Gmail crossed 7000+ MB

I just noticed the max storage space in Gmail. WOW! Its 7000+MB now!!!
You can store more emails, attachments, files and so on…

Scour - Social Search Engine

Scour, yet another search engine similar to Crispyweb.com, allows you to search Google, Yahoo, and MSN all from the same page at the same time and filter your search to include only images or videos.
Also it allows user to vote and comment on any given search result.

Depending on the number of votes that a given result receives, its rank will be moved higher or lower down the page. Have a look at Scour - faq to know more about Scour.

Ajax with JSON

In this post, lets see how to use JSON in Ajax-based applications.

AJAX - Asynchronous Javascript and XML is known to IE as ActiveX XMLHTTP object and to the other browsers as XMLHTTPRequest. Ajax uses JavaScript on the page to send requests to a Web server for data. Those requests are HTTP requests just like the one the browser used to retrieve the page. This XMLHttpRequest object can be used to retrieve any kind of data, not just XML. JavaScript can use XMLHttpRequest to retrieve even a plain text file from a Web server and display its contents within a form.

* If it is a plain text, you can access the text by examining the XMLHttpRequest object’s responsetext property.

* If it’s an XML, the XMLHttpRequest object runs an XML parser on the returned document and builds a DOM tree in memory representing the document, and makes that available in the responseXML property.

We know that JSON is just a string of text and not an object in and of itself. So, to make it useful, it has to be converted into a JSON object.

Getting hands wet with JSON

In this post, we’re going to see how a JSON data can be accessed.
Have a look at the below sample.

var objResult = {”firstname”: “Pavithra” ,
“lastname” : “D” ,
“Phone” : 234234234}

where “objResult” is a JSON Javascript object holding 3 members firstname, lastname and phone.

To access any of the members, we use a dot (.) .

document.write(objResult.firstname);

The above line will give an output : Pavithra.

Lets see how to access the array values in JSON.

var objResult =
{”Teachers” : [
{"firstname": "aaa" ,
"lastname" : "h" ,
"email" : "sdfsf@sd.com" ,
"Phone" : 234234234},
{"firstname": "bbb" ,
"lastname" : "t" ,
"email" : "sdfsf@sd.com" ,
"Phone" : 435345345},
{"firstname": "ccc",
"lastname" : "e" ,
"email" : "sdfsf@sd.com" ,
"Phone" : 564564564},
{"firstname": "ddd" ,
"lastname" : "t" ,
"email" : "sdfsf@sd.com" ,
"Phone" : 343465645}
]
}

In this example, an object “objResult” is created containing a single member “Teachers”, which contains an array containing four objects, each containing “firstname”, “lastname”, “email” and “Phone” members.
These members can be retrieved using dot or subscript operators.

Every object is a namespace in JSON. Its set of keys is independent of all other objects, even exclusive of nesting. Also, JSON uses context to avoid ambiguity, just as programming languages do. As I said before, JSON can store objects within objects and arrays within arrays that can also store objects, there is no virtual limit to what a JSON object can store.

document.write(objResult.Teachers[0].firstname); will give an output : aaa
document.write(objResult.Teacher[2].Phone); will give an output : 343465645

On the threshold of JSON

From my previous blog, you must have understood that JSON is nothing more than a “name : value” pair assigned within an object.  “name/value” pair is the universal data structure which is supported in all programming language in one form or another.  In short we can say, JSON is mainly for DEFINING DATA STRUCTURES wherease XML lacks data structure definition.

In this post, lets see the difference between XML and JSON syntax.

JSON - Javascript Object Notation is a subset of Object Notation in Javascript. It is a programming language independent data format. It is considered as a Light Weight Data Interchange Format as it is easy for programmers to read and for machines to parse and generate. And if you are familiar with C, C++, C#, Java or javascript syntax, JSON coding is very easy.

JSON can either be an object or an array. Object is an unordered set of “name : value” pairs whereas Array is an ordered set of entities.
Basic  Syntax:

{”string” : “value”}

Plain Text, XML and now JSON!!!

