Web Development News. straTechnologist

Web Development News

10 ways to orientate users on your site

Imagine you're driving along and due to a road closure you have to follow those conspicuous yellow detour signs...
via [WebDevTips.com]

Improving accessibility for motor impaired users

The unique requirements for motor impaired web users can often be overlooked or poorly implemented...
via [WebDevTips.com]

Eye tracking: Eye candy vs. I can do

Eye tracking has been around for decades but has only become commercially available over the past few years. It has been heralded as the next big thing in user research...
via [WebDevTips.com]

Split A/B testing

Following on from any website usability study a number of usability problems are usually found. There can often be debate within any organisation...
via [WebDevTips.com]

Opening PDFs in a new window with JavaScript

Opening documents such as PDFs in a new window should be automated using JavaScript for the following reasons...
via [WebDevTips.com]

Making the LINK tag useful

One tag that is surprisingly under used is the link tag...
via [WebDevTips.com]

How to get your webpages onto the web

This guide will take you through the steps required to move your site from your computer onto the World Wide Web for all to see.
via [WebDevTips.com]

Focus groups - how to run them

A focus group involves encouraging an invited group of participants to share their thoughts, feelings, attitudes and ideas on certain subject...
via [WebDevTips.com]

Preparing your CSS for Internet Explorer 7

Later on this year Microsoft will officially release Internet Explorer 7...
via [WebDevTips.com]

8 Mar 2010
If you've seen those odd square bar-code-looking blocks in advertisements, then you have seen the QR code, a real world hyperlink. Intended to be read by mobile devices, it's a great method to provide hyperlinks on paper.
via [evolt.org - Workers of the Web, Evolt!]

Ad Blocking Is Generally Evil

5 Mar 2010
by Matt Hartley
The silly idea that somehow ad blocking is just not that bad is insane. As this article accurately outlines as clear as day, you are basically trying to get something for nothing. Now to be fair to readers tired of having their browsers crashed by poorly done Flash ads, this is something that needs ... continues
via [Web Developers]

Jobs: Adobe Flash Is A Hog

5 Mar 2010
by Matt Hartley
Is Steve Jobs just whining about Adobe Flash being a CPU hog on today’s computing devices? According to Jobs, he has no plans whatsoever for letting Flash find a home on the upcoming iPad. And on Macs, he made it clear that he felt that HTML5 is the future. Great, Steve, now if we can [...... continues
via [Web Developers]

Social Web On Mobile Browsers Seeing Intense Growth

5 Mar 2010
by Matt Hartley
With just about everyone and their mother owning a smart phone of one type or another these days, it should not be all that shocking that social media is seeing a huge boost in usership through the eyes of various mobile browsers. So much so, that a reported 30.8% of mobile users are accessing vario... continues
via [Web Developers]

Accessible Video and Transcripts

28 Jan 2010
With HTML5 on the horizon, it is becoming far easier to embed video on a web page than it has been. However, you also need to bear in mind that not only are video (and audio) transcripts good practice, they are required by law for many organizations.
via [evolt.org - Workers of the Web, Evolt!]

Define "Cognitive Disability"

28 Jan 2010
With WCAG guidelines, and by extension federal guidelines, referencing "cognitive disability" as one form of disability which developers need to support, you'd be hard-pressed to find a definition of the term anywhere in those guidelines.
via [evolt.org - Workers of the Web, Evolt!]

Mobile Internet Use Continues Climb

28 Jan 2010
As mobile devices are more common, and browsing the web on them has gotten even easier, we can expect to see them continue to gain ground on traditional computers for casual web surfing.
via [evolt.org - Workers of the Web, Evolt!]

The Latest on HTML5

26 Jan 2010
Many of us have been following the ongoing progress of HTML5 for some time now, alternately curious and confused by the nascent specification. How'd we get here and what do we, as web developers, do?
via [evolt.org - Workers of the Web, Evolt!]

Moving from Basecamp to ActiveCollab

24 Jan 2010
by Drew McLellan
via [All in the head]

Lots of Twitter Followers Guarantees... Nothing

19 Jan 2010
What does it mean to have a huge number of Twitter followers? What does it do for you? The answer to both is: Nothing.
via [evolt.org - Workers of the Web, Evolt!]

W3C: Contacting Organizations about Inaccessible Websites

7 Jan 2010
The W3C WAI has just published a document, "Contacting Organizations about Inaccessible Websites," that helps walk users through the steps necessary to contact someone about the accessibility issues you find on a site, along with tips and sample emails.
via [evolt.org - Workers of the Web, Evolt!]

New Tool for Determining Browser Viewport Size

6 Jan 2010
Nine years ago I had become fed up with trying to explain that screen resolution, browser chrome, and browser size combine to create some unique viewport sizes. Today Google has gotten a little closer to getting the point with its Browser Size tool.
via [evolt.org - Workers of the Web, Evolt!]

