{"rowid": 314, "title": "Easy Ajax with Prototype", "contents": "There\u2019s little more impressive on the web today than a appropriate touch of Ajax. Used well, Ajax brings a web interface much closer to the experience of a desktop app, and can turn a bear of an task into a pleasurable activity.\n\nBut it\u2019s really hard, right? It involves all the nasty JavaScript that no one ever does often enough to get really good at, and the browser support is patchy, and urgh it\u2019s just so much damn effort. Well, the good news is that \u2013 ta-da \u2013 it doesn\u2019t have to be a headache. But man does it still look impressive. Here\u2019s how to amaze your friends.\n\nIntroducing prototype.js\n\nPrototype is a JavaScript framework by Sam Stephenson designed to help make developing dynamic web apps a whole lot easier. In basic terms, it\u2019s a JavaScript file which you link into your page that then enables you to do cool stuff.\n\nThere\u2019s loads of capability built in, a portion of which covers our beloved Ajax. The whole thing is freely distributable under an MIT-style license, so it\u2019s good to go. What a nice man that Mr Stephenson is \u2013 friends, let us raise a hearty cup of mulled wine to his good name. Cheers! sluurrrrp.\n\nFirst step is to download the latest Prototype and put it somewhere safe. I suggest underneath the Christmas tree.\n\nCutting to the chase\n\nBefore I go on and set up an example of how to use this, let\u2019s just get to the crux. Here\u2019s how Prototype enables you to make a simple Ajax call and dump the results back to the page:\n\nvar url = 'myscript.php';\nvar pars = 'foo=bar';\nvar target = 'output-div';\t\nvar myAjax = new Ajax.Updater(target, url, {method: 'get', parameters: pars});\n\nThis snippet of JavaScript does a GET to myscript.php, with the parameter foo=bar, and when a result is returned, it places it inside the element with the ID output-div on your page.\n\nKnocking up a basic example\n\nSo to get this show on the road, there are three files we need to set up in our site alongside prototype.js. Obviously we need a basic HTML page with prototype.js linked in. This is the page the user interacts with. Secondly, we need our own JavaScript file for the glue between the interface and the stuff Prototype is doing. Lastly, we need the page (a PHP script in my case) that the Ajax is going to make its call too.\n\nSo, to that basic HTML page for the user to interact with. Here\u2019s one I found whilst out carol singing:\n\n\n\n\n \n Easy Ajax\n \n \n \n\n
\n
\n \n \n \n
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\n
\n\n\n\nAs you can see, I\u2019ve linked in prototype.js, and also a file called ajax.js, which is where we\u2019ll be putting our glue. (Careful where you leave your glue, kids.)\n\nOur basic example is just going to take a name and then echo it back in the form of a seasonal greeting. There\u2019s a form with an input field for a name, and crucially a DIV (greeting) for the result of our call. You\u2019ll also notice that the form has a submit button \u2013 this is so that it can function as a regular form when no JavaScript is available. It\u2019s important not to get carried away and forget the basics of accessibility.\n\nMeanwhile, back at the server\n\nSo we need a script at the server which is going to take input from the Ajax call and return some output. This is normally where you\u2019d hook into a database and do whatever transaction you need to before returning a result. To keep this as simple as possible, all this example here will do is take the name the user has given and add it to a greeting message. Not exactly Web 2-point-HoHoHo, but there you have it.\n\nHere\u2019s a quick PHP script \u2013 greeting.php \u2013 that Santa brought me early.\n\nSeason's Greetings, $the_name!

\";\n?>\n\nYou\u2019ll perhaps want to do something a little more complex within your own projects. Just sayin\u2019.\n\nGluing it all together\n\nInside our ajax.js file, we need to hook this all together. We\u2019re going to take advantage of some of the handy listener routines and such that Prototype also makes available. The first task is to attach a listener to set the scene once the window has loaded. He\u2019s how we attach an onload event to the window object and get it to call a function named init():\n\nEvent.observe(window, 'load', init, false);\n\nNow we create our init() function to do our evil bidding. Its first job of the day is to hide the submit button for those with JavaScript enabled. After that, it attaches a listener to watch for the user typing in the name field.\n\nfunction init(){\n $('greeting-submit').style.display = 'none';\n Event.observe('greeting-name', 'keyup', greet, false);\n}\n\nAs you can see, this is going to make a call to a function called greet() onkeyup in the greeting-name field. That function looks like this:\n\nfunction greet(){\n var url = 'greeting.php';\n var pars = 'greeting-name='+escape($F('greeting-name'));\n var target = 'greeting';\n var myAjax = new Ajax.Updater(target, url, {method: 'get', parameters: pars});\n}\n\nThe key points to note here are that any user input needs to be escaped before putting into the parameters so that it\u2019s URL-ready. The target is the ID of the element on the page (a DIV in our case) which will be the recipient of the output from the Ajax call.\n\nThat\u2019s it\n\nNo, seriously. That\u2019s everything. Try the example. Amaze your friends with your 1337 Ajax sk1llz.", "year": "2005", "author": "Drew McLellan", "author_slug": "drewmclellan", "published": "2005-12-01T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2005/easy-ajax-with-prototype/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 327, "title": "Improving Form Accessibility with DOM Scripting", "contents": "The form label element is an incredibly useful little element \u2013 it lets you link the form field unquestionably with the descriptive label text that sits alongside or above it. This is a very useful feature for people using screen readers, but there are some problems with this element.\n\nWhat happens if you have one piece of data that, for various reasons (validation, the way your data is collected/stored etc), needs to be collected using several form elements?\n\nThe classic example is date of birth \u2013 ideally, you\u2019ll ask for the date of birth once but you may have three inputs, one each for day, month and year, that you also need to provide hints about the format required. The problem is that to be truly accessible you need to label each field. So you end up needing something to say \u201cthis is a date of birth\u201d, \u201cthis is the day field\u201d, \u201cthis is the month field\u201d and \u201cthis is the day field\u201d. Seems like overkill, doesn\u2019t it? And it can uglify a form no end.\n\nThere are various ways that you can approach it (and I think I\u2019ve seen them all). Some people omit the label and rely on the title attribute to help the user through; others put text in a label but make the text 1 pixel high and merging in to the background so that screen readers can still get that information. The most common method, though, is simply to set the label to not display at all using the CSS display:none property/value pairing (a technique which, for the time being, seems to work on most screen readers). But perhaps we can do more with this?\n\nThe technique I am suggesting as another alternative is as follows (here comes the pseudo-code):\n\n\n\tStart with a totally valid and accessible form\n\tEnsure that each form input has a label that is linked to its related form control\n\tApply a class to any label that you don\u2019t want to be visible (for example superfluous)\n\n\nThen, through the magic of unobtrusive JavaScript/the DOM, manipulate the page as follows once the page has loaded:\n\n\n\tFind all the label elements that are marked as superfluous and hide them\n\tFind out what input element each of these label elements is related to\n\tThen apply a hint about formatting required for input (gleaned from the original, now-hidden label text) \u2013 add it to the form input as default text\n\tFinally, add in a behaviour that clears or selects the default text (as you choose)\n\n\nSo, here\u2019s the theory put into practice \u2013 a date of birth, grouped using a fieldset, and with the behaviours added in using DOM, and here\u2019s the JavaScript that does the heavy lifting. \n\nBut why not just use display:none? As demonstrated at Juicy Studio, display:none seems to work quite well for hiding label elements. So why use a sledge hammer to crack a nut? In all honesty, this is something of an experiment, but consider the following:\n\n\n\tUsing the DOM, you can add extra levels of help, potentially across a whole form \u2013 or even range of forms \u2013 without necessarily increasing your markup (it goes beyond simply hiding labels)\n\tScreen readers today may identify a label that is set not to display, but they may not in the future \u2013 this might provide a way around\n\tBy expanding this technique above, it might be possible to visually change the parent container that groups these items \u2013 in this case, a fieldset and legend, which are notoriously difficult to style consistently across different browsers \u2013 while still retaining the underlying semantic/logical structure\n\n\nWell, it\u2019s an idea to think about at least. How is it for you? How else might you use DOM scripting to improve the accessiblity or usability of your forms?", "year": "2005", "author": "Ian Lloyd", "author_slug": "ianlloyd", "published": "2005-12-03T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2005/improving-form-accessibility-with-dom-scripting/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 332, "title": "CSS Layout Starting Points", "contents": "I build a lot of CSS layouts, some incredibly simple, others that cause sleepless nights and remind me of the torturous puzzle books that were given to me at Christmas by aunties concerned for my education. However, most of the time these layouts fit quite comfortably into one of a very few standard formats. For example:\n\n\n\tLiquid, multiple column with no footer\n\tLiquid, multiple column with footer\n\tFixed width, centred\n\n\nRather than starting out with blank CSS and (X)HTML documents every time you need to build a layout, you can fairly quickly create a bunch of layout starting points, that will give you a solid basis for creating the rest of the design and mean that you don\u2019t have to remember how a three column layout with a footer is best achieved every time you come across one! \n\nThese starting points can be really basic, in fact that\u2019s exactly what you want as the final design, the fonts, the colours and so on will be different every time. It\u2019s just the main sections we want to be able to quickly get into place. For example, here is a basic starting point CSS and XHTML document for a fixed width, centred layout with a footer.\n\n \n\n\n Fixed Width and Centred starting point document\n \n \n\n\n
\n
\n
\n

Sidebar content here

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

Your main content goes here.

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

Ho Ho Ho!

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\n\n\n\n body {\n text-align: center;\n min-width: 740px;\n padding: 0;\n margin: 0;\n }\n\n #wrapper {\n text-align: left;\n width: 740px;\n margin-left: auto;\n margin-right: auto;\n padding: 0;\n }\n\n #content {\n margin: 0 200px 0 0;\n }\n\n #content .inner {\n padding-top: 1px;\n margin: 0 10px 10px 10px;\n }\n\n #side {\n float: right;\n width: 180px;\n margin: 0;\n }\n\n #side .inner {\n padding-top: 1px;\n margin: 0 10px 10px 10px;\n }\n\n #footer {\n margin-top: 10px;\n clear: both;\n }\n\n #footer .inner {\n margin: 10px;\n }\n\n9 times out of 10, after figuring out exactly what main elements I have in a layout, I can quickly grab the \u2018one I prepared earlier\u2019, mark-up the relevant sections within the ready-made divs, and from that point on, I only need to worry about the contents of those different areas. The actual layout is tried and tested, one that I know works well in different browsers and that is unlikely to throw me any nasty surprises later on. In addition, considering how the layout is going to work first prevents the problem of developing a layout, then realising you need to put a footer on it, and needing to redevelop the layout as the method you have chosen won\u2019t work well with a footer.\n\nWhile enjoying your mince pies and mulled wine during the \u2018quiet time\u2019 between Christmas and New Year, why not create some starting point layouts of your own? The css-discuss Wiki, CSS layouts section is a great place to find examples that you can try out and find your favourite method of creating the various layout types.", "year": "2005", "author": "Rachel Andrew", "author_slug": "rachelandrew", "published": "2005-12-04T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2005/css-layout-starting-points/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 320, "title": "DOM Scripting Your Way to Better Blockquotes", "contents": "Block quotes are great. I don\u2019t mean they\u2019re great for indenting content \u2013 that would be an abuse of the browser\u2019s default styling. I mean they\u2019re great for semantically marking up a chunk of text that is being quoted verbatim. They\u2019re especially useful in blog posts. \n\n
\n

Progressive Enhancement, as a label for a strategy for Web design, \n was coined by Steven Champeon in a series of articles and presentations \n for Webmonkey and the SxSW Interactive conference.

\n
\n\nNotice that you can\u2019t just put the quoted text directly between the
tags. In order for your markup to be valid, block quotes may only contain block-level elements such as paragraphs.\n\nThere is an optional cite attribute that you can place in the opening
tag. This should contain a URL containing the original text you are quoting:\n\n
\n

Progressive Enhancement, as a label for a strategy for Web design, \n was coined by Steven Champeon in a series of articles and presentations \n for Webmonkey and the SxSW Interactive conference.

\n
\n\nGreat! Except\u2026 the default behavior in most browsers is to completely ignore the cite attribute. Even though it contains important and useful information, the URL in the cite attribute is hidden.\n\nYou could simply duplicate the information with a hyperlink at the end of the quoted text:\n\n
\n

Progressive Enhancement, as a label for a strategy for Web design, \n was coined by Steven Champeon in a series of articles and presentations \n for Webmonkey and the SxSW Interactive conference.

\n

\n source\n

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\n\nBut somehow it feels wrong to have to write out the same URL twice every time you want to quote something. It could also get very tedious if you have a lot of quotes.\n\nWell, \u201ctedious\u201d is no problem to a programming language, so why not use a sprinkling of DOM Scripting? Here\u2019s a plan for generating an attribution link for every block quote with a cite attribute:\n\n\n\tWrite a function called prepareBlockquotes.\n\tBegin by making sure the browser understands the methods you will be using.\n\tGet all the blockquote elements in the document.\n\tStart looping through each one.\n\tGet the value of the cite attribute.\n\tIf the value is empty, continue on to the next iteration of the loop.\n\tCreate a paragraph.\n\tCreate a link.\n\tGive the paragraph a class of \u201cattribution\u201d.\n\tGive the link an href attribute with the value from the cite attribute.\n\tPlace the text \u201csource\u201d inside the link.\n\tPlace the link inside the paragraph.\n\tPlace the paragraph inside the block quote.\n\tClose the for loop.\n\tClose the function.\n\n\nHere\u2019s how that translates to JavaScript:\n\nfunction prepareBlockquotes() {\n if (!document.getElementsByTagName || !document.createElement || !document.appendChild) return;\n var quotes = document.getElementsByTagName(\"blockquote\");\n for (var i=0; i tags.\n\nYou can style the attribution link using CSS. It might look good aligned to the right with a smaller font size.\n\nIf you\u2019re looking for something to do to keep you busy this Christmas, I\u2019m sure that this function could be greatly improved. Here are a few ideas to get you started:\n\n\n\tShould the text inside the generated link be the URL itself?\n\tIf the block quote has a title attribute, how would you take its value and use it as the text inside the generated link?\n\tShould the attribution paragraph be placed outside the block quote? If so, how would you that (remember, there is an insertBefore method but no insertAfter)?\n\tCan you think of other instances of useful information that\u2019s locked away inside attributes? Access keys? Abbreviations?", "year": "2005", "author": "Jeremy Keith", "author_slug": "jeremykeith", "published": "2005-12-05T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2005/dom-scripting-your-way-to-better-blockquotes/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 336, "title": "Practical Microformats with hCard", "contents": "You\u2019ve probably heard about microformats over the last few months. You may have even read the easily digestible introduction at Digital Web Magazine, but perhaps you\u2019ve not found time to actually implement much yet. That\u2019s understandable, as it can sometimes be difficult to see exactly what you\u2019re adding by applying a microformat to a page. Sure, you\u2019re semantically enhancing the information you\u2019re marking up, and the Semantic Web is a great idea and all, but what benefit is it right now, today? \n\nWell, the answer to that question is simple: you\u2019re adding lots of information that can be and is being used on the web here and now. The big ongoing battle amongst the big web companies if one of territory over information. Everyone\u2019s grasping for as much data as possible. Some of that information many of us are cautious to give away, but a lot of is happy to be freely available. Of the data you\u2019re giving away, it makes sense to give it as much meaning as possible, thus enabling anyone from your friends and family to the giant search company down the road to make the most of it.\n\nOk, enough of the waffle, let\u2019s get working.\n\nIntroducing hCard\n\nYou may have come across hCard. It\u2019s a microformat for describing contact information (or really address book information) from within your HTML. It\u2019s based on the vCard format, which is the format the contacts/address book program on your computer uses. All the usual fields are available \u2013 name, address, town, website, email, you name it.\n\nIf you\u2019re running Firefox and Greasemonkey (or if you can, just to try this out), install this user script. What it does is look for instances of the hCard microformat in a page, and then add in a link to pass any hCards it finds to a web service which will convert it to a vCard. Take a look at the About the author box at the bottom of this article. It\u2019s a hCard, so you should be able to click the icon the user script inserts and add me to your Outlook contacts or OS X Address Book with just a click.\n\nSo microformats are useful after all. Free microformats all round!\n\nImplementing hCard\n\nThis is the really easy bit. All the hCard microformat is, is a bunch of predefined class names that you apply to the markup you\u2019ve probably already got around your contact information. Let\u2019s take the example of the About the author box from this article. Here\u2019s how the markup looks without hCard:\n\n
\n

About the author

\n

Drew McLellan is a web developer, author and no-good swindler from \n just outside London, England. At the \n Web Standards Project he works \n on press, strategy and tools. Drew keeps a \n personal weblog covering web \n development issues and themes.

\n
\n\nThis is a really simple example because there\u2019s only two key bits of address book information here:- my name and my website address. Let\u2019s push it a little and say that the Web Standards Project is the organisation I work for \u2013 that gives us Name, Company and URL.\n\nTo kick off an hCard, you need a containing object with a class of vcard. The div I already have with a class of bio is perfect for this \u2013 all it needs to do is contain the rest of the contact information.\n\nThe next thing to identify is my name. hCard uses a class of fn (meaning Full Name) to identify a name. As is this case there\u2019s no element surrounding my name, we can just use a span. These changes give us:\n\n
\n

About the author

\n

Drew McLellan is a web developer...\n\nThe two remaining items are my URL and the organisation I belong to. The class names designated for those are url and org respectively. As both of those items are links in this case, I can apply the classes to those links. So here\u2019s the finished hCard.\n\n

\n

About the author

\n

Drew McLellan is a web developer, author and \n no-good swindler from just outside London, England. \n At the Web Standards Project \n he works on press, strategy and tools. Drew keeps a \n personal weblog covering web \n development issues and themes.

\n
\n\nOK, that was easy. By just applying a few easy class names to the HTML I was already publishing, I\u2019ve implemented an hCard that right now anyone with Greasemonkey can click to add to their address book, that Google and Yahoo! and whoever else can index and work out important things like which websites are associated with my name if they so choose (and boy, will they so choose), and in the future who knows what. In terms of effort, practically nil.\n\nWhere next?\n\nSo that was a trivial example, but to be honest it doesn\u2019t really get much more complex even with the most pernickety permutations. Because hCard is based on vCard (a mature and well thought-out standard), it\u2019s all tried and tested. Here\u2019s some good next steps.\n\n\n\tPlay with the hCard Creator\n\tTake a deep breath and read the spec\n\tStart implementing hCard as you go on your own projects \u2013 it takes very little time\n\n\nhCard is just one of an ever-increasing number of microformats. If this tickled your fancy, I suggest subscribing to the microformats site in your RSS reader to keep in touch with new developments.\n\nWhat\u2019s the take-away?\n\nThe take-away is this. They may sound like just more Web 2-point-HoHoHo hype, but microformats are a well thought-out, and easy to implement way of adding greater depth to the information you publish online. They have some nice benefits right away \u2013 certainly at geek-level \u2013 but in the longer term they become much more significant. We\u2019ve been at this long enough to know that the web has a long, long memory and that what you publish today will likely be around for years. But putting the extra depth of meaning into your documents now you can help guard that they\u2019ll continue to be useful in the future, and not just a bunch of flat ASCII.", "year": "2005", "author": "Drew McLellan", "author_slug": "drewmclellan", "published": "2005-12-06T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2005/practical-microformats-with-hcard/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 326, "title": "Don't be eval()", "contents": "JavaScript is an interpreted language, and like so many of its peers it includes the all powerful eval() function. eval() takes a string and executes it as if it were regular JavaScript code. It\u2019s incredibly powerful and incredibly easy to abuse in ways that make your code slower and harder to maintain. As a general rule, if you\u2019re using eval() there\u2019s probably something wrong with your design.\n\nCommon mistakes\n\nHere\u2019s the classic misuse of eval(). You have a JavaScript object, foo, and you want to access a property on it \u2013 but you don\u2019t know the name of the property until runtime. Here\u2019s how NOT to do it:\n\nvar property = 'bar';\nvar value = eval('foo.' + property);\n\nYes it will work, but every time that piece of code runs JavaScript will have to kick back in to interpreter mode, slowing down your app. It\u2019s also dirt ugly.\n\nHere\u2019s the right way of doing the above:\n\nvar property = 'bar';\nvar value = foo[property];\n\nIn JavaScript, square brackets act as an alternative to lookups using a dot. The only difference is that square bracket syntax expects a string.\n\nSecurity issues\n\nIn any programming language you should be extremely cautious of executing code from an untrusted source. The same is true for JavaScript \u2013 you should be extremely cautious of running eval() against any code that may have been tampered with \u2013 for example, strings taken from the page query string. Executing untrusted code can leave you vulnerable to cross-site scripting attacks.\n\nWhat\u2019s it good for?\n\nSome programmers say that eval() is B.A.D. \u2013 Broken As Designed \u2013 and should be removed from the language. However, there are some places in which it can dramatically simplify your code. A great example is for use with XMLHttpRequest, a component of the set of tools more popularly known as Ajax. XMLHttpRequest lets you make a call back to the server from JavaScript without refreshing the whole page. A simple way of using this is to have the server return JavaScript code which is then passed to eval(). Here is a simple function for doing exactly that \u2013 it takes the URL to some JavaScript code (or a server-side script that produces JavaScript) and loads and executes that code using XMLHttpRequest and eval().\n\nfunction evalRequest(url) {\n var xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();\n xmlhttp.onreadystatechange = function() {\n if (xmlhttp.readyState==4 && xmlhttp.status==200) {\n eval(xmlhttp.responseText);\n }\n }\n xmlhttp.open(\"GET\", url, true);\n xmlhttp.send(null);\n }\n\nIf you want this to work with Internet Explorer you\u2019ll need to include this compatibility patch.", "year": "2005", "author": "Simon Willison", "author_slug": "simonwillison", "published": "2005-12-07T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2005/dont-be-eval/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 313, "title": "Centered Tabs with CSS", "contents": "Doug Bowman\u2019s Sliding Doors is pretty much the de facto way to build tabbed navigation with CSS, and rightfully so \u2013 it is, as they say, rockin\u2019 like Dokken. But since it relies heavily on floats for the positioning of its tabs, we\u2019re constrained to either left- or right-hand navigation. But what if we need a bit more flexibility? What if we need to place our navigation in the center?\n\nStyling the li as a floated block does give us a great deal of control over margin, padding, and other presentational styles. However, we should learn to love the inline box \u2013 with it, we can create a flexible, centered alternative to floated navigation lists.\n\nHumble Beginnings\n\nDo an extra shot of \u2018nog, because you know what\u2019s coming next. That\u2019s right, a simple unordered list:\n\n\n\nIf we were wedded to using floats to style our list, we could easily fix the width of our ul, and trick it out with some margin: 0 auto; love to center it accordingly. But this wouldn\u2019t net us much flexibility: if we ever changed the number of navigation items, or if the user increased her browser\u2019s font size, our design could easily break.\n\nInstead of worrying about floats, let\u2019s take the most basic approach possible: let\u2019s turn our list items into inline elements, and simply use text-align to center them within the ul:\n\n#navigation ul, #navigation ul li {\n list-style: none;\n margin: 0;\n padding: 0;\n}\n\n#navigation ul {\n text-align: center;\n}\n\n#navigation ul li {\n display: inline;\n margin-right: .75em;\n}\n\n#navigation ul li.last {\n margin-right: 0;\n}\n\nOur first step is sexy, no? Well, okay, not really \u2013 but it gives us a good starting point. We\u2019ve tamed our list by removing its default styles, set the list items to display: inline, and centered the lot. Adding a background color to the links shows us exactly how the different elements are positioned.\n\nNow the fun stuff.\n\nInline Elements, Padding, and You\n\nSo how do we give our links some dimensions? Well, as the CSS specification tells us, the height property isn\u2019t an option for inline elements such as our anchors. However, what if we add some padding to them?\n\n#navigation li a {\n padding: 5px 1em;\n}\n\nI just love leading questions. Things are looking good, but something\u2019s amiss: as you can see, the padded anchors seem to be escaping their containing list.\n\nThankfully, it\u2019s easy to get things back in line. Our anchors have 5 pixels of padding on their top and bottom edges, right? Well, by applying the same vertical padding to the list, our list will finally \u201ccontain\u201d its child elements once again.\n\n\u2019Tis the Season for Tabbing\n\nNow, we\u2019re finally able to follow the \u201cSliding Doors\u201d model, and tack on some graphics:\n\n#navigation ul li a {\n background: url(\"tab-right.gif\") no-repeat 100% 0;\n color: #06C;\n padding: 5px 0;\n text-decoration: none;\n}\n\n#navigation ul li a span {\n background: url(\"tab-left.gif\") no-repeat;\n padding: 5px 1em;\n}\n\n#navigation ul li a:hover span {\n color: #69C;\n text-decoration: underline;\n}\n\nFinally, our navigation\u2019s looking appropriately sexy. By placing an equal amount of padding on the top and bottom of the ul, our tabs are properly \u201ccontained\u201d, and we can subsequently style the links within them.\n\n\n\nBut what if we want them to bleed over the bottom-most border? Easy: we can simply decrease the bottom padding on the list by one pixel, like so.\n\nA Special Note for Special Browsers\n\nThe Mac IE5 users in the audience are likely hopping up and down by now: as they\u2019ve discovered, our centered navigation behaves rather annoyingly in their browser. As Philippe Wittenbergh has reported, Mac IE5 is known to create \u201cphantom links\u201d in a block-level element when text-align is set to any value but the default value of left. Thankfully, Philippe has documented a workaround that gets that [censored] venerable browser to behave. Simply place the following code into your CSS, and the links will be restored to their appropriate width:\n\n/**//*/\n#navigation ul li a {\n display: inline-block;\n white-space: nowrap;\n width: 1px;\n}\n/**/\n\nIE for Windows, however, displays an extra kind of crazy. The padding I\u2019ve placed on my anchors is offsetting the spans that contain the left curve of my tabs; thankfully, these shenanigans are easily straightened out:\n\n/**/\n* html #navigation ul li a {\n padding: 0;\n}\n/**/\n\nAnd with that, we\u2019re finally finished.\n\nAll set.\n\nAnd that\u2019s it. With your centered navigation in hand, you can finally enjoy those holiday toddies and uncomfortable conversations with your skeevy Uncle Eustace.", "year": "2005", "author": "Ethan Marcotte", "author_slug": "ethanmarcotte", "published": "2005-12-08T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2005/centered-tabs-with-css/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 318, "title": "Auto-Selecting Navigation", "contents": "In the article Centered Tabs with CSS Ethan laid out a tabbed navigation system which can be centred on the page. A frequent requirement for any tab-based navigation is to be able to visually represent the currently selected tab in some way.\n\nIf you\u2019re using a server-side language such as PHP, it\u2019s quite easy to write something like class=\"selected\" into your markup, but it can be even simpler than that.\n\nLet\u2019s take the navigation div from Ethan\u2019s article as an example.\n\n
\n \n
\n\nAs you can see we have a standard unordered list which is then styled with CSS to look like tabs. By giving each tab a class which describes it\u2019s logical section of the site, if we were to then apply a class to the body tag of each page showing the same, we could write a clever CSS selector to highlight the correct tab on any given page. \n\nSound complicated? Well, it\u2019s not a trivial concept, but actually applying it is dead simple.\n\nModifying the markup\n\nFirst thing is to place a class name on each li in the list:\n\n
\n \n
\n\nThen, on each page of your site, apply the a matching class to the body tag to indicate which section of the site that page is in. For example, on your About page:\n\n...\n\nWriting the CSS selector\n\nYou can now write a single CSS rule to match the selected tab on any given page. The logic is that you want to match the \u2018about\u2019 tab on the \u2018about\u2019 page and the \u2018products\u2019 tab on the \u2018products\u2019 page, so the selector looks like this:\n\nbody.home #navigation li.home,\n body.about #navigation li.about,\n body.work #navigation li.work,\n body.products #navigation li.products,\n body.contact #navigation li.contact{\n ... whatever styles you need to show the tab selected ...\n } \n\nSo all you need to do when you create a new page in your site is to apply a class to the body tag to say which section it\u2019s in. The CSS will do the rest for you \u2013 without any server-side help.", "year": "2005", "author": "Drew McLellan", "author_slug": "drewmclellan", "published": "2005-12-10T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2005/auto-selecting-navigation/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 333, "title": "The Attribute Selector for Fun and (no ad) Profit", "contents": "If I had a favourite CSS selector, it would undoubtedly be the attribute selector (Ed: You really need to get out more). For those of you not familiar with the attribute selector, it allows you to style an element based on the existence, value or partial value of a specific attribute.\n\nAt it\u2019s very basic level you could use this selector to style an element with particular attribute, such as a title attribute.\n\nCSS\n\nIn this example I\u2019m going to make all elements with a title attribute grey. I am also going to give them a dotted bottom border that changes to a solid border on hover. Finally, for that extra bit of feedback, I will change the cursor to a question mark on hover as well. \n\nabbr[title] {\n color: #666;\n border-bottom: 1px dotted #666;\n }\n\n abbr[title]:hover {\n border-bottom-style: solid;\n cursor: help;\n }\n\nThis provides a nice way to show your site users that elements with title tags are special, as they contain extra, hidden information.\n\nMost modern browsers such as Firefox, Safari and Opera support the attribute selector. Unfortunately Internet Explorer 6 and below does not support the attribute selector, but that shouldn\u2019t stop you from adding nice usability embellishments to more modern browsers.\n\nInternet Explorer 7 looks set to implement this CSS2.1 selector, so expect to see it become more common over the next few years.\n\nStyling an element based on the existence of an attribute is all well and good, but it is still pretty limited. Where attribute selectors come into their own is their ability to target the value of an attribute. You can use this for a variety of interesting effects such as styling VoteLinks.\n\nVoteWhats?\n\nIf you haven\u2019t heard of VoteLinks, it is a microformat that allows people to show their approval or disapproval of a links destination by adding a pre-defined keyword to the rev attribute.\n\nFor instance, if you had a particularly bad meal at a restaurant, you could signify your dissaproval by adding a rev attribute with a value of vote-against.\n\nMomma Cherri's\n\nYou could then highlight these links by adding an image to the right of these links.\n\na[rev=\"vote-against\"]{\n padding-right: 20px;\n background: url(images/vote-against.png) no-repeat right top;\n}\n\nThis is a useful technique, but it will only highlight VoteLinks on sites you control. This is where user stylesheets come into effect. If you create a user stylesheet containing this rule, every site you visit that uses VoteLinks will receive your new style.\n\nCool huh?\n\nHowever my absolute favourite use for attribute selectors is as a lightweight form of ad blocking. Most online adverts conform to industry-defined sizes. So if you wanted to block all banner-ad sized images, you could simply add this line of code to your user stylesheet.\n\nimg[width=\"468\"][height=\"60\"],\nimg[width=\"468px\"][height=\"60px\"] {\n display: none !important;\n}\n\nTo hide any banner-ad sized element, such as flash movies, applets or iFrames, simply apply the above rule to every element using the universal selector.\n\n*[width=\"468\"][height=\"60\"], *[width=\"468px\"][height=\"60px\"] {\n display: none !important;\n}\n\nJust bare in mind when using this technique that you may accidentally hide something that isn\u2019t actually an advert; it just happens to be the same size.\n\nThe Interactive Advertising Bureau lists a number of common ad sizes. Using these dimensions, you can create stylesheet that blocks all the popular ad formats. Apply this as a user stylesheet and you never need to suffer another advert again.\n\nHere\u2019s wishing you a Merry, ad-free Christmas.", "year": "2005", "author": "Andy Budd", "author_slug": "andybudd", "published": "2005-12-11T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2005/the-attribute-selector-for-fun-and-no-ad-profit/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 322, "title": "Introduction to Scriptaculous Effects", "contents": "Gather around kids, because this year, much like in that James Bond movie with Denise Richards, Christmas is coming early\u2026 in the shape of scrumptuous smooth javascript driven effects at your every whim.\n\nNow what I\u2019m going to do, is take things down a notch. Which is to say, you don\u2019t need to know much beyond how to open a text file and edit it to follow this article. Personally, I for instance can\u2019t code to save my life.\n\nWell, strictly speaking, that\u2019s not entirely true. If my life was on the line, and the code needed was really simple and I wasn\u2019t under any time constraints, then yeah maybe I could hack my way out of it\n\nBut my point is this: I\u2019m not a programmer in the traditional sense of the word. In fact, what I do best, is scrounge code off of other people, take it apart and then put it back together with duct tape, chewing gum and dumb blind luck.\n\nNo, don\u2019t run! That happens to be a good thing in this case. You see, we\u2019re going to be implementing some really snazzy effects (which are considerably more relevant than most people are willing to admit) on your site, and we\u2019re going to do it with the aid of Thomas Fuchs\u2019 amazing Script.aculo.us library. And it will be like stealing candy from a child.\n\nWhat Are We Doing?\n\nI\u2019m going to show you the very basics of implementing the Script.aculo.us javascript library\u2019s Combination Effects. These allow you to fade elements on your site in or out, slide them up and down and so on.\n\nWhy Use Effects at All?\n\nBefore get started though, let me just take a moment to explain how I came to see smooth transitions as something more than smoke and mirror-like effects included for with little more motive than to dazzle and make parents go \u2018uuh, snazzy\u2019.\n\nEarlier this year, I had the good fortune of meeting the kind, gentle and quite knowledgable Matt Webb at a conference here in Copenhagen where we were both speaking (though I will be the first to admit my little talk on Open Source Design was vastly inferior to Matt\u2019s talk). Matt held a talk called Fixing Broken Windows (based on the Broken Windows theory), which really made an impression on me, and which I have since then referred back to several times.\n\nYou can listen to it yourself, as it\u2019s available from Archive.org. Though since Matt\u2019s session uses many visual examples, you\u2019ll have to rely on your imagination for some of the examples he runs through during it. Also, I think it looses audio for a few seconds every once in a while.\n\nAnyway, one of the things Matt talked a lot about, was how our eyes are wired to react to movement. The world doesn\u2019t flickr. It doesn\u2019t disappear or suddenly change and force us to look for the change. Things move smoothly in the real world. They do not pop up.\n\nHow it Works\n\nOnce the necessary files have been included, you trigger an effect by pointing it at the ID of an element. Simple as that.\n\nImplementing the Effects\n\nSo now you know why I believe these effects have a place in your site, and that\u2019s half the battle. Because you see, actually getting these effects up and running, is deceptively simple.\n\nFirst, go and download the latest version of the library (as of this writing, it\u2019s version 1.5 rc5). Unzip itand open it up.\n\nNow we\u2019re going to bypass the instructions in the readme file. Script.aculo.us can do a bunch of quite advanced things, but all we really want from it is its effects. And by sidestepping the rest of the features, we can shave off roughly 80KB of unnecessary javascript, which is well worth it if you ask me.\n\nAs with Drew\u2019s article on Easy Ajax with Prototype, script.aculo.us also uses the Prototype framework by Sam Stephenson. But contrary to Drew\u2019s article, you don\u2019t have to download Prototype, as a version comes bundled with script.aculo.us (though feel free to upgrade to the latest version if you so please).\n\nSo in the unzipped folder, containing the script.aculo.us files and folder, go into \u2018lib\u2019 and grab the \u2018prototype.js\u2019 file. Move it to whereever you want to store the javascript files. Then fetch the \u2018effects.js\u2019 file from the \u2018src\u2019 folder and put it in the same place.\n\nTo make things even easier for you to get this up and running, I have prepared a small javascript snippet which does some checking to see what you\u2019re trying to do. The script.aculo.us effects are all either \u2018turn this off\u2019 or \u2018turn this on\u2019. What this snippet does, is check to see what state the target currently has (is it on or off?) and then use the necessary effect.\n\nYou can either skip to the end and download the example code, or copy and paste this code into a file manually (I\u2019ll refer to that file as combo.js):\n\nEffect.OpenUp = function(element) {\n element = $(element);\n new Effect.BlindDown(element, arguments[1] || {});\n }\n\n Effect.CloseDown = function(element) {\n element = $(element);\n new Effect.BlindUp(element, arguments[1] || {});\n }\n\n Effect.Combo = function(element) {\n element = $(element);\n if(element.style.display == 'none') { \n new Effect.OpenUp(element, arguments[1] || {}); \n }else { \n new Effect.CloseDown(element, arguments[1] || {}); \n }\n }\n\nCurrently, this code uses the BlindUp and BlindDown code, which I personally like, but there\u2019s nothing wrong with you changing the effect-type into one of the other effects available.\n\nNow, include the three files in the header of your code, like so:\n\n\n\n\n\nNow insert the element you want to use the effect on, like so:\n\n
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.
\n\nThe above element will start out invisible, and when triggered will be revealed. If you want it to start visible, simply remove the style parameter.\n\nAnd now for the trigger \n\nClick Here\n\nAnd that, is pretty much it. Clicking the link should unfold the DIV targeted by the effect, in this case \u2018content\u2019.\n\nEffect Options\n\nNow, it gets a bit long-haired though. The documentation for script.aculo.us is next to non-existing, and because of that you\u2019ll have to do some digging yourself to appreciate the full potentialof these effects.\n\nFirst of all, what kind of effects are available? Well you can go to the demo page and check them out, or you can open the \u2018effects.js\u2019 file and have a look around, something I recommend doing regardlessly, to gain an overview of what exactly you\u2019re dealing with.\n\nIf you dissect it for long enough, you can even distill some of the options available for the various effects. In the case of the BlindUp and BlindDown effect, which we\u2019re using in our example (as triggered from combo.js), one of the things that would be interesting to play with would be the duration of the effect. If it\u2019s too long, it will feel slow and unresponsive. Too fast and it will be imperceptible.\n\nYou set the options like so:\n\nClick Here\n\nThe change from the previous link being the inclusion of , {duration: .2}. In this case, I have lowered the duration to 0.2 second, to really make it feel snappy.\n\nYou can also go all-out and turn on all the bells and whistles of the Blind effect like so (slowed down to a duration of three seconds so you can see what\u2019s going on):\n\nClick Here\n\nConclusion\n\nAnd that\u2019s pretty much it. The rest is a matter of getting to know the rest of the effects and their options as well as finding out just when and where to use them. Remember the ancient Chinese saying: Less is more.\n\nDownload Example\n\nI have prepared a very basic example, which you can download and use as a reference point.", "year": "2005", "author": "Michael Heilemann", "author_slug": "michaelheilemann", "published": "2005-12-12T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2005/introduction-to-scriptaculous-effects/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 334, "title": "Transitional vs. Strict Markup", "contents": "When promoting web standards, standardistas often talk about XHTML as being more strict than HTML. In a sense it is, since it requires that all elements are properly closed and that attribute values are quoted. But there are two flavours of XHTML 1.0 (three if you count the Frameset DOCTYPE, which is outside the scope of this article), defined by the Transitional and Strict DOCTYPEs. And HTML 4.01 also comes in those flavours.\n\nThe names reveal what they are about: Transitional DOCTYPEs are meant for those making the transition from older markup to modern ways. Strict DOCTYPEs are actually the default \u2013 the way HTML 4.01 and XHTML 1.0 were constructed to be used.\n\nA Transitional DOCTYPE may be used when you have a lot of legacy markup that cannot easily be converted to comply with a Strict DOCTYPE. But Strict is what you should be aiming for. It encourages, and in some cases enforces, the separation of structure and presentation, moving the presentational aspects from markup to CSS. From the HTML 4 Document Type Definition:\n\n\n\tThis is HTML 4.01 Strict DTD, which excludes the presentation attributes and elements that W3C expects to phase out as support for style sheets matures. Authors should use the Strict DTD when possible, but may use the Transitional DTD when support for presentation attribute and elements is required.\n\n\nAn additional benefit of using a Strict DOCTYPE is that doing so will ensure that browsers use their strictest, most standards compliant rendering modes.\n\nTommy Olsson provides a good summary of the benefits of using Strict over Transitional in Ten questions for Tommy Olsson at Web Standards Group:\n\n\n\tIn my opinion, using a Strict DTD, either HTML 4.01 Strict or XHTML 1.0 Strict, is far more important for the quality of the future web than whether or not there is an X in front of the name. The Strict DTD promotes a separation of structure and presentation, which makes a site so much easier to maintain.\n\n\nFor those looking to start using web standards and valid, semantic markup, it is important to understand the difference between Transitional and Strict DOCTYPEs. For complete listings of the differences between Transitional and Strict DOCTYPEs, see XHTML: Differences between Strict & Transitional, Comparison of Strict and Transitional XHTML, and XHTML1.0 Element Attributes by DTD.\n\nSome of the differences are more likely than others to cause problems for developers moving from a Transitional DOCTYPE to a Strict one, and I\u2019d like to mention a few of those.\n\nElements that are not allowed in Strict DOCTYPEs\n\n\n\tcenter\n\tfont\n\tiframe\n\tstrike\n\tu\n\n\nAttributes not allowed in Strict DOCTYPEs\n\n\n\talign (allowed on elements related to tables: col, colgroup, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, and tr)\n\tlanguage\n\tbackground\n\tbgcolor\n\tborder (allowed on table)\n\theight (allowed on img and object)\n\thspace\n\tname (allowed in HTML 4.01 Strict, not allowed on form and img in XHTML 1.0 Strict)\n\tnoshade\n\tnowrap\n\ttarget\n\ttext, link, vlink, and alink\n\tvspace\n\twidth (allowed on img, object, table, col, and colgroup)\n\n\nContent model differences\n\nAn element type\u2019s content model describes what may be contained by an instance of the element type. The most important difference in content models between Transitional and Strict is that blockquote, body, and form elements may only contain block level elements. A few examples:\n\n\n\ttext and images are not allowed immediately inside the body element, and need to be contained in a block level element like p or div\n\tinput elements must not be direct descendants of a form element\n\ttext in blockquote elements must be wrapped in a block level element like p or div\n\n\nGo Strict and move all presentation to CSS\n\nSomething that can be helpful when doing the transition from Transitional to Strict DOCTYPEs is to focus on what each element of the page you are working on is instead of how you want it to look.\n\nWorry about looks later and get the structure and semantics right first.", "year": "2005", "author": "Roger Johansson", "author_slug": "rogerjohansson", "published": "2005-12-13T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2005/transitional-vs-strict-markup/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 331, "title": "Splintered Striper", "contents": "Back in March 2004, David F. Miller demonstrated a little bit of DOM scripting magic in his A List Apart article Zebra Tables.\n\nHis script programmatically adds two alternating CSS background colours to table rows, making them more readable and visually pleasing, while saving the document author the tedious task of manually assigning the styling to large static data tables.\n\nAlthough David\u2019s original script performs its duty well, it is nonetheless very specific and limited in its application. It only:\n\n\n\tworks on a single table, identified by its id, with at least a single tbody section\n\tassigns a background colour\n\tallows two colours for odd and even rows\n\tacts on data cells, rather than rows, and then only if they have no class or background colour already defined\n\n\nTaking it further\n\nIn a recent project I found myself needing to apply a striped effect to a medium sized unordered list. Instead of simply modifying the Zebra Tables code for this particular case, I decided to completely recode the script to make it more generic.\n\nBeing more general purpose, the function in my splintered striper experiment is necessarily more complex. Where the original script only expected a single parameter (the id of the target table), the new function is called as follows:\n\nstriper('[parent element tag]','[parent element class or null]','[child element tag]','[comma separated list of classes]')\n\nThis new, fairly self-explanatory function:\n\n\n\ttargets any type of parent element (and, if specified, only those with a certain class)\n\tassigns two or more classes (rather than just two background colours) to the child elements inside the parent\n\tpreserves any existing classes already assigned to the child elements\n\n\nSee it in action\n\nView the demonstration page for three usage examples. For simplicity\u2019s sake, we\u2019re making the calls to the striper function from the body\u2019s onload attribute. In a real deployment situation, we would look at attaching a behaviour to the onload programmatically \u2014 just remember that, as we need to pass variables to the striper function, this would involve creating a wrapper function which would then be attached\u2026something like:\n\nfunction stripe() {\n striper('tbody','splintered','tr','odd,even');\n}\n\nwindow.onload=stripe;\n\nA final thought\n\nJust because the function is called striper does not mean that it\u2019s limited to purely applying a striped look; as it\u2019s more of a general purpose \u201calternating class assignment\u201d script, you can achieve a whole variety of effects with it.", "year": "2005", "author": "Patrick Lauke", "author_slug": "patricklauke", "published": "2005-12-15T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2005/splintered-striper/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 319, "title": "Avoiding CSS Hacks for Internet Explorer", "contents": "Back in October, IEBlog issued a call to action, asking developers to clean up their CSS hacks for IE7 testing. Needless to say, a lot of hubbub ensued\u2026 both on IEBlog and elsewhere. My contribution to all of the noise was to suggest that developers review their code and use good CSS hacks. But what makes a good hack?\n\nTantek \u00c7elik, the Godfather of CSS hacks, gave us the answer by explaining how CSS hacks should be designed. In short, they should (1) be valid, (2) target only old/frozen/abandoned user-agents/browsers, and (3) be ugly. Tantek also went on to explain that using a feature of CSS is not a hack.\n\nNow, I\u2019m not a frequent user of CSS hacks, but Tantek\u2019s post made sense to me. In particular, I felt it gave developers direction on how we should be coding to accommodate that sometimes troublesome browser, Internet Explorer. But what I\u2019ve found, through my work with other developers, is that there is still much confusion over the use of CSS hacks and IE. Using examples from the code I\u2019ve seen recently, allow me to demonstrate how to clean up some IE-specific CSS hacks.\n\nThe two hacks that I\u2019ve found most often in the code I\u2019ve seen and worked with are the star html bug and the underscore hack. We know these are both IE-specific by checking Kevin Smith\u2019s CSS Filters chart. Let\u2019s look at each of these hacks and see how we can replace them with the same CSS feature-based solution.\n\nThe star html bug\n\nThis hack violates Tantek\u2019s second rule as it targets current (and future) UAs. I\u2019ve seen this both as a stand alone rule, as well as an override to some other rule in a style sheet. Here are some code samples:\n\n* html div#header {margin-top:-3px;}\n.promo h3 {min-height:21px;}\n* html .promo h3 {height:21px;}\n\nThe underscore hack\n\nThis hack violates Tantek\u2019s first two rules: it\u2019s invalid (according to the W3C CSS Validator) and it targets current UAs. Here\u2019s an example:\n\nol {padding:0; _padding-left:5px;}\n\nUsing child selectors\n\nWe can use the child selector to replace both the star html bug and underscore hack. Here\u2019s how:\n\n Write rules with selectors that would be successfully applied to all browsers. This may mean starting with no declarations in your rule!\n\ndiv#header {}\n.promo h3 {}\nol {padding:0;}\n\n \nTo these rules, add the IE-specific declarations.\n\ndiv#header {margin-top:-3px;}\n.promo h3 {height:21px;}\nol {padding:0 0 0 5px;}\n\n \nAfter each rule, add a second rule. The selector of the second rule must use a child selector. In this new rule, correct any IE-specific declarations previously made.\n\ndiv#header {margin-top:-3px;}\nbody > div#header {margin-top:0;}\n\n.promo h3 {height:21px;}\n.promo > h3 {height:auto; min-height:21px;}\n\nol {padding:0 0 0 5px;}\nhtml > body ol {padding:0;}\n\n \n\nVoil\u00e0 \u2013 no more hacks! There are a few caveats to this that I won\u2019t go into\u2026 but assuming you\u2019re operating in strict mode and barring any really complicated stuff you\u2019re doing in your code, your CSS will still render perfectly across browsers. And while this may make your CSS slightly heftier in size, it should future-proof it for IE7 (or so I hope). Happy holidays!", "year": "2005", "author": "Kimberly Blessing", "author_slug": "kimberlyblessing", "published": "2005-12-17T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2005/avoiding-css-hacks-for-internet-explorer/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 323, "title": "Introducing UDASSS!", "contents": "Okay. What\u2019s that mean?\n\nUnobtrusive Degradable Ajax Style Sheet Switcher!\n\nBoy are you in for treat today \u2018cause we\u2019re gonna have a whole lotta Ajaxifida Unobtrucitosity CSS swappin\u2019 Fun!\n\nOkay are you really kidding? Nope. I\u2019ve even impressed myself on this one. Unfortunately, I don\u2019t have much time to tell you the ins and outs of what I actually did to get this to work. We\u2019re talking JavaScript, CSS, PHP\u2026Ajax. But don\u2019t worry about that. I\u2019ve always believed that a good A.P.I. is an invisible A.P.I\u2026 and this I felt I achieved. The only thing you need to know is how it works and what to do.\n\nA Quick Introduction Anyway\u2026\n\nFirst of all, the idea is very simple. I wanted something just like what Paul Sowden put together in \nAlternative Style: Working With Alternate Style Sheets from Alistapart Magazine EXCEPT a few minor (not-so-minor actually) differences which I\u2019ve listed briefly below:\n\n\n\n\tAllow users to switch styles without JavaScript enabled (degradable)\n\tPreventing the F.O.U.C. before the window \u2018load\u2019 when getting preferred styles\n\tKeep the JavaScript entirely off our markup (no onclick\u2019s or onload\u2019s)\n\tMake it very very easy to implement (ok, Paul did that too)\n\n\nWhat I did to achieve this was used server-side cookies instead of JavaScript cookies. Hence, PHP. However this isn\u2019t a \u201cPHP style switcher\u201d \u2013 which is where Ajax comes in. For the extreme technical folks, no, there is no xml involved here, or even a callback response. I only say Ajax because everyone knows what \u2018it\u2019 means. With that said, it\u2019s the Ajax that sets the cookies \u2018on the fly\u2019. Got it? Awesome!\n\nWhat you need\n\nLuckily, I\u2019ve done the work for you. It\u2019s all packaged up in a nice zip file (at the end\u2026keep reading for now) \u2013 so from here on out, \njust follow these instructions\n\nAs I\u2019ve mentioned, one of the things we\u2019ll be working with is PHP. So, first things first, open up a file called index and save it with a \u2018.php\u2019 extension.\n\nNext, place the following text at the top of your document (even above your DOCTYPE)\n\nadd('css/global.css','screen,projection'); // [Global Styles]\n $styleSheet->add('css/preferred.css','screen,projection','Wog Standard'); // [Preferred Styles]\n $styleSheet->add('css/alternate.css','screen,projection','Tiny Fonts',true); // [Alternate Styles]\n $styleSheet->add('css/alternate2.css','screen,projection','Big O Fonts',true); // // [Alternate Styles]\n $styleSheet->getPreferredStyles();\n ?>\n\nThe way this works is REALLY EASY. Pay attention closely.\n\nNotice in the first line we\u2019ve included our style-switcher.php file.\n\nNext we instantiate a PHP class called AlternateStyles() which will allow us to configure our style sheets. \nSo for kicks, let\u2019s just call our object $styleSheet\n\nAs part of the AlternateStyles object, there lies a public method called add. So naturally with our $styleSheet object, we can call it to (da \u2013 da-da-da!) Add Style Sheets!\n\nHow the add() method works\n\nThe add method takes in a possible four arguments, only one is required. However, you\u2019ll want to add some\u2026 since the whole point is working with alternate style sheets.\n\n$path can simply be a uri, absolute, or relative path to your style sheet. $media adds a media attribute to your style sheets. $title gives a name to your style sheets (via title attribute).$alternate (which shows boolean) simply tells us that these are the alternate style sheets.\n\nadd() Tips\n\nFor all global style sheets (meaning the ones that will always be seen and will not be swapped out), simply use the add method as shown next to // [Global Styles].\n\nTo add preferred styles, do the same, but add a \u2018title\u2019.\n\nTo add the alternate styles, do the same as what we\u2019ve done to add preferred styles, but add the extra boolean and set it to true.\n\nNote following when adding style sheets\n\n\n\tMultiple global style sheets are allowed\n\tYou can only have one preferred style sheet (That\u2019s a browser rule)\n\tFeel free to add as many alternate style sheets as you like\n\n\nMoving on\n\nSimply add the following snippet to the of your web document:\n\n\n \n \n drop();\n ?>\n\nNothing much to explain here. Just use your copy & paste powers.\n\nHow to Switch Styles\n\nWhether you knew it or not, this baby already has the built in \u2018ubobtrusive\u2019 functionality that lets you switch styles by the drop of any link with a class name of \u2018altCss\u2018. Just drop them where ever you like in your document as follows:\n\nBog Standard\n Small Fonts\n Large Fonts\n\nTake special note where the file is linking to. Yep. Just linking right back to the page we\u2019re on. The only extra parameters we pass in is a variable called \u2018css\u2019 \u2013 and within that we append the names of our style sheets.\n\nAlso take very special note on the names of the style sheets have an under_score to take place of any spaces we might have.\n\nGo ahead\u2026 play around and change the style sheet on the example page. Try disabling JavaScript and refreshing your browser. Still works!\n\nCool eh?\n\nWell, I put this together in one night so it\u2019s still a work in progress and very beta. If you\u2019d like to hear more about it and its future development, be sure stop on by my site where I\u2019ll definitely be maintaining it.\n\nDownload the beta anyway\n\nWell this wouldn\u2019t be fun if there was nothing to download. So we\u2019re hooking you up so you don\u2019t go home (or logoff) unhappy\n\n Download U.D.A.S.S.S | V0.8\n\nMerry Christmas!\n\nThanks for listening and I hope U.D.A.S.S.S. has been well worth your time and will bring many years of Ajaxy Style Switchin\u2019 Fun!\n\nMany Blessings, Merry Christmas and have a great new year!", "year": "2005", "author": "Dustin Diaz", "author_slug": "dustindiaz", "published": "2005-12-18T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2005/introducing-udasss/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 321, "title": "Tables with Style", "contents": "It might not seem like it but styling tabular data can be a lot of fun. From a semantic point of view, there are plenty of elements to tie some style into. You have cells, rows, row groups and, of course, the table element itself. Adding CSS to a paragraph just isn\u2019t as exciting.\n\nWhere do I start?\n\nFirst, if you have some tabular data (you know, like a spreadsheet with rows and columns) that you\u2019d like to spiffy up, pop it into a table \u2014 it\u2019s rightful place!\n\nTo add more semantics to your table \u2014 and coincidentally to add more hooks for CSS \u2014 break up your table into row groups. There are three types of row groups: the header (thead), the body (tbody) and the footer (tfoot). You can only have one header and one footer but you can have as many table bodies as is appropriate.\n\nSample table example\n\nInspiration\n\nTable Striping\n\nTo improve scanning information within a table, a common technique is to style alternating rows. Also known as zebra tables. Whether you apply it using a class on every other row or turn to JavaScript to accomplish the task, a handy-dandy trick is to use a semi-transparent PNG as your background image. This is especially useful over patterned backgrounds. \n\ntbody tr.odd td {\n background:transparent url(background.png) repeat top left;\n }\n\n * html tbody tr.odd td {\n background:#C00;\n filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.AlphaImageLoader(\n src='background.png', sizingMethod='scale');\n }\n\nWe turn off the default background and apply our PNG hack to have this work in Internet Explorer. \n\nStyling Columns\n\nDid you know you could style a column? That\u2019s right. You can add special column (col) or column group (colgroup) elements. With that you can add border or background styles to the column.\n\n\n \n \n \n ...\n\nCheck out the example.\n\nFun with Backgrounds\n\nPop in a tiled background to give your table some character! Internet Explorer\u2019s PNG hack unfortunately only works well when applied to a cell.\n\nTo figure out which background will appear over another, just remember the hierarchy:\n\n (bottom) Table \u2192 Column \u2192 Row Group \u2192 Row \u2192 Cell (top)\n\nThe Future is Bright\n\nOnce browser-makers start implementing CSS3, we\u2019ll have more power at our disposal. Just with :first-child and :last-child, you can pull off a scalable version of our previous table with rounded corners and all \u2014 unfortunately, only Firefox manages to pull this one off successfully. And the selector the masses are clamouring for, nth-child, will make zebra tables easy as eggnog.", "year": "2005", "author": "Jonathan Snook", "author_slug": "jonathansnook", "published": "2005-12-19T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2005/tables-with-style/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 335, "title": "Naughty or Nice? CSS Background Images", "contents": "Web Standards based development involves many things \u2013 using semantically sound HTML to provide structure to our documents or web applications, using CSS for presentation and layout, using JavaScript responsibly, and of course, ensuring that all that we do is accessible and interoperable to as many people and user agents as we can.\n\nThis we understand to be good. \n\nAnd it is good. \n\nExcept when we don\u2019t clearly think through the full implications of using those techniques.\n\nWhich often happens when time is short and we need to get things done.\n\nHere are some naughty examples of CSS background images with their nicer, more accessible counterparts.\n\nTransaction related messages\n\nI\u2019m as guilty of this as others (or, perhaps, I\u2019m the only one that has done this, in which case this can serve as my holiday season confessional) We use lovely little icons to show status messages for a transaction to indicate if the action was successful, or was there a warning or error? For example:\n\n\u201cYour postal/zip code was not in the correct format.\u201d\n\nNotice that we place a nice little icon there, and use background colours and borders to convey a specific message: there was a problem that needs to be fixed. Notice that all of this visual information is now contained in the CSS rules for that div:\n\n
\n

