blooblog http://www.blooboo.com/blog/ a web for everyone en-us ism@blooboo.com Copyright 2005 2004-05-01T22:04:07-05:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Mozilla 1.7rc1 http://www.blooboo.com/blog/archives/000110.php A little late, but the new Mozilla release candidate supports the CSS3 opacity property.... 110@http://www.blooboo.com/blog/ A little late, but the new Mozilla release candidate supports the CSS3 opacity property.

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]]> CSS 2004-05-01T22:04:07-05:00 CSS-based design is Experimental http://www.blooboo.com/blog/archives/000112.php Excellent slideshow/presentation by Douglas Bowman titled CSS: The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly. It details current and recently past techniques, why they were good attempts, how they fail, and what the future holds. As an introduction to the current... 112@http://www.blooboo.com/blog/ Excellent slideshow/presentation by Douglas Bowman titled CSS: The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly. It details current and recently past techniques, why they were good attempts, how they fail, and what the future holds. As an introduction to the current state of CSS-based design, it is quick and rigorous, but an excellent overview of an ever-changing technology.

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]]> CSS 2004-04-21T18:11:53-05:00 More Structured Table Refreshers http://www.blooboo.com/blog/archives/000111.php If you're looking for more than the previously mentioned Advanced Tables Tutorial, check out Isolani's Creating Structured Tables. It's a bit more on the practical side.... 111@http://www.blooboo.com/blog/ If you're looking for more than the previously mentioned Advanced Tables Tutorial, check out Isolani's Creating Structured Tables. It's a bit more on the practical side.

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]]> Accessibility 2004-04-11T20:07:43-05:00 Heading, Logo, or Both? http://www.blooboo.com/blog/archives/000108.php There is an interesting discussion here about wrapping a graphical logo within an H1 tag (Fahrner Image Replacement). Most seem to agree the semantic meaning is of most importance, but disagree whether or not the logo (company name) is semantically... 108@http://www.blooboo.com/blog/ There is an interesting discussion here about wrapping a graphical logo within an H1 tag (Fahrner Image Replacement). Most seem to agree the semantic meaning is of most importance, but disagree whether or not the logo (company name) is semantically deserving of being the primary heading.

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]]> Accessibility 2004-03-20T13:21:28-05:00 Microsoft IE user exploit fix may break links http://www.blooboo.com/blog/archives/000103.php Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 834489 announced an upcoming fix for the Internet Explorer username exploit that masked malicious website URLs. If you use any links that look like http(s)://username:password@server/resource.ext then any updated browsers will not follow them. The... 103@http://www.blooboo.com/blog/ Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 834489 announced an upcoming fix for the Internet Explorer username exploit that masked malicious website URLs. If you use any links that look like

http(s)://username:password@server/resource.ext

then any updated browsers will not follow them. The article provides workarounds for server backends and client scripting. The HTTP login URL format was never in the official standard. Note that this does not affect FTP login URLs.

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]]> Backend 2004-01-28T11:10:25-05:00 Tables for Data http://www.blooboo.com/blog/archives/000102.php For nearly a decade, tables and layout were synonymous when concerned with web design. Only recently has the drive towards CSS positioning finally allowed tables to be relegated to the unfashionable pile. Don't forget, however, that tables had a clear... 102@http://www.blooboo.com/blog/ For nearly a decade, tables and layout were synonymous when concerned with web design. Only recently has the drive towards CSS positioning finally allowed tables to be relegated to the unfashionable pile. Don't forget, however, that tables had a clear purpose from the beginning: to present tabular data.

In case you forgot all the tags not used for layouts, such as thead and colgroup, this Advanced Tables Tutorial has all the info you need to properly structure your data.

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]]> Design 2004-01-25T00:23:10-05:00 Accessibility Toolbar for Internet Explorer http://www.blooboo.com/blog/archives/000098.php The NILS Australia has released a beta version of their Accessibility Toolbar for Internet Explorer. It is free, licensed under the Creative Commons license. Not to leave other browsers out, there is the Web Developer Extension for Mozilla and Firebird.... 98@http://www.blooboo.com/blog/ The NILS Australia has released a beta version of their Accessibility Toolbar for Internet Explorer. It is free, licensed under the Creative Commons license.

Not to leave other browsers out, there is the Web Developer Extension for Mozilla and Firebird.

While relying on client-side scripting, there are always bookmarklets for Opera and cross-browser.

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]]> Accessibility 2004-01-16T20:16:10-05:00 Bring Print to the Web? http://www.blooboo.com/blog/archives/000097.php A common tip, sometimes handed down as admonishment, to web designers was to never think of translating print to the web. The web, the advice went, is platformless, and a design is not guaranteed to be the same across them.... 97@http://www.blooboo.com/blog/ A common tip, sometimes handed down as admonishment, to web designers was to never think of translating print to the web. The web, the advice went, is platformless, and a design is not guaranteed to be the same across them. Ignoring the advice, designers targetted specific browsers with pixel-perfect placement.

Now the age of separating content from design is here, where semantic structure is on equal footing with aesthetics. The International Herald Tribune's article layout system is a great inspiration towards creating a web that satisfies everyone. While it does use tables for layout, the article's semantic structure is nearly there. It requires client-side scripting for the familiar newspaper columnar article layout, but it would be possible to have a similar system degrade gracefully to the standard vertically-scrolling web layout.

The possibilities have been presented, and it's up to us to deliver them.

