One of the problems I’ve had is how to push updates to static files like javascript and content style sheets. If you want to program for performance you have to use a far future expires header to cut down on HTTP requests. The downside to this is that when you update your script and it has the same file name, the users browser wont know that its updated. Entity tags still involve a HTTP request even though the cut down drastically on the data usage.

The tedious way to fix this is to put the version number in the filename and change every layout to link to the new file.

One of the ideas I brainstormed was to add a GET to the URL in each layout that prints out the build/version number. This is an OK fix in that I only have to update my app/config with the new version number but the downside is that the user has to redownload every static file again even if it hasn’t been updated. I could make version numbers for every static file. This is kind of tedious because I have to program a different version number into every layout.

Then it dawned on me that I could override the built in helpers like $javascript->link() and $html->metalink() combined with a simple array with the name of script and the build number to do version control for me.

so a config file like:

$versions = array(’myscript.js’=>’BUILDNUMBER’,'another.js’=>’BUILD2′);

In a layout:

$javascript->link(’my_script.js’)

becomes

<script type=”text/javascript” src=”/js/my_script.js?ver=BUILDNUMBER”></script>

By using a GET the browser is fooled into downloading the file without having to deal with a mess of older files which should be inside some sort of version control system anyway.

I’ll post the code I used later this week when I complete it. If something like this has already been created for CakePHP, I’d like to hear about it.

I haven’t messed around with my Google search history all that much but I saw a cool feature today that creates a heat map on a monthly calendar that tracked my search usage. If anything I still use Google way to much. These searches are also only from home desktop.

I think 150+ searches per day is a lot. I’m hoping I don’t hit 250+ any time soon. It would be nice if Google could provide this data in XML or some other downloadable format so I could play with it without having to drag it screaming out of their website.

And this is an embarrassing graph of my insomnia.

In honor of Digg implementing their image section I added Facebook Share preview support to my Cool Pictures site. Now anyone digging or sharing images on facebook will get a handy thumbnail preview. I’m also working on more robust user features so that more people can add, save and rate their favorite images to the site.

One of my friends suggested that I try the FireFTP plugin after I expressed both my love and frustration over CuteFTP and WS_FTP. This plugin is awesome it has the same layout of any popular FTP client as well as the useful features like drag-n-drop and SSL/TLS encryption. It is also totally free.

Download the FireFTP Plugin