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"Webmaster Utilities, Tools & Tips! - Mostly by Hmmm..."

Here are a couple of simple but effective tips I use day-to-day. If you have some similar nuggets why not post them here...

Google ‘counter’

So you’re are working away on your search engine placement and you can now see your site in the search results. But you are quite a long way down the page (you’ve set your Google preferences to show you 100 results at a time) and would like to know exactly what number you are in the results – without having to manually count your way down!

All you need to do is add this bit of code to a bookmark/favourite in your browser:


javascript:var p=document.getElementsByTagName('*');var j=1;function gc(){for(i=0;i<p.length;i++)* SPACE*{if(p[* SPACE*i].className=='g'){p[i* SPACE*].innerHTML=j+'. '+p[* SPACE*i].innerHTML;j++;}};};gc();


In IE on the ‘general’ tab give it a meaningful name – ‘Google Counter’ for example. On the ‘Web Document’ tab past the above code for the URL field.

Tip: The easiest way to do this is to create a favourite for any old site, and then modify the entry using the info above.

To use it, simply perform a search in Google then use the ‘Favourite’ you’ve just created and all the entries will be renumbered for you.
If you visit your site first then your pages will be highlighted in the list making them easier to spot.


Web page ‘last modified’ date and time

Ever viewed a web page and wondered when it was last updated? Well this tip will display the date and time for you! (NB. This only works on standard HTML pages, non-HTML pages will return the current data/time – but it still comes in very handy.)

The command is set up and run in the same way as the Google Counter above.
This time create a ‘Favourite’ with the title ‘Last modified’ and then paste this code in the URL/address field:

javascript:alert* SPACE*(document.lastModified)

Now when you’re viewing a page simply use the ‘Favourite’ and the date and time will be displayed (American format) in a popup box.

Remove * SPACE* in your code - added to allow forum post!

As the code is rather hard to read with all the "* SPACE*" added to allow the code to be posted, I've also put the code here:
www.hmmm.ip3.co.uk/tips

7/11/2008
Changed the Google script above.
The Google results format has changed: 'DIV' > 'li'.
Changing the script to '*' seems to work with both formats.

Hope you like them...

Here are a couple of simple but effective tips I use day-to-day. If you have some similar nuggets why not post them here...

Google ‘counter’

So you’re are working away on your search engine placement and you can now see your site in the search results. But you are quite a long way down the page (you’ve set your Google preferences to show you 100 results at a time) and would like to know exactly what number you are in the results – without having to manually count your way down!

All you need to do is add this bit of code to a bookmark/favourite in your browser:


javascript:var p=document.getElementsByTagName('*');var j=1;function gc(){for(i=0;i<p.length;i++)* SPACE*{if(p[* SPACE*i].className=='g'){p[i* SPACE*].innerHTML=j+'. '+p[* SPACE*i].innerHTML;j++;}};};gc();


In IE on the ‘general’ tab give it a meaningful name – ‘Google Counter’ for example. On the ‘Web Document’ tab past the above code for the URL field.

Tip: The easiest way to do this is to create a favourite for any old site, and then modify the entry using the info above.

To use it, simply perform a search in Google then use the ‘Favourite’ you’ve just created and all the entries will be renumbered for you.
If you visit your site first then your pages will be highlighted in the list making them easier to spot.


Web page ‘last modified’ date and time

Ever viewed a web page and wondered when it was last updated? Well this tip will display the date and time for you! (NB. This only works on standard HTML pages, non-HTML pages will return the current data/time – but it still comes in very handy.)

The command is set up and run in the same way as the Google Counter above.
This time create a ‘Favourite’ with the title ‘Last modified’ and then paste this code in the URL/address field:

javascript:alert* SPACE*(document.lastModified)

Now when you’re viewing a page simply use the ‘Favourite’ and the date and time will be displayed (American format) in a popup box.

Remove * SPACE* in your code - added to allow forum post!

As the code is rather hard to read with all the "* SPACE*" added to allow the code to be posted, I've also put the code here:
www.hmmm.ip3.co.uk/tips

7/11/2008
Changed the Google script above.
The Google results format has changed: 'DIV' > 'li'.
Changing the script to '*' seems to work with both formats.

Hope you like them...

With PHP you can easily append a last modified date to your page with something like:

<?php
echo "Last modified: " . date ("F d Y H:i:s.", getlastmod());
?>

This would output something like:
Last modified: July 04 2007 18:51:59.

It will update every time you modify the file.

Hi Eccles,
The 'Last Modified' tip is so that you can see when someone elses page was last updated, not your own!

The idea is you are visiting a site and would like to know when the page was last updated and there isn't any last updated date displayed on the page.

Ok well use filemtime instead then:

<?php
function remote_filemtime($url){
$uri = parse_url($url);
$uri['port'] = isset($uri['port']) ? $uri['port'] : 80;
$handle = @fsockopen($uri['host'], $uri['port']);
if(!$handle)
return 0;

fputs($handle,"HEAD $uri[path] HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: $uri[host]\r\n\r\n");
$result = 0;
while(!feof($handle))
{
$line = fgets($handle,1024);
if(!trim($line))
break;

$col = strpos($line,':');
if($col !== false)
{
$header = trim(substr($line,0,$col));
$value = trim(substr($line,$col+1));
if(strtolower($header) == 'last-modified')
{
$result = strtotime($value);
break;
}
}
}
fclose($handle);
return $result;
}
}
?>


Will return a unix timestamp.

Who said I was posting remote timestamps anyway!:)
I was posting a useful 'nugget'.

Another nugget

Lots of developers already know of, and use, the Web Developer Firefox extension from Chris Pederick [URL]http://chrispederick.com/work/web-developer/[/URL] so that you can view all sorts of useful information about a web page - from the CSS definitions to the JavaScript in use.

I've recently started using a similar tool for IE, called Debugbar [URL]http://www.debugbar.com/[/URL] (Free for home use). Again lots of useful tools from HTML Validation to a 'colour picker'.

Both highly recommended...

Mind if I add another extension or two? Some good ones already but I also recommend the Firebug extension for Firefox, it's great for debugging Javascript, problems with CSS and other stuff. For IE7 there's the Developer Toolbar, which while not as useful as the others here (well Microsoft made it!) it does give you some idea on why CSS never looks the same in IE as it does in other browsers....maybe IE8.
Thanks for the IE one though, I'll give that a try!

Also, while not a plugin or extension as useful tool for web developers is a Multiple Internet Explorer installer. Now you can test your webpages in anything from IE3 (don't bother!) to IE7 all on the same PC.

Colour Tool: Kuler

There are numerous colour tools out there to help you choose a theme for your site.

Here's the latest offering from Adobe Labs: kuler.adobe.com

Still in beta but there's lots to play with...

Watch a video to get you started [URL]http://www.yabb-adobe-doo.com/cinema3/kuler_adobe_com.html[/URL]

I would like to use .htaccess to set a password for my site but I need the full pathname of the serverver ending in htdocs. Can anyone tell me how I find that out please?

Thanks

I've answered your other separate post regarding this...

A couple of my favourite keyboard shortcuts - I must use both of these 100's of time a day:


Windows Key + E
This launches Windows Explorer (My Computer) - saves looking for a desktop shortcut etc. Just hold down the Windows Key and press 'E' from wherever you are to launch Explorer. Don't hold the 'E' key down or you'll have tons of Explorers running!


ALT + D
Whether you use Firefox or Internet Explorer - 'ALT + D' will put the keyboards 'focus' on the address bar, selecting the address, so as you start writing your new web address it replaces the old one - all without touching the mouse...