Introduction
The one basic problem with Web design is that each and every browser is different. The way they render HTML or parse CSS differ depending on both browser, browser version, and all the other things “under the hood.” I don’t know the number of times I’ve had something looking really fantastic and then one browser decides it isn’t going to play nice. That browser could be Internet Explorer, Opera, Firefox, Chrome, or any of the others.

At this point you have several options. In this article, I cover basic browser detection using a simple PHP script. Browser detection isn’t always a good idea, mainly because it isn’t foolproof and can be seen as a lazy way out of the problem. However, I have had requests to help people with browser detection.

So let’s start with what we need: We need a way to tell what browsers our visitors are using and display specific content based on what they’re using.

One really nice thing is most browsers declare themselves to the Web sites they visit. We only have to ask for the information and it will usually be supplied. I say “usually” because there are some caveats, of course. As I said above, this isn’t foolproof.

To use this method, you must have a Web host that supports PHP. This probably won’t work on a free hosting service like Yahoo! Geocities, Quizilla, or Tripod.

Description: Places a mandatory limit on how long a summary can be. If the summary exceeds the limit, the user is kicked back to the preview screen with the notice that they have to shorten their summary.

Summary length is controlled in your admin settings, under “Submissions.” If a limit is in place, a small notice appears above your summary field on story submissions notifying your users of the limit. If you turn it off, nothing appears.

To turn it on, simply type in a length. (I suggest at least 750 – 1000 characters.) To turn it off, set it to 0.

This was originally a 2.0 mod, but frankly — it’s a much easier, neater, and more sophisticated mod on 3.0.

As usual, my line numbers are only there as a reference to put you in the general ballpark. They will likely change as you progress through the mod.

This always bears repeating: Please be sure to backup your files and database before you begin this or any other mod.

Requirements: eFiction 3.2.1

Difficulty: Easy – Intermediate (Depends on how well you follow my instructions.)

Files Involved:

• admin/settings.php
• includes/storyform.php
• stories.php
• languages/en.php
• languages/en_admin.php
• 1 Database Modification

Modification History:
- 22 March, 2007 — Mod Released

Modification & Support: eFiction.org

Instructions:

It would be so much easier to keep my project RSS feed up-to-date if I actually updated every time I released a mod, instead of doing it 3 – 6 months later. ^^;

What’s sad, is that it seems to be getting a lot of use. Pretty funny for something I rarely think of. Anyway, still working on moving my eFiction mods here for my portfolio. I got that horribly long story disclaimer mod added this morning and

I wonder if I should include my fanlisting script? That’s entirely stand-alone, though not the prettiest in terms of code. It’s something I made just to see if I could do it, so it’s technically my first script that’s 100% mine.

Need to figure out how I’m going to hook up the screenshots in my portfolio too.

Excuse me while I “squee!” in geekish glee/delight.

One problem in eFiction is that the display order for the categories occasionally gets messed up. I gave up trying to fix them by hand a long time ago and just had Jasson give me a cheap and dirty work-around.

Well, tonight I came up with a solution all on my own. Sorry, this gets pretty geeky from here on out.

I made a query to the database, asking for all the subcategories in alphabetical order. I then created a while loop that took those 337 results and wrote SQL update statements for me. I offset the count by 9, since I don’t want to reorder the main categories since they’re okay right as they are.

And boom! 337, neat little MySQL update statements that reordered the categories for me. ^_^

There are times where I look at all the designs other people are doing and feel decidely inferior. This just suddenly made me realize just how far I’ve come and how much I’ve learned.

And it feels very good. ♥

Name: 10 Most Popular Categories Panel

Description: Returns the top ten most popular categories on your eFiction site along with a count to show how many stories each category has.

Requirements: eFiction 3.2 or later

Mod History:
- 27 February, 2007 — Converted to eFiction 3.0
- 03 March, 2007 — Released to the public
- 03 March, 2007 — Fixed category links

Demo: http://test.lunaescence.com/toplists.php?list=popularcats

Download Link: popularcat.zip

I’m feeling rather proud of myself right now. I just completed a script to handle my fanlisting codes and I’m thrilled to say it’s working exactly the way I planned. ^_^

Looking at the page, you wouldn’t see anything that truly different. My images will all appear to load normally. But if you look at the image’s URL, you’ll see it’s PHP rather than an image. *huge grins*

For those technically inclined, the script basically first checks to see whether or not the image is being accessed from my blog. If it is, the script progresses and serves the image being called. However, if someone tries putting the image as part of their signature on say — Xanga or Gaia Online — the script will first log the attempt and then terminate.

To make it easier on myself if someone figures out how to circumvent the script, I even stored the fanlisting code directory in an array. That way if I need to move or rename the folder, I only have to edit just that particular line and every code will be changed.

I’d still like to add a few more security checks, but right now this is awesome. There are times I feel like I’ve learned nothing new in college and then I completely surprise myself by doing something like this.

I have no real problem with people using stuff, but I’m awful protective of my bandwidth. My baseline server costs are plenty without overage charges. Besides, they can download the fanlisting codes on the fanlisting site and use photobucket. It’s just stupid.

College is going well. I got 100% on my first speech — talk about awkward, though. I’m not used to web cameras, so I stared at my monitor the whole time. XD I was so wooden too!

I really need to get around to calling my academic adviser, but I keep procrastinating. I need to get details about what I need to be doing to get an internship somewhere, but I’m feeling rather “meh” about the whole thing.

Well, time to get on my English homework. Yes, another level of English. -_-; Wish I could test out, but it’s business writing so I suppose I should pay attention.

Much ♥ — talk to everyone soon.