SEO Doctor is Firefox plugin that quickly and conveniently checks pages for things that might go wrong with SEO-related factors.

What it does

Plugin sits in the corner of the screen and address bar (both placements customizable) and shows colored flag and out-of-100 score for current page.

On click it shows breakdown by parameters and brief explanations what you have got right and wrong.

Format seems very similar to what YSlow uses and might been inspired by it. Or not – in any case it is convenient and efficient.

Strong features

Selection of factors seems simply bulletproof. It gets everything (to my knowledge) that is really important and doesn’t bother with obscure fluff that makes little sense to mess with.

There are some nifty functions to study ratio of internal/external links, highlight nofollow ones and even export all links from page as CSV.

Right click gives access to options and quick call of multiple web services. Can cut quite a few bookmarklets.

Downsides

The only minor hiccup I encountered is that it gets kinda confused between localhost and domain links on local development stack. It would be nifty to have an option to designate “own” domains so they are not treated as external.

Overall

Excellent tool with good and actionable advices. Must have for every web master.

Home&download http://www.prelovac.com/vladimir/browser-addons/seo-doctor

Now I need to go spend some time with those pesky headings in new theme… One more thing to mess with. *sigh*

Rarst.net recommends Dropbox for easy file sync, backup and sharing. Read how I use it.

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4. Google Page Speed vs Yahoo YSlow
5. Fixing home page settings hijack in Opera

I am no email person and can be abrupt there, so decided to write it out both for developers (so I can just refer to this post) and for readers why there are no giveaways at this blog.

Why giveaways

Simply put there is a lot of promotional value in “free stuff” concept. Even more when you seemingly get something that costs money for free.

I get bite of hype, developers get bite of hype, readers get paid stuff for free. Dream match up?

Not quite.

Why no giveaways

Giveaways are:

1. Finite. There is specific number of licenses to give out and it’s almost always in range of few. This means several readers get something, rest don’t. I don’t do posts for several readers, I do posts for all of them.
2. Not time-proof. Post on freeware from two years ago? Likely app is alive and kicking or at least you can fetch it from some archive. Giveaway of shareware from two years ago? Likely there are as many paid upgrades to reach current version.
3. Obsolete. Some developers like to giveaway old versions to commemorate new releases. Yay, old unsupported stuff, while being bombarded with promises of new toys.

Alternatives for developers

• free version, if app being reviewed has paid version I always cover additional perks in post;
• invites, really extension of free version but proven and powerful marketing mechanism, I am not against spreading these because sending out invites makes more invites available (pyramid);
• advertisement, if you are confident in your product back it up with money and profit from it, ads may not be our favorite thing but they are known and transparent business deal.

Note: not currently accepting private advertisement.

Overall

In the end won’t some free stuff be nice, even if for few readers alone?

Alas, I am not offering fish here. I tell how I fish.

Rarst.net recommends Dropbox for easy file sync, backup and sharing. Read how I use it.

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Wireshark (previously Ethereal) is rather known network packets analyzer which I thought is bound to have something fitting for the task.

What it does

Wireshark is packet analyzer that makes use of WinPcap driver to capture and analyze all (or subset of) network traffic. It is low-level tool with many uses, I only cover small slice of functionality in this post.

Installation

I went for version packaged in PortableApps format. It still needs WinPcap installed and for portable version it automates install/uninstall prompts for it when you run or close Wireshark.

Other than that works as any regular PortableApps software.

Capture

Click Capture Options for live capture settings dialog. You need to choose correct interface (network card) to run capture on.

To filter down to interaction with specific computer set filter, for example I used address of my notebook in home LAN:

host 192.168.0.101

Capture can be stopped manually or you can set limits how long to run or how much to capture. After pressing Start live capture will immediately run until stopped or reached limit.

