated quite recently that they are working on bringing it up to date, and upgrade it. By the sounds of it, the planned extra functionality is exactly what I'm after, so I eagerly await that version which hopefully I can install with ease.

After simple machines, I then decided to try phpBB which says of itself;

Since its creation in 2000, phpBB™ has become the most widely used Open Source forum solution. Like its predecessors, phpBB™ 3.0 “Olympus” has an easy to use administration panel and a user friendly installation process, which allows you to have a forum set up in minutes.

Out of everything, this had by far the most easiest installation and I was surprised how quick I had the site up and running. The administration side looks fiddly and from playing around, it was a few false starts before getting forums set up how I wanted. Nothing wrong with that, its a learning curve.  But, when I started looking at plug ins and customisation, this is where things started to get messy.

There seems to be a confusion about version numbers, compatiability and finding plugins. When I did eventually find two plugins which would provide me with what I wanted to do, both of them had a complex install instructions, with an estimated time of 45 minutes each. I was not prepared to spend an hour and half going through fiddly instructions, for something that may or may not work, just to see if it is the functionality I am after. So it was phpBB to the bin.

Finally, I tried Joomla and they say of themselves

Joomla is an award-winning content management system (CMS), which enables you to build Web sites and powerful online applications. Many aspects, including its ease-of-use and extensibility, have made Joomla the most popular Web site software available. Best of all, Joomla is an open source solution that is freely available to everyone.

Installation; firstly I don't like their online documentation, too clicky and all over the place. To be honest I'm being a little harsh as some effort has gone into it, but I feel it could do with an edit. After a couple of read throughs. I was pleased the installation itself went error free. Joomla looks like it can do a hell of alot, and again whilst the administration side looks like it needs a steep learning curve, there does seem to be method in the madness.

 One of the things I read, which was one of the reasons I tried it, was that in with keeping with "Software that is free, secure and of high-quality", that all official third party extensions should be under GPLv2 license for free distribution - sounds great, also the installation of extensions is straight forward.

So, its on to Joomla to look for plugins to cover the functionality I need ... Oh theres one...wait... I need to register to download it - fair enough, now a read through the reviews

This doesnt work yet and it will compromise your users data. There is a bug that doesn't seem to be fixed.

Very buggy and not well supported at this time.

Ok, I'll think Ill give it a miss and its back to the search... few alternatives later, that seems to do what I want... Ah, that is going to cost me $130 - mmm what happened to the GPLv2 ? A bit more searching and I find another one which seems to offer me all the functionality I want, plus it says its free. Great stuff! I download, install and... Wait a second, it says it can do this but where is the option. Oh wait, hidden in the small print, is I have to become a member of a club for that bit of functionalty. Fair enough - oh wait $129 dollars to join that 'club'

Bin

This is meant to be the point in the article where I say, I then found this excellent service and it does everything I want, but this is not the case. Instead I found frustration, annoyance and the want to throw something at my monitor. In the end, I am going with simple machines, as it does 70% of what I want to do, and I can fill in the gaps with a wordpress blog on the same domain.

A final rant, before getting to the conclusion. I spent a fair amount of time reading through forums of the developers of both the sofware and plugins for all of the above. This is a seperate waffle, but I would say;

"If you are not prepared to write clear documentation ...."
"If you are not prepared to keep your software/plugin up to date..."
"If you are not prepared to support your software/plugin..."
"If you are not prepared to fully test your code..."
"If you are not prepared to release robust code..."

Please do not bother at all.

Now, the conclusion. I know some people reading this may be thinking, well I should of done this, or spent more time reading the files here. I ask, what is a reasonable amount of time for someone to spend on an install ? how much technical knowledge should the user have before commencing installing the product or adding a plugin. I hate to break it to you geekboys, but normally people have been on, and using the internet for sometime now. Wordpress seems to manage it extremley well.

There is probably another set reading this, saying that I was expecting too much for free, and I would say; well i was expecting a fair bit more than what I did find. This waffle is not about paid for services (which down the line may be  my next move ). This is a waffle about looking at opensource as viable option for a real world requirement. I was expecting at the very least, to be excited about what was out there and have high hopes for the future.  All I have, is the opinion there is a lot of crap out there.