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]]> Design 2004-01-03T20:08:43-05:00 CSS selectors http://www.blooboo.com/blog/archives/000083.php Selectutorial - CSS selectors is the most comprehensive and lucid tutorial I've seen on the subject. Aside from describing the technical aspects, there is a section dealing with best practices, as well as examples. If you're new to CSS, definitely... 83@http://www.blooboo.com/blog/ Selectutorial - CSS selectors is the most comprehensive and lucid tutorial I've seen on the subject. Aside from describing the technical aspects, there is a section dealing with best practices, as well as examples. If you're new to CSS, definitely check this out.

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]]> CSS 2003-12-04T18:14:20-05:00 Billowing Text with CSS and Javascript http://www.blooboo.com/blog/archives/000081.php CSS Fisheye implements Ted Nelson's billowing text using CSS and Javascript. Nelson describes how it can be used to dynamically highlight text, much like OS X's icon zooming highlights an icon. The fisheye page doesn't say much in the way... 81@http://www.blooboo.com/blog/ CSS Fisheye implements Ted Nelson's billowing text using CSS and Javascript. Nelson describes how it can be used to dynamically highlight text, much like OS X's icon zooming highlights an icon. The fisheye page doesn't say much in the way of utility, but points to a Flash implementation of the fisheye for use as menus in constrained spaces.

I'm ambivalent on its usage in this manner. It presents all the choices in the space available, but most of the choices are unreadable, so all the choices are not truly simultaneously presented. The true main strength is avoiding scrolling, which would make it seem the usability has increased, but its nonlinear dynamic motion could be confusing to many users. For now, it seems it is limited to esoteric glitz.

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]]> CSS 2003-12-02T19:02:19-05:00 IE-specific CSS rules http://www.blooboo.com/blog/archives/000078.php The Underscore Hack relies on Internet Explorer (5 and up) ignoring underscores at the start of a property name. To illustrate, IE treats _position the same as position, enabling authors to write rules only it can understand. This is especially... 78@http://www.blooboo.com/blog/ The Underscore Hack relies on Internet Explorer (5 and up) ignoring underscores at the start of a property name. To illustrate, IE treats _position the same as position, enabling authors to write rules only it can understand. This is especially useful in certain cases where IE's CSS implementation is broken.

This method will prevent the CSS from validating as pure, although it is allowed under CSS 2.1's syntax and grammar as a vendor-specific extension.

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]]> CSS 2003-11-29T11:11:48-05:00 Create Favicons http://www.blooboo.com/blog/archives/000075.php favicon.ico (short for "Favorites Icon") is the graphical icon that is displayed on the URL bar and bookmarks list on some browsers, originating with Internet Explorer. It's a nice, unobtrusive way to impress branding outside the page area. This site... 75@http://www.blooboo.com/blog/ favicon.ico (short for "Favorites Icon") is the graphical icon that is displayed on the URL bar and bookmarks list on some browsers, originating with Internet Explorer. It's a nice, unobtrusive way to impress branding outside the page area. This site uses a site-wide yellow letter b.

This article describes how to create one on a Mac. For Windows, Linux, and others, the free png2ico utility can convert PNG files to the required format.

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]]> Design 2003-11-18T23:19:05-05:00 CSS3 Support Chart http://www.blooboo.com/blog/archives/000074.php Guide to CSS3 Selector Support is an excellent reference for figuring out which browsers support what. This can be used to implement advanced rules for browsers that support it without breaking older browsers.... 74@http://www.blooboo.com/blog/ Guide to CSS3 Selector Support is an excellent reference for figuring out which browsers support what. This can be used to implement advanced rules for browsers that support it without breaking older browsers.

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]]> CSS 2003-11-17T05:15:34-05:00 Visual Human Verfication Test Is Inaccessible http://www.blooboo.com/blog/archives/000069.php The W3C released a working draft yesterday concerning the Inaccessibility of Visually-Oriented Anti-Robot Tests. These tests are employed in a variety of situations, presenting a distorted image of a word in an effort to stop automated form registration used by... 69@http://www.blooboo.com/blog/ The W3C released a working draft yesterday concerning the Inaccessibility of Visually-Oriented Anti-Robot Tests. These tests are employed in a variety of situations, presenting a distorted image of a word in an effort to stop automated form registration used by spammers and service abusers. The problem is that these images make it impossible for people with poor vision to access the service. While Microsoft's Hotmail provides an audio alternative, it is still problematic for people without soundcards, the deaf-blind, and even hearing people.

There is currently no good solution at the registration stage. Calling the verifications "Turing" tests is a complete misnomer when they fail to verify real humans. I'd like to see everyone to be able to access a service, and abusers caught by behavioral heuristics. Preventative measures are nice, but in this case too many people are getting caught on the wrong side of the fence.

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]]> Accessibility 2003-11-06T21:56:40-05:00 Multiple Versions of IE Simultaneously http://www.blooboo.com/blog/archives/000070.php Joe Maddalone of Insert Title Web Designs has found a way to run different versions of Internet Explorer on the same installation of Windows (XP and 2000). No more rebooting to a second Windows installation, no more second computer, no... 70@http://www.blooboo.com/blog/ Joe Maddalone of Insert Title Web Designs has found a way to run different versions of Internet Explorer on the same installation of Windows (XP and 2000). No more rebooting to a second Windows installation, no more second computer, no more VMWare virtual machines; this is the time-saving measure web builders have wanted for so long.

I tried the method on IE 4.01 SP2 and was unable to get it to work. I've got it working with 5.01 SP2 and 5.5 SP2, both of which work great. I suspect the method only works on the 5.0 codebase and newer.

via Branchleft

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(Bobbo on Nov 10, 2003 12:47 PM) You can also download pre-packaged files from http://www.skyzyx.com/archives/000094.php

(jose on Nov 11, 2003 6:57 AM) Spectacular! IE 3.0 and 4.01 as well!

]]> Design 2003-11-06T18:13:25-05:00