Your postal/zip code was not in the correct format.

\n
\n\n div.error {\n background: #ffcccc url(../images/error_small.png) no-repeat 5px 4px;\n color: #900;\n border-top: 1px solid #c00;\n border-bottom: 1px solid #c00;\n padding: 0.25em 0.5em 0.25em 2.5em;\n font-weight: bold;\n }\n\nUsing this approach also makes it very easy to create a div.success and div.warning CSS rules meaning we have less to change in our HTML.\n\nNice, right?\n\nNo. Naughty. \n\nVisual design communicates\n\nThe CSS is being used to convey very specific information. The choice of icon, the choice of background colour and borders tell us visually that there is something wrong. \n\nWith the icon as a background image \u2013 there is no way to specify any alt text for the icon, and significant meaning is lost. A screen reader user, for example, misses the fact that it is an \u201cerror.\u201d \n\nThe solution? Ask yourself: what is the bare minimum needed to indicate there was an error? Currently in the absence of CSS there will be no icon \u2013 which (I\u2019m hoping you agree) is critical to communicating there was an error.\n\nThe icon should be considered content and not simply presentational.\n\nThe borders and background colour are certainly much less critical \u2013 they belong in the CSS.\n\nLets change the code to place the image directly in the HTML and using appropriate alt text to better communicate the meaning of the icon to all users:\n\n
\n \"Error\"\n

Your postal/zip code was not in the correct format.

\n
\n\n div.bettererror {\n background-color: #ffcccc;\n color: #900;\n border-top: 1px solid #c00;\n border-bottom: 1px solid #c00;\n padding: 0.25em 0.5em 0.25em 2.5em;\n font-weight: bold;\n position: relative;\n min-height: 1.25em;\n }\n\n div.bettererror img {\n display: block;\n position: absolute;\n left: 0.25em;\n top: 0.25em;\n padding: 0;\n margin: 0;\n }\n\n div.bettererror p {\n position: absolute;\n left: 2.5em;\n padding: 0;\n margin: 0;\n }\n\nCompare these two examples of transactional messages\n\nStatus of a Record\n\nThis example is pretty straightforward. Consider the following: a real estate listing on a web site. There are three \u201cstates\u201d for a listing: new, normal, and sold. Here\u2019s how they look:\n\nExample of a New Listing\n\nExample of A Sold Listing\n\nIf we (forgive the pun) blindly apply the \u201cuse a CSS background image\u201d technique we clearly run into problems with the new and sold images \u2013 they actually contain content with no way to specify an alternative when placed in the CSS.\n\nIn this case of the \u201cnew\u201d image, we can use the same strategy as we used in the first example (the transaction result). The \u201cnew\u201d image should be considered content and is placed in the HTML as part of the

...

that identifies the listing.\n\nHowever when considering the \u201csold\u201d listing, there are less changes to be made to keep the same look by leaving the \u201cSOLD\u201d image as a background image and providing the equivalent information elsewhere in the listing \u2013 namely, right in the heading.\n\nFor those that can\u2019t see the background image, the status is communicated clearly and right away. A screen reader user that is navigating by heading or viewing a listing will know right away that a particular property is sold.\n\nOf note here is that in both cases (new and sold) placing the status near the beginning of the record helps with a zoom layout as well.\n\nBetter Example of A Sold Listing\n\nSummary\n\nRemember: in the holiday season, its what you give that counts!! Using CSS background images is easy and saves time for you but think of the children. And everyone else for that matter\u2026 \n\nCSS background images should only be used for presentational images, not for those that contain content (unless that content is already represented and readily available elsewhere).", "year": "2005", "author": "Derek Featherstone", "author_slug": "derekfeatherstone", "published": "2005-12-20T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2005/naughty-or-nice-css-background-images/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 315, "title": "Edit-in-Place with Ajax", "contents": "Back on day one we looked at using the Prototype library to take all the hard work out of making a simple Ajax call. While that was fun and all, it didn\u2019t go that far towards implementing something really practical. We dipped our toes in, but haven\u2019t learned to swim yet.\n\nSo here is swimming lesson number one. Anyone who\u2019s used Flickr to publish their photos will be familiar with the edit-in-place system used for quickly amending titles and descriptions on photographs. Hovering over an item turns its background yellow to indicate it is editable. A simple click loads the text into an edit box, right there on the page.\n\n\n\nPrototype includes all sorts of useful methods to help reproduce something like this for our own projects. As well as the simple Ajax GETs we learned how to do last time, we can also do POSTs (which we\u2019ll need here) and a whole bunch of manipulations to the user interface \u2013 all through simple library calls. Here\u2019s what we\u2019re building, so let\u2019s do it.\n\nGetting Started\n\nThere are two major components to this process; the user interface manipulation and the Ajax call itself. Our set-up is much the same as last time (you may wish to read the first article if you\u2019ve not already done so). We have a basic HTML page which links in the prototype.js file and our own editinplace.js. Here\u2019s what Santa dropped down my chimney: \n\n\n \n \n \n Edit-in-Place with Ajax\n \n \n \n \n\n

Edit-in-place

\n

Dashing through the snow on a one horse open sleigh.

\n \n \n\nSo that\u2019s our page. The editable item is going to be the

called desc. The process goes something like this:\n\n\n\tHighlight the area onMouseOver\n\tClear the highlight onMouseOut\n\tIf the user clicks, hide the area and replace with a ';\n\n var button = ' OR \n ';\n\n new Insertion.After(obj, textarea+button);\n\n Event.observe(obj.id+'_save', 'click', function(){saveChanges(obj)}, false);\n Event.observe(obj.id+'_cancel', 'click', function(){cleanUp(obj)}, false);\n\n }\n\nThe first thing to do is to hide the object. Prototype comes to the rescue with Element.hide() (and of course, Element.show() too). Following that, we build up the textarea and buttons as a string, and then use Insertion.After() to place our new editor underneath the (now hidden) editable object.\n\nThe last thing to do before we leave the user to edit is it attach listeners to the Save and Cancel buttons to call either the saveChanges() function, or to cleanUp() after a cancel.\n\nIn the event of a cancel, we can clean up behind ourselves like so:\n\nfunction cleanUp(obj, keepEditable){\n Element.remove(obj.id+'_editor');\n Element.show(obj);\n if (!keepEditable) showAsEditable(obj, true);\n }\n\nSaving the Changes\n\nThis is where all the Ajax fun occurs. Whilst the previous article introduced Ajax.Updater() for simple Ajax calls, in this case we need a little bit more control over what happens once the response is received. For this purpose, Ajax.Request() is perfect. We can use the onSuccess and onFailure parameters to register functions to handle the response.\n\nfunction saveChanges(obj){\n var new_content = escape($F(obj.id+'_edit'));\n\n obj.innerHTML = \"Saving...\";\n cleanUp(obj, true);\n\n var success = function(t){editComplete(t, obj);}\n var failure = function(t){editFailed(t, obj);}\n\n var url = 'edit.php';\n var pars = 'id=' + obj.id + '&content=' + new_content;\n var myAjax = new Ajax.Request(url, {method:'post',\n postBody:pars, onSuccess:success, onFailure:failure});\n }\n\n function editComplete(t, obj){\n obj.innerHTML = t.responseText;\n showAsEditable(obj, true);\n }\n\n function editFailed(t, obj){\n obj.innerHTML = 'Sorry, the update failed.';\n cleanUp(obj);\n }\n\nAs you can see, we first grab in the contents of the textarea into the variable new_content. We then remove the editor, set the content of the original object to \u201cSaving\u2026\u201d to show that an update is occurring, and make the Ajax POST.\n\nIf the Ajax fails, editFailed() sets the contents of the object to \u201cSorry, the update failed.\u201d Admittedly, that\u2019s not a very helpful way to handle the error but I have to limit the scope of this article somewhere. It might be a good idea to stow away the original contents of the object (obj.preUpdate = obj.innerHTML) for later retrieval before setting the content to \u201cSaving\u2026\u201d. No one likes a failure \u2013 especially a messy one.\n\nIf the Ajax call is successful, the server-side script returns the edited content, which we then place back inside the object from editComplete, and tidy up.\n\nMeanwhile, back at the server\n\nThe missing piece of the puzzle is the server-side script for committing the changes to your database. Obviously, any solution I provide here is not going to fit your particular application. For the purposes of getting a functional demo going, here\u2019s what I have in PHP.\n\n\n\nNot exactly rocket science is it? I\u2019m just catching the content item from the POST and echoing it back. For your application to be useful, however, you\u2019ll need to know exactly which record you should be updating. I\u2019m passing in the ID of my

, which is not a fat lot of use. You can modify saveChanges() to post back whatever information your app needs to know in order to process the update.\n\nYou should also check the user\u2019s credentials to make sure they have permission to edit whatever it is they\u2019re editing. Basically the same rules apply as with any script in your application.\n\nLimitations\n\nThere are a few bits and bobs that in an ideal world I would tidy up. The first is the error handling, as I\u2019ve already mentioned. The second is that from an idealistic standpoint, I\u2019d rather not be using innerHTML. However, the reality is that it\u2019s presently the most efficient way of making large changes to the document. If you\u2019re serving as XML, remember that you\u2019ll need to replace these with proper DOM nodes.\n\nIt\u2019s also important to note that it\u2019s quite difficult to make something like this universally accessible. Whenever you start updating large chunks of a document based on user interaction, a lot of non-traditional devices don\u2019t cope well. The benefit of this technique, though, is that if JavaScript is unavailable none of the functionality gets implemented at all \u2013 it fails silently. It is for this reason that this shouldn\u2019t be used as a complete replacement for a traditional, universally accessible edit form. It\u2019s a great time-saver for those with the ability to use it, but it\u2019s no replacement.\n\nSee it in action\n\nI\u2019ve put together an example page using the inert PHP script above. That is to say, your edits aren\u2019t committed to a database, so the example is reset when the page is reloaded.", "year": "2005", "author": "Drew McLellan", "author_slug": "drewmclellan", "published": "2005-12-23T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2005/edit-in-place-with-ajax/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 316, "title": "Have Your DOM and Script It Too", "contents": "When working with the XMLHttpRequest object it appears you can only go one of three ways: \n\n\n\tYou can stay true to the colorful moniker du jour and stick strictly to the responseXML property\n\tYou can play with proprietary \u2013 yet widely supported \u2013 fire and inject the value of responseText property into the innerHTML of an element of your choosing\n\tOr you can be eval() and parse JSON or arbitrary JavaScript delivered via responseText\n\n\nBut did you know that there\u2019s a fourth option giving you the best of the latter two worlds? Mint uses this unmentioned approach to grab fresh HTML and run arbitrary JavaScript simultaneously. Without relying on eval(). \u201cBut wait-\u201d, you might say, \u201cwhen would I need to do this?\u201d Besides the example below this technique is handy for things like tab groups that need initialization onload but miss the main onload event handler by a mile thanks to asynchronous scripting.\n\nConsider the problem\n\nOriginally Mint used option 2 to refresh or load new tabs into individual Pepper panes without requiring a full roundtrip to the server. This was all well and good until I introduced the new Client Mode which when enabled allows anyone to view a Mint installation without being logged in. If voyeurs are afoot as Client Mode is disabled, the next time they refresh a pane the entire login page is inserted into the current document. That\u2019s not very helpful so I needed a way to redirect the current document to the login page.\n\n\n\nEnter the solution\n\nWouldn\u2019t it be cool if browsers interpreted the contents of script tags crammed into innerHTML? Sure, but unfortunately, that just wasn\u2019t meant to be. However like the body element, image elements have an onload event handler. When the image has fully loaded the handler runs the code applied to it. See where I\u2019m going with this?\n\nBy tacking a tiny image (think single pixel, transparent spacer gif \u2013 shudder) onto the end of the HTML returned by our Ajax call, we can smuggle our arbitrary JavaScript into the existing document. The image is added to the DOM, and our stowaway can go to town.\n\n

This is the results of our Ajax call.

\n \"\"\n\nPlease be neat\n\nSo we\u2019ve just jammed some meaningless cruft into our DOM. If our script does anything with images this addition could have some unexpected side effects. (Remember The Fly?) So in order to save that poor, unsuspecting element whose innerHTML we just swapped out from sharing Jeff Goldblum\u2019s terrible fate we should tidy up after ourselves. And by using the removeChild method we do just that.\n\n

This is the results of our Ajax call.

\n \"\"", "year": "2005", "author": "Shaun Inman", "author_slug": "shauninman", "published": "2005-12-24T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2005/have-your-dom-and-script-it-too/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 132, "title": "Tasty Text Trimmer", "contents": "In most cases, when designing a user interface it\u2019s best to make a decision about how data is best displayed and stick with it. Failing to make a decision ultimately leads to too many user options, which in turn can be taxing on the poor old user. \n\nUnder some circumstances, however, it\u2019s good to give the user freedom in customising their workspace. One good example of this is the \u2018Article Length\u2019 tool in Apple\u2019s Safari RSS reader. Sliding a slider left of right dynamically changes the length of each article shown. It\u2019s that kind of awesomey magic stuff that\u2019s enough to keep you from sleeping. Let\u2019s build one.\n\nThe Setup\n\nLet\u2019s take a page that has lots of long text items, a bit like a news page or like Safari\u2019s RSS items view. If we were to attach a class name to each element we wanted to resize, that would give us something to hook onto from the JavaScript. \n\nExample 1: The basic page.\n\nAs you can see, I\u2019ve wrapped my items in a DIV and added a class name of chunk to them. It\u2019s these chunks that we\u2019ll be finding with the JavaScript. Speaking of which \u2026\n\nOur Core Functions\n\nThere are two main tasks that need performing in our script. The first is to find the chunks we\u2019re going to be resizing and store their original contents away somewhere safe. We\u2019ll need this so that if we trim the text down we\u2019ll know what it was if the user decides they want it back again. We\u2019ll call this loadChunks. \n\nvar loadChunks = function(){\n\tvar everything = document.getElementsByTagName('*');\n\tvar i, l;\n\tchunks\t= [];\n\tfor (i=0, l=everything.length; i -1){\n\t\t\tchunks.push({\n\t\t\t\tref: everything[i],\n\t\t\t\toriginal: everything[i].innerHTML\n\t\t\t});\n\t\t}\n\t}\n};\n\nThe variable chunks is stored outside of this function so that we can access it from our next core function, which is doTrim.\n\nvar doTrim = function(interval) {\n\tif (!chunks) loadChunks();\n\tvar i, l;\n\tfor (i=0, l=chunks.length; i\n\n\nOnce this is done you can add links to Flickr pages anywhere in your document, and when you give them the CSS class getflickrphotos they get turned into gallery links. When a visitor clicks these links they turn into loading messages and show a \u201cpopup\u201d gallery with the connected photos once they were loaded. As the JSON returned is very small it won\u2019t take long. You can close the gallery, or click any of the thumbnails to view a photo. Clicking the photo makes it disappear and go back to the thumbnails.\n\nCheck out the example page and click the different gallery links to see the results.\n\nNotice that getFlickr works with Unobtrusive JavaScript as when scripting is disabled the links still get to the photos on Flickr.\n\ngetFlickr for JavaScript Hackers\n\nIf you want to use getFlickr with your own JavaScripts you can use its main method leech():\n\ngetFlickr.leech(sTag, sCallback);\n\n \n\tsTag\n\tthe tag you are looking for\n\tsCallback\n\tan optional function to call when the data was retrieved.\n \n\nAfter you called the leech() method you have two strings to use:\n\n \n\tgetFlickr.html[sTag]\n\tcontains an HTML list (without the outer UL element) of all the images linked to the correct pages at flickr. The images are the medium size, you can easily change that by replacing _m.jpg with _s.jpg for thumbnails.\n\tgetFlickr.tags[sTag]\n\tcontains a string of all the other tags flickr users added with the tag you searched for(space separated)\n \n\nYou can call getFlickr.leech() several times when the page has loaded to cache several result feeds before the page gets loaded. This\u2019ll make the photos quicker for the end user to show up. If you want to offer a form for people to search for flickr photos and display them immediately you can use the following HTML:\n\n
\n \n \n \n

Tags:

\n

Photos:

    \n\n\nAll the JavaScript you\u2019ll need (for a basic display) is this:\n\nfunction populate(){\n var tag = document.getElementById('tag').value;\n document.getElementById('photos').innerHTML = getFlickr.html[tag].replace(/_m\\.jpg/g,'_s.jpg');\n document.getElementById('tags').innerHTML = getFlickr.tags[tag];\n return false;\n}\n\nEasy as pie, enjoy!\n\nCheck out the example page and try the form to see the results.", "year": "2006", "author": "Christian Heilmann", "author_slug": "chrisheilmann", "published": "2006-12-03T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2006/flickr-photos-on-demand/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 138, "title": "Rounded Corner Boxes the CSS3 Way", "contents": "If you\u2019ve been doing CSS for a while you\u2019ll know that there are approximately 3,762 ways to create a rounded corner box. The simplest techniques rely on the addition of extra mark-up directly to your page, while the more complicated ones add the mark-up though DOM manipulation. While these techniques are all very interesting, they do seem somewhat of a kludge. The goal of CSS is to separate structure from presentation, yet here we are adding superfluous mark-up to our code in order to create a visual effect. The reason we are doing this is simple. CSS2.1 only allows a single background image per element.\n\nThankfully this looks set to change with the addition of multiple background images into the CSS3 specification. With CSS3 you\u2019ll be able to add not one, not four, but eight background images to a single element. This means you\u2019ll be able to create all kinds of interesting effects without the need of those additional elements.\n\nWhile the CSS working group still seem to be arguing over the exact syntax, Dave Hyatt went ahead and implemented the currently suggested mechanism into Safari. The technique is fiendishly simple, and I think we\u2019ll all be a lot better off once the W3C stop arguing over the details and allow browser vendors to get on and provide the tools we need to build better websites.\n\nTo create a CSS3 rounded corner box, simply start with your box element and apply your 4 corner images, separated by commas.\n\n.box {\n\tbackground-image: url(top-left.gif), url(top-right.gif), url(bottom-left.gif), url(bottom-right.gif);\n}\n\nWe don\u2019t want these background images to repeat, which is the normal behaviour, so lets set all their background-repeat properties to no-repeat.\n\n.box {\n\tbackground-image: url(top-left.gif), url(top-right.gif), url(bottom-left.gif), url(bottom-right.gif);\n\tbackground-repeat: no-repeat, no-repeat, no-repeat, no-repeat;\n}\n\nLastly, we need to define the positioning of each corner image.\n\n.box {\n\tbackground-image: url(top-left.gif), url(top-right.gif), url(bottom-left.gif), url(bottom-right.gif);\n\tbackground-repeat: no-repeat, no-repeat, no-repeat, no-repeat;\n\tbackground-position: top left, top right, bottom left, bottom right;\n}\n\nAnd there we have it, a simple rounded corner box with no additional mark-up.\n\nAs well as using multiple background images, CSS3 also has the ability to create rounded corners without the need of any images at all. You can do this by setting the border-radius property to your desired value as seen in the next example.\n\n.box {\n\tborder-radius: 1.6em;\n}\n\nThis technique currently works in Firefox/Camino and creates a nice, if somewhat jagged rounded corner. If you want to create a box that works in both Mozilla and WebKit based browsers, why not combine both techniques and see what happens.", "year": "2006", "author": "Andy Budd", "author_slug": "andybudd", "published": "2006-12-04T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2006/rounded-corner-boxes-the-css3-way/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 121, "title": "Hide And Seek in The Head", "contents": "If you want your JavaScript-enhanced pages to remain accessible and understandable to scripted and noscript users alike, you have to think before you code. Which functionalities are required (ie. should work without JavaScript)? Which ones are merely nice-to-have (ie. can be scripted)? You should only start creating the site when you\u2019ve taken these decisions.\n\nSpecial HTML elements\n\nOnce you have a clear idea of what will work with and without JavaScript, you\u2019ll likely find that you need a few HTML elements for the noscript version only.\n\nTake this example: A form has a nifty bit of Ajax that automatically and silently sends a request once the user enters something in a form field. However, in order to preserve accessibility, the user should also be able to submit the form normally. So the form should have a submit button in noscript browsers, but not when the browser supports sufficient JavaScript.\n\nSince the button is meant for noscript browsers, it must be hard-coded in the HTML:\n\n\n\nWhen JavaScript is supported, it should be removed:\n\nvar checkJS = [check JavaScript support];\nwindow.onload = function () {\n\tif (!checkJS) return;\n\tdocument.getElementById('noScriptButton').style.display = 'none';\n}\n\nProblem: the load event\n\nAlthough this will likely work fine in your testing environment, it\u2019s not completely correct. What if a user with a modern, JavaScript-capable browser visits your page, but has to wait for a huge graphic to load? The load event fires only after all assets, including images, have been loaded. So this user will first see a submit button, but then all of a sudden it\u2019s removed. That\u2019s potentially confusing.\n\nFortunately there\u2019s a simple solution: play a bit of hide and seek in the :\n\nvar checkJS = [check JavaScript support];\nif (checkJS) {\n\tdocument.write('');\n}\n\nFirst, check if the browser supports enough JavaScript. If it does, document.write an extra \n\nSo we end up with a nice simple to understand but also quick to write XSL which can be used on ATOM Flickr feeds and ATOM News feeds. With a little playing around with XSL, you can make XML beautiful again.\n\nAll the files can be found in the zip file (14k)", "year": "2006", "author": "Ian Forrester", "author_slug": "ianforrester", "published": "2006-12-07T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2006/beautiful-xml-with-xsl/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 143, "title": "Marking Up a Tag Cloud", "contents": "Everyone\u2019s doing it. \n\nThe problem is, everyone\u2019s doing it wrong. \n\nHarsh words, you might think. But the crimes against decent markup are legion in this area. You see, I\u2019m something of a markup and semantics junkie. So I\u2019m going to analyse some of the more well-known tag clouds on the internet, explain what\u2019s wrong, and then show you one way to do it better. \n\ndel.icio.us \n\nI think the first ever tag cloud I saw was on del.icio.us. Here\u2019s how they mark it up. \n\n
    \n\t.net\n\tadvertising\n\tajax\n\t...\n
    \n\nUnfortunately, that is one of the worst examples of tag cloud markup I have ever seen. The page states that a tag cloud is a list of tags where size reflects popularity. However, despite describing it in this way to the human readers, the page\u2019s author hasn\u2019t described it that way in the markup. It isn\u2019t a list of tags, just a bunch of anchors in a
    . This is also inaccessible because a screenreader will not pause between adjacent links, and in some configurations will not announce the individual links, but rather all of the tags will be read as just one link containing a whole bunch of words. Markup crime number one. \n\nFlickr \n\nAh, Flickr. The darling photo sharing site of the internet, and the biggest blind spot in every standardista\u2019s vision. Forgive it for having atrocious markup and sometimes confusing UI because it\u2019s just so much damn fun to use. Let\u2019s see what they do. \n\n