It seems to me, that if opensource is going to enter into the mainstream, then it must focus on the user more. Also, in the absence of any "figurehead', the community behind, not just the software, but any related service such as plugins. Must be aware, that their actions contribute to the image and reputation of the product. As I have mentioned in a previous post of mine, Reputation is not something that has been replaced with a profile, a tag line and a dynamic photo.

Can we reclaim the following ten words please

Better

Is not the definition of taking an existing idea, adding your brand to it and over charging the odds for it.

Charity

Jumping on the bandwagon of a  major incident and trying to promote yourself or your products along the lines of "You might have never heard of me, because I haven't done anything noteworthy,but I will donate $1 dollar to the appeal if you buy my crap"  does not appear to be listed here.

Everyone

Just because you and your mate were talking about it down the pub, that doesn't mean the rest of the world cares.

Expert

Knowing how to google something, does not make you an expert, nor does, surprisingly simply declaring yourself to be one.

Fact

Just because some conservative redneck has edited that article on wikipedia, does not make it fact.

Help

Does not involve giving away a copy pasta ebook, which you claimed to normally charge 29.99 dollars for, nor does it involve putting your picture next to everything and telling the world how awesome you are.

Pandemic

I've checked several dictionaries and none of them define Pandemic as;  four people in Croydon who have a cough and a runny nose.

Quality

Does not involve copy pasting things you don't really understand, whilst declaring yourself to be an expert. Nor, does it involve coming up with as much said copy pasta material as you can in a given day.

Reputation

Is not something that has been replaced by a profile, a tag line and a dynamic photograph of yourself.

Theory

Is not a cue to start spurting nonsense and running around like a headless chicken.

Photograph by David Singleton taken from wikicommons under a creative commons 2.0 licence

PlugIn for Posting Code on a WordPress Blog

Firstly a rant. 


IF YOU WANT TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY AS A PROGRAMMER THEN;


Make sure you keep all your historic projects in check. Whether that be, making it clearly marked that it is abandoned, removing all instances of it from the web, or updating documentation/websites and pointing past users to newer versions. 


rant over. 


I have been helping out on setting up this wordpress blog for a Leeds based IT contractor who is posting up code samples amongst other things.  It has been a real pain finding a plugin that works (see above rant) and in the end, the blog is using Syntax Highlighter Evolved. I honestly couldn't tell you whether it was the best, because I gave up going through them, when I found the first one that worked. 

How to downgrade your LinkedIn Account

This really pisses me off when companies make it hard for someone to cancel or downgrade a subscription or membership to a site.

These are the steps I took to downgrade my Linkedin account from a business account to a personal account.

1) Log into Linkedin
2) Click on Help *
3) Type in downgrade
4) This should bring up an article called "Downgrading your premium subscription" and in that article is the option to Cancel your account. Clicking on this will send an email request to customer services to cancel your account**

*When googling this, I noticed some people provide a direct link - this link has seemed to have changed  hence why I have included the steps.
**The first option is to change subscription type, you need to scroll down for the cancel option.

There is no reason why they can't have an option under settings or an option under account types. Notice how easy they make it for you to sign up. This is really shit business practice and people should not put up with it, especially considering the premium service offers no real benefits.

Bookmarks - They are a bit pants.

This Thursday I intend to strike the first blow against the Grammar W*nker. For this historic occasion I required some sound effects.

There is an excellent resource for Creative Commons licensed sound effects called Freesound. 
I can never remember the name of this site and as such, I have it marked in my bookmarks and this is where the problem lies.

Opening up the bookmark menu, I have a few folders at the top - fodder left over from previous attempts to organise bookmarks logically. There is one folder called film and nope, the bookmark is not there.  I then have a massive long list of unsorted bookmarks e.g.. 

Famous Curves Index 
Diliettante
Untitled document

Finally after scrolling down and clicking on a few similar named sites I get to where I want to be.  At this point, I think it would be fair to argue that surely this is my lack of organising my bookmarks in the first place, and I am always one of the first to shout out a bad workmen blames his tools. In this case, I feel the mechanism is all wrong and what is the computer there for if not to make life easier.

