https://www.halnesbitt.com An integrated RSS feed, featuring my latest projects and blog posts. en-us Fri, 24 Apr 2026 12:25:54 +0000 Fri, 24 Apr 2026 12:25:54 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss hal@halnesbitt.com (Hal Nesbitt) hal@halnesbitt.com (Hal Nesbitt) https://www.halnesbitt.com/scripts/halthumb.php?src=/images/projects/home-business-card.jpg&w=144&h=144&crop=portfolio https://www.halnesbitt.com https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=2 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=2 My business card, which I will give you, should we ever meet. Thu, 08 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=3 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=3 The Nesbitt/Nisbet Society website features a custom CMS built with PHP/MySQL and has a complete member database with dynamic expiration date and profile system, automated email functionality using templates, drag-and-drop shopping cart, and is completely integrated with PayPal, phpBB3, YouTube, and iTunes. Fri, 24 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=8 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=8 Accessing the Netflix oData API, using jQuery and JSON. Allows the user to search the database, as well as integrate with their own Netflix account and YouTube (for trailers). Tue, 27 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=9 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=9 A funky XML-driven Flash mp3 player made to look like an old school boombox. Loads the tapes and labels dynamically based on the XML file. The FLA file contains instructions, including the XML structure. Fri, 02 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=11 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=11 Sometimes people want to hire me, but they want to see my qualifications first, since I often act like a jackass. Sat, 20 Feb 2016 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=12 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=12 Vness Photography is the personal portfolio of photographer Venessa Ramirez. Built with PHP/MySQL, it features a full CMS for managing the photo albums, client login with drag-and-drop shopping cart, and a custom dynamic image resize script for outputting thumbnails and lightbox images with watermark overlay. Sat, 22 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=13 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=13 CAT Roofing was created with PHP/MySQL and features a custom CMS with drag-and-drop functionality to control the dynamic pages, and original logo design. Fri, 19 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=14 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=14 Simple redesign of ForceAnalytic website. Static XHTML, featuring custom logo design, nevo slideshow and dynamic world clocks, including DST. Tue, 04 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=15 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=15 Redesign of Women in Nephrology website, focusing on a clean, modern, scientific look and feel and SOAP integration with remote member database using Avectra netFORUM. The site features dynamic slideshows with embedded video, 3D Flash newsletters, member directory, and is written in ASP.NET. Sat, 25 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=16 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=16 NASA Depot is a repository for other NASA related sites and information and is fully controlled by a custom-made CMS written in ASP.NET 2.0 with an Access backend. It features embedded RSS and Twitter feeds, as well as vodcast episodes via XSLT, YouTube and image overlays, and social media integration. Fri, 15 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=17 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=17 With Love, Wedding and Event Management was created using a combination of PHP, MySQL, Flash, JavaScript, and of course, love ;) It features a CMS backend area that allows the administrator to control the news, testimonials, and image galleries, as well as certain portions of the front page. I also created the logo for both web and print design. Tue, 23 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=18 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=18 This is my full-time gig. Written in ASP.NET, this site combines a variety of technologies, including ASP.NET, JavaScript/jQuery, Flash, XML/XSLT, and dynamic content from a hosted member database via SOAP Web Service. Since 2007, I have performed two complete redesigns of the site. Tue, 27 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=20 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=20 The intro/registration site for a fantasy football league. Written in Flash with PHP email forms. Mon, 16 Jul 2007 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=22 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=22 A simple static site (one of my first) for a small publishing company. Includes PHP contact forms with anti-spam measures and PayPal checkout integration. Mon, 02 Jul 2007 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=24 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=24 Logo design for Jen Karr Events, an event planner