    \n\t\u00a006\u00a0\n\t\u00a0africa\u00a0\n\t\u00a0amsterdam\u00a0\n\t...\n

    \n\nAgain we have a simple collection of anchors like del.icio.us, only this time in a paragraph. But rather than using a class to represent the size of the tag they use an inline style. An inline style using a pixel-based font size. That\u2019s so far away from the goal of separating style from content, they might as well use a tag. You could theoretically parse that to extract the information, but you have more work to guess what the pixel sizes represent. Markup crime number two (and extra jail time for using non-breaking spaces purely for visual spacing purposes.)\n\nTechnorati \n\nAh, now. Here, you\u2019d expect something decent. After all, the Overlord of microformats and King of Semantics Tantek \u00c7elik works there. Surely we\u2019ll see something decent here? \n\n
      \n\t
    1. Britney Spears
      2. \n\t
    2. Bush
      3. \n\t
    3. Christmas
      4. \n\t...\n\t
    4. SEO
      5. \n\t
    5. Shopping
      6. \n\t...\n
    \n\nUnfortunately it turns out not to be that decent, and stop calling me Shirley. It\u2019s not exactly terrible code. It does recognise that a tag cloud is a list of links. And, since they\u2019re in alphabetical order, that it\u2019s an ordered list of links. That\u2019s nice. However \u2026 fifteen nested tags? FIFTEEN? That\u2019s emphasis for you. Yes, it is parse-able, but it\u2019s also something of a strange way of looking at emphasis. The HTML spec states that is emphasis, and is for stronger emphasis. Nesting tags seems counter to the idea that different tags are used for different levels of emphasis. Plus, if you had a screen reader that stressed the voice for emphasis, what would it do? Shout at you? Markup crime number three. \n\nSo what should it be? \n\nAs del.icio.us tells us, a tag cloud is a list of tags where the size that they are rendered at contains extra information. However, by hiding the extra context purely within the CSS or the HTML tags used, you are denying that context to some users. The basic assumption being made is that all users will be able to see the difference between font sizes, and this is demonstrably false. \n\nA better way to code a tag cloud is to put the context of the cloud within the content, not the markup or CSS alone. As an example, I\u2019m going to take some of my favourite flickr tags and put them into a cloud which communicates the relative frequency of each tag. \n\nTo start with a tag cloud in its most basic form is just a list of links. I am going to present them in alphabetical order, so I\u2019ll use an ordered list. Into each list item I add the number of photos I have with that particular tag. The tag itself is linked to the page on flickr which contains those photos. So we end up with this first example. To display this as a traditional tag cloud, we need to alter it in a few ways: \n\n\n\tThe items need to be displayed next to each other, rather than one-per-line\n\tThe context information should be hidden from display (but not from screen readers)\n\tThe tag should link to the page of items with that tag\n\n\nDisplaying the items next to each other simply means setting the display of the list elements to inline. The context can be hidden by wrapping it in a and then using the off-left method to hide it. And the link just means adding an anchor (with rel=\"tag\" for some extra microformats bonus points). So, now we have a simple collection of links in our second example. \n\nThe last stage is to add the sizes. Since we already have context in our content, the size is purely for visual rendering, so we can just use classes to define the different sizes. For my example, I\u2019ll use a range of class names from not-popular through ultra-popular, in order of smallest to largest, and then use CSS to define different font sizes. If you preferred, you could always use less verbose class names such as size1 through size6. Anyway, adding some classes and CSS gives us our final example, a semantic and more accessible tag cloud.", "year": "2006", "author": "Mark Norman Francis", "author_slug": "marknormanfrancis", "published": "2006-12-09T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2006/marking-up-a-tag-cloud/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 124, "title": "Writing Responsible JavaScript", "contents": "Without a doubt, JavaScript has been making something of a comeback in the last year. If you\u2019re involved in client-side development in any way at all, chances are that you\u2019re finding yourself writing more JavaScript now than you have in a long time.\n\nIf you learned most of your JavaScript back when DHTML was all the rage and before DOM Scripting was in vogue, there have been some big shifts in the way scripts are written. Most of these are in the way event handlers are assigned and functions declared. Both of these changes are driven by the desire to write scripts that are responsible page citizens, both in not tying behaviour to content and in taking care not to conflict with other scripts. I thought it may be useful to look at some of these more responsible approaches to learn how to best write scripts that are independent of the page content and are safely portable between different applications.\n\nEvent Handling\n\nBack in the heady days of Web 1.0, if you wanted to have an object on the page react to something like a click, you would simply go ahead and attach an onclick attribute. This was easy and understandable, but much like the font tag or the style attribute, it has the downside of mixing behaviour or presentation in with our content. As we\u2019re learned with CSS, there are big benefits in keeping those layers separate. Hey, if it works for CSS, it should work for JavaScript too.\n\nJust like with CSS, instead of adding an attribute to our element within the document, the more responsible way to do that is to look for the item from your script (like CSS does with a selector) and then assign the behaviour to it. To give an example, take this oldskool onclick use case:\n\nPlay the animation\n\nThis could be rewritten by removing the onclick attribute, and instead doing the following from within your JavaScript.\n\ndocument.getElementById('anim-link').onclick = playAnimation;\n\nIt\u2019s all in the timing\n\nOf course, it\u2019s never quite that easy. To be able to attach that onclick, the element you\u2019re targeting has to exist in the page, and the page has to have finished loading for the DOM to be available. This is where the onload event is handy, as it fires once everything has finished loading. Common practise is to have a function called something like init() (short for initialise) that sets up all these event handlers as soon as the page is ready.\n\nBack in the day we would have used the onload attibute on the element to do this, but of course what we really want is:\n\nwindow.onload = init;\n\nAs an interesting side note, we\u2019re using init here rather than init() so that the function is assigned to the event. If we used the parentheses, the init function would have been run at that moment, and the result of running the function (rather than the function itself) would be assigned to the event. Subtle, but important.\n\nAs is becoming apparent, nothing is ever simple, and we can\u2019t just go around assigning our initialisation function to window.onload. What if we\u2019re using other scripts in the page that might also want to listen out for that event? Whichever script got there last would overwrite everything that came before it. To manage this, we need a script that checks for any existing event handlers, and adds the new handler to it. Most of the JavaScript libraries have their own systems for doing this. If you\u2019re not using a library, Simon Willison has a good stand-alone example\n\nfunction addLoadEvent(func) {\n\tvar oldonload = window.onload;\n\tif (typeof window.onload != 'function') {\n\t\twindow.onload = func;\n\t} else {\n\t\twindow.onload = function() {\n\t\t\tif (oldonload) {\n\t\t\t\toldonload();\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\tfunc();\n\t\t}\n\t}\n}\n\nObviously this is just a toe in the events model\u2019s complex waters. Some good further reading is PPK\u2019s Introduction to Events.\n\nCarving out your own space\n\nAnother problem that rears its ugly head when combining multiple scripts on a single page is that of making sure that the scripts don\u2019t conflict. One big part of that is ensuring that no two scripts are trying to create functions or variables with the same names. Reusing a name in JavaScript just over-writes whatever was there before it.\n\nWhen you create a function in JavaScript, you\u2019ll be familiar with doing something like this.\n\nfunction foo() {\n\t... goodness ...\n}\n\nThis is actually just creating a variable called foo and assigning a function to it. It\u2019s essentially the same as the following.\n\nvar foo = function() {\n\t... goodness ...\n}\n\nThis name foo is by default created in what\u2019s known as the \u2018global namespace\u2019 \u2013 the general pool of variables within the page. You can quickly see that if two scripts use foo as a name, they will conflict because they\u2019re both creating those variables in the global namespace.\n\nA good solution to this problem is to add just one name into the global namespace, make that one item either a function or an object, and then add everything else you need inside that. This takes advantage of JavaScript\u2019s variable scoping to contain you mess and stop it interfering with anyone else.\n\nCreating An Object\n\nSay I was wanting to write a bunch of functions specifically for using on a site called \u2018Foo Online\u2019. I\u2019d want to create my own object with a name I think is likely to be unique to me.\n\nvar FOOONLINE = {};\n\nWe can then start assigning functions are variables to it like so:\n\nFOOONLINE.message = 'Merry Christmas!';\nFOOONLINE.showMessage = function() {\n\talert(this.message);\n};\n\nCalling FOOONLINE.showMessage() in this example would alert out our seasonal greeting. The exact same thing could also be expressed in the following way, using the object literal syntax.\n\nvar FOOONLINE = {\n\tmessage: 'Merry Christmas!',\n\tshowMessage: function() {\n\t\talert(this.message);\n\t}\n};\n\nCreating A Function to Create An Object\n\nWe can extend this idea bit further by using a function that we run in place to return an object. The end result is the same, but this time we can use closures to give us something like private methods and properties of our object.\n\nvar FOOONLINE = function(){\n\tvar message = 'Merry Christmas!';\n\treturn {\n\t\tshowMessage: function(){\n\t\t\talert(message);\n\t\t}\n\t}\n}();\n\nThere are two important things to note here. The first is the parentheses at the end of line 10. Just as we saw earlier, this runs the function in place and causes its result to be assigned. In this case the result of our function is the object that is returned at line 4.\n\nThe second important thing to note is the use of the var keyword on line 2. This ensures that the message variable is created inside the scope of the function and not in the global namespace. Because of the way closure works (which if you\u2019re not familiar with, just suspend your disbelief for a moment) that message variable is visible to everything inside the function but not outside. Trying to read FOOONLINE.message from the page would return undefined.\n\nThis is useful for simulating the concept of private class methods and properties that exist in other programming languages. I like to take the approach of making everything private unless I know it\u2019s going to be needed from outside, as it makes the interface into your code a lot clearer for someone else to read. \n\nAll Change, Please\n\nSo that was just a whistle-stop tour of a couple of the bigger changes that can help to make your scripts better page citizens. I hope it makes useful Sunday reading, but obviously this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to designing modular, reusable code.\n\nFor some, this is all familiar ground already. If that\u2019s the case, I encourage you to perhaps submit a comment with any useful resources you\u2019ve found that might help others get up to speed. Ultimately it\u2019s in all of our interests to make sure that all our JavaScript interoperates well \u2013 share your tips.", "year": "2006", "author": "Drew McLellan", "author_slug": "drewmclellan", "published": "2006-12-10T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2006/writing-responsible-javascript/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 129, "title": "Knockout Type - Thin Is Always In", "contents": "OS X has gorgeous native anti-aliasing (although I will admit to missing 10px aliased Geneva \u2014 *sigh*). This is especially true for dark text on a light background. However, things can go awry when you start using light text on a dark background. Strokes thicken. Counters constrict. Letterforms fill out like seasonal snackers.\n\n \n\nSo how do we combat the fat? In Safari and other Webkit-based browsers we can use the CSS \u2018text-shadow\u2019 property. While trying to add a touch more contrast to the navigation on haveamint.com I noticed an interesting side-effect on the weight of the type. \n\n\n\nThe second line in the example image above has the following style applied to it:\n\n \n\nThis creates an invisible drop-shadow. (Why is it invisible? The shadow is positioned directly behind the type (the first two zeros) and has no spread (the third zero). So the color, black, is completely eclipsed by the type it is supposed to be shadowing.)\n\n \n\nWhy applying an invisible drop-shadow effectively lightens the weight of the type is unclear. What is clear is that our light-on-dark text is now of a comparable weight to its dark-on-light counterpart.\n\n \n\nYou can see this trick in effect all over ShaunInman.com and in the navigation on haveamint.com and Subtraction.com. The HTML and CSS source code used to create the example images used in this article can be found here.", "year": "2006", "author": "Shaun Inman", "author_slug": "shauninman", "published": "2006-12-17T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2006/knockout-type/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 128, "title": "Boost Your Hyperlink Power", "contents": "There are HTML elements and attributes that we use every day. Headings, paragraphs, lists and images are the mainstay of every Web developer\u2019s toolbox. Perhaps the most common tool of all is the anchor. The humble a element is what joins documents together to create the gloriously chaotic collection we call the World Wide Web.\n\nAnatomy of an Anchor\n\nThe power of the anchor element lies in the href attribute, short for hypertext reference. This creates a one-way link to another resource, usually another page on the Web:\n\n\n\nThe href attribute sits in the opening a tag and some descriptive text sits between the opening and closing tags:\n\nDrew McLellan\n\n\u201cWhoop-dee-freakin\u2019-doo,\u201d I hear you say, \u201cthis is pretty basic stuff\u201d \u2013 and you\u2019re quite right. But there\u2019s more to the anchor element than just the href attribute.\n\nThe Theory of relativity\n\nYou might be familiar with the rel attribute from the link element. I bet you\u2019ve got something like this in the head of your documents:\n\n\n\nThe rel attribute describes the relationship between the linked document and the current document. In this case, the value of rel is \u201cstylesheet\u201d. This means that the linked document is the stylesheet for the current document: that\u2019s its relationship.\n\nHere\u2019s another common use of rel:\n\n\n\nThis describes the relationship of the linked file \u2013 an RSS feed \u2013 as \u201calternate\u201d: an alternate view of the current document.\n\nBoth of those examples use the link element but you are free to use the rel attribute in regular hyperlinks. Suppose you\u2019re linking to your RSS feed in the body of your page:\n\nSubscribe to my RSS feed.\n\nYou can add extra information to this anchor using the rel attribute:\n\nSubscribe to my RSS feed.\n\nThere\u2019s no prescribed list of values for the rel attribute so you can use whatever you decide is semantically meaningful. Let\u2019s say you\u2019ve got a complex e-commerce application that includes a link to a help file. You can explicitly declare the relationship of the linked file as being \u201chelp\u201d:\n\nneed help?\n\nElemental Microformats\n\nAlthough it\u2019s completely up to you what values you use for the rel attribute, some consensus is emerging in the form of microformats. Some of the simplest microformats make good use of rel. For example, if you are linking to a license that covers the current document, use the rel-license microformat:\n\nLicensed under a Creative Commons attribution license\n\nThat describes the relationship of the linked document as \u201clicense.\u201d\n\nThe rel-tag microformat goes a little further. It uses rel to describe the final part of the URL of the linked file as a \u201ctag\u201d for the current document:\n\nLearn more about semantic markup\n\nThis states that the current document is being tagged with the value \u201cMicroformats.\u201d\n\nXFN, which stands for XHTML Friends Network, is a way of describing relationships between people:\n\nDrew McLellan\n\nThis microformat makes use of a very powerful property of the rel attribute. Like the class attribute, rel can take multiple values, separated by spaces:\n\nDrew McLellan\n\nHere I\u2019m describing Drew as being a friend, someone I\u2019ve met, and a colleague (because we\u2019re both Web monkies).\n\nYou Say You Want a revolution\n\nWhile rel describes the relationship of the linked resource to the current document, the rev attribute describes the reverse relationship: it describes the relationship of the current document to the linked resource. Here\u2019s an example of a link that might appear on help.html:\n\ncontinue shopping\n\nThe rev attribute declares that the current document is \u201chelp\u201d for the linked file.\n\nThe vote-links microformat makes use of the rev attribute to allow you to qualify your links. By using the value \u201cvote-for\u201d you can describe your document as being an endorsement of the linked resource:\n\nI agree with Richard Dawkins.\n\nThere\u2019s a corresponding vote-against value. This means that you can link to a document but explicitly state that you don\u2019t agree with it.\n\nI agree with Richard Dawkins\nabout those creationists. \n\nOf course there\u2019s nothing to stop you using both rel and rev on the same hyperlink:\n\nRichard Dawkins\n\nThe Wisdom of Crowds\n\nThe simplicity of rel and rev belies their power. They allow you to easily add extra semantic richness to your hyperlinks. This creates a bounty that can be harvested by search engines, aggregators and browsers. Make it your New Year\u2019s resolution to make friends with these attributes and extend the power of hypertext.", "year": "2006", "author": "Jeremy Keith", "author_slug": "jeremykeith", "published": "2006-12-18T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2006/boost-your-hyperlink-power/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 126, "title": "Intricate Fluid Layouts in Three Easy Steps", "contents": "The Year of the Script may have drawn attention away from CSS but building fluid, multi-column, cross-browser CSS layouts can still be as unpleasant as a lump of coal. Read on for a worry-free approach in three quick steps.\n\nThe layout system I developed, YUI Grids CSS, has three components. They can be used together as we\u2019ll see, or independently.\n\nThe Three Easy Steps\n\n\n\tChoose fluid or fixed layout, and choose the width (in percents or pixels) of the page.\n\tChoose the size, orientation, and source-order of the main and secondary blocks of content.\n\tChoose the number of columns and how they distribute (for example 50%-50% or 25%-75%), using stackable and nestable grid structures.\n\n\nThe Setup\n\nThere are two prerequisites: We need to normalize the size of an em and opt into the browser rendering engine\u2019s Strict Mode.\n\nEms are a superior unit of measure for our case because they represent the current font size and grow as the user increases their font size setting. This flexibility\u2014the container growing with the user\u2019s wishes\u2014means larger text doesn\u2019t get crammed into an unresponsive container. We\u2019ll use YUI Fonts CSS to set the base size because it provides consistent-yet-adaptive font-sizes while preserving user control.\n\nThe second prerequisite is to opt into Strict Mode (more info on rendering modes) by declaring a Doctype complete with URI. You can choose XHTML or HTML, and Transitional or Strict. I prefer HTML 4.01 Strict, which looks like this:\n\n\n\nIncluding the CSS\n\nA single small CSS file powers a nearly-infinite number of layouts thanks to a recursive system and the interplay between the three distinct components. You could prune to a particular layout\u2019s specific needs, but why bother when the complete file weighs scarcely 1.8kb uncompressed? Compressed, YUI Fonts and YUI Grids combine for a miniscule 0.9kb over the wire.\n\nYou could save an HTTP request by concatenating the two CSS files, or by adding their contents to your own CSS, but I\u2019ll keep them separate for now:\n\n\n\n\nExample: The Setup\n\nNow we\u2019re ready to build some layouts.\n\nStep 1: Choose Fluid or Fixed Layout\n\nChoose between preset widths of 750px, 950px, and 100% by giving a document-wrapping div an ID of doc, doc2, or doc3. These options cover most use cases, but it\u2019s easy to define a custom fixed width.\n\nThe fluid 100% grid (doc3) is what I\u2019ve been using almost exclusively since it was introduced in the last YUI released.\n\n\n\t
    \n\n\nAll pages are centered within the viewport, and grow with font size. The 100% width page (doc3) preserves 10px of breathing room via left and right margins. If you prefer your content flush to the viewport, just add doc3 {margin:auto} to your CSS.\n\nRegardless of what you choose in the other two steps, you can always toggle between these widths and behaviors by simply swapping the ID value. It\u2019s really that simple.\n\nExample: 100% fluid layout\n\nStep 2: Choose a Template Preset\n\nThis is perhaps the most frequently omitted step (they\u2019re all optional), but I use it nearly every time. In a source-order-independent way (good for accessibility and SEO), \u201cTemplate Presets\u201d provide commonly used template widths compatible with ad-unit dimension standards defined by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, an industry association.\n\nChoose between the six Template Presets (.yui-t1 through .yui-t6) by setting the class value on the document-wrapping div established in Step 1. Most frequently I use yui-t3, which puts the narrow secondary block on the left and makes it 300px wide. \n\n\n\t
    \n\n\nThe Template Presets control two \u201cblocks\u201d of content, which are defined by two divs, each with yui-b (\u201cb\u201d for \u201cblock\u201d) class values. Template Presets describe the width and orientation of the secondary block; the main block will take up the rest of the space.\n\n\n\t
    \n\t
    \n\t
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    \n\n\nUse a wrapping div with an ID of yui-main to structurally indicate which block is the main block. This wrapper\u2014not the source order\u2014identifies the main block.\n\n\n\t
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    \n\n\nExample: Main and secondary blocks sized and oriented with .yui-t3 Template Preset\n\nAgain, regardless of what values you choose in the other steps, you can always toggle between these Template Presets by toggling the class value of your document-wrapping div. It\u2019s really that simple.\n\nStep 3: Nest and Stack Grid Structures.\n\nThe bulk of the power of the system is in this third step. The key is that columns are built by parents telling children how to behave. By default, two children each consume half of their parent\u2019s area. Put two units inside a grid structure, and they will sit side-by-side, and they will each take up half the space. Nest this structure and two columns become four. Stack them for rows of columns.\n\nAn Even Number of Columns\n\nThe default behavior creates two evenly-distributed columns. It\u2019s easy. Define one parent grid with .yui-g (\u201cg\u201d for grid) and two child units with .yui-u (\u201cu\u201d for unit). The code looks like this:\n\n
    \n\t
    \n\t
    \n
    \n\nBe sure to indicate the \u201cfirst\u201c unit because the :first-child pseudo-class selector isn\u2019t supported across all A-grade browsers. It\u2019s unfortunate we need to add this, but luckily it\u2019s not out of place in the markup layer since it is structural information.\n\nExample: Two evenly-distributed columns in the main content block\n\nAn Odd Number of Columns\n\nThe default system does not work for an odd number of columns without using the included \u201cSpecial Grids\u201d classes. To create three evenly distributed columns, use the \u201cyui-gb\u201c Special Grid:\n\n
    \n\t
    \n\t
    \n\t
    \n
    \n\nExample: Three evenly distributed columns in the main content block\n\nUneven Column Distribution\n\nSpecial Grids are also used for unevenly distributed column widths. For example, .yui-ge tells the first unit (column) to take up 75% of the parent\u2019s space and the other unit to take just 25%.\n\n
    \n\t
    \n\t
    \n
    \n\nExample: Two columns in the main content block split 75%-25%\n\nPutting It All Together\n\nStart with a full-width fluid page (div#doc3). Make the secondary block 180px wide on the right (div.yui-t4). Create three rows of columns: Three evenly distributed columns in the first row (div.yui-gb), two uneven columns (66%-33%) in the second row (div.yui-gc), and two evenly distributed columns in the thrid row.\n\n\n\t\n\t
    \n\t\t\n\t\t
    \n\t\t\t
    \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
    \n\t\t\t\t\t
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    \n\t\t\t\t\t
    \n\t\t\t\t
    \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
    \n\t\t\t\t\t
    \n\t\t\t\t\t
    \n\t\t\t\t
    \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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    \n\n\nExample: A complex layout.\n\nWasn\u2019t that easy? Now that you know the three \u201clevers\u201d of YUI Grids CSS, you\u2019ll be creating headache-free fluid layouts faster than you can say \u201cPeace on Earth\u201d.", "year": "2006", "author": "Nate Koechley", "author_slug": "natekoechley", "published": "2006-12-20T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2006/intricate-fluid-layouts/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 135, "title": "A Scripting Carol", "contents": "We all know the stories of the Ghost of Scripting Past \u2013 a time when the web was young and littered with nefarious scripting, designed to bestow ultimate control upon the developer, to pollute markup with event handler after event handler, and to entrench advertising in the minds of all that gazed upon her.\n\nAnd so it came to be that JavaScript became a dirty word, thrown out of solutions by many a Scrooge without regard to the enhancements that JavaScript could bring to any web page. JavaScript, as it was, was dead as a door-nail.\n\nWith the arrival of our core philosophy that all standardistas hold to be true: \u201cseparate your concerns \u2013 content, presentation and behaviour,\u201d we are in a new era of responsible development the Web Standards Way\u2122. Or are we? Have we learned from the Ghosts of Scripting Past? Or are we now faced with new problems that come with new ways of implementing our solutions?\n\nThe Ghost of Scripting Past\n\nIf the Ghost of Scripting Past were with us it would probably say: \n\n\n\tYou must remember your roots and where you came from, and realize the misguided nature of your early attempts for control. That person you see down there, is real and they are the reason you exist in the first place\u2026 without them, you are nothing.\n\n\nIn many ways we\u2019ve moved beyond the era of control and we do take into account the user, or at least much more so than we used to. Sadly \u2013 there is one advantage that old school inline event handlers had where we assigned and reassigned CSS style property values on the fly \u2013 we knew that if JavaScript wasn\u2019t supported, the styles wouldn\u2019t be added because we ended up doing them at the same time.\n\nIf anything, we need to have learned from the past that just because it works for us doesn\u2019t mean it is going to work for anyone else \u2013 we need to test more scenarios than ever to observe the multitude of browsing arrangements we\u2019ll observe: CSS on with JavaScript off, CSS off/overridden with JavaScript on, both on, both off/not supported. It is a situation that is ripe for conflict.\n\nThis may shock some of you, but there was a time when testing was actually easier: back in the day when Netscape 4 was king. Yes, that\u2019s right. I actually kind of enjoyed Netscape 4 (hear me out, please). With NS4\u2019s CSS implementation known as JavaScript Style Sheets, you knew that if JavaScript was off the styles were off too.\n\nThe Ghost of Scripting Present\n\nWith current best practice \u2013 we keep our CSS and JavaScript separate from each other. So what happens when some of our fancy, unobtrusive DOM Scripting doesn\u2019t play nicely with our wonderfully defined style rules?\n\nLets look at one example of a collapsing and expanding menu to illustrate where we are now:\n\nSimple Collapsing/Expanding Menu Example\n\nWe\u2019re using some simple JavaScript (I\u2019m using jquery in this case) to toggle between a CSS state for expanded and not expanded:\n\nJavaScript\n\n$(document).ready(function(){\n\tTWOFOURWAYS.enableTree();\n});\nvar TWOFOURWAYS = new Object();\nTWOFOURWAYS.enableTree = function ()\n{\n\t$(\"ul li a\").toggle(function(){\n\t\t$(this.parentNode).addClass(\"expanded\");\n\t}, function() {\n\t\t$(this.parentNode).removeClass(\"expanded\");\n\t});\n\treturn false;\t\n}\n\nCSS\n\nul li ul {\n\tdisplay: none;\n}\nul li.expanded ul {\n\tdisplay: block;\n}\n\nAt this point we\u2019ve separated our presentation from our content and behaviour, and all is well, right?\n\nNot quite.\n\nHere\u2019s where I typically see failures in the assessment work that I do on web sites and applications (Yes, call me Scrooge \u2013 I don\u2019t care!). We know our page needs to work with or without scripting, and we know it needs to work with or without CSS. All too often the testing scenarios don\u2019t take into account combinations.\n\nTesting it out\n\nSo what happens when we test this? Make sure you test with:\n\n\n\tCSS off\n\tJavaScript off\n\n\nUse the simple example again.\n\nWith CSS off, we revert to a simple nested list of links and all functionality is maintained. With JavaScript off, however, we run into a problem \u2013 we have now removed the ability to expand the menu using the JavaScript triggered CSS change.\n\nHopefully you see the problem \u2013 we have a JavaScript and CSS dependency that is critical to the functionality of the page. Unobtrusive scripting and binary on/off tests aren\u2019t enough. We need more.\n\nThis Ghost of Scripting Present sighting is seen all too often.\n\nLets examine the JavaScript off scenario a bit further \u2013 if we require JavaScript to expand/show the branch of the tree we should use JavaScript to hide them in the first place. That way we guarantee functionality in all scenarios, and have achieved our baseline level of interoperability. \n\nTo revise this then, we\u2019ll start with the sub items expanded, use JavaScript to collapse them, and then use the same JavaScript to expand them.\n\nHTML\n\n\n\nCSS\n\n/* initial style is expanded */\nul li ul.collapseme {\n\tdisplay: block;\n}\n\nJavaScript\n\n// remove the class collapseme after the page loads\n$(\"ul ul.collapseme\").removeClass(\"collapseme\");\n\nAnd there you have it \u2013 a revised example with better interoperability.\n\nThis isn\u2019t rocket surgery by any means. It is a simple solution to a ghostly problem that is too easily overlooked (and often is).\n\nThe Ghost of Scripting Future\n\nWell, I\u2019m not so sure about this one, but I\u2019m guessing that in a few years\u2019 time, we\u2019ll all have seen a few more apparitions and have a few more tales to tell. And hopefully we\u2019ll be able to share them on 24 ways.\n\nThanks to Drew for the invitation to contribute and thanks to everyone else out there for making this a great (and haunting) year on the web!", "year": "2006", "author": "Derek Featherstone", "author_slug": "derekfeatherstone", "published": "2006-12-21T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2006/a-scripting-carol/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 165, "title": "Transparent PNGs in Internet Explorer 6", "contents": "Newer breeds of browser such as Firefox and Safari have offered support for PNG images with full alpha channel transparency for a few years. With the use of hacks, support has been available in Internet Explorer 5.5 and 6, but the hacks are non-ideal and have been tricky to use. With IE7 winning masses of users from earlier versions over the last year, full PNG alpha-channel transparency is becoming more of a reality for day-to-day use.\n\nHowever, there are still numbers of IE6 users out there who we can\u2019t leave out in the cold this Christmas, so in this article I\u2019m going to look what we can do to support IE6 users whilst taking full advantage of transparency for the majority of a site\u2019s visitors.\n\nSo what\u2019s alpha channel transparency?\n\nCast your minds back to the Ghost of Christmas Past, the humble GIF. Images in GIF format offer transparency, but that transparency is either on or off for any given pixel. Each pixel\u2019s either fully transparent, or a solid colour. In GIF, transparency is effectively just a special colour you can chose for a pixel.\n\nThe PNG format tackles the problem rather differently. As well as having any colour you chose, each pixel also carries a separate channel of information detailing how transparent it is. This alpha channel enables a pixel to be fully transparent, fully opaque, or critically, any step in between.\n\nThis enables designers to produce images that can have, for example, soft edges without any of the \u2018halo effect\u2019 traditionally associated with GIF transparency. If you\u2019ve ever worked on a site that has different colour schemes and therefore requires multiple versions of each graphic against a different colour, you\u2019ll immediately see the benefit. \n\nWhat\u2019s perhaps more interesting than that, however, is the extra creative freedom this gives designers in creating beautiful sites that can remain web-like in their ability to adjust, scale and reflow.\n\nThe Internet Explorer problem\n\nUp until IE7, there has been no fully native support for PNG alpha channel transparency in Internet Explorer. However, since IE5.5 there has been some support in the form of proprietary filter called the AlphaImageLoader. Internet Explorer filters can be applied directly in your CSS (for both inline and background images), or by setting the same CSS property with JavaScript. \n\nCSS:\n\nimg {\n\tfilter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.AlphaImageLoader(...);\n}\n\nJavaScript:\n\nimg.style.filter = \"progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.AlphaImageLoader(...)\";\n\nThat may sound like a problem solved, but all is not as it may appear. Firstly, as you may realise, there\u2019s no CSS property called filter in the W3C CSS spec. It\u2019s a proprietary extension added by Microsoft that could potentially cause other browsers to reject your entire CSS rule. \n\nSecondly, AlphaImageLoader does not magically add full PNG transparency support so that a PNG in the page will just start working. Instead, when applied to an element in the page, it draws a new rendering surface in the same space that element occupies and loads a PNG into it. If that sounds weird, it\u2019s because that\u2019s precisely what it is. However, by and large the result is that PNGs with an alpha channel can be accommodated.\n\nThe pitfalls\n\nSo, whilst support for PNG transparency in IE5.5 and 6 is possible, it\u2019s not without its problems.\n\nBackground images cannot be positioned or repeated\n\nThe AlphaImageLoader does work for background images, but only for the simplest of cases. If your design requires the image to be tiled (background-repeat) or positioned (background-position) you\u2019re out of luck. The AlphaImageLoader allows you to set a sizingMethod to either crop the image (if necessary) or to scale it to fit. Not massively useful, but something at least.\n\nDelayed loading and resource use\n\nThe AlphaImageLoader can be quite slow to load, and appears to consume more resources than a standard image when applied. Typically, you\u2019d need to add thousands of GIFs or JPEGs to a page before you saw any noticeable impact on the browser, but with the AlphaImageLoader filter applied Internet Explorer can become sluggish after just a handful of alpha channel PNGs.\n\nThe other noticeable effect is that as more instances of the AlphaImageLoader are applied, the longer it takes to render the PNGs with their transparency. The user sees the PNG load in its original non-supported state (with black or grey areas where transparency should be) before one by one the filter kicks in and makes them properly transparent.\n\nBoth the issue of sluggish behaviour and delayed load only really manifest themselves with volume and size of image. Use just a couple of instances and it\u2019s fine, but be careful adding more than five or six. As ever, test, test, test.\n\nLinks become unclickable, forms unfocusable \n\nThis is a big one. There\u2019s a bug/weirdness with AlphaImageLoader that sometimes prevents interaction with links and forms when a PNG background image is used. This is sometimes reported as a z-index issue, but I don\u2019t believe it is. Rather, it\u2019s an artefact of that weird way the filter gets applied to the document almost outside of the normal render process. \n\nOften this can be solved by giving the links or form elements hasLayout using position: relative; where possible. However, this doesn\u2019t always work and the non-interaction problem cannot always be solved. You may find yourself having to go back to the drawing board.\n\nSidestepping the danger zones\n\nFrankly, it\u2019s pretty bad news if you design a site, have that design signed off by your client, build it and then find out only at the end (because you don\u2019t know what might trigger a problem) that your search field can\u2019t be focused in IE6. That\u2019s an absolute nightmare, and whilst it\u2019s not likely to happen, it\u2019s possible that it might. It\u2019s happened to me. So what can you do?\n\nThe best approach I\u2019ve found to this scenario is\n\n\n\tIsolate the PNG or PNGs that are causing the problem. Step through the PNGs in your page, commenting them out one by one and retesting. Typically it\u2019ll be the nearest PNG to the problem, so try there first. Keep going until you can click your links or focus your form fields.\n\tThis is where you really need luck on your side, because you\u2019re going to have to fake it. This will depend on the design of the site, but some way or other create a replacement GIF or JPEG image that will give you an acceptable result. Then use conditional comments to serve that image to only users of IE older than version 7.\n\n\nA hack, you say? Well, you started it chum.\n\nApplying AlphaImageLoader\n\nBecause the filter property is invalid CSS, the safest pragmatic approach is to apply it selectively with JavaScript for only Internet Explorer versions 5.5 and 6. This helps ensure that by default you\u2019re serving standard CSS to browsers that support both the CSS and PNG standards correct, and then selectively patching up only the browsers that need it. \n\nSeveral years ago, Aaron Boodman wrote and released a script called sleight for doing just that. However, sleight dealt only with images in the page, and not background images applied with CSS. Building on top of Aaron\u2019s work, I hacked sleight and came up with bgsleight for applying the filter to background images instead. That was in 2003, and over the years I\u2019ve made a couple of improvements here and there to keep it ticking over and to resolve conflicts between sleight and bgsleight when used together. However, with alpha channel PNGs becoming much more widespread, it\u2019s time for a new version.\n\nIntroducing SuperSleight\n\nSuperSleight adds a number of new and useful features that have come from the day-to-day needs of working with PNGs.\n\n\n\tWorks with both inline and background images, replacing the need for both sleight and bgsleight\n\tWill automatically apply position: relative to links and form fields if they don\u2019t already have position set. (Can be disabled.)\n\tCan be run on the entire document, or just a selected part where you know the PNGs are. This is better for performance.\n\tDetects background images set to no-repeat and sets the scaleMode to crop rather than scale.\n\tCan be re-applied by any other JavaScript in the page \u2013 useful if new content has been loaded by an Ajax request.\n\n\n Download SuperSleight \n\nImplementation\n\nGetting SuperSleight running on a page is quite straightforward, you just need to link the supplied JavaScript file (or the minified version if you prefer) into your document inside conditional comments so that it is delivered to only Internet Explorer 6 or older.\n\n\n\nSupplied with the JavaScript is a simple transparent GIF file. The script replaces the existing PNG with this before re-layering the PNG over the top using AlphaImageLoaded. You can change the name or path of the image in the top of the JavaScript file, where you\u2019ll also find the option to turn off the adding of position: relative to links and fields if you don\u2019t want that.\n\nThe script is kicked off with a call to supersleight.init() at the bottom. The scope of the script can be limited to just one part of the page by passing an ID of an element to supersleight.limitTo(). And that\u2019s all there is to it.\n\nUpdate March 2008: a version of this script as a jQuery plugin is also now available.", "year": "2007", "author": "Drew McLellan", "author_slug": "drewmclellan", "published": "2007-12-01T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2007/supersleight-transparent-png-in-ie6/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 163, "title": "Get To Grips with Slippy Maps", "contents": "Online mapping has definitely hit mainstream. Google Maps made \u2018slippy maps\u2019 popular and made it easy for any developer to quickly add a dynamic map to his or her website. You can now find maps for store locations, friends nearby, upcoming events, and embedded in blogs. \n\nIn this tutorial we\u2019ll show you how to easily add a map to your site using the Mapstraction mapping library. There are many map providers available to choose from, each with slightly different functionality, design, and terms of service. Mapstraction makes deciding which provider to use easy by allowing you to write your mapping code once, and then easily switch providers.\n\nAssemble the pieces\n\nUtilizing any of the mapping library typically consists of similar overall steps:\n\n\n\tCreate an HTML div to hold the map\n\tInclude the Javascript libraries\n\tCreate the Javascript Map element\n\tSet the initial map center and zoom level\n\tAdd markers, lines, overlays and more\n\n\nCreate the Map Div\n\nThe HTML div is where the map will actually show up on your page. It needs to have a unique id, because we\u2019ll refer to that later to actually put the map here. This also lets you have multiple maps on a page, by creating individual divs and Javascript map elements. The size of the div also sets the height and width of the map. You set the size using CSS, either inline with the element, or via a CSS reference to the element id or class. For this example, we\u2019ll use inline styling.\n\n
    \n\nInclude Javascript libraries\n\nA mapping library is like any Javascript library. You need to include the library in your page before you use the methods of that library. For our tutorial, we\u2019ll need to include at least two libraries: Mapstraction, and the mapping API(s) we want to display. Our first example we\u2019ll use the ubiquitous Google Maps library. However, you can just as easily include Yahoo, MapQuest, or any of the other supported libraries.\n\nAnother important aspect of the mapping libraries is that many of them require an API key. You will need to agree to the terms of service, and get an API key these.\n\n\n\n\nCreate the Map\n\nGreat, we\u2019ve now put in all the pieces we need to start actually creating our map. This is as simple as creating a new Mapstraction object with the id of the HTML div we created earlier, and the name of the mapping provider we want to use for this map. \n\nWith several of the mapping libraries you will need to set the map center and zoom level before the map will appear. The map centering actually triggers the initialization of the map. \n\nvar mapstraction = new Mapstraction('map','google');\nvar myPoint = new LatLonPoint(37.404,-122.008);\nmapstraction.setCenterAndZoom(myPoint, 10);\n\nA note about zoom levels. The setCenterAndZoom function takes two parameters, the center as a LatLonPoint, and a zoom level that has been defined by mapping libraries. The current usage is for zoom level 1 to be \u201czoomed out\u201d, or view the entire earth \u2013 and increasing the zoom level as you zoom in. Typically 17 is the maximum zoom, which is about the size of a house. \n\nDifferent mapping providers have different quality of zoomed in maps over different parts of the world. This is a perfect reason why using a library like Mapstraction is very useful, because you can quickly change mapping providers to accommodate users in areas that have bad coverage with some maps. \n\nTo switch providers, you just need to include the Javascript library, and then change the second parameter in the Mapstraction creation. Or, you can call the switch method to dynamically switch the provider.\n\nSo for Yahoo Maps (demo):\n\nvar mapstraction = new Mapstraction('map','yahoo');\n\nor Microsoft Maps (demo):\n\nvar mapstraction = new Mapstraction('map','microsoft');\n\nwant a 3D globe in your browser? try FreeEarth (demo):\n\nvar mapstraction = new Mapstraction('map','freeearth');\n\nor even OpenStreetMap (free your data!) (demo):\n\nvar mapstraction = new Mapstraction('map','openstreetmap');\n\nVisit the Mapstraction multiple map demo page for an example of how easy it is to have many maps on your page, each with a different provider. \n\nAdding Markers\n\nWhile adding your first map is fun, and you can probably spend hours just sliding around, the point of adding a map to your site is usually to show the location of something. So now you want to add some markers. There are a couple of ways to add to your map.\n\nThe simplest is directly creating markers. You could either hard code this into a rather static page, or dynamically generate these using whatever tools your site is built on.\n\nvar marker = new Marker( new LatLonPoint(37.404,-122.008) );\nmarker.setInfoBubble(\"It's easy to add maps to your site\");\nmapstraction.addMarker( marker );\n\nThere is a lot more you can do with markers, including changing the icon, adding timestamps, automatically opening the bubble, or making them draggable. \n\nWhile it is straight-forward to create markers one by one, there is a much easier way to create a large set of markers. And chances are, you can make it very easy by extending some data you already are sharing: RSS. \n\nSpecifically, using GeoRSS you can easily add a large set of markers directly to a map. GeoRSS is a community built standard (like Microformats) that added geographic markup to RSS and Atom entries. It\u2019s as simple as adding 42 -83 to your feeds to share items via GeoRSS. Once you\u2019ve done that, you can add that feed as an \u2018overlay\u2019 to your map using the function:\n\nmapstraction.addOverlay(\"http://api.flickr.com/services/feeds/groups_pool.gne?id=322338@N20&format=rss_200&georss=1\");\n\nMapstraction also supports KML for many of the mapping providers. So it\u2019s easy to add various data sources together with your own data. Check out Mapufacture for a growing index of available GeoRSS feeds and KML documents. \n\nPlay with your new toys\n\nMapstraction offers a lot more functionality you can utilize for demonstrating a lot of geographic data on your website. It also includes geocoding and routing abstraction layers for making sure your users know where to go. You can see more on the Mapstraction website: http://mapstraction.com.", "year": "2007", "author": "Andrew Turner", "author_slug": "andrewturner", "published": "2007-12-02T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2007/get-to-grips-with-slippy-maps/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 145, "title": "The Neverending (Background Image) Story", "contents": "Everyone likes candy for Christmas, and there\u2019s none better than eye candy. Well, that, and just more of the stuff. Today we\u2019re going to combine both of those good points and look at how to create a beautiful background image that goes on and on\u2026 forever!\n\nOf course, each background image is different, so instead of agonising over each and every pixel, I\u2019m going to concentrate on five key steps that you can apply to any of your own repeating background images. In this example, we\u2019ll look at the Miami Beach background image used on the new FOWA site, which I\u2019m afraid is about as un-festive as you can get.\n\n1. Choose your image wisely\n\nI find there are three main criteria when judging photos you\u2019re considering for repetition manipulation (or \u2018repetulation\u2019, as I like to say)\u2026\n\n\n\tsimplicity (beware of complex patterns)\n\tangle and perspective (watch out for shadows and obvious vanishing points)\n\tconsistent elements (for easy cloning)\n\n\nYou might want to check out this annotated version of the image, where I\u2019ve highlighted elements of the photo that led me to choose it as the right one.\n\nThe original image purchased from iStockPhoto.\n\nThe Photoshopped version used on the FOWA site.\n\n2. The power of horizontal lines\n\nWith the image chosen and your cursor poised for some Photoshop magic, the most useful thing you can do is drag out the edge pixels from one side of the image to create a kind of rough colour \u2018template\u2019 on which to work over. It doesn\u2019t matter which side you choose, although you might find it beneficial to use the one with the simplest spread of colour and complex elements.\n\nClick and hold on the marquee tool in the toolbar and select the \u2018single column marquee tool\u2019, which will span the full height of your document but will only be one pixel wide. Make the selection right at the edge of your document, press ctrl-c / cmd-c to copy the selection you made, create a new layer, and hit ctrl-v / cmd-v to paste the selection onto your new layer. using free transform (ctrl-t / cmd-t), drag out your selection so that it becomes as wide as your entire canvas. \n\nA one-pixel-wide selection stretched out to the entire width of the canvas.\n\n3. Cloning\n\nIt goes without saying that the trusty clone tool is one of the most important in the process of creating a seamlessly repeating background image, but I think it\u2019s important to be fairly loose with it. Always clone on to a new layer so that you\u2019ve got the freedom to move it around, but above all else, use the eraser tool to tweak your cloned areas: let that handle the precision stuff and you won\u2019t have to worry about getting your clones right first time.\n\nIn the example below, you can see how I overcame the problem of the far-left tree shadow being chopped off by cloning the shadow from the tree on its right. \n\nThe edge of the shadow is cut off and needs to be \u2018made\u2019 from a pre-existing element.\n\nThe successful clone completes the missing shadow.\n\nThe two elements are obviously very similar but it doesn\u2019t look like a clone because the majority of the shape is \u2018genuine\u2019 and only a small part is a duplicate. Also, after cloning I transformed the duplicate, erased parts of it, used gradients, and \u2014 ooh, did someone mention gradients?\n\n4. Never underestimate a gradient\n\nFor this image, I used gradients in a similar way to a brush: covering large parts of the canvas with a colour that faded out to a desired point, before erasing certain parts for accuracy.\n\nSeveral of the gradients and brushes that make up the \u2018customised\u2019 part of the image, visible when the main photograph layer is hidden.\n\nThe full composite.\n\nGradients are also a bit of an easy fix: you can use a gradient on one side of the image, flip it horizontally, and then use it again on the opposite side to make a more seamless join.\n\nSpeaking of which\u2026\n\n5. Sewing the seams\n\nNo matter what kind of magic Photoshop dust you sprinkle over your image, there will still always be the area where the two edges meet: that scary \u2018loop\u2019 point. Fret ye not, however, for there\u2019s help at hand in the form of a nice little cheat. Even though the loop point might still be apparent, we can help hide it by doing something to throw viewers off the scent.\n\nThe seam is usually easy to spot because it\u2019s a blank area with not much detail or colour variation, so in order to disguise it, go against the rule: put something across it!\n\nThis isn\u2019t quite as challenging as it may sound, because if we intentionally make our own \u2018object\u2019 to span the join, we can accurately measure the exact halfway point where we need to split it across the two sides of the image. This is exactly what I did with the FOWA background image: I made some clouds!\n\nA sky with no clouds in an unhappy one.\n\nA simple soft white brush creates a cloud-like formation in the sky.\n\nAfter taking the cloud\u2019s opacity down to 20%, I used free transform to highlight the boundaries of the layer. I then moved it over to the right, so that the middle of the layer perfectly aligned with the right side of the canvas.\n\nFinally, I duplicated the layer and did the same in reverse: dragging the layer over to the left and making sure that the middle of the duplicate layer perfectly aligned with the left side of the canvas.\n\nAnd there you have it! Boom! Ta-da! Et Voila! To see the repeating background image in action, visit futureofwebapps.com on a large widescreen monitor or see a simulation of the effect.\n\nThanks for reading, folks. Have a great Christmas!", "year": "2007", "author": "Elliot Jay Stocks", "author_slug": "elliotjaystocks", "published": "2007-12-03T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2007/the-neverending-background-image-story/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 157, "title": "Capturing Caps Lock", "contents": "One of the more annoying aspects of having to remember passwords (along with having to remember loads of them) is that if you\u2019ve got Caps Lock turned on accidentally when you type one in, it won\u2019t work, and you won\u2019t know why. Most desktop computers alert you in some way if you\u2019re trying to enter your password to log on and you\u2019ve enabled Caps Lock; there\u2019s no reason why the web can\u2019t do the same. What we want is a warning \u2013 maybe the user wants Caps Lock on, because maybe their password is in capitals \u2013 rather than something that interrupts what they\u2019re doing. Something subtle.\n\nBut that doesn\u2019t answer the question of how to do it. Sadly, there\u2019s no way of actually detecting whether Caps Lock is on directly. However, there\u2019s a simple work-around; if the user presses a key, and it\u2019s a capital letter, and they don\u2019t have the Shift key depressed, why then they must have Caps Lock on! Simple. \n\nDOM scripting allows your code to be notified when a key is pressed in an element; when the key is pressed, you get the ASCII code for that key. Capital letters, A to Z, have ASCII codes 65 to 90. So, the code would look something like:\n\non a key press\n\tif the ASCII code for the key is between 65 and 90 *and* if shift is pressed\n\t\twarn the user that they have Caps Lock on, but let them carry on\n\tend if\nend keypress\n\nThe actual JavaScript for this is more complicated, because both event handling and keypress information differ across browsers. Your event handling functions are passed an event object, except in Internet Explorer where you use the global event object; the event object has a which parameter containing the ASCII code for the key pressed, except in Internet Explorer where the event object has a keyCode parameter; some browsers store whether the shift key is pressed in a shiftKey parameter and some in a modifiers parameter. All this boils down to code that looks something like this:\n\nkeypress: function(e) {\n\tvar ev = e ? e : window.event;\n\tif (!ev) {\n\t\treturn;\n\t}\n\tvar targ = ev.target ? ev.target : ev.srcElement;\n\t// get key pressed\n\tvar which = -1;\n\tif (ev.which) {\n\t\twhich = ev.which;\n\t} else if (ev.keyCode) {\n\t\twhich = ev.keyCode;\n\t}\n\t// get shift status\n\tvar shift_status = false;\n\tif (ev.shiftKey) {\n\t\tshift_status = ev.shiftKey;\n\t} else if (ev.modifiers) {\n\t\tshift_status = !!(ev.modifiers & 4);\n\t}\n\n\t// At this point, you have the ASCII code in \u201cwhich\u201d, \n\t// and shift_status is true if the shift key is pressed\n}\n\nThen it\u2019s just a check to see if the ASCII code is between 65 and 90 and the shift key is pressed. (You also need to do the same work if the ASCII code is between 97 (a) and 122 (z) and the shift key is not pressed, because shifted letters are lower-case if Caps Lock is on.)\n\nif (((which >= 65 && which <= 90) && !shift_status) || \n\t((which >= 97 && which <= 122) && shift_status)) {\n\t// uppercase, no shift key\n\t/* SHOW THE WARNING HERE */\n} else {\n\t/* HIDE THE WARNING HERE */\n}\n\nThe warning can be implemented in many different ways: highlight the password field that the user is typing into, show a tooltip, display text next to the field. For simplicity, this code shows the warning as a previously created image, with appropriate alt text. Showing the warning means creating a new tag with DOM scripting, dropping it into the page, and positioning it so that it\u2019s next to the appropriate field. The image looks like this:\n\n\n\nYou know the position of the field the user is typing into (from its offsetTop and offsetLeft properties) and how wide it is (from its offsetWidth properties), so use createElement to make the new img element, and then absolutely position it with style properties so that it appears in the appropriate place (near to the text field). \n\nThe image is a transparent PNG with an alpha channel, so that the drop shadow appears nicely over whatever else is on the page. Because Internet Explorer version 6 and below doesn\u2019t handle transparent PNGs correctly, you need to use the AlphaImageLoader technique to make the image appear correctly.\n\nnewimage = document.createElement('img');\nnewimage.src = \"http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2145/2067574980_3ddd405905_o_d.png\";\nnewimage.style.position = \"absolute\";\nnewimage.style.top = (targ.offsetTop - 73) + \"px\";\nnewimage.style.left = (targ.offsetLeft + targ.offsetWidth - 5) + \"px\";\nnewimage.style.zIndex = \"999\";\nnewimage.setAttribute(\"alt\", \"Warning: Caps Lock is on\");\nif (newimage.runtimeStyle) {\n\t// PNG transparency for IE\n\tnewimage.runtimeStyle.filter += \"progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.AlphaImageLoader(src='http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2145/2067574980_3ddd405905_o_d.png',sizingMethod='scale')\";\n}\ndocument.body.appendChild(newimage);\n\nNote that the alt text on the image is also correctly set. Next, all these parts need to be pulled together. On page load, identify all the password fields on the page, and attach a keypress handler to each. (This only needs to be done for password fields because the user can see if Caps Lock is on in ordinary text fields.)\n\nvar inps = document.getElementsByTagName(\"input\");\nfor (var i=0, l=inps.length; i\n\nThe \u201ccreate an image\u201d code from above should only be run if the image is not already showing, so instead of creating a newimage object, create the image and attach it to the password field so that it can be checked for later (and not shown if it\u2019s already showing). For safety, all the code should be wrapped up in its own object, so that its functions don\u2019t collide with anyone else\u2019s functions. So, create a single object called capslock and make all the functions be named methods of the object:\n\nvar capslock = {\n\t... \n\tkeypress: function(e) {\n\t}\n\t...\n}\n\nAlso, the \u201ccreate an image\u201d code is saved into its own named function, show_warning(), and the converse \u201cremove the image\u201d code into hide_warning(). This has the advantage that developers can include the JavaScript library that has been written here, but override what actually happens with their own code, using something like:\n\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s all. Simply include the JavaScript library in your pages, override what happens on a warning if that\u2019s more appropriate for what you\u2019re doing, and that\u2019s all you need.\n\n See the script in action.", "year": "2007", "author": "Stuart Langridge", "author_slug": "stuartlangridge", "published": "2007-12-04T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2007/capturing-caps-lock/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 164, "title": "My Other Christmas Present Is a Definition List", "contents": "A note from the editors: readers should note that the HTML5 redefinition of definition lists has come to pass and is now \u00e0 la mode.\n \n \n \n Last year, I looked at how the markup for tag clouds was generally terrible. I thought this year I would look not at a method of marking up a common module, but instead just at a simple part of HTML and how it generally gets abused.\n\nNo, not tables. Definition lists. Ah, definition lists. Often used but rarely understood.\n\nExamining the definition of definitions\n\nTo start with, let\u2019s see what the HTML spec has to say about them.\n\n\n\tDefinition lists vary only slightly from other types of lists in that list items consist of two parts: a term and a description.\n\n\nThe canonical example of a definition list is a dictionary. Words can have multiple descriptions (even the word definition has at least five). Also, many terms can share a single definition (for example, the word colour can also be spelt color, but they have the same definition).\n\nExcellent, we can all grasp that. But it very quickly starts to fall apart. Even in the HTML specification the definition list is mis-used.\n\n\n\tAnother application of DL, for example, is for marking up dialogues, with each DT naming a speaker, and each DD containing his or her words.\n\n\nWrong. Completely and utterly wrong. This is the biggest flaw in the HTML spec, along with dropping support for the start attribute on ordered lists. \u201cWhy?\u201d, you may ask. Let me give you an example from Romeo and Juliet, act 2, scene 2.\n\n
    Juliet
    \n\t
    Romeo!
    \n
    Romeo
    \n\t
    My niesse?
    \n
    Juliet
    \n\t
    At what o'clock tomorrow shall I send to thee?
    \n
    Romeo
    \n\t
    At the hour of nine.
    \n\nNow, the problem here is that a given definition can have multiple descriptions (the DD). Really the dialog \u201cdescriptions\u201d should be rolled up under the terms, like so:\n\n
    Juliet
    \n\t
    Romeo!
    \n\t
    At what o'clock tomorrow shall I send to thee?
    \n
    Romeo
    \n\t
    My niesse?
    \n\t
    At the hour of nine.
    \n\nSuddenly the play won\u2019t make anywhere near as much sense. (If it\u2019s anything, the correct markup for a play is an ordered list of CITE and BLOCKQUOTE elements.)\n\nThis is the first part of the problem. That simple example has turned definition lists in everyone\u2019s mind from pure definitions to more along the lines of a list with pre-configured heading(s) and text(s).\n\nScreen reader, enter stage left.\n\nIn many screen readers, a simple definition list would be read out as \u201cdefinition term equals definition description\u201d. So in our play excerpt, Juliet equals Romeo! That\u2019s not right, either. But this also leads a lot of people astray with definition lists to believing that they are useful for key/value pairs.\n\nBehaviour and convention\n\nThe WHAT-WG have noticed the common mis-use of the DL, and have codified it into the new spec. In the HTML5 draft, a definition list is no longer a definition list.\n\n\n\tThe dl element introduces an unordered association list consisting of zero or more name-value groups (a description list). Each group must consist of one or more names (dt elements) followed by one or more values (dd elements).\n\n\nThey also note that the \u201cdl element is inappropriate for marking up dialogue, since dialogue is ordered\u201d. So for that example they have created a DIALOG (sic) element.\n\nStrange, then, that they keep DL as-is but instead refer to it an \u201cassociation list\u201d. They have not created a new AL element, and kept DL for the original purpose. They have chosen not to correct the usage or to create a new opportunity for increased specificity in our HTML, but to \u201cpave the cowpath\u201d of convention.\n\nHow to use a definition list\n\nGiven that everyone else is using a DL incorrectly, should we? Well, if they all jumped off a bridge, would you too? No, of course you wouldn\u2019t. We don\u2019t have HTML5 yet, so we\u2019re stuck with the existing semantics of HTML4 and XHTML1. Which means that:\n\n\n\tListing dialogue is not defining anything.\n\tListing the attributes of a piece of hardware (resolution = 1600\u00d71200) is illustrating sample values, not defining anything (however, stating what \u2018resolution\u2019 actually means in this context would be a definition).\n\tListing the cast and crew of a given movie is not defining the people involved in making movies. (Stuart Gordon may have been the director of Space Truckers, but that by no means makes him the true definition of a director.)\n\tA menu of navigation items is simply a nested ordered or unordered list of links, not a definition list.\n\tApplying styling handles to form labels and elements is not a good use for a definition list.\n\n\nAnd so on.\n\nLiving by the specification, a definition list should be used for term definitions \u2013 glossaries, lexicons and dictionaries \u2013 only.\n\nAnything else is a crime against markup.", "year": "2007", "author": "Mark Norman Francis", "author_slug": "marknormanfrancis", "published": "2007-12-05T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2007/my-other-christmas-present-is-a-definition-list/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 153, "title": "JavaScript Internationalisation", "contents": "or: Why Rudolph Is More Than Just a Shiny Nose\n\nDunder sat, glumly staring at the computer screen.\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s up, Dunder?\u201d asked Rudolph, entering the stable and shaking off the snow from his antlers.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d Dunder replied, \u201cI\u2019ve just finished coding the new reindeer intranet Santa Claus asked me to do. You know how he likes to appear to be at the cutting edge, talking incessantly about Web 2.0, AJAX, rounded corners; he even spooked Comet recently by talking about him as if he were some pushy web server.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve managed to keep him happy, whilst also keeping it usable, accessible, and gleaming \u2014 and I\u2019m still on the back row of the sleigh! But anyway, given the elves will be the ones using the site, and they come from all over the world, the site is in multiple languages. Which is great, except when it comes to the preview JavaScript I\u2019ve written for the reindeer order form. Here, have a look\u2026\u201d\n\nAs he said that, he brought up the textileRef:8234272265470b85d91702:linkStartMarker:\u201corder\n form in French\u201d:/examples/javascript-internationalisation/initial.fr.html on the screen. (Same in English).\n\n\u201cLooks good,\u201d said Rudolph.\n\n\u201cBut if I add some items,\u201d said Dunder, \u201cthe preview appears in English, as it\u2019s hard-coded in the JavaScript. I don\u2019t want separate code for each language, as that\u2019s just silly \u2014 I thought about just having if statements, but that doesn\u2019t scale at all\u2026\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd there\u2019s more, you aren\u2019t displaying large numbers in French properly, either,\u201d added Rudolph, who had been playing and looking at part of the source code:\n\nfunction update_text() {\n\tvar hay = getValue('hay');\n\tvar carrots = getValue('carrots');\n\tvar bells = getValue('bells');\n\tvar total = 50 * bells + 30 * hay + 10 * carrots;\n\tvar out = 'You are ordering '\n\t\t+ pretty_num(hay) + ' bushel' + pluralise(hay) + ' of hay, '\n\t\t+ pretty_num(carrots) + ' carrot' + pluralise(carrots)\n\t\t+ ', and ' + pretty_num(bells) + ' shiny bell' + pluralise(bells)\n\t\t+ ', at a total cost of ' + pretty_num(total)\n\t\t+ ' gold pieces. Thank you.';\n\tdocument.getElementById('preview').innerHTML = out;\n}\nfunction pretty_num(n) {\n\tn += '';\n\tvar o = '';\n\tfor (i=n.length; i>3; i-=3) {\n\t\to = ',' + n.slice(i-3, i) + o;\n\t}\n\to = n.slice(0, i) + o;\n\treturn o;\n}\nfunction pluralise(n) {\n\tif (n!=1) return 's';\n\treturn '';\n}\n\n\u201cOh, botheration!\u201d cried Dunder. \u201cThis is just so complicated.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt doesn\u2019t have to be,\u201d said Rudolph, \u201cyou just have to think about things in a slightly different way from what you\u2019re used to. As we\u2019re only a simple example, we won\u2019t be able to cover all possibilities, but for starters, we need some way of providing different information to the script dependent on the language. We\u2019ll create a global i18n object, say, and fill it with the correct language information. The first variable we\u2019ll need will be a thousands separator, and then we can change the pretty_num function to use that instead:\n\nfunction pretty_num(n) {\n\tn += '';\n\tvar o = '';\n\tfor (i=n.length; i>3; i-=3) {\n\t\to = i18n.thousands_sep + n.slice(i-3, i) + o;\n\t}\n\to = n.slice(0, i) + o;\n\treturn o;\n}\n\n\u201cThe i18n object will also contain our translations, which we will access through a function called _() \u2014 that\u2019s just an underscore. Other languages have a function of the same name doing the same thing. It\u2019s very simple:\n\nfunction _(s) {\n\tif (typeof(i18n)!='undefined' && i18n[s]) {\n\t\treturn i18n[s];\n\t}\n\treturn s;\n}\n\n\u201cSo if a translation is available and provided, we\u2019ll use that; otherwise we\u2019ll default to the string provided \u2014 which is helpful if the translation begins to lag behind the site\u2019s text at all, as at least something will be output.\u201d\n\n\u201cGot it,\u201d said Dunder. \u201c _('Hello Dunder') will print the translation of that string, if one exists, \u2018Hello Dunder\u2019 if not.\u201d\n\n\u201cExactly. Moving on, your plural function breaks even in English if we have a word where the plural doesn\u2019t add an s \u2014 like \u2018children\u2019.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou\u2019re right,\u201d said Dunder. \u201cHow did I miss that?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo harm done. Better to provide both singular and plural words to the function and let it decide which to use, performing any translation as well:\n\nfunction pluralise(s, p, n) {\n\tif (n != 1) return _(p);\n\treturn _(s);\n}\n\n\u201cWe\u2019d have to provide different functions for different languages as we employed more elves and got more complicated \u2014 for example, in Polish, the word \u2018file\u2019 pluralises like this: 1 plik, 2-4 pliki, 5-21 plik\u00f3w, 22-24 pliki, 25-31 plik\u00f3w, and so on.\u201d (More information on plural forms)\n\n\u201cGosh!\u201d\n\n\u201cNext, as different languages have different word orders, we must stop using concatenation to construct sentences, as it would be impossible for other languages to fit in; we have to keep coherent strings together. Let\u2019s rewrite your update function, and then go through it:\n\nfunction update_text() {\n\tvar hay = getValue('hay');\n\tvar carrots = getValue('carrots');\n\tvar bells = getValue('bells');\n\tvar total = 50 * bells + 30 * hay + 10 * carrots;\n\thay = sprintf(pluralise('%s bushel of hay', '%s bushels of hay', hay), pretty_num(hay));\n\tcarrots = sprintf(pluralise('%s carrot', '%s carrots', carrots), pretty_num(carrots));\n\tbells = sprintf(pluralise('%s shiny bell', '%s shiny bells', bells), pretty_num(bells));\n\tvar list = sprintf(_('%s, %s, and %s'), hay, carrots, bells);\n\tvar out = sprintf(_('You are ordering %s, at a total cost of %s gold pieces.'),\n\t\tlist, pretty_num(total));\n\tout += ' ';\n\tout += _('Thank you.');\n\tdocument.getElementById('preview').innerHTML = out;\n}\n\n\u201c sprintf is a function in many other languages that, given a format string and some variables, slots the variables into place within the string. JavaScript doesn\u2019t have such a function, so we\u2019ll write our own. Again, keep it simple for now, only integers and strings; I\u2019m sure more complete ones can be found on the internet.\n\nfunction sprintf(s) {\n\tvar bits = s.split('%');\n\tvar out = bits[0];\n\tvar re = /^([ds])(.*)$/;\n\tfor (var i=1; i%s     gold pieces.\": '',\n\t\"Thank you.\": ''\n};\n\n\u201cIf you implement this across the intranet, you\u2019ll want to investigate the xgettext program, which can automatically extract all strings that need translating from all sorts of code files into a standard .po file (I think Python mode works best for JavaScript). You can then use a different program to take the translated .po file and automatically create the language-specific JavaScript files for us.\u201d (e.g. German .po file for PledgeBank, mySociety\u2019s .po-.js script, example output)\n\nWith a flourish, Rudolph finished editing. \u201cAnd there we go, localised JavaScript in English, French, or German, all using the same main code.\u201d\n\n\u201cThanks so much, Rudolph!\u201d said Dunder.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m not just a pretty nose!\u201d Rudolph quipped. \u201cOh, and one last thing \u2014 please comment liberally explaining the context of strings you use. Your translator will thank you, probably at the same time as they point out the four hundred places you\u2019ve done something in code that only works in your language and no-one else\u2019s\u2026\u201d\n\nThanks to Tim Morley and Edmund Grimley Evans for the French and German translations respectively.", "year": "2007", "author": "Matthew Somerville", "author_slug": "matthewsomerville", "published": "2007-12-08T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2007/javascript-internationalisation/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 168, "title": "Unobtrusively Mapping Microformats with jQuery", "contents": "Microformats are everywhere. You can\u2019t shake an electronic stick these days without accidentally poking a microformat-enabled site, and many developers use microformats as a matter of course. And why not? After all, why invent your own class names when you can re-use pre-defined ones that give your site extra functionality for free?\n\nNevertheless, while it\u2019s good to know that users of tools such as Tails and Operator will derive added value from your shiny semantics, it\u2019s nice to be able to reuse that effort in your own code.\n\nWe\u2019re going to build a map of some of my favourite restaurants in Brighton. Fitting with the principles of unobtrusive JavaScript, we\u2019ll start with a semantically marked up list of restaurants, then use JavaScript to add the map, look up the restaurant locations and plot them as markers.\n\nWe\u2019ll be using a couple of powerful tools. The first is jQuery, a JavaScript library that is ideally suited for unobtrusive scripting. jQuery allows us to manipulate elements on the page based on their CSS selector, which makes it easy to extract information from microformats.\n\nThe second is Mapstraction, introduced here by Andrew Turner a few days ago. We\u2019ll be using Google Maps in the background, but Mapstraction makes it easy to change to a different provider if we want to later.\n\nGetting Started\n\nWe\u2019ll start off with a simple collection of microformatted restaurant details, representing my seven favourite restaurants in Brighton. The full, unstyled list can be seen in restaurants-plain.html. Each restaurant listing looks like this:\n\n
  • \n\t

