PHP Tip: Encode & Decode Data URLs

PHP Tip: Encode & Decode Data URLsConverting small images to data-URLs is a great way to eliminate HTTP requests and decrease loading time for your pages. Using PHP‘s base64_encode() and base64_decode() functions, we have the power to convert images to data-URLs and vice-versa.Decoding Data URL ImagesSo we start with a small image named, say, “feed-icon.gif”:We then convert to data-URL format by encoding with base64_encode()1:<?php...

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Display Latest Tweet with Show/Hide Cookies

Display Latest Tweet with Show/Hide CookiesUpdate (2013/08/03): This simple technique no longer works thanks to the 2013 Twitter API, which makes it much more complicated to grab your latest tweet. For WordPress, check out the Latest Tweets Widget.</update>My previous theme displays my latest tweet at the top of every page. It turned out to be an excellent technique for getting more followers – visitors see the tweet, click...

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HTTP Headers for ZIP File Downloads

HTTP Headers for ZIP File DownloadsYou know when you you’re working on a project and get stuck on something, so you scour the Web for solutions only to find that everyone else seems to be experiencing the exact same thing. Then, after many hours trying everything possible, you finally stumble onto something that seems to work. This time, the project was setting up a secure downloads area for Digging into WordPress. And when I finally discovered a solution, I told myself that it was definitely something I had to...

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The HTML5 progress Element

PUBLISHED AUGUST 28, 2013 BY CHRIS COYIERHere is the basic markup for the progress element:<progress></progress>As per the standard defined by W3C, the progress element represents the completion progress of a task. A progress element must have both a start tag (i.e. <progress>) and an end tag (i.e. </progress>), even though it looks like a replaced element (like an input). This is good though,...

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