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Platinax Internet News

Internet and business news for the UK online, by Brian Turner

January 19, 2005

Critical PHP bug slows dynamic applications

After the recent security concerns with PHP, upgrades from PHP 4.3.9 to PHP 4.3.10 have left some dynamic applications with serious problems with slowed performance.

In a report at the PHP development community, Bug #31332 unserialize() works terribly slow on huge strings compared to 4.3.9, it is pointed out that this error is critical for many php based systems, such as vBulletin and Drupal.

The issue centers around use of the unserialize() function, which when used on serialized multidimensional arrays, can result in a a slowdown in the application of stored data by as much as a factor of 20.

In layman's terms: if the software you run is like a pub, and the database the software runs from is like the beer cellar, then the barman now has lead boots.

A workaround is already in beta format, and a public release of the patch is expected soon.

Posted by brian_turner at 03:50 PM | TrackBack

December 20, 2004

W3C: XML Inclusions (XInclude) Version 1.0

Today the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) published new standards for merging XML documents, with XML Inclusions (XInclude) Version 1.0.

This is intended to deliver a final death blow to Document Type Definition (DTD), a server-based set of instructionsfor interpreting XML documents how their elements interact.

According to the CNet report: XML documents--merge ahead:

[W3C has] since 2001 has recommended the use of XML Schema instead. It has mandated the use of XML Schema in other recommendations such as SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) 1.2 and WSDL (Web Services Description Language).
"XML Schema will ultimately replace DTDs," Le Hegaret said. "By adding this inclusion mechanism, we will rely less and less on it."

Posted by brian_turner at 10:55 PM | TrackBack

Designing for mobiles

Mobile devices are hot - a hot topic for the future of information. As reported before Mobile devices: 1.5 billion subscriptions in 2004, the figures suggest that being able to cater for mobile device users is going to be an incredibly imporant marketing concern.

But how do you design for this market, when you have to work to screen resolutions that make 800x600 seem huge by comparison?

Stop Design offer a useful primer on the issue, in Targeting Small Screens, where he makes a suggestion:

What if we started by applying a very basic style sheet as both screen and handheld media types. The basic style sheet would only apply simple rules for color, typography, link treatment, and simple list styling. No complex floated columns or absolute positioning. This style sheet would take care of all CSS-supporting devices, whether or not they support the handheld media type.
Then, we use JavaScript to detect wider browser widths ― those that might typically imply a desktop browser. If JavaScript is supported, and a wide width is detected (say 620px or greater ― or maybe even 750 if your design only works at 750 or greater), then we assume not only a desktop browser, but that enough window real estate exists to render a multi-column design as intended. In this case, we add the main style sheet that divides the page into our standard multi-column layout. Browsers that either don’t support JavaScript (or where it’s been disabled) or browsers that don’t report wide enough screen size only get the basic style sheet.

Posted by brian_turner at 10:17 PM | TrackBack

November 28, 2004

Lycos to DDOS spammers

Lycos Europe has set up on a novel precedent - launching DDOS attacks on known spamming websites. The method involves distributing a screensaver for PC and Mac, that sends requests to these sites totally an estimated 3.4 MB of bandwidth - per user.

However, this is obviously a dangerous practice, not least because DDOS attacks could be regarded as illegal - but also because there is always going to be the danger of taking out bona-fide sites.

More information from the Register here: Lycos screensaver to blitz spam servers

Obviously, this is an issue we are going to see more of.

Posted by brian_turner at 10:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 24, 2004

Design in Britain 2004-2005

The Design Council have released an interesting report on design for marketing in Britain, which is free to download here: Design in Britain 2004-2005.

Whilst it's great that they make a point of emphasising Design for Marketing.

Unfortunately, for a supposedly comprehensive survey of 1500 companies and design heads, it contains very little, other than a few prominent statistics intended to impress upon us that design is a good thing to focus on.

So, really, it's talking about the power of branding and product marketing through good design.

You'd think it would be common sense that well-thought out design is integral to business and marketing presentation, but this can certainly be lost on smaller companies, who do not see themselves as having the time or resources to really fixate on design and branding issues.

