Author Archives: Mike

Build a game using the DOM – Part 4

Previously on Build a game using the DOM, in part 1 we made a block move around with the arrow keys, in part 2 we made our block shoot lasers and in part 3 we added enemies that we could … Continue reading

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If you’re on a journey to become a good developer, keep at it

There’s a gap on the journey to being an expert developer that they don’t tell you about. It’s like a canyon you come across on your trip from beginner to expert. Imagine that learning to program is like walking from … Continue reading

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Update content with contenteditable and jQuery

Recently, I built a site for a client where they wanted to have the ability to make edits to some of the content on the site. Since I wasn’t using full blown content management system for it, they could just … Continue reading

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Build a game using the DOM – Part 3

In part 2, we made our ship shoot lasers and while I’m sure some people would love to play a game that consisted entirely of shooting at nothing, I think we can do a bit better. Let’s add something to … Continue reading

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The simplest explanation of JavaScript prototypes I can think of

If you really want to take an object oriented approach to coding in JavaScript, then you need to understand prototypes. And, to be honest, I’ve found prototypes to be one of the hardest things to grasp. How they work isn’t … Continue reading

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Where to start learning JavaScript and jQuery

Most of the emails I get from web developers ask me for advice on where they should start learning JavaScript or jQuery. Usually it’s questions about which books they should check out but, while I do like to learn from … Continue reading

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Build a game using the DOM – Part 2

In part two of building our game, we’re going to give our blue block or ship the ability to shoot lasers. But first we have to make a couple of changes in our code from part one in order to … Continue reading

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Get the style property’s value of an element using JavaScript

Here’s a quick one. Let’s say you need to get a style property value using JavaScript, it’s actually not that complicated. But, of course, in true JavaScript fashion, the names of the methods are a bit clunky. First we have … Continue reading

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Build a game using the DOM – Part 1

When I first became interested in building games using the browser and not Flash, I saw the examples people had made using HTML5’s canvas element so I started learning to build things with that. But every once in a while … Continue reading

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I really hope the future of the web is on my TV and not my phone

I’m going to be honest with you, I hate browsing the web on my phone. I check Twitter on it, I check my email, the weather and Wikipedia but i never actually surf the web on it. And it’s not … Continue reading

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