If you are building an application where you allow your users to input content through and HTML editor, often they will simply copy and paste from Word or other applications that might add some weird tags which might endup breaking your layout or causing the content not to display as expected.

One solution is to clean the content prior to displaying it or prior to posting it into the database. Eitherway, the resulting content will display with only the chosen HTML tags, thus giving you more control on the final display to your visitors and removing all junk code that nobody wants and that could cause display headaches for you.

<?php
 $sampletext = '<b>Some bold content</b> <a href="">Test</a><h3>some more text</h3><p>More content here</p>';

echo strip_tags($sampletext);
 //The above code usses the built in PHP function strip_tags, which will remove/strip all tags.

 echo strip_tags($sampletext, '<p><a><h3>');
 //The above code uses the same built in PHP strip_tags function, but we added some exceptions to it.   Any tag listed as an exception will not be removed/striped.
?>

As you can see it is pretty easy to control what tags get stripped and which ones do not.

You can also apply the same strip_tags function prior to posting to a MySQL database, so that the content will be saved only with the enabled tags you allow or no tags if you did not specify any exceptions.

No matter if you use the function prior to posting to your database or after, it will save many headaches and you will retain control of the display of the content on the site and prevent other script from breaking due to junk code.

A very easy way to redirect users to another page is by using the following code:

<?php
header('Location: http://urltosenduserto.com/somepage.php');
// Just replace the http://urltosenduserto.com/somepage.php
// with the URL of any page or site you want to forward the user to.
 ?>

That’s it, as you can see this is pretty simple. Just make sure that this code is added to the top of your page before any other header information is passed, otherwise it might not work properly.

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Many web applications often require the ability to automatically send out notifications through email to members or site owners.  

PHP makes it very easy to achive this using the built-in mail function as demonstrated in the code below:

<?php

// BELOW WE SET THE TO: FIELD
// This is where the email message will be sent to.

$to = "youremail@somedomain.com";

// BELOW WE SET THE SUBJECT AND MESSAGE
// Pretty self explanatory.  These are the Subject
// and Message of the email you want to send out.

$subject = "Your Email Subject";
$message = "Write your email message text in here.";

// BELOW WE SETUP THE HEADER OF THE EMAIL MESSAGE.

$headers = "From: TypeYourName";
$headers .= "Reply-To:" 'test@yourdomain.com'."\r\n";
$headers .= "Return-Path:" 'test@yourdomain.com'. "\r\n";
$headers .= "X-Mailer: PHP5\n";
$headers .= 'MIME-Version: 1.0' . "\n";
$headers .= 'Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1' . "\r\n";
mail($to,$subject,$message,$headers);
?>

 
That’s it, it is that simple.

For advanced PHP programmers, you can easily replace the subject, message, to, from fields and other portions of the above code to pull the information from a database in order to send multiple emails or more customized messages.

For now we just want to cover the basics and might add another post at a later time to expand deeper into what can be done using the PHP mail capabilities.

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It seems that many people find themselves very puzzled when talking to advertising, marketing or web development agencies and the very common question of “Do you have a budget for your project?” is asked.

Why is it that many business owners are afraid of answering that question?   In my opinion many think that if they tell the budget amount, then the agency is going to charge them more if the budget is high.  Sure, that’s a possibility, just like in any industry there are unethical and greedy individuals, but any reputable agency will use that information in order to come up with a good plan/strategy that will fit the budget and deliver the expected results.  Alternatively, if the budget it way too low (which happens in many cases), the agency can explain the costs and the client can decided to either increase the budget or reduce the goal requirements.

Why am I writing about this?  Well… I have been in the web design, marketing and advertising industry for over 15 years and I have to say that it still surprises me when a client asks for a nationwide or global campaign and expects it done for just a few thousand dollars.  Alternatively in the web development arena, I have seen many ask for sites with the same functionality of some of the major search engines or biggest sites, which most of the times can’t be achieved unless a reasonable budget is available to work with.  No, Google, eBay, PayPal and many other large sites were not built overnight and for $500.   It took years of development to get them to the point where they are now.

Again, why the budget information is kept so secret and why is it seen as a bad thing to ask for?

Wouln’t it make it much easier for both the agency and the client in creating an advertising or marketing campaign strategy that will fit within the client’s budget and set some clear limits on what can be achieved with the given budget?  Wouln’t this provide all the details needed by the agency and client to see if the available budget will indeed be able to achieve the expected goals or if some additional funding might be needed?   Isn’t it a big time saver for both parties since it can all be represented in black & white with required dollars & cents needed to achieve the goal?

Again, I don’t see why such a simple question gets avoided by most. 

If the client is scared that the agency will charge more because they know the client’s budget, then why isn’t the client getting multiple quotes from different agencies?  

I know I am just rambling on and on about this simple question, but it does have a huge impact in the relationship with a client, it can save time for both parties and it can certainly ensure that the project is planned with a strategy that will fit within the client’s expected budget  and bring positive results, thus making the client happy.

My humble conclusion is that many small businesses don’t actually set aside a budget for web development, advertising or marketing, thus they find themselves struggling with the idea of someone asking what the budget is for the project. 

No matter the size of the business, a budget should always be set.  This will help control cashflow and it will provide the business with the needed information to determine if they are just day dreaming or if they can actually afford to proceed with they plan or project.

What do you think?

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