Category Archives: Random

WordPress Tricks: How to fix the issue of YouTube videos appearing on top of other content

Here is the code I use to make sure the embedded YouTube videos on a website don’t appear on top of other content (for example: drop down menus):

<object width='400' height='350'> 
    <param name='movie' value='http://www.youtube.com/YOURVIDEOLINK'> 
    <param name='type' value='application/x-shockwave-flash'> 
    <param name='allowfullscreen' value='true'> 
    <param name='allowscriptaccess' value='always'> 
    <param name="wmode" value="opaque" />
    <embed width='400' height='350'
            src='http://www.youtube.com/YOURVDIDEOLINK'
            type='application/x-shockwave-flash'
            allowfullscreen='true'
            allowscriptaccess='always'
            wmode="opaque"
    ></embed> 
    </object>

The areas of code highlighted in red above are what solve the overlapping/z-index problem, so if you already have your video embedded on your site, simply add those sections in the right place in your code and that should solve the issue.

NOTE: I found this solution at http://australiansearchengine.wordpress.com/2010/06/19/youtube-video-css-z-index/

HTML: Add a drop down list of states with links to their respective pages

Here is how to add a drop down list of states with links to each of their respective pages to your web page.

First, add this script to the <head> section of your website:

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"><!--
function goto_URL(object) {
window.location.href = object.options[object.selectedIndex].value;
}
//--></SCRIPT>

Then build your list of states like this:

<FORM>
<SELECT NAME="selectName" onChange="goto_URL(this.form.selectName)">
<option value="#" selected>Choose Your State...</option>
<option value="/states/alabama.html">Alabama</option>
<option value="/states/alaska.html">Alaska</option>
<option value="/states/arizona.html">Arizona</option>
<option value="/states/arkansas.html">Arkansas</option>
<option value="/states/california.html">California</option>
<option value="/states/colorado.html">Colorado</option>
<option value="/states/connecticut.html">Connecticut</option>
<option value="/states/dc.html">DC</option>
<option value="/states/delaware.html">Delaware</option>
<option value="/states/florida.html">Florida</option>
<option value="/states/georgia.html">Georgia</option>
<option value="/states/guam.html">Guam</option>
<option value="/states/hawaii.html">Hawaii</option>
<option value="/states/idaho.html">Idaho</option>
<option value="/states/illinois.html">Illinois</option>
<option value="/states/indiana.html">Indiana</option>
<option value="/states/iowa.html">Iowa</option>
<option value="/states/kansas.html">Kansas</option>
<option value="/states/kentucky.html">Kentucky</option>
<option value="/states/louisiana.html">Louisiana</option>
<option value="/states/maine.html">Maine</option>
<option value="/states/maryland.html">Maryland</option>
<option value="/states/massachusetts.html">Massachusetts</option>
<option value="/states/michigan.html">Michigan</option>
<option value="/states/minnesota.html">Minnesota</option>
<option value="/states/mississippi.html">Mississippi</option>
<option value="/states/missouri.html">Missouri</option>
<option value="/states/montana.html">Montana</option>
<option value="/states/nebraska.html">Nebraska</option>
<option value="/states/nevada.html">Nevada</option>
<option value="/states/newhampshire.html">New Hampshire</option>
<option value="/states/newjersey.html">New Jersey</option>
<option value="/states/newmexico.html">New Mexico</option>
<option value="/states/newyork.html">New York</option>
<option value="/states/northcarolina.html">North Carolina</option>
<option value="/states/northdakota.html">North Dakota</option>
<option value="/states/ohio.html">Ohio</option>
<option value="/states/oklahoma.html">Oklahoma</option>
<option value="/states/oregon.html">Oregon</option>
<option value="/states/pennsylvania.html">Pennsylvania</option>
<option value="/states/puertorico.html">Puerto Rico</option>
<option value="/states/rhodeisland.html">Rhode Island</option>
<option value="/states/southcarolina.html">South Carolina</option>
<option value="/states/southdakota.html">South Dakota</option>
<option value="/states/tennessee.html">Tennessee</option>
<option value="/states/texas.html">Texas</option>
<option value="/states/utah.html">Utah</option>
<option value="/states/vermont.html">Vermont</option>
<option value="/states/virginia.html">Virginia</option>
<option value="/states/washington.html">Washington</option>
<option value="/states/westvirginia.html">West Virginia</option>
<option value="/states/wisconsin.html">Wisconsin</option>
<option value="/states/wyoming.html">Wyoming</option>
</select></FORM>

Create a custom Pinterest “Pin It” button for your website

Here is the Javascript code I use to create a Pin It button for a web page using a custom graphic:

 

<div>
<a href="javascript:void((function(){var%20e=document.createElement('script'); e.setAttribute('type','text/javascript'); e.setAttribute('charset','UTF-8'); e.setAttribute('src','http://assets.pinterest.com/js/pinmarklet.js?r='+Math.random()*99999999);document.body.appendChild(e)})());"> <img src="images/pinit.jpg" alt="Pin It" /></a> </div>  

You will want to change the path to the image in the code above so that it points to the graphic that you want to use for the Pin It button. You could also substitute text for the graphic if you prefer.

