Deviant Abstraction

WidgetAccelerator is the best way to accelerate the displays of your widgets in a webpage.

My blog uses it. It has two accelerated widgets. The display of the page has been increased of more than 10 times actually.

It caches the JS file and prints its content directly in the HTML page. Therefore, your visitors do not need anymore to gather a lot of different javascript files from a lot of various hosts. The main consequence is a speedier website.

It does not check for cache consistency before displaying the page. This is why it is fast (Most HEAD requests are as slow as a GET.)

This is also why you have to specify which widget to cache. Of course you should not use it for widget with highly dynamic content like a Javascript webstat tracker.

Installation
To use this script, you will need to.

1. Download the script (copy/paste this link and rename the extension of the file to .php)
2. Upload it to your server.
3. Create a writable directory to store the cached widgets.
4. Configure the script: two constants must be defined (at the top of the script). $CACHE_DIR is the path to the cache (ie: $CACHE_DIR="/var/www/cache/";) and $CACHE_TTL is the lifetime in seconds of the cached widget (ie: $CACHE_TTL = 3600;)
5. Include the script in your template or in the page you want to accelerate: $lt;?php include( "/PATH/TO/widget_accelerator.php" ) ?>
6. Accelerate the widgets you like. You have to change for instance this widget
   
<script defer="defer" id="snap_preview_anywhere" type="text/javascript" src="http://spa.snap.com/snap_preview_anywhere.js?ap=0&etc" ></script>

   to
   
<?php accelerate('<script defer="defer" id="snap_preview_anywhere" type="text/javascript" src=http://spa.snap.com/snap_preview_anywhere.js?ap=0&etc" ' ></script>');?>

7. Optional but nice for me add this quote to your template: powered by WidgetAccelerator
   which in html is: <a href="http://www.deviant-abstraction.net/index.php/2007/01/30/widget-accelerator/"> powered by WidgetAccelerator</a>

A little bit further
WidgetAccelerator looks for src=” or src=’ inside accelerate(). Without proper enclosing of this attribute, the accelerate function will print an error. Finally, all URL inside src must be in absolute to be accelerated.

In case of problem, features ideas or contribution, do not hesitate to mail me or leave a comment here.

Legal
Of course, this script is offered AS IS and I withhold all responsability for any damage that might come due to its use.

Next steps
If you like it, I will add support for images and predictive cache (to automatically set up the cache TTL).

Here is an interesting link (in French) on mobile predictions. Of course in 2008, I will look at them and laugh/congratulate the winners.

Link

This interview is quite old but a really interesting read. Reid has understood everything about social networks and entrepreneurship. Since it is his job, it is great for him and for us since he explains most of it in this text.

Link

For those interested, I just finished this thesis on the querying of XML documents. It is in French, but somehow, some might find it useful.

This document was made for the CNAM’s Probatory Exam, one the two thesis due for an Engineer’s Degree.

Please send me your feedback.

Link

This interesting post makes good points on how to handle time. This is of course very specific to the funding business but is easy to apply in all fields.

I particularly like his classification of commitment: lead/active/passive.

Extending a little bit his thoughts, one key question is to ask to your team’s member which category are they in.

Link

A really interesting article from a consumer point of view. It is good to see people still being to step back on AJAX and web apps.

Link (via the wonderful JoeyCoco)

As you know we are in the web 2.0 times. This is why I am asking your help for proofreading/finetuning this thesis on Querying XML Documents. It is in French though.

I need to give it back by Tuesday. All hands are welcome: proofreading, mistakes, suggestions.

Thanks a lot. You are saving my life and helping me get my degree!

Please use track change function under OO or Word so I can aggregate all your helpful remarks.

Link