We're trying to do something special at OmniTI. We've got great web talent, from operations to design (and plenty of everything in between). For my part, I bridge the gaps as much as I can, so I try to keep my finger on the pulse of many different web disciplines. This is partly why I've been reading Smashing Magazine since sometime last year.

I was pleased to see them branch out slightly and publish an article on PHP entitled 10 Advanced PHP Tips to Improve Your Programming. Some people read articles self-described as advanced just to be able to claim they're not advanced, but I can appreciate a good article, even one that reeks a bit of self-importance. Smashing Magazine had established a pretty good reputation for quality by this time, so I read with great interest.

I was disappointed.

I was so disappointed that I wanted to do something about it, but with fewer than 5,000 subscribers at shiflett.org, I couldn't hope to reach the same audience as Smashing Magazine with more than 100,000 subscribers. The only way to help stop the spread of misinformation is to publish to the same audience, so I offered to write a rebuttal:

@smashingmag: I love your site, but the recent article on PHP tips is well below your standards. Would you entertain a rebuttal?

Likely due to a prod from Jon, Vitaly (the editor in chief) responded positively:

@shiflett Chris, would you like to write an article on the shortcomings of this article and suggest some more useful tips and tricks?

Because Sean and I were in the middle of dissecting the flaws in the article, I roped him into helping me write the rebuttal. The result, 10 Useful PHP Tips Revisited, was published just a short while ago:

http://smashingmagazine.com/2009/03/24/10-useful-php-tips-revisited

If you use Twitter, Sean and I would greatly appreciate your help in spreading the news:

Please help us share: The PHP article/rebuttal that @coates and I wrote for @smashingmag is published: http://tr.im/phptips

Thanks very much for your help, feedback, and support. I hope you like the article. :-)