Ross Hawkins - September 2010 Entries

September 2010 Entries

Nine uses for private browsing that don’t involve porn

Nine Great Uses for Private Browsing that Don't Involve Porn – testing and debugging websites might seem like an obvious one to a developer, but it’s also something which is a handy tip to pass onto any customers and clients who test websites. If you’ve ever had to talk a customer through clearing their cache or using CTRL + F5 to refresh a page then you’ll realise the value in taking some time to teach them about private browsing. Plus the Chrome incognito guy looks pretty cool.

posted @ Wednesday, September 29, 2010 9:41 PM | Feedback (0)

POET vs ASP.NET: DotNetNuke

Apologies for the slight echo chamber effect, but I always find these videos to be amusing to watch. Tags: ASP.NET

posted @ Monday, September 20, 2010 9:26 PM | Feedback (1)

ASP.NET Security Vulnerability as a reminder when working within frameworks

If you develop web sites or applications using ASP.NET then no doubt you’ve already heard about the recently announced ASP.NET Security Vulnerability. If not, then go read about it! Auditing servers using the VBS script supplied by Microsoft to check for vulnerable applications was a great reminder of why it’s a good idea to use functionality provided out of the box whenever possible when working with frameworks, rather than roll your own solution for things like error pages and redirection. Most of the applications I’ve seen so far which were at risk were those where the developers hadn’t used...

posted @ Sunday, September 19, 2010 9:14 PM | Feedback (0)

Sublime Text 1.4 now available

As the title says, Sublime Text 1.4 is now available. I use Sublime Text daily, and to be honest it just keeps getting better and better. Read more about it here.

posted @ Friday, September 17, 2010 10:38 AM | Feedback (0)

What’s struck me most after working ‘properly’ with MVC..

..is how much I love being able to have typed views. As much as various WebForms based MVP implementations addressed issues such as testability and adding interface requirements, there’s something about removing the “cross your fingers” approach of Eval statements that feels – overdue? Of course MVC(2) for a WebForms developer isn’t without its frustrations, but there’s plenty of time for posting about that later. Tags: MVC

posted @ Friday, September 17, 2010 12:20 AM | Feedback (0)

Statistical mentions for all the wrong reasons

The Interactive undersea cable map is pretty cool. When I saw the link I instantly thought about New Zealand’s cable piece of string, and it seems that Steve Riley did too: Svalbard (!) luxuriates in a 5 Tbps link to Norway, the world’s northernmost connection New Zealand, whose population exceeds Svalbard by 170,000 percent, gets a paltry 1.2 Tbps with the world’s southernmost connection

posted @ Monday, September 13, 2010 1:06 AM | Feedback (1)

You’re doing it wrong – error logging

Some developers throw error logging into their applications simply because they feel they should. Almost like an obligation, as if by doing it they can add a tick to a check list somewhere and give themselves a pat on the back- go me! If this is your approach, then you might as well not bother – you’re doing it wrong. Logging errors means nothing without having put some thought into what you plan to do with them. Whether they’re going to be delivered to your inbox, or written to a log file or database, you need to think about...

posted @ Saturday, September 11, 2010 1:50 PM | Feedback (0)

About me

My name is Ross Hawkins and I'm a developer, consultant, business owner and writer based in Auckland, New Zealand (pictured below!). My current work revolves around ASP.NET, C#, jQuery, Ajax, SQL Server, and a mix of other Microsoft development technologies.

I also have about 15 years of experience with IBM Lotus Notes/Domino and associated technologies. While Notes/Domino is no longer my primary focus I still like to dabble and keep my skills up to date.

I own and run 2 businesses - Hawkins Consulting Services, and Ignition Development.

Follow @rosshawkins

Bethells Beach, located in sunny West Auckland, New Zealand

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