We’ve put together some of the best holiday sales for web designers and developers. Enjoy!

Read Holiday Sales for Web Designers and Developers on Web Development Blog!

The book is written for jQuery Mobile Beta 2 which is the current version of jQuery Mobile and there are 3 parts to the book.

Part I covers the basics you need to know about jQuery Mobile. The thing I like about it is that it contains a lot of sample code, so if you like to create a website while reading the book, you can do so easily with the help of sample code. The tutorials in Part I is great for someone who wants to just get a simple mobile site up and running without wanting to worry too much about the UI and the nitty gritty details.

Part II focuses on the fundamentals of building user interfaces with jQuery Mobile. It covers dialogs, forms, navigations, lists, header, footer and other essential elements of a website. I particularly liked the “Creating Forms” chapter because it contains a lot of information about different input elements and attributes that you can use in jQuery Mobile. Forms are one of the most trickest elements in web designs and it is very helpful to have the whole chapter dedicated to this subject. If you are looking to create a mobile web application that uses forms, this chapter is a must-read.

Part III is titled Beyond the Basics and it contains 3 chapters; themeing jQuery Mobile, the jQuery Mobile API and a complete web app example. As you probably already knew, jQuery Mobile comes with 5 default themes that you can choose from, but more often than not, you need to create a custom theme that suits your website or web app. Themeing jQuery Mobile chapter explains just how you can do that with an example red theme. The jQuery Mobile API is another favourite chapter of mine because when I was developing in jQuery Mobile a few months ago, there weren’t a lot of resources available on how the API works, in particular, the methods and events available. It could have saved me a lot of time if only I had this book back then. The last chapter in Part III is a complete web app example. The web app example uses PHP5 for the back end and as the title suggest, it is a complete app, meaning you can take the example code, upload it to your web server and have a fully functional web app in jQuery Mobile.

Overall, the book is an excellent book for developers who want to dive into mobile app development with jQuery Mobile. There are a lot of screenshots, code examples and references to help you get started. What I like most about the book is that it’s written by a developer for developers which means the tutorials are easy to follow and will get you up to speed on the basics of app development in no time.

Read Book Review: Master Mobile Web Apps with jQuery Mobile on Web Development Blog!

PhpRiot PHP Reference

This app gives you full access to PHP manual, Zend Framework programmer’s guide and Smarty Template Engine manual. There is also a quiz training system, which you can use to test and improve your PHP knowledge.

iHTML

This is a must-have utility app for web developers as it displays HTML source of a web address. There are two modes available; on Portrait mode, it displays raw HTML and on Landscape mode, it shows a web view alongside the source.

CSS UNIT Converter

This is a quick and easy conversion calculator for Front-end developers working with pixels, ems, percentages, and points. It lets you convert a font size in pixel to em, pt and % easily. The conversion table is very useful because you can see all the different values in a single screen.

CSS Quick Reference

CSS Reference app provides handy access to all of the W3C’s Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) properties, pseudo-classes and pseudo-elements, including the syntax (with the equivalent JavaScript syntax for the given property), possible values for each property, usage notes, and fully rendered sample code. The sample HTML code can be edited and re-displayed using the built-in browser which mean you can try different values and see how it looks without having to use another CSS Editor.

Mobile CSS Reference

Mobile CSS Reference gives you descriptions, examples, syntax and limitations of CSS properties and selectors on a nice UI.

WhatTheFont

This app lets you identify the fonts in a photo or a screeshot. So the next time you see a great font in a magazine ad, poster, or on the web, you can just take out your iPhone and snap a photo, and WhatTheFont will identify that font for you. This app requires Internet connection and works via Wi-Fi or the mobile phone (3G) network.

Linux Command Reference

With Linux Command Reference (LCR) app, you can access to the most widely used Linux commands to date. Although this app doesn’t cover every single Linux command, it is a good “starter” for anyone who’s just starting out with the Linux operating system.

JSInt

JSInt is an interactive JavaScript console which lets you perform mathematical calculations or for learning JavaScript. Just input your Javascript statement in the console and it will return you the result. For example, if you enter parseInt(5.135, 10), it will return 5. JSInt uses JavaScriptCore Open Source library which implements JavaScript 1.5 / ECMA-262 3rd edition.

Chmod

Chmod is a handy little utility app for determining file and directory permissions on Mac OS X, Linux and Unix operating systems.

RGB Colors

RGB Colors iPhone app show you the color of the RGB combination that you choose using the sliders provided. It will be useful when you want to use rgb or rgba values to declare a color in CSS.

