DEV Community: Anthony

What Is XHR And Why You Should Be Looking At XMLHttpRequests

Anthony — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 02:05:15 +0000

Have you been poking around in the network tab of your browser and seen XHR files come flying in at you? They aren't media, they aren't CSS, they aren't JS... so what are they?

XMLHttpRequests - What Are They And Why You Should Care

XMLHttpRequests are a way for a web page to request data from a server without having to refresh the page (but it can be used on page load as well). This makes it possible to update parts of a page without having to reload the whole page. XMLHttpRequests are used extensively by modern web applications. In this article, we'll take a look at what XMLHttpRequests are and why you should care about them.

An XMLHttpRequest is an object that allows a web page to request data from a server without having to refresh the page. The data can be in the form of text, JSON, XML, or any other format that the server chooses to return. XMLHttpRequests are used extensively by data-heavy, modern websites and mobile apps.

XMLHttpRequests were first introduced by Microsoft in the late 1990s as part of their ActiveX technology. ActiveX is a now-defunct technology that was used to add interactive content to web pages. The most popular use of ActiveX was for creating ActiveX controls, which are small programs that can be embedded in a web page. These days, XMLHttpRequests are implemented natively by all major browsers and there is no need for ActiveX anymore.

Why should you care about XMLHttpRequests?

If you're a developer, then you should care about XMLHttpRequests because they make it possible to use applications like Google Maps without having to reload the page every time you move to a new location. A web app can be data-backed, featuring, for example, lots of airport status data, without having to be terribly slow. It can also tie in multiple data sources without tremendous amounts of complexity.

Another reason why you might want to care about XMLHttpRequests is if you're interested in web development. Many modern web applications make heavy use of XMLHttpRequests, particularly SPAs and other API-driven architectures. Understanding how they work is essential for any aspiring web developer.

In Closing

In conclusion, XMLHttpRequests are a way for a web page to request data from a server without having to refresh the page. This makes it possible to update parts of a page without having to reload the whole page -- this is particularly useful for data that is handled on other servers and transmitted through an API service. XMLHttpRequests are used extensively by modern, data-backed web applications and if you want to understand how structured data moves around the web, these are one of the most important data types to understand.

How To Save Files To AWS Glacier

Anthony — Sun, 14 Aug 2022 12:44:47 +0000

Uploading files to Amazon's AWS S3 cloud storage server is very simple because to a handy web interface and a number of different ways to add a third-party graphical UI tool... if you are into that sort of thing. Glacier is a bit different as it's not designed to be the sort of storage that you interact with as regularly so, understandably, getting files into and out of the service isn't as easy as general S3.

Step One: CLI

In order to work with AWS Glacier you'll need Amazon's CLI service, which is its command line interface. This tool is a bit difficult to approach if you aren't used to working with the command line, but once you learn the basics it's quite straightforward, plus it's very powerful. With great power comes great responsibility (as to the safety of your files) so use it with care, especially if you don't have extensive permissions (IAM) setup in your org.

Step Two: S3

Hop into S3 and create any buckets you might need. Glacier is, after all, a subset of S3, so you can use the S3 web interface to interact with Glacier-class files as well as set lifecycle management. This will enable you to move files from S3 into your "cold" storage (the name making more sense now?).

You can, of course, create buckets and vaults, etc. using the CLI if you are feeling saucy.

Step Three:

Open up your terminal or command line and confirm AWS CLI is installed. A simple version check will do the jog:

$ aws --version

All good? Now decide, do you want to upload a single file or multiple files.

Single File Upload To Glacier

aws s3 cp /Users/USERNAME/folder/folder2/fileName s3://myBucketName --storage-class GLACIER

Here you are coping the file from your local machine to an S3 bucket, with the storage class of "Glacier." Pretty straightforward right?

Multiple File Upload To Glacier

aws s3 cp /Users/USERNAME/folder/folder2/ s3://myBucketName --storage-class GLACIER --recursive

If you have a folder and you'd like to upload all the files in it to Glacier, you simply need to specify the folder and then add the recursive command. You can watch the upload progress in your terminal.

Perhaps you have a bunch of videos you'd like to save, some family images, or massive amounts of airport wait time data, or any other random thing you might have picked up in your software development adventures.

Remember, AWS CLI has a huge number of tools and capabilities so it's much more than just a convenient way to upload files without logging into AWS. It can stream multiple files from your computer to S3 at once, it can be used to split huge files (which would fail if being uploads via the web interface) as well as do many other cool things like multi-part uploads].

How To Track Conversion Clicks with Google Tag Manager (GTM)

Anthony — Sat, 20 Nov 2021 19:50:28 +0000

Tracking clicks on your website is very easy to do. What's better is that it can be done with no releases and little to no development. It can also be done entirely with free tools, (assuming you are OK with a Google toolset).

