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Welcome to the forum. Stefan

The Canadian system is far from perfect, but the US media throws out a bunch of BS regarding it so as to dumb down people. They don't want Americans to realize how much they are being shafted. For some non-critical procedures, you can wait. But for anything painful, serious etc ... you get in right away. One thing that should be noted is that in Canada, everyone goes to the hospital putting more pressure on the system. Whereas in the US, 45 milion don't go at all - less pressure. If any politician tried to move Canada to a US type system; they would be strung up and there would be riots in the streets. That should tell you about how Canadians feel about our 'terrible' health care system. PS: no one ever went BK because of medical bills in Canada. Stefan

I don't typically go off web design and programming, but this is simply criminal: As a Canadian, I have to say that I don't understand why Americans put up with this? Amazing. :| Stefan

Funny stuff.

I think the best solution for now is to use the meta tag you suggest. ... Frankly, I am getting tired of continually having to create new style sheets for IE. Stef

Hi, I finally decided to take a look at my web pages in IE8 since it was out of beta. Overall it seems to be OK ... but, I did find some elements in my pages that were not rendering well. So what to take away from this, is that Microsoft hasn't been able to keep the browser experience consistent between versions of their own browsers. PS: the part of my page that does not work in IE8, works fine in: - IE6 - IE7 - Firefox - Safari. ... Man! Stefan

Hi, I appreciate the kind words. With regards to learning PHP, they key is to write code .. don't try to memorize things. Trust me, after a few real-life cracks at writing even simple PHP scripts, this stuff will begin to commit to memory on its own! Final point, with the power of Google behind us, we don't have to worry about forgetting things ... just Google it when something slips your mind. At this point in my career, I've certainly forgotten more than I currently know! ... No matter, as long as the basic concepts are firmly understood, all that you've forgotten can be relearned in a heartbeat. I hope that helps, Stefan

Hi, Interfaces will not help you with code repetition, they are there to create a consistent structure in your classes. So for example, in your project you can say that all data access classes have to implement the 'data access interface' where in that interface, you create the shells for the various methods you want in every data access class. This way, anyone using you classes will know that they can always expect certain methods. For example, you might define a method called: connect_to_database() in your interface. And any classes that use that interface will have to create/define (fill in the guts) of the method. Interfaces become more important for larger projects, where you have multiple programmers working. Interfaces are a tool to keep the code structure consistent. Bottom line: Base classes and inheritance are more or less useful for infrastructure code only - think frameworks. If you are creating business logic, I would not be looking to create a deep class hierarchy - that is to say, use inheritance. Stefan

Yes, the HD will cause problems for people who don't have a fast connection. One option is to just let it download for a while and come back to it in a few minutes. Thanks for the feedback. Stefan

Glad you liked it. Stefan

Code snippets are usually helpful. That said, I would be comparing my code with the sample code provided in the shopping cart tutorial. Hope that helps, Stefan

Hi, I just released a new video podcast where I answer a few questions put to me about php. In this php video I answer these questions: 1. Do you need to learn the Zend Framework? 2. Do you need a PHP certificate? 3. How does PHP fit into Web 2.0. I am using a totally new video format for this video and would appreciate your comments, good and bad about it. Thanks, Stefan

Hi Sib, It is usually a good idea to keep the code segmented by their function and what you suggest does that. How refined you make this depends on how big the project is and the relative skills of the programmers. So, could there be a better way of handling your project? Possibly. But it is really hard to tell without getting into at least a basic analysis. I like the idea of using a wrapper around your DB classes, that way you can swap in another database if need be. ... Not that I've ever seen this done in real life! That said, I would suggest leaning much more toward encapsulation rather than inheritance. When extending classes, you run the risk of creating dependencies down the road that could lead to major headaches. So to sum it up: Use encapsulation and php interfaces rather than inheritance. Stefan

I do indeed plan on continuing the series, in fact, I already have a couple more ready to put out. Happy to hear the videos were useful. In terms of users having Javascript turned on, these days most do. All the Ajax that you see and a whole slew of other functionality, depends on Javascript .. so you should be OK. Stefan

The Thai people are great, super friendly with a generally easy going demeanor. ... Besides that, the food is great and cheap too! Stef

Hi, I was in Phuket last year and there are Internet cafee's everywhere. Have a good trip. Stefan

Hi, I was just wondering if any of you have had a chance (and the interest) to check out my new beginners videos on Javascript? I have about 10 up there now, with more to come. Also, any comments both positive and negative are welcome: - are they too slow in terms of the material? - how is the sound, loud enough? Anything else? Thanks, Stefan

Hi, This is a new feature in the latest release of Expression. I have not used it yet so I cannot comment. That said, it might prove to be a very valuable tool for web designers. ... Not everyone uses virtual machines like I do. Stefan

Apparently Web Expression now has an ability to view your pages in multiple versions of IE. They call it 'Expression Web SuperPreview'. This is from an email I got from a Microsoft Expression Web team member: I plan on testing this sometime in the near future. But to be honest, since I use wmware virtual machines, I haven't been too motivated to try this since my virtual machines handle this for me. Stefan

Hi, I haven't moved over to IE8 yet and was wondering if any of you have? If so, what can you tell us about it ... does it work well from a users perspective? BTW, if you are using IE, let me know if any of our pages are screwy in it. Thanks, Stefan

IE6 is still around .. I personally see about 7% usage even today! For me, 3% or less is when I forget about it. Stefan

Yea, I use VMWare Fusion with XP installed on my Mac too. It works really well. BTW, that is the easiest way to test on multiple browsers - use a virtual machine. I actually use VMWare Workstation on the Windows for my software demos and application testing as well. Stefan

I've used Linux in the past. I even helped along as a friend recompiled the kernel to the hardware. Doing this increased the overall speed of the machine by a lot. K

Windows 7 would be step down from Mac OSX, to be sure. But, Vista sucks and XP is getting long in the tooth, so I think for those who need or want to stay on Windows, Windows 7 is a god send. Stefan

Hi, I've heard through the grapevine that Windows 7 is nice. In fact, I've heard it is much better than Vista. Some of nerd friends say that Windows 7 is what Vista should have been. I did not upgrade to Vista after trying it, so I stuck to XP and I also got a Mac - nice! Anyway, I was wondering if any of you have tried Windows 7 yet? Thanks, Stefan