If you frequently want to switch between your local development instance of your web application, and the production version, or perhaps another version like an integration or QA installation, the Server Switcher Firefox plugin may be useful to you. With this plugin, you simply assign both URLs to each other in the Options tabe for the plugin and an icon will appear in the URL field of your browser. Clicking it will toggle you between the two URLs.

For example, if I was running an application on my local machine at http://localhost:8080, and the live version was at www.brianburridgecom, I would enter each in the plugin’s options under Development Server and Live Server respectively. When I got to either web site, I get an icon. A construction hat when working locally, and a server when on the “live” server.

The plugin supports ports, subdirectories, local files (specified with file://). Ctrl-Shift-X can be used to toggle with the keyboard.

I have found this plugin very useful during web site development. I don’t always have the “live” server set for a true production install, but instead to switch between my local development instance, and an integrated development server to perform some QA on both and compare the differences between them.

The plugin can be found here.

I love using Gmail and Google Calendar. The only problem I’ve had with Google Calendar, is that I forgot to check it, and then forget something I scheduled. Here is a greasemonkey script, and a tutorial for setting it up, that places your Google Calendar agenda on your GMail in the left hand side. Fantastic idea, and now makes it much more likely I’ll not forget my scheduled events, since I’ll see them all day long.

See the tutorial.

I mentioned in my last post that I think and design better when I can use a whiteboard. I even carry a portable whiteboard in my laptop bag for when I work at a cafe with wifi. Another great solution for whiteboarding is provided by GE. It not only allows easy and free whiteboarding, but also allows you to print and save your drawings, and invite friends to participate in the whiteboarding.

You can use the tool at this link.

I love drawing on whiteboards. I’m very visual, and most times, can’t think through a problem, nor plan a problem without drawing it out. I’m terrible at drawing, so its not about drawing something that looks visually interesting, simply about using visuals to organize concepts, data, and flow.

I use the same technique when planning out a new web site. I like to draw a box for each page, and use lines to link them together. I also design the basic idea of each page, either on a white board, or on paper. In the past, I’ve mocked up my pages using HTML/CSS, and at other times done it in Photoshop or Gimp. The problem is, I waste so much time fooling around with the tools, or trying to get that CSS to look just right, that it takes longer than it should to come up with my basic design.
Thankfully, I’ve found a solution to all that, which I’ve already used to design my next project. With the new tool I’ll introduce you to in this article, you can sketch out which pages you need, and the linkings between them, as well as sketch out the look of each page, all with the ease of using a pencil and paper, yet, save it for later use and editing, and turn it into a functional mockup, perfect for handing to a HTML/CSS developer and a graphic designer.

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This weekend, I had a situation, due to a laptop hard drive failure, where I had two very large directories full of files and subdirectories. Each was a copy of the same directory, but one had my last 4 days of coding in it and the other didn’t. The trick was to find the files I had changed over the course of my last few days of development so I could get them back into the other directory, and then into my source countrol.

So I searched the Internet to see if there was a tool to help me determine the difference in all the files in my directories. I use both Windows and Linux, so I hoped, against the odds that I could find a tool that worked on both.

Thankfully, I found just the tool: KDiff3. I downloaded KDiff3, installed it, and started it up. When the app loads, a small window launches, which lets you select a File or a Directory for the base and for the comparison against the base. You then click ok, and within a few seconds have a list of all differences within the subdirectories. It flags the files that are different and then shows you the differences within the files. You can merge files, choose one or the other side to overwrite, etc. You can also do a three way comparison with three sources.

I was able to use this tool to get my folders in sync and save all my changes. What I thought would be a several hour process was finished in minutes thanks to KDiff3. There are a lot of configuration options that I haven’t tried yet. It looks to be full of features for file and directory comparision and merging.

I highly recommend this tool, and I’ve tried it on Windows XP and Suse 10.0. You can visit the KDiff homepage for more information.