Analyze

Raw packets don’t make much sense (well, to me). Luckily there are number of options to dumb it down for specific tasks. To get port usage that would be Statistics > IP Destinations > Create Stat

This creates precise protocol and port usage of captured traffic, split by IPs coming from to target ports. There are also percentages that help distinguish bulk of traffic from occasional packets.

Overall

Wireshark is powerful tool and may seem overly complex at first sight. But there is number of functions convenient and easy enough to make use of it even without deep knowledge of network specifics.

Home http://www.wireshark.org/

Download http://www.wireshark.org/download.html

Rarst.net recommends Dropbox for easy file sync, backup and sharing. Read how I use it.

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3. NetSetMan – app for quick changes of network settings
4. Fixing network connectivity with WinSock Fix
5. Automate network pings with PingInfoView

What it does

find is Windows native command line utility that searches through text file or stream and outputs all lines that match (or optionally don’t match) search text string.

Being command line utility it isn’t usability marvel, but has no graphical interface overhead. Works snappy and is easily scriptable.

For info on command run:

find /?

How to use

Let’s take server logs for example. I took archived logs for last ten days from server, that ended up as rarst.net-Jul-2010 file of 46MB in size and ~190,000 lines. Few editors will open this reliably and even less will help to make sense or filter it of it.

Let’s say I want to check for 404 errors. Thus lines that contain 404, surrounded by spaces.

find " 404 " rarst.net-Jul-2010

Really long list and some things I am not interested in. Like requests for icons by Apple devices that assume that all world should maintain separate icons for them. Meh.

Since find also accept streams it means that it can be chained with itself or other commands. So I want to further filter lines that don’t contain apple-touch-icon requests.

find " 404 " rarst.net-Jul-2010 | find /v "apple-touch-icon"

Pipe symbols streams output of our first find to one more find. Second has /v key that reverses logic – only lines that don’t contain string will pass.

And there can be more finds. Also not interested in comment spammers.

find " 404 " rarst.net-Jul-2010 | find /v "apple-touch-icon" | find /v "wp-comments-post.php"

Got my result, on other hand console window is hardly convenient viewing area. Luckily with console power results are easily directed into text file instead with > directive at the end..

find " 404 " rarst.net-Jul-2010 | find /v "apple-touch-icon" | find /v "wp-comments-post.php" > 404.log

And in single line command my ~190,000 lines log is reduced to ~800 lines, I am interested in.

More complex findstr version

If find is not enough there is also similar findstr utility that does same thing, but supports regular expressions. And pretty much anything is better with regular expressions. :)

Overall

Not flashy, but solid, scriptable and high-performance method to filter large text files.

Manuals and examples at SS64

Link http://ss64.com/nt/find.html

Link http://ss64.com/nt/findstr.html

Rarst.net recommends Dropbox for easy file sync, backup and sharing. Read how I use it.

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Year later I won’t have my tabs any other way than on my right. So, what is merit in such tweak and what ways of using browser (not necessarily Opera) it fits?

Tab anatomy

Every tab carries number of elements:

• site favicon;
• page title;
• unread indicator;
• close button.

Amount of open tabs affects how effective some of these are:

• favicon – always;
• title – with low amount of open tabs;
• unread indicator – always;
• close button – never (it’s plain evil, just disable and close with middle click).

As for screen space that all of tab bar occupies – all modern monitors have widescreen format. That means when display gets larger it gains more in width then it height.

So vertical space is precious, horizontal space is expendable.

Horizontal bar

Classic one. Tabs are displayed in horizontal line (or multi-line) and their size is dynamic – they get smaller when there are more of them.

Disadvantage is clear – with large amount of tabs it is hard to distinguish between pages. At least favicons make it easy to distinguish between sites.

Advantage is that you open a lot of tabs and it will be cramped, but always remains absolutely usable.

Vertical bar

To try it in Opera Right-click tab bar > Tab Bar Placement.

This one is geeky. Tabs are displayed in vertical stack as sidebar. Their size is static – width and height remain constant.

