Gmail notification only for important mails

Some e-mails are more important than others. As a freelance writer/web designer/translator I often get time critical messages. I want to get an email notification with a sound alarm and a vibration for those, but not for all my mail (my phone would be abuzz continuously).

So I found this useful article on how-to geek. It is free and really simple to set up in gmail. You basically add a filter label and set your notifications only for that label in Android (the label needs to be created on a pc though).

Gmail notification is just a part of the puzzle for freelancers, especially those who want to be the first to respond to job offers.

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Feel The Bern in a Theater near you

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Light background (the best way)

When creating a fixed background image there are a few things to consider:

1. browser compatibility. Does that z-index work everywhere?
2. image size. Does this load fast enough on a 3G connection?
3. ease of change. What happens when the theme updates?

I found that the easiest way is to set the background-image property via the add-on CSS. That way it is “in between” the theme layer and the individual page. Adding an <IMG> is also possible straight from the content but it gives you z-index headaches. The content elements just don’t seem to go in front of the image element.

So on creativechoice.org I just added this 12k file stretched as the background of site-content:

.site-content {   background-image: url("http://creativechoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/bkg.jpg");   background-size: contain;  }

I hard-coded the opacity in the file. If you need more flexibility you could consider using the IMG-tag, however that might mean restructuring your HTML-structure to have all navigation elements (links) placed on top of it.

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LESS in 5 minutes

LESS is a handy precompiler for CSS, but as it develops it becomes so complex we start assuming that we need a tutorial or long read in order to understand it. I think it’s worthwhile to use just a few very basic capabilities of LESS (leaner CSS) and that you can learn how to use them in 5 minutes.

First, on Windows you can use http://winless.org/
If you use WordPress, install Jetpack which comes with an extra CSS option allowing LESS (or use another plugin that has integrated the PHP LESS-compiler).
No sweat so far.

Take an old CSS file and replace color codes with variables like so:

body {
color : 77da34;
}

becomes

@green : 77da34;
body {
color : @green;
}


Variables are the first thing we absolutely NEED if we want to write leaner CSS. The next is mixins:
Instead of

opacity : .75;

you write

.opacity (@opacity: 0.5) {
-webkit-opacity: @opacity;
-moz-opacity: @opacity;
opacity: @opacity;
}
.element {
.opacity (.75);
}

Et voilà. This is very handy for browser compatibility and with Media Queries.
Let’s offer some flesh. Here is a file of predefined mixins I found on the net and frequently use: more.less. Feel free to use.

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More.less


/* http://designshack.net/articles/css/10-less-css-examples-you-should-steal-for-your-projects/
*/

@base: 663333;
@complement1: spin(@base, 180);
@complement2: darken(spin(@base, 180), 5%);
@lighten1: lighten(@base, 15%);
@lighten2: lighten(@base, 30%);
@lighter1: lighten(spin(@base, 5), 10%);
@lighter2: lighten(spin(@base, 10), 20%);
@darker1: darken(spin(@base, -5), 10%);
@darker2: darken(spin(@base, -10), 20%);

.opacity (@opacity: 0.5) {
-webkit-opacity: @opacity;
-moz-opacity: @opacity;
opacity: @opacity;
}
.border-radius (@radius: 5px) {
-webkit-border-radius: @radius;
-moz-border-radius: @radius;
border-radius: @radius;
}
.box-shadow (@string: 2px 2px 4px rgb(0,0,0,0.5)) {
-webkit-box-shadow: @string;
-moz-box-shadow: @string;
box-shadow: @string;
}
.drop-shadow (@x: 0, @y: 1px, @blur: 2px, @spread: 0, @alpha: 0.25) {
-webkit-box-shadow: @x @y @blur @spread rgba(0, 0, 0, @alpha);
-moz-box-shadow: @x @y @blur @spread rgba(0, 0, 0, @alpha);
box-shadow: @x @y @blur @spread rgba(0, 0, 0, @alpha);
}
.inner-shadow (@x: 0, @y: 1px, @blur: 2px, @spread: 0, @alpha: 0.25) {
-webkit-box-shadow: inset @x @y @blur @spread rgba(0, 0, 0, @alpha);
-moz-box-shadow: inset @x @y @blur @spread rgba(0, 0, 0, @alpha);
box-shadow: inset @x @y @blur @spread rgba(0, 0, 0, @alpha);
}
.transition (@prop: all, @time: 1s, @ease: linear) {
-webkit-transition: @prop @time @ease;
-moz-transition: @prop @time @ease;
-o-transition: @prop @time @ease;
-ms-transition: @prop @time @ease;
transition: @prop @time @ease;
}
.transitions (@transitions) {
-webkit-transition: @transitions;
-moz-transition: @transitions;
-o-transition: @transitions;
-ms-transition: @transitions;
transition: @transitions;
}
.animation (@name, @duration: 300ms, @delay: 0, @ease: ease) {
-webkit-animation: @name @duration @delay @ease;
-moz-animation: @name @duration @delay @ease;
-ms-animation: @name @duration @delay @ease;
}
.transform (@rotate: 90deg, @scale: 1, @skew: 1deg, @translate: 10px) {
-webkit-transform: rotate(@rotate) scale(@scale) skew(@skew) translate(@translate);
-moz-transform: rotate(@rotate) scale(@scale) skew(@skew) translate(@translate);
-o-transform: rotate(@rotate) scale(@scale) skew(@skew) translate(@translate);
-ms-transform: rotate(@rotate) scale(@scale) skew(@skew) translate(@translate);
transform: rotate(@rotate) scale(@scale) skew(@skew) translate(@translate);
}
.gradient (@origin: left, @start: ffffff, @stop: 000000) {
background-color: @start;
background-image: -webkit-linear-gradient(@origin, @start, @stop);
background-image: -moz-linear-gradient(@origin, @start, @stop);
background-image: -o-linear-gradient(@origin, @start, @stop);
background-image: -ms-linear-gradient(@origin, @start, @stop);
background-image: linear-gradient(@origin, @start, @stop);
}
.quick-gradient (@origin: left, @alpha: 0.2) {
background-image: -webkit-linear-gradient(@origin, rgba(0,0,0,0.0), rgba(0,0,0,@alpha));
background-image: -moz-linear-gradient(@origin, rgba(0,0,0,0.0), rgba(0,0,0,@alpha));
background-image: -o-linear-gradient(@origin, rgba(0,0,0,0.0), rgba(0,0,0,@alpha));
background-image: -ms-linear-gradient(@origin, rgba(0,0,0,0.0), rgba(0,0,0,@alpha));
background-image: linear-gradient(@origin, rgba(0,0,0,0.0), rgba(0,0,0,@alpha));
}
.reflect (@length: 50%, @opacity: 0.2){
-webkit-box-reflect: below 0px -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, from(transparent), color-stop(@length, transparent), to(rgba(255,255,255,@opacity)));
}