in DC. Mon, 31 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=25 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=25 T-shirt logo design for Morgan's Sports Bar and Lounge, located in Woodbridge, VA. Sat, 16 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=26 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=26 Custom logo design for CAT Roofing website. Fri, 19 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=27 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=27 Logo design for With Love, Weddings and Event Management. Tue, 23 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=28 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=28 A Google Maps mashup example, with directions, local search, GPS, StreetView, etc. Fri, 09 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=29 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=29 How to update fields in a PDF dynamically via QueryString. Fri, 09 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=30 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=30 App icon design for the Kidney Week 2011 app, for iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry devices. Sat, 08 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=31 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=31 Virtual Hal is a chatbot written in Flash AS2 and Artificial Intelligence Markup Language (AIML), an XML based language used to parse strings to simulate interaction. Hosted by Pandorabots, you can download the source code for an AS3 version from my blog. Sat, 03 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=32 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=32 A few odd Flash cursors that I created for various projects. Sat, 03 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=33 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=33 I created this as an attention-getter for Renal Week 2008 - the idea is that everyone ignores pop-ups, people don't read, and if your cursor sat up and talked to you, you might listen. I implemented it with JavaScript. Basically, on page load, a script loaded an invisible div on a new layer with a high z-index over top of the existing page. This div contained the Flash movie (with a transparent background) that when clicked, started the first timeline. After doing its thing, a script was called to hide the div, thus removing the Flash. Cookies were used to ensure that it only happens once per week, or whatever. Pretty annoying, huh? Mon, 17 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=34 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=34 Ever wanted to beat me up after one of my stupid comments? Well, now you can! Sun, 22 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=36 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=36 Normal fonts bore me, so I created my own. Modeled after my own chicken scratch, it is perfect for abstract projects, or if you are trying to appear as if you just learned how to write. Fri, 22 Jun 2007 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=38 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=38 A drawing guestbook, that allows you to leave a message and draw a picture. Tue, 23 May 2006 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=46 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=46 A simple WinterBoard theme that replaces the "Wrong Passcode" string with everyone's favorite swear. Sun, 02 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=47 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=47 A fish tank battery theme for WinterBoard. The water gets lower as the power decreases, until the poor fish dies. Sun, 02 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=48 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=48 The safe way to beat up your friends! SmashFace is an entertainment app that utilizes facial detection technology to allow you to "punch" a photo to create bruises, cuts, and more. Sat, 22 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=50 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=50 Rare Book Reprints is a retro-style site dedicated to Native American genealogy. Written in HTML5 and CSS3, it features a pure JavaScript shopping cart with PayPal integration, HTML5 audio player with toggle controls, and full responsive design which allows it to look great in all browsers and devices. Sun, 25 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=51 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=51 Eleni's Greek Taverna is a terrific Greek restaurant located in Springfield, VA. The site is written in PHP/MySQL and contains a mini-CMS that controls the specials, testimonials, and certain admin functions. The navigation features a scrolling parallax background and is coded to be fully responsive, automatically adjusting to all device and monitor sizes. Tue, 22 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=52 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=52 Fully responsive website created for the 50th Anniversary of the American Society of Nephrology (ASN). The site is written in PHP/MySQL with custom built CMS and centralized config file. Integrates with member database and Google Maps for real-time