Disadvantage is that this view has limit of hitting screen bottom. Since tabs can’t get smaller from there they can either go off-screen, or force bar to multi-column (eating unreasonable amount of space on all but giant resolutions).

Advantage is that page titles are clearly visible at all times and favicons are close, instead of being spread. This organization makes much easier to keep open group of pages from same site and still see their individual names.

Overall

Horizontal tab placement favors browsing large amount of pages from assorted sites. Good fit for random browsing or just for following habit.

Vertical tab placement favors moderate amount of pages from few sites. Good fit for research and reference browsing.

Had you ever tried vertical tab placement? What were/are your impressions?

Rarst.net recommends Dropbox for easy file sync, backup and sharing. Read how I use it.

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list_hooked_functions() is another of my WordPress beasts lost in the wild. Since then I dedicated some time to build a set of debug functions for WordPress hooks.

Hooks storage

Hooks are stored in global variable $wp_filter. You can simply display it as any variable, but it is large and complex array. What this set of function does is mostly making sense of that array and presenting data in clean readable form.

Show hook details

There are three things that can be hooked:

• functions;
• static class methods;
• object methods.

First function deals with interpreting and formatting single hook, not really meant to be called directly.

function dump_hook( $tag, $hook ) {
    ksort($hook);

    echo "<pre>>>>>>\t$tag<br>";

    foreach( $hook as $priority => $functions ) {

	echo $priority;

	foreach( $functions as $function )
	    if( $function['function'] != 'list_hook_details' ) {

		echo "\t";

		if( is_string( $function['function'] ) )
		    echo $function['function'];

		elseif( is_string( $function['function'][0] ) )
		     echo $function['function'][0] . ' -> ' . $function['function'][1];

		elseif( is_object( $function['function'][0] ) )
		    echo "(object) " . get_class( $function['function'][0] ) . ' -> ' . $function['function'][1];

		else
		    print_r($function);

		echo ' (' . $function['accepted_args'] . ') <br>';
		}
    }

    echo '</pre>';
}

It will determine hooked stuff, sort it by priority and output.

Hooks map

Now that messy part is covered it is easy to see a list of all hooks and their content.

function list_hooks( $filter = false ){
	global $wp_filter;

	$hooks = $wp_filter;
	ksort( $hooks );

	foreach( $hooks as $tag => $hook )
	    if ( false === $filter || false !== strpos( $tag, $filter ) )
			dump_hook($tag, $hook);
}

When called this function will output current state of all hooks in alphabetized order. If passed string as argument it will only list hooks that have that string in name.

Makes it easy to get snapshot of everything or specific hook(s).

Hooks in real time

The one issue with listing current state of hooks is that it is not guaranteed to stay that way. Hooks are modified all the time, it is not uncommon for functions to be added and removed repeatedly.

How to see hook right when it is getting executed? We can add function to it that will output details of current hook.

function list_hook_details( $input = NULL ) {
    global $wp_filter;

    $tag = current_filter();
    if( isset( $wp_filter[$tag] ) )
		dump_hook( $tag, $wp_filter[$tag] );

	return $input;
}

Whenever hook with this function added gets executed it will output details right in place.

It is inconvenient to add this manually. Luckily there is special hook all that gets function executed in all hooks. Can hook live function there.

function list_live_hooks( $hook = false ) {
    if ( false === $hook )
		$hook = 'all';

    add_action( $hook, 'list_hook_details', -1 );
}

This will list live details on all hooks or specific hook, passed as argument.

Include and usage

These functions go in function.php of theme,  I just keep them in separate file and include conditionally when needed.

Also remember the difference in usage:

• list_hooks() can be used anywhere (right now kind of a thing);
• list_live_hooks() must be initiated early (schedule ahead kind of a thing).

And naturally these are strictly debug functions, I advise to use them on test sites only and .limit output to logged in administrators otherwise Especially live function – it can easily tear blog output apart.