.scale (@factor) {
-webkit-transform: scale(@factor);
-moz-transform: scale(@factor);
-ms-transform: scale(@factor);
-o-transform: scale(@factor);
}
.rotate (@deg) {
-webkit-transform: rotate(@deg);
-moz-transform: rotate(@deg);
-ms-transform: rotate(@deg);
-o-transform: rotate(@deg);
}
.skew (@deg, @deg2) {
-webkit-transform: skew(@deg, @deg2);
-moz-transform: skew(@deg, @deg2);
-ms-transform: skew(@deg, @deg2);
-o-transform: skew(@deg, @deg2);
}
.translate (@x, @y:0) {
-webkit-transform: translate(@x, @y);
-moz-transform: translate(@x, @y);
-ms-transform: translate(@x, @y);
-o-transform: translate(@x, @y);
}
.translate3d (@x, @y: 0, @z: 0) {
-webkit-transform: translate3d(@x, @y, @z);
-moz-transform: translate3d(@x, @y, @z);
-ms-transform: translate3d(@x, @y, @z);
-o-transform: translate3d(@x, @y, @z);
}
.perspective (@value: 1000) {
-webkit-perspective: @value;
-moz-perspective: @value;
-ms-perspective: @value;
perspective: @value;
}
.transform-origin (@x:center, @y:center) {
-webkit-transform-origin: @x @y;
-moz-transform-origin: @x @y;
-ms-transform-origin: @x @y;
-o-transform-origin: @x @y;
}

@grunge : url(data:image/png;base64,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! cYHwjTtU NAcMelOd4xpkoqiTYICWFq0JSiPfPDQdnt+4/wuqcXY47QILbgAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==);

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Copying formula's in LibreOffice Writer

Here’s another little annoyance solved: I used LibreOffice to make simple invoices and use the nice calc function to calculate the items in my invoice. However. LO didn’t allow to copy formula’s – or so I thought. I found this after some searching and thought I’d share it with you.
It is possible, as explained in the excellent libreoffice forum.

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Sorting dates with PHP

This should have been much faster, so I’m sharing this. PHP (<5.2) creates and compares dates out of the box with the dateTime class.

This is my use case. I had saved some dates as strings in the database, using the jQuery datepicker. I had to convert them back to dateTime-objects to compare two dates. The proper way to do this is to turn them into objects either by using date_create() or new dateTime(). Note that if you use a string that can’t be recognized, the constructer returns false, and your subsequent comparison functions screams at the boolean.

Here’s that comparison function, and the usort-statement that uses it to sort an array of objects by date:

function cmp($a, $b)
{
$datetime1 = date_create($a->meta_value);
$datetime2 = date_create($b->meta_value);
if ($datetime1 && $datetime2) {
$i = date_diff($datetime1, $datetime2);
}
return ($i->invert);  /* boolean: negative when the date diff is negative */
}
usort($comments, "cmp");

Of course in some perfect universe we’d like all this object creation and type casting done automatically with a special operator ensuring MCC in programming (minimal character count), so that we can write something like:

date1 d= 'now';
date2 d= '20 April 2030';
days2go = date1 - date2;

(Actually, this should be possible already. Anyone has implemented this?)

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