membership numbers plotted by country. Single page feel with external pages loaded via AJAX. Wed, 24 Feb 2016 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=54 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=54 HalThumb is a script (I wrote PHP and ASP.NET versions) that allows you to dynamically resize an image on the fly by passing the size and options in the querystring. Use it for thumbnail generation, or to make your images just fit exactly. Thu, 01 Sep 2016 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=55 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=55 Second redesign of Women in Nephrology website, focusing on responsive design and furthering the integration with the member database. Written in ASP.NET with a custom built CMS to control dynamic and scheduled content. Sat, 01 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=56 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=56 The Kidney Health Initiative (KHI) website is a fully responsive, database-driven site written in ASP.NET with a custom built CMS. The KHI website features netFORUM integration, member portal, navigation, categorization, and publishing modules, and a dynamic invoice generator. Tue, 01 May 2018 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=57 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=57 Custom logo design for Renal Fellow Network website. Mon, 01 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=58 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=58 Custom Wordpress Template design for Renal Fellow Network website. Includes responsive design and integrated database tool to import from Blogger, as well as utility to redirect Blogger URLs to their respective Wordpress URL. Wed, 02 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=59 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=59 Custom landing page for launch of KidneyX project. Features dynamic YouTube playlist integration, mailing list management, and contact forms. Written in ASP.NET with custom mini CMS for module management. Mon, 15 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=60 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=60 The fourth version (and my third redesign) of the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) website. This latest iteration involved rebuilding both the front and backend from scratch, to get us on the latest platforms and technology, with a major focus on improving the user experience, based on user feedback and an in-depth traffic analysis. Sun, 27 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=61 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=61 The KidneyCure website is a fully responsive, database-driven site written in ASP.NET with a custom built CMS. The KidneyCure site features netFORUM integration, donor portal with real-time giving status, integrated AJAX donation form, campaign management, and dynamic donor receipt and pledge statement PDF generation. Thu, 15 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=62 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=62 Charm City SnoBalls is a fully responsive one-page site built for a popular food cart based in San Antonio, TX. The site was written in PHP, with jQuery and Bootstrap, and features dynamic content management for the client via Flickr API integration. Thu, 29 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=63 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=63 Custom showcase/portfolio site for Avi Ruiz, a talented student-athlete located in Chantilly, VA. Features integrations for dynamic photos from SmugMug API, video library via YouTube API, and calendar integration via Microsoft Graph API. Sat, 18 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=64 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=64 A fake golf merchandise company/website that I created to facilitate an elaborate practical joke that I was playing on a friend of mine. Site features custom logo design and merchandise mockups. Thu, 05 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=65 https://www.halnesbitt.com/portfolio/item.php?ID=65 The third version (and my second redesign) of the Nesbitt/Nisbet Society of North America website. This latest iteration was a complete redesign and rebuild of the entire site architecture and features centralized class coding, a custom CMS for content control, shopping cart with PayPal integration, and dynamic document generation (PDF, XLS). Also includes custom graphics and mockups using the Nisbet tartan. Fri, 01 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/pages/project.php?ID=4 https://www.halnesbitt.com/pages/project.php?ID=4 Previous iterations of my website, ranging from very crappy to sort of crappy. Sat, 25 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/pages/project.php?ID=7 https://www.halnesbitt.com/pages/project.php?ID=7 A bunch of Photoshopped pictures. Click a thumbnail and then mouseover the image to go from the original to the graphically-enhanced image. Sat, 24 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/pages/project.php?ID=10 https://www.halnesbitt.com/pages/project.php?ID=10 Send a text message to my phone. Sat, 03 