    Riddle & Finns

    \n\t
    \n\t\t

    12b Meeting House Lane

    \n\t\t

    Brighton, UK

    \n\t\t

    BN1 1HB

    \n\t
    \n\t

    Telephone: +44 (0)1273 323 008

    \n\t

    E-mail: info@riddleandfinns.co.uk

    \n
    • \n\nSince we\u2019re dealing with a list of restaurants, each hCard is marked up inside a list item. Each restaurant is an organisation; we signify this by placing the classes fn and org on the element surrounding the restaurant\u2019s name (according to the hCard spec, setting both fn and org to the same value signifies that the hCard represents an organisation rather than a person).\n\nThe address information itself is contained within a div of class adr. Note that the HTML
    element is not suitable here for two reasons: firstly, it is intended to mark up contact details for the current document rather than generic addresses; secondly, address is an inline element and as such cannot contain the paragraphs elements used here for the address information.\n\nA nice thing about microformats is that they provide us with automatic hooks for our styling. For the moment we\u2019ll just tidy up the whitespace a bit; for more advanced style tips consult John Allsop\u2019s guide from 24 ways 2006.\n\n.vcard p {\n\tmargin: 0;\n}\n.adr {\n\tmargin-bottom: 0.5em;\n}\n\nTo plot the restaurants on a map we\u2019ll need latitude and longitude for each one. We can find this out from their address using geocoding. Most mapping APIs include support for geocoding, which means we can pass the API an address and get back a latitude/longitude point. Mapstraction provides an abstraction layer around these APIs which can be included using the following script tag:\n\n\n\nWhile we\u2019re at it, let\u2019s pull in the other external scripts we\u2019ll be using:\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s everything set up: let\u2019s write some JavaScript!\n\nIn jQuery, almost every operation starts with a call to the jQuery function. The function simulates method overloading to behave in different ways depending on the arguments passed to it. When writing unobtrusive JavaScript it\u2019s important to set up code to execute when the page has loaded to the point that the DOM is available to be manipulated. To do this with jQuery, pass a callback function to the jQuery function itself:\n\njQuery(function() {\n\t// This code will be executed when the DOM is ready\n});\n\nInitialising the map\n\nThe first thing we need to do is initialise our map. Mapstraction needs a div with an explicit width, height and ID to show it where to put the map. Our document doesn\u2019t currently include this markup, but we can insert it with a single line of jQuery code:\n\njQuery(function() {\n\t// First create a div to host the map\n\tvar themap = jQuery('
    ').css({\n\t\t'width': '90%',\n\t\t'height': '400px'\n\t}).insertBefore('ul.restaurants');\n});\n\nWhile this is technically just a single line of JavaScript (with line-breaks added for readability) it\u2019s actually doing quite a lot of work. Let\u2019s break it down in to steps:\n\nvar themap = jQuery('
    ')\n\nHere\u2019s jQuery\u2019s method overloading in action: if you pass it a string that starts with a < it assumes that you wish to create a new HTML element. This provides us with a handy shortcut for the more verbose DOM equivalent:\n\nvar themap = document.createElement('div');\nthemap.id = 'themap';\n\nNext we want to apply some CSS rules to the element. jQuery supports chaining, which means we can continue to call methods on the object returned by jQuery or any of its methods:\n\nvar themap = jQuery('
    ').css({\n\t'width': '90%',\n\t'height': '400px'\n})\n\nFinally, we need to insert our new HTML element in to the page. jQuery provides a number of methods for element insertion, but in this case we want to position it directly before the
      we are using to contain our restaurants. jQuery\u2019s insertBefore() method takes a CSS selector indicating an element already on the page and places the current jQuery selection directly before that element in the DOM.\n\nvar themap = jQuery('
      ').css({\n\t'width': '90%',\n\t'height': '400px'\n}).insertBefore('ul.restaurants');\n\nFinally, we need to initialise the map itself using Mapstraction. The Mapstraction constructor takes two arguments: the first is the ID of the element used to position the map; the second is the mapping provider to use (in this case google ):\n\n// Initialise the map\nvar mapstraction = new Mapstraction('themap','google');\n\nWe want the map to appear centred on Brighton, so we\u2019ll need to know the correct co-ordinates. We can use www.getlatlon.com to find both the co-ordinates and the initial map zoom level.\n\n// Show map centred on Brighton\nmapstraction.setCenterAndZoom(\n\tnew LatLonPoint(50.82423734980143, -0.14007568359375),\n\t15 // Zoom level appropriate for Brighton city centre\n);\n\nWe also want controls on the map to allow the user to zoom in and out and toggle between map and satellite view.\n\nmapstraction.addControls({\n\tzoom: 'large',\n\tmap_type: true\n});\n\nAdding the markers\n\nIt\u2019s finally time to parse some microformats. Since we\u2019re using hCard, the information we want is wrapped in elements with the class vcard. We can use jQuery\u2019s CSS selector support to find them:\n\nvar vcards = jQuery('.vcard');\n\nNow that we\u2019ve found them, we need to create a marker for each one in turn. Rather than using a regular JavaScript for loop, we can instead use jQuery\u2019s each() method to execute a function against each of the hCards.\n\njQuery('.vcard').each(function() {\n\t// Do something with the hCard\n});\n\nWithin the callback function, this is set to the current DOM element (in our case, the list item). If we want to call the magic jQuery methods on it we\u2019ll need to wrap it in another call to jQuery:\n\njQuery('.vcard').each(function() {\n\tvar hcard = jQuery(this);\n});\n\nThe Google maps geocoder seems to work best if you pass it the street address and a postcode. We can extract these using CSS selectors: this time, we\u2019ll use jQuery\u2019s find() method which searches within the current jQuery selection:\n\nvar streetaddress = hcard.find('.street-address').text();\nvar postcode = hcard.find('.postal-code').text();\n\nThe text() method extracts the text contents of the selected node, minus any HTML markup.\n\nWe\u2019ve got the address; now we need to geocode it. Mapstraction\u2019s geocoding API requires us to first construct a MapstractionGeocoder, then use the geocode() method to pass it an address. Here\u2019s the code outline:\n\nvar geocoder = new MapstractionGeocoder(onComplete, 'google');\ngeocoder.geocode({'address': 'the address goes here');\n\nThe onComplete function is executed when the geocoding operation has been completed, and will be passed an object with the resulting point on the map. We just want to create a marker for the point:\n\nvar geocoder = new MapstractionGeocoder(function(result) {\n\tvar marker = new Marker(result.point);\n\tmapstraction.addMarker(marker);\n}, 'google'); \n\nFor our purposes, joining the street address and postcode with a comma to create the address should suffice:\n\ngeocoder.geocode({'address': streetaddress + ', ' + postcode}); \n\nThere\u2019s one last step: when the marker is clicked, we want to display details of the restaurant. We can do this with an info bubble, which can be configured by passing in a string of HTML. We\u2019ll construct that HTML using jQuery\u2019s html() method on our hcard object, which extracts the HTML contained within that DOM node as a string.\n\nvar marker = new Marker(result.point);\nmarker.setInfoBubble(\n\t'
      ' + hcard.html() + '
      '\n);\nmapstraction.addMarker(marker);\n\nWe\u2019ve wrapped the bubble in a div with class bubble to make it easier to style. Google Maps can behave strangely if you don\u2019t provide an explicit width for your info bubbles, so we\u2019ll add that to our CSS now:\n\n.bubble {\n\twidth: 300px;\n}\n\nThat\u2019s everything we need: let\u2019s combine our code together:\n\njQuery(function() {\n\t// First create a div to host the map\n\tvar themap = jQuery('
      ').css({\n\t\t'width': '90%',\n\t\t'height': '400px'\n\t}).insertBefore('ul.restaurants');\n\t// Now initialise the map\n\tvar mapstraction = new Mapstraction('themap','google');\n\tmapstraction.addControls({\n\t\tzoom: 'large',\n\t\tmap_type: true\n\t});\n\t// Show map centred on Brighton\n\tmapstraction.setCenterAndZoom(\n\t\tnew LatLonPoint(50.82423734980143, -0.14007568359375),\n\t\t15 // Zoom level appropriate for Brighton city centre\n\t);\n\t// Geocode each hcard and add a marker\n\tjQuery('.vcard').each(function() {\n\t\tvar hcard = jQuery(this);\n\t\tvar streetaddress = hcard.find('.street-address').text();\n\t\tvar postcode = hcard.find('.postal-code').text();\n\t\tvar geocoder = new MapstractionGeocoder(function(result) {\n\t\t\tvar marker = new Marker(result.point);\n\t\t\tmarker.setInfoBubble(\n\t\t\t\t'
      ' + hcard.html() + '
      '\n\t\t\t);\n\t\t\tmapstraction.addMarker(marker);\n\t\t}, 'google');\t \n\t\tgeocoder.geocode({'address': streetaddress + ', ' + postcode});\n\t});\n});\n\nHere\u2019s the finished code.\n\nThere\u2019s one last shortcut we can add: jQuery provides the $ symbol as an alias for jQuery. We could just go through our code and replace every call to jQuery() with a call to $(), but this would cause incompatibilities if we ever attempted to use our script on a page that also includes the Prototype library. A more robust approach is to start our code with the following:\n\njQuery(function($) {\n\t// Within this function, $ now refers to jQuery\n\t// ...\n});\n\njQuery cleverly passes itself as the first argument to any function registered to the DOM ready event, which means we can assign a local $ variable shortcut without affecting the $ symbol in the global scope. This makes it easy to use jQuery with other libraries.\n\nLimitations of Geocoding\n\nYou may have noticed a discrepancy creep in to the last example: whereas my original list included seven restaurants, the geocoding example only shows five. This is because the Google Maps geocoder incorporates a rate limit: more than five lookups in a second and it starts returning error messages instead of regular results.\n\nIn addition to this problem, geocoding itself is an inexact science: while UK postcodes generally get you down to the correct street, figuring out the exact point on the street from the provided address usually isn\u2019t too accurate (although Google do a pretty good job).\n\nFinally, there\u2019s the performance overhead. We\u2019re making five geocoding requests to Google for every page served, even though the restaurants themselves aren\u2019t likely to change location any time soon. Surely there\u2019s a better way of doing this?\n\nMicroformats to the rescue (again)! The geo microformat suggests simple classes for including latitude and longitude information in a page. We can add specific points for each restaurant using the following markup:\n\n
    • \n\t

