If..Else Log

XMLHttpRequest is a native JavaScript object allowing further HTTP requests to be made from a page which has already loaded. It allows Microrequests to be made in response to user events in a web page, rather than requiring a complete page reload, making it possible to implement some notion of a rich client user interface, similar to desktop applications.

A nice collection of XMLHTTPRequest guides.

The spam plugins that I were using seem a bit over-zealous in what they are doing so I've decided to deactivate them for the short-term. I'm now relying purely on WP's anti-spam functionality.

As you can see, I've made a few minor changes to the site design again (just a few weeks after the last major redesign). This time however, it's more of a update rather than an overhaul.
Should you wish to see what the last design look like, feel free to take a look at this screenshot.

The good news is that I've also decided to release this new design as a WP theme. If you like this look, head on over to the Gespaa page.

Kottke.org has been on my daily reading list for a long while now, so it's great to see him devote even more time to his column. I admire his decision to do it full-time and wish him all the best.

Interesting move by google. More info can be found at the GoogleBlog.

A new version of the Time of Day WP plugin has been released for Wordpress 1.5. The most important change to this release is that no plugin specific changes need to be made to your index.php file.

That is, instead of the ugly call to the time_of_day function:
<?php time_of_day(abs(strtotime($post->post_date)));?>
you should now use the standard WP the_time function call:
<?php the_time(); ?>

This is now possible due to the addition of the WP filter hook for the_time in WP 1.5. This means plugin (de)activation/implementation is now a one click procedure from within WP plugin screen. Unfortunately, WP 1.2 users will need to continue to use the older plugin.

I'm mainly writing this down for my own reference. Upon upgrading WP, I'd noticed that anyone that tried to syndicate my feed ended up receiving 404 errors. Searching around the WP bug DB unearths bug report 0000903 which descibes the issue as well as a temporary workaround.

I've now made use of the new WP 1.5 Pages feature to add an about page to the site.

I am, however, encountering a bug in the admin panel when using Firefox. To specify a custom template for a page, you need to add a custom field called _wp_page_template. If I use Firefox to do this however, the value of the field is not entered into the system and instead is defaulted. I have to either use IE or manually update the DB to rectify this. Is anyone else encountering this bug?

Update: Coffelius left a comment on this entry which provides a workaround for this issue. For the convenience of anyone else who may be suffering from this issue, the fix is as follows:

In your /wp-admin/post.php page, comment out the following section on line 425 as shown:

if ($post_status == 'static') {
		generate_page_rewrite_rules();
		/*if ( ! update_post_meta($post_ID, '_wp_page_template',  $_POST['page_template'])) {
			add_post_meta($post_ID, '_wp_page_template',  $_POST['page_template'], true);
		}*/
	}

Wordpress 1.5 codenamed "Strayhorn" is finally officially released. I've already reviewed it previously at FullyIndependent but it's great to see the official release. I've (painlessly) upgraded all my blogs to the latest version.

Amazon Prime rocks. Where else can you get a tank delivered for only $3.99?