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Defining custom error pages is a convenient way to show users a friendly page when they encounter an HTTP error such as a 404 Not Found, or a 500 Server Error. Unfortunately ASP.NET handles custom error pages by responding with a 302 Temporary redirect to the error page that was defined. In this post I explain how to create a custom HttpModule that allows you to use custom error pages while preserving the original HTTP status code and avoiding the 302 redirect to the error page. [More]

If you have a blog that is even moderately popular then you have likely fallen victim to some form of content scraping. Ever since it became possible to earn money through ads on a website there have been people trying to find ways to cheat the system. The most widespread example of this comes in the form of splogs and similar spam-based websites, which consist only of ads from Google AdSense and duplicated content from other sites. In this post I will share a method you can use to identify "evil" spiders and bots that are wasting your website's resources. [More]

Being a successful web developer requires constant effort to refine your existing abilities while expanding your skill-set to include the new technologies that are continually released, so when I first started my job as a search engine optimization analyst I was fully expecting my web development skills to dull. I could not have been more wrong. [More]

In my first post on this subject, Reducing Code Bloat - Or How To Cut Your HTML Size In Half, I demonstrated how you can significantly reduce the size of a web document by simply moving style definitions externally and getting rid of a table-based layout. In this instalment I will look at the practice of semantic HTML and how effective it can be at keeping your markup tidy and lean. [More]

Seperating the style from the markup of a web document is generally a painless, if sometimes time-consuming, task. In many cases however, the process can have some added speed-bumps; most notably when the original HTML is using an infamous table-based layout. The two most common speedbumps when dealing with table-based layouts and styling are recreating the classic borderless table and keeping the default table border appearance. [More]

Firefox add-ons can be one of the best set of tools a web developer can have but with so many out there it can be hard to decide on which ones are the best for you. I was reluctant to post this at first, given the countless other blogs out their who have posted their own add-on lists, but felt this would be of value for those looking for recommendations that weren't posted 2-3 years ago. I avoided going for the "Top 841 Add Ons Every Web Developer Must Have!!!!" angle, as this isn't a top list. It's simply a list of my personal favourites because, as a guy who's known around the office for having too many add-ons installed for Firefox, I've definitely used a lot of add-ons, some which were fanstastic, and some which left something to be desired. Over time I managed to pare down my pile of add-ons in to a core set that all save me a considerable amount of time, and also share the same basic qualities... [More]

When it comes to designing and developing a web site the load time is one consideration that is often ignored, or is an afterthought once the majority of the design and structure is in place. While high-speed internet connections are becoming increasingly common there are still a significant portion of web users out there with 56k connections, and even those with broadband connections aren't guaranteed to have a fast connection to your particular server. Every second that a user has to wait to download your content is increasing the chance of that user deciding to move on. [More]

When it comes to rollover effects in web design the most common way to accomplish the effect has traditionally been with JavaScript. Here are three CSS techniques that you might not have known about that accomplish the same effect. [More]

I have combed through thousands upon thousands of client's HTML documents since I began working in web development, and even more in my career as an SEO. Much of this time is spent fixing invalid markup, shaving off unneeded code, and generally doing what the original developer should have done in the first place. One thing that I quickly realized was that a disturbingly large majority of the sites I came across that were created by "professional" developers and firms seem to have absolutely no idea what a Doctype really is. This is especially true when I see these developers slapping an XHTML Doctype on their pages, somehow thinking that since it is newer it will make them (the developers) look better. As a developer who has actually taken the time to pore through the W3C specifications for the different revisions of HTML and XHTML, I find that practice rather irritating. [More]