      E-Kagen

      \n\t
      \n\t\t

      22-23 Sydney Street

      \n\t\t

      Brighton, UK

      \n\t\t

      BN1 4EN

      \n\t
      \n\t

      Telephone: +44 (0)1273 687 068

      \n\t

      Lat/Lon: \n\t\t50.827917, \n\t\t-0.137764\n\t

      \n
      • \n\nAs before, I used www.getlatlon.com to find the exact locations \u2013 I find satellite view is particularly useful for locating individual buildings.\n\nLatitudes and longitudes are great for machines but not so useful for human beings. We could hide them entirely with display: none, but I prefer to merely de-emphasise them (someone might want them for their GPS unit):\n\n.vcard .geo {\n\tmargin-top: 0.5em;\n\tfont-size: 0.85em;\n\tcolor: #ccc;\n}\n\nIt\u2019s probably a good idea to hide them completely when they\u2019re displayed inside an info bubble:\n\n.bubble .geo {\n\tdisplay: none;\n}\n\nWe can extract the co-ordinates in the same way we extracted the address. Since we\u2019re no longer geocoding anything our code becomes a lot simpler:\n\n$('.vcard').each(function() {\n\tvar hcard = $(this);\n\tvar latitude = hcard.find('.geo .latitude').text();\n\tvar longitude = hcard.find('.geo .longitude').text();\n\tvar marker = new Marker(new LatLonPoint(latitude, longitude));\n\tmarker.setInfoBubble(\n\t\t'
      ' + hcard.html() + '
      '\n\t);\n\tmapstraction.addMarker(marker);\n});\n\nAnd here\u2019s the finished geo example.\n\nFurther reading\n\nWe\u2019ve only scratched the surface of what\u2019s possible with microformats, jQuery (or just regular JavaScript) and a bit of imagination. If this example has piqued your interest, the following links should give you some more food for thought.\n\n\n\tThe hCard specification\n\tNotes on parsing hCards\n\tjQuery for JavaScript programmers \u2013 my extended tutorial on jQuery.\n\tDann Webb\u2019s Sumo \u2013 a full JavaScript library for parsing microformats, based around some clever metaprogramming techniques.\n\tJeremy Keith\u2019s Adactio Austin \u2013 the first place I saw using microformats to unobtrusively plot locations on a map. Makes clever use of hEvent as well.", "year": "2007", "author": "Simon Willison", "author_slug": "simonwillison", "published": "2007-12-12T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2007/unobtrusively-mapping-microformats-with-jquery/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 162, "title": "Conditional Love", "contents": "\u201cBrowser.\u201d The four-letter word of web design.\n\nI mean, let\u2019s face it: on the good days, when things just work in your target browsers, it\u2019s marvelous. The air smells sweeter, birds\u2019 songs sound more melodious, and both your design and your code are looking sharp.\n\nBut on the less-than-good days (which is, frankly, most of them), you\u2019re compelled to tie up all your browsers in a sack, heave them into the nearest river, and start designing all-imagemap websites. We all play favorites, after all: some will swear by Firefox, Opera fans are allegedly legion, and others still will frown upon anything less than the latest WebKit nightly.\n\nThankfully, we do have an out for those little inconsistencies that crop up when dealing with cross-browser testing: CSS patches.\n\nSpare the Rod, Hack the Browser\n\nBefore committing browsercide over some rendering bug, a designer will typically reach for a snippet of CSS fix the faulty browser. Historically referred to as \u201chacks,\u201d I prefer Dan Cederholm\u2019s more client-friendly alternative, \u201cpatches\u201d.\n\nBut whatever you call them, CSS patches all work along the same principle: supply the proper property value to the good browsers, while giving higher maintenance other browsers an incorrect value that their frustrating idiosyncratic rendering engine can understand.\n\nTraditionally, this has been done either by exploiting incomplete CSS support:\n\n#content {\n\theight: 1%;\t // Let's force hasLayout for old versions of IE.\n\tline-height: 1.6;\n\tpadding: 1em;\n}\nhtml>body #content {\n\theight: auto; // Modern browsers get a proper height value.\n}\n\nor by exploiting bugs in their rendering engine to deliver alternate style rules:\n\n#content p {\n\tfont-size: .8em;\n\t/* Hide from Mac IE5 \\*/\n\tfont-size: .9em;\n\t/* End hiding from Mac IE5 */\n}\n\nWe\u2019ve even used these exploits to serve up whole stylesheets altogether:\n\n@import url(\"core.css\");\n@media tty {\n\ti{content:\"\\\";/*\" \"*/}} @import 'windows-ie5.css'; /*\";}\n}/* */\n\nThe list goes on, and on, and on. For every browser, for every bug, there\u2019s a patch available to fix some rendering bug.\n\nBut after some time working with standards-based layouts, I\u2019ve found that CSS patches, as we\u2019ve traditionally used them, become increasingly difficult to maintain. As stylesheets are modified over the course of a site\u2019s lifetime, inline fixes we\u2019ve written may become obsolete, making them difficult to find, update, or prune out of our CSS. A good patch requires a constant gardener to ensure that it adds more than just bloat to a stylesheet, and inline patches can be very hard to weed out of a decently sized CSS file.\n\nGiving the Kids Separate Rooms\n\nSince I joined Airbag Industries earlier this year, every project we\u2019ve worked on has this in the head of its templates:\n\n\n\n\n\nThe first element is, simply enough, a link element that points to the project\u2019s main CSS file. No patches, no hacks: just pure, modern browser-friendly style rules. Which, nine times out of ten, will net you a design that looks like spilled eggnog in various versions of Internet Explorer.\n\nBut don\u2019t reach for the mulled wine quite yet. Immediately after, we\u2019ve got a brace of conditional comments wrapped around two other link elements. These odd-looking comments allow us to selectively serve up additional stylesheets just to the version of IE that needs them. We\u2019ve got one for IE 6 and below:\n\n\n\nAnd another for IE7 and above:\n\n\n\nMicrosoft\u2019s conditional comments aren\u2019t exactly new, but they can be a valuable alternative to cooking CSS patches directly into a master stylesheet. And though they\u2019re not a W3C-approved markup structure, I think they\u2019re just brilliant because they innovate within the spec: non-IE devices will assume that the comments are just that, and ignore the markup altogether.\n\nThis does, of course, mean that there\u2019s a little extra markup in the head of our documents. But this approach can seriously cut down on the unnecessary patches served up to the browsers that don\u2019t need them. Namely, we no longer have to write rules like this in our main stylesheet:\n\n#content {\n\theight: 1%;\t// Let's force hasLayout for old versions of IE.\n\tline-height: 1.6;\n\tpadding: 1em;\n}\nhtml>body #content {\n\theight: auto;\t// Modern browsers get a proper height value.\n}\n\nRather, we can simply write an un-patched rule in our core stylesheet:\n\n#content {\n\tline-height: 1.6;\n\tpadding: 1em;\n}\n\nAnd now, our patch for older versions of IE goes in\u2014you guessed it\u2014the stylesheet for older versions of IE:\n\n#content {\n\theight: 1%;\n}\n\nThe hasLayout patch is applied, our design\u2019s repaired, and\u2014most importantly\u2014the patch is only seen by the browser that needs it. The \u201cgood\u201d browsers don\u2019t have to incur any added stylesheet weight from our IE patches, and Internet Explorer gets the conditional love it deserves.\n\nMost importantly, this \u201ccompartmentalized\u201d approach to CSS patching makes it much easier for me to patch and maintain the fixes applied to a particular browser. If I need to track down a bug for IE7, I don\u2019t need to scroll through dozens or hundreds of rules in my core stylesheet: instead, I just open the considerably slimmer IE7-specific patch file, make my edits, and move right along.\n\nEven Good Children Misbehave\n\nWhile IE may occupy the bulk of our debugging time, there\u2019s no denying that other popular, modern browsers will occasionally disagree on how certain bits of CSS should be rendered. But without something as, well, pimp as conditional comments at our disposal, how do we bring the so-called \u201cgood browsers\u201d back in line with our design?\n\nAssuming you\u2019re loving the \u201cone patch file per browser\u201d model as much as I do, there\u2019s just one alternative: JavaScript.\n\nfunction isSaf() {\n\tvar isSaf = (document.childNodes && !document.all && !navigator.taintEnabled && !navigator.accentColorName) ? true : false;\n\treturn isSaf;\n}\nfunction isOp() {\n\tvar isOp = (window.opera) ? true : false;\n\treturn isOp;\n}\n\nInstead of relying on dotcom-era tactics of parsing the browser\u2019s user-agent string, we\u2019re testing here for support for various DOM objects, whose presence or absence we can use to reasonably infer the browser we\u2019re looking at. So running the isOp() function, for example, will test for Opera\u2019s proprietary window.opera object, and thereby accurately tell you if your user\u2019s running Norway\u2019s finest browser.\n\nWith scripts such as isOp() and isSaf() in place, you can then reasonably test which browser\u2019s viewing your content, and insert additional link elements as needed.\n\nfunction loadPatches(dir) {\n\tif (document.getElementsByTagName() && document.createElement()) {\n\t\tvar head = document.getElementsByTagName(\"head\")[0];\n\t\tif (head) {\n\t\t\tvar css = new Array();\n\t\t\tif (isSaf()) {\n\t\t\t\tcss.push(\"saf.css\");\n\t\t\t} else if (isOp()) {\n\t\t\t\tcss.push(\"opera.css\");\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\tif (css.length) {\n\t\t\t\tvar link = document.createElement(\"link\");\n\t\t\t\tlink.setAttribute(\"rel\", \"stylesheet\");\n\t\t\t\tlink.setAttribute(\"type\", \"text/css\");\n\t\t\t\tlink.setAttribute(\"media\", \"screen, projection\");\n\t\t\t\tfor (var i = 0; i < css.length; i++) {\n\t\t\t\t\tvar tag = link.cloneNode(true);\n\t\t\t\t\ttag.setAttribute(\"href\", dir + css[0]);\n\t\t\t\t\thead.appendChild(tag);\n\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t}\n\t}\n}\n\nHere, we\u2019re testing the results of isSaf() and isOp(), one after the other. For each function that returns true, then the name of a new stylesheet is added to the oh-so-cleverly named css array. Then, for each entry in css, we create a new link element, point it at our patch file, and insert it into the head of our template.\n\nFire it up using your favorite onload or DOMContentLoaded function, and you\u2019re good to go.\n\nScripteat Emptor\n\nAt this point, some of the audience\u2019s more conscientious \u2018scripters may be preparing to lob figgy pudding at this author\u2019s head. And that\u2019s perfectly understandable; relying on JavaScript to patch CSS chafes a bit against the normally clean separation we have between our pages\u2019 content, presentation, and behavior layers.\n\nAnd beyond the philosophical concerns, this approach comes with a few technical caveats attached:\n\nBrowser detection? So un-133t.\n\nBrowser detection is not something I\u2019d typically recommend. Whenever possible, a proper DOM script should check for the support of a given object or method, rather than the device with which your users view your content.\n\nIt\u2019s JavaScript, so don\u2019t count on it being available.\n\nAccording to one site, roughly four percent of Internet users don\u2019t have JavaScript enabled. Your site\u2019s stats might be higher or lower than this number, but still: don\u2019t expect that every member of your audience will see these additional stylesheets, and ensure that your content\u2019s still accessible with JS turned off.\n\nBe a constant gardener.\n\nThe sample isSaf() and isOp() functions I\u2019ve written will tell you if the user\u2019s browser is Safari or Opera. As a result, stylesheets written to patch issues in an old browser may break when later releases repair the relevant CSS bugs.\n\nYou can, of course, add logic to these simple little scripts to serve up version-specific stylesheets, but that way madness may lie. In any event, test your work vigorously, and keep testing it when new versions of the targeted browsers come out. Make sure that a patch written today doesn\u2019t become a bug tomorrow.\n\nPatching Firefox, Opera, and Safari isn\u2019t something I\u2019ve had to do frequently: still, there have been occasions where the above script\u2019s come in handy. Between conditional comments, careful CSS auditing, and some judicious JavaScript, browser-based bugs can be handled with near-surgical precision.\n\nSo pass the \u2018nog. It\u2019s patchin\u2019 time.", "year": "2007", "author": "Ethan Marcotte", "author_slug": "ethanmarcotte", "published": "2007-12-15T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2007/conditional-love/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 161, "title": "Keeping JavaScript Dependencies At Bay", "contents": "As we are writing more and more complex JavaScript applications we run into issues that have hitherto (god I love that word) not been an issue. The first decision we have to make is what to do when planning our app: one big massive JS file or a lot of smaller, specialised files separated by task. \n\nPersonally, I tend to favour the latter, mainly because it allows you to work on components in parallel with other developers without lots of clashes in your version control. It also means that your application will be more lightweight as you only include components on demand.\n\nStarting with a global object\n\nThis is why it is a good plan to start your app with one single object that also becomes the namespace for the whole application, say for example myAwesomeApp:\n\nvar myAwesomeApp = {};\n\nYou can nest any necessary components into this one and also make sure that you check for dependencies like DOM support right up front.\n\nAdding the components\n\nThe other thing to add to this main object is a components object, which defines all the components that are there and their file names.\n\nvar myAwesomeApp = {\n\tcomponents :{\n\t\tformcheck:{\n\t\t\turl:'formcheck.js',\n\t\t\tloaded:false\n\t\t},\n\t\tdynamicnav:{\n\t\t\turl:'dynamicnav.js',\n\t\t\tloaded:false\n\t\t},\n\t\tgallery:{\n\t\t\turl:'gallery.js',\n\t\t\tloaded:false\n\t\t},\n\t\tlightbox:{\n\t\t\turl:'lightbox.js',\n\t\t\tloaded:false\n\t\t}\n\t}\n};\n\nTechnically you can also omit the loaded properties, but it is cleaner this way. The next thing to add is an addComponent function that can load your components on demand by adding new SCRIPT elements to the head of the documents when they are needed.\n\nvar myAwesomeApp = {\n\tcomponents :{\n\t\tformcheck:{\n\t\t\turl:'formcheck.js',\n\t\t\tloaded:false\n\t\t},\n\t\tdynamicnav:{\n\t\t\turl:'dynamicnav.js',\n\t\t\tloaded:false\n\t\t},\n\t\tgallery:{\n\t\t\turl:'gallery.js',\n\t\t\tloaded:false\n\t\t},\n\t\tlightbox:{\n\t\t\turl:'lightbox.js',\n\t\t\tloaded:false\n\t\t}\n\t},\n\taddComponent:function(component){\n\t\tvar c = this.components[component];\n\t\tif(c && c.loaded === false){\n\t\t\tvar s = document.createElement('script');\n\t\t\ts.setAttribute('type', 'text/javascript');\n\t\t\ts.setAttribute('src',c.url);\n\t\t\tdocument.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(s);\n\t\t}\n\t}\n};\n\nThis allows you to add new components on the fly when they are not defined:\n\nif(!myAwesomeApp.components.gallery.loaded){\n\tmyAwesomeApp.addComponent('gallery');\n};\n\nVerifying that components have been loaded\n\nHowever, this is not safe as the file might not be available. To make the dynamic adding of components safer each of the components should have a callback at the end of them that notifies the main object that they indeed have been loaded:\n\nvar myAwesomeApp = {\n\tcomponents :{\n\t\tformcheck:{\n\t\t\turl:'formcheck.js',\n\t\t\tloaded:false\n\t\t},\n\t\tdynamicnav:{\n\t\t\turl:'dynamicnav.js',\n\t\t\tloaded:false\n\t\t},\n\t\tgallery:{\n\t\t\turl:'gallery.js',\n\t\t\tloaded:false\n\t\t},\n\t\tlightbox:{\n\t\t\turl:'lightbox.js',\n\t\t\tloaded:false\n\t\t}\n\t},\n\taddComponent:function(component){\n\t\tvar c = this.components[component];\n\t\tif(c && c.loaded === false){\n\t\t\tvar s = document.createElement('script');\n\t\t\ts.setAttribute('type', 'text/javascript');\n\t\t\ts.setAttribute('src',c.url);\n\t\t\tdocument.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(s);\n\t\t}\n\t},\n\tcomponentAvailable:function(component){\n\t\tthis.components[component].loaded = true;\n\t}\n}\n\nFor example the gallery.js file should call this notification as a last line:\n\nmyAwesomeApp.gallery = function(){\n\t// [... other code ...]\n}();\nmyAwesomeApp.componentAvailable('gallery');\n\nTelling the implementers when components are available\n\nThe last thing to add (actually as a courtesy measure for debugging and implementers) is to offer a listener function that gets notified when the component has been loaded:\n\nvar myAwesomeApp = {\n\tcomponents :{\n\t\tformcheck:{\n\t\t\turl:'formcheck.js',\n\t\t\tloaded:false\n\t\t},\n\t\tdynamicnav:{\n\t\t\turl:'dynamicnav.js',\n\t\t\tloaded:false\n\t\t},\n\t\tgallery:{\n\t\t\turl:'gallery.js',\n\t\t\tloaded:false\n\t\t},\n\t\tlightbox:{\n\t\t\turl:'lightbox.js',\n\t\t\tloaded:false\n\t\t}\n\t},\n\taddComponent:function(component){\n\t\tvar c = this.components[component];\n\t\tif(c && c.loaded === false){\n\t\t\tvar s = document.createElement('script');\n\t\t\ts.setAttribute('type', 'text/javascript');\n\t\t\ts.setAttribute('src',c.url);\n\t\t\tdocument.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(s);\n\t\t}\n\t},\n\tcomponentAvailable:function(component){\n\t\tthis.components[component].loaded = true;\n\t\tif(this.listener){\n\t\t\tthis.listener(component);\n\t\t};\n\t}\n};\n\nThis allows you to write a main listener function that acts when certain components have been loaded, for example:\n\nmyAwesomeApp.listener = function(component){\n\tif(component === 'gallery'){\n\t showGallery();\n\t}\n};\n\nExtending with other components\n\nAs the main object is public, other developers can extend the components object with own components and use the listener function to load dependent components. Say you have a bespoke component with data and labels in extra files:\n\nmyAwesomeApp.listener = function(component){\n\tif(component === 'bespokecomponent'){\n\t\tmyAwesomeApp.addComponent('bespokelabels');\n\t};\n\tif(component === 'bespokelabels'){\n\t\tmyAwesomeApp.addComponent('bespokedata');\n\t};\n\tif(component === 'bespokedata'){\n\t\tmyAwesomeApp,bespokecomponent.init();\n\t};\n};\nmyAwesomeApp.components.bespokecomponent = {\n\turl:'bespoke.js',\n\tloaded:false\n};\nmyAwesomeApp.components.bespokelabels = {\n\turl:'bespokelabels.js',\n\tloaded:false\n};\nmyAwesomeApp.components.bespokedata = {\n\turl:'bespokedata.js',\n\tloaded:false\n};\nmyAwesomeApp.addComponent('bespokecomponent');\n\nFollowing this practice you can write pretty complex apps and still have full control over what is available when. You can also extend this to allow for CSS files to be added on demand.\n\nInfluences\n\nIf you like this idea and wondered if someone already uses it, take a look at the Yahoo! User Interface library, and especially at the YAHOO_config option of the global YAHOO.js object.", "year": "2007", "author": "Christian Heilmann", "author_slug": "chrisheilmann", "published": "2007-12-18T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2007/keeping-javascript-dependencies-at-bay/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 147, "title": "Christmas Is In The AIR", "contents": "That\u2019s right, Christmas is coming up fast and there\u2019s plenty of things to do. Get the tree and lights up, get the turkey, buy presents and who know what else. And what about Santa? He\u2019s got a list. I\u2019m pretty sure he\u2019s checking it twice.\n\nSure, we could use an existing list making web site or even a desktop widget. But we\u2019re geeks! What\u2019s the fun in that? Let\u2019s build our own to-do list application and do it with Adobe AIR!\n\nWhat\u2019s Adobe AIR?\n\nAdobe AIR, formerly codenamed Apollo, is a runtime environment that runs on both Windows and OSX (with Linux support to follow). This runtime environment lets you build desktop applications using Adobe technologies like Flash and Flex. Oh, and HTML. That\u2019s right, you web standards lovin\u2019 maniac. You can build desktop applications that can run cross-platform using the trio of technologies, HTML, CSS and JavaScript.\n\nIf you\u2019ve tried developing with AIR before, you\u2019ll need to get re-familiarized with the latest beta release as many things have changed since the last one (such as the API and restrictions within the sandbox.)\n\nTo get started\n\nTo get started in building an AIR application, you\u2019ll need two basic things:\n\n\n\tThe AIR runtime. The runtime is needed to run any AIR-based application.\n\tThe SDK. The software development kit gives you all the pieces to test your application. Unzip the SDK into any folder you wish.\n\n\nYou\u2019ll also want to get your hands on the JavaScript API documentation which you\u2019ll no doubt find yourself getting into before too long. (You can download it, too.)\n\nAlso of interest, some development environments have support for AIR built right in. Aptana doesn\u2019t have support for beta 3 yet but I suspect it\u2019ll be available shortly.\n\nWithin the SDK, there are two main tools that we\u2019ll use: one to test the application (ADL) and another to build a distributable package of our application (ADT). I\u2019ll get into this some more when we get to that stage of development.\n\nBuilding our To-do list application\n\nThe first step to building an application within AIR is to create an XML file that defines our default application settings. I call mine application.xml, mostly because Aptana does that by default when creating a new AIR project. It makes sense though and I\u2019ve stuck with it. Included in the templates folder of the SDK is an example XML file that you can use.\n\nThe first key part to this after specifying things like the application ID, version, and filename, is to specify what the default content should be within the content tags. Enter in the name of the HTML file you wish to load. Within this HTML file will be our application.\n\nui.html\n\nCreate a new HTML document and name it ui.html and place it in the same directory as the application.xml file. The first thing you\u2019ll want to do is copy over the AIRAliases.js file from the frameworks folder of the SDK and add a link to it within your HTML document.\n\n\n\nThe aliases create shorthand links to all of the Flash-based APIs.\n\nNow is probably a good time to explain how to debug your application.\n\nDebugging our application\n\nSo, with our XML file created and HTML file started, let\u2019s try testing our \u2018application\u2019. We\u2019ll need the ADL application located in BIN folder of the SDK and tell it to run the application.xml file.\n\n/path/to/adl /path/to/application.xml\n\nYou can also just drag the XML file onto ADL and it\u2019ll accomplish the same thing. If you just did that and noticed that your blank application didn\u2019t load, you\u2019d be correct. It\u2019s running but isn\u2019t visible. Which at this point means you\u2019ll have to shut down the ADL process. Sorry about that!\n\nChanging the visibility\n\nYou have two ways to make your application visible. You can do it automatically by setting the placing true in the visible tag within the application.xml file.\n\ntrue\n\nThe other way is to do it programmatically from within your application. You\u2019d want to do it this way if you had other startup tasks to perform before showing the interface. To turn the UI on programmatically, simple set the visible property of nativeWindow to true.\n\n\n\nSandbox Security\n\nNow that we have an application that we can see when we start it, it\u2019s time to build the to-do list application. In doing so, you\u2019d probably think that using a JavaScript library is a really good idea \u2014 and it can be but there are some limitations within AIR that have to be considered.\n\nAn HTML document, by default, runs within the application sandbox. You have full access to the AIR APIs but once the onload event of the window has fired, you\u2019ll have a limited ability to make use of eval and other dynamic script injection approaches. This limits the ability of external sources from gaining access to everything the AIR API offers, such as database and local file system access. You\u2019ll still be able to make use of eval for evaluating JSON responses, which is probably the most important if you wish to consume JSON-based services.\n\nIf you wish to create a greater wall of security between AIR and your HTML document loading in external resources, you can create a child sandbox. We won\u2019t need to worry about it for our application so I won\u2019t go any further into it but definitely keep this in mind.\n\nFinally, our application\n\nGetting tired of all this preamble? Let\u2019s actually build our to-do list application. I\u2019ll use jQuery because it\u2019s small and should suit our needs nicely. Let\u2019s begin with some structure:\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t
        \n\n\nNow we need to wire up that button to actually add a new item to our to-do list.\n\n\n\nAnd just like that, we\u2019ve got a to-do list! That\u2019s it! Just never close your application and you\u2019ll remember everything. Okay, that\u2019s not very practical. You need to have some way of storing your to-do items until the next time you open up the application.\n\nStoring Data\n\nYou\u2019ve essentially got 4 different ways that you can store data:\n\n\n\tUsing the local database. AIR comes with SQLLite built in. That means you can create tables and insert, update and select data from that database just like on a web server.\n\tUsing the file system. You can also create files on the local machine. You have access to a few folders on the local system such as the documents folder and the desktop.\n\tUsing EcryptedLocalStore. I like using the EcryptedLocalStore because it allows you to easily save key/value pairs and have that information encrypted. All this within just a couple lines of code.\n\tSending the data to a remote API. Our to-do list could sync up with Remember the Milk, for example.\n\n\nTo demonstrate some persistence, we\u2019ll use the file system to store our files. In addition, we\u2019ll let the user specify where the file should be saved. This way, we can create multiple to-do lists, keeping them separate and organized.\n\nThe application is now broken down into 4 basic tasks:\n\n\n\tLoad data from the file system.\n\tPerform any interface bindings.\n\tManage creating and deleting items from the list.\n\tSave any changes to the list back to the file system.\n\n\nLoading in data from the file system\n\nWhen the application starts up, we\u2019ll prompt the user to select a file or specify a new to-do list. Within AIR, there are 3 main file objects: File, FileMode, and FileStream. File handles file and path names, FileMode is used as a parameter for the FileStream to specify whether the file should be read-only or for write access. The FileStream object handles all the read/write activity.\n\nThe File object has a number of shortcuts to default paths like the documents folder, the desktop, or even the application store. In this case, we\u2019ll specify the documents folder as the default location and then use the browseForSave method to prompt the user to specify a new or existing file. If the user specifies an existing file, they\u2019ll be asked whether they want to overwrite it.\n\nvar store = air.File.documentsDirectory;\nvar fileStream = new air.FileStream();\nstore.browseForSave(\"Choose To-do List\");\n\nThen we add an event listener for when the user has selected a file. When the file is selected, we check to see if the file exists and if it does, read in the contents, splitting the file on new lines and creating our list items within the interface.\n\nstore.addEventListener(air.Event.SELECT, fileSelected);\nfunction fileSelected()\n{\n\tair.trace(store.nativePath);\n\t// load in any stored data\n\tvar byteData = new air.ByteArray();\n\tif(store.exists)\n\t{\n\t\tfileStream.open(store, air.FileMode.READ);\n\t\tfileStream.readBytes(byteData, 0, store.size);\n\t\tfileStream.close();\n\n\t\tif(byteData.length > 0)\n\t\t{\n\t\t\tvar s = byteData.readUTFBytes(byteData.length);\n\t\t\toldlist = s.split(\u201c\\r\\n\u201d);\n\n\t\t\t// create todolist items\n\t\t\tfor(var i=0; i < oldlist.length; i++)\n\t\t\t{\n\t\t\t\tcreateItem(oldlist[i], (new Date()).getTime() + i );\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t}\n\t}\n}\n\nPerform Interface Bindings\n\nThis is similar to before where we set the click event on the Add button but we\u2019ve moved the code to save the list into a separate function.\n\n$('#add').click(function(){\n\t\tvar t = $('#text').val();\n\t\tif(t){\n\t\t\t// create an ID using the time\n\t\t\tcreateItem(t, (new Date()).getTime() );\n\t\t}\n})\n\nManage creating and deleting items from the list\n\nThe list management is now in its own function, similar to before but with some extra information to identify list items and with calls to save our list after each change.\n\nfunction createItem(t, id)\n{\n\tif(t.length == 0) return;\n\t// add it to the todo list\n\ttodolist[id] = t;\n\t// use DOM methods to create the new list item\n\tvar li = document.createElement('li');\n\t// the extra space at the end creates a buffer between the text\n\t// and the delete link we're about to add\n\tli.appendChild(document.createTextNode(t + ' '));\n\t// create the delete link\n\tvar del = document.createElement('a');\n\t// this makes it a true link. I feel dirty doing this.\n\tdel.setAttribute('href', '#');\n\tdel.addEventListener('click', function(evt){\n\t\tvar id = this.id.substr(1);\n\t\tdelete todolist[id]; // remove the item from the list\n\t\tthis.parentNode.parentNode.removeChild(this.parentNode);\n\t\tsaveList();\n\t});\n\tdel.appendChild(document.createTextNode('[del]'));\n\tdel.id = 'd' + id;\n\tli.appendChild(del);\n\t// append everything to the list\n\t$('#list').append(li);\n\t//reset the text box\n\t$('#text').val('');\n\tsaveList();\n}\n\nSave changes to the file system\n\nAny time a change is made to the list, we update the file. The file will always reflect the current state of the list and we\u2019ll never have to click a save button. It just iterates through the list, adding a new line to each one.\n\nfunction saveList(){\n\tif(store.isDirectory) return;\n\tvar packet = '';\n\tfor(var i in todolist)\n\t{\n\t\tpacket += todolist[i] + '\\r\\n';\n\t}\n\tvar bytes = new air.ByteArray();\n\tbytes.writeUTFBytes(packet);\n\tfileStream.open(store, air.FileMode.WRITE);\n\tfileStream.writeBytes(bytes, 0, bytes.length);\n\tfileStream.close();\n}\n\nOne important thing to mention here is that we check if the store is a directory first. The reason we do this goes back to our browseForSave call. If the user cancels the dialog without selecting a file first, then the store points to the documentsDirectory that we set it to initially. Since we haven\u2019t specified a file, there\u2019s no place to save the list.\n\nHopefully by this point, you\u2019ve been thinking of some cool ways to pimp out your list. Now we need to package this up so that we can let other people use it, too.\n\nCreating a Package\n\nNow that we\u2019ve created our application, we need to package it up so that we can distribute it. This is a two step process. The first step is to create a code signing certificate (or you can pay for one from Thawte which will help authenticate you as an AIR application developer).\n\nTo create a self-signed certificate, run the following command. This will create a PFX file that you\u2019ll use to sign your application.\n\nadt -certificate -cn todo24ways 1024-RSA todo24ways.pfx mypassword\n\nAfter you\u2019ve done that, you\u2019ll need to create the package with the certificate\n\nadt -package -storetype pkcs12 -keystore todo24ways.pfx todo24ways.air application.xml .\n\nThe important part to mention here is the period at the end of the command. We\u2019re telling it to package up all files in the current directory.\n\nAfter that, just run the AIR file, which will install your application and run it.\n\nImportant things to remember about AIR\n\nWhen developing an HTML application, the rendering engine is Webkit. You\u2019ll thank your lucky stars that you aren\u2019t struggling with cross-browser issues. (My personal favourites are multiple backgrounds and border radius!)\n\nBe mindful of memory leaks. Things like Ajax calls and event binding can cause applications to slowly leak memory over time. Web pages are normally short lived but desktop applications are often open for hours, if not days, and you may find your little desktop application taking up more memory than anything else on your machine!\n\nThe WebKit runtime itself can also be a memory hog, usually taking about 15MB just for itself. If you create multiple HTML windows, it\u2019ll add another 15MB to your memory footprint. Our little to-do list application shouldn\u2019t be much of a concern, though.\n\nThe other important thing to remember is that you\u2019re still essentially running within a Flash environment. While you probably won\u2019t notice this working in small applications, the moment you need to move to multiple windows or need to accomplish stuff beyond what HTML and JavaScript can give you, the need to understand some of the Flash-based elements will become more important.\n\nLastly, the other thing to remember is that HTML links will load within the AIR application. If you want a link to open in the users web browser, you\u2019ll need to capture that event and handle it on your own. The following code takes the HREF from a clicked link and opens it in the default web browser.\n\nair.navigateToURL(new air.URLRequest(this.href));\n\nOnly the beginning\n\nOf course, this is only the beginning of what you can do with Adobe AIR. You don\u2019t have the same level of control as building a native desktop application, such as being able to launch other applications, but you do have more control than what you could have within a web application. Check out the Adobe AIR Developer Center for HTML and Ajax for tutorials and other resources.\n\nNow, go forth and create your desktop applications and hopefully you finish all your shopping before Christmas!\n\nDownload the example files.", "year": "2007", "author": "Jonathan Snook", "author_slug": "jonathansnook", "published": "2007-12-19T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2007/christmas-is-in-the-air/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 104, "title": "Sitewide Search On A Shoe String", "contents": "One of the questions I got a lot when I was building web sites for smaller businesses was if I could create a search engine for their site. Visitors should be able to search only this site and find things without the maintainer having to put \u201crelated articles\u201d or \u201cfeatured content\u201d links on every page by hand. \n\nBack when this was all fields this wasn\u2019t easy as you either had to write your own scraping tool, use ht://dig or a paid service from providers like Yahoo, Altavista or later on Google. In the former case you had to swallow the bitter pill of computing and indexing all your content and storing it in a database for quick access and in the latter it hurt your wallet.\n\nTimes have moved on and nowadays you can have the same functionality for free using Yahoo\u2019s \u201cBuild your own search service\u201d \u2013 BOSS. The cool thing about BOSS is that it allows for a massive amount of hits a day and you can mash up the returned data in any format you want. Another good feature of it is that it comes with JSON-P as an output format which makes it possible to use it without any server-side component!\n\nStarting with a working HTML form\n\nIn order to add a search to your site, you start with a simple HTML form which you can use without JavaScript. Most search engines will allow you to filter results by domain. In this case we will search \u201cbbc.co.uk\u201d. If you use Yahoo as your standard search, this could be: \n\n
        \n\t
        \n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t
        \n\n\nThe Google equivalent is:\n\n
        \n\t
        \n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t
        \n\n\nIn any case make sure to use the ID term for the search term and site for the site, as this is what we are going to use for the script. To make things easier, also have an ID called customsearch on the form.\n\nTo use BOSS, you should get your own developer API for BOSS and replace the one in the demo code. There is click tracking on the search results to see how successful your app is, so you should make it your own.\n\nAdding the BOSS magic\n\nBOSS is a REST API, meaning you can use it in any HTTP request or in a browser by simply adding the right parameters to a URL. Say for example you want to search \u201cbbc.co.uk\u201d for \u201cchristmas\u201d all you need to do is open the following URL:\n\nhttp://boss.yahooapis.com/ysearch/web/v1/christmas?sites=bbc.co.uk&format=xml&appid=YOUR-APPLICATION-ID\n\nTry it out and click it to see the results in XML. We don\u2019t want XML though, which is why we get rid of the format=xml parameter which gives us the same information in JSON:\n\nhttp://boss.yahooapis.com/ysearch/web/v1/christmas?sites=bbc.co.uk&appid=YOUR-APPLICATION-ID\n\nJSON makes most sense when you can send the output to a function and immediately use it. For this to happen all you need is to add a callback parameter and the JSON will be wrapped in a function call. Say for example we want to call SITESEARCH.found() when the data was retrieved we can do it this way:\n\nhttp://boss.yahooapis.com/ysearch/web/v1/christmas?sites=bbc.co.uk&callback=SITESEARCH.found&appid=YOUR-APPLICATION-ID\n\nYou can use this immediately in a script node if you want to. The following code would display the total amount of search results for the term christmas on bbc.co.uk as an alert:\n\n\n\n\nHowever, for our example, we need to be a bit more clever with this.\n\nEnhancing the search form\n\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s the script that enhances a search form to show results below it.\n\nSITESEARCH = function(){\n\tvar config = {\n\t\tIDs:{\n\t\t\tsearchForm:'customsearch',\n\t\t\tterm:'term',\n\t\t\tsite:'site'\n\t\t},\n\t\tloading:'Loading results...',\n\t\tnoresults:'No results found.',\n\t\tappID:'YOUR-APP-ID',\n\t\tresults:20\n\t};\n\tvar form;\n\tvar out;\n\tfunction init(){\n\t\tif(config.appID === 'YOUR-APP-ID'){\n\t\t\talert('Please get a real application ID!');\n\t\t} else {\n\t\t\tform = document.getElementById(config.IDs.searchForm);\n\t\t\tif(form){\n\t\t\t\tform.onsubmit = function(){\n\t\t\t\t\tvar site = document.getElementById(config.IDs.site).value;\n\t\t\t\t\tvar term = document.getElementById(config.IDs.term).value;\n\t\t\t\t\tif(typeof site === 'string' && typeof term === 'string'){\n\t\t\t\t\t\tif(typeof out !== 'undefined'){\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tout.parentNode.removeChild(out);\n\t\t\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\t\t\tout = document.createElement('p');\n\t\t\t\t\t\tout.appendChild(document.createTextNode(config.loading));\n\t\t\t\t\t\tform.appendChild(out);\n\t\t\t\t\t\tvar APIurl = 'http://boss.yahooapis.com/ysearch/web/v1/' + \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tterm + '?callback=SITESEARCH.found&sites=' + \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsite + '&count=' + config.results + \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t'&appid=' + config.appID;\n\t\t\t\t\t\tvar s = document.createElement('script');\n\t\t\t\t\t\ts.setAttribute('src',APIurl);\n\t\t\t\t\t\ts.setAttribute('type','text/javascript');\n\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(s);\n\t\t\t\t\t\treturn false;\n\t\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\t};\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t}\n\t};\n\tfunction found(o){\n\t\tvar list = document.createElement('ul');\n\t\tvar results = o.ysearchresponse.resultset_web;\n\t\tif(results){\n\t\t\tvar item,link,description;\n\t\t\tfor(var i=0,j=results.length;i\n\t
        \n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t
        \n\n\n\n\nWhere to go from here\n\nThis is just a very simple example of what you can do with BOSS. You can define languages and regions, retrieve and display images and news and mix the results with other data sources before displaying them. One very cool feature is that by adding a view=keyterms parameter to the URL you can get the keywords of each of the results to drill deeper into the search. An example for this written in PHP is available on the YDN blog. For JavaScript solutions there is a handy wrapper called yboss available to help you go nuts.", "year": "2008", "author": "Christian Heilmann", "author_slug": "chrisheilmann", "published": "2008-12-04T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2008/sitewide-search-on-a-shoestring/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 116, "title": "The IE6 Equation", "contents": "It is the destiny of one browser to serve as the nemesis of web developers everywhere. At the birth of the Web Standards movement, that role was played by Netscape Navigator 4; an outdated browser that refused to die. Its tenacious existence hampered the adoption of modern standards. Today that role is played by Internet Explorer 6.\n\nThere\u2019s a sensation that I\u2019m sure you\u2019re familiar with. It\u2019s a horrible mixture of dread and nervousness. It\u2019s the feeling you get when\u2014after working on a design for a while in a standards-compliant browser like Firefox, Safari or Opera\u2014you decide that you can no longer put off the inevitable moment when you must check the site in IE6. Fingers are crossed, prayers are muttered, but alas, to no avail. The nemesis browser invariably screws something up.\n\nWhat do you do next? If the differences in IE6 are minor, you could just leave it be. After all, websites don\u2019t need to look exactly the same in all browsers. But if there are major layout issues and a significant portion of your audience is still using IE6, you\u2019ll probably need to roll up your sleeves and start fixing the problems.\n\nA common approach is to quarantine IE6-specific CSS in a separate stylesheet. This stylesheet can then be referenced from the HTML document using conditional comments like this:\n\n\n\nThat stylesheet will only be served up to Internet Explorer where the version number is less than 7.\n\nYou can put anything inside a conditional comment. You could put a script element in there. So as well as serving up browser-specific CSS, it\u2019s possible to serve up browser-specific JavaScript.\n\nA few years back, before Microsoft released Internet Explorer 7, JavaScript genius Dean Edwards wrote a script called IE7. This amazing piece of code uses JavaScript to make Internet Explorer 5 and 6 behave like a standards-compliant browser. Dean used JavaScript to bootstrap IE\u2019s CSS support.\n\nBecause the script is specifically targeted at Internet Explorer, there\u2019s no point in serving it up to other browsers. Conditional comments to the rescue:\n\n\n\nStandards-compliant browsers won\u2019t fetch the script. Users of IE6, on the hand, will pay a kind of bad browser tax by having to download the JavaScript file.\n\nSo when should you develop an IE6-specific stylesheet and when should you just use Dean\u2019s JavaScript code? This is the question that myself and my co-worker Natalie Downe set out to answer one morning at Clearleft. We realised that in order to answer that question you need to first answer two other questions, how much time does it take to develop for IE6? and how much of your audience is using IE6?\n\nLet\u2019s say that t represents the total development time. Let t6 represent the portion of that time you spend developing for IE6. If your total audience is a, then a6 is the portion of your audience using IE6. With some algebraic help from our mathematically minded co-worker Cennydd Bowles, Natalie and I came up with the following equation to calculate the percentage likelihood that you should be using Dean\u2019s IE7 script:\n\n\n\np = 50 [ log ( at6 / ta6 ) + 1 ]\n\nTry plugging in your own numbers. If you spend a lot of time developing for IE6 and only a small portion of your audience is using that browser, you\u2019ll get a very high number out of the equation; you should probably use the IE7 script. But if you only spend a little time developing for IE6 and a significant portion of you audience are still using that browser, you\u2019ll get a very small value for p; you might as well write an IE6-specific stylesheet.\n\nOf course this equation is somewhat disingenuous. While it\u2019s entirely possible to research the percentage of your audience still using IE6, it\u2019s not so easy to figure out how much of your development time will be spent developing for that one browser. You can\u2019t really know until you\u2019ve already done the development, by which time the equation is irrelevant.\n\nInstead of using the equation, you could try imposing a limit on how long you will spend developing for IE6. Get your site working in standards-compliant browsers first, then give yourself a time limit to get it working in IE6. If you can\u2019t solve all the issues in that time limit, switch over to using Dean\u2019s script. You could even make the time limit directly proportional to the percentage of your audience using IE6. If 20% of your audience is still using IE6 and you\u2019ve just spent five days getting the site working in standards-compliant browsers, give yourself one day to get it working in IE6. But if 50% of your audience is still using IE6, be prepared to spend 2.5 days wrestling with your nemesis.\n\nAll of these different methods for dealing with IE6 demonstrate that there\u2019s no one single answer that works for everyone. They also highlight a problem with the current debate around dealing with IE6. There\u2019s no shortage of blog posts, articles and even entire websites discussing when to drop support for IE6. But very few of them take the time to define what they mean by \u201csupport.\u201d This isn\u2019t a binary issue. There is no Boolean answer. Instead, there\u2019s a sliding scale of support:\n\n\n\tBlock IE6 users from your site.\n\tDevelop with web standards and don\u2019t spend any development time testing in IE6.\n\tUse the Dean Edwards IE7 script to bootstrap CSS support in IE6.\n\tWrite an IE6 stylesheet to address layout issues.\n\tMake your site look exactly the same in IE6 as in any other browser.\n\n\nEach end of that scale is extreme. I don\u2019t think that anybody should be actively blocking any browser but neither do I think that users of an outdated browser should get exactly the same experience as users of a more modern browser. The real meanings of \u201csupporting\u201d or \u201cnot supporting\u201d IE6 lie somewhere in-between those extremes.\n\nJust as I think that semantics are important in markup, they are equally important in our discussion of web development. So let\u2019s try to come up with some better terms than using the catch-all verb \u201csupport.\u201d If you say in your client contract that you \u201csupport\u201d IE6, define exactly what that means. If you find yourself in a discussion about \u201cdropping support\u201d for IE6, take the time to explain what you think that entails.\n\nThe web developers at Yahoo! are on the right track with their concept of graded browser support. I\u2019m interested in hearing more ideas of how to frame this discussion. If we can all agree to use clear and precise language, we stand a better chance of defeating our nemesis.", "year": "2008", "author": "Jeremy Keith", "author_slug": "jeremykeith", "published": "2008-12-08T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2008/the-ie6-equation/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 99, "title": "A Christmas hCard From Me To You", "contents": "So apparently Christmas is coming. And what is Christmas all about? Well, cleaning out your address book, of course! What better time to go through your contacts, making sure everyone\u2019s details are up date and that you\u2019ve deleted all those nasty clients who never paid on time?\n\nIt\u2019s also a good time to make sure your current clients and colleagues have your most up-to-date details, so instead of filling up their inboxes with e-cards, why not send them something useful? Something like a\u2026 vCard! (See what I did there?)\n\nJust in case you\u2019ve been working in a magical toy factory in the upper reaches of Scandinavia for the last few years, I\u2019m going to tell you that now would also be the perfect time to get into microformats. Using the hCard format, we\u2019ll build a very simple web page and markup our contact details in such a way that they\u2019ll be understood by microformats plugins, like Operator or Tails for Firefox, or the cross-browser Microformats Bookmarklet.\n\nOh, and because Christmas is all about dressing up and being silly, we\u2019ll make the whole thing look nice and have a bit of fun with some CSS3 progressive enhancement. \n\nIf you can\u2019t wait to see what we end up with, you can preview it here.\n\n\n\nStep 1: Contact Details\n\nFirst, let\u2019s decide what details we want to put on the page. I\u2019d put my full name, my email address, my phone number, and my postal address, but I\u2019d rather not get surprise visits from strangers when I\u2019m fannying about with my baubles, so I\u2019m going to use Father Christmas instead (that\u2019s Santa to you Yanks).\n\nFather Christmas\nfatherchristmas@elliotjaystocks.com\n25 Laughingallthe Way\nSnow Falls\nLapland\nFinland\n010 60 58 000\n\nStep 2: hCard Creator\n\nNow I\u2019m not sure about you, but I rather like getting the magical robot pixies to do the work for me, so head on over to the hCard Creator and put those pixies to work! Pop in your details and they\u2019ll give you some nice microformatted HTML in turn.\n\n\n\n
        \n\tFather Christmas\n\t fatherchristmas@elliotjaystocks.com\n\t
        \n\t
        25 Laughingallthe Way
        \n\tSnow Falls\n\t, \n\tLapland\n\t, \n\tFI-00101\n\tFinland\n
        \n
        010 60 58 000
        \n\t

        This hCard created with the hCard creator.