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/pages/project.php?ID=19 https://www.halnesbitt.com/pages/project.php?ID=19 I got bored and made this a few years ago to demonstrate Flash/PHP integration. This page has top movie lists, audio quotes, random movie and quote generators, and list submissions. Mon, 22 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/pages/project.php?ID=21 https://www.halnesbitt.com/pages/project.php?ID=21 This is my old portfolio, from the archive site (2006-2009). I went with the page-flip style; cheesy but I thought it was totally awesome at the time. Fri, 17 Mar 2006 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/pages/project.php?ID=23 https://www.halnesbitt.com/pages/project.php?ID=23 A Flash gallery of me and my gang and various celebrities. Tue, 01 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/pages/project.php?ID=35 https://www.halnesbitt.com/pages/project.php?ID=35 I make stupid things when I am bored. Rub your cursor on my face and watch me eat it. Mon, 17 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/pages/project.php?ID=37 https://www.halnesbitt.com/pages/project.php?ID=37 Chat with me via Instant Messenger. Sat, 14 Jul 2007 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/pages/project.php?ID=39 https://www.halnesbitt.com/pages/project.php?ID=39 Hal explains it all! My discussion forums, ranging from computer questions to movie trivia to stupid rants. Tue, 12 Jun 2007 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/pages/project.php?ID=40 https://www.halnesbitt.com/pages/project.php?ID=40 My blog, where I write about things that interest me, such as code snippets that I don't want to forget. Tue, 19 Jun 2007 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/pages/project.php?ID=41 https://www.halnesbitt.com/pages/project.php?ID=41 Whether you are a client or you just want to give me some money, you can make payments here. Fri, 22 Jun 2007 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/pages/project.php?ID=42 https://www.halnesbitt.com/pages/project.php?ID=42 Aside from being a champion yo-yoer, I am the full-time computer geek at the American Society of Nephrology. I recently completed my MBA from George Washington University, which I am hoping will enable me to finally afford my own bad habits. I do freelance design, specializing in Flash (AS2/AS3), PHP, and ASP.NET and database development with MySQL, Access, and SQL Server. In addition, I also do graphic design, server management, and I am an accomplished spyware fighter. I am available for design gigs, IT consulting, and beer drinking. Thu, 08 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/pages/project.php?ID=43 https://www.halnesbitt.com/pages/project.php?ID=43 Dynamic image creation from RSS feed; searches Yahoo! top news, picks a random entry, extracts the fullsize image from the description, resizes and applies the item to a newspaper background and spits the image out to the browser, all on the fly. The script includes custom resizing options for the image; you can download the source from my blog. Sun, 11 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/pages/project.php?ID=44 https://www.halnesbitt.com/pages/project.php?ID=44 My various social media links. Sun, 04 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/pages/project.php?ID=45 https://www.halnesbitt.com/pages/project.php?ID=45 A more polished version of my original Flash flipbook, this was my portfolio from 2009 - 2016. It featured realistic page turning, 3D effects, and dynamic page and PDF generation via GD library. Sat, 02 Jul 2016 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/pages/project.php?ID=49 https://www.halnesbitt.com/pages/project.php?ID=49 A gallery of the apps, themes, and tweaks I've made for mobile devices. Sun, 02 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.halnesbitt.com/pages/project.php?ID=53 https://www.halnesbitt.com/pages/project.php?ID=53 The portfolio version of my website, which contains more professional projects, and less goofy stuff. Sat, 02 Jul 2016 00:00:00 +0000 http://blog.halnesbitt.com/2007/06/19/the-proper-way-to-embed-a-flash-files-swf/ http://blog.halnesbitt.com/2007/06/19/the-proper-way-to-embed-a-flash-files-swf/ As you may have noticed, when you roll over a Flash animation embedded in a website while using Internet Explorer, you may see a tooltip that says "click to activate and use this control" and a dotted line around the object. This is the result of a Sat, 29 Sep 2018 09:50:59 +0000 http://blog.halnesbitt.com/2007/06/19/why-braveheart-is-the-best-movie-ever-made/ http://blog.halnesbitt.com/2007/06/19/why-braveheart-is-the-best-movie-ever-made/ Braveheart is the best movie ever made because it contains all of the elements that comprise a good movie. For example:Action: Fights, horse races, strong language, you name it.Violence: Very graphic. Check out when William Wallace kills Mornay with the ball and chain.Revenge: Nobody crosses Wallace and lives.Suspense: You never know what Robert the Bruce is going to do or whose side he will choose.Love: "They killed Thu, 01 Sep 2016 00:15:20 +0000 http://blog.halnesbitt.com/2007/06/19/what-the-redskins-need/ http://blog.halnesbitt.com/2007/06/19/what-the-redskins-need/ That's