Author Archive for Tummblr

Test: Google’s handling of duplicate image and text links

This is a test for how Google handles an image link followed by a text link that point to the same page. Will the second anchor text get associated with the target link? Or will the alt text of the image be associated and the second anchor text ignored?

First link is an image with alt text:
pandabooket

Second link is text:
dragondabooket

The two made-up words I used are:
pandadabooket
dragondabooket

These terms return 0 results currently. Wonder what happens when I search Google for these two queries tomorrow? If I am right, pandadabooket will point to MusicBrainz, while dragondabooket will not.

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Site is now running Nginx, Gentoo Linux in a Slicehost VPS

This site has been running the Nginx web server and Gentoo Linux in a Slicehost VPS (256MB) since last weekend. The migration process was surprisingly painless. I’m very happy with the performance so far. This is my first “production” web server, and I must say Gentoo makes it a breeze.

P.S. I’ve been meaning to document the migration process but haven’t found the time yet.

Nginx: change the upload size limit

I learned today that the client_max_body_size directive in nginx.conf controls Nginx’s upload size limit. The default value appears to be 1MB. To allow uploads of up to 10MB, insert this line in nginx.conf:

client_max_body_size 10M

User-friendly way of contributing to Ubuntu

Bug trackers, mailing lists, IRC too involved for mere mortals? Visit Ubuntu brainstorm and vote up or down on countless wishlist items for Ubuntu. It’s as simple as using Digg, and only takes you a few minutes. Go do your part!

Finally, an official Ubuntu theme that’s not orange!

Yay for the new Blubuntu theme, a blue sibling of the default “Human” theme for Ubuntu.

It’s good to be quirky and different, but the unorthodox orange theme really gets old.

ReadWriteWeb buying links?

My mistake. I’ve confused trackbacks and pingbacks. Bloggers can issue a trackback without actually linking to the target post at all.

Unless I am misunderstanding something, ReadWriteWeb.com seems to be engaged in what Google calls “link buying”, a violation of Google’s webmaster guidelines.

I just noticed today the following text at the bottom of a ReadWriteWeb post:

Leave a comment or trackback on ReadWriteWeb and be in to win a daily $30 Amazon gift voucher

Note the word trackback, which is a type of linkback from another blog/site.

I can’t find Matt Cutt’s exact definition of a “paid link”, but I recall that it goes something like this: “a link that would not otherwise be created absent some consideration”. In this case, the consideration is the chance to win a $30 Amazon gift voucher. Seems like link buying to me?

More about Google’s policy towards link buying and selling here.

I suppose ReadWriteWeb did not specifically ask for a link that passes PageRank. However, how many typical bloggers are alert or knowledgeable enough to insert the nofollow attribute?

PHP: search for full words only

I needed to search for full words in strings. strpos() would match parts of a word. Ex. I want to match the word “ass,” but not “assistant.”

Regular expressions to the rescue:

preg_match("/\b$needle\b/", $haystack);

“\b” stands for word boundary. Take care to use the lowercase “\b”, not “\B”, which is the negated version that matches everywhere that “\b” does not.