Looking through my bookmarks in more detail, the vast majority of bookmarks I have are for 'one off references'. They are for things like the above famous curve index(I hate to disappoint you - its  geometry related) which I marked for inclusion in a post I wrote on drawing skeletons

They stay in the bookmark menu because its six steps to remove them* and most likely I will be referring to the content within them from another application such as Pages or Word.

There are then another chunk of bookmarks where I have been looking for things such as suppliers - sometimes quite specialised such as I have a long list of Roman Armour suppliers. These are lists, which why I don't use that often, I do like to have them easy accessible.

I am also an Archaeology student and have a plethora of archaeology and history related sites, some of which I need for the duration, others to serve the purpose of a paper - which really reminds me I need to get on finish my latest paper about Otzi the iceman and his tatoos

Next up I have a big mix and match of things which people have emailed me or I have come across which seemed funny, articles I will one day get around to reading and addresses and maps for places I have once been.

Finally the bookmarks which I use daily such as twitter, facebook etc. These all exist on the toolbar.

I know there are tags you can add to bookmarks , but this is cumbersome and retrieving tagged bookmarks is not efficient. I know you can also add folders when adding a bookmark - but as mentioned earlier I think the mechanism is all wrong.

How does this sound ?

Firstly when I open my browser I want to state why I am on the web (will do a future post of my thoughts on this, a profile if you like)  If I am catching up with friends etc , then I am pretty much going to be diving straight into facebook and twitter and my email.  If however, I am going on line to research for an archaeology paper I am most likely going to be starting off with the bookmarks I have, wikipedia if I have to and I don't want my search results to include shopping sites or amusing you tube videos to be distracted by.

The interface should change to reflect this, I am not talking dramatically and it should be easy to switch back and fourth between profiles(one click).  What this does mean that say I am in my archaeology profile, anything I bookmark now will be marked as such and pages I have already marked would automatically be at the top of the menu - sorted by frequency.

On a mouse over of the item in the menu, a quick preview would appear if i need to refresh my memory.

Say I was researching for something specific , such as in the case of the aforementioned Otzi the Iceman. What I would do then is the following (this would also work If I was looking to make a list of suppliers or wanting to collect some recipes)

From the bookmark Menu I would click 'Add Topic' and type in the word "Otzi".A big X button would appear on my screen and until I click that big X, everything I bookmark will be marked Archeology - Oetzi

On top of this, Say I am only after a reference I could right click on the screen, select 'Booknote' which would then allow me to draw a red circle around the part I wanted on screen. This would save a screenshot, link, section of the page  and display all such snippets on a single scrollable page accessed from the bookmark topic menu. Each snippet would have a big red cross on it so it could be deleted easily ( a history of deleted snippets just in case)

As a Buffer , say I came across a fantastic tutorial on photography whilst in my archeological profile and I don't want to move focus from my reasearch, I could right click and choose "Bookmark under another profile" and this would save that site under the top level for my photography profile.

That's my two pence













*I'm refering to Mozzilla Browser

How to Write the How to, How to

1. Firstly, academics and the rest of the world might argue that it takes at least 10'000 hours to become an expert. They are wrong, you too can be an expert by simply googling the subject you have choosen for your blog and copying and pasting the results. If you really want to sound like you know what you are talking about, you can even use wikipedia.

Remember, you should spend at least a whole five minutes rewording what you have copied and pasted so that content is ORIGINAL. I often find copying the opening paragraph from one source and the second from another can speed this process up.

2. Next thing is KEYWORDS, these are vital so your blog appears high in the search engines above blogs that might be more informative than yours. You should try and bastardised the English language as much as possible to get those words into your posts. For example, lets say your choosen subject is Knitting and you are doing a post on Knitting needles; Here is the opening sentence from wikipedia

knitting needle or knitting pin is a tool in hand-knitting to produce knitted fabrics. They generally have a long shaft and taper at their end, but they are not nearly as sharp as sewing needles

That is not going to score high in the rankings at all,  try rephrasing it as follows

SEXY Knitting Needles of the SEO like Knitting Pins is a tool like your PENIS used in hand-knitting and CASINO's to produce knitted fabrics. They generally have a long shaft and tape at their end - perfect for MEETING SINGLE WOMEN, but they are not nearly as sharp as the VIAGRA Sewing needles.