cool that the Redskins drafted a safety, but in case no one else noticed, what we need is a pass rusher. We had what, the worst defense in the league? The is because the opposing quarterback usually had, on average, about 10 minutes to find a receiver. If we can find some big dude to put some damn pressure on the QB, then he will start making rushed passes, giving our big, fast, backfield a chance to knock some people out and we might even intercept a ball or two. That being Thu, 01 Sep 2016 00:15:47 +0000 http://blog.halnesbitt.com/2007/06/19/hypothetical-economic-crashes-due-to-hyperbolic-fund-procurement/ http://blog.halnesbitt.com/2007/06/19/hypothetical-economic-crashes-due-to-hyperbolic-fund-procurement/ [Originally published March 8, 2005] Gwen Stefani's song, If I was a rich girl is both catchy and popular. Taken from an original score from the play, Fiddler on the Roof, it provides a contemporary view of greed and celebrity ambition with relation to todays society. However, this song makes several grievous errors as it not only is grammatically incorrect, but it fails to take into account very basic economic principles of supply and demand. "I'd have all the mo Sat, 29 Sep 2018 09:49:53 +0000 http://blog.halnesbitt.com/2007/07/09/the-glitter-trap-the-absolute-best-office-practical-joke-there-is/ http://blog.halnesbitt.com/2007/07/09/the-glitter-trap-the-absolute-best-office-practical-joke-there-is/ What's the best thing about working in an office? Playing immature pranks on your coworkers! The more annoying and stupid, the better it is. However, there is one practical joke that will top all of the others - the glitter trap. The glitter trap is perfectly suited for an office, as they tend to have those false ceiling panels. The beauty of the thing is that your victim causes their own demise; this means they cannot under any circumstance blame you! Basically, when they move a s Sat, 29 Sep 2018 09:44:38 +0000 http://blog.halnesbitt.com/2007/09/18/leukocytoclastic-vasculitis-is-crampin-my-style/ http://blog.halnesbitt.com/2007/09/18/leukocytoclastic-vasculitis-is-crampin-my-style/ [caption id="attachment_117" align="alignright" width="300" caption="My leg, all nastied up"][/caption]So my body finally got tired of the years of abuse that I have put it through and is finally extracting a little revenge on me in t Wed, 26 Oct 2022 00:01:12 +0000 http://blog.halnesbitt.com/2008/09/14/optimize-your-website-for-iphone-with-css-and-aspnet/ http://blog.halnesbitt.com/2008/09/14/optimize-your-website-for-iphone-with-css-and-aspnet/ So the cool thing in web design right now is "optimizing" your website for the iPhone. This is essentially kind of pointless, since the whole idea behind the iPhone's version of the Safari browser is to be able to view webpages "as is", so you can see them just as you would on a regular computer, but you can zoom in and out to get a closer look. The "iPhone optimized" version presents the content in a way that zooming is unnecessary, and the user can simply scroll down to view the Thu, 01 Sep 2016 00:12:27 +0000 http://blog.halnesbitt.com/2008/11/12/write-repetitive-html-with-excel/ http://blog.halnesbitt.com/2008/11/12/write-repetitive-html-with-excel/ Have you ever been in a situation where someone emailed you a Word document to go online, and you've got to wrap each item in tags? You could sit there and copy and paste each line into notepad, to get rid of that MSO tag crap and then go through and copy and paste each tag before and after each item. Or, if there are similarities that you can exploit, then you can do a search and replace. But what about when they are not? With a little quick setup in Excel, you can use the relativ Sat, 29 Sep 2018 09:42:56 +0000 http://blog.halnesbitt.com/2009/02/22/disabling-dates-in-flash-datepicker-component/ http://blog.halnesbitt.com/2009/02/22/disabling-dates-in-flash-datepicker-component/ So I was working on a project for a client and she needed a calendar for booking appointments. However, she wanted the ability to disable dates to prevent double booking. Since the site was in Flash, I thought I would use the DatePicker component, but I was having a hard time figuring out how to do it dynamically so that she could update it. With the help of nunomira on flashkit.com, I was able to implement it very easily. The site used an access database, so I wrote a quick asp page Thu, 01 Sep 2016 00:07:37 +0000 http://blog.halnesbitt.com/2009/02/22/simple-soap-exchange-in-aspnet/ http://blog.halnesbitt.com/2009/02/22/simple-soap-exchange-in-aspnet/ **UPDATE 7/22/2010** - So I learned that it is NOT a good idea to use MSXML in ASP.NET applications and it can create a bunch of errors, so the orginal code at the bottom is now crap, but I will keep it up, just for reference. What I did is go through my site and utilize the HttpWebRequest/HttpWebResponse method for communicating with the web service - much more efficient. Below is a code sample for ASP.NET 1.1 for sending the initial request/response to get the token, which can the Thu, 01 Sep 2016 00:04:51 +0000 http://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=18 http://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=18 So I was building an annual meeting program