Archives for Month: November 2009 ::
Detecting Mobile Browsers
Posted on :: Nov 30
It's becoming more and more common that Users are accessing your website from a mobile web browser (like that from an IPhone, Blackberry, Android or other mobile device). It's also becoming more prevelant that you need to start supporting and developing for the mobile platforms. But how would you begin?
Conditional Comments :: What they are & how to use them
Posted on :: Nov 24
One of the most common operations performed in a Web page is to detect the browser type and version. Browser detection is performed to ensure that the content presented to the browser is compatible and renders correctly. The browser type can be detected using many different techniques. Most methods of browser detection make use of script on the server or client.
This article introduces conditional comments, which offer certain advantages over scripted browser detection techniques.
Should Designers & Developers be held liable for Internet Explorer Design Bugs?
Posted on :: Nov 23
This is a question I'm posing to the wild Development Community becasue it seems more and more prevelant that Designers and Developers alike are being held accountable for Bugs and lack-of-interoperability especially when designing an developing Websites that are Standards-Compliant and are 'Web 2.0' compatible.
Internet Explorer, and its inefficient JS engine, is off in its own little world and forces web developers, designers, and programmers to make special exceptions when it comes to CSS and JS. Although its improved a little with the advent of its latest 8 version IE is slowly falling behind and yet people continue to use it because it comes with Windows...Designing Your Site for IE & Firefox
Posted on :: Nov 20
Hiding Styles from IE 6
It's actually really easy to hide styles from IE 6 but make them visible to standards compliant browsers. Use child selectors.
In one design I built, I created a two column layout that required margins and padding. This meant that I was hitting the box model differences when I viewed the page in IE 6. My first CSS style sheet for Firefox included a line like this:
div#nav { width: 150px; margin-left: 20px; }
This made the page line up perfectly in Firefox and Safari, but in IE the nav column was pushed over to the right too far.
So, I converted the line to use child selectors. The #nav div is a child of the body tag, so I changed the line to read:
body > div#nav { width: 150px; margin-left: 20px; }
Of course, doing this made the #nav div lose all it's properties in IE, so I needed to add in some IE styles to get IE 6 looking okay. I added this line to the CSS:
#nav { width: 150px; margin-left: 10px; }
The placement of this line of CSS is important if my page is still to look good in Firefox and Safari. The IE line needs to come first. Firefox and Safari will read that line and then it will be over-ridden by the body > div#nav selector lower in the document. IE 6 will read the first line and set the styles. It will then ignore the child selector, as it doesn't recognize them. When IE 7 comes along, it will act like Firefox and Safari.
By designing for a standards-compliant browser first, and then modifying your CSS to support IE's quirks, you spend a lot less time fiddling with the design and a lot more time actually designing.
Google Chrome OS will give Microsoft a run for their money
Posted on :: Nov 20
The new operating system is designed for netbooks — those mini computers that you can buy for as low as $150. In a demonstration today, Google showed how fast the new operating system is — booting in somewhere between 5 and 6 seconds — and explained their vision to the world.
Google isn’t looking to replace all computers or operating systems — they are looking to make something that will work very well for most people. They are targeting those who want fast, hassle free, zero worry, web capable computing.
In a 3 minute YouTube video, Google explains how their operating system is different from traditional computers — and they do it very well. The concept explained in the video is easy enough for anyone to understand and “buy”, and that’s part of the reason why I think Microsoft should be worried.
Netbooks are typically “companion” devices — they are typically purchased to supplement existing computers. Google Chrome OS is all these computers should need.
It’s going to be a really long time before Microsoft can ever create a version of Windows that cold boots in 5 seconds, gives users 100% security, is free, and has the entire open source community behind them.
Internet Explorer Cache issue
Posted on :: Nov 20
There is some sever trouble in IE caching system (IE 7 & 8) on Windows XP and Vista.
