Original Content

Google like a Pro with Search Operators

Love it or hate it, the sparse white Google search page has become the primary interface to the web for most users. Google helps you cut through the junk to find the needle you were looking for amidst an almost infinite digital haystack. Considering how important the internet is and how difficult it can be to find what you need, Google’s advanced search features are something everyone can benefit from knowing a little bit more about. The Google Advanced Search page is awesome, but it is rarely used. Most people don’t even know it exists because they have never seen it; there’s no link to it from the main Google page (at least none that are obvious) which makes it harder to reach than the standard single search field of the main Google page. Furthermore, many browsers are now allowing searches to be performed from the URL bar, and most…

Original Content

Browser Developer Tools

Despite what the name may imply, browser developer tools are not only useful for developers. Anyone who works with the web (and if you are reading this blog, that probably means you) can find value in browser developer tools because they use the browser, the tool we all use to access the riches of the web, to deconstruct the information that makes up the core of our online experience. A user who has a solid grasp on how to use their browser’s developer tools can see lots of incredibly useful things, such as: Dynamic views of a page’s HTML elements & data CSS rules being applied to any given element The effects of new user-supplied CSS rules Margin & padding boundaries around elements External files being loaded by a page (CSS & JS) JavaScript errors, right down to the line number The speed with which JavaScript files are loaded An…