Recommended firefox addons for developers

NoScript

The best security you can get in a web browser! Allow JavaScript, Java and other executable content to run only from sites you trust.

IE Tab

IE Tab - an extension from Taiwan, features: Embedding Internet Explorer in tabs of Mozilla/Firefox. Great tool for designers debugging cross browser css issues.

Firebug

Firebug integrates with Firefox to put a wealth of development tools at your fingertips while you browse. You can edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live in any web page.

FireFTP

FireFTP is a free, secure, cross-platform FTP client for Mozilla Firefox which provides easy and intuitive access to FTP servers.

Web Developer

Adds a menu and a toolbar with various web developer tools.

FireShot

FireShot is a Firefox extension that creates screenshots of web pages. Unlike other extensions, this plugin provides a set of editing and annotation tools, which let users quickly modify captures and insert text and graphical annotations.

More popular extensions are available here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/browse/type:1/cat:4?sort=popular

Why choose CakePHP over other frameworks?

Those who have the slightest experience of Ruby on Rails would understand the importance of MVC (Model View Controller) framework for developing web applications. RoR is awesome, there is no doubt at all. But as a web developer, I have to build websites for others and this means I have to use their web host. Unfortunately, there are a very few web hosts supporting Ruby (compared to PHP).

When it comes to MVC framework in PHP, you would immediately think of CakePHP, CodeIgniter, Symfony or Zend Framework. Now the question is which one serves the purpose best for you.

Server Compatibility
If you want your application to run in most servers, then you cant rely on Symfony much since it requires PHP5 while CakePHP and CodeIgniter both run in PHP4.4.x to PHP5. If you want search engine friendly urls, then you will require mod_rewrite module for apache (not a must though - you can still run it without mod_rewrite).

Documentation
To be fair, CodeIgniter is more organized in terms of documentation, and CakePHP is still updating its Cookbook (for version 1.2 beta). They have Screencasts that beginners will find useful. Most importantly, their community is very strong, and you will get quick response if you get into any problem.

Support
CakePHP has a pretty active community as well. They have the Bakery where users can participate and submit articles, code snippets, etc. Moreover, there is a Google Group and IRC channel where you can ask for help anytime.

I am a big fan of CakePHP, and will stick to it. According to Google Trends, there are more people searching for CakePHP than any other popular php frameworks. I will always support going for that open source project that has a huge community (or has the potential).

Cheat Sheets

Its very much likely that you have forgotten the name of a function or its parameters. Cheat sheets can deliver you the information immediately in that case. Here are some that you may require:

Ajax
Prototype Cheat Sheet (PNG)
scriptaculous Combination Effects Cheat Sheet (PDF)

Apache
htaccess cheat sheet
mod_rewrite cheat sheet (PNG)

CSS
CSS cheat sheet (PNG)

HTML/XHTML
HTML & XHTML Tag Quick Reference
XHTML Cheat Sheet v. 1.03 (PDF)

JavaScript
JavaScript Cheat Sheet (PNG)

MySQL
MySQL Cheat Sheet (PNG)

PHP
PHP Cheat Sheet (PNG)
CakePHP Cheat Sheet (PDF)
Regular Expressions Cheat Sheet (PNG)

This list will be updated on a continuous basis.

Frameworks I prefer most for web applications

According to wikipedia: "web application framework is a software framework that is designed to support the development of dynamic websites, Web applications and Web services. The framework aims to alleviate the overhead associated with common activities used in Web development. For example, many frameworks provide libraries for database access, templating frameworks and session management, and often promote code reuse".

Here are some of the popular frameworks that you will find handy when developing applications.

Blueprint (CSS)
Blueprint is a CSS framework, which aims to cut down on your CSS development time. It gives you a solid CSS foundation to build your project on top of, with an easy-to-use grid, sensible typography, and even a stylesheet for printing.

Script.aculo.us (Javascript)
script.aculo.us provides you with easy-to-use, cross-browser user interface JavaScript libraries to make your web sites and web applications fly. But once you have jQuery, I am sure you will not use any other javascript libraries at all.

jQuery (Javascript)
jQuery is a fast, concise, JavaScript Library that simplifies how you traverse HTML documents, handle events, perform animations, and add Ajax interactions to your web pages. jQuery is designed to change the way that you write JavaScript. Also, dont forget to have a look at jQuery UI.

CakePHP (PHP)
CakePHP is a rapid development framework for PHP that provides an extensible architecture for developing, maintaining, and deploying applications. Using commonly known design patterns like MVC and ORM within the convention over configuration paradigm, CakePHP reduces development costs and helps developers write less code.

Installing Apache, PHP, MySQL in Windows

WAMP
Windows Apache MySQL PHP. There are a few WAMP installers out there including EasyPHP and WampServer (XAMPP for Mac). I prefer WampServer since it comes with an easy to use service manager as a tray icon. The service manager allows you to choose versions and manage all the extensions (modules) of apache, php, and mysql. This way, you don't even have to edit any configuration files manually. You cant get it any easier!

Download and install WampServer
Download WampServer from their website.
http://www.wampserver.com/en/download.php

WampServer can be downloaded from SourceForge too
http://sourceforge.net/projects/wampserver/

Now run the installer and follow the instructions. Its better if you do not install it in C: drive (where you have Windows installed).

You are now ready to run your php files
Now open your browser, and visit http://localhost. This is the host that runs in your local machine. Click on the WampServer tray icon, then click 'www directory'. Now if you place a file named 'test.php' in that directory, you can run the file from your browser using this link http://localhost/test.php.

For managing your MySQL databases using phpMyAdmin, visit http://localhost/phpmyadmin.

Hope that helps :)

Your Workspace

I am going to introduce you how to set up a workspace where you will be able to manage your web projects.

Webpage Editor
When it comes to a software to edit your webpages, Dreamweaver is the first choice. The latest version CS3 has got a nice user friendly interface, and its really very easy to use. But you have to pay a few hundreds of bucks for that. If you want a free editor, then I would recommend you to use Notepad++. Its open source as well.

Photoshop
There is nothing as useful as Photoshop. It simply rules. Even though it will cost you a few hundreds, its worth buying it. The latest version Photoshop CS3 Extended even lets you export (slice) your layout in CSS which makes a designers life a lot easier.

Server
If you are a PHP/MySQL developer like me, then you have to install Apache, PHP, and MySQL in your computer for testing your web applications. Its also necessary to install phpMyAdmin for managing your mysql databases. (I will show you how to install them in my next post)

My First Post

Hello everyone, my name is Fahad Ibnay Heylaal (aka fahad19). This is my first post and I am quite excited about it. I am a freelance web developer and thought its time for me to publish my own blog.

This blog is going to be all about the web - design, development, programming, tutorials, code snippets, resources, site reviews, and… my life :)

I will start posting tutorials from next month hopefully.