Welcome to Pete White's 'World Famous' ImAFish - based from Shrewsbury, UK - covering technology, photography, money making and life - on-line since 2001!

Detecting Apple Device Orientation

Thu, 26/01/2012 - 5:37pm — Pete

Following on from my post at the weekend about Responsive Design, a fellow blogger Tristan Bettany has emailed in his example for detecting either the iPad or the iPhone and the screen orientation.

It uses a small amount of PHP to detect the device then CSS to detect the orientation. Copy and paste the following into the head of your page.

<?php
//Functions to check user agent for iPad, iPod, iPhone
function iPadCheck(){
return preg_match('/(iPad)/', $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT']);
}
function iPhoneCheck(){
return preg_match('/(iPhone|iPod)/', $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT']);
}

//Set correct css files based on detected device
//orientation property supported in mobile safari to change layout on rotation
if (iPadCheck()) {
echo'
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen and (orientation:portrait)" href="iPadPortrait.css" />
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen and (orientation:landscape)" href="iPadLandscape.css" />
';
} else if (iPhoneCheck()) {
echo'
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen and (orientation:portrait)" href="iPhonePortrait.css" />
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen and (orientation:landscape)" href="iPhoneLandscape.css" />
';
} else {
echo'
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen and (max-width: 1199px)" href="minDesktop.css" />
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen and (min-width: 1200px)" href="fullDesktop.css" />
';
}
?>

The script detects the device then includes the associated stylesheet depending on the orientation.

Any questions add a comment.

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Responsive Web Design

Sun, 22/01/2012 - 5:03pm — Pete

Responsive design is the idea that web site layouts should change based on the users choice of device. Depending on the users environment the design may adapt to the screen size, platform or orientation. 

I've put together an example that you can use in your own web sites. Look what happens when you resize the page horozontally in your web browser or on your mobile.

View now - Responsive Design

Feel free to inspect with Firebug and copy into your own project where suitable.

It uses a condition to tell the web browser which stylesheet to include:

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen and (max-width: 660px)" href="1col.css" />

In the above example we are saying to include 1col.css when the media is a screen and the maximum width is 660px.

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen and (min-width: 1000px) and (max-width: 1200px)" href="2col.css" />

Here we are saying to display 2col.css when the media is a screen, the minimum width is 1000 pixels and the max-width is 1200 pixels.

Any questions I will try to answer in the comments.

Update: When setting the viewport you might want to detect the device with PHP first otherwise the viewport will be set too small on the iPad.

 

Grow your Blog Income with Link Vehicle

Sun, 22/01/2012 - 1:35pm — Pete

We've covered a number of services for helping bloggers make money, today I want to share a website called Link Vehicle. I've been a member for a number of years and they provide a great service to earn cash blogging.

Their two main services include text link publishing and sponsored reviews. I've found sponsored reviews work especially well for advertisers as it brings great exposure to their products or services. Link Vehicle manually check all sites before allowing them into their directory meaning that advertisers only see the best quality sites.

Placing ads for bloggers is simple as their automated system and excellent technical support means that even bloggers with limited technical knowledge can get to grips quickly with their service. You have complete control over which ads are displayed on your site as you have the option to approve each one.

Bloggers get a 50/50 split of any income and payments are made on the 1st of each month via PayPal with a minimun payout of $10. We've never had any payment problems with Link Vehicle, their structure is clear and easy to follow.

Link Vehicle ads don't conflict with those from other publishers so they can provide another potential income stream to help make your blog profitable. On ImAFish we run Link Vehicle ads along side those from a number of other companies to help sustain the site.

Sponsored posts can provide a vital income for bloggers and can add additional value to your blog or website. ImAFish recommends Link Vehicle.

Severn Magazine Issue #3

Mon, 09/01/2012 - 3:24pm — Pete

The third issue of Severn Magazine, The Web Orchard are excited to be involved in providing web services for the Magazine.

Year in Review: 2011

Sat, 31/12/2011 - 11:47am — Pete

2011 saw our 10th Birthday, making ImAFish one of the longest running blogs on the Internet! I discussed some of our highlights in the post 'A Decade of ImAFish'.

I will remember 2011 as the year I got married, we had a great day at Lion Quays and it was great to see all our friends and family.

Some of the highlights of the year on ImAFish include:

A big thank you to everyone who has contributed or visited ImAFish in the past year and I look forward to seeing you again in 2012!

Are The UK Bingo Adverts Working?

Tue, 27/12/2011 - 9:49pm — Pete

If you are living in the UK and you have turned your TV on through the day then you will usually not be able to watch 1 hours worth of programs without seeing a bingo advert. From that annoying Fox that used to sponsor The Jeremy Kyle Show, to Barbara Windsor being the face of JackpotJoy, bingo seems to be huge, but is it really and are people actually buying into the TV adverts?