        \n
        \n\nStep 3: Editing The Code\n\nOne of the great things about microformats is that you can use pretty much whichever HTML tags you want, so just because the hCard Creator Fairies say something should be wrapped in a doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t change it to a . Actually, no, don\u2019t do that. That\u2019s not even excusable at Christmas.\n\nI personally have a penchant for marking up each line of an address inside a
      • tag, where the parent url retains the class of adr. As long as you keep the class names the same, you\u2019ll be fine.\n\n
        \n\t

        Father Christmas

        \n\tfatherchristmas@elliotjaystocks.com\n\t
          \n\t\t
        • 25 Laughingallthe Way
          • \n\t\t
        • Snow Falls
          • \n\t\t
        • Lapland
          • \n\t\t
        • FI-00101
          • \n\t\t
        • Finland
          • \n\t
        \n\t010 60 58 000\n
        \n\nStep 4: Testing The Microformats\n\nWith our microformats in place, now would be a good time to test that they\u2019re working before we start making things look pretty. If you\u2019re on Firefox, you can install the Operator or Tails extensions, but if you\u2019re on another browser, just add the Microformats Bookmarklet. Regardless of your choice, the results is the same: if you\u2019ve code microformatted content on a web page, one of these bad boys should pick it up for you and allow you to export the contact info. Give it a try and you should see father Christmas appearing in your address book of choice. Now you\u2019ll never forget where to send those Christmas lists!\n\n\n\nStep 5: Some Extra Markup\n\nOne of the first things we\u2019re going to do is put a photo of Father Christmas on the hCard. We\u2019ll be using CSS to apply a background image to a div, so we\u2019ll be needing an extra div with a class name of \u201cphoto\u201d. In turn, we\u2019ll wrap the text-based elements of our hCard inside a div cunningly called \u201ctext\u201d. Unfortunately, because of the float technique we\u2019ll be using, we\u2019ll have to use one of those nasty float-clearing techniques. I shall call this \u201cchristmas-cheer\u201d, since that is what its presence will inevitably bring, of course.\n\nOh, and let\u2019s add a bit of text to give the page context, too:\n\n

        Send your Christmas lists my way...

        \n
        \n\t
        \n\t\t

        Father Christmas

        \n\t\tfatherchristmas@elliotjaystocks.com\n\t\t
          \n\t\t\t
        • 25 Laughingallthe Way
          • \n\t\t\t
        • Snow Falls
          • \n\t\t\t
        • Lapland
          • \n\t\t\t
        • FI-00101
          • \n\t\t\t
        • Finland
          • \n\t\t
        \n\t\t010 60 58 000\n\t
        \n\t
        \n\t
        \n
        \n
        \n\t

        A tutorial by Elliot Jay Stocks for 24 Ways

        \n\t

        Background: stock.xchng | Father Christmas: iStockPhoto

        \n
        \n\nStep 6: Some Christmas Sparkle\n\nSo far, our hCard-housing web page is slightly less than inspiring, isn\u2019t it? It\u2019s time to add a bit of CSS. There\u2019s nothing particularly radical going on here; just a simple layout, some basic typographic treatment, and the placement of the Father Christmas photo. I\u2019d usually use a more thorough CSS reset like the one found in the YUI or Eric Meyer\u2019s, but for this basic page, the simple * solution will do.\n\nCheck out the step 6 demo to see our basic styles in place.\n\nFrom this\u2026\n\n\n\n\u2026 to this:\n\n\n\nStep 7: Fun With imagery\n\nNow it\u2019s time to introduce a repeating background image to the element. This will seamlessly repeat for as wide as the browser window becomes.\n\nBut that\u2019s fairly straightforward. How about having some fun with the Father Christmas image? If you look at the image file itself, you\u2019ll see that it\u2019s twice as wide as the area we can see and contains a \u2018hidden\u2019 photo of our rather camp St. Nick.\n\n\n\nAs a light-hearted visual\u2026 er\u2026 \u2018treat\u2019 for users who move their mouse over the image, we move the position of the background image on the \u201cphoto\u201d div. Check out the step 7 demo to see it working.\n\nStep 8: Progressive Enhancement\n\nFinally, this fun little project is a great opportunity for us to mess around with some advanced CSS features (some from the CSS3 spec) that we rarely get to use on client projects. (Don\u2019t forget: no Christmas pressies for clients who want you to support IE6!)\n\nHere are the rules we\u2019re using to give some browsers a superior viewing experience:\n\n\n\t@font-face allows us to use Jos Buivenga\u2019s free font \u2018Fertigo Pro\u2019 on all text;\n\ttext-shadow adds a little emphasis on the opening paragraph;\n\tbody > p:first-child causes only the first paragraph to receive this treatment;\n\tborder-radius created rounded corners on our main div and the links within it;\n\tand webkit-transition allows us to gently fade in between the default and hover states of those links.\n\n\nAnd with that, we\u2019re done! You can see the results here. It\u2019s time to customise the page to your liking, upload it to your site, and send out the URL. And do it quickly, because I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve got some last-minute Christmas shopping to finish off!", "year": "2008", "author": "Elliot Jay Stocks", "author_slug": "elliotjaystocks", "published": "2008-12-10T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2008/a-christmas-hcard-from-me-to-you/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 117, "title": "The First Tool You Reach For", "contents": "Microsoft recently announced that Internet Explorer 8 will be released in the first half of 2009. Compared to the standards support of other major browsers, IE8 will not be especially great, but it will finally catch up with the state of the art in one specific area: support for CSS tables. This milestone has the potential to trigger an important change in the way you approach web design.\n\nTo show you just how big a difference CSS tables can make, think about how you might code a fluid, three-column layout from scratch. Just to make your life more difficult, give it one fixed-width column, with a background colour that differs from the rest of the page. Ready? Go!\n\nOkay, since you\u2019re the sort of discerning web designer who reads 24ways, I\u2019m going to assume you at least considered doing this without using HTML tables for the layout. If you\u2019re especially hardcore, I imagine you began thinking of CSS floats, negative margins, and faux columns. If you did, colour me impressed!\n\nNow admit it: you probably also gave an inward sigh about the time it would take to figure out the math on the negative margin overlaps, check for dropped floats in Internet Explorer and generally wrestle each of the major browsers into giving you what you want. If after all that you simply gave up and used HTML tables, I can\u2019t say I blame you.\n\nThere are plenty of professional web designers out there who still choose to use HTML tables as their main layout tool. Sure, they may know that users with screen readers get confused by inappropriate use of tables, but they have a job to do, and they want tools that will make that job easy, not difficult.\n\nNow let me show you how to do it with CSS tables. First, we have a div element for each of our columns, and we wrap them all in another two divs:\n\n
        \n\t
        \n\t\t
        \n\t\t\u22ee\n\t\t
        \n\t\t
        \n\t\t\u22ee\n\t\t
        \n\t\t
        \n\t\t\u22ee\n\t\t
        \n\t
        \n
        \n\nDon\u2019t sweat the \u201cdiv clutter\u201d in this code. Unlike tables, divs have no semantic meaning, and can therefore be used liberally (within reason) to provide hooks for the styles you want to apply to your page.\n\nUsing CSS, we can set the outer div to display as a table with collapsed borders (i.e. adjacent cells share a border) and a fixed layout (i.e. cell widths unaffected by their contents):\n\n.container {\n\tdisplay: table;\n\tborder-collapse: collapse;\n\ttable-layout: fixed;\n}\n\nWith another two rules, we set the middle div to display as a table row, and each of the inner divs to display as table cells:\n\n.container > div {\n\tdisplay: table-row;\n}\n.container > div > div {\n\tdisplay: table-cell;\n}\n\nFinally, we can set the widths of the cells (and of the table itself) directly:\n\n.container {\n\twidth: 100%;\n}\n#menu {\n\twidth: 200px;\n}\n#content {\n\twidth: auto;\n}\n#sidebar {\n\twidth: 25%;\n}\n\nAnd, just like that, we have a rock solid three-column layout, ready to be styled to your own taste, like in this example:\n\n\n\nThis example will render perfectly in reasonably up-to-date versions of Firefox, Safari and Opera, as well as the current beta release of Internet Explorer 8.\n\nCSS tables aren\u2019t only useful for multi-column page layout; they can come in handy in most any situation that calls for elements to be displayed side-by-side on the page. Consider this simple login form layout:\n\n\n\nThe incantation required to achieve this layout using CSS floats may be old hat to you by now, but try to teach it to a beginner, and watch his eyes widen in horror at the hoops you have to jump through (not to mention the assumptions you have to build into your design about the length of the form labels).\n\nHere\u2019s how to do it with CSS tables:\n\n
        \n\t
        \n\t\t
        \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t
        \n\t\t
        \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t
        \n\t\t
        \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t
        \n\t
        \n\n\nThis time, we\u2019re using a mixture of divs and spans as semantically transparent styling hooks. Let\u2019s look at the CSS code.\n\nFirst, we set up the outer div to display as a table, the inner divs to display as table rows, and the labels and spans as table cells (with right-aligned text):\n\nform > div {\n\tdisplay: table;\n}\nform > div > div {\n\tdisplay: table-row;\n}\nform label,\nform span {\n\tdisplay: table-cell;\n\ttext-align: right;\n}\n\nWe want the first column of the table to be wide enough to accommodate our labels, but no wider. With CSS float techniques, we had to guess at what that width was likely to be, and adjust it whenever we changed our form labels. With CSS tables, we can simply set the width of the first column to something very small (1em), and then use the white-space property to force the column to the required width:\n\nform label {\n\twhite-space: nowrap;\n\twidth: 1em;\n}\n\nTo polish off the layout, we\u2019ll make our text and password fields occupy the full width of the table cells that contain them:\n\ninput[type=text],\ninput[type=password] {\n\twidth: 100%;\n}\n\nThe rest is margins, padding and borders to get the desired look. Check out the finished example.\n\nAs the first tool you reach for when approaching any layout task, CSS tables make a lot more sense to your average designer than the cryptic incantations called for by CSS floats. When IE8 is released and all major browsers support CSS tables, we can begin to gradually deploy CSS table-based layouts on sites that are more and more mainstream.\n\nIn our new book, Everything You Know About CSS Is Wrong!, Rachel Andrew and I explore in much greater detail how CSS tables work as a page layout tool in the real world. CSS tables have their quirks just like floats do, but they don\u2019t tend to affect common layout tasks, and the workarounds tend to be less fiddly too. Check it out, and get ready for the next big step forward in web design with CSS.", "year": "2008", "author": "Kevin Yank", "author_slug": "kevinyank", "published": "2008-12-13T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2008/the-first-tool-you-reach-for/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 110, "title": "Shiny Happy Buttons", "contents": "Since Mac OS X burst onto our screens, glossy, glassy, shiny buttons have been almost de rigeur, and have essentially, along with reflections and rounded corners, become a clich\u00e9 of Web 2.0 \u201cdesign\u201d. But if you can\u2019t beat \u2018em you\u2019d better join \u2018em. So, in this little contribution to our advent calendar, we\u2019re going to take a plain old boring HTML button, and 2.0 it up the wazoo. \n\nBut, here\u2019s the catch. We\u2019ll use no images, either in our HTML or our CSS. No sliding doors, no image replacement techniques. Just straight up, CSS, CSS3 and a bit of experimental CSS. And, it will be compatible with pretty much any browser (though with some progressive enhancement for those who keep up with the latest browsers).\n\nThe HTML\n\nWe\u2019ll start with our HTML.\n\n\n\nOK, so it\u2019s not shiny yet \u2013 but boy will it ever be.\n\nBefore styling, that\u2019s going to look like this.\n\nIronically, depending on the operating system and browser you are using, it may well be a shiny button already, but that\u2019s not the point. We want to make it shiny 2.0. Our mission is to make it look something like this\n\n\n\nIf you want to follow along at home keep in mind that depending on which browser you are using you may see fewer of the CSS effects we\u2019ve added to create the button. As of writing, only in Safari are all the effects we\u2019ll apply supported.\n\nTaking a look at our finished product, here\u2019s what we\u2019ve done to it:\n\n\n\tWe\u2019ve given the button some padding and a width.\n\tWe\u2019ve changed the text color, and given the text a drop shadow.\n\tWe\u2019ve given the button a border.\n\tWe\u2019ve given the button some rounded corners.\n\tWe\u2019ve given the button a drop shadow.\n\tWe\u2019ve given the button a gradient background.\n\n\nand remember, all without using any images.\n\nStyling the button\n\nSo, let\u2019s get to work.\n\nFirst, we\u2019ll add given the element some padding and a width:\n\nbutton {\n\tpadding: .5em;\n\twidth: 15em;\n}\n\nNext, we\u2019ll add the text color, and the drop shadow:\n\ncolor: #ffffff;\ntext-shadow: 1px 1px 1px #000;\n\nA note on text-shadow\n\nIf you\u2019ve not seen text-shadows before well, here\u2019s the quick back-story. Text shadow was introduced in CSS2, but only supported in Safari (version 1!) some years later. It was removed from CSS2.1, but returned in CSS3 (in the text module). It\u2019s now supported in Safari, Opera and Firefox (3.1). Internet Explorer has a shadow filter, but the syntax is completely different.\n\nSo, how do text-shadows work? The three length values specify respectively a horizontal offset, a vertical offset and a blur (the greater the number the more blurred the shadow will be), and finally a color value for the shadow.\n\nRounding the corners\n\nNow we\u2019ll add a border, and round the corners of the element:\n\nborder: solid thin #882d13;\n-webkit-border-radius: .7em;\n-moz-border-radius: .7em;\nborder-radius: .7em;\n\nHere, we\u2019ve used the same property in three slightly different forms. We add the browser specific prefix for Webkit and Mozilla browsers, because right now, both of these browsers only support border radius as an experimental property. We also add the standard property name, for browsers that do support the property fully in the future. \n\nThe benefit of the browser specific prefix is that if a browser only partly supports a given property, we can easily avoid using the property with that browser simply by not adding the browser specific prefix. At present, as you might guess, border-radius is supported in Safari and Firefox, but in each the relevant prefix is required.\n\nborder-radius takes a length value, such as pixels. (It can also take two length values, but that\u2019s for another Christmas.) In this case, as with padding, I\u2019ve used ems, which means that as the user scales the size of text up and down, the radius will scale as well. You can test the difference by making the radius have a value of say 5px, and then zooming up and down the text size. \n\nWe\u2019re well and truly on the way now. All we need to do is add a shadow to the button, and then a gradient background.\n\nIn CSS3 there\u2019s the box-shadow property, currently only supported in Safari 3. It\u2019s very similar to text-shadow \u2013 you specify a horizontal and vertical offset, a blur value and a color.\n\n-webkit-box-shadow: 2px 2px 3px #999; \nbox-shadow: 2px 2px 2px #bbb;\n\nOnce more, we require the \u201cexperimental\u201d -webkit- prefix, as Safari\u2019s support for this property is still considered by its developers to be less than perfect.\n\nGradient Background\n\nSo, all we have left now is to add our shiny gradient effect. Now of course, people have been doing this kind of thing with images for a long time. But if we can avoid them all the better. Smaller pages, faster downloads, and more scalable designs that adapt better to the user\u2019s font size preference. But how can we add a gradient background without an image?\n\nHere we\u2019ll look at the only property that is not as yet part of the CSS standard \u2013 Apple\u2019s gradient function for use anywhere you can use images with CSS (in this case backgrounds). In essence, this takes SVG gradients, and makes them available via CSS syntax.\n\nHere\u2019s what the property and its value looks like:\n\nbackground-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, from(#e9ede8), to(#ce401c),color-stop(0.4, #8c1b0b));\n\nZooming in on the gradient function, it has this basic form:\n\n-webkit-gradient(type, point, point, from(color), to(color),color-stop(where, color));\n\nWhich might look complicated, but is less so than at first glance.\n\nThe name of the function is gradient (and in this case, because it is an experimental property, we use the -webkit- prefix).\n\nYou might not have seen CSS functions before, but there are others, including the attr() function, used with generated content. A function returns a value that can be used as a property value \u2013 here we are using it as a background image.\n\nNext we specify the type of the gradient. Here we have a linear gradient, and there are also radial gradients. \n\nAfter that, we specify the start and end points of the gradient \u2013 in our case the top and bottom of the element, in a vertical line. \n\nWe then specify the start and end colors \u2013 and finally one stop color, located at 40% of the way down the element. Together, this creates a gradient that smoothly transitions from the start color in the top, vertically to the stop color, then smoothly transitions to the end color.\n\nThere\u2019s one last thing. What color will the background of our button be if the browser doesn\u2019t support gradients? It will be white (or possibly some default color for buttons). Which may make the text difficult or impossible to read. So, we\u2019ll add a background color as well (see why the validator is always warning you when a color but not a background color is specified for an element?).\n\nIf we put it all together, here\u2019s what we have:\n\nbutton {\n\twidth: 15em;\n\tpadding: .5em;\n\tcolor: #ffffff;\n\ttext-shadow: 1px 1px 1px #000;\n\tborder: solid thin #882d13;\n\t-webkit-border-radius: .7em;\n\t-moz-border-radius: .7em;\n\tborder-radius: .7em;\n\t-webkit-box-shadow: 2px 2px 3px #999; \n\tbox-shadow: 2px 2px 2px #bbb;\n\tbackground-color: #ce401c;\n\tbackground-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, from(#e9ede8), to(#ce401c),color-stop(0.4, #8c1b0b));\n}\n\nWhich looks like this in various browsers:\n\nIn Safari (3)\n\n\n\nIn Firefox 3.1 (3.0 supports border-radius but not text-shadow)\n\n\n\nIn Opera 10\n\n\n\nand of course in Internet Explorer (version 8 shown here)\n\n\n\nBut it looks different in different browsers\n\nYes, it does look different in different browsers, but we all know the answer to the question \u201cdo web sites need to look the same in every browser?\u201c.\n\nEven if you really think sites should look the same in every browser, hopefully this little tutorial has whet your appetite for what CSS3 and experimental CSS that\u2019s already supported in widely used browsers (and we haven\u2019t even touched on animations and similar effects!).\n\nI hope you\u2019ve enjoyed out little CSSMas present, and look forward to seeing your shiny buttons everywhere on the web.\n\nOh, and there\u2019s just a bit of homework \u2013 your job is to use the :hover selector, and make a gradient in the hover state.", "year": "2008", "author": "John Allsopp", "author_slug": "johnallsopp", "published": "2008-12-18T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2008/shiny-happy-buttons/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 100, "title": "Moo'y Christmas", "contents": "A note from the editors: Moo has changed their API since this article was written.\n \n \n \n As the web matures, it is less and less just about the virtual world. It is becoming entangled with our world and it is harder to tell what is virtual and what is real. There are several companies who are blurring this line and make the virtual just an extension of the physical. Moo is one such company. \n\nMoo offers simple print on demand services. You can print business cards, moo mini cards, stickers, postcards and more. They give you the ability to upload your images, customize them, then have them sent to your door. Many companies allow this sort of digital to physical interaction, but Moo has taken it one step further and has built an API. \n\nPrintable stocking stuffers \n\nThe Moo API consists of a simple XML file that is sent to their servers. It describes all the information needed to dynamically assemble and print your object. This is very helpful, not just for when you want to print your own stickers, but when you want to offer them to your customers, friends, organization or community with no hassle. Moo handles the check-out and shipping, all you need to do is what you do best, create! \n\nNow using an API sounds complicated, but it is actually very easy. I am going to walk you through the options so you can easily be printing in no time. \n\nBefore you can begin sending data to the Moo API, you need to register and get an API key. This is important, because it allows Moo to track usage and to credit you. To register, visit http://www.moo.com/api/ and click \u201cRequest an API key\u201d. \n\nIn the following examples, I will use {YOUR API KEY HERE} as a place holder, replace that with your API key and everything will work fine. \n\nFirst thing you need to do is to create an XML file to describe the check-out basket. Open any text-editor and start with some XML basics. Don\u2019t worry, this is pretty simple and Moo gives you a few tools to check your XML for errors before you order. \n\n \n \n\t \n\t\t 0.7\n\t\t {YOUR API KEY HERE}\n\t\t build\n\t\t http://www.example.com/return.html\n\t\t http://www.example.com/fail.html\n\t \n\t \n\t ...\n\t \n\n\nMuch like HTML\u2019s and , Moo has created and elements all wrapped in a element. \n\nThe element contains a few pieces of information that is the same across all the API calls. The element describes which version of the API is being used. This is more important for Moo than for you, so just stick with \u201c0.7\u201d for now. \n\nThe allows Moo to track sales, referrers and credit your account. \n\nThe element can only take \u201cbuild\u201d so that is pretty straight forward. The and elements are URLs. These are optional and are the URLs the customer is redirected to if there is an error, or when the check out process is complete. This allows for some basic branding and a custom \u201cthank you\u201d page which is under your control. That\u2019s it for the element, pretty easy so far! \n\nNext up is the element. What goes inside here describes what is to be printed. There are two possible elements, we can put or we can put directly inside . They work in a similar ways, but they drop the customer into different parts of the Moo checkout process. \n\nIf you specify then you send the customer straight to the Moo payment process. If you specify then you send the customer one-step earlier where they are allowed to pick and choose some images, remove the ones they don\u2019t like, adjust the crop, etc. The example here will use but with a little bit of homework you can easily adjust to if you desire. \n\n... \n \n\t sticker \n\t \n\t\t http://example.com/images/christmas1.jpg \n\t \n \n...\n\nInside the element, we can see there are two basic piece of information. The type of product we want to print, and the images that are to be printed. The element can take one of five options and is required! The possibilities are: minicard, notecard, sticker, postcard or greetingcard. We\u2019ll now look at two of these more closely. \n\nMoo Stickers \n\nIn the Moo sticker books you get 90 small squarish stickers in a small little booklet. \n\n\n\nThe simplest XML you could send would be something like the following payload:\n\n...\n\n\t\n\t\tsticker\n\t\t\n\t\t\thttp://example.com/image1.jpg\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\thttp://example.com/image2.jpg\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\thttp://example.com/image3.jpg\n\t\t\n\t\n\n...\n\nThis creates a sticker book with only 3 unique images, but 30 copies of each image. The Sticker books always print 90 stickers in multiples of the images you uploaded. That example only has 3 elements, but you can easily duplicate the XML and send up to 90. The should be the full path to your image and the image needs to be a minimum of 300 pixels by 300 pixels.\n\nYou can add more XML to describe cropping, but the simplest option is to either, let your customers choose or to pre-crop all your images square so there are no issues.\n\nThe full XML you would post to the Moo API to print sticker books would look like this:\n\n \n \n\t\n\t\t0.7\n\t\t{YOUR API KEY HERE}\n\t\tbuild\n\t\thttp://www.example.com/return.html\n\t\thttp://www.example.com/fail.html\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tsticker\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\thttp://example.com/image1.jpg\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\thttp://example.com/image2.jpg\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\thttp://example.com/image3.jpg\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\n\nMini-cards \n\nThe mini-cards are the small cute business cards in 14\u00d735 dimensions and come in packs of 100. \n\n\n\nSince the mini-cards are print on demand, this allows you to have 100 unique images on the back of the cards.\n\nJust like the stickers example, we need the same XML setup. The element and elements will be the same as before. The part you will focus on is the section. \n\nSince you are sending along specific information, we can\u2019t use the option any more. Switch this to which has a child of , which in turn has a and . This might seem like a lot of work, but once you have it set up you won\u2019t need to change it.\n\n...\n\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tminicard\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t...\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\n...\n\nSo now that we have the basic framework, we can talk about the information specific to minicards. Inside the element, you will have one for each card. Much like before, this contains a way to describe the image. Note that this time the element is called , not images plural. \n\nInside the element you have a which points to where the image lives and a . The should just be set to \u2018variable\u2019. You can pass crop information here instead, but we\u2019re going to keep it simple for this tutorial. If you are interested in how that works, you should refer to the official API documentation.\n\n...\n\n\t\n\t\thttp://example.com/image1.jpg\n\t\tvariable\n\t\n\n...\n\nSo far, we have managed to build a pack of 100 Moo mini-cards with the same image on the front. If you wanted 100 different images, you just need to replicate this snippit, 99 more times.\n\nThat describes the front design, but the flip-side of your mini-cards can contain 6 lines of text, which is customizable in a variety of colors, fonts and styles.\n\nThe API allows you to create different text on the back of each mini-card, something the web interface doesn\u2019t implement. To describe the text on the mini-card we need to add a element inside the element. If you skip this element, the back of your mini-card will just be blank, but that\u2019s not very festive!\n\nInside the element, we need to describe the type of text we want to format, so we add a element, which in turn contains all the lines of text. Each of Moo\u2019s printed products take different numbers of lines of text, so if you are not planning on making mini-cards, be sure to consult the documentation.\n\nFor mini-cards, we can have 6 distinct lines, each with their own style and layout. Each line is represented by an element which has several optional children. The tells which line of the 6 to print the text one. The is the text you want to print and it must be shorter than 38 characters. The element is false by default, but if you want your text bolded, then add this and set it to true. \n\nThe element is also optional. By default it is set to align left. You can also set this to right or center if you desirer. The element takes one of 3 types, modern, traditional or typewriter. The default is modern. Finally, you can set the , yes that\u2019s color with a \u2018u\u2019, Moo is a British company, so they get to make the rules. When you start a print on demand company, you can spell it however you want. The element takes a 6 character hex value with a leading #.\n\n\n\t...\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t(1-6)\n\t\t\t\tString, I must be less than 38 chars!\n\t\t\t\ttrue\n\t\t\t\tleft\n\t\t\t\tmodern\n\t\t\t\t#ff0000 \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\n\nIf you combine all of this into a mini-card request you\u2019d get this example:\n\n \n \n\t\n\t\t0.7\n\t\t{YOUR API KEY HERE}\n\t\tbuild\n\t\thttp://www.example.com/return.html\n\t\thttp://www.example.com/fail.html\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tminicard\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\thttp://example.com/image1.jpg\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tvariable\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tString, I must be less than 38 chars!\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttrue\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tleft\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmodern\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t#ff0000 \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\n\nNow you know how to construct the XML that describes what to print. Next, you need to know how to send it to Moo to make it happen!\n\nPosting to the API\n\nSo your XML is file ready to go. First thing we need to do is check it to make sure it\u2019s valid. Moo has created a simple validator where you paste in your XML, and it alerts you to problems.\n\nWhen you have a fully valid XML file, you\u2019ll want to send that to the Moo API. There are a few ways to do this, but the simplest is with an HTML form. \n\nThis is the sample code for an HTML form with a big \u201cBuy My Stickers\u201d button. Once you know that it is working, you can use all your existing HTML knowledge to style it up any way you like.\n\n
        \n\t .... ... \"> \n\t\n\n\nThis is just a basic
        element that submits to the Moo API, http://www.moo.com/api/api.php, when someone clicks the button. There is a hidden input called \u201cxml\u201d which contains the value the XML file we created previously.\n\nFor those of you who need to \u201cview source\u201d to fully understand what\u2019s happening can see a working version and peek under the hood.\n\nUsing the API has advantages over uploading the images directly yourself. The images and text that you send via the API can be dynamic. Some companies, like Dopplr, have taken user profiles and dynamic data that changes every minute to generate customer stickers of places that you\u2019ve travelled to or mini-cards with a world map of all the cities you have visited. Every single customer has different travel plans and therefore different sets of stickers and mini-card maps. The API allows for the utmost current information to be printed, on demand, in real-time.\n\nGo forth and Moo\u2019ltiply\n\nSee, making an API call wasn\u2019t that hard was it? You are now 90% of the way to creating anything with the Moo API. With a bit of reading, you can learn that extra 10% and print any Moo product. Be on the lookout in 2009 for the official release of the 1.0 API with improvements and some extras that were not available when this article was written.\n\nThis article is released under the creative-commons attribution share-a-like license. That means you are free to re-distribute it, mash it up, translate it and otherwise re-using it ways the author never considered, in return he only asks you mention his name.\n\n\nThis work by Brian Suda is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.", "year": "2008", "author": "Brian Suda", "author_slug": "briansuda", "published": "2008-12-19T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2008/mooy-christmas/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 109, "title": "Geotag Everywhere with Fire Eagle", "contents": "A note from the editors: Since this article was written Yahoo! has retired the Fire Eagle service.\n \n \n \n Location, they say, is everywhere. Everyone has one, all of the time. But on the web, it\u2019s taken until this year to see the emergence of location in the applications we use and build.\n\nThe possibilities are broad. Increasingly, mobile phones provide SDKs to approximate your location wherever you are, browser extensions such as Loki and Mozilla\u2019s Geode provide browser-level APIs to establish your location from the proximity of wireless networks to your laptop. Yahoo\u2019s Brickhouse group launched Fire Eagle, an ambitious location broker enabling people to take their location from any of these devices or sources, and provide it to a plethora of web services. It enables you to take the location information that only your iPhone knows about and use it anywhere on the web.\n\nThat said, this is still a time of location as an emerging technology. Fire Eagle stores your location on the web (protected by application-specific access controls), but to try and give an idea of how useful and powerful your location can be \u2014 regardless of the services you use now \u2014 today\u2019s 24ways is going to build a bookmarklet to call up your location on demand, in any web application.\n\nLocation Support on the Web\n\nOver the past year, the number of applications implementing location features has increased dramatically. Plazes and Brightkite are both full featured social networks based around where you are, whilst Pownce rolled in Fire Eagle support to allow geotagging of all the content you post to their microblogging service. Dipity\u2019s beautiful timeline shows for you moving from place to place and Six Apart\u2019s activity stream for Movable Type started exposing your movements.\n\nThe number of services that hook into Fire Eagle will increase as location awareness spreads through the developer community, but you can use your location on other sites indirectly too.\n\nConsider Flickr. Now world renowned for their incredible mapping and places features, geotagging on Flickr started out as a grassroots extension of regular tagging. That same technique can be used to start rolling geotagging in any publishing platform you come across, for any kind of content. Machine-tags (geo:lat= and geo:lon=) and the adr and geo microformats can be used to enhance anything you write with location information.\n\nA crash course in avian inflammability\n\nFire Eagle is a location store. A broker between services and devices which provide location and those which consume it. It\u2019s a switchboard that controls which pieces of your location different applications can see and use, and keeps hidden anything you want kept private. A blog widget that displays your current location in public can be restricted to display just your current city, whilst a service that provides you with a list of the nearest ATMs will operate better with a precise street address. \n\nEven if your iPhone tells Fire Eagle exactly where you are, consuming applications only see what you want them to see. That\u2019s important for users to realise that they\u2019re in control, but also important for application developers to remember that you cannot rely on having super-accurate information available all the time. You need to build location aware applications which degrade gracefully, because users will provide fuzzier information \u2014 either through choice, or through less accurate sources.\n\nApplication specific permissions are controlled through an OAuth API. Each application has a unique key, used to request a second, user-specific key that permits access to that user\u2019s information. You store that user key and it remains valid until such a time as the user revokes your application\u2019s access. Unlike with passwords, these keys are unique per application, so revoking the access rights of one application doesn\u2019t break all the others.\n\nBuilding your first Fire Eagle app; Geomarklet\n\nFire Eagle\u2019s developer documentation can take you through examples of writing simple applications using server side technologies (PHP, Python). Here, we\u2019re going to write a client-side bookmarklet to make your location available in every site you use. It\u2019s designed to fast-track the experience of having location available everywhere on web, and show you how that can be really handy. Hopefully, this will set you thinking about how location can enhance the new applications you build in 2009.\n\nAn oddity of bookmarklets\n\nBookmarklets (or \u2018favlets\u2019, for those of an MSIE persuasion) are a strange environment to program in. Critically, you have no persistent storage available. As such, using token-auth APIs in a static environment requires you to build you application in a slightly strange way; authing yourself in advance and then hardcoding the keys into your script.\n\nGet started\n\nBefore you do anything else, go to http://fireeagle.com and log in, get set up if you need to and by all means take a look around. Take a look at the mobile updaters section of the application gallery and perhaps pick out an app that will update Fire Eagle from your phone or laptop.\n\nOnce that\u2019s done, you need to register for an application key in the developer section. Head straight to /developer/create and complete the form. Since you\u2019re building a standalone application, choose \u2018Auth for desktop applications\u2019 (rather than web applications), and select that you\u2019ll be \u2018accessing location\u2019, not updating.\n\nAt the end of this process, you\u2019ll have two application keys, a \u2018Consumer Key\u2019 and a \u2018Consumer Secret\u2019, which look like these:\n\n \n Consumer Key\n luKrM9U1pMnu\n Consumer Secret\n ZZl9YXXoJX5KLiKyVrMZffNEaBnxnd6M\n \n\nThese keys combined allow your application to make requests to Fire Eagle.\n\nNext up, you need to auth yourself; granting your new application permission to use your location. Because bookmarklets don\u2019t have local storage, you can\u2019t integrate the auth process into the bookmarklet itself \u2014 it would have no way of storing the returned key. Instead, I\u2019ve put together a simple web frontend through which you can auth with your application.\n\nHead to Auth me, Amadeus!, enter the application keys you just generated and hit \u2018Authorize with Fire Eagle\u2019. You\u2019ll be taken to the Fire Eagle website, just as in regular Fire Eagle applications, and after granting access to your app, be redirected back to Amadeus which will provide you your user tokens. These tokens are used in subsequent requests to read your location.\n\nAnd, skip to the end\u2026\n\nThe process of building the bookmarklet, making requests to Fire Eagle, rendering it to the page and so forth follows, but if you\u2019re the impatient type, you might like to try this out right now. Take your four API keys from above, and drag the following link to your Bookmarks Toolbar; it contains all the code described below. Before you can use it, you need to edit in your own API keys. Open your browser\u2019s bookmark editor and where you find text like \u2018YOUR_CONSUMER_KEY_HERE\u2019, swap in the corresponding key you just generated.\n\nGet Location\n\nBookmarklet Basics\n\nTo start on the bookmarklet code, set out a basic JavaScript module-pattern structure:\n\nvar Geomarklet = function() {\n\treturn ({\n\t\tcallback: function(json) {},\n\t\trun: function() {}\n\t});\n};\nGeomarklet.run();\n\nNext we\u2019ll add the keys obtained in the setup step, and also some basic Fire Eagle support objects:\n\nvar Geomarklet = function() {\n\tvar Keys = {\n\t\t\tconsumer_key: 'IuKrJUHU1pMnu',\n\t\t\tconsumer_secret: 'ZZl9YXXoJX5KLiKyVEERTfNEaBnxnd6M',\n\t\t\tuser_token: 'xxxxxxxxxxxx',\n\t\t\tuser_secret: 'xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx'\n\t};\n\tvar LocationDetail = {\n\t\t\tEXACT: 0,\n\t\t\tPOSTAL: 1,\n\t\t\tNEIGHBORHOOD: 2,\n\t\t\tCITY: 3,\n\t\t\tREGION: 4,\n\t\t\tSTATE: 5,\n\t\t\tCOUNTRY: 6\n\t};\n\tvar index_offset;\n\treturn ({\n\t\tcallback: function(json) {},\n\t\trun: function() {}\n\t});\n};\nGeomarklet.run();\n\nThe Location Hierarchy\n\nA successful Fire Eagle query returns an object called the \u2018location hierarchy\u2019. Depending on the level of detail shared, the index of a particular piece of information in the array will vary. The LocationDetail object maps the array indices of each level in the hierarchy to something comprehensible, whilst the index_offset variable is an adjustment based on the detail of the result returned.\n\nThe location hierarchy object looks like this, providing a granular breakdown of a location, in human consumable and machine-friendly forms.\n\n\"user\": {\n\t\t\"location_hierarchy\": [{\n\t\t\t\"level\": 0,\n\t\t\t\"level_name\": \"exact\",\n\t\t\t\"name\": \"707 19th St, San Francisco, CA\",\n\t\t\t\"normal_name\": \"94123\",\n\t\t\t\"geometry\": {\n\t\t\t\t\t\"type\": \"Point\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"coordinates\": [ - 0.2347530752, 67.232323]\n\t\t\t},\n\t\t\t\"label\": null,\n\t\t\t\"best_guess\": true,\n\t\t\t\"id\": ,\n\t\t\t\"located_at\": \"2008-12-18T00:49:58-08:00\",\n\t\t\t\"query\": \"q=707%2019th%20Street,%20Sf\"\n\t\t},\n\t\t{\n\t\t\t\t\"level\": 1,\n\t\t\t\t\"level_name\": \"postal\",\n\t\t\t\t\"name\": \"San Francisco, CA 94114\",\n\t\t\t\t\"normal_name\": \"12345\",\n\t\t\t\t\"woeid\": ,\n\t\t\t\t\"place_id\": \"\",\n\t\t\t\t\"geometry\": {\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"type\": \"Polygon\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"coordinates\": [],\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"bbox\": []\n\t\t\t\t},\n\t\t\t\t\"label\": null,\n\t\t\t\t\"best_guess\": false,\n\t\t\t\t\"id\": 59358791,\n\t\t\t\t\"located_at\": \"2008-12-18T00:49:58-08:00\"\n\t\t},\n\t\t{\n\t\t\t\t\"level\": 2,\n\t\t\t\t\"level_name\": \"neighborhood\",\n\t\t\t\t\"name\": \"The Mission, San Francisco, CA\",\n\t\t\t\t\"normal_name\": \"The Mission\",\n\t\t\t\t\"woeid\": 23512048,\n\t\t\t\t\"place_id\": \"Y12JWsKbApmnSQpbQg\",\n\t\t\t\t\"geometry\": {\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"type\": \"Polygon\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"coordinates\": [],\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"bbox\": []\n\t\t\t\t},\n\t\t\t\t\"label\": null,\n\t\t\t\t\"best_guess\": false,\n\t\t\t\t\"id\": 59358801,\n\t\t\t\t\"located_at\": \"2008-12-18T00:49:58-08:00\"\n\t\t\t},\n\t\t}\n\nIn this case the first object has a level of 0, so the index_offset is also 0.\n\nPrerequisites\n\nTo query Fire Eagle we call in some existing libraries to handle the OAuth layer and the Fire Eagle API call. Your bookmarklet will need to add the following scripts into the page:\n\n\n\tThe SHA1 encryption algorithm\n\tThe OAuth wrapper\n\tAn extension for the OAuth wrapper\n\tThe Fire Eagle wrapper itself\n\n\nWhen the bookmarklet is first run, we\u2019ll insert these scripts into the document. We\u2019re also inserting a stylesheet to dress up the UI that will be generated.\n\nIf you want to follow along any of the more mundane parts of the bookmarklet, you can download the full source code.\n\nRendering\n\nThis bookmarklet can be extended to support any formatting of your location you like, but for sake of example I\u2019m going to build three common formatters that you\u2019ll find useful for common location scenarios: Sites which already ask for your location; and in publishing systems that accept tags or HTML mark-up.\n\nAll the rendering functions are items in a renderers object, so they can be iterated through easily, making it trivial to add new formatting functions as your find new use cases (just add another function to the object).\n\nvar renderers = {\ngeotag: function(user) {\n\tif(LocationDetail.EXACT !== index_offset) {\n\t\t\treturn false;\n\t}\n\telse {\n\t\tvar coords =\n\t\t\tuser.location_hierarchy[LocationDetail.EXACT].geometry.coordinates;\n\t\treturn \"geo:lat=\" + coords[0] + \", geo:lon=\" + coords[1];\n\t}\n},\ncity: function(user) {\n\tif(LocationDetail.CITY < index_offset) {\n\t\treturn false;\n\t}\n\telse {\n\t\treturn user.location_hierarchy[LocationDetail.CITY - index_offset].name; \n\t}\t\t\t\t\t\t \n}\n\nYou should always fail gracefully, and in line with catering to users who choose not to share their location precisely, always check that the location has been returned at the level you require. Geotags are expected to be precise, so if an exact location is unavailable, returning false will tell the rendering aspect of the bookmarklet to ignore the function altogether.\n\nThese first two are quite simple, geotag returns geo:lat=-0.2347530752, geo:lon=67.232323 and city returns San Francisco, CA.\n\nThis final renderer creates a chunk of HTML using the adr and geo microformats, using all available aspects of the location hierarchy, and can be used to geotag any content you write on your blog or in comments:\n\nhtml: function(user) {\n\tvar geostring = '';\n\tvar adrstring = '';\n\tvar adr = [];\t\t \n\tadr.push('