3. Your parents and your teachers might have taught you that it is better to be a master at one trade than a 'Jack of All trades' - but how wrong were they ? Using the above two tips alone you can generate blog after blog about any subject you want. I run two hundred blogs which I update every day, that means I am an EXPERT in 200 subjects and I never even went to university!

4. I am now going to let you in on the three guaranteed secrets that will make your blog a real success.  I am not really, actually I just copied pasted three things at random from other blogs, but see what I did there by saying I was going to let you in on a secret ?

1. Put a picture of someone with a pretty looking women or a person in an expensive car. Anything, as long as it says "sucess" on your site. No one has to know you are 37 live with your mum and a horrible failure in life, or that you are 17 and trying to raise money for college as you are too lazy to get a real job. 
2. Use your 200 blogs to comment on your other blogs to generate instant traffic. You do not need to spend a lot of time on this; just copy paste the phrase "Great blog post, you really know about your subject" on all of them.  No one will ever notice that its the same person. This also works on twitter; set up as many twitter accounts as you can and invite people at random. Having a profile picture of a young sweedish girl with a cock in her mouth is a good idea. At every opportunity send out "Ive just read this great blog post" with a  link to your blog and hash it with as many keywords as you can, people really don't mind.
   
3. Remember what I said about having two hundred blogs ? It would be crazy to think even with the copying pasting that I could populate that many blogs in one go. What I do is just substitue a few words here and there. Look how easily that knitting example is now about Neurosurgery

               

SEXY Surgery of the SEO like central nervous system is a discipline like your PENIS used in surgical intervention and CASINO's to operate on the brain. The brains generally have a long cerebal aneurysm - perfect for MEETING SINGLE WOMEN, but they are not nearly as sharp as the VIAGRA Cerebellum.

5. Occasionally people with slightly more brain cells than yourself will come along to your blog. THESE ARE THE TWO GUARANTEED methods that they won't pick up on the secrets I am telling you and will make you seem more of an expert.

1. Choose a couple of people who through hard work and dedication have succedeed with great sucess in their fields and slip their names into your articles - this gives your posts a degree of authenticity and it also does npt hurt to occasionally drop in a celebrity or two now and then.
   
2. Remember your target audience are as stupid as you. To stop them getting above their stations you need them to know that you are the all knowing. You can do this by feeding their ego's - remember to be subtle.
   

See how GREAT this sounds now ?

    SEXY Surgery done by Steve Jobs of the SEO like central nervous system is a discipline like your PENIS and that of Larry Pages  used in surgical intervention and CASINO's to operate on the brain. The brains generally have a long cerebal aneurysm - perfect for MEETING SINGLE WOMEN or indeed Lindsay Lohan, but they are not nearly as sharp as the VIAGRA Cerebellum, which I'm sure, you my reader understand because your are AWESOME.

6.  Your upbringing might have been a sad and lonely affair, but no one must find out. I've already mentioned about adding a successful picture to your blog, but also try and include bold statements in your posts and add throwaway comments of James Bond activites you dream of one day doing - but refer to them in the past tense.

7. The difference between the amateur and pro blogger, and by pro I mean have received at least one cheque from google, is the ability to keep the post clear and concise. One trick of the trade is to add a picture, for it is indeed true when they say it is worth a 1000 words. Think how much copy pasting that could save you- you are AWESOME!

8. Remember to use lists, everyone from prince to pauper loves a list. Lists make you AWESOME!!! You can never have enough lists.

9. People like gossip and even though you are writing a how to article, a little bit of slander or libel thown in can easily get you up the rankings.

10. Finally, remember to use a title that not only gives a clear indication of what your post is about but also contains plenty of keywords.

