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Best Practices for Speeding Up jQuery

Some easy methods to get better performance from your jQuery coding. Good stuff.

jQuery Performance Rules – Best Practices for Speeding Up jQuery

In Praise of jQuery

I finally got around to jumping into javascript, specifically jQuery. It’s an awesome framework and a valuable part of the toolbox. Now I haven’t really found anything I couldn’t do server-side in php but there are certainly a bunch of things that are just easier using client-side, especially styling (which I hate). Using jQuery has improved my html coding, especially the use of optional attributes, which jQuery exploits quite nicely. There’s more to css life than just styles and ids.

When I first started with jQuery, all I saw was simple hide/shows and effects. It really didn’t take long to figure out how to use AJAX which not only handles form submissions but it lets me take a chunk of output and use it all over my static site. Change it once and it’s updated all over.

There are a lot of plugins around for jQuery to handle a lot of routine tasks like form validation and form submission. While I started out using plugins, I’ve eventually figured out it’s just as easy to code a couple of lines and have a customized solution that you can understand and manipulate.

Javascript and jQuery have a learning curve like most everything else but it’s worthwhile to give it a try.

First Sirius zaps Electronica, Now Music Choice?

It was bad enough when Sirius canned Boombox but now it seems Music Choice has decided to merge their Dance and Electronica channels into one. I used to flip back and forth when there was something on the Electronica channel I didn’t care for but it seems like every time I tune in now, it’s all Dance all the time. What the heck happened to the Electronica? Do they break blocks up during the day?

And what’s up with the MC MixTape? Sounds like a great idea but I’m not sure what to make of it.

Congratulations, Sean Hurd

I was just checking up on the latest referee guidance from USSF (even though my affiliation with USSF is in a temporary (hopefully) state of inactivity) on refereeing matters when I saw Sean Hurd (Florida) had been selected to the FIFA International Panel as an assistant referee. Sean started his soccer refereeing career in the Jacksonville, Florida area while I was actively officiating there in the early 90’s. Sean and Chris Kenney were the best young referees we had at the time. We all became state referees around the same time. Sean and Chris advanced very quickly due to superior talent, unquestioned integrity and the excellent Florida State Referees development program.

I haven’t seen Sean in years but I am very pleased and very proud to see his accomplishment at the highest level. Congratulations on a job well done, Sean.

Blackberry OS 4.5 for My 8830WE

Full marks to Sprint for finally releasing a supported version of OS 4.5 for my BB 8830WE. The only downside of the upgrade was having to have my enterprise settings reactivated. I don’t think the tech support folks were too bent out of shape.

The device is now quite usable with a UI that looks quite modern. HTML email renders nicely. The browser is just about usable. Best part is the OS has been rock solid. I still prefer my Centro for personal use but this is a nice upgrade.

Time to Close Comments

The WordPress 2.7 core has a setting to close comments for posts which exceed a user specified aging. Unfortunately, the core doesn’t differentiate between posts and pages. Since I need additional control, I use this wonderful plugin.

Given a choice, I would prefer if the plugin would filter the comment_status page when the post is called and change its value based on aging. This functionality would prevent having to send scheduled update queries to the posts table. I believe the core functionality works this way.

Update Feb 24, 2009 – I decided to have a go at making a theme function that would mimic the core’s behavior of closing the old posts on the fly without additional queries while preserving comments on pages. It was pretty simple. You have to remove the filter (’the_posts’, ‘_close_comments_for_old_posts’ ), copy the function _close_comments_for_old_posts from /wp-includes/comment.php, modify it to do an is_page() check, rename your new function and then add the new filter (’the_posts,’your_function_name’) after you’ve defined it.

Ajay’s plugin will still allow you to keep specific posts open so there’s more functionality than what I need so my solution isn’t a replacement.