Blog posts

160 results found

160 results in .NET, Dev, SQL, Tools

dotnet How to use bundling to minify css and JavaScript in MVC and Umbraco

This post shows you how to set up and use bundling and minification in your MVC website. There are specific instructions on how set it up for Umbraco websites too.

dev How to get the YouTube thumbnail preview image from a video

This post will help you if you want to get the preview image for a YouTube video. You may want to you this if you want to trigger the video to launch in a pop up window, or you want to link to the video.

dotnet How do you use the try catch finally blocks?

I must admit, in the past when I just want some code to run, but it's not critical if it fails, I have written a try catch block which looks like this.

dotnet Please tell me you don't write if true equals true

It drives me crazy when I see code where someone is checking a boolean to see if it is true or not and they write it like this.

dev 7 vital steps for delivering a successful software project

For any software project to be successful, you need to have a plan. There are certain steps you need to follow and mistakes to be avoided. This article is designed to give you those vital steps to help you deliver a successful software project.

dev How to create a custom styled twitter feed for your website

In this tutorial I show you how to create your own custom twitter feed for your website, which you will have full control over the styling, like the one I have on my about page. It also pulls through the follower count. This tutorial is meant for an MVC website with .NET 4.5 which makes it suitable for Umbraco too.

dev Do what makes you feel uncomfortable

Throughout your career and life in general there will be times where you feel uncomfortable when doing a job or a task. Your natural reaction may be to stop doing that task (if you can get away with it) or you may want to avoid doing it all together. My advice to you is to do it more often.

dev 10 golden rules for becoming a better programmer

Here are my top 10 golden rules for becoming a better programmer

dotnet MVC Custom Model Property Validation Attributes

This post shows you how to create your own custom validation attributes in MVC. You can then decorate your model properties with them on your forms.

dev The Pomodoro Technique

I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about the The Pomodoro Technique® for improving productivity. Basically, you work really hard and focus for 25 minutes without interruption and then you have a 5 minute break from it. You then go again for 25 minutes and have a 5 minute break from it, and so on and so on.

tools Free productivity tool - Workflowy

If, like me, you like to write lists to help you focus on what’s required to complete a certain job, and sometimes break the bullet points into mini lists themselves, then this online tool should help you. Workflowy allows you to do just that, it’s free, really easy to use, and it is available on web, iOS and Android.

tools Test your programming skills with Project Euler

If you enjoy writing code and solving puzzles, you will love Project Euler. It is filled with mathematical puzzles which require you to write some code to get the answer. You could use the problems as a chance to write out the solution in a different programming language.