 

Creating a custom Twitter feed with avatars for your website

Here is the simple code I use to create a Twitter feed which includes avatars for a website:

 

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
	<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
	<title>Twitter feed with avatars</title>
	<style type="text/css">
		body {
			background: #333333;
		}
		.twtr-widget {
			float: left;
			width: 300px;
			margin: 50px 0 0 80px;
			padding: 0 0 15px;
			background: #fafafa;

			/*** cross browser box shadow ***/
			-moz-box-shadow: 0 0 2px #fff;
			-webkit-box-shadow: 0 0 2px #fff;
			-ms-filter: "progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Glow(color=#ffffff,strength=3)";
			filter:
				progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Shadow(color=#ffffff,direction=0,strength=3)
				progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Shadow(color=#ffffff,direction=90,strength=3)
				progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Shadow

(color=#ffffff,direction=180,strength=3)
				progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Shadow

(color=#ffffff,direction=270,strength=3);
			box-shadow: 0 0 2px #fff;

			/*** kind of cross browser rounded corner ***/
			-webkit-border-radius: 3px;
			-khtml-border-radius: 3px;
			-moz-border-radius: 3px;
			border-radius: 3px;
		}
			.twtr-hd {
				/*** cross browser rgba ***/
				background-color: transparent;
				background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.3);
				filter:progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient

(startColorstr=#30ffffff,endColorstr=#30ffffff);
				-ms-filter: "progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient

(startColorstr=#30ffffff,endColorstr=#30ffffff)";
			}
			.twtr-bd {}
				.twtr-widget .twtr-bd .twtr-tweet {
					margin: 5px 0 0;
					padding: 0 0 5px;
					border-bottom: 1px solid #cecece;
				}
				.twtr-tweet:before {
					display: block;
					float: left;
					margin: -5px 0 0 5px;
					font-size: 50px; /* let's make it a big quote! */
					color: #bababa;
					text-shadow: 0 1px 1px #909090;
					font-family: "times new roman", serif;
				}
			.twtr-ft { display: none; }
	</style>
</head>
<body>
	<script src="http://widgets.twimg.com/j/2/widget.js"></script>
	<!-- first box -->
	<script>
	new TWTR.Widget({
	  version: 2,
	  type: 'profile',
	  rpp: 4,
	  interval: 6000,
	  width: 300,
	  height: 300,
	  theme: {
		shell: {
		  background: 'transparent',
		  color: '#333'
		},
		tweets: {
		  background: 'transparent',
		  color: '#333',
		  links: '#c10000'
		}
	  },
	  features: {
		scrollbar: false,
		loop: false,
		live: false,
		hashtags: true,
		timestamp: true,
		avatars: true,
		behavior: 'all'
	  }
	}).render().setUser('thelibzter').start();
	</script>

 

You can see a working example of this Twitter feed at http://icode4you.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/twitterfeed_with_avatars.html.

A simple PHP script to find your web root directory

Here is a simple line of code you can use to find the web root and path of your website.

Copy and paste this code into a text file:

<?php
print ($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']);
?>

Save the file as findwebroot.php or whatever name you want, as long as it has a php extension.

Upload the file to your server, navigate to the file in a browser, and voilà - you will see the full path to that file!

Concrete5: How to fix the issue of captcha images not displaying in your web pages

Here is one way I have found to fix an issue in Concrete5 where your captcha images are not showing up.

Navigate to  concrete/helpers/validation/ on your server and open captcha.php.

Find this block of code:

class ValidationCaptchaHelper {

   private $securimage;
	public function __construct() {
		Loader::library("3rdparty/securimage/securimage");
		$this->securimage = new Securimage();
		$this->securimage->ttf_file = DIR_LIBRARIES_3RDPARTY_CORE . '/securimage/elephant.ttf';
	}

And change it to:

class ValidationCaptchaHelper {
   private $securimage;
	public function __construct() {
		Loader::library("3rdparty/securimage/securimage");
		$this->securimage = new Securimage();
		$this->securimage->use_gd_font = true; $this->securimage->gd_font_file = DIR_LIBRARIES_3RDPARTY_CORE.'/securimage/gdfonts/caveman.gdf';
		$this->securimage->ttf_file = DIR_LIBRARIES_3RDPARTY_CORE . '/securimage/elephant.ttf';
	}

The text in red is the text that you are adding to the original block of code.

This worked for me but let me know if it doesn’t work for you.