There is a small fix to solve it, just put .htaccess into folder with player and put next text to .htaccess:<IfModule mod_headers.c>
Header append Cache-Control "no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate"
</IfModule>
<IfModule mod_expires.c>
ExpiresActive On
ExpiresDefault "now"
</IfModule>Facebook for Business
Posted on :: Nov 18
Facebook’s not just for keeping tabs on friends and filling out quizzes — it can also be used as a highly effective business tool. It’s great for marketing your products, landing gigs and connecting with your customers.
Here are 32 ways to use Facebook in your business.
Browser Labs
Posted on :: Nov 18
A wonderful co-worker had intriduced me to this excellent tool online for assisting me in assuring that a site we're building renders properly in Internet Explorer, It's called BrowserLab.
BrowserLab provides web designers exact renderings of their web pages in multiple browsers and operating systems, on demand. BrowserLab is a powerful solution for cross-browser compatibility testing, featuring multiple viewing and comparison tools, as well as customizable preferences. Since BrowserLab is an online service, it can be accessed from virtually any computer connected to the web.
Using JQUERY to Detect an End of Session event
Posted on :: Nov 13
With AJAX applications giving us a lot more power than an "old school" web 1.0 page, it isn't unusual for someone to just sit on one page and fire off various operations that use HTTP to fetch and present data. This works fine until you leave the site alone for too long and your session times out. (I'm assuming most folks use a time based session, much like how ColdFusion works.) The question is - what happens in your current AJAX based application when a user's session times out?
There is a solution...
Increase your website’s traffic and Page Rank with these simple steps
Posted on :: Nov 9
SEO is a topic that is often difficult and potentially costly to apply if you are unfamiliar with the processes and methods. SEO is a combination of techniques to improve the volume and quality of traffic to your web site from major search engines such as Google or Yahoo. In this article, I will list some quick and easy techniques that can help you accomplish higher page rankings and increase traffic to your web site.
About Search Engine Optimization
Posted on :: Nov 9
In the past 10 years, SEO has become one of the most intriguing internet marketing strategies, drawing much attention from businesses across the Web. Today, these businesses invest millions of dollars in their websites’ Search Engine Optimization. Yet, in any given industry, only a handful of companies successfully promote their business and get a good return on their SEO investment. So what is the Big Secret? What techniques are available today to optimize a website? And what is the most efficient way to promote your website with SEO? Oh and what exactly makes us experts in the field?
Why SEO Requires Ongoing Efforts
Posted on :: Nov 9
It can be expected to see a drop in some of your website’s rankings, just because search engines update their registries and re-evalutate the site. Consistency is one of the most important factors of SEO, and if there is a significant change on your website, Search Engines may consider the site as less valuable for a while.
IE 8 Need to knows...
Posted on :: Nov 9
Reports on IE8 Bugs, CSS 2 and CSS3 Display issues, IE7 Compatibility Mode and how to render your pages like IE7
SEO & SEM Tactics for 2010
Posted on :: Nov 3
As search marketers look ahead to 2010, there are two obvious situations: Some things will remain the same, yet more things will likely change. Straight from our most recent issue, Brian Lewis provides a sneak peak at the SEO and SEM tactics that will define 2010.
Google Using RSS/Atom Feeds To Discover New URLs
Posted on :: Nov 3
Google announced a new feature last week that uses RSS and Atom feeds for the discovery of new webpages.
Using feeds for discovery allows Google to index new pages more quickly than traditional crawling methods. According to the announcement, Google may use “many potential sources to access updates from feeds including Reader, notifications services, or direct crawls of feeds.A CSS / JQuery Framework you can use...
Posted on :: Nov 3
Better quality and coherence coding inside a front-end team
Preset CSS classes, know where your going with highly reusable classes
A collection of some of the best jquery scripts
A solid cross browser compatible stylesheetA new project means getting JS plug-ins together, clean a CSS and restart. This framework is intended to be your project starter, and in most case, you can jump in the project right away with a solid css foundation. This is not really a CSS “framework” but more a website starter kit.
The framework is based on a 960px grid, but is very easy to manipulate to get the grid you want. It is however not intended to be used as a liquid grid.
This is a CSS/Jquery Framework you can use and build upon.