We stumbled upon an amazing JQuery script for managing and sorting tabular data. Found at tablesorter.com , this JQuery script cuts down on the number of database calls while improving user experience. All sorting can be done quickly and without reloading the DOM.

Pared with another Export table to CSV script , this makes for a complete and simple solution to reporting needs.

We’ll post some more examples of it in use here. In fact when this site is redesigned we’ll be using the tablesorter script.

Here’s some simple code for a PHP based US State (including DC) html drop down menu. There are a lot of different ways to do this, but this is straightforward and simple.

The reason I’m posting this is that I’ve found myself looking for something like this a million times.

This is assuming there is a PHP variable named “$statename”, either by POST or through reading in a database table with the previous value.

 
<select name=”statename” >
<option value=”" <?php if (!$statename) echo ” selected”; ?>>Select a State</option>
<option value=”AL” <?php if ($statename == “AL”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Alabama</option>
<option value=”AK” <?php if ($statename == “AK”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Alaska</option>
<option value=”AZ” <?php if ($statename == “AZ”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Arizona</option>
<option value=”AR” <?php if ($statename == “AR”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Arkansas</option>
<option value=”CA” <?php if ($statename == “CA”) echo ” selected”; ?>>California</option>
<option value=”CO” <?php if ($statename == “CO”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Colorado</option>
<option value=”CT” <?php if ($statename == “CT”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Connecticut</option>
<option value=”DE” <?php if ($statename == “DE”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Delaware</option>
<option value=”DC” <?php if ($statename == “DC”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Dist of Columbia</option>
<option value=”FL” <?php if ($statename == “FL”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Florida</option>
<option value=”GA” <?php if ($statename == “GA”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Georgia</option>
<option value=”HI” <?php if ($statename == “HI”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Hawaii</option>
<option value=”ID” <?php if ($statename == “ID”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Idaho</option>
<option value=”IL” <?php if ($statename == “IL”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Illinois</option>
<option value=”IN” <?php if ($statename == “IN”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Indiana</option>
<option value=”IA” <?php if ($statename == “IA”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Iowa</option>
<option value=”KS” <?php if ($statename == “KS”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Kansas</option>
<option value=”KY” <?php if ($statename == “KY”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Kentucky</option>
<option value=”LA” <?php if ($statename == “LA”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Louisiana</option>
<option value=”ME” <?php if ($statename == “ME”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Maine</option>
<option value=”MD” <?php if ($statename == “MD”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Maryland</option>
<option value=”MA” <?php if ($statename == “MA”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Massachusetts</option>
<option value=”MI” <?php if ($statename == “MI”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Michigan</option>
<option value=”MN” <?php if ($statename == “MN”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Minnesota</option>
<option value=”MS” <?php if ($statename == “MS”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Mississippi</option>
<option value=”MO” <?php if ($statename == “MO”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Missouri</option>
<option value=”MT” <?php if ($statename == “MT”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Montana</option>
<option value=”NE” <?php if ($statename == “NE”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Nebraska</option>
<option value=”NV” <?php if ($statename == “NV”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Nevada</option>
<option value=”NH” <?php if ($statename == “NH”) echo ” selected”; ?>>New Hampshire</option>
<option value=”NJ” <?php if ($statename == “NJ”) echo ” selected”; ?>>New Jersey</option>
<option value=”NM” <?php if ($statename == “NM”) echo ” selected”; ?>>New Mexico</option>
<option value=”NY” <?php if ($statename == “NY”) echo ” selected”; ?>>New York</option>
<option value=”NC” <?php if ($statename == “NC”) echo ” selected”; ?>>North Carolina</option>
<option value=”ND” <?php if ($statename == “ND”) echo ” selected”; ?>>North Dakota</option>
<option value=”OH” <?php if ($statename == “OH”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Ohio</option>
<option value=”OK” <?php if ($statename == “OK”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Oklahoma</option>
<option value=”OR” <?php if ($statename == “OR”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Oregon</option>
<option value=”PA” <?php if ($statename == “PA”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Pennsylvania</option>
<option value=”RI” <?php if ($statename == “RI”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Rhode Island</option>
<option value=”SC” <?php if ($statename == “SC”) echo ” selected”; ?>>South Carolina</option>
<option value=”SD” <?php if ($statename == “SD”) echo ” selected”; ?>>South Dakota</option>
<option value=”TN” <?php if ($statename == “TN”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Tennessee</option>
<option value=”TX” <?php if ($statename == “TX”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Texas</option>
<option value=”UT” <?php if ($statename == “UT”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Utah</option>
<option value=”VT” <?php if ($statename == “VT”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Vermont</option>
<option value=”VA” <?php if ($statename == “VA”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Virginia</option>
<option value=”WA” <?php if ($statename == “WA”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Washington</option>
<option value=”WV” <?php if ($statename == “WV”) echo ” selected”; ?>>West Virginia</option>
<option value=”WI” <?php if ($statename == “WI”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Wisconsin</option>
<option value=”WY” <?php if ($statename == “WY”) echo ” selected”; ?>>Wyoming</option>
</select>

The second project of the Jewelry Making Professor website was no less challenging than the first. While the first project dealt with the underlying structure and applications that power the website, this project dealt with the design and user interface.

