Archived entries for

The C in CSS

Adactio says that they’ve started added an ID to the body tag of their various page types. This way that can have all their CSS in one file, and still maintain different looks for different page types.

So i guess the CSS would look like this.



<style>
#top_page h1 {
     font-family:arial;
     font-size:2em;
}
#internal_page h1 {
     font-family:verdana;
     font-size:.83em;
}


<body id="top_page">
<h1>Welcome to Yahoo</h1>
</body>

<body id="internal_page">
<!-- maybe a news article page -->
<h1>Kerry narrowly wins Wisconsin</h1>
</body>

Seems like an interesting approach. We’ve alreayd been doing this, but making the selector-ceiling various container divs instead of utilizing the body tag itself.

  • February 20, 2004
  • In Design
  • No comments yet

Wifi changes User Behaviour

Wi-Fi Changes Virtually Everything

“Wi-Fi is taking off fast. More than 64 million Wi-Fi systems are
expected to be sold this year, up from 24 million in 2002, says
researcher IDC.

Already, Internet companies such as ESPN.com are tailoring features
to customers with Wi-Fi. In September, ESPN.com launched a host of
features. Among them: live chats with sports experts, more video clips
of big plays and tools to help fantasy football fans track their teams.

It’s a big change from ESPN.com’s initial design, based on targeted
users who watched the game in the living room and dashed to an office
PC to check scores or stats. ESPN launched the redesign after focus
groups said they were using Wi-Fi to take the site into the living
room….

Entertainment portal Yahoo TV caters to Wi-Fi users, too. Customers
are starting to use a Wi-Fi-equipped laptop while watching TV for
interactive viewing, says Director Doug Hirsch. When a big show is on,
traffic on the Yahoo site jumps, he says….

found: http://www.theshiftedlibrarian.com/2004/02/19.html#a5233

DOMDocument’s Node Types

from: http://www.webreference.com/js/tips/020131.html

The DOMDocument object is based on a tree structure. There are twelve different node types on this tree, from 1 to 12. Here they are, with their corresponding nodeTypeString property values:


Type nodeTypeString
1 "element"
2 "attribute"
3 "text"
4 "cdatasection"
5 "entityreference"
6 "entity"
7 "processinginstruction"
8 "comment"
9 "document"
10 "documenttype"
11 "documentfragment"
12 "notation"

Rules-based Design

Rules-based design is where we want to get to. It’s what the web should be. Consistent rules, not consistent designs.

Here’s a good intro:

Grids are used to balance the design of books, ads, posters, and paintings. They are also often used in web design, particularly when it is executed via HTML tables or Flash. The grid has a long and noble history in the design of two dimensional media. But it is not the only way to design web pages and it is certainly not the webbiest way.

A modular approach, wherein the display of each element on the page is controlled by rules that take serial adjacency into account, may be better suited to the web as a medium. We call this approach Rules-Based Design. Instead of basing size and positioning according to an inflexible grid, rules-based design takes the environment of each element into account before determining how that element should be displayed. As a simple example, a header may have one margin when preceded by an image, and a different margin when preceded by a paragraph.

Read the full post here: Zeldman

Introduction to Composite Capabilities / Preferences Profile (CC/PP)

The work we do on the Web today is reaching to devices far beyond the conventional computer. A range of technologies is emerging in an effort to solve problems related to delivering content to a growing number of devices. One such technology that has been under study and development for some years is Composite Capabilities / Preferences Profile or CC/PP for short. This month, WaSP asks the W3C to explain more about CC/PP and how it relates to Web designers and developers.

  • February 12, 2004
  • In Browsers
  • 2 comments

Firebird – “A breath of fresh air”

According to a Forbes article written last week (2004 Feb 04):

“Within minutes, it becomes clear that Firebird is a breath of fresh air compared to Explorer.”

“If, in its unfinished state, Firebird is this good, perhaps Microsoft should be worried.”

“The more we use it, the more we like it, and the less we feel the need to launch Explorer.”

Read it for yourself: http://forbes.com/infoimaging/2004/02/04/cx_ah_0204tentech.html