Long time No blog… As usual, I have the same reason for not writing for such long time.

I’m back to blogging with something interesting and pretty new stuff JSON - a Data Interchange Format (where I’m landed up currently in my Technology walk through (though not mastered anything yet ) ). JSON is ofcourse, a bit old data format, which is used by Yahoo! in some of its web services and in Google’s web protocols.

But for those who are hearing JSON for the first time, here is a gist of JSON, which is a recent buzzword in Ajax context.
Before exploring JSON, let me give an intro on data formats. Data Formats are used for sending and receiving informations in your asynchronous application.

some of the data formats

• Plain Text
• XML

Before getting into the reason for using JSON, lets see how the other data formats work.

Object tag issue in IE6

I have gone through so many forums discussing about the Object tag issue in IE6. The issue was that IE6 does not support Object tag and if Flash content has to be displayed, then dynsrc is the only option. But I faced a different issue with Object tag in IE6. I wanted a Flash banner to be linked to a site. Instead of using the code “on (release) { getURL(”www.aaa.com”) }”  in ActionScript , I tried the below HTML code,

<a href="aaa.com"><Object ......></object></a>

Ofcourse, this is not the proper way of linking a page to a flash. But, just tried and this was working fine in IE7 and not in IE6. I guessed that this should be the same issue “IE6 does not support Object tag”.  So I tried many methods to make it work both in IE6 and IE7. But all in vain. Later I found out the problem. It was really stupid. The issue was object tag cannot be nested inside a tag. This was fixed when I added a div between a tag and object tag. Even div shouldnt be nested within a!!! But why is this working? Also, how the former code works fine in IE7? Is this called an enhancement in IE7? Really funny!

SEO and Title Element

Title Element also plays an important role in Search Engine Optimization. Every webpage must have a Title.
<title> SEO and Title Element </title>

The title must have two or three of your site’s keywords which should enumerate what your site is all about. It is recommended to have the title less than 64 characters as it will be truncated if long. The Title should be relevent to your page’s content as this will be the one displayed with description when your site is listed in the search results and this will be the one which will be read first. Search engines have title as an important factor to rank your site. Avoid using symbols and special characters. It is better to give few words in the Title as grammer also matters. Two or three words doesnt require grammar check. Also, Title will be the default bookmark name while user bookmarks your site.

SEO and Meta tags

This is my first blog on SEO and I’d like to start from META tags. We all know the use of “meta” tag. The name itself defines that it gives a meta information about our page. Lets start from the base.
What is meta information? How is this playing an important role in SEO?
Description and Keywords are the meta informations.

Why should we give Description and Keyword in the meta tags?
There is something called ODP (Open Directory Project). ODP is nothing but a web directory of Internet resources. Its like a library hierarchically arranged by subject - from broad to specific. Your website will be evaluated by a team of experts and included in this directory. They provide a title and description for your site based on their evaluation. When your site is listed in the Search result in any search engine, by default this description will be displayed as a snippet for the web result. Search engines like Google, MSN uses ODP while Yahoo! uses Yahoo! directory. In order to avoid the Search engines to get ODP data, you’ll have to specify your own description for your site. The reason for avoiding this is, the description given by ODP is outdated and will not have the current status of your website. This is the reason to have our own updated description.

Tips to extend your Laptop battery’s life

I’ve been using my Acer laptop for almost a year now but still dint know many things which I am not supposed to do when my laptop is in battery mode. Today I came to know few stuff and I am sure it will be useful for a lot of you who are still a Trainee in using Laptops

DOs and Donts while using laptops in battery mode

• Avoid running CD/DVDs
• Avoid using Pen drives (this consumes more battery power)
• Avoid scanning your laptops (Anti-virus)
• Avoid playing 3D Games/ watching movies
• Avoid multi tasking (MS Excel, Word consumes less battery power)
• Always use your laptops in a cool place. 

Better leave it plugged in whenever possible.

Following these, will increase the life of your laptop’s battery.