Following on my “HTML5 vs. Flash” talk of a couple of weeks ago, I’m hoping to do a bit of blogging about HTML5, Flash, mobile apps, and more. But first I need to get some terminology straight. As I did in my talk, I’m going to refer to the collection of front-end web-standards technologies
Flash vs. et al: Filling In the Gaps : Jonathan Snook: These new [HTML5] features do negate some of the need to use Flash; however, I
Every so often I’ll read something on the web that somebody else has written and I’ll think Yes! That! That’s what I’ve been trying to say! I’ve already told of experiencing just that whilst reading Raiding Eternity . Now I’ve experienced it again. This time the culprit is Ben Ward , the talented bastard. He reeled me in with the synopsis of his latest article. It’s called Understand The Web : Perceptions of the web are changing. People are advocating that we treat the web like another application framework. … Read the rest here
Forcing HTML5
Have you heard of Hundred Pushups ? It’s a simple six-week program to build up your strength by slowly increasing the number of pushups you can complete. By the end of six weeks, you should be able to complete 100 and along the way you’ve gotten a short workout working multiple muscle groups. Since I’m still trying to lose weight , I figured I’d get started on the program (yesterday was my first day and managed to do 12 pushups at the end of my first set). However, being the geek that I am, I thought, "I should track my progress with a cool iPhone app." There is one available for $1.99 from the Hundred Pushups web site. … Read the rest here
HTML forms have been, to date, quite simplistic. We’ve had limited options: the text field, the checkbox, the radio button, the textarea and finally the select drop down. Any complex data like phone numbers, email addresses or dates had to be checked by JavaScript. (And you should always and I mean always do server-side validation of the data.) The input element works overtime by being rendered completely differently based on the type it’s given—be that a text field, password, checkbox, radio button, and others. Considering my readership, this is all terribly old and boring to you now. I understand… Read the rest here
Leave it to PPK to come out with a bold statement like, " CSS vendor prefixes considered harmful ". Moreso, It’s time to abolish all vendor prefixes. They’ve become solutions for which there is no problem, and they are actively harming web standards. The problem is that they are necessary. Look at Safari’s implementation of border-radius compared to the rest. I still can’t remember if it’s border-radius-topleft or border-top-left-radius . … Read the rest here
html5media Script Renders in Any Browser : As you
It’s been said before that web inspectors
Monospace text sizing is, from time to time, completely unintuitive and can be quite maddening if you don’t look at it in exactly the right way. Fortunately, there is a pretty simple workaround, and it’s one you might want to consider using even if you weren’t aware that a problem existed. But first, allow me to lay some foundations. Assuming no other author styles beyond the ones shown, consider the following: span {font-family: monospace;} <p>This is a ‘p’ with a <span>’span’</span> inside.</p> All right, what should be the computed font-size of the span element? Remember, there are no other author styles being applied. … Read the rest here
Monospace text sizing is, from time to time, completely unintuitive and can be quite maddening if you don’t look at it in exactly the right way. Fortunately, there is a pretty simple workaround, and it’s one you might want to consider using even if you weren’t aware that a problem existed. But first, allow me to lay some foundations. Assuming no other author styles beyond the ones shown, consider the following: span {font-family: monospace;} <p>This is a ‘p’ with a <span>’span’</span> inside.</p> All right, what should be the computed font-size of the span element? Remember, there are no other author styles being applied. … Read the rest here
CSS3 features are making their way into the various browsers and while many are holding off on implementing them, there are those who are venturing ahead and likely running into a world of interesting quirks across the various platforms. Two such features that I have been having the pleasure of enjoying are the use of multiple backgrounds and CSS gradients. I’m covering both features because multiple backgrounds by itself is simple enough, as are CSS gradients, but combining the two is where things get interesting. Multiple Backgrounds What are multiple backgrounds when it comes to CSS? I mean the ability to define more than one background image for a single element. That sounds wonderful, doesn’t it… Read the rest here
I was recently honored to be asked to be a judge for the MIX 10k Smart Coding Challenge , running in conjunction with Microsoft’s MIX conference . The idea is to create a really great web application that totals no more than 10KB in its unzipped state. Why did I agree to participate? As much as I’d like to say “ fat sacks of cash “, that wasn’t it at all. (Mostly due to the distinct lack of cash, sacked or otherwise. Sad face.) The contest’s entry requirements actually say it for me. … Read the rest here
This year’s ATypI conference in Mexico was big on webfonts. FontShop celebrated this by putting together Webfonts Week , a series of interviews with leading type designers. There seems to be universal support for webfonts now, even from those who were dead set against it a year ago. This is obviously great news for web designers and font services such as Fontdeck (coming to a browser near you very soon). Erik Spiekermann It’s the difference between using software and owning it. What webfonts are doing is providing an engine to send fonts to a website, which is like sending ink to a printer… Read the rest here
In the course of a recent debugging session, I discovered a limitation of web inspectors (Firebug, Dragonfly, Safari’s Web Inspector, et al.) that I hadn’t quite grasped before: they don’t show pseudo-elements and they’re not so great with pseudo-classes. There’s one semi-exception to this rule, which is Internet Explorer 8’s built-in Developer Tool. It shows pseudo-elements just fine. Here’s an example of what I’m talking about: p::after {content: ” -2761-”; font-size: smaller;} Drop that style into any document that has paragraphs. … Read the rest here
“I’ve taken all the A-Grade browsers and tested them one-by-one for their feature support. Needless to say it’s produced some interesting results.” … Read the rest here
This post will most likely come off as a ramble of sorts, but I’m okay with that. I figure I write enough stuff carefully crafted, from punctuation to grammar to sentence structure, that I can afford a break once in a while. Even if publicly. Speaking of writing, this post is all about that. Let’s start with a question I’m asked occasionally by those of you considering authoring something of your own: Should I sell my book as a PDF or publish it in print (either via Lulu or a publisher)? First of all, if you’re considering self-publishing, I’ve already written about the ups and downs of that … Read the rest here
The UK has a particularly precise postcode system, where a postcode such as BN2 1NA represents just 20 individual properties. The postcode database was created by the Royal Mail and it is sold for use by anyone whose willing to stump up the cash (why we should pay for something our taxes have created is a whole other argument). The upshot is that many websites which require an address from users will provide an ajax postcode look-up as part of the process. However the postcode look-up is fraught with danger and is rarely implemented well. … Read the rest here
I’ve spent a couple days worth now trying to figure out the best and most complete approach to font embedding using @font-face . It really is a dark art that must be mastered. It is by no means a straightforward process. Font Formats Generally speaking, these days, a font on our system is going to be one of two formats: TrueType (with a .ttf file extension) or OpenType (with a .otf file extension). While it would be nice to be able to just throw a font like this on the web and link it up, we’re hit with two major limitations… Read the rest here
I’ve been using Cuf