WordPress

WordPress app enables you to manage your WordPress blog or site from your iPhone device. With this app, you can moderate comments, create or edit posts and pages, and add images or videos with ease. All you need is a WordPress.com blog or a self-hosted WordPress.org site running 2.9.2 or higher. I have written a step-by-step guide on how to use WordPress iPhone app.

Dropbox

Dropbox app lets you access all your photos, docs, and videos saved in your Dropbox account from your iPhone. Not only does it let you access the files, you can also save photos and videos into your Dropbox account from your iPhone.

PassGen

PassGen generates a random password that is between 4 and 16 digits and comprised of upper and lower case letters, numbers and special characters. It can also be used to generate Hexadecimal passwords. Once a password has been generated, it can be emailed.

Read 13 FREE iPhone Apps for Web Developers on Web Development Blog!

Coupons for Godaddy Domain names

Any order (eg: SSL certificate, Domain Name, Hosting, etc)

Read Godaddy Coupons 2011 on Web Development Blog!

Check out and like our Webmaster Resources page on Facebook for your chance to win USD 30*!

on.fb.me/webmaster-resources

* will be given as paypal gift.

Read Webmaster Resources – Like it now for your chance to win! on Web Development Blog!

Myer Store Locator

Store Locator for iPhone
Get your business found by many smartphone users all over Australia.
Let your customers locate your stores quickly and easily.
Obtain an easy-to-remember web address sitelocator.mobi/yourstore
No need to install anything! Just touch and go!

SIGN UP NOW!

What does it do?

The iPhone Store Locator is a store locator web app that works by postcode or your location via GPS. There are two main components to the Store Locator app; front end and back end.

The front end allows users to locate a store or a business by postcode or by their current location (using iPhone’s built-in GPS). The app will find up to 5 store locations nearby that are within approximately 25 kilometers (15 miles) radius of the specified location.

The back end allows franchise owners and service providers to add the locations of their offices and stores from a web based system and this will automatically geocode addresses. The web based back end enables businesses to add, edit and delete store locations from anywhere via a simple user interface. Businesses can also customise the brand of their front end app by uploading a logo.

Why a web app instead of a native app?

One of the most common questions asked is why we chose a web app over a native app for this project. There were quite a few reasons why we went this way, but let us highlight 3 main benefits for businesses and developers.

1. Benefits For Businesses/Clients

Accessibility (No Download/Install)

There are some popular Store Locator native iPhone apps on App Store like Starbucks Store Locator and McDonalds Store Locator. However, the problem with a native app is that you need to download and install the app first before you can use it. And most people who just need to use the app every once in a while are not likely to download the app. This is why web apps are better. If, for example, you are looking for the nearest Myer store while you are on the road, the first thing you would do is go to Myer website. And on Myer website, you will see a banner ad with a special message for iPhone users that goes something like “Looking for a Myer Store near you? Click here!” and once you click/touch on that link, you will be taken to the Myer Store Locator for iPhone. Since it is a web app, you don’t need to install anything at all. All you need is Internet connection and WebKit-based browser which you already have with your phone.

Portability

With native iPhone apps, the app is only available for one single device – the iPhone. However, with the web app, we have developed it in such a way as it is compatible with most browsers so you can use it not just on an iPhone but also on other smart phones like Android, HTC and Blackberry. It is a great win for businesses because they are able to reach broader smart phone users on multiple devices and platforms with one single app.

Cost Saving

Getting a web app developed is much cheaper compared to getting a native app developed. With Store Locator for iPhone, business owners get the best of both worlds. Unlike having a website where the business owner has to manage hosting, domain name registration, etc, Anansi Store Locator is a hosted solution and therefore all the technical details are looked after by Anansi. There is no need to spend thousands of dollars on development or server infrastructure. Since the app is already developed and hosted by Anansi, all you need is to pay for is a subscription fee. Users of the app won’t need to pay anything as it will be available for free on the web.

2. Benefits For Developers

Ease of Maintenance

Since iPhone web apps don’t need to be approved by Apple to be listed on App Store, the developers (Anansi Web Development), can release updates whenever necessary. Updates take effect immediately the moment they are deployed onto the web server, as oppose to native apps where updates have to be installed by the user on their iPhone. As a web app developer, you can be sure that every user of the app is using one single version, whereas with native iPhone apps, it is possible for users to be using different (outdated) versions.

No Sharing of Revenue Stream

Apple takes about 30% of the price from iPhone apps sold on App Store. However, with web apps, the developer doesn’t need to share the revenue. The cost of running/hosting the web app works out to be much cheaper than sharing the revenue with Apple.