Why is Bingo So Popular in the UK?

If you catch a bus to your local town/city and you look around, within 5 minutes you will come across a bingo club, usually either a Gala Bingo or a Mecca Bingo club. Have you ever noticed that you will not walk past a casino however? If you are lucky, your town/city will have a very small betting shop or a tiny arcade, nowhere that you would be able to play poker or roulette. This means that if you wish to dabble in a bit of gambling then bingo is your only choice.

Bingo is a social sport, if you wish to socialise and you have a few hours to kill then going to your local bingo club is great. Adding the chance of winning money to the equation is what makes the game so popular amongst the female population.

Making it Easier

Anything that makes our lives any easier is always a plus. If you love to play offline bingo then you will be in for a treat with online bingo. UK bingo sites offer you what you would expect from bingo but they make it more convenient. Travel is virtually none existent. With many households having an internet connecting you are able to play bingo in the comfort of your own home rather than venturing out in the cold waiting for a bus. Prizes/jackpots are much bigger and you have more variety to choose from. You even have better odds when playing online bingo.

Enticing us In

As a nation, we love free things. When bingo advertisements advertise the ability to play free bingo and still win money the offer is worth having looking at if nothing else. The bonuses advertised are another head turner. The idea of depositing £10 and receiving £30 sounds like a fantastic deal. Then once the bingo sites draw us in, the more likely we will stay.

Online bingo is growing at a phenomenal rate which shows that more and more people are getting into the game. This alone would show that the UK bingo TV adverts are working to an extent. The only problem is, we are not all bingo players. Infact a portion of the population with think that bingo is too soft-core when it comes to gambling and a portion will even frown on gambling altogether. If you fall into one of these groups then TV adverts must annoy the hell out of you. There should be a law where only one bingo site can advertise at one time. Then again, if it is not bingo adverts that are hogging the breaks, money lenders and cash for gold adverts will.

The Web Orchard 2012 Brochure

Mon, 19/12/2011 - 4:39pm — Pete

Read more on The Web Orchard or call 01743 343411.

Severn Magazine Issue 2

Mon, 05/12/2011 - 8:19pm — Pete

We're really excited to be involved with Severn Magazine, here is the second issue:

An Updated Path

Sat, 03/12/2011 - 7:00pm — Pete

Back in November 2010 a new iPhone app launched with a fair amount of publicity called Path, its aim I thought was to link together the various social networks making sharing easier; besides did we really need another social network platform? Path's ideas didn't feel complete and as a consequence apps such as Instagram filled the void for cross network sharing.

Last week Path 2.0 was released, tech journalist MG Siegler summed it up nicely and I agree that what really stands out was how well thought out and designed the updated app is. 

With Path 2.0 you can now share anything, from photos, messages, location, music or even when you're sleeping. 

A really nice touch is when you scroll through you path, the way the clock spins as you go back and forward in time. 

The new Facebook application has so many features, there are so many updates from people, companies, organisations, news sites that its easy to get overloaded, Path doesn't feel like it suffers from this clutter.

When web development moved into the Web 2.0 era the empathises was on the interface detail, I'm not talking about gradients and big margins but the way design and JavaScript could be used to make small usability improvements. We saw the same sort of improvements in OS X over its iterations, Path feels the same and I hope it ushers in a new movement in app design.

Path 2.0 feels a fresh start, its simple, well made and a pleasure to use - now I just need more than two friends using the service. Path is available for iPhone or Android. 

www.path.com

A Bumper Week of 'Go Lives' at The Web Orchard

Sun, 20/11/2011 - 5:42pm — Pete

We've had a busy week at The Web Orchard with three of our projects going live:

Tuesday - Libya Business News

With the National Transitional Council putting together an interim goverment the oil rich country will soon be a hive of business activity. Based on the sucess of Iraq Business News, getting over 100,000 monthly visitors, we were asked to design and develop the platform for Libya:

www.libya-businessnews.com

Wednesday - Sports Booker

An exciting midlands based startup has developed online software allowing gyms, personal trainers and a range of other sports activities to take bookings and payments online. We were asked to develop a website to help demonstrate how easy to use and powerful their software is:

www.sports-booker.com

Friday - It's a Nomad Life

It’s A Nomad Life is an ecommerce website showcasing an eclectic collection of globally inspired goods from the ancient Neolithic period to the edgy 1980’s. Using Drupal and Ubercart we developed a sophisticated ecommerce website allowing easy viewing and purchasing of products as well as an easy to use administration system allowing for quick management of products.

www.itsanomadlife.com

To see what we can do for your website - visit us online or call 01743 367927!