About Enjay

JSNES running Super Mario Brothers

I always thought that JavaScript puts the zing to client-side web development. With the help of JavaScript frameworks and libraries such as jQuery, Prototype, ExtJS and the like, adding a interactive effects or using AJAX becomes so easy that almost anyone could do it. And now that Canvas HTML element is getting more and more support from major browsers, I imagine things would get a lot more interesting!

Now enters JSNES, a JavaScript and Canvas based NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) emulator project of Ben Firshman. Playing it is just pure ecstatic and the possibilities just went through the roof! You should use Google Chrome though since it’s currently the only browser with the most optimized Canvas implementation but JSNES should run on Firefox 3.5 and Safari 4.

The z-index is a CSS property that determines the stack order of an HTML element. An element with with the greater z-index value will be in front of the element with lower values. It is a very useful property once you fully understand and it fixes a lot of layout issues.

Read the “The Z-Index CSS Property: A Comprehensive Look” article at Smashing Magazine to learn the ins and outs of the z-index and start using it on your next web development job.

A friend pointed me out to this mathematical equation that determines the optimal number of urinals in the men’s room.

When a guy goes into the bathroom, which urinal does he pick? Most guys are familiar with the International Choice of Urinal Protocol. It’s discussed at length elsewhere, but the basic premise is that the first guy picks an end urinal, and every subsequent guy chooses the urinal which puts him furthest from anyone else peeing. At least one buffer urinal is required between any two guys or Awkwardness ensues. More at xkcd…

It’s so funny when physicists make jokes, and there’s a video about the topic to boot:

Update (10:25pm PHT):

IE6 No More WordPress Plugin is now available at the WordPress Plugin Directory. You can also install this plugin in your wp-admin by the following these steps:

1. Login to your WordPress Admin.
2. On the left sidebar, click the Plugins menu to open it.
3. Click the Add New to display the plugins search form.
4. Enter ie6 no more in the search input box then click the Search Plugins button.
5. Locate the IE6 No More plugin and on the right side, click the Install link to open the plugin window.
6. In the opened window, click Install Now button.
7. After successfully downloading and installing the plugin, click the Activate Plugin link.

IE6 gives web developers the most headaches, and that includes me. It’s unsecure, bug-ridden and outdated. And so, I chose to support the efforts of the people at IE6 No More The IE6 No More plugin for WordPress is my small contribution to this cause.

What is it?

IE6 No More plugin for WordPress is the hassle-free implementation of the HTML code available at IE6NoMore.com website. It shows a box, similar to the screenshot above,  at the top of the page that notifies the IE6 users of your blog that they are using an old browser, and encourages them to upgrade to a more modern ones.

How does it work?

The way plugin works is it first detects the browser in use at the server-side. Once it sees that your blog reader is using Microsoft Internet Explorer, it inserts the IE6NoMore.com notification code. The notification box is only visible to users with version lower than IE7.

How do I use it?

This plugin requires the latest version of WordPress. To install, just follow the following:

1. Download the plugin and extract it in your local drive.
2. Upload ie6-no-more to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory.
3. Activate the plugin through the “Plugins” menu in WordPress.

Support & More Information

Just use the comment form below for now if you have questions. Visit the IE6 No More website for more information.

If you think that MyISAM storage engine is good enough for your database needs, think again! That’s what Sitepoint.com learned when they launched this year’s Twitaway where they give away one of the books in PDF format just by following them on Twitter. Oh yeah, I got the The Principles Of Successful Freelancing for free! Grab yours now!

Their problem stemmed from having MyISAM as their default storage engine for session data, and with it’s table-level locking, it only needs a few thousands users to hit the site at the same time to bog down MySQL. The solution? InnoDB storage engine with its row-level locking feature. Of course, it’s worth noting that InnoDB supports a bunch of features that a real database should have including transactions and enforced referential integrity.

Go ahead and read the complete Free Performance with MySQL Table Types article and learn how the big boys do it