Regex for People Who Keep Copy-Pasting It Off Forums
A no-nonsense intro to regular expressions for beginners, with two patterns you'll actually use: trimming whitespace and validating an email address.
Tutorials
Tutorials
Getting Started with CSS Media Queries
A hands-on walkthrough of CSS media queries and basic responsive breakpoints, prompted by rebuilding this blog's layout after testing it on an iPhone 4S and a new Kindle Fire.
Setting Up a Cron Job to Automate Your Backups
A walkthrough of setting up a cron job on a Linux server to automate a nightly backup script, including the gotchas around cron's stripped-down environment and silent failures.
JavaScript Closures, With Actual Examples
A practical look at JavaScript closures using two real examples: a private click counter and the classic loop-variable bug that trips up almost everyone at some point.
Setting Up Self-Hosted WordPress (Finally Wrote This Down)
A walkthrough of moving to self-hosted WordPress: picking a cheap host, the actual install process (five-click or manual), and choosing a first theme.
Poking Around jQuery Mobile 1.0
A hands-on first look at jQuery Mobile 1.0, which just went final: getting the files linked up, building a simple data-role page, and a few gotchas I hit along the way.
A Simple PHP Contact Form (That Doesn't Get You Hacked)
A quick, no-framework PHP tutorial for building a contact form that emails you, with basic server-side validation and a fix for the email header injection hole most beginner tutorials skip.
Ditching Flash: A Practical HTML5 Video Tag Tutorial
A practical walkthrough of the HTML5 video tag: multiple source formats, poster images, and why you still need a fallback for browsers (and clients) that won't cooperate.
Git Basics: Stop Emailing Yourself Zip Files
A beginner-friendly walkthrough of git init, add, and commit, and why emailing yourself zip files of your code is a habit you need to break right now.
CSS3 Rounded Corners and Gradients (and IE9's Nonsense)
A rundown of getting CSS3 rounded corners and gradients working across Firefox, WebKit browsers and IE9, vendor prefixes included, with the workarounds IE9 still forces on you.
Validating a Contact Form with jQuery Before You AJAX It Off
A no-framework walkthrough of validating a contact form with plain jQuery 1.7 before firing off the AJAX submit, including the .on() switch and a basic email regex.