If you’re working on heavy duty websites, knowing your database and how to use it best can make a world of difference in terms of performance, and thus you should always optimize the database. That’s pretty much obvious. The tricky part is how you do the optimization? Often it requires a lot of reading up on how the database works - strengths, weaknesses and other details — and loads of experience.

A while back I complained you couldn’t change title on documents in Google Docs. Well, you can. It just wasn’t obvious to me how you do it. Just click on the title while the document is open, and you can change it.

Mysql is a wonderful database, and while many use it, most people only scratch the surface of what the database can do. One of the practical functions available is the substring_index function, and an imaginary mailing list example is a nice way to show how to use it. Let imagine we have a mailinglist in a table named “mailinglist” and it has a (char) column with the email addresses subscribed to the list.

Earlier this week Apple introduced a new line in their laptop lineup - the MacBook Air. On the web there’s been a number of people criticizing the MacBook Air, and frankly I really don’t get why they need to have every Apple product be a perfect match for them - they aren’t and they’re not supposed to be. “Top 10 Flaws of the Macbook Air” Let me add a few comments to some of the points on one of the lists criticizing the Macbook Air:

On most websites - including this one - the footer is the boring place where you (usually) place all the pocket lint, which didn’t make it into the page anywhere else. It usually have a copyright notice, links to a site map and other stuff which may be important, but not interesting (speaking in very broad terms). Today I came across an article on footers with great usability. Footer Usability? Yes, and from a blunt disregard and ignorance, I’ve discovered that the site footer is an excellent place to place a lot more effort.