I am pleased to announce that I will be starting a guest post series. I am inviting programmers and coders from all languages and platforms to share their coding tips and tricks, snippets, and stories. It doesn’t matter what your level of experience is, anything you have to share is a welcome addition, so if you would like to share some knowledge or even talk about your programming services, please feel free to drop me a line by leaving a comment here or sending me an email at info (at) maryspad (dot) com and we’ll take it from there. The only condition is that your post must share some useful coding tips or snippets.

I look forward to hearing from you.

I love Akismet because it has saved me a lot of time and ibuprofen (that I would be taking for the headaches I would get trying to ward off spammers. Here’s why:

Now this blog hasn’t been around for that long, considering that I made my first post on June 13 of this year, and I haven’t been posting as regularly as I would like, so to have been hit with that amount of spam in such a short time is something to think about!

Let’s think about this for a few minutes: This blog has been online for about 6 months now, that’s approximately 180 days, give or take. If you do the math, you find that this comes to about 8 spam messages a day!! Wow!!

Since I have comment moderation turned on, without Akismet I would be getting on average 8 emails a day to moderate comments on this blog alone!

Do you see now why I love Akismet?

If you have a Wordpress blog, make sure that you enable Akismet, it will save you lots and lots of time!

If you are serious about learning PHP and MySQL, you need good resources. There are many online tutorials and websites, and I have listed some really useful resources in a previous post. If you are like me and prefer to not read off a screen, and instead like to use a book, there are many excellent books out there that range from novice to expert level. I have collected what I believe to be some of the best books to have and added them my Programmers Store, so that they are in one easy place for you to find. So go ahead and check it out.

You can also find some on your library bookshelf for free, which is always better… free is good. The one that I am using is Beginning PHP5, Apache, and MySQL Web Development (Programmer to Programmer), and I love it. It starts you from scratch, although it does help to have some HTML/CSS knowledge. The Appendix has instructions on installing Apache, PHP, and MySQL, which came in really handy for me.

So check out the store!!

So this post has nothing to do with programming, or coding, PHP, mySQL, databases, or any of that other sweet stuff that I’ve been talking about. BUT, it is relevant, because it addresses an issue that you as a potential future or current webmaster will face, or already faces… the mad dash for page rank.

While wandering around the web today visiting different posts and blogs I ran across a post about saying no to page rank. The author, Dean Hunt, writes:

As a first hand witness to this, being as I frequent many webmaster forums, I could totally relate to what he was saying. The basic idea behind the campaign is explained well in his response to comments over at phpied.com, where he writes:

So whilst many webmasters will panic, worry, discuss, predict… we will get on with creating quality content and sharing links to improve our PR rank.

I happen to agree, so I have jumped in, and will be updating this list as it grows. If you are interested in the details of this campaign, read more here.

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SAY NO TO PAGERANK, YES TO LIFE WEBMASTERS LIST***
Buzz Marketing Blog
Young Entrepreneurs Blog
No Nonsense Business Advice
Sell your blog
CS Developer
Aplliance Journal
Madkane Humor Blog
Find New Leads
PHPied
UK SEO Directory
Bikinifigur: Abnehmen ohne Hunger
Bob Meets World
BlueJar Webmasters Guide
All Sux Dot Com
CodingPad
The Next Post
Tech Blog
Reality Wired
Price Filter
a few loose screws
Clickon Web Design
Woody Maxim
Crystals Quest
What Simply Works
Affiliate profit center
Internet Marketing Blueprints
Cash 4 blogging
Hits USA
Wendy Haney
Sheterk Marketing
How To Build a website blog
The Block Party
Ezinet Global Marketing
Best Online Earning Strategies
Online Security Authority
1nf0rmat10n.com
Alternative Healing
That’s what i’m talking about
Web Urbanist Media and Art
Fundraising Ideas
Chatsquatch
Money Spinning
Blogging at Flixya
Blogging Tips
He Said What
Things That Are Fun
Wii Contests
Classic Rock News
Elee Marketing Guide
Viral and Buzz
Azzfan - Make Extra Money
Shadow Scope
The App
Travel Blog
Your favorite blogger
Master Resell Rights
Entrepreneur Wannabe
Adsense Track
TonNet
The Online Business Blog
Net Frontier Marketing
Jean Ghalo Blog
Dott Com
GadgetTastic
Design Creatology
Affiliate Master Tools
4mostTip
The Day of a Mum
MonoMom
InterSites
Homeschool Diva
CyberCa$hology
Conservatory TV
Get Ahead in business
Online eBiz
Hin’s Photo Blog
Hin’s Tech Blog
Cynthia D. Wilson Speaks
Gadget, Computer, and Electronic Blog
General Health Topics
MommyZabs.com
Life on the road
Paul Bradish
Skimbaco - The Lifestyle
4 fab moms
UC Web Host
Real Estate Investing Blog
Internet Marketing
EZY Online Money

***List Ends Here** - UPADTED DAILY *** Please update your lists

Now back to coding we go!

This is a blog to talk about coding - programming. I will share resources that I am finding useful, programming tips and tools, helpful websites and forums, and other interesting coding-related stuff. I will also be posting about my own coding adventures. I will be posting some of my present and past projects, as well as new stuff and code that I pick up along the way. So welcome to the Coding Pad, take off your shoes, and enjoy your stay!