Yii - is one of my favorite frameworks. I've done a few projects using this framework and have been always satisfied with its functionality, flexibility, performance and community support. This post starts a series of "how to" articles where I will give some tips, advises and best practices.

If you need to use optional parameters in URLs here is how you can do it in UrlManager:

If in your project you have a publicly accessible directory that has full permissions (777), then it may cause serious security issues. An attacker may put an executable script or binary on your host and then run it remotely. This is a major security whole and it may lead to major problems if someone decides to attack your website.

However, sometimes on some shared webhosting servers you need have a folder that has risky 777 permissions (or, if possible, 775 which is a little bit better). As an example you can consider a folder where website users can upload their photos or images. In this case it opens a security whole for potential attackers. But, there are a few techniques that can help you to keep your website safe.

Are you a web developer or/and web site owner? Then you definitely have shopped around for a website hosting!

Unlike 90s and beginning of 2000s when Yahoo! GeoCities was pretty much the only choice, today, there are a lot of choices for web developers: shared web hosting, virtual private servers, and dedicated servers.

So, which Hosting is right for You? Let's compare the 3 main types of hosting.

We all use mobile devices every day. Well, at least most of us. All those smartphones, tablets, gadget-watches, etc. Most of us cannot imagine life without these things. Of course, these devices are used a lot to access the Internet. Howerver, not all websites will look the same on different screens. In fact, a lot of websites will look really bad on smaller screens. I'd even say most of web sites!

In the modern web design there is very common dilemma whether to create mobile standalone website, or create responsive design. As usual each option has its pros and cons. In this article I will look at both options and show a sort of comparison.

Comparison

Thanks to nightbloos I can continue posting funny code samples that developers meet/write from time to time. :)

Here is another good example of how NOT to do! Please, do not try this at home! This stunt was performed by untrained professionals.  :)

<?php
$forReplace = array(",","."," ","-", "+", "#""/");
foreach($forReplace as $repl){
	$find = str_replace($repl,'',$find)
}

Obviously, in this case a regular expression function must have been used.

If you have another good examples of a funny code samples, please leave it in the comments. ;)

Most of web developers from time to time buy domain names. But not all web developers know what can be behind that process and what unexpected problems may appear suddenly.

There is plenty of domain name registars like Go Daddy, Enom, 1nd1, etc. Each registar has its pros and cons. Sometimes a domain owner can face a very sudden problem. Unfortunately, this "problem" could have been known if domain buyers read Terms and Conditions carefully before they buy domains. Registars have a lot little "surprises" buried in the fine print of a registrars' "Terms of Service".

I heard a story from one of my collegues that a registar requested a 200$ fee to unblock my collegue's domain name after it was blocked based on a anonymous request! The registar didn't even try to contact the domain owner and understand the nature of the problem. They simply said "Pay us money!". It looks like a virtual extortion.