murz.net - Articles and Work from Web Developer Michael Patrick Murray

I recently learned that the output of Zend_Service_ReCaptcha's getHtml method contains some invalid XHTML, the fact became apparent when a colleague poked fun at the fact that none of my articles were validating as XHTML 1.1. When I pulled up the method I noticed it was an easy fix, so I extended it and modified getHtml to ouput XHTML 1.1 / 1.0 Strict valid markup. I figured I'd post the changes up here in case anyone else is using the class and trying to validate.

With all of the "new school" JavaScript frameworks out there like jQuery and Dojo, it's extremely easy to get AJAX HTTP requests going without even knowing what the XMLHttpRequest object is. However, I think it's still important to understand what kind of magic jQuery is doing underneath the hood. So here is a beginner's tutorial I've recently resurrected and revised that describes how to create a responsive chat room using JavaScript and PHP.

Today we take on an opponent that few dare to challenge. It's the arch nemesis of web developers across the globe, it's antics have caused countless hours of sheer agony, and it's mere presence will mutilate even the most standards-compliant designs. You better believe I'm talking about the infamous anti-browser known as Internet Explorer 6, and today I am going to share a few tricks I use to beat it into submission.

After months and months of taking the backseat to freelance and school projects, my personal website is finally nearing completion! This website is powered by a home-brew web application I created to publish my thoughts, manage my client relationships, and show off my portfolio. It is built with PHP5 on top of the Zend Framework and utilizes the Doctrine library for object-relational-mapping.