More News in the URL Shortener Market

19 Dec 2009
Back in October I commented how the list of URL shorteners has gotten even shorter. As bit.ly rose to the top thanks to Twitter, Tr.im and Cli.gs called it quits. Things have changed a bit since then.
via [evolt.org - Workers of the Web, Evolt!]

How Many Disabled Users?

16 Dec 2009
There is an article over at Practical Ecommerce titled Accessibility: How Many Disabled Web Users Are There? It is refreshing to see more traditional sites dealing with accessibility, especially when it can so significantly affect their bottom line.
via [evolt.org - Workers of the Web, Evolt!]

How To Create 100 Unique MOO MiniCards

22 Oct 2009
by Drew McLellan
via [All in the head]

What's In Your Utility Belt?

15 Oct 2009
by Drew McLellan
via [All in the head]

Own Every Aspect of The Design

9 Oct 2009
by Drew McLellan
via [All in the head]

The Fallacy of Page Zooming

18 Jun 2009
by Drew McLellan
via [All in the head]

Five Interesting Ways To Publish with Perch

11 Jun 2009
by Drew McLellan
via [All in the head]

Launching Perch

1 Jun 2009
by Drew McLellan
via [All in the head]

10 Cost Effective Web Development Techniques

18 May 2009
by Drew McLellan
via [All in the head]

Easing The Path From Design to Development

18 May 2009
by Drew McLellan
via [All in the head]

Supersleight jQuery Plugin for Transparent PNGs in IE6

12 Mar 2009
by Drew McLellan
via [All in the head]

Upcoming IE8: Interview with Bill Gates by Molly Holzschlag

6 Dec 2007
by Shirley Kaiser
Fascinating reading to be had about the upcoming IE8 via a new interview of Bill Gates by Molly Holzschlag: Conversation with Bill Gates about IE8 and Microsoft Transparency. Not long after the interview, the official IE Blog also announced the upcoming Internet Explorer 8. Check out the complete po... continues
via [Brainstorms and Raves - CSS]

Creating a Blog Entry Date Calendar Icon Look with CSS, Mostly

22 Feb 2007
by Shirley Kaiser
I've received numerous inquiries about how I created the entry post calendar icon look for Brainstorms and Raves. So today's post shares the basics of the CSS and the two tiny background images I created to achieve the calendar icon look. (1308 words, 2 links, 12 images)
via [Brainstorms and Raves - CSS]

Inspiration, Insight Behind the New Happy Cog Redesign

10 Feb 2007
by Shirley Kaiser
Do you ever wonder what goes into brainstorming sessions and creative ideas from some of the top names in the Web design field? You'll find that and much more with blog posts earlier this week by three creators of the latest redesign of Happy Cog's website - Jeffrey Zeldman, Jason Santa Maria, and D... continues
via [Brainstorms and Raves - CSS]

Join Us! BrowserCam Subscription via Fundable Available

18 Dec 2006
by Shirley Kaiser
The BrowserCam pool via fundable.org that I belong to is up for its annual renewal. It has a few openings for subscribers this time around. This subscription is for the BC-Complete plan, and the cost is US $26 for the 12-month subscription via fundable.org (information below). US $499.95 is the cost... continues
via [Brainstorms and Raves - CSS]

New Web Accessibility Articles, Accessible Style Switching

12 Oct 2006
by Shirley Kaiser
There are lots of great new and recent articles, tutorials, and tips about Web accessibility. Today's post includes links to articles and tutorials on Web accessibility in general, accessible forms, accessible style switching, including my own site's style switching, accessibility and the blind and ... continues
via [Brainstorms and Raves - CSS]

Part 2: User-friendly Contextual Navigation with Simple PHP Includes

9 Oct 2006
by Shirley Kaiser
Building on the previous post, User-friendly Contextual Navigation with Simple PHP Includes, I thought I'd take things one small and simple step further by using PHP once again, this time to add a CSS class for the current page. Then it's easy to use this CSS class to create a helpful visual cue wit... continues
via [Brainstorms and Raves - CSS]

WebsiteTips.com Relaunch!

23 Mar 2006
by Shirley Kaiser
I've been buried the last five months quietly working hard on a major redesign and restructuring of WebsiteTips.com. I'm now excited to announce that the all new WebsiteTips.com is now online. Read the complete post to learn all about it! (426 words, 11 links, 2 images)
via [Brainstorms and Raves - CSS]

Website Testing: Conquering Cross-browser, Cross-platform Woes

14 Aug 2005
by Shirley Kaiser
As I was doing final cross-browser testing for a redesign of SKDesigns, my website design business, the design implementation was working quite well in nearly every mainstream browser for Windows, Mac, Linux, and even the Lynx text-only browser. Unfortunately, though, I found problems with three old... continues
via [Brainstorms and Raves - CSS]

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