So let's build our click tracking with GTM (Google Tag Manager) and GA (Google Analytics). The is a very standard setup in a publishing, marketing, or similar site.

We'll assume that at this point you have setup free Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager accounts. To see all this in action, via the browser console, you can check out a page like this product recall site which is a simple project that took just a few hours to setup. Much larger projects can use this setup as well but might have a more sophisticated handling of events or might analyze them via Big Query as opposed to Google Analytics directly.

In GA you'll want to setup a new site, just make sure that in the early stages, in the Advanced field, you pick GA Universal, instead of the new GA4 option. It's possible to change this later on, but it's easy to do it early.

Now, in GTM you'll want to do the following:

Add a new tag. Name it. Click Tag Configuration and then "Google Analytics: Universal Analytics".

Setup the tag as follows:

Track Type = Event
Category: Choose a category name. Something like “Affiliate Click” maybe.
Action: {{Page Path}} will send up the page URL of the link, not the destination
Label: {{Click URL}} will send up the URL the link goes to. If this option is missing just look for it in the "Built-ins" options Value:
Google Analytics Setting: Select "Enable overriding settings in this tag" and paste in your Google Analytics Tracking ID ("UA-xxxxxxxxxx-xx").

In "More Setting" you'll want to add in any GA Custom Dimensions you'll want alongside this event. Totally optional, but most people use this.

Now, go to the Trigger. Defining this will tell the tag to do its job.

Go to the Trigger page and then hit the "+" and pick “Just Links” by clicking the "Trigger Configuration" box.

At the "This Trigger Fires On" section select “Some Link Clicks”.

Now define your link type. A popular type would be Amazon affiliate links which could be defined as:

“Click URL” “contains” “amzn.to”

Your link might look like "contains /checkout/" or something similar, but it'll vary based on your site.

Save the trigger, save the tag, and then publish the container. You'll want to make sure you already have Google Analytics working on your site, which can be done by putting GA direct on the page, direct in your CMS, or loading it via GTM.

The end result will be Google Analytics events which you can find in the GA UI in Behavior > Events > Top events. But you can also see these in Custom Reports.

And you're all set!

There are many good GTM resources online that can aid you with your growth!

Strengths and Weaknesses of Online Bootcamps in 2021

Anthony — Thu, 13 May 2021 20:48:43 +0000

Just like every other teaching method, online education comes with its own set of pros and cons. With the "new normal" dictating increased usage of online tools, a better understanding of these tools helps educational institutions in devising better strategies for their students and students better strategies for learning.

Let us discuss the various pros and cons of online education in detail, especially as the possibility of returning to in-person colleges, bootcamps, seminars, training sessions, tutors, and other modes of learning starts to open back up in 2021.

Advantages Of Online Learning

With the shifting of dynamics in the post-pandemic era, online education has proved to be a boon for many. The advantages of this learning method are many and can be discussed as follows...

Efficient: In-person learning is limited to the size of the room and how far a teacher's voice will carry. When online one teacher can teach hundreds of people. This brings down costs and removes barriers.
Asynchronous: In-person learning has to be done on a fixed, inflexible schedule. Online learning can be done in your time around working hours and household responsibilities. The online lectures can also be recorded, shared, and viewed for future reference at a time of their choice by the students. Innovative: Online education offers teachers an efficient way of delivering lessons by incorporating a range of tools into lesson plans. These include podcasts, videos, online tools, and more. The tools are adapting with the times.
Accessible: Online education allows students to attend classes irrespective of their location. It also helps the schools in building an extensive network of students without any geographical restrictions. Thus, it offers better accessibility in terms of both time and place.
Affordable: Online education is also beneficial in terms of reduced financial costs in comparison to physical learning. This is because several cost points get eliminated in the process such as student meals, transportation, and real estate. All the course and study material is also available online thus creating a paperless environment making it all the more affordable for the students.
Improved attendance: With the liberty of taking classes from any location, online classes have better attendance, leading to fewer students missing out on lectures.
Universal: With a range of tools available for personalization and customization of online classes, they are suitable for students of all ages and styles.

Disadvantages Of Online Learning

Though online learning platforms have flourished today, there are several disadvantages or weaknesses of this system that should be kept in mind. This helps in devising better teaching and learning strategies for the students and teachers alike.

Inability to focus: One of the biggest challenges in the case of the online education system is the inability of the students to focus on the screen for long time periods. This inability also increases the risk of the student getting distracted by social media, a nearby TV, or the internet in general. In order to curb this problem, it is important for the teachers to keep the interaction going and keep their classes engaging and crisp.
Technical issues: Another key weakness of this system is the over-dependence on technology. Though internet penetration has increased by leaps and bounds in the last few years, consistent internet connection is still a big problem in many towns and with some parts of the population for whom affordable high-speed internet is still a challenge.
Isolation: One of the major aspects of learning is not just the lectures but the peers. The online education model has reduced the physical interactions between teacher and student to a minimal level causing a sense of isolation among students. This affects adults just as much as it does children, even it adult students might be less likely to admit it (or even notice it)
Managing screen time: Increased screen time has become a health hazard. This can also cause bad posture, lack of focus, headaches and several other issues. Taking paper notes can help, but the build up of screen time is inevitable.
Academic Integrity: This is more of an issue with college than with career-focused education, but the lack of classroom tests and in-person assignments means the temptation to look something up or get help on solo assignment is raised when you don't have the standard classroom environment.