        ');\n\t// city\n\tif(LocationDetail.CITY >= index_offset) {\n\t\tadr.push(\n\t\t\t'\\n\t\t '\n\t\t+ user.location_hierarchy[LocationDetail.CITY-index_offset].normal_name\n\t\t+ ','\n\t\t);\n\t}\n\t// county\n\tif(LocationDetail.REGION >= index_offset) {\n\t\tadr.push(\n\t\t\t'\\n\t\t ' \n\t\t+ user.location_hierarchy[LocationDetail.REGION-index_offset].normal_name\n\t\t+ ','\n\t\t\t);\n\t}\n\t// locality\n\tif(LocationDetail.STATE >= index_offset) {\n\t\tadr.push(\n\t\t\t'\\n\t\t '\n\t\t+ user.location_hierarchy[LocationDetail.STATE-index_offset].normal_name\n\t\t+ ','\n\t\t);\n\t}\n\t// country\n\tif(LocationDetail.COUNTRY >= index_offset) {\n\t\tadr.push(\n\t\t\t'\\n\t\t '\n\t\t+ user.location_hierarchy[LocationDetail.COUNTRY-index_offset].normal_name\n\t\t+ ''\n\t\t);\n\t}\n\t// postal\n\tif(LocationDetail.POSTAL >= index_offset) {\n\t\tadr.push(\n\t\t\t'\\n\t\t '\n\t\t+ user.location_hierarchy[LocationDetail.POSTAL-index_offset].normal_name\n\t\t+ ','\n\t\t);\n\t}\n\tadr.push('\\n

        \\n');\n\tadrstring = adr.join('');\n\tif(LocationDetail.EXACT === index_offset) {\n\t\tvar coords = \n\t\t\tuser.location_hierarchy[LocationDetail.EXACT].geometry.coordinates;\n\t\tgeostring = '

        '\n\t\t\t+'\\n\t\t'\n\t\t\t+ coords[0]\n\t\t\t+ ';'\n\t\t\t+ '\\n\t\t '\n\t\t\t+ coords[1]\n\t\t\t+ '\\n

        \\n';\n\t}\n\treturn (adrstring + geostring);\n}\n\nHere we check the availability of every level of location and build it into the adr and geo patterns as appropriate. Just as for the geotag function, if there\u2019s no exact location the geo markup won\u2019t be returned.\n\nFinally, there\u2019s a rendering method which creates a container for all this data, renders all the applicable location formats and then displays them in the page for a user to copy and paste. You can throw this together with DOM methods and some simple styling, or roll in some components from YUI or JQuery to handle drawing full featured overlays.\n\nYou can see this simple implementation for rendering in the full source code.\n\nMake the call\n\nWith a framework in place to render Fire Eagle\u2019s location hierarchy, the only thing that remains is to actually request your location. Having already authed through Amadeus earlier, that\u2019s as simple as instantiating the Fire Eagle JavaScript wrapper and making a single function call. It\u2019s a big deal that whilst a lot of new technologies like OAuth add some complexity and require new knowledge to work with, APIs like Fire Eagle are really very simple indeed.\n\nreturn {\n\trun: function() {\n\t\tinsert_prerequisites();\n\t\tsetTimeout(\n\t\t\tfunction() {\n\t\t\t\tvar fe = new FireEagle(\n\t\t\t\t\tKeys.consumer_key,\n\t\t\t\t\tKeys.consumer_secret,\n\t\t\t\t\tKeys.user_token,\n\t\t\t\t\tKeys.user_secret\n\t\t\t\t);\n\t\t\t\tvar script = document.createElement('script');\n\t\t\t\tscript.type = 'text/javascript';\n\t\t\t\tscript.src = fe.getUserUrl(\n\t\t\t\t\tFireEagle.RESPONSE_FORMAT.json,\n\t\t\t\t\t'Geomarklet.callback'\n\t\t\t\t);\n\t\t\t\tdocument.body.appendChild(script);\n\t\t\t},\n\t\t\t2000\n\t\t);\n\t},\n\tcallback: function(json) {\n\t\tif(json.rsp && 'fail' == json.rsp.stat) {\n\t\t\talert('Error ' + json.rsp.code + \": \" + json.rsp.message);\n\t\t}\n\t\telse {\n\t\t\tindex_offset = json.user.location_hierarchy[0].level;\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\tdraw_selector(json);\n\t\t}\n\t}\n};\n\nWe first insert the prerequisite scripts required for the Fire Eagle request to function, and to prevent trying to instantiate the FireEagle object before it\u2019s been loaded over the wire, the remaining instantiation and request is wrapped inside a setTimeout delay.\n\nWe then create the request URL, referencing the Geomarklet.callback callback function and then append the script to the document body \u2014 allowing a cross-domain request.\n\nThe callback itself is quite simple. Check for the presence and value of rsp.status to test for errors, and display them as required. If the request is successful set the index_offset \u2014 to adjust for the granularity of the location hierarchy \u2014 and then pass the object to the renderer.\n\nThe result? When Geomarklet.run() is called, your location from Fire Eagle is read, and each renderer displayed on the page in an easily copy and pasteable form, ready to be used however you need.\n\nDeploy\n\nThe final step is to convert this code into a long string for use as a bookmarklet. Easiest for Mac users is the JavaScript bundle in TextMate \u2014 choose Bundles: JavaScript: Copy as Bookmarklet to Clipboard. Then create a new \u2018Get Location\u2019 bookmark in your browser of choice and paste in.\n\nThose without TextMate can shrink their code down into a single line by first running their code through the JSLint tool (to ensure the code is free from errors and has all the required semi-colons) and then use a find-and-replace tool to remove line breaks from your code (or even run your code through JSMin to shrink it down).\n\nWith the bookmarklet created and added to your bookmarks bar, you can now call up your location on any page at all. Get a feel for a web where your location is just another reliable part of the browsing experience.\n\nWhere next?\n\nSo, the Geomarklet you\u2019ve been guided through is a pretty simple premise and pretty simple output. But from this base you can start to extend: Add code that will insert each of the location renderings directly into form fields, perhaps, or how about site-specific handlers to add your location tags into the correct form field in Wordpress or Tumblr? Paste in your current location to Google Maps? Or Flickr?\n\nGeomarklet gives you a base to start experimenting with location on your own pages and the sites you browse daily.\n\nThe introduction of consumer accessible geo to the web is an adventure of discovery; not so much discovering new locations, but discovering location itself.", "year": "2008", "author": "Ben Ward", "author_slug": "benward", "published": "2008-12-21T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2008/geotag-everywhere-with-fire-eagle/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 98, "title": "Absolute Columns", "contents": "CSS layouts have come quite a long way since the dark ages of web publishing, with all sorts of creative applications of floats, negative margins, and even background images employed in order to give us that most basic building block, the column. As the title implies, we are indeed going to be discussing columns today\u2014more to the point, a handy little application of absolute positioning that may be exactly what you\u2019ve been looking for\u2026\n\nCare for a nightcap?\n\nIf you\u2019ve been developing for the web for long enough, you may be familiar with this little children\u2019s fable, passed down from wizened Shaolin monks sitting atop the great Mt. Geocities: \u201cOnce upon a time, multiple columns of the same height could be easily created using TABLES.\u201d Now, though we\u2019re all comfortably seated on the standards train (and let\u2019s be honest: even if you like to think you\u2019ve fallen off, if you\u2019ve given up using tables for layout, rest assured your sleeper car is still reserved), this particular\u2014and as page layout goes, quite basic\u2014trick is still a thorn in our CSSides compared to the ease of achieving the same effect using said Tables of Evil\u2122.\n\nSee, the orange juice masks the flavor\u2026\n\nCreative solutions such as Dan Cederholm\u2019s Faux Columns do a good job of making it appear as though adjacent columns maintain equal height as content expands, using a background image to fill the space that the columns cannot.\n\nNow, the Holy Grail of CSS columns behaving exactly how they would as table cells\u2014or more to the point, as columns\u2014still eludes us (cough CSS3 Multi-column layout module cough), but sometimes you just need, for example, a secondary column (say, a sidebar) to match the height of a primary column, without involving the creation of images. This is where a little absolute positioning can save you time, while possibly giving your layout a little more flexibility.\n\nShaken, not stirred\n\nYou\u2019re probably familiar by now with the concept of Making the Absolute, Relative as set forth long ago by Doug Bowman, but let\u2019s quickly review just in case: an element set to position:absolute will position itself relative to its nearest ancestor set to position:relative, rather than the browser window (see Figure 1).\n\n Figure 1.\n\nHowever, what you may not know is that we can anchor more than two sides of an absolutely positioned element. Yes, that\u2019s right, all four sides (top, right, bottom, left) can be set, though in this example we\u2019re only going to require the services of three sides (see Figure 2 for the end result).\n\n Figure 2.\n\nTrust me, this will make you feel better\n\nOur requirements are essentially the same as the standard \u201cabsolute-relative\u201d trick\u2014a container
        set to position:relative, and our sidebar
        set to position:absolute \u2014 plus another
        that will serve as our main content column. We\u2019ll also add a few other common layout elements (wrapper, header, and footer) so our example markup looks more like a real layout and less like a test case:\n\n
        \n\t
        \n\t\t

        #header

        \n\t
        \n\t
        \n\t\t
        \n\t\t\t

        #left

        \n\t\t\t

        Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet\u2026

        \n\t\t
        \n\t\t
        \n\t\t\t

        #right

        \n\t\t
        \n\t
        \n\t
        \n\t\t

        #footer

        \n\t
        \n
        \n\nIn this example, our main column (#column-left) is only being given a width to fit within the context of the layout, and is otherwise untouched (though we\u2019re using pixels here, this trick will of course work with fluid layouts as well), and our right keeping our styles nice and minimal:\n\n#container {\n\tposition: relative;\n}\n#column-left {\n\twidth: 480px;\n}\n#column-right {\n\tposition: absolute;\n\ttop: 10px;\n\tright: 10px;\n\tbottom: 10px;\n\twidth: 250px;\n}\n\nThe trick is a simple one: the #container
        will expand vertically to fit the content within #column-left. By telling our sidebar
        (#column-right) to attach itself not only to the top and right edges of #container, but also to the bottom, it too will expand and contract to match the height of the left column (duplicate the \u201clorem ipsum\u201d paragraph a few times to see it in action).\n\n Figure 3.\n\nOn the rocks\n\n\u201cBut wait!\u201d I hear you exclaim, \u201cwhen the right column has more content than the left column, it doesn\u2019t expand! My text runneth over!\u201d Sure enough, that\u2019s exactly what happens, and what\u2019s more, it\u2019s supposed to: Absolutely positioned elements do exactly what you tell them to do, and unfortunately aren\u2019t very good at thinking outside the box (get it? sigh\u2026). \n\nHowever, this needn\u2019t get your spirits down, because there\u2019s an easy way to address the issue: by adding overflow:auto to #column-right, a scrollbar will automatically appear if and when needed:\n\n#column-right {\n\tposition: absolute;\n\ttop: 10px;\n\tright: 10px;\n\tbottom: 10px;\n\twidth: 250px;\n\toverflow: auto;\n}\n\nWhile this may limit the trick\u2019s usefulness to situations where the primary column will almost always have more content than the secondary column\u2014or where the secondary column\u2019s content can scroll with wild abandon\u2014a little prior planning will make it easy to incorporate into your designs.\n\nDriving us to drink\n\nIt just wouldn\u2019t be right to have a friendly, festive holiday tutorial without inviting IE6, though in this particular instance there will be no shaming that old browser into admitting it has a problem, nor an intervention and subsequent 12-step program. That\u2019s right my friends, this tutorial has abstained from IE6-abuse now for 30 days, thanks to the wizard Dean Edwards and his amazingly talented IE7 Javascript library.\n\nSimply drop the Conditional Comment and \n\nSlideshow plugin\n\nIf you\u2019re not familiar with jQuery or how to write and author your own plugin there are plenty of articles to help you out.\n\njQuery has a chainable interface and this is something your plugin must implement. This is easy to achieve, so your plugin simply returns the collection it is using:\n\nreturn this.each(\n\tfunction () {}\n};\n\nLocal Variables\n\nTo keep the JavaScript clean and avoid any conflicts, you must set up any variables which are local to the plugin and should be used on each collection item. Defining all your variables at the top under one statement makes adding more and finding which variables are used easier. For other tips, conventions and improvements check out JSLint, the \u201cJavaScript Code Quality Tool\u201d.\n\nvar $$, $div, $images, $arrows, $pager,\n\tid, selector, path, o, options,\n\theight, width,\n\tlist = [], li = 0,\n\tparts = [], pi = 0,\n\tarrows = ['Previous', 'Next'];\n\nCache jQuery Objects\n\nIt is good practice to cache any calls made to jQuery. This reduces wasted DOM calls, can improve the speed of your JavaScript code and makes code more reusable.\n\nThe following code snippet caches the current selected DOM element as a jQuery object using the variable name $$. Secondly, the plugin makes its settings available to the Metadata plugin\u2021 which is best practice within jQuery plugins.\n\nFor each slideshow the plugin generates a
        with a class of slideshow and a unique id. This is used to wrap the slideshow images, pagination and controls.\n\nThe base path which is used for all the images in the slideshow is calculated based on the existing image which appears on the page. For example, if the path to the image on the page was /img/flowers/1.jpg the plugin would use the path /img/flowers/ to load the other images.\n\n$$ = $(this);\no = $.metadata ? $.extend({}, settings, $$.metadata()) : settings;\nid = 'slideshow-' + (i++ + 1);\n$div = $('
        ').addClass('slideshow').attr('id', id);\nselector = '#' + id + ' ';\npath = $$.attr('src').replace(/[0-9]\\.jpg/g, '');\noptions = {};\nheight = $$.height();\nwidth = $$.width();\n\nNote: the plugin uses conventions such as folder structure and numeric filenames. These conventions help with the reusable aspect of plugins and best practices.\n\nBuild the Images\n\nThe cycle plugin uses a list of images to create the slideshow. Because we chose to start with one image we must now build the list programmatically. This is a case of looping through the images which were added via the plugin options, building the appropriate HTML and appending the resulting
          to the DOM.\n\n$.each(o.images, function () {\n\tlist[li++] = '
        • ';\n\tlist[li++] = '';\n\tlist[li++] = '
          • ';\n});\n$images = $('
            ').addClass('cycle-images');\n$images.append(list.join('')).appendTo($div);\n\nAlthough jQuery provides the append method it is much faster to create one really long string and append it to the DOM at the end.\n\nUpdate the Options\n\nHere are some of the options we\u2019re making available by simply adding classes to the . You can change the slideshow effect from the default fade to the sliding effect. By adding the class of stopped the slideshow will not auto-play and must be controlled via pagination or previous and next links.\n\n// different effect\nif ($$.is('.slide')) {\n\toptions.fx = 'scrollHorz';\n}\n// don't move by default\nif ($$.is('.stopped')) {\n\toptions.timeout = 0;\n}\n\nIf you are using the same set of images throughout a website you may wish to start on a different image on each page or section. This can be easily achieved by simply adding the appropriate starting class to the .\n\n// based on the class name on the image\nif ($$.is('[class*=start-]')) {\n\toptions.startingSlide = parseInt($$.attr('class').replace(/.*start-([0-9]+).*/g, \"$1\"), 10) - 1;\n}\n\nFor example:\n\n\"About\n\nBy default, and without JavaScript, the third image in this slideshow is shown. When the JavaScript is applied to the page the slideshow must know to start from the correct place, this is why the start class is required.\n\nYou could capture the default image name and parse it to get the position, but only the default image needs to be numeric to work with this plugin (and could easily be changed in future). Therefore, this extra specifically defined option means the plugin is more tolerant.\n\nPrevious/Next Links\n\nA common feature of slideshows is previous and next links enabling the user to manually progress the images. The Cycle plugin supports this functionality, but you must generate the markup yourself. Most people add these directly in the HTML but normally only support their behaviour when JavaScript is enabled. This goes against progressive enhancement. To keep with the best practice progress enhancement method the previous/next links should be generated with JavaScript.\n\nThe follow snippet checks whether the slideshow requires the previous/next links, via the arrows class. It restricts the Cycle plugin to the specific slideshow using the selector we created at the top of the plugin. This means multiple slideshows can run on one page without conflicting each other.\n\nThe code creates a
              using the arrows array we defined at the top of the plugin. It also adds a class to the slideshow container, meaning you can style different combinations of options in your CSS.\n\n// create the arrows\nif ($$.is('.arrows') && list.length > 1) {\n\toptions.next = selector + '.next';\n\toptions.prev = selector + '.previous';\n\t$arrows = $('
                ').addClass('cycle-arrows');\n\t$.each(arrows, function (i, val) {\n\t\tparts[pi++] = '
              • ';\n\t\tparts[pi++] = '';\n\t\tparts[pi++] = '' + val + '';\n\t\tparts[pi++] = '';\n\t\tparts[pi++] = '
                • ';\n\t});\n\t$arrows.append(parts.join('')).appendTo($div);\n\t$div.addClass('has-cycle-arrows');\n}\n\nThe arrow array could be placed inside the plugin settings to allow for localisation.\n\nPagination\n\nThe Cycle plugin creates its own HTML for the pagination of the slideshow. All our plugin needs to do is create the list and selector to use. This snippet creates the pagination container and appends it to our specific slideshow container. It sets the Cycle plugin pager option, restricting it to the specific slideshow using the selector we created at the top of the plugin. Like the previous/next links, a class is added to the slideshow container allowing you to style the slideshow itself differently.\n\n// create the clickable pagination\nif ($$.is('.pagination') && list.length > 1) {\n\toptions.pager = selector + '.cycle-pagination';\n\t$pager = $('
                  ').addClass('cycle-pagination');\n\t$pager.appendTo($div);\n\t$div.addClass('has-cycle-pagination');\n}\n\nNote: the Cycle plugin creates a
                    with anchors listed directly inside without the surrounding
                  • . Unfortunately this is invalid markup but the code still works.\n\nDemos\n\nWell, that describes all the ins-and-outs of the plugin, but demos make it easier to understand! Viewing the source on the demo page shows some of the combinations you can create with a simple , a few classes and some thought-out JavaScript.\n\nView the demos \u2192\n\nDecide on defaults\n\nThe slideshow plugin uses the exact same settings as the Cycle plugin, but some are explicitly set within the slideshow plugin when using the classes you have set.\n\nWhen deciding on what functionality is going to be controlled via this class method, be careful to choose your defaults wisely. If all slideshows should auto-play, don\u2019t make this an option \u2014 make the option to stop the auto-play. Similarly, if every slideshow should have previous/next functionality make this the default and expose the ability to remove them with a class such as \u201cno-pagination\u201d.\n\nIn the examples presented on this article I have used a class on each . You can easily change this to anything you want and simply apply the plugin based on the jQuery selector required.\n\nGrab your images\n\nIf you are using AJAX to load in your images, you can speed up development by deciding on and keeping to a folder structure and naming convention. There are two methods: basing the image path based on the current URL; or based on the src of the image. The first allows a different slideshow on each page, but in many instances a site will have a couple of sets of images and therefore the second method is probably preferred.\n\nMetadata \u2021\n\nA method which allows you to directly modify settings in certain plugins, which also uses the classes from your HTML already exists. This is a jQuery plugin called Metadata. This method allows for finer control over the plugin settings themselves. Some people, however, may dislike the syntax and prefer using normal classes, like above which when sprinkled with a bit more JavaScript allows you to control what you need to control.\n\nThe takeaway\n\nHopefully you have understood not only what goes in to a basic jQuery plugin but also learnt a new and powerful idea which you can apply to other areas of your website.\n\nThe idea can also be applied to other common interfaces such as lightboxes or mapping services such as Google Maps \u2014 for example creating markers based on a list of places, each with different pin icons based the anchor class.", "year": "2009", "author": "Trevor Morris", "author_slug": "trevormorris", "published": "2009-12-06T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2009/front-end-code-reusability-with-css-and-javascript/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 188, "title": "Don't Lose Your :focus", "contents": "For many web designers, accessibility conjures up images of blind users with screenreaders, and the difficulties in making sites accessible to this particular audience. Of course, accessibility covers a wide range of situations that go beyond the extreme example of screenreader users. And while it\u2019s true that making a complex site accessible can often be a daunting prospect, there are also many small things that don\u2019t take anything more than a bit of judicious planning, are very easy to test (without having to buy expensive assistive technology), and can make all the difference to certain user groups.\n\nIn this short article we\u2019ll focus on keyboard accessibility and how careless use of CSS can potentially make your sites completely unusable.\n\nKeyboard Access\n\nUsers who for whatever reason can\u2019t use a mouse will employ a keyboard (or keyboard-like custom interface) to navigate around web pages. By default, they will use TAB and SHIFT + TAB to move from one focusable element (links, form controls and area) of a page to the next.\n\nNote: in OS X, you\u2019ll first need to turn on full keyboard access under System Preferences > Keyboard and Mouse > Keyboard Shortcuts. Safari under Windows needs to have the option Press Tab to highlight each item on a webpage in Preferences > Advanced enabled. Opera is the odd one out, as it has a variety of keyboard navigation options \u2013 the most relevant here being spatial navigation via Shift+Down, Shift+Up, Shift+Left, and Shift+Right).\n\nBut I Don\u2019t Like Your Dotted Lines\u2026\n\nTo show users where they are within a page, browsers place an outline around the element that currently has focus. The \u201cproblem\u201d with these default outlines is that some browsers (Internet Explorer and Firefox) also display them when a user clicks on a focusable element with the mouse. Particularly on sites that make extensive use of image replacement on links with \u201coff left\u201d techniques this can create very unsightly outlines that stretch from the replaced element all the way to the left edge of the browser.\n\n Outline bleeding off to the left (image-replacement example from carsonified.com)\n\nThere is a trivial workaround to prevent outlines from \u201cspilling over\u201d by adding a simple overflow:hidden, which keeps the outline in check around the clickable portion of the image-replaced element itself.\n\n Outline tamed with overflow:hidden\n\nBut for many designers, even this is not enough. As a final solution, many actively suppress outlines altogether in their stylesheets. Controversially, even Eric Meyer\u2019s popular reset.css \u2013 an otherwise excellent set of styles that levels the playing field of varying browser defaults \u2013 suppresses outlines.\n\nhtml, body, div, span, applet, object, iframe ... {\n\t...\n\toutline: 0;\n\t...\n}\n/* remember to define focus styles! */\n:focus {\n\toutline: 0;\n}\n\nYes, in his explanation (and in the CSS itself) Eric does remind designers to define relevant styles for :focus\u2026 but judging by the number of sites that seem to ignore this (and often remove the related comment from the stylesheet altogether), the message doesn\u2019t seem to have sunk in.\n\nAnyway\u2026 hurrah! No more unsightly dotted lines on our lovely design. But what about keyboard users? Although technically they can still TAB from one element to the next, they now get no default cue as to where they are within the page (one notable exception here is Opera, where the outline is displayed regardless of stylesheets)\u2026 and if they\u2019re Safari users, they won\u2019t even get an indication of a link\u2019s target in the status bar, like they would if they hovered over it with the mouse.\n\nOnly Suppress outline For Mouse Users\n\nIs there a way to allow users navigating with the keyboard to retain the standard outline behaviour they\u2019ve come to expect from their browser, while also ensuring that it doesn\u2019t show display for mouse users?\n\n Testing some convoluted style combinations\n\nAfter playing with various approaches (see Better CSS outline suppression for more details), the most elegant solution also seemed to be the simplest: don\u2019t remove the outline on :focus, do it on :active instead \u2013 after all, :active is the dynamic pseudo-class that deals explicitly with the styles that should be applied when a focusable element is clicked or otherwise activated.\n\na:active { outline: none; }\n\nThe only minor issues with this method: if a user activates a link and then uses the browser\u2019s back button, the outline becomes visible. Oh, and old versions of Internet Explorer notoriously get confused by the exact meaning of :focus, :hover and :active, so this method fails in IE6 and below. Personally, I can live with both of these.\n\nNote: at the last minute before submitting this article, I discovered a fatal flaw in my test. It appears that outline still manages to appear in the time between activating a link and the link target loading (which in hindsight is logical \u2013 after activation, the link does indeed receive focus). As my test page only used in-page links, this issue never came up before. The slightly less elegant solution is to also suppress the outline on :hover.\n\na:hover, a:active { outline: none; }\n\nIn Conclusion\n\nOf course, many web designers may argue that they know what\u2019s best, even for their keyboard-using audience. Maybe they\u2019ve removed the default outline and are instead providing some carefully designed :focus styles. If they know for sure that these custom styles are indeed a reliable alternative for their users, more power to them\u2026 but, at the risk of sounding like Jakob \u201cblue underlined links\u201d Nielsen, I\u2019d still argue that sometimes the default browser behaviours are best left alone. Complemented, yes (and if you\u2019re already defining some fancy styles for :hover, by all means feel free to also make them display on :focus)\u2026 but not suppressed.", "year": "2009", "author": "Patrick Lauke", "author_slug": "patricklauke", "published": "2009-12-09T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2009/dont-lose-your-focus/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 169, "title": "Incite A Riot", "contents": "Given its relatively limited scope, HTML can be remarkably expressive. With a bit of lateral thinking, we can mark up content such as tag clouds and progress meters, even when we don\u2019t have explicit HTML elements for those patterns.\n\nSuppose we want to mark up a short conversation:\n\n \n Alice: I think Eve is watching. \n\n Bob: This isn\u2019t a cryptography tutorial \u2026we\u2019re in the wrong example!\n \n\n\nA note in the the HTML 4.01 spec says it\u2019s okay to use a definition list:\n\n\n\tAnother application of DL, for example, is for marking up dialogues, with each DT naming a speaker, and each DD containing his or her words.\n\n\nThat would give us:\n\n
                    \n\t
                    Alice
                    :
                    I think Eve is watching.
                    \n\t
                    Bob
                    :
                    This isn't a cryptography tutorial ...we're in the wrong example!
                    \n
                    \n\nThis usage of a definition list is proof that writing W3C specifications and smoking crack are not mutually exclusive activities. \u201cI think Eve is watching\u201d is not a definition of \u201cAlice.\u201d If you (ab)use a definition list in this way, Norm will hunt you down.\n\nThe conversation problem was revisited in HTML5. What if dt and dd didn\u2019t always mean \u201cdefinition title\u201d and \u201cdefinition description\u201d? A new element was forged: dialog. Now the the \u201cd\u201d in dt and dd doesn\u2019t stand for \u201cdefinition\u201d, it stands for \u201cdialog\u201d (or \u201cdialogue\u201d if you can spell):\n\n\n\t
                    Alice
                    :
                    I think Eve is watching.
                    \n\t
                    Bob
                    :
                    This isn't a cryptography tutorial ...we're in the wrong example!
                    \n                    \n\nProblem solved \u2026except that dialog is no longer in the HTML5 spec. Hixie further expanded the meaning of dt and dd so that they could be used inside details (which makes sense\u2014it starts with a \u201cd\u201d) and figure (\u2026um). At the same time as the content model of details and figure were being updated, the completely-unrelated dialog element was dropped.\n\nBack to the drawing board, or in this case, the HTML 4.01 specification. The spec defines the cite element thusly:\n\n\n\tContains a citation or a reference to other sources.\n\n\nPerfect! There\u2019s even an example showing how this can applied when attributing quotes to people:\n\nAs Harry S. Truman said,\nThe buck stops here.\n\nFor longer quotes, the blockquote element might be more appropriate. In a conversation, where the order matters, I think an ordered list would make a good containing element for this pattern:\n\n
                      \n\t
                    1. Alice: I think Eve is watching.
                      2. \n\t
                    2. Bob: This isn't a cryptography tutorial ...we're in the wrong example!
                      3. \n
                    \n\nProblem solved \u2026except that the cite element has been redefined in the HTML5 spec:\n\n\n\tThe cite element represents the title of a work \u2026 A person\u2019s name is not the title of a work \u2026 and the element must therefore not be used to mark up people\u2019s names.\n\n\nHTML5 is supposed to be backwards compatible with previous versions of HTML, yet here we have a semantic pattern already defined in HTML 4.01 that is now non-conforming in HTML5. The entire justification for the change boils down to this line of reasoning:\n\n\n\tGiven that: titles of works are often italicised and\n\tgiven that: people\u2019s names are not often italicised and\n\tgiven that: most browsers italicise the contents of the cite element,\n\ttherefore: the cite element should not be used to mark up people\u2019s names.\n\n\nIn other words, the default browser styling is now dictating semantic meaning. The tail is wagging the dog.\n\nNot to worry, the HTML5 spec tells us how we can mark up names in conversations without using the cite element:\n\n\n\tIn some cases, the b element might be appropriate for names\n\n\nI believe the colloquial response to this is a combination of the letters W, T and F, followed by a question mark.\n\nThe non-normative note continues:\n\n\n\tIn other cases, if an element is really needed, the span element can be used.\n\n\nThis is not a joke. We are seriously being told to use semantically meaningless elements to mark up content that is semantically meaningful.\n\nWe don\u2019t have to take it.\n\nFirstly, any conformance checker\u2014that\u2019s the new politically correct term for \u201cvalidator\u201d\u2014cannot possibly check every instance of the cite element to see if it\u2019s really the title of a work and not the name of a person. So we can disobey the specification without fear of invalidating our documents.\n\nSecondly, Hixie has repeatedly stated that browser makers have a powerful voice in deciding what goes into the HTML5 spec; if a browser maker refuses to implement a feature, then that feature should come out of the spec because otherwise, the spec is fiction. Well, one of the design principles of HTML5 is the Priority of Constituencies:\n\n\n\tIn case of conflict, consider users over authors over implementors over specifiers over theoretical purity.\n\n\nThat places us\u2014authors\u2014above browser makers. If we resolutely refuse to implement part of the HTML5 spec, then the spec becomes fiction.\n\nJoin me in a campaign of civil disobedience against the unnecessarily restrictive, backwards-incompatible change to the cite element. Start using HTML5 but start using it sensibly. Let\u2019s ensure that bad advice remains fictitious.\n\nTantek has set up a page on the WHATWG wiki to document usage of the cite element for conversations. Please contribute to it.", "year": "2009", "author": "Jeremy Keith", "author_slug": "jeremykeith", "published": "2009-12-11T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2009/incite-a-riot/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 171, "title": "Rock Solid HTML Emails", "contents": "At some stage in your career, it\u2019s likely you\u2019ll be asked by a client to design a HTML email. Before you rush to explain that all the cool kids are using social media, keep in mind that when done correctly, email is still one of the best ways to promote you and your clients online. In fact, a recent survey showed that every dollar spent on email marketing this year generated more than $40 in return. That\u2019s more than any other marketing channel, including the cool ones.\n\nThere are a whole host of ingredients that contribute to a good email marketing campaign. Permission, relevance, timeliness and engaging content are all important. Even so, the biggest challenge for designers still remains building an email that renders well across all the popular email clients.\n\nSame same, but different\n\nBefore getting into the details, there are some uncomfortable facts that those new to HTML email should be aware of. Building an email is not like building for the web. While web browsers continue their onward march towards standards, many email clients have stubbornly stayed put. Some have even gone backwards. In 2007, Microsoft switched the Outlook rendering engine from Internet Explorer to Word. Yes, as in the word processor. Add to this the quirks of the major web-based email clients like Gmail and Hotmail, sprinkle in a little Lotus Notes and you\u2019ll soon realize how different the email game is.\n\nWhile it\u2019s not without its challenges, rest assured it can be done. In my experience the key is to focus on three things. First, you should keep it simple. The more complex your email design, the more likely is it to choke on one of the popular clients with poor standards support. Second, you need to take your coding skills back a good decade. That often means nesting tables, bringing CSS inline and following the coding guidelines I\u2019ll outline below. Finally, you need to test your designs regularly. Just because a template looks nice in Hotmail now, doesn\u2019t mean it will next week.\n\nSetting your lowest common denominator\n\nTo maintain your sanity, it\u2019s a good idea to decide exactly which email clients you plan on supporting when building a HTML email. While general research is helpful, the email clients your subscribers are using can vary significantly from list to list. If you have the time there are a number of tools that can tell you specifically which email clients your subscribers are using. Trust me, if the testing shows almost none of them are using a client like Lotus Notes, save yourself some frustration and ignore it altogether. \n\nKnowing which email clients you\u2019re targeting not only makes the building process easier, it can save you lots of time in the testing phase too. For the purpose of this article, I\u2019ll be sharing techniques that give the best results across all of the popular clients, including the notorious ones like Gmail, Lotus Notes 6 and Outlook 2007. Just remember that pixel perfection in all email clients is a pipe dream.\n\nLet\u2019s get started.\n\nUse tables for layout\n\nBecause clients like Gmail and Outlook 2007 have poor support for float, margin and padding, you\u2019ll need to use tables as the framework of your email. While nested tables are widely supported, consistent treatment of width, margin and padding within table cells is not. For the best results, keep the following in mind when coding your table structure.\n\nSet the width in each cell, not the table\n\nWhen you combine table widths, td widths, td padding and CSS padding into an email, the final result is different in almost every email client. The most reliable way to set the width of your table is to set a width for each cell, not for the table itself.\n\n
      \n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n
      \n\nNever assume that if you don\u2019t specify a cell width the email client will figure it out. It won\u2019t. Also avoid using percentage based widths. Clients like Outlook 2007 don\u2019t respect them, especially for nested tables. Stick to pixels. If you want to add padding to each cell, use either the cellpadding attribute of the table or CSS padding for each cell, but never combine the two.\n\nErr toward nesting\n\nTable nesting is far more reliable than setting left and right margins or padding for table cells. If you can achieve the same effect by table nesting, that will always give you the best result across the buggier email clients.\n\nUse a container table for body background colors\n\nMany email clients ignore background colors specified in your CSS or the tag. To work around this, wrap your entire email with a 100% width table and give that a background color.\n\n\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\n
      \n\t\t\tYour email code goes here.\n\t\t
      \n\nYou can use the same approach for background images too. Just remember that some email clients don\u2019t support them, so always provide a fallback color.\n\nAvoid unnecessary whitespace in table cells\n\nWhere possible, avoid whitespace between your tags. Some email clients (ahem, Yahoo! and Hotmail) can add additional padding above or below the cell contents in some scenarios, breaking your design for no apparent reason.\n\nCSS and general font formatting\n\nWhile some email designers do their best to avoid CSS altogether and rely on the dreaded tag, the truth is many CSS properties are well supported by most email clients. See this comprehensive list of CSS support across the major clients for a good idea of the safe properties and those that should be avoided. \n\nAlways move your CSS inline\n\nGmail is the culprit for this one. By stripping the CSS from the and of any email, we\u2019re left with no choice but to move all CSS inline. The good news is this is something you can almost completely automate. Free services like Premailer will move all CSS inline with the click of a button. I recommend leaving this step to the end of your build process so you can utilize all the benefits of CSS.\n\nAvoid shorthand for fonts and hex notation\n\nA number of email clients reject CSS shorthand for the font property. For example, never set your font styles like this.\n\np {\n\tfont:bold 1em/1.2em georgia,times,serif;\n}\n\nInstead, declare the properties individually like this.\n\np {\n\tfont-weight: bold;\n\tfont-size: 1em;\n\tline-height: 1.2em;\n\tfont-family: georgia,times,serif;\n}\n\nWhile we\u2019re on the topic of fonts, I recently tested every conceivable variation of @font-face across the major email clients. The results were dismal, so unfortunately it\u2019s web-safe fonts in email for the foreseeable future.\n\nWhen declaring the color property in your CSS, some email clients don\u2019t support shorthand hexadecimal colors like color:#f60; instead of color:#ff6600;. Stick to the longhand approach for the best results.\n\nParagraphs\n\nJust like table cell spacing, paragraph spacing can be tricky to get a consistent result across the board. I\u2019ve seen many designers revert to using double
      or DIVs with inline CSS margins to work around these shortfalls, but recent testing showed that paragraph support is now reliable enough to use in most cases (there was a time when Yahoo! didn\u2019t support the paragraph tag at all).\n\nThe best approach is to set the margin inline via CSS for every paragraph in your email, like so:\n\np {\n\tmargin: 0 0 1.6em 0;\n}\n\nAgain, do this via CSS in the head when building your email, then use Premailer to bring it inline for each paragraph later.\n\nIf part of your design is height-sensitive and calls for pixel perfection, I recommend avoiding paragraphs altogether and setting the text formatting inline in the table cell. You might need to use table nesting or cellpadding / CSS to get the desired result. Here\u2019s an example:\n\nyour height sensitive text\n\nLinks\n\nSome email clients will overwrite your link colors with their defaults, and you can avoid this by taking two steps. First, set a default color for each link inline like so:\n\nthis is a link\n\nNext, add a redundant span inside the a tag.\n\nthis is a link\n\nTo some this may be overkill, but if link color is important to your design then a superfluous span is the best way to achieve consistency.\n\nImages in HTML emails\n\nThe most important thing to remember about images in email is that they won\u2019t be visible by default for many subscribers. If you start your design with that assumption, it forces you to keep things simple and ensure no important content is suppressed by image blocking.\n\nWith this in mind, here are the essentials to remember when using images in HTML email:\n\nAvoid spacer images\n\nWhile the combination of spacer images and nested tables was popular on the web ten years ago, image blocking in many email clients has ruled it out as a reliable technique today. Most clients replace images with an empty placeholder in the same dimensions, others strip the image altogether. Given image blocking is on by default in most email clients, this can lead to a poor first impression for many of your subscribers. Stick to fixed cell widths to keep your formatting in place with or without images.\n\nAlways include the dimensions of your image\n\nIf you forget to set the dimensions for each image, a number of clients will invent their own sizes when images are blocked and break your layout. Also, ensure that any images are correctly sized before adding them to your email. Some email clients will ignore the dimensions specified in code and rely on the true dimensions of your image. \n\nAvoid PNGs\n\nLotus Notes 6 and 7 don\u2019t support 8-bit or 24-bit PNG images, so stick with the GIF or JPG formats for all images, even if it means some additional file size.\n\nProvide fallback colors for background images\n\nOutlook 2007 has no support for background images (aside from this hack to get full page background images working). If you want to use a background image in your design, always provide a background color the email client can fall back on. This solves both the image blocking and Outlook 2007 problem simultaneously.\n\nDon\u2019t forget alt text\n\nLack of standards support means email clients have long destroyed the chances of a semantic and accessible HTML email. Even still, providing alt text is important from an image blocking perspective. Even with images suppressed by default, many email clients will display the provided alt text instead. Just remember that some email clients like Outlook 2007, Hotmail and Apple Mail don\u2019t support alt text at all when images are blocked.\n\nUse the display hack for Hotmail\n\nFor some inexplicable reason, Windows Live Hotmail adds a few pixels of additional padding below images. A workaround is to set the display property like so.\n\nimg {display:block;}\n\nThis removes the padding in Hotmail and still gives you the predicable result in other email clients.\n\nDon\u2019t use floats\n\nBoth Outlook 2007 and earlier versions of Notes offer no support for the float property. Instead, use the align attribute of the img tag to float images in your email.\n\n\n\nIf you\u2019re seeing strange image behavior in Yahoo! Mail, adding align=\u201ctop\u201d to your images can often solve this problem.\n\nVideo in email\n\nWith no support for JavaScript or the object tag, video in email (if you can call it that) has long been limited to animated gifs. However, some recent research I did into the HTML5 video tag in email showed some promising results.\n\nTurns out HTML5 video does work in many email clients right now, including Apple Mail, Entourage 2008, MobileMe and the iPhone. The real benefit of this approach is that if the video isn\u2019t supported, you can provide reliable fallback content such as an animated GIF or a clickable image linking to the video in the browser.\n\nOf course, the question of whether you should add video to email is another issue altogether. If you lean toward the \u201cyes\u201d side check out the technique with code samples.\n\nWhat about mobile email?\n\nThe mobile email landscape was a huge mess until recently. With the advent of the iPhone, Android and big improvements from Palm and RIM, it\u2019s becoming less important to think of mobile as a different email platform altogether.\n\nThat said, there are a few key pointers to keep in mind when coding your emails to get a decent result for your more mobile subscribers.\n\nKeep the width less than 600 pixels\n\nBecause of email client preview panes, this rule was important long before mobile email clients came of age. In truth, the iPhone and Pre have a viewport of 320 pixels, the Droid 480 pixels and the Blackberry models hover around 360 pixels. Sticking to a maximum of 600 pixels wide ensures your design should still be readable when scaled down for each device. This width also gives good results in desktop and web-based preview panes.\n\nBe aware of automatic text resizing\n\nIn what is almost always a good feature, email clients using webkit (such as the iPhone, Pre and Android) can automatically adjust font sizes to increase readability. If testing shows this feature is doing more harm than good to your design, you can always disable it with the following CSS rule:\n\n-webkit-text-size-adjust: none;\n\nDon\u2019t forget to test\n\nWhile standards support in email clients hasn\u2019t made much progress in the last few years, there has been continual change (for better or worse) in some email clients. Web-based providers like Yahoo!, Hotmail and Gmail are notorious for this. On countless occasions I\u2019ve seen a proven design suddenly stop working without explanation.\n\nFor this reason alone it\u2019s important to retest your email designs on a regular basis. I find a quick test every month or so does the trick, especially in the web-based clients. The good news is that after designing and testing a few HTML email campaigns, you will find that order will emerge from the chaos. Many of these pitfalls will become quite predictable and your inbox-friendly designs will take shape with them in mind.\n\nLooking ahead\n\nDesigning HTML email can be a tough pill for new designers and standardistas to swallow, especially given the fickle and retrospective nature of email clients today. With HTML5 just around the corner we are entering a new, uncertain phase. Will email client developers take the opportunity to repent on past mistakes and bring email clients into the present? The aim of groups such as the Email Standards Project is to make much of the above advice as redundant as the long-forgotten and tags, however, only time will tell if this is to become a reality.\n\nAlthough not the most compliant (or fashionable) medium, the results speak for themselves \u2013 email is, and will continue to be one of the most successful and targeted marketing channels available to you. As a designer with HTML email design skills in your arsenal, you have the opportunity to not only broaden your service offering, but gain a unique appreciation of how vital standards are.\n\nNext steps\n\nReady to get started? There are a number of HTML email design galleries to provide ideas and inspiration for your own designs. \n\n\n\thttp://www.campaignmonitor.com/gallery/\n\thttp://htmlemailgallery.com/\n\thttp://inboxaward.com/\n\n\nEnjoy!", "year": "2009", "author": "David Greiner", "author_slug": "davidgreiner", "published": "2009-12-13T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2009/rock-solid-html-emails/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 180, "title": "Going Nuts with CSS Transitions", "contents": "I\u2019m going to show you how CSS 3 transforms and WebKit transitions can add zing to the way you present images on your site.\n\nLaying the foundations\n\nFirst we are going to make our images look like mini polaroids with captions. Here\u2019s the markup:\n\n
      \n\t\"\"\n\t

      Found this little cutie on a walk in New Zealand!