Full Control

Native iPhone apps are like desktop apps that are installed onto your mobile device while web apps are accessed from a web location via a URL. Having a web app means the developer has full control over the app, when it comes to configuring, deploying and upgrading the app. It suits our business model because we need to allow business owners to be able to sign up and make their Store Locator app available as quickly as possible, and this is not possible with native iPhone apps where you have to go through approval from Apple to be listed in the App Store which could take at 1-2 weeks.

iPhone web apps, however, are not without its flaws. Web apps are generally not as sexy as a native app. However, in our case, we are developing a utility app, not a game app, and therefore sexiness is not a requirement! The user interface for the iPhone Store Locator is designed to look and feel like a native app so we feel we are geting the best of both worlds. If you are interested in taking a look or signing up for your business, check out the app site or contact us at any time.

Read When an iPhone web app is better than a native app on Web Development Blog!

1. First Post
The first ever blog post for Web Development Blog was written almost 5 years ago, on Christmas Day 2005. It is titled Welcome to All Things Web.

2. A post I enjoyed writing the most
I enjoyed writing almost all the Web Development Tutorials on this blog, because writing them gives me a sense of satisfaction from sharing my knowledge with other developers all over the world.

3. A post which had a great discussion
I wrote a tutorial on Removing file extension via .htaccess 3 years ago in 2007 but it is still the most popular blog post on this blog, linked by many and have the most number of comments – mainly by developers and webmasters asking questions or helping each other.

4. A post on someone else’s blog that you wish you’d written
This is a very tough one because there are many blog posts that I like. But if I had to choose one, it would be Why all programmers should blog written by Joerg Mueller. I personally would like to see more blogs by programmers and developers. I think we have way too many designers blogs but not as many developers blogs.

5. Your most helpful post
My most helpful post has to be Web Hosting Comparison Chart that I put together. Before publishing that post, I received many emails from friends and blog readers who asked me the same question, Which host do I recommend? It is very hard to recommend a single hosting company to everyone because the requirements for every website are different. But after writing that blog post, whenever someone asked me the question, I could just give them the link and they can make their own decision. In my opinion, helpful posts are the ones that provide an answer to a question.

6. A post with a title that you are proud of
I am not much of a copywriter, so my post titles are never entertaining or catchy. But this title certainly catches almost everyone’s attention, “Making a Passive Income Online“. And I am proud and amazed at the same time because I didn’t even try hard to come up with that title.

7. A post that you wish more people had read
I wish more people read my rant “So you don’t like ads on websites/blogs” and gave their 2cents worth.

Read 7 Link Challenge for Web Development Blog on Web Development Blog!

Screen Resolution
1024×768 pixel resolution (9.7-inch (diagonal))
This is as big as a normal computer screen. According to the Analytics stats for this Web Development Blog, 10.47% of the total visitors have 1024×768 pixel resolution.

User Agent String

Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; U; CPU OS 3_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/531.21.10
(KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.4 Mobile/7B334b Safari/531.21.10

This is useful if you have a device detection script on your server that redirects mobile devices to a different website. For example, since iPad doesn’t support Flash, if you have a flash website, it is a good idea to redirect iPad visitors to the HTML version of the website.

CSS for iPad

<link rel="stylesheet" media="only screen and (min-device-width: 768px)
and (max-device-width: 1024px)" href="ipad.css" type="text/css" />

<link rel="stylesheet" media="all and
(orientation:portrait)" href="portrait.css">

<link rel="stylesheet" media="all and
(orientation:landscape)" href="landscape.css">

As with optimising websites for iPhone, you can specify a CSS file just for iPad devices. You can also have different CSS for Portrait and Landscape orientations without using Javascript. This is useful if you want to hide certain elements (for example, sidebar) on Portrait orientation.

HTML 5 and CSS3
iPad supports HTML 5 and CSS3 so you can go crazy with box-shadows, text-shadows, border-radius, multiple backgrounds, video, canvas and geolocation features on your iPad friendly website.

JavaScript
As with iPhone, Javascript is supported on iPad. This will enable your iPad friendly website to have web 2.0 features, AJAX, dynamic content, and animation effects. If you are looking for a good Javascript Framework to use, check out jQTouch which is a jQuery plugin for mobile web development.

Flash
Neither iPad nor iPhone supports Flash. And Steve Jobs has made it pretty clear that he has no intention of supporting Flash in the near future.

Viewport

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width" />

Use a constant width for viewport rather than a fixed pixel width. Similarly, when it comes to layout design, consider Fluid width rather than Fixed width design.

