The front end of BalfBlog is now using prepared statements for everything. This was absolutely crucial since most of the front end relied on users sending GET requests to the blog. These are now completely safe since the update.
The dashboard has already featured prepared statements for sending information, but the front end was still lacking. I will point out however, as a result of this update you currently cannot combine queries. This means you cannot search for a user and a category at the same time. So this no longer works:
blog/?cat=General&poster=jamiebalfour04
This is coming back very soon however. As a matter of fact it is in the latest version, it's simply not tested thouroughly enough for me to be sure it can be released.
The big security update for BalfBlog is done! Now all statements are protected against SQL injection and use PHP's prepared statements. I'm hoping this will make BalfBlog much more secure for all users.
If you are interested in downloading a pre-release version, let me know by email.
Today I have decided I will no longer add support for Internet Explorer 8, 7, 6 and below to BalfBlog, BalfBar, BalfSlider, BalfRibbon and my own website.
Subsequently, users of these will see a very small reduction in file size.
After many years of adding extra support to my website for older browsers, I have decided it is time to move on. I am officially ditching a percentage of users of these older browsers.
Hello everyone, I'm posting this comment about my Disqus comment system which I have recently had to update. Since Disqus currently does not offer the ability to move comments from an old URL to a new one, I had to delete older comments to prevent them going through to the error page. I have readded all these comments using the names of the original people (note the names, not their user accounts, thus these will not take you to their accounts). I have done this since some of these comments were useful and because there are still very few comments (despite hundreds of views a month).
BalfBlog will gain more success over the next few months when it moves away from being just a blogging system.
Plans for BalfBlog include the ability to create and modify pages on your website for you as well as be your CMS for your blog.
Currently, BalfBlog is also only available to request for download. This will change soon when I release it to my own Download Center.
A couple of weeks ago I posted an article about building a webpage with a fluid sidebar. I was completely unaware that this is actually a common issue, but I'm very proud to say that all of my solutions can also be found on the Wikipedia page on the Holy Grail (web design). A lot of my knowledge on this comes from my own experience with the issue, since my website actually follows this design pattern and I struggled to get it perfect.
I have decided to deploy a blog for BalfBlog updates on my website. Since I have multiple (infinite) databases on my server and plenty of storage space, I thought I may as well create a more dedicated blog. This blog cannot be subscribed to and I currently intend to keep it that way. Major updates will likely still be repeated on my own personal blog.
You can subscribe to the new RSS feed feature by just clicking the button on the front page.
For now the biggest update is the RSS which was added earlier this morning.
I will update the ClickIt and Zenlang websites with these updates.
BalfBlog 2.1 will be known as the social update. The reason for this is because the core focus of version 2.1 is on integrating social media much deeper. The plan is to allow you to post to the blog and automatically BalfBlog will post to social media. I will also bring RSS feeds into version 2.1.
I'm hoping version 2.1 will be released before the end of the summer.
Happy birthday to the most awesome tech company Apple!
Today Apple becomes 40 years old! I remember quite a lot of Apple through my life, and I definitely remember my first personal Mac which I got in September 2011 and since then my love for Macs has defined the way I work.
Tesla, who just so happen to be one of my favourite companies, are unveiling their latest electric car - the Model 3. I am very excited by this mainly from a technology perspective but also from an environmental point of view.
Teslas current lineup of cars are absolutely stunning, and it may seem like a dream right now, but I am very interested in the range and some time in the future I would love to own one (it will likely have changed by the time I get around to looking at buying one).
Tesla are a fantastic company who build things to an outstanding degree as I noticed when I was in one of the Tesla Stores. They also innovate way more than other car manufacturers, so kudos to them.
I am excited by the Model 3 however as it will have a lower price point than the other models and it could possibly be the next car my parents buy. The future is electric and I'm hoping the Model 3 proves this further.
