Post Archive

› July 31, 2001

color selector

I've been exchanging some very informative emails with the creator of the Limitless Innovations colour selector. A short while ago I did a sloppy bashing of color selectors in general, and used their application as a jumping off point. Through in depth discussions and a more thoughtful review I've been discovering some of the strengths of their application. So, besides stating an apology, I'll be posting a more in depth look at the Limitless color tool, and how my opinion has changed (and their application has changed) based on our discussion. Prior to that in depth review, I'll be tweaking the non-compliant aspects of this site's code with their helpful feedback. If this doesn't make sense, just stop by in a few days to read a more thoughtful and in depth discussion of color picking tools.

› July 30, 2001

rugly

I think this site would not get pulled over for a 508. Hmm does poor line height (with no css) qualify something as "unreadable". I'm finding the need for a new accesibility term: "rugly" - readable but ugly.

CSS layout workarounds

Anyone working with CSS extensively has recognized that here be dragons. My approach is to start as simple as possible, and only stray when absolutely unavoidable... then when it doesnt work in browser x for platform y, start surfing for workarounds, such as the ones cataloged here.

font fix

Very much worth duplicating here, sigurd mannsaker (( ziggen.com )) reports a fix to the netscape/ie font size differences:"...just make the font size xx.75px in your style sheets (9.75 in my case). ie will ignore everything after the ., while netscape adjusts it up to 10. "

› July 27, 2001

brainjar

Once the search engine is up and running again, we will be indexing sites like brainjar, which provide great tutorials and lots of valuable css, javascript, dhtml info.

› July 25, 2001

online fonts

Here is a comparison of online fonts, which usage is best and when. (link via camworld)

look at old webgraphics

Activity is bubbling on the major search engine feature for webgraphics, if you'd like to test it out, there is still a way to get to the old version. Improvements and tweaks up ahead. All suggestions are welcome, just leave a comment to this post.

search user interface

Are you creating the user interface for a search feature or search engine of some sort? Here's some reading for you. (thanks for the link goes to the library that is andy)

another color selector

Just when I think I've seen all the color selector tools out there, I find another twelve. Here's another one which has an interesting assortment of features, seems kind of a shame that they aren't integrated together a little better. A pattern I see with these type of tools, is the use of form buttons - while this might make things easier to program, I think it really hurts any potential usability of the tool. It's hard enough to just pick colors, layers of interface and buttons don't help matters. Eventually I'll stop trashing other people's efforts to make color pickers and start making my own version. Do you have a favorite color picker? Add a comment or email me.

› July 23, 2001

css layout

Tired of tables? Make your columns using css layout. This is one of those sites that makes me want to redo all of my code. hmmmm.....

› July 22, 2001

agitprop

Agitprop has typographical design support for web developers. Jeez, I thought I had put some thought into it...

› July 21, 2001

panel discussion

Well, the panel discussion I moderated for AIP (association of internet professionals) went very well. Unfortunately I found myself a bit too wired up to take competent notes for posting as indicated in the last entry. Regardless, there weren't any gigantic surprises here to take note of, this may be partially because both panel members were heavy invested in Flash, or because both members had solid experience and methods - I didn't find too much controversy or disagreement to pull out of them.

› July 19, 2001

aip

I will be moderating this month's association of internet professionals panel discussion on web graphics. Transcript from the meeting will be our next feature, to be posted this weekend.

› July 10, 2001

clippings

This is link is via Pepe, it's a great feature which I think we should really consider for use on this site. It will probably make a lot of sense as a search engine "bookmark" type feature, simillar to the slideshow feature that andy made a while back. [note: loooks like something basic with the CSS is not happy with IE for Win] http://www.smokinggun.com/demos/clippings.php.

› July 2, 2001

Mozilla 0.9.2 has been released.

Mozilla 0.9.2 has been released. From what I have read, it seems to be a pretty stable. However, I now realize how comfortable I am now with Explorer 5 (for better or for worse), where I don't feel the compulsion to investigate browser alternatives. Am I getting burned out on the web?