Wrapping Up

Remember, the online education system might never replace the physical learning system. However, they can be seen as their extension and can be used to complement the learning and understanding process of the students. This will help students in getting the best of all worlds.

Second Monitor: Friend or Foe?

Anthony — Sat, 10 Apr 2021 13:07:18 +0000

The perfect computer monitor setup does not exist. I find that often my needs change and my preferences shift, so that I'm rarely happy with my monitor situation for more than a few weeks at a time.

A normal path people take is to use a single monitor and then to add a second. This will likely cost you under $150 (or will be a hassle-free ask from IT) and will simply mean plugging in just one HDMI or USB-C cord. Now you'll have twice the real estate (if not more).

PC Magazine has some good tips on improving your second monitor experience. One thing they fail to mention, and it took me a long time to realize, is that a second widescreen monitor invites the same work habits as the main monitor. The dashboards, email programs, and social media accounts distracting you on Monitor 1 are easily dragged over to Monitor 2... where they still distract you, just not enough to close them out.

My second monitor was a dumping ground for things I wanted to deal with later (or never) as well as being an all to convenient fit for ever-present emails and sometimes-present Youtube videos, Spotify playlists, and similar diversions.

For a time I tried a vertical monitor in the second position. This was briefly an improvement because it forced a chance in my behavior -- windows were no longer as easy a fit so I had to think about what I was putting there. Also videos no longer looked as inviting and my email wasn't wide enough to do more than look out for incoming messages.

I found a vertical monitor could improve productivity with long spreadsheets, long documents (like specifications and contracts), and to be good for text editors where large swathes of code or multiple components could be visible at once.

Still, the distraction was there. I had used 2020 to construct a nearly distraction-free workplace, complete with a great desk, ergonomic chair, super quiet fan, tangle-free power cords, a wonderful LED desk lamp for working late, and all the other things a mind bent on productivity could come up with. I even had my pen and paper notes going, right next to my laptop... yet I had this second monitor and I couldn't stop myself from putting weapons-grade distractions on my second monitor. I'd catch myself checking into dashboards and analytics constantly when one or twice a day was sufficient.

As you have likely guessed. I'm down to a single display and I'd urge you to try the same for a time as well. Don't go too small -- 15" on a laptop or 24-27" on a desktop is great -- but one clean, well-maintained space offers a fraction of the distraction of a multiple displays.

Secret Weapons: Pen and Paper

Anthony — Fri, 09 Apr 2021 23:17:16 +0000

When doing computer work there is an obvious inclination to doing your note-taking and documenting on the computer. And this makes sense, as it makes your notes accessible from anywhere and you never have to worry about losing them. The problem is that you are making major trade-offs when it come to retention and consideration of your thoughts.

Any number of studies and articles over the past few years have highlighted the positives of handwritten notes.

It turns out what we learned in grade school was correct: writing things down means you are better able to recall them later. This, it turns out, needs to be done with pen and paper to be effective as typed notes doing see the same level of positive effect.

This might be disheartening news for many of us who have lost what little handwriting capabilities we had and can type much faster than we can write longhand, but perhaps the slowness of handwritten notes is the key. For example, during a lecture, the slowness of writing requires one to listen, process, and then take abbreviated notes. A strong typist can capture the lecture almost word for word, focusing only on the typing.

Studies also point to the laptops as being distracting. Despite your intention to focus on the topic at hand -- be is a lecture, a speech, a presentation, or a Zoom call -- laptops are filled with distractions where a pen and paper has no battery, alerts, pop-ups, or ability to quickly search for more information on a topic.

Of course notebooks come with their own problems. A misplaced backpack or spilled coffee and lead to a disaster, with dozens of hours of work lost. This is something that would (almost) never happen with Google Docs, or at least would be completely avoidable with digital notes.

This risk can be mitigated by taking notes by hand first, perhaps in a nice notebook with a water-safe, pigmented pen and then to type in the notes later. This would be usefully for important information that is worth considering twice. It is also possible to simply scan in documents, which can be done at incredible speed and accuracy with any document scanner.

My recommendation? Keep a paper notebook and a reliable pen at handy. Jot down your thoughts there, especially those taken on an important call, during a meeting with stakeholders, and other places where proper retention matters. Don't change your workflow for long pieces of text that you are going to drop into your notepad and search through later -- computers are great at that. So improve your notetaking when it matters and then stay efficient everywhere else.