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Category Archives: General Dev.

Really Simple “Single Call” Trick for jQuery Watermark Plugin

01-Jul-09

If you guys haven’t seen this terrific jQuery Watermark Plugin go check it out over here. I just installed it today and found a nice way to watermark all my input boxes by a neat jQuery .each() trick. If you’ve used this plugin but got a bit annoyed having to invoke the watermark and set [...]

MIX '09 Session Recordings

24-Mar-09

No doubt you’re aware of the Microsoft MIX ’09 Developers and Designers Conference happening in Las Vegas right now and are busy rummaging around on visitmix.com to download all the session videos.  Well alas, Mike Swanson has been kind enough to produce a complete list of the video sessions from MIX in an easy to [...]

Console2: A Great Command Prompt Enhancer

20-Mar-09

I’ve been working with TeamCity and NAnt build scripts a lot lately, and as a result I’ve found myself in and out of cmd.exe and one of my text editors of choice a lot lately. So based on all this usage, I wanted to gear up my environment for maximum productivity, so the very first [...]

Multi/Dual Monitor Visual Studio Settings

16-Feb-09

As another follow up to personalising Visual Studio (I covered theming the VS IDE with the Visual Studio Desert Nights Theme not too long back), I’d like to offer the settings I run on a dual monitor setup for Visual Studio to, I believe enhance productivity and gives you easier access to common tasks.  You [...]

My Variation on an Excellent Visual Studio Theme – “Desert Nights Reloaded 2008/2010″

08-Feb-09

Hi all, Updated 30-Apr-10: Now with ReSharper 5+ custom color support, various [bug?] fixes and a new VS 2010 color codes! We’ve arrived at the weekend once again, horray! However, if you are anything like me, work (or play, depends on what code you’re wrestling with at the moment) doesn’t finish at the weekend – [...]

Submitting an AJAX Form with ASP.NET MVC + jQuery

27-Jan-09

I don’t have a lot of time to blog about this, and it is something I wanted to blog about weeks ago, so while I have the links on hand, here are the links I used to move away from ASP.NET MVC’s built in Ajax methods utilising the Microsoft Ajax JavaScript library (you know, your [...]

Compression Part 2: HTTP Compression (Gzip/Deflate) & Dynamic Content

19-Jan-09

In the last article I discussed mainly JavaScript minification & packing, but I felt this should be split into two parts as I discuss a little more in regards to HTTP comperssion and GZipping. HTTP compression ([1],[2]) comes into play when a client requests content from a web server, such as an image or a [...]

Compression Part 1: Packing, Minifying & GZipping JavaScript files

19-Jan-09

Hi Ya’ll, Yep three posts bam smack near each other. In this one I just wish to be quick and give you some great resources for packing, minifying and GZipping your JavaScript files (I have to stop simply buffing out this post by simply reciting the heading, lol.) compressing your JavaScript files which obviously results [...]

Why JSON data structures are good for you when using AJAX

13-Jan-09

Below is a real good reason to compile a well-formed JSON data structure if you are about to send data through ajax with jquery, as sometimes (like today of course) you can receive undesirable and unexpected results if you take the cheap and nasty option of a simple serialised data string. I thought this is [...]

My name is Graham O'Neale and I'm a software architect from Gold Coast, Australia. I am an overtime thinker, full time coder and awake part time in the real world. I have a keen interest in software development, particularly in the realm of programming (C#, ASP.NET, ASP.NET MVC, LINQ (2 SQL), Entity Framework, Silverlight, Blend, WCF, WPF) and a keen interest in the cutting edge and innovation. I have a new found love for design patterns, ALT.NET practices and well crafted software architecture. The purpose of this blog is to express any thoughts, findings, tips and gripes along my travels in the wonderful world of coding and technology...