that needed to grab certain nodes from a remote XML file based on a session ID. I figured I could just pass the session id as a querystring variable and the XSLT file could manipulate it, but it turned out to be slightly more complicated than that. Being the novice that I am, I thought I ought to document it. It really consists of three parts: 1) grabbing the querystring, 2) pass the variable to the XSLT as an argument, and 3) using the pass Thu, 01 Sep 2016 00:05:45 +0000 http://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=31 http://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=31 I was out in Seattle visiting my buddy Isaac for a few days and I drank way too much, but that is not surprising. What is surprising is the amount of stupid shit that happens to me all the time. So Isaac dropped me off at the airport and having already printed my boarding pass, I headed straight for security. After about 20 minutes in line, I got to the front, only to discover that my wallet, with my ID, was not in my pocket. Frantically searching, I explain to the TSA guy that "it Thu, 10 Oct 2024 11:30:31 +0000 http://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=62 http://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=62 I had a project where the user could save a session (at our annual meeting) from the meeting program to a personal itinerary, which they could then view anywhere, as well as export to Word or Excel. I had the basics set up - it wrote the information to a simple Access database, which the ASPX page then pulled and output as divs in a repeater. However, I really like the Netflix queue interface - the user can drag and drop items and it automatically saved the layout. I figured I coul Thu, 01 Sep 2016 00:00:12 +0000 http://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=69 http://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=69 My friend steph was flying out to Denver the other day and she mentioned that she did not want to pay for parking for five days (she was flying out of DCA), so I told her that she should park her car at my buddy Steve's house in Woodbridge. That way, Reifsnyder could drive her to the airport, and I could pick her up after she got back and take her to her car, all for free, since we are such nice guys. She agreed, and two days later, she drove up from Newport News and dropped the ca Sat, 29 Sep 2018 09:40:10 +0000 http://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=112 http://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=112 Want to impress your friends by having the latest YouTube craze as your ringtone? This can be done fairly easy with a few free tools. It simply involves 1) Saving the video, 2) Demuxing the video to get the audio steam, and 3) Encoding the audio properly. This instructions are for iPhones, but can easily be adjusted to suit your own phone.Steps:You will need to dowload the video from YouTube. There are plenty of ways to do this, such as Thu, 01 Sep 2016 00:23:59 +0000 http://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=129 http://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=129 What the Hell is This?I created this page as a means to demonstrate how to retrieve data from an oData catalog using only client-side code, in this case jQuery and JSON. Netflix recently released their oData API, and I thought it would work great for this project, as well as being a fun way to search movie and DVD titles, and easily do some minimal integration with your Netlix account and/or watch trailers. It doesn't really do anything that the regular Netlix site doesn Tue, 24 Aug 2010 04:49:49 +0000 http://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=139 http://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=139 A good coder is a lazy coder, and I revel in my laziness. Most of my websites feature image slideshows on the front with content that constantly needs to be updated, so I was looking for ways to automate the process. I decided to write a script that would import the content from an RSS feed, but I was still left with the image issue. Then i Sat, 29 Sep 2018 09:37:33 +0000 http://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=152 http://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=152 Pandorabots is an awesome free chatbot web service that allows you to publish and host chatbots online. I use it as the backend for Virtual Hal (a nicer, electronic version of me), as well as a number of other technical support chatbots that I have created for client sites. You can find a variety of interfaces to connect to your pandorabot online Thu, 01 Sep 2016 00:24:39 +0000 http://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=173 http://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=173 jQuery(document).ready(function() {//load the live downloadsvar host = window.location.hostname;var dir;if(host.toLowerCase() == "blog.halnesbitt.com") {dir = "blog.halnesbitt.com";} else {dir = host + "/blog";}jQuery("#download_stats").load("https://" + dir + "/wp-includes/hal-extras/bigboss-get-downloads.php?app=Fish%20Tank%20Battery%20HD%20Theme"); });So I got bored and decided to cr Sat, 29 Sep 2018 09:34:53 +0000 http://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=237 