End Your If

Author: Jamie

  • Maintaining a session in a session-less environment

    Confused?  I know I was at first, but let me explain.  First, why would there be a session-less environment?  I thought this was a HUGE plus to server-side development languages over basic HTML that is session-less?  Well, you would be right in that sense; however, as I mentioned in a recent blog that I’ve switched careers and I am currently doing server-side game development for large Facebook Virtual Worlds.  The client/server relationship in these games are completely session-less.  Each time the client performs an action, the server doesn’t “know” who they are because it’s not a consistent relationship like a browser and a web server.

    Don’t worry, there is a simple solution to this problem, let’s explore it now. (more…)

  • Speeding up client/server response times

    In the past 6 months I’ve switched jobs from being a web developer to being a server side game developer.  So far it’s been an excellent career shift.  I get to focus on my true passions, intelligent back-end code and no longer having to waste my time with frustrating design challenges (there is a separate team that does that).

    Having said that, when developing large Facebook virtual worlds, there are a lot of client/server communication.  For example, each time someone buys something, each time you buy something, etc…  Currently, a lot of games wait for the server to respond, but why should we?  There are a lot of server calls that are done for informational purposes; just to keep the database up-to-date.  So I ask you, why should the end user wait for the server to catch up?  Let’s examine a simple approach to alleviate the need for the client to wait. (more…)

  • Modifying the CakePHP Bakery Templates

    One of the keys to a successful website is a good user flow especially when leveraging jQuery template.  What defines a good user flow?  At the very core, it requires simple navigation, being able to find what you’re looking for, and being able to do it quickly.  CakePHP’s bakery let’s you quickly create websites that list, add, edit, and delete data.  All you need to do is create a database table and run a few simple bakery commands and this will be done for you.

    The basic templates provided are pretty good.  They include links to do all of the above as well as pagination and sortable headers on the table listing page.  I find them a little bland and very “techie”.  Most customers don’t like this, so let’s alter them to suit are needs. (more…)

  • Maintaining the back button with AJAX

    When I blogged about whether or not you can use too much AJAX on your website.  The short answer was no; with one caveat being that you must not lose the user interaction experience.  In this scenario I’m referring to the back button.  If the user has “felt” like the content changed, they are likely to click the back button to return.  If they do this, it’s important for them to “go back” to where they “think” they were and not the last page that was loaded without AJAX and simply relying on Javascript events!  I’ve put together a quick example of how to do this. (more…)

  • AJAX, can there be too much?

    Like any problem, there is no one right solution.  There are always many different solutions that work for different reasons.  Some solutions require the best solution; some solutions require the more optimized solution; other solutions just need to “get done”.

    As a developer, I like AJAX.  It’s easy to develop and it makes for a really good user flow.  No more loading new pages to add comments or view the description of a product.  It can all be done with a smooth interface and less waiting.

    But, can you have too much AJAX?
    (more…)