This is how our blog post on Brain Surgery has turned out

HOW TO IMPRESS EIGHTEEN YEAR OLD LESBIAN CHEERLEADERS WITH BRAIN SURGERY

SEXY Surgery done by Steve Jobs of the SEO like central nervous system is a discipline like your PENIS and that of Larry Pages used in surgical intervention. Whilst I was out on my Jet ski I came up with this list, for you my AWESOME readers

1. Casting on
2. Casting off (or binding off)
3. Decrease
4. Garter stitch
5. Increase
6. Knit stitch
7. Purl stitch
8. Slip stitch
9. Stocking stitch
10. Yarn over

This is the most AUTHORITIVE list to do with brain surgery man can come up with, and it was made by me. I AM EXPERT and LEGION.  Every CASINO and hospital across the world needs a list like this to operate on the brain. Talking of brains I heard that Obama wears womens underwear and his long cerebal aneurysm is not that long - which does not help if you are MEETING SINGLE WOMEN or indeed Lindsay Lohan who I met whilst skydiving in Paris. Here is a diagram.

 I am very sharp and VIAGRA and CEREBELLUM can be found in most places of the world that have SEX and the ability to purchase THAI BRIDES.

YOU ARE AWESOME


Come back next week, when I will show you how you can recycle your old posts by simply changing the order. I will be showing you how you can take a post on the subject of Brain surgery and turn it into an article on Knitting.

YOU ARE AWESOME!


by Guest Blogger Paul o'Shit , SEO Bollocker for Clog the Internet PLC.

Simple insert into mysql from html form via php example

*** Disclaimer if you think the internet is there to do all the work for you, then this post is not for you, go and enjoy a chat with your neighbour  ***

Just been spending a bit more time learning php and on the future recipe section for my chance1234.com site. I wanted a clean and simple INSERT INTO example which I can use as a basis for future development.

In the php book I am reading I have tons of examples and on the web, there are tons of examples - but!! A lot of them have lots of other bits and pieces cluttering them up. In good time, as I learn more I am sure it will begin to make sense. But, I think a lot of people who write tutorials forget who they are writing for. Putitng in ISSET() might be second nature for yourself, but if you do not explain why you are putting it there, then it is just confusion.

Also, Yes sometimes the most simple solutions are not the right solution, but for someone learning, stripping back to the essentials can be most beneficial so they can see clearly what is going on. Remember making mistakes is one of the best ways of learning.

Anyway, end of rant and onto my insert.

I have a php file for adding recipes to my database. It currently looks something like this and is tentatively named add.php

<?php
require_once 'funcLists.php';
?>

<form action="transRecipe.php" method="POST">

<h1>Add Recipes</h1>

<p>Recipe Title
  <input type="text" size=50 name="recipeTitle" maxlength="255"  value="">
</p>

<p>Recipe Type
  <?php listRecipesTypes(); ?>   
  </p>
 
<p>Quick Description<br>
    <textarea name="recipeQuick" rows="6" cols="63"></textarea>
</p>

<p>Select Ingredients</p>
    <?php listIngredients() ?>   
<br>

<input type="submit" type="submit" value="Add Recipe">   

</form>

I also have a second php file called transRecipes.php , which contains my INSERT INTO code and that looks like this.

<?php

require_once '../conn.php';


        $sql = "INSERT INTO recipe (rType,title,quick)
        VALUES
        ($_POST[recipeType],'$_POST[recipeTitle]','$_POST[recipeQuick]')";
       
       
        echo $sql;
         echo "<br><br>";
       
        if (!mysql_query($sql))
          {
          die('Error: ' . mysql_error());
          }
        echo "Here is my bottom";

?>

And here is a list of the important condsiderations

1. In the form action part , there is the reference to the transRecipe.php file , which you need for it to work
   
2. The $POST[...] parts in transRecipe refer to the names of the input controls on the Add.php file
3. The echo parts are there to help me debug and allow us to concentrate on getting the SQL right in the INSERT statement

Removing the blue border around an image

This is why i think i have stayed away from web pages in the past, there is all this crap like, one thing works in one browser and not in another.

On the front page to my chance1234.com site, in firefox there was a bluebox around the images which was not present in safari.

Doing a quick google and being flooded with pages with different solutions, I added

"border=0>" to my image link tab.

I don't know if this is the right or wrong approach, but it seems to be working