Overall

I hope this would be of use, they saved me a lot of time and continue to do so. Suggestions of any changes or improvements are welcomed.

Download http://www.rarst.net/script/debug-hooks.zip

[update 2010-07-21] Oops… Messed up argument in one function, corrected.

Rarst.net recommends Dropbox for easy file sync, backup and sharing. Read how I use it.

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Largest inconvenience with Chart API was need to manually or programmatically mess with creating URLs for images. To cover that Google had made image chart editor (or ChartTool – seems to have identity issues) that allows to create or edit charts in user-friendly way.

What it does

Editor is web app that runs on Google App Engine platform. It has gallery of example charts and editor – suit of wizards to create chart of available types.

Editor can start from scratch or from one of example charts.

Strong features

Interface is conveniently organized in container that toggle show/hide. There is bunch of interface nifties, including extensive color picker for every place where colors go.

Page has:

• live preview of image;
• live highlight what part of URL you are currently changing;
• quick code for URL, image tag and embed via Visualization API (more complex JS solution, but allows more data to fit);

Downsides

Editor is extensive, but not comprehensive. Some of newer features, such as formulas and compound charts are not present.

Site as marked beta and for once it seems to carry actual meaning for Google product. So far I had encountered:

• more complex charts cannot be imported from URL;
• preview images stuck in Opera when switching between chart types.

Overall

Bit rough, but easy to use tool to generate simple charts quickly and conveniently.

Link http://imagecharteditor.appspot.com

Rarst.net recommends Dropbox for easy file sync, backup and sharing. Read how I use it.

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Over next few days that stirred few more thoughts in my head. Basically isn’t there also a choice to define what software (or hardware or tech in general) you use or let it define you?

Seems very much so to me.

Tech as tool

I am personally pragmatic (ok, cynical) about my tech.

Obviously I like to tinker with software. But truthfully I don’t actually like software. I like what software does. It’s not awesome on its own, it is awesome when it makes my hobbies, work and computing overall better, easier and more pleasant experience.

What I use are tools. If one fails me there is always another.

Tech as philosophy

The other way is to treat your tech as part of your personality. You are not simply using tech, you are using it because it is awesome and is on the mission to make world a better place.

By upholding greater external purpose people form their own self esteem. When taking to extreme this becomes fuel that power cult brands.

Tech is not a tool. It is statement of who you are.

Viewpoints clash

Problem is these two positions don’t mix well at all.

Purpose-driven computing doesn’t take vague statements well. It isn’t shy to call bullshit. It isn’t shy to ask (demand) explanation.

- I colored my Twitter avatar green to help people in Iran!
- (oh dear, another dumb loony)

Ideals-driven computing doesn’t take egocentric approach well. It isn’t right to put your own interest first. It isn’t right to bend rules so that fit your gain (on other hand it is perfectly right to bend rules for higher purpose).

- I don’t really understand what “spirit of open source” has to do with this.
- (oh dear, another evil selfish bastard)

Kind of case study

Beating WordPress horses again as example… but applying these metaphors cleared up a lot for me.

Latest blowup is about “WordPress” spelling. Yes, seriously.

Latest WordPress version automatically corrects “Wordpress” in posts to “WordPress”. I had to add code to my theme that overrides this function just so I could write Wordpress in this post.

Innocent enough? Yet:

• change was made bypassing usual discussions, only run by few developers and bam – it is in core;
• change introduced bug, because messing with case-sensitive URLs (and they mostly are on Linux hosting) breaks things.

And we have two factions in all their concentrated glory.

• those pro – consider it right thing to do, favor to community and natural;
• those con – consider it poorly developed, malicious in technical and/or editorial contexts.

It was one of many WTF WordPress moments for me. Why is it so hard to make sense or at least rollback such minor and questionable change?

However it makes sense when put in purpose/ideals system.

