Category: Computers

All things computing.

Getting Markdown Viewer To Display HTML Formatted Markdown Content in Firefox Under Linux

Posted on by rchapin

I recently installed the Markdown Viewer 1.3 in Firefox 23.0 under Fedora Core  18.  When I went to open a .md file in the browser it prompted me to download it.

To configure Firefox to display the markdown in the browser do the following:

Edit the ~/.mozilla/firefox/*default/mimeTypes.rdf file.

If there is not yet an existing RDF node for ‘text/plain’ add it, and add “md” as a file extension.

<RDF:Description RDF:about=”urn:mimetype:text/plain”
        NC:value=”text/plain”
        NC:fileExtensions=”md”
        NC:description=”Text Document”>
    <NC:handlerProp RDF:resource=”urn:mimetype:handler:text/plain”/>
</RDF:Description>

Internet Explorer Not Deleting Session Cookies

Posted on by rchapin

If you are trying to delete session cookies, those cookies with an expires or max-age value of -1 or no value set for that property, in Internet Explorer, you will probably notice that deleting them from the controls in the browser, does not actually delete them.

Evidently, the IE cookie implementation only writes persistent cookies to the file system and maintains the session cookies in RAM.  Moreover, when telling the browser to delete the cookies, it only deletes the cookies from the file system and does not delete them from RAM.

To delete session cookies in IE, you will need to restart the browser.

Use CookieSpy to View and Manage Internet Explorer 9 Cookies on Windows 7

Posted on by rchapin

I am doing some client-side testing of IE 9 on Windows 7 and need to be able to view cookies and their associated data.

The F12 developer tools is insufficient for this task as using the Cache/View cookie information selection only shows the cookies for the current domain that you are browsing in the current tab.

Moreover, when going to Internet Options, General Tab, clicking on the Settings button under ‘Browsing History’, and then clicking on the ‘View files’ or ‘View objects’ button does not show the cookie files.

I ended up installing CookieSpy and with it am able to easily view and manage the cookies for all of the (supported) browsers on the machine.

Splitting a String into an Array with a Custom Delimiter in a Bash Shell Script

Posted on by rchapin

Most high level languages have some sort of String.split([delimiter]) method to create an array of Strings tokenized by a user specified delimiter.  This is a simple way to convert a CSV into an array.

Here is a quick way to do that in a bash shell script:

#!/bin/bash

SOURCE_STRING='foo|blah|moo'
# Save the initial Interal Field Separator
OIFS="$IFS"
# Set the IFS to a custom delimiter
IFS='|'

read -a TOKENS <<< "${SOURCE_STRING}"
for i in "${TOKENS[@]}"
do
  echo "$i"
done

# Reset original IFS
IFS="$OIFS"

How to Pick a Domain Name

Posted on by rchapin

A domain name is an alphanumeric string of characters that identifies individual websites and e-mail addresses on the Internet. It must be less than 63 characters in length, not including the characters in the TLD (Top Level Domain) suffix (.com, .net, etc.). A TLD suffix is a part of all domain names and indicates the type of organization for a given domain. Following is a list of common TLDs:

  • com: commercial businesses
  • net: organizations involved with Internet infrastructure (ISPs and hosting companies)
  • org: non-profit or not-for-profit organizations
  • edu: educational institutions
  • gov: United States government agencies
  • biz: commercial organizations and/or personal sites
  • info: can be used for commercial and/or personal sites

Country specific domains:

  • ca: Canada
  • uk: United Kingdom
  • de: Germany
  • jp: Japan
  • etc.

Choosing a domain name is arguably one of the most important decisions that need to be made when developing a website. Not only will it enable you to easily let people know how to get to your website via word-of-mouth, but the keywords in your domain will help determine how well your site ranks in search engines. Moreover, the domain name will help brand your product or service and can aid in developing buzz for your new site.

At this point there are so many different domain names already registered that it is unlikely that your first choice will be available. As a result it will require a little creativity as well as following a few guidelines to help you get the best domain for you and your organization.

