I’ve recently started doing some AJAX programming including the PenguinGallery used for my photo galleries. Ajax isn’t actually a programming language, but is a name given to the technologies used to provide smooth interactive websites. It is actually the combination of Javascript embedded within the webpage and code on the server (often PHP) and the […]

At work I use Microsoft Visio which I do like, but the file format is very temperamental. Recently we’ve had a few documents that have been unusable due to a corrupt .vsd file. Fortunately we had backups allowing us to recover from an older version (although difficult to reinstall), but this could have resulted in […]

New fire safety campaign by Hereford and Worcester fire service highlights the risks of overloaded sockets and Christmas trees. It includes a video created by the fire service showing what damage could be done. Christmas Fire Safety Video Don’t let fire spoil your Christmas. Here are the 12 days rules of Christmas. Never leave candles […]

This year’s Children in Need charity fund-raising included a music DVD and CD featuring a large cast of children TV characters. The brain behind the idea is comedian Peter Kay who is the voice behind Big Chris from Roary the Racing Car. It’s an all star cast like a children equivalent of Band Aid, The […]

This is one of those rare books that I just couldn’t get enough of. Without a doubt a great buy. Wicked Cool PHP scripts does not teach you to program in PHP. It assumes that you already understand the basics of programming and the PHP language, if not then Learning PHP 5 from O’Reilly would […]

Looking at the title of these two books you’d think that these were the complete opposite of each other. In a way this is true, but they are both teaching the same thing, which is how to make a professional looking website. I’ve reviewed this together as they do in fact have quite a lot […]

This is some info that I wrote some time ago on PDF files (Portable Document Format). PDF (Portable Document Format), is a popular format for distributing files. It can be read using Adobe’s Free Acrobat Reader as well as a number of alternative viewers. The reasons for it’s popularity is that files can be read […]

I’ve now converted my WatkissOnline website to be completely generated from WordPress. It is still running on the same hosted Linux web server. Most visitors will probably not notice any change, or if they do they are more likely to see that the menu has been shrunk and the entries changed which is a separate […]

Smartwater is a way of forensically marking all your property and valuables. It means that if your items are stolen and recovered then the police can track down the rightful owner. Just as important it also means that anyone found to be in possession of the stolen goods can be linked to the crime and […]

I did some work a few years ago using Flash in the Theatre. The information is no longer current, so I’m taking it off my main website, but keeping it here in my blog for future reference. Flash on Stage Introduction I have been involved in stage productions where computer animation and video has featured […]