What immediately comes to mind is an ex-client, who had no less than three different company logos - one for invoices, one for letterheads, and one over their entrance. All completely different. I kid you not.

Anyway, there are a couple of interesting pointers in the report worth picking up on - it's only a very short presentation so it'll only take 30 seconds to run through.

Posted by brian_turner at 09:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 21, 2004

MSN search XML feed

XMLhub have developed a n XML feed to work from MSN's initial search results at MSN search beta.

The tool is intended as a crude hack, until such time as Microsoft release an API, expected early 2005.

Until then, happy XMLing. :)

Posted by brian_turner at 03:18 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 25, 2004

Dealing with ripped website designs

I mentioned before about the issues of copyright regarding forum posts.

When it comes to website design, through, issues are usually a lot more straightforward.

In many instances, where there is a clear violation of copyright, then a polite e-mail to the site owner pointing out the problem goes a long way.

I've done this a couple of times where my site designs have been completely plagiarised - as per this thread: Site ripped - then link exchange request!.

If that doesn't work, then the webhost behind the site is liable for any DMCA violation (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) - so an e-mail to the webhost will, in most cases, end the matter completely.

The complicated part comes from persons who lease their servers directly from the datacenters. This is precisely the hosting situation I had for forum2 in the previous discussion regarding forum post copyrighting. And it may well require actual proof of a DMCA violation before a datacenter is willing to unplug paid for server.

If the admin owners of forum1 and forum2 in the prior example had not settled the matter between themsevlves, then with no upstream provider to pull the plug on the issue, we could may well have seen the issue fought out in the courts, and the necessary legal precedent established after a few years of lawyer pay enrichment.

All the more reason to be happy to see such issues resolved. :)

Luckily, website designs are much less a contentious issue - a website either runs a unique template, or a public purchased template. So there is far less ambiguity on such issues.

If you do find your website ripped, though, do keep calm about it. Take it first as a compliment, and then accept that there's a good chance you can resolve the issue either directly through the site admin, or else through the site webhosting company.

Keep e-mails polite and to the point - simply state your contention. Don't threaten legal action - simply state that you hope that the person(s) addressed with take responsible corrective action, so that you will not need to take the matter any further.

In most cases, you should see a satisfactory resolution relatively quickly. If not, simply keep the polite e-mails going until you are finally satisfied that copyrighted elements - graphics or text - have been removed. Do remember, though, that HTML is open source, so you cannot sue for a site having a similar style.

Posted by brian_turner at 03:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 06, 2004

Netscape: abuse

So I received an e-mail about a fraudlent lottery scam, from a Netscape address.

I figured I'd be a good boy scout and report the issue to Netscape's abuse department.

Ho ho. You'd think something as simple as that would be easy?

I typed in "Netscape.com" - and ended up being redirected around 5 different sites/subdomains, before finally ending up on a feedback form.

Only it didn't work.

Not in Mozilla Firefox - and not in IE 6.

Some people think that Netscape was killed off by Microsoft. Maybe Netscape simply killed itself off, by blocking all reasonable forms of consumer feedback about it's products and services?

Posted by brian_turner at 03:38 PM | Comments (0)

October 04, 2004

Disability Discrimination Act

The Disability Discirimination Act (DDA) - which has been on the statute books since 1995 - finally enters it's last phase, in which small businesses are no longer exempt from catering to the accessibility needs of disabled people.

Whilst most people consider the issue most particularly applicable to physical access, there is a very real argument that small businesses will also have to ensure that they provide accessibility features for disabled people on their websites - for example, as argued here: Is Your Website Legal? by the Ecru design team, which has built in accessibility features for government websites.

Some web design companies already deal very specifically with design and accessibility issues - for example, Randall Designs has made a particular crusade on the issue.

However, not all design companies are necessarily aware of accessibility issues - especially those presented in the W3C accessibility Initiative.

Ultimately, the actual extent that the DDA will impact the website accessibility as whole is as yet untested, and the DDA itself remains to be tried out in the courts. However, if you have never attempted to address accessibility issues with your website, then now is perhaps the time to get started.

After all, you probably would not want it to be your own business that has to fight a test case on the matter.

Posted by brian_turner at 03:47 PM | Comments (0)

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