Category: Utility
Utility CSS Stylesheet finding duplicate selectors and declaration differences
Utility CSS Stylesheet finding duplicate selectors and declaration differences
Occasionally we run into a style sheet which has not been managed well and has duplicate style block and style definitions.
When this happens it can be difficult to evaluate which style blocks are duplicated, and which ones are still in use.
CSS Validators do not do a good enough job at identifying the duplicates and allowing me to make decisions on how to merge discrepancies.
So we came up with a utility that helps us to evaluate the duplicate selectors. The utility is here:
To use it we can simply paste in a giant style sheet block, or type in the url of the css and it will download it. Downloading it can be useful as you fix your style sheet and want to know how it looks.
The output of the utility is an ordered list of all of the selectors, in the case where there are duplicate selectors, the duplicated attributes are highlighted, if the value in the attribute is duplicated that shows red, if it is unique, it shows blue.
http://www.webuildplugins.com/css-stylesheet-evaluator/
The utility does not attempt to resolve the issues, it simply highlights the duplicates to potentially help you identify the issues.
The utility does not attempt to recognize which classes may override each other.
Future enhancements to this tool may include
- the ability to download multiple style sheets – to help identify styles that may clobber eachother.
- the ability to paste in an html block or url which then extricates the css style blocks and linked style sheets to help identify clobbering or duplicated selectors
- a utility which combines unique attributes from multiple duplicated selectors and gives a copyable text block with the combined text.
In addition to the need we have while building websites or taking over other customer sites, this too highlights our ability to build custom plugin utilities within WordPress. We also sell this WordPress plugin to customers that may need it.
Utility – Bulk Convert the Unix Timestamp in log messages To a Readable Date
Utility – Bulk Convert the Unix Timestamp in log messages To a Readable Date
I have often run into the need to convert a large list of timestamps from Unix Timestamp to a readable date.
Often times this is simply a need that I have when receiving an error message from a server, or when reviewing log files which only use Unix Timestamps.
So I created a simple utility, just paste in your text from the log file, the utility will search out the string for timestamps listed as the first part of each line, and convert the timestamp to a date.
While this might be useful at some point as an automated process, for now I just use it when I need it.
I am documenting the tool here with a link for myself (or any one else that may need it) so that it is simple to find.
http://matraex.com/batch-timestamp-to-date.php
Possible future upgrades to this utility will likely search out Unix Timestamps anywhere in the text and convert them, instead of just at the first of the line.
Bulk Domain NS, MX and A record lookup tool
Summary: We have two tools to help you lookup information on domains quickly
- quick-domain-research.php – See the NS, MX, A records and IPs for multiple domains in one table
- nameserver-compare.php – Compare NS, MX, A records for multiple domains, against multiple Name Servers
Bulk Domain NS, MX and A record lookup tool
Occassionally, we come across some sort of project in which we have to work through a list of multiple domain names and make some sort of changes.
In some cases we simply have to update contact records, in other cases we have to determine ownership, hosting and mail setups so we can assist with an ownership transfer.
There are a plethora of domain tools out there which help one at a time, But we were hard pressed to find a tool that could do a bulk lookup of multiple domains with table based out put.
So, we built the tool
https://www.matraex.com/quick-domain-research.php
This tool has the
- A records for the root domain (@) and the (www) domain.
- MX records for the root domain
- NS records for the root domain
This tool was thrown together quickly to help us identify whether an OLD but active nameserver, which had dozens of domain names on it, was actually being used for the domains.
We were able to delete more than 20 domains cluttering up the DNS entries.
Additionally we were able to clean up associated webservers that had not been cleaned of hosting accounts after a client left the account.
Some future ideas which will make their way in next time:
- Display whois information for the domain
- Optionally group the domains based on which name servers, whois records or www C class they are hosted at
Update 11/28/2015 by Michael Blood
Since this original post, we have added several new features including the ability to upload a file with a large batch upload, and download a CSV file with the results. You can see all of the details in this Enhanced Bulk Domain NS, MX and A record lookup tool post.