Touch not click
This is something to bear in mind when designing websites for iPad and iPhone. They are both touch devices and not point and click, so make sure there is enough padding between links (eg: Navigation items) and buttons are large enough to be clicked touched on.

iPad Friendly Website ≠ Mobile Friendly Website
With iPhone, you can simply redirect to your existing Mobile version of the website for iPhone users, but you can’t do the same for iPad. iPad screen resolution is many times bigger than a normal mobile screen, hence, there will be a lot of whitespace when you view a mobile friendly website on an iPad. For this reason, it is sometimes better to serve the same version of the web friendly website to iPad devices rather than redirecting them to the mobile version of the website which is designed for small screens. And according to Apple, Safari on iPad is capable of delivering a “desktop” web experience.

Preview
If you want to check out how your website would look in iPad without an actual iPad device, open this Simulator in Safari browser and type in the address of the website you wish to view in the address bar on the iPad image (not the browser address bar). You can click on the top left corner of the iPad image to switch between Landscape and Portrait mode.

But if you have got a spare $800, you can buy iPad from Amazon Online Store for the real deal.

Inspiration
As always, Apple has a list of iPad ready websites for your inspiration. If you are looking for an iPad friendly WordPress Theme, be sure to check out Mobility Wordpress Theme that provides a touch and slide friendly user interface for iPad viewers.

Read Designing and Optimising Websites for iPad on Web Development Blog!

Why Flash is Here to Stay
There’s a huge debate stirring around the internet about the capabilities of HTML5 and it’s threat to Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight and other rich internet application (RIA) technologies. The amount of support behind HTML5 is encouraging and great to see, as it will only help it’s adoption by both browsers and users, however it is important to understand it’s capabilities and limitations.

How To Add Author Box On Your Wordpress Blog Without Using Any Plugins
Author Box is always nice to have on your Wordpress blog, not only because it looks good, but it gives the reader a chance to connect with and promote yourself in one or two liners.

Basic CSS3 Techniques That You Should Know
We’ll be looking at a few of the essential things you need to know about CSS3. With all of these new features, it’s important to place emphasis on the most important ones to get you up to speed. Even though only the most modern of web browsers (Safari, Mozilla, Opera) currently (partially or fully) support CSS3 specs, it’s an exciting time for those who like to experiment!

Entering The Wonderful World of Geo Location
Pulling out your phone, find your location and getting directions to the nearest bar is easy, but a lot of work has gone into making that possible. The good news is that because of that effort, mere geo-mortals like you and me can now create geographically aware products using a few lines of code. So, let’s give the geo-community a big hand.

12 Tips for a More Accessible Website
Making your website accessible to everyone is not only a moral duty, it’s a legal obligation. Many organizations, including the International Olympic Committee, have been sued for not making their websites accessible enough. With 50 million Americans suffering from some disability or other, improving your site’s accessibility makes clear commercial sense too.

Design

38 Mobile (iPhone) Sites
As you may probably know mobile design is getting more and more popular, particularly the iPhone design. Almost every popular website or web app offers a mobile version now. In this post, I’ve collected a list of 38 nicely designed sites (ranging from personal, blog, portoflio, editoral, web app, etc.) that are optimized for iPhone.

30+ Business Card Design Ideas That Will Get Everyone Talking
Business cards; don’t leave home without it. Business cards are a means of passing on your contact details to potential partners or customers. It is a traditional tool of the trade that cannot be overlooked despite how small and insignificant it might appear to be.

10 Amazing iPhone PSD Resources
iPhone PSD Resources including iPhone PSD Vector Kit, iPhone GUI PSD, Apple IPhone Case, iPhone Photoshop Template and iPhone User Interface elements.

12 Useful and Free Downloadable Web Design Books
In this post rather than offer all of my favorite web design books, I have listed 12 books that I have either downloaded and read (or at least scanned through), or I have bookmarked with the whole-hearted intention of eventually reading it (Ruby Best Practices), and the best thing of all? All of these books are completely FREE, in digital format anyway (PDF or HTML).

What Every Designer Should Do Right Now
While trying to balance the different areas of our life, there are things that we often forget and neglect to do. With today’s fast-paced society and the busyness of our every day, we tend to overlook some important things. I would like to remind every designer today about some of these tasks that we often put-off but are so important and necessary to get done.

Blogging & Business

Google Analytics in Depth: Goals and Funnels
In this article, we’re going to delve into Google Analytics and start to tailor your account settings so you can get information you need much more easily. Google Analytics in Depth is my series of Google Analytics articles where we will explore Google Analytic’s beneficial features to help you get the most out of this powerful and free web tool.