• People who are into WordPress philosophy and screaming freedom deem this welcome change and justify any inconveniences it brings. Rolling back is admitting it wasn’t right thing to do.
• People who are into WordPress as a tool deem this unwanted technically and harmful to their editorial integrity, which for them comes before goals of WordPress as a project. Getting used to the change means putting specific own interests behind vague project interests.

There is no solution to this because you can’t put forward project ideals and personal interests at the same time and not on expense of either.

It is win-lose without effort to make it into win-win.

Communication recipes

Don’t ever try to just-because pragmatic person. Yes, he may seem evil selfish bastard to you. But try to take high and mighty “I am awesome here, you shut up” stance and by the end of that phrase you had lost any existing or possible respect that person had towards you.

Don’t ever try to educate idealistic person. Yes, he may seem dumb loony to you. But try to “I will fix your broken brain and insult your beliefs while at it” and by the end of phrase you are known registered blasphemer.

Overall

We don’t mix well. Should we make an effort to? Or should we just learn to recognize this and take different ways early?

I am honestly not sure.

Rarst.net recommends Dropbox for easy file sync, backup and sharing. Read how I use it.

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Panda Cloud Antivirus is (supposedly) light solution that uses constant Internet connection to improve on classic antivirus steps.

What it does

As for main function this one is usual background monitor that sits in the tray and checks the files.

The main difference is that instead of regular database updates it checks for information about files online (I assume by transferring file hashes or something like that). When connection is not available it relies on some amount of cached data.

Interface is done in fancy/minimalistic style. Few large buttons, clear explanations where needed, no confusing terms.

Panda is often described in reviews as having light memory footprint. Not exactly true. Interface process is indeed light, consuming as little as 4-5 megabytes of memory. But there is also background service that hovers ~20MB when idle and can easily jump as high as 75-100MB.

Strong features

As for me interface is strongest part. It is the most straightforward interface experience I remember in background antivirus monitors. It doesn’t flood you in see-I-am-awesome junk, it gives you essentials.

Experience seems to be tailored towards novice users. If virus is detected Panda only gives brief non-scary (important) popup in the corner and file is deleted. No flashing red light or unneeded questions, that confuse the heck out of users.

Panda is known for their developments to autorun as malware delivery method and monitor stresses that autorun is being disabled.

Downsides

Cloud part is marketing speak as for me. I don’t see any technical difference between downloading database updates and downloading cloud data to cache.

On other hand there is no way to perform manual offline update. Useless for computers not connected to Internet, easily disrupted by malware.

Settings are lacking. “Advanced” dialog is a joke with some log-related options and primitive file/folder exclusions list (no wildcards).

Free version limitations

No support is a given. Other than that there are two main limitations to free version:

1. nag screens; mostly in options on some pro-features, but in a week of using it had once popped up on PC boot;
2. no auto-update of engine; major downside even if updates are infrequent so far.

Overall

Techies are unlikely to drool over this one. However interface experience makes it compelling choice as home/family antivirus. No automatic upgrades of engine in free version is only thing that limits it from perfect as such.

Home&download http://www.cloudantivirus.com/

Rarst.net recommends Dropbox for easy file sync, backup and sharing. Read how I use it.

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Best of best in two years of this blog. Polished, streamlined and ridiculously useful stuff.

New stuff! Up to 10GB free accounts from referrals, mobile apps, faster sync in LAN.

CCleaner

Cobian Backup

New stuff! Major version 10 was released – more features, more stability, more speed.

CureIt

New stuff! Recently improved with desktop lockdown mode, which makes it even more resistant to malware.

Everything

FeedDemon

New stuff! Lost native online service integration, but gained even more impressive perk of being only official app to sync with Google Reader.

FlashFolder

Ketarin

MyDefrag

New stuff! Now with graphical interface and advanced scripting system, including number of profiles for multiple defragmentation schemes out of the box.

NetBeans

New stuff! During last year it went through major internals update and got even more fast and smooth both in interface and page loading.

Resnooze

SpaceSniffer

WinSCP

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