The assignment was to create a design that could work with all of the areas of the Jewelry Making Professor website. This included an eCommerce section, a blog, and several call to action pages. Included within was the Video of the Week and a count down timer that display on the home page.

After refining the design, we settled no a basic layout. This design was then turned into a WordPress theme and an X-cart theme. Both needed to align perfectly and create the appearance of one continuous website. Take a look for yourself, check out the — X-cart portion and the Blog area here.

The Jewelry Making Professor (JMP) project was so massive we have to break it up into to separate projects. The first project dealt with the structures and architecture of the website.

JMP uses X-cart for e-commerce. When we started the project, the X-cart version was 4.2.1. We needed to migrate all of the data and data structures into the newest version of X-cart, 4.4.3.

All of X-cart’s data also needed to be up to date at the time of the production move up, so we needed to document how to execute the conversion during the production move up. The results were pages upon pages of SQL queries and data structure manipulation.

After the X-cart 4.2.1 structure and data was formatted for 4.4.3, we made the connections to the application. Now it was time to add our database tables for our custom Video of the Week / Featured Product application. These tables were added and our custom PHP code deployed and we extended the functionality of X-cart to include management for the Video of the Week and the Featured Product.

Once we were ready for production deployment, the move took over 7 hours and resulted in about 15 hours of total bug fixes. However we regarded the production move as highly successful as we were able to launch JMP 2.0 on day 1 and not look back.

We recently completed 2 separate projects involving HTML newsletters.

The first project was to design a weekly newsletter and a method of distributing it. Geoff Matheson Design did all of the newsletter design plus the basic HTML programming.

The newsletter needed to be graphically appealing, so it therefore needed to be designed using HTML. Writing the HTML for a newsletter is very challenging because there are a lot of popular mail applications, each of which display the HTML differently. To limit our updating the HTML, we needed to test the design on all popular mail applications throughout the development process.

When creating a newsletter you must not only create a flexible design, you must also be able to code that design in a very basic type of HTML.

Once the design was coded in HTML, we needed to setup an area where the client could generate each week’s newsletter. Our client needed to type the name and the content for the newsletter and have all of the HTML generated. This was done by creating a simple custom admin area that will generate the newsletter’s HTML each week.

The last part was figuring out the best way to distribute the newsletter. After trying several methods, we ended up using Mail Chimp for newsletter mangement and distribution. Mail Chimp has a free plan: up to 2,000 subscribers; send up to 12,000 emails per month.

The next project was also a HTML email newsletter. We were used as subcontractors by Cause Design.

The problem was that the HTML would not display properly on all major email applications. We used email newsletter testing matrices to show us how the HTML would display on different mail applications.

After viewing the original matrix, we realized the HTML needed a complete rewrite. The reason is that certain mail applications do not recognize style driven design. After going through 11 revisions, we were able to create HTML that gave us a consistent look on all major email applications.

Today’s Gmail allows users to setup multiple mail accounts within a single Gmail account. This means that all of your personal, work, and other email can be sent and received using 1 Gmail login.

Gmail can be the perfect all in one solution for email. Currently, each user is given over 7 GB of space, with the ability to upgrade as necessary. Even a high traffic user can expect to store over 5 years of mail, which is search able and accessible at any time.

At the core of its functionality is its web based interface. By existing as a web based service, any web enabled device can connect and view the same inbox. Additionally, Gmail can be constantly upgraded by Google behind the scenes, with little or no downtime. Gmail’s search functionality is second to none, allowing the user to broaden or narrow their search as needed.

Our favorite feature of Gmail is its ability to receive and send mail through other mail servers. This means that Gmail can connect to your mail servers the same way as a traditional desktop application.

If you are using Gmail without sending would send your mail through the Gmail servers. By doing so the mail headers show that the sender’s domain and the mail server’s DNS records do not match. This typically sets off a red flag on spam filters nowadays and can cause deliverability issues.

Since we are setting up Gmail to send each mail account’s email through its domain mail server, all your email will be routed through the proper mail server. The ensures that there are no deliverability issues as outlined above.

One of the problems with a web based system is that you need to be online to view your email. This issue is avoided by using Gmail’s IMAP servers to sync your desktop or mobile mail application with Gmail. Additionally this allows the user to setup and deploy Gmail from traditional desktop mail applications such as Apple Mail, Outlook or Thunderbird.

Both incoming and sent mail can be setup so they are tagged by filters, which can place email into specific folders. These folders are available underneath the aggregate inbox and allow the user to check specific email accounts.

There are a few tricks to optimizing your Gmail and EJHost will be happy to assist you in getting setup. Please contact us today for more information or how you can be switched over to a Gmail platform.

In the ever evolving world of Social Media, websites and applications come and go. Remember Friendster, and MySpace, neither do we.. but all were “the next big thing”, and in the case of MySpace, it WAS “the big thing”. For more fun.. read about some more failed Social Media sites here.

What social media should your business target in 2011, check out the following article for some great ideas –>

This great article at SEO Moz give some tips for leveraging some of the best social media sites in June 2011.