13 Must Have Firefox Addons to Boost the Productivity of Bloggers
Firefox is currently the ultimate choice for bloggers because of its awesome collection of addons. These addons provide a lot of flexibility by reducing the necessity of separate tools for different tasks of blogging. In this article we have compiled 13 best Firefox addons necessary for Bloggers.

5 Kinds of Blog Posts That Attract Clients
By now, you should already be familiar with the many benefits of blogging for freelancers. But, are some types of posts better than others for attracting clients? I think so.

Building Community Sites with WordPress: 15 Plugins to Get Started
Most bloggers would love to see more of a sense of community among the regular visitors to their blog. Sure, discussions sometimes take place in the comments of various posts, but it all seems a bit disorganized and they never really get off the ground. There has to be a better way to create a real sense of community on a WordPress blog.

7 Tips for Writing an Effective Instruction Manual
In your day-to-day work, you might find that there are times when you need to provide a client with documentation that walks them through a process or teaches them how to do something they may be unfamiliar with. Here are seven tips to help you create a comprehensive yet coherent instruction manual.

Read Weekly round-up: 15 must read development, design and blogging articles on Web Development Blog!

10+ Essential Tools for Windows Based Web Developers
Web development is not an easy career path to follow- there’s so much competition around for jobs and the industry is advancing all the time. If you want to stay ahead of the pack, it’s important to familiarise yourself with the latest and greatest tools- tools which will save you time and improve the appearance and usability of the sites you build.

IT job trends – Which technologies you should learn next
According to indeed.com you are currently the most valuable IT ressource if you are a Java Developer with Spring and Hibernate knowledge. You should know how to develop web applications with JSP, Struts or Web Flow and how to deploy it on Tomcat or Oracle Application Servers.

Learning jQuery: Your First jQuery Plugin, “BubbleUP”
There are many posts available detailing how to write your own jQuery plugin. It won’t take long before you realize that building in jQuery is very simple. Continuing in our jQuery Learning Series, here we’re going to build your first jQuery plugin. It’ll generate a bubble effect for your menu list and we’re going to call it BubbleUP.

10 Things That Make a Great Web App – Fred Wilson at FOWA Miami 2010
Fred Wilson is described by Ryan Carson as one of the “smartest investors in the industry” with 15 years investing in web applications and services. He’s discussing 10 things that make a great web app.

Introducing Web SQL Databases
The Web SQL database API isn’t actually part of the HTML5 specification, but it is part of the suite of specifications that allows us developers to build fully fledged web applications, so it’s about time we dig in and check it out.

Design

Create An Editable Stitched Label Type Treatment
This Stitched Label Type tutorial relies heavily on the Appearance panel, making it easy to edit the text and apply the treatment to other fonts and vector elements.

2009 Web Design Trends: What’s Washed-Up & What Will Remain Hot in 2010
There were some strong trends in web design in 2009. Here’s a look back at my top ten, and my predictions for these trends in 2010.

Innovative Product Design
When I’m looking for web design inspiration I like to make sure that I look at non web related sources of design to ensure that I don’t just follow current web trends. So today I thought I would showcase a whole host of really innovative product designs.

11 Essential Tips Every Designer Should Be Aware Of
Almost every profession requires never ending learning and self educating, but especially it’s important in design field – new software, websites, tools come out every day, it’s your task to keep up, evolve your view and find the best ways to do specific tasks!

80 Extreme Advertisements That Will Challenge Your Mind
Presenting another side to design, some of the advertisements shared in this article today may be a little visually disturbing or conceptually controversial.

Blogging & Business

The 1st month of Richworks : My journey to become a kickass blogger
The first month of blogging is always the toughest because this is when you have to come up with quality posts and tutorials to keep the visitors glued to your blog.

Do You Have What it Takes to be a Freelance Web Designer or Developer?
Do you have what it takes to be a freelance web designer or developer? Check out these 15 things to consider, and you decide!

12 Reasons You Need a Facebook Fan Page and 5 Easy Steps for Creating One
Separate from your personal profile, a Facebook fan page is a public profile that lets you share your products, services and related information with other Facebook users. Here are some of the biggest reasons you should create a fan page today.

So you don’t like ads on websites/blogs
If you have a website that has ads, you are probably no stranger to people commenting that you have too many ads on your website. Usually, I just smile and nod when I receive such comment but today, I thought I’d write my thoughts here.

5 Sure Fire Tactics to Promote a Business Blog
Relevant, Consistently Updated Content + Flawless Technical Functionality & User Experience = Perfect Blog Launch
What’s missing from the equation above? You guessed it: blog promotion.

Read Weekly round-up: 15 must read development, design and blogging articles on Web Development Blog!