  1. Have Your Domain Say Something About Your Business: When your domain name says something about what you do for whom this helps to build your brand, tell people about your products or services, and inform visitors about the type of information that they might find on your website. Good examples are MotorcycleTrader.com, WebMD.com, and TropicalIceCreamCafe.com. Some poor examples are eBay.com and zillow.com.
  2. (Almost) Always .com: In general my suggestion is to always register the .com domain/ Even though there are additional top level domains (.com, .net, .org, .biz, .info, etc.) getting the .com ensures that you have the best of the possible permutations for that domain name. People are so conditioned to think and type “.com” that even if they read or hear “Go to www.mydomain.net“, they are likely to remember and enter mydomain.com and will likely end up at a competitors web site. In the case where you are running a local business in a country other than the USA and want to target a local market you may want to have sushibar.co.jp instead of sushibar.com which might indicate that you are a company in the USA or an international business. If you do end up going with a non .com domain you’ll need to make sure to promote it heavily and make sure that the non .com domain is prominent in all of your marketing materials.
  3. Keywords: A number of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) gurus suggest including one or more of the keywords that you hope to rank well with in your domain. Try to pick keywords that you believe prospects who are looking for your products or services will be entering in search engines and weave them into your domain name so that it flows well.
  4. Spelling: Depending on your domain and how it is spelled you will want to think about the possible, common misspelling possibilities. For example, we used to run a Domain E-mail business called FieldPost. It is not uncommon for people to transpose “ie” spelled words and as a result we also secured the feildpost.com spelling variation. Take a look at your domain and think about the most likely spelling errors that might occur when typing in your domain and see if you can also secure those domains. Do not use the number “2” for the word “to” or “4” for “for”. Also, avoid using text messaging abbreviations or other creative spelling as seen on vanity license plates. It will simply make it more difficult for people to type in and share your domain.
  5. Hyphens: Avoid hyphens. When people see that mydomain.com is taken but that my-domain.com is available, they might register the hyphenated version thinking that it is a good compromise. My suggestion is to avoid hyphens. The problem is similar to the “always use the .com” item described above; you will most likely send traffic to your competitor and make it difficult to tell people your domain both in-person and over the phone. The one caveat to this is that search engines can distinguish your keywords better when hyphenated but I suggest only doing so when you are setting up a special site specifically for search engine traffic.
  6. Double and Triple Consonants: Certain word combinations, when put together without spaces result in double or triple consonant combinations that are troubling to read and type. For example, the two words “business” and “specialists” are just fine when separated by a space but “businessspecialist.com” will just look funny and will likely cause people to stop and re-read what they have typed in more than once to make sure that it is spelled right. In general, I recommend trying to avoid stringing together words that result in double or triple consonant strings that just? “don’t look right”.
  7. Singular and Plural: Never register a domain that is the plural or singular of an existing domain/website. Additionally, if you are going to use a domain name such as powerfulwebsite.com, make sure to secure powerfulwebsites.com as well.
  8. Length: In general the shorter domain names are better. However, it is becoming more and more difficult to find relevant, short domain names that are not yet taken. Always try a short option, but if you can’t find one that is short, try to find one that meets the aforementioned criteria.

Taking these guidelines into consideration should help you find a domain name that both fits with your business or organization and helps drive relevant traffic to your site.

Remember, if you register multiple domains make sure to Redirect 301 each of them to your primary domain.

If you have any questions or need some ideas for your specific business situation, feel free to give me a call at 301-956-5400, post your question to the NBI Forum, or send me an e-mail.

— Ryan Chapin
President, Nuts & Bolts Interactive, Inc.

FaceBook Allows 3rd Party Advertisers to Use Your Photos Without Your Permission

Posted on by rchapin

or, how to modify your setting such that your content is better protected.

kdawson posted an article on Slashdot about the fact that FaceBook is allowing third party advertisers to use your photos in their ads. The article also includes a link to an article about how to modify your settings so that your photos don’t show up.

Here is how to make the change:

Go to: Settings -> Privacy -> News Feed and Wall -> Facebook Ads -> Appearance in Facebook Ads and click “no one.”

The Nuts and Bolts of Domain Name Ownership

Posted on by rchapin

That’s not to say that the proper care and feeding of a domain is overly complex. But before we get into the those details let’s go over some core domain related terminology:

  • IP Address:  A unique numerical address for a server that hosts any Internet service.
  • DNS: Which stands for “Domain Name System.” The primary purpose of DNS is to make it easy for people to access web pages and send e-mails.  DNS translates a given domain name into the IP address of the computer that is hosting the given web service (website, e-mail, etc).  Without it, you would have to remember the IP address of each website that you wanted to visit.
  • Registrar: An organization that maintains Internet domain name records.  It is through these organizations that you purchase a domain name.  And the registrar is who you pay to keep your domain current.  The registrar keeps track of who owns a domain, their contact information, and the key DNS information for a domain.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the three most important aspects of domain name ownership and maintenance:

  • Keeping it Current:  By far the most common problem that we see is letting a domain expire.  Simply, someone forgot to pay the bill from their registrar to keep the domain current and the registrar turns off the lights.  Usually, they never saw an e-mail from their registrar, or a third party who was “helping” them with it dropped the ball.  When this happens, any Internet service related to the domain becomes inoperable; website(s), e-mail, chat servers, etc., all go dark.  This can usually be resolved by renewing the domain.  Most registrars give you a grace period of up to a month to renew your domain before revoking the domain ownership from you.  That’s not to say that you should ever let it expire if you can help it.  Make sure that you have someone who is on top of it and keeps it current.
  • Ownership:  The person listed as the owner of your domain is the individual or organization who has the ability to make changes to it, and is the legal owner of the domain.  Sometimes it is the business or organization itself.  Often times it is another organization that has registered the domain in proxy and is managing it for them.  NBI typically registers domains for it’s customers, especially those that do not have internal IT departments and don’t want to have to worry about keeping it current and managing the technical details.  NBI also helps it’s clients establish their own domain accounts and transfer them from other third parties if need.
  • Login Information:  Most registrars provide you with a login to their website where you can renew your domain and update your contact information.  Make sure to keep this in a safe place as you will need it anytime you need to renew, and/or move your website to a new provider.

To do a lookup on your domain, click here and enter your domain name.

Double-check the Registrant (the organization listed as the owner, which is different from the registrar) and Expiration Date.  If you do not have your login information for your domain, and you are listed as the registrant, give the registrar a call and they can usually reset your password.

If it is going to expire soon, make sure to renew it right away.

If your domain’s Registrant is as an organization other than yourself and that organization isn’t a current, trusted, service provider, get in touch with an Internet technology professional who can help you gain direct ownership of the domain.

If you have any questions or ever need any help with your domain, feel free to send me an e-mail.

Ryan Chapin
President, Nuts & Bolts Interactive, Inc.

© 2005 Ryan Chapin