http://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=237 My recent app, SmashFace got rejected by the App Store for being "too violent" (read: too awesome), so rather than just let the code go to waste, I decided to release it on Cydia. However, after searching around, I was unable to find a decent step-by-step guide on how to do just that. I eventually figured it out, so I thought I would share :) You can also use this guide to test your app on your device without paying the fe Wed, 31 Aug 2016 22:33:28 +0000 http://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=219 http://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=219 jQuery(document).ready(function() {//load the live downloadsvar host = window.location.hostname;var dir;if(host.toLowerCase() == "blog.halnesbitt.com") {dir = "blog.halnesbitt.com";} else {dir = host + "/blog";}jQuery("#download_stats").load("https://" + dir + "/wp-includes/hal-extras/bigboss-get-downloads.php?app=F-You%20(Wrong%20Passcode)%20Theme"); });Send those nosy people a message Sat, 29 Sep 2018 09:33:37 +0000 http://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=229 http://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=229 jQuery(document).ready(function() {//load the live downloadsvar host = window.location.hostname;var dir;if(host.toLowerCase() == "blog.halnesbitt.com") {dir = "blog.halnesbitt.com";} else {dir = host + "/blog";}jQuery("#download_stats").load("https://" + dir + "/wp-includes/hal-extras/bigboss-get-downloads.php?app=SmashFace"); });Rejected by the App Store for being too "realistically vi Sat, 29 Sep 2018 09:32:08 +0000 http://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=280 http://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=280 As a web developer, you are going to have to display images at different sizes. When I was young and stupid, I used to make different versions of the same photo in Photoshop and locate them all on the server using different paths. As I got older, I got lazier, so I just started resizing them as needed via CSS (or inline style via javascript). This of course led to distortion, which is when I discovered Ti Thu, 01 Sep 2016 00:28:11 +0000 http://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=370 http://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=370 If you are here because you are currently suffering from Hell's Itch and are looking for a fix, here are instructions for immediate relief:DO NOT USE ALOE VERA, CORTISONE, OR ANY OTHER LOTION - IT WILL MAKE IT WORSE.Get some peppermint oil. Or better yet, send someone out for peppermint oil, and proceed to the next step. It can be found in most drug stores, e.g., CVS, Walgreen's, etc.Get in a hot Thu, 02 Aug 2018 00:28:58 +0000 http://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=388 http://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=388 jQuery(document).ready(function() {//count emjQuery("#count_list").html(jQuery("#movie_list li").length);jQuery("#sort_list_abc").click(function() {var mylist = jQuery('#movie_list');var listitems = mylist.children('li').get();listitems.sort(function(a, b) { return jQuery(a).text().toUpperCase().localeCompare(jQuery(b).text().toUpperCase());});jQuery.each(listitems, function(idx, itm) { mylist.append(itm); });});}); Tue, 20 Aug 2024 15:06:11 +0000 https://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=440 https://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=440 You obviously want to have different error handling in your site's web.config between development and production. However, since your root folder can only have one web.config, I had to maintain two separate web.config files (one in use on the development server, and one in a different folder, for uploading to production), and when I wanted to update a general setting that applied to both, it was a bit of a laborious process. In an ideal situation, the web.config would support conditio Mon, 18 May 2020 13:10:57 +0000 https://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=436 https://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=436 Every once in a while you will have a print-ready PDF that you need to modify. For the most part, this is pretty easy; however, if you want to insert a vector graphic, there's no straightforward mechanism - the "Add Image" only works with raster images, which look like crap if you are working on a hi-res or print design.The trick is actually surprisingly simple - just open the EPS as a PDF > Edit PDF > Select All > Copy > Paste into the original PDFThis will copy the s Mon, 18 May 2020 13:11:26 +0000 https://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=516 https://halnesbitt.com/blog/?p=516 A few years back, my friends and I sort of had our own version of "Rickrolling", but instead of tricking someone into listening to Rick Astley, we substituted "Never Gonna Give You Up" with Fly Young Red's brilliant, "Throw That Boy Pussy". It was quite hilarious, but like all jokes, it eventually ran its course. However, I wanted to squeeze just one more trap out of it, but the problem is that we have all become so paranoid because of all of the previous attempts, that it was getting Sun, 01 Feb 2026 15:40:49 +0000