      \n
      \n\nYou\u2019ll notice we\u2019re using a somewhat presentational class of pull-right here. This means the logic is kept separate from the code that applies the polaroid effect. The polaroid class has no positioning, which allows it to be used generically anywhere that the effect is required. The pull classes set a float and add appropriate margins\u2014they can be used for things like blockquotes as well.\n\n.polaroid {\n\twidth: 150px;\n\tpadding: 10px 10px 20px 10px;\n\tborder: 1px solid #BFBFBF;\n\tbackground-color: white;\n\t-webkit-box-shadow: 2px 2px 3px rgba(135, 139, 144, 0.4);\n\t-moz-box-shadow: 2px 2px 3px rgba(135, 139, 144, 0.4);\n\tbox-shadow: 2px 2px 3px rgba(135, 139, 144, 0.4);\n}\n\nThe actual polaroid effect itself is simply applied using padding, a border and a background colour. We also apply a nice subtle box shadow, using a property that is supported by modern WebKit browsers and Firefox 3.5+. We include the box-shadow property last to ensure that future browsers that support the eventual CSS3 specified version natively will use that implementation over the legacy browser specific version.\n\nThe box-shadow property takes four values: three lengths and a colour. The first is the horizontal offset of the shadow\u2014positive values place the shadow on the right, while negative values place it to the left. The second is the vertical offset, positive meaning below. If both of these are set to 0, the shadow is positioned equally on all four sides. The last length value sets the blur radius\u2014the larger the number, the blurrier the shadow (therefore the darker you need to make the colour to have an effect).\n\nThe colour value can be given in any format recognised by CSS. Here, we\u2019re using rgba as explained by Drew behind the first door of this year\u2019s calendar.\n\nRotation\n\nFor browsers that understand it (currently our old favourites WebKit and FF3.5+) we can add some visual flair by rotating the image, using the transform CSS 3 property.\n\n-webkit-transform: rotate(9deg);\n-moz-transform: rotate(9deg);\ntransform: rotate(9deg);\n\nRotations can be specified in degrees, radians (rads) or grads. WebKit also supports turns unfortunately Firefox doesn\u2019t just yet.\n\nFor our example, we want any polaroid images on the left hand side to be rotated in the opposite direction, using a negative degree value:\n\n.pull-left.polaroid {\n\t-webkit-transform: rotate(-9deg);\n\t-moz-transform: rotate(-9deg);\n\ttransform: rotate(-9deg);\n}\n\nMultiple class selectors don\u2019t work in IE6 but as luck would have it, the transform property doesn\u2019t work in any current IE version either. The above code is a good example of progressive enrichment: browsers that don\u2019t support box-shadow or transform will still see the image and basic polaroid effect.\n\n\n\nAnimation\n\nWebKit is unique amongst browser rendering engines in that it allows animation to be specified in pure CSS. Although this may never actually make it in to the CSS 3 specification, it degrades nicely and more importantly is an awful lot of fun!\n\nLet\u2019s go nuts.\n\nIn the next demo, the image is contained within a link and mousing over that link causes the polaroid to animate from being angled to being straight.\n\nHere\u2019s our new markup:\n\n\n\t\"\"\n\tWhite water rafting in Queenstown\n\n\nAnd here are the relevant lines of CSS:\n\na.polaroid {\n\t/* ... */\n -webkit-transform: rotate(10deg);\n -webkit-transition: -webkit-transform 0.5s ease-in;\n}\na.polaroid:hover,\na.polaroid:focus,\na.polaroid:active {\n\t/* ... */\n\t-webkit-transform: rotate(0deg);\n}\n\nThe @-webkit-transition@ property is the magic wand that sets up the animation. It takes three values: the property to be animated, the duration of the animation and a \u2018timing function\u2019 (which affects the animation\u2019s acceleration, for a smoother effect).\n\n-webkit-transition only takes affect when the specified property changes. In pure CSS, this is done using dynamic pseudo-classes. You can also change the properties using JavaScript, but that\u2019s a story for another time.\n\nThrowing polaroids at a table\n\nImagine there are lots of differently sized polaroid photos scattered on a table. That\u2019s the effect we are aiming for with our next demo.\n\n\n\nAs an aside: we are using absolute positioning to arrange the images inside a flexible width container (with a minimum and maximum width specified in pixels). As some are positioned from the left and some from the right when you resize the browser they shuffle underneath each other. This is an effect used on the UX London site.\n\nThis demo uses a darker colour shadow with more transparency than before. The grey shadow in the previous example worked fine, but it was against a solid background. Since the images are now overlapping each other, the more opaque shadow looked fake.\n\n-webkit-box-shadow: 2px 2px 4px rgba(0,0, 0, 0.3);\n-moz-box-shadow: 2px 2px 4px rgba(0,0, 0, 0.3);\nbox-shadow: 2px 2px 4px rgba(0,0, 0, 0.3);\n\nOn hover, as well as our previous trick of animating the image rotation back to straight, we are also making the shadow darker and setting the z-index to be higher than the other images so that it appears on top.\n\nAnd Finally\u2026\n\nFinally, for a bit more fun, we\u2019re going to simulate the images coming towards you and lifting off the page. We\u2019ll achieve this by making them grow larger and by offsetting the shadow & making it longer.\n\n\n\n\nScreenshot 1 shows the default state, while 2 shows our previous hover effect. Screenshot 3 is the effect we are aiming for, illustrated by demo 4.\n\na.polaroid {\n\t/* ... */\n\tz-index: 2;\n\t-webkit-box-shadow: 2px 2px 4px rgba(0,0, 0, 0.3);\n\t-moz-box-shadow: 2px 2px 4px rgba(0,0, 0, 0.3);\n\tbox-shadow: 2px 2px 4px rgba(0,0, 0, 0.3);\n\t-webkit-transform: rotate(10deg);\n\t-moz-transform: rotate(10deg);\n\ttransform: rotate(10deg);\n\t-webkit-transition: all 0.5s ease-in;\n}\na.polaroid:hover,\na.polaroid:focus,\na.polaroid:active {\n\tz-index: 999;\n\tborder-color: #6A6A6A;\n\t-webkit-box-shadow: 15px 15px 20px rgba(0,0, 0, 0.4);\n\t-moz-box-shadow: 15px 15px 20px rgba(0,0, 0, 0.4);\n\tbox-shadow: 15px 15px 20px rgba(0,0, 0, 0.4);\n\t-webkit-transform: rotate(0deg) scale(1.05);\n\t-moz-transform: rotate(0deg) scale(1.05);\n\ttransform: rotate(0deg) scale(1.05);\n}\n\nYou\u2019ll notice we are now giving the transform property another transform function: scale, which takes increases the size by the specified factor. Other things you can do with transform include skewing, translating or you can go mad creating your own transforms with a matrix.\n\nThe box-shadow has both its offset and blur radius increased dramatically, and is darkened using the alpha channel of the rgba colour.\n\nAnd because we want the effects to all animate smoothly, we pass a value of all to the -webkit-transition property, ensuring that any changed property on that link will be animated.\n\nDemo 5 is the finished example, bringing everything nicely together.\n\nCSS transitions and transforms are a great example of progressive enrichment, which means improving the experience for a portion of the audience without negatively affecting other users. They are also a lot of fun to play with!\n\nFurther reading\n\n\n\t-moz-transform \u2013 the mozilla developer center has a comprehensive explanation of transform that also applies to -webkit-transform and transform.\n\tCSS: Animation Using CSS Transforms \u2013 this is a good, more indepth tutorial on animations.\n\tCSS Animation \u2013 the Safari blog explains the usage of -webkit-transform.\n\tDinky pocketbooks with transform \u2013 another use for transforms, create your own printable pocketbook.\n\tA while back, Simon wrote a little bookmarklet to spin the entire page\u2026 warning: this will spin the entire page.", "year": "2009", "author": "Natalie Downe", "author_slug": "nataliedowne", "published": "2009-12-14T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2009/going-nuts-with-css-transitions/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 191, "title": "CSS Animations", "contents": "Friend: You should learn how to write CSS!\nMe: \u2026\nFriend: CSS; Cascading Style Sheets. If you\u2019re serious about web design, that\u2019s the next thing you should learn.\nMe: What\u2019s wrong with tags?\n\nThat was 8 years ago. Thanks to the hard work of Jeffrey, Andy, Andy, Cameron, Colly, Dan and many others, learning how to decently markup a website and write lightweight stylesheets was surprisingly easy. They made it so easy even a complete idiot (OH HAI) was able to quickly master it.\n\nAnd then\u2026 nothing. For a long time, it seemed like there wasn\u2019t happening anything in the land of CSS, time stood still. Once you knew the basics, there wasn\u2019t anything new to keep up with. It looked like a great band split, but people just kept re-releasing their music in various \u201cBest Of!\u201d or \u201cRemastered!\u201d albums.\n\nFast forward a couple of years to late 2006. On the official WebKit blog Surfin\u2019 Safari, there\u2019s an article about something called CSS animations. Great new stuff to play with, but only supported by nightly builds (read: very, very beta) of WebKit. In the following months, they release other goodies, like CSS gradients, CSS reflections, CSS masks, and even more CSS animation sexiness. Whoa, looks like the band got back together, found their second youth, and went into overdrive! The problem was that if you wanted to listen to their new albums, you had to own some kind of new high-tech player no one on earth (besides some early adopters) owned.\n\nBack in the time machine. It is now late 2009, close to Christmas. Things have changed. Browsers supporting these new toys are widely available left and right. Even non-techies are using these advanced browsers to surf the web on a daily basis!\n\nEpic win? Almost, but at least this gives us enough reason to start learning how we could use all this new CSS voodoo. On Monday, Natalie Downe showed you a good tutorial on Going Nuts with CSS Transitions. Today, I\u2019m taking it one step further\u2026\n\nHowto: A basic spinner\n\nNo matter how fast internet tubes or servers are, we\u2019ll always need spinners to indicate something\u2019s happening behind the scenes. Up until now, people would go to some site, pick one of the available templates, customize their foreground and background colors, and download a beautiful GIF image.\n\nThere are some downsides to this though:\n\n\n\tIt\u2019s only _semi_-transparent: If you change your mind and pick a slightly different background color, you need to go back to the site, set all the parameters again, and replace your current image. There isn\u2019t even a way to pick an image or gradient as background.\n\tLimited number of frames, probable to keep the file-size as small as possible (don\u2019t forget this thing needs to be loaded before whatever process is finished in the background), and you don\u2019t have that 24 frames per second smoothness.\n\tThis is just too fucking easy. As a front-end code geek, there must be a \u201ccooler\u201d way to do this!\n\n\nWhat do we need to make a spinner with CSS animations? One image, and one element on our webpage we can hook on to. Yes, that\u2019s it. I created a simple transparent PNG that looks it might be a spinner, and for the element on the page, I wrote this piece of genius HTML:\n\n

      Please wait while we do what we do best.

      \n\nLooks semantic enough to me! Here\u2019s the basic HTML I\u2019m using to position the element in the center of the screen, and make the text inside it disappear:\n\n#spinner {\n\tposition: absolute;\n\ttop: 50%;\n\tleft: 50%;\n\tmargin: -100px 0 0 -100px;\n\theight: 200px;\n\twidth: 200px;\n\ttext-indent: 250px;\n\twhite-space: nowrap;\n\toverflow: hidden;\n}\n\nCool, but now we don\u2019t see anything. Let\u2019s pull rabbit number one out of the hat: -webkit-mask-image (accompanied by the previously mentioned transparent PNG image):\n\n#spinner {\n\t...\n\t-webkit-mask-image: url(../img/spinner.png);\n}\n\nBy now you should be feeling like a magician already. Oh, wait, we still have a blank screen, looks like we left something in the hat (tip: not rabbit droppings):\n\n#spinner {\n\t...\n\t-webkit-mask-image: url(../img/spinner.png);\n\tbackground-color: #000;\n}\n\nNice! What we\u2019ve done right here is telling the element to clip onto the PNG. It\u2019s a lot like clipping layers in Photoshop. So, spinners, they move, right? Into the hat again, and look what we pull out this time: CSS animations!\n\n#spinner {\n\t...\n\t-webkit-mask-image: url(../img/spinner.png);\n\tbackground-color: #000;\n\t-webkit-animation-name: spinnerRotate;\n\t-webkit-animation-duration: 2s;\n\t-webkit-animation-iteration-count: infinite;\n\t-webkit-animation-timing-function: linear;\n}\n\nSome explanation:\n\n\n\t-webkit-animation-name: Name of the animation we\u2019ll be defining later.\n\t-webkit-animation-duration: The timespan of the animation.\n\t-webkit-animation-iteration-count: Repeat once, a defined number of times or infinitely?\n\t-webkit-animation-timing-function: Linear is the one you\u2019ll be using mostly. Other options are ease-in, ease-out, ease-in-out\u2026\n\n\nLet\u2019s define spinnerRotate:\n\n@-webkit-keyframes spinnerRotate {\n\tfrom {\n\t\t-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);\n\t}\n\tto {\n\t\t-webkit-transform:rotate(360deg);\n\t}\n}\n\nEn Anglais: Rotate #spinner starting at 0 degrees, ending at 360 degrees, over a timespan of 2 seconds, at a constant speed, and keep repeating this animation forever.\n\nThat\u2019s it! See it in action on the demo page.\n\nNote: these examples only work when you\u2019re using a WebKit-based browser like Safari, Mobile Safari or Google Chrome. I\u2019m confident though that Mozilla and Opera will try their very best catching up with all this new CSS goodness soon.\n\nWhen looking at this example, you see the possibilities are endless. Another advantage is you can change the look of it entirely by only changing a couple of lines of CSS, instead of re-creating and re-downloading the image from some website smelling like web 2.0 gone bad. I made another demo that shows how great it is to be able to change background and foreground colors (even on the fly!).\n\nSo there you have it, a smoothly animated, fully transparent and completely customizable spinner. Cool? I think so. (Ladies?)\n\nBut you can do a lot more with CSS animations than just create pretty spinners. Since I was fooling around with it anyway, I decided to test how far you can push this, space is the final limit, right?\n\nConclusion\n\nCSS has never been more exciting than it is right now. I\u2019m even prepared to say CSS is \u201ccool\u201d again, both for the more experienced front-end developers as for the new designers discovering CSS every day now.\n\nBut\u2026\n\nRemember when Javascript became popular? Remember when Flash became popular? Every time we\u2019re been given new toys, some people aren\u2019t ashamed to use it in a way you can barely call constructive. I\u2019m thinking of Geocities websites, loaded with glowing blocks of text, moving images, bad color usage\u2026 In the wise words of Stan Lee: With great power there must also come great responsibility! A sprinkle of CSS animations is better than a bucket load. Apply with care.", "year": "2009", "author": "Tim Van Damme", "author_slug": "timvandamme", "published": "2009-12-15T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2009/css-animations/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 186, "title": "The Web Is Your CMS", "contents": "It is amazing what you can do these days with the services offered on the web. Flickr stores terabytes of photos for us and converts them automatically to all kind of sizes, finds people in them and even allows us to edit them online. YouTube does almost the same complete job with videos, LinkedIn allows us to maintain our CV, Delicious our bookmarks and so on.\n\nWe don\u2019t have to do these tasks ourselves any more, as all of these systems also come with ways to use the data in the form of Application Programming Interfaces, or APIs for short. APIs give us raw data when we send requests telling the system what we want to get back.\n\nThe problem is that every API has a different idea of what is a simple way of accessing this data and in which format to give it back.\n\nMaking it easier to access APIs\n\nWhat we need is a way to abstract the pains of different data formats and authentication formats away from the developer \u2014 and this is the purpose of the Yahoo Query Language, or YQL for short. \n\nLibraries like jQuery and YUI make it easy and reliable to use JavaScript in browsers (yes, even IE6) and YQL allows us to access web services and even the data embedded in web documents in a simple fashion \u2013 SQL style.\n\nSelect * from the web and filter it the way I want\n\nYQL is a web service that takes a few inputs itself:\n\n\n\tA query that tells it what to get, update or access\n\tAn output format \u2013 XML, JSON, JSON-P or JSON-P-X\n\tA callback function (if you defined JSON-P or JSON-P-X)\n\n\nYou can try it out yourself \u2013 check out this link to get back Flickr photos for the search term \u2018santa\u2019*%20from%20flickr.photos.search%20where%20text%3D%22santa%22&format=xml in XML format. The YQL query for this is \n\nselect * from flickr.photos.search where text=\"santa\"\n\nThe easiest way to take your first steps with YQL is to look at the console. There you get sample queries, access to all the data sources available to you and you can easily put together complex queries. In this article, however, let\u2019s use PHP to put together a web page that pulls in Flickr photos, blog posts, Videos from YouTube and latest bookmarks from Delicious.\n\nCheck out the demo and get the source code on GitHub.\n\nquery->results->results;\n /* YouTube output */\n $youtube = '
        ';\n foreach($results[0]->item as $r){\n\t$cleanHTML = undoYouTubeMarkupCrimes($r->description);\n\t$youtube .= '
      • '.$cleanHTML.'
        • ';\n }\n $youtube .= '
      ';\n /* Flickr output */\n $flickr = '';\n /* Delicious output */\n $delicious = '';\n /* Blog output */\n $blog = '';\n function undoYouTubeMarkupCrimes($str){\n\t$cleaner = preg_replace('/555px/','100%',$str);\n\t$cleaner = preg_replace('/width=\"[^\"]+\"/','',$cleaner);\n\t$cleaner = preg_replace('//','',$cleaner);\n\treturn $cleaner;\n }\n?>\n\nWhat we are doing here is create a few different YQL statements and queue them together with the query.multi table. Each of these can be run inside YQL itself. Check out the YouTube, Flickr, Delicious and Blog example in the console if you don\u2019t believe me. The benefit of using this table is that we don\u2019t make individual requests for each query but we get all the data in one single request \u2013 which means a much better performing solution as the YQL server farm is faster on the web than our servers.\n\nWe point the query to the YQL web service end point and get the resulting data using cURL. All that we need to do then is to convert the returned data to HTML lists that can be printed out inside an HTML template.\n\nMixing, matching and using HTML as a data source\n\nThis was a simple example of what YQL can do for you. Where it gets really powerful however is by mixing and matching different APIs. YQL is also a good tool to get information from HTML documents. By using the html table you can load the content of an HTML document (which gets fixed automatically by HTMLTidy) and use XPATH to filter down results to what you need. Take the following example which takes headlines from the news.bbc.co.uk homepage and runs the results through Yahoo\u2019s Term Extractor API to give you a list of currently hot topics.\n\nselect * from search.termextract where context in (\n select content from html where url=\"http://news.bbc.co.uk\" and xpath=\"//table[@width=800]//a\"\n)\n\nTry it out in the console or see the results here. In English, this means:\n\n\n\tGo to http://news.bbc.co.uk and get me the HTML\n\tRun it through HTML Tidy to clean it up.\n\tGet me only the links inside the table with an attribute of width and the value 800\n\tGet only the content of the link and for each of the links\n\t\n\t\tTake the content and send it as context to the Yahoo Term Extractor API\n\t\n\t\n\nIf we choose JSON-P as the output format we can use the outcome directly in JavaScript (see this demo or see its source):\n\n
        \n\n\n\nUsing JSON, we can also use PHP which means the demo works for everybody \u2013 not only those with JavaScript enabled (see this demo or see its source):\n\n
        • \nquery->results->Result);\necho join('
        • ',$topics);\n?>\n
        \n\nSummary\n\nThis article could only scratch the surface of YQL. You have not only read access to the web but you can also write to web services. For example you can update Twitter, post to your WordPress blog or shorten a URL with bit.ly. Using Open Tables you can add any web service to the YQL interface and you can even run server-side JavaScript which is for example useful to return Flickr photos as HTML or get the HTML content from a document that needs POST data.\n\nThe web of data is already here, and using YQL you don\u2019t have to be a web services expert to use it and be part of it.", "year": "2009", "author": "Christian Heilmann", "author_slug": "chrisheilmann", "published": "2009-12-17T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2009/the-web-is-your-cms/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 184, "title": "Spruce It Up", "contents": "The landscape of web typography is changing quickly these days. We\u2019ve gone from the wild west days of sIFR to Cuf\u00f3n to finally seeing font embedding seeing wide spread adoption by browser developers (and soon web designers) with @font-face. For those who\u2019ve felt limited by the typographic possibilities before, this has been a good year.\n\nAs Mark Boulton has so eloquently elucidated, @font-face embedding doesn\u2019t come without its drawbacks. Font files can be quite large and FOUT\u2014that nasty flash of unstyled text\u2014can be a distraction for users.\n\nData URIs\n\nWe can battle FOUT by using Data URIs. A Data URI allows the font to be encoded right into the CSS file. When the font comes with the CSS, the flash of unstyled text is mitigated. No extra HTTP requests are required. \n\nDon\u2019t be a grinch, though. Sending hundreds of kilobytes down the pipe still isn\u2019t great. Sometimes, all we want to do is spruce up our site with a little typographic sugar. \n\nBe Selective\n\nDan Cederholm\u2019s SimpleBits is an attractive site. \n\n\n\nTake a look at the ampersand within the header of his site. It\u2019s the lovely (and free) Goudy Bookletter 1911 available from The League of Movable Type. The Opentype format is a respectable 28KB. Nothing too crazy but hold on here. Mr. Cederholm is only using the ampersand! Ouch. That\u2019s a lot of bandwidth just for one character.\n\nCan we optimize a font like we can an image? Yes. Image optimization essentially works by removing unnecessary image data such as colour data, hidden comments or using compression algorithms. How do you remove unnecessary information from a font? Subsetting. \n\nIf you\u2019re the adventurous type, grab a copy of FontForge, which is an open source font editing tool. You can open the font, view and edit any of the glyphs and then re-generate the font. The interface is a little clunky but you\u2019ll be able to select any character you don\u2019t want and then cut the glyphs. Re-generate your font and you\u2019ve now got a smaller file. \n\n\n\nThere are certainly more optimizations that can also be made such as removing hinting and kerning information. Keep in mind that removing this information may affect how well the type renders.\n\nAt this time of year, though, I\u2019m sure you\u2019re quite busy. Save yourself some time and head on over to the Font Squirrel Font Generator.\n\n\n\nThe Font Generator is extremely handy and allows for a number of optimizations and cross-platform options to be generated instantly. Select the font from your local system\u2014make sure that you are only using properly licensed fonts! \n\nIn this particular case, we only want the ampersand. Click on Subset Fonts which will open up a new menu. Unselect any preselected sets and enter the ampersand into the Single Characters text box. \n\nGenerate your font and what are you left with? 3KB. \n\n\n\nThe Font Generator even generates a base64 encoded data URI stylesheet to be imported easily into your project.\n\nCheck out the Demo page. (This demo won\u2019t work in Internet Explorer as we\u2019re only demonstrating the Data URI font embedding and not using the EOT file format that IE requires.) \n\nNo Unnecessary Additives\n\nIf you peeked under the hood of that demo, did you notice something interesting? There\u2019s no around the ampersand. The great thing about this is that we can take advantage of the font stack\u2019s natural ability to switch to a fallback font when a character isn\u2019t available.\n\nJust like that, we\u2019ve managed to spruce up our page with a little typographic sugar without having to put on too much weight.", "year": "2009", "author": "Jonathan Snook", "author_slug": "jonathansnook", "published": "2009-12-19T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2009/spruce-it-up/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 192, "title": "Cleaner Code with CSS3 Selectors", "contents": "The parts of CSS3 that seem to grab the most column inches on blogs and in articles are the shiny bits. Rounded corners, text shadow and new ways to achieve CSS layouts are all exciting and bring with them all kinds of possibilities for web design. However what really gets me, as a developer, excited is a bit more mundane. \n\nIn this article I\u2019m going to take a look at some of the ways our front and back-end code will be simplified by CSS3, by looking at the ways we achieve certain visual effects now in comparison to how we will achieve them in a glorious, CSS3-supported future. I\u2019m also going to demonstrate how we can use these selectors now with a little help from JavaScript \u2013 which can work out very useful if you find yourself in a situation where you can\u2019t change markup that is being output by some server-side code.\n\nThe wonder of nth-child\n\nSo why does nth-child get me so excited? Here is a really common situation, the designer would like the tables in the application to look like this:\n\n\n\nSetting every other table row to a different colour is a common way to enhance readability of long rows. The tried and tested way to implement this is by adding a class to every other row. If you are writing the markup for your table by hand this is a bit of a nuisance, and if you stick a row in the middle you have to change the rows the class is applied to. If your markup is generated by your content management system then you need to get the server-side code to add that class \u2013 if you have access to that code.\n\n\n\n\nStriping every other row - using classes\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t
        NameCards sentCards receivedCards written but not sent
        Ann40284
        Joe22729
        Paul5352
        Louise65650
        \n\n\n\nView Example 1\n\nThis situation is something I deal with on almost every project, and apart from being an extra thing to do, it just isn\u2019t ideal having the server-side code squirt classes into the markup for purely presentational reasons. This is where the nth-child pseudo-class selector comes in. The server-side code creates a valid HTML table for the data, and the CSS then selects the odd rows with the following selector:\n\ntr:nth-child(odd) td {\n\tbackground-color: #86B486;\n}\n\nView Example 2\n\nThe odd and even keywords are very handy in this situation \u2013 however you can also use a multiplier here. 2n would be equivalent to the keyword \u2018odd\u2019 3n would select every third row and so on.\n\nBrowser support\n\nSadly, nth-child has pretty poor browser support. It is not supported in Internet Explorer 8 and has somewhat buggy support in some other browsers. Firefox 3.5 does have support. In some situations however, you might want to consider using JavaScript to add this support to browsers that don\u2019t have it. This can be very useful if you are dealing with a Content Management System where you have no ability to change the server-side code to add classes into the markup.\n\nI\u2019m going to use jQuery in these examples as it is very simple to use the same CSS selector used in the CSS to target elements with jQuery \u2013 however you could use any library or write your own function to do the same job. In the CSS I have added the original class selector to the nth-child selector:\n\ntr:nth-child(odd) td, tr.odd td {\n\tbackground-color: #86B486;\n}\n\nThen I am adding some jQuery to add a class to the markup once the document has loaded \u2013 using the very same nth-child selector that works for browsers that support it. \n\n \n \n\nView Example 3\n\nWe could just add a background colour to the element using jQuery, however I prefer not to mix that information into the JavaScript as if we change the colour on our table rows I would need to remember to change it both in the CSS and in the JavaScript.\n\nDoing something different with the last element\n\nSo here\u2019s another thing that we often deal with. You have a list of items all floated left with a right hand margin on each element constrained within a fixed width layout. If each element has the right margin applied the margin on the final element will cause the set to become too wide forcing that last item down to the next row as shown in the below example where I have used a grey border to indicate the fixed width.\n\n\n\nCurrently we have two ways to deal with this. We can put a negative right margin on the list, the same width as the space between the elements. This means that the extra margin on the final element fills that space and the item doesn\u2019t drop down. \n\n\n\n\nThe last item is different\n\n\n\n\t
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        • \"baubles\"
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        \n\n\n\nView Example 4\n\nThe other solution will be to put a class on the final element and in the CSS remove the margin for this class. \n\nul.gallery li.last {\n\tmargin-right: 0;\n}\n\nThis second solution may not be easy if the content is generated from server-side code that you don\u2019t have access to change.\n\nIt could all be so different. In CSS3 we have marvellously common-sense selectors such as last-child, meaning that we can simply add rules for the last list item. \n\nul.gallery li:last-child {\n\tmargin-right: 0;\n}\n\nView Example 5\n\nThis removed the margin on the li which is the last-child of the ul with a class of gallery. No messing about sticking classes on the last item, or pushing the width of the item out wit a negative margin.\n\nIf this list of items repeated ad infinitum then you could also use nth-child for this task. Creating a rule that makes every 3rd element margin-less.\n\nul.gallery li:nth-child(3n) {\n\tmargin-right: 0;\n}\n\nView Example 6\n\n\n\nA similar example is where the designer has added borders to the bottom of each element \u2013 but the last item does not have a border or is in some other way different. Again, only a class added to the last element will save you here if you cannot rely on using the last-child selector.\n\nBrowser support for last-child\n\nThe situation for last-child is similar to that of nth-child, in that there is no support in Internet Explorer 8. However, once again it is very simple to replicate the functionality using jQuery. Adding our .last class to the last list item.\n\n$(\"ul.gallery li:last-child\").addClass(\"last\");\n\nWe could also use the nth-child selector to add the .last class to every third list item.\n\n$(\"ul.gallery li:nth-child(3n)\").addClass(\"last\");\n\nView Example 7\n\nFun with forms\n\nStyling forms can be a bit of a trial, made difficult by the fact that any CSS applied to the input element will effect text fields, submit buttons, checkboxes and radio buttons. As developers we are left adding classes to our form fields to differentiate them. In most builds all of my text fields have a simple class of text whereas I wouldn\u2019t dream of adding a class of para to every paragraph element in a document.\n\n\n\n\nSyling form fields\n\n\n\n\t

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        \n\t\n\n\n\nView Example 8\n\nAttribute selectors provide a way of targeting elements by looking at the attributes of those elements. Unlike the other examples in this article which are CSS3 selectors, the attribute selector is actually a CSS2.1 selector \u2013 it just doesn\u2019t get much use because of lack of support in Internet Explorer 6. Using attribute selectors we can write rules for text inputs and form buttons without needing to add any classes to the markup. For example after removing the text and button classes from my text and submit button input elements I can use the following rules to target them:\n\nform input[type=\"text\"] {\n border: 1px solid #333;\n padding: 0.2em;\n width: 400px;\n}\nform input[type=\"submit\"]{\n border: 1px solid #333;\n background-color: #eee;\n color: #000;\n padding: 0.1em;\n} \n\nView Example 9\n\nAnother problem that I encounter with forms is where I am using CSS to position my labels and form elements by floating the labels. This works fine as long as I want all of my labels to be floated, however sometimes we get a set of radio buttons or a checkbox, and I don\u2019t want the label field to be floated. As you can see in the below example the label for the checkbox is squashed up into the space used for the other labels, yet it makes more sense for the checkbox to display after the text.\n\n\n\nI could use a class on this label element however CSS3 lets me to target the label attribute directly by looking at the value of the for attribute.\n\nlabel[for=\"fOptIn\"] {\n float: none;\n width: auto;\n}\n\n\n\nBeing able to precisely target attributes in this way is incredibly useful, and once IE6 is no longer an issue this will really help to clean up our markup and save us from having to create all kinds of special cases when generating this markup on the server-side.\n\nBrowser support\n\nThe news for attribute selectors is actually pretty good with Internet Explorer 7+, Firefox 2+ and all other modern browsers all having support. As I have already mentioned this is a CSS2.1 selector and so we really should expect to be able to use it as we head into 2010! Internet Explorer 7 has slightly buggy support and will fail on the label example shown above however I discovered a workaround in the Sitepoint CSS reference comments. Adding the selector label[htmlFor=\"fOptIn\"] to the correct selector will create a match for IE7.\n\nIE6 does not support these selector but, once again, you can use jQuery to plug the holes in IE6 support. The following jQuery will add the text and button classes to your fields and also add a checks class to the label for the checkbox, which you can use to remove the float and width for this element.\n\n$('form input[type=\"submit\"]').addClass(\"button\");\n$('form input[type=\"text\"]').addClass(\"text\");\n$('label[for=\"fOptIn\"]').addClass(\"checks\");\n\nView Example 10\n\nThe selectors I\u2019ve used in this article are easy to overlook as we do have ways to achieve these things currently. As developers \u2013 especially when we have frameworks and existing code that cope with these situations \u2013 it is easy to carry on as we always have done. \n\nI think that the time has come to start to clean up our front and backend code and replace our reliance on classes with these more advanced selectors. With the help of a little JavaScript almost all users will still get the full effect and, where we are dealing with purely visual effects, there is definitely a case to be made for not worrying about the very small percentage of people with old browsers and no JavaScript. They will still receive a readable website, it may just be missing some of the finesse offered to the modern browsing experience.", "year": "2009", "author": "Rachel Andrew", "author_slug": "rachelandrew", "published": "2009-12-20T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2009/cleaner-code-with-css3-selectors/", "topic": "code"} {"rowid": 220, "title": "Finding Your Way with Static Maps", "contents": "Since the introduction of the Google Maps service in 2005, online maps have taken off in a way not really possible before the invention of slippy map interaction. Although quickly followed by a plethora of similar services from both commercial and non-commercial parties, Google\u2019s first-mover advantage, and easy-to-use developer API saw Google Maps become pretty much the de facto mapping service.\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s now so easy to add a map to a web page, there\u2019s no reason not to. Dropping an iframe map into your page is as simple as embedding a YouTube video.\n\nBut there\u2019s one crucial drawback to both the solution Google provides for you to drop into your page and the code developers typically implement themselves \u2013 they don\u2019t work without JavaScript.\n\nA bit about JavaScript\n\nBack in October of this year, The Yahoo! Developer Network blog ran some tests to measure how many visitors to the Yahoo! home page didn\u2019t have JavaScript available or enabled in their browser. It\u2019s an interesting test when you consider that the audience for the Yahoo! home page (one of the most visited pages on the web) represents about as mainstream a sample as you\u2019ll find. If there\u2019s any such thing as an \u2018average Web user\u2019 then this is them.\n\nThe results surprised me. It varied from region to region, but at most just two per cent of visitors didn\u2019t have JavaScript running. To be honest, I was expecting it to be higher, but this quote from the article caught my attention:\n\n\n\tWhile the percentage of visitors with JavaScript disabled seems like a low number, keep in mind that small percentages of big numbers are also big numbers.\n\n\nThat\u2019s right, of course, and it got me thinking about what that two per cent means. For many sites, two per cent is the number of visitors using the Opera web browser, using IE6, or using Mobile Safari. \n\nSo, although a small percentage of the total, users without JavaScript can\u2019t just be forgotten about, and catering for them is at the very heart of how the web is supposed to work.\n\nStarting with content in HTML, we layer on presentation with CSS and then enhance interactivity with JavaScript. If anything fails along the way or the network craps out, or a browser just doesn\u2019t support one of the technologies, the user still gets something they can work with. \n\nIt\u2019s progressive enhancement \u2013 also known as doing our jobs properly.\n\nSorry, wasn\u2019t this about maps?\n\nAs I was saying, the default code Google provides, and the example code it gives to developers (which typically just gets followed \u2018as is\u2019) doesn\u2019t account for users without JavaScript. No JavaScript, no content.\n\nWhen adding the ability to publish maps to our small content management system Perch, I didn\u2019t want to provide a solution that only worked with JavaScript. I had to go looking for a way to provide maps without JavaScript, too.\n\nThere\u2019s a simple solution, fortunately, in the form of static map tiles. All the various slippy map services use a JavaScript interface on top of what are basically rendered map image tiles. Dragging the map loads in more image tiles in the direction you want to view. If you\u2019ve used a slippy map on a slow connection, you\u2019ll be familiar with seeing these tiles load in one by one.\n\nThe Static Map API\n\nThe good news is that these tiles (or tiles just like them) can be used as regular images on your site. Google has a Static Map API which not only gives you a handy interface to retrieve a tile for the exact area you need, but also allows you to place pins, and zoom and centre the tile so that the image looks just so. \n\nThis means that you can create a static, non-JavaScript version of your slippy map\u2019s initial (or ideal) state to load into your page as a regular image, and then have the JavaScript map hijack the image and make it slippy.\n\nClearly, that\u2019s not going to be a perfect solution for every map\u2019s requirements. It doesn\u2019t allow for panning, zooming or interrogation without JavaScript. However, for the majority of straightforward map uses online, a static map makes a great alternative for those visitors without JavaScript.\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s the how\n\nRetrieving a static map tile is staggeringly easy \u2013 it\u2019s just a case of forming a URL with the correct arguments and then using that as the src of an image tag.\n\n\"Map\n\nAs you can see, there are a few key options that we pass along to the base URL. All of these should be familiar to anyone who\u2019s worked with the JavaScript API.\n\n\n\tcenter determines the point on which the map is centred. This can be latitude and longitude values, or simply an address which is then geocoded.\n\tzoom sets the zoom level.\n\tsize is the pixel dimensions of the image you require.\n\tmaptype can be roadmap, satellite, terrain or hybrid.\n\tmarkers sets one or more pin locations. Markers can be labelled, have different colours, and so on \u2013 there\u2019s quite a lot of control available.\n\tsensor states whether you are using a sensor to determine the user\u2019s location. When just embedding a map in a web page, set this to false.\n\n\nThere are many options, including plotting paths and setting the image format, which can all be found in the straightforward documentation.\n\nAdding to your page\n\nIf you\u2019ve worked with the JavaScript API, you\u2019ll know that it needs a container element which you inject the map into:\n\n
        \n\nAll you need to do is put your static image inside that container:\n\n
        \n \n
        \n\nAnd then, in your JavaScript, find the image and remove it. For example, with jQuery you\u2019d simply use:\n\n$('#map img').remove();\n\nWhy not use a