IE6+7 .PNG FIX

I created a simple png logo for a site. It worked great in FF but, of course, didn't quite work out in Internet Explorer. I could have just called out a .gif for IE but I was using a drop shadow on the text in the logo so the .gif would have been transparent except it would have placed a white background around the drop shadow, making it look icky. So a quick upload and some CSS fixed the prob. You can score the .htc file that'll fix up your png in IE in a hurry at:
http://www.twinhelix.com/css/iepngfix/

and trouble shoot with the demo:
http://www.twinhelix.com/css/iepngfix/demo/

Have fun! Use PNG!

Clients That Just Don't Get It

All too often I have to speak to clients for extended periods of time. For the most part, they have no idea what I'm talking about, which can be great for me if I ever mess up or forget to do something... they have no idea how big or little it is. And I can always talk over their head just for fun! But some days, some horrible, horrible days, I have to teach a client something. Teach. Client. Bang!!

I can't always handle this. But I try.

If a monk with zen-like peace of mind had my job today he probably would have shot himself... or stepped on the first cockroach that ran over his sandal. Whatever!

Get Incorporated Today!

I've been working closely with an excellent design to create a site for a new division in the company I'm currently working with. Nevada Corporate Filings is a new branch of the Business Development Institute here in Las Vegas, Nevada that does Corporate Filings in Nevada... No matter what state you or your business is located, you can incorporate with us or create an LLC, LLLP, Living Trust and more. Take a look at our site in progress NevadaCorporateFilings.com and give a call today to Mr. Randy Young, Senior Corporate Advisor for Nevada Corporate Filings at 1(866)743-8964 and Protect your business, your future, and th future of your children.

CSS Attribute Selectors

I styled up a marketing review form for my company the other day, a lot of the code and CSS Selecors (ID and CLASS) were produced using Javascript. What this was doing - and keep in mind that I don't really know javascript so forgive me if I sound like a fool or if I say something that is a 'given' - was populating new id's that would say something like UrlInput1, UrlInput2, UrlInput3, and so on. Since I obviously don't want to call out every singe one of these individually, especially since I don't know the max amount allowed by the user and could end up doing up to UrlInput10, and user putting 11, I read up on Attribute Selectors.
I used 2 different ones.

E[attribute~=value] Selects from a separated list of values, like: ID="VALUE MINE" / ID="MINE VALUE"
It will call out VALUE because it is space separated from MINE.

E[attribute^=value] This one will actually do the same thing as the one above, but only if the selected VALUE is at the beginning. like: ID="VALUEMINE" / ID="VALUE MINE" ID="VALUE-MINE" All begin with VALUE.

Namespaces

I am reading up on XSLT/Xpath/Xquery/XML Namespaces and other such greatness that makes up XML...at least I think they do!?!? I'm just kicking off on all this but it does seem like it'll be easy to grasp once put in practice a few times. First thing is Namespaces and an important solution to a potential conflict in names and the content they carry. The example used at w3schools uses 2 tables, the first carrying table information from the

 < td > < / td > 

. The second carries carries information about furniture using NAME, WIDTH, and LENGTH tags within the table. An XML Parser would not know how to handle this. So, by using a prefix that is defined by the XMLNS Attribute in the start tag of the element we can keep from confusing our Parser.

IE6+7 .PNG FIX

I created a simple png logo for a site. It worked great in FF but, of course, didn't quite work out in Internet Explorer. I could have just called out a .gif for IE but I was using a drop shadow on the text in the logo so the .gif would have been transparent except it would have placed a white background around the drop shadow, making it look icky. So a quick upload and some CSS fixed the prob. You can score the .htc file that'll fix up your png in IE in a hurry at:
http://www.twinhelix.com/css/iepngfix/

and trouble shoot with the demo:
http://www.twinhelix.com/css/iepngfix/demo/

Have fun! Use PNG!

CSS Formatting and Layout - 5 Thoughts

I've been looking back at some of my old CSS and realize that while it is getting the job done, it looks like crap! Not what the code yields but how the code is formatted. Since I've been in the world of web design for some time now, but am still relatively new, I thought it time to clean up my act. I went perusing the styles of some of the great CSS guys and this is what I learned from looking at their CSS format.

ONE - Proper indentation is just as important in CSS as it is in HTML, JavaScript, and PHP. Site like Apple.com are making it the norm write out the Selector, Property and Value for an element in a single line and organize the styles in groups such as RESET, LAYOUT, and so on.

TWO - Your CSS should correspond with your HTML and Page Layout from top-to-bottom. Starting at the top, you should place your CSS Resets then your element selectors, any class libraries you've created for the site and so on and so forth.

THREE - Multiple Style Sheets. Have a really cool and really complicated header with lots of cool stuff going on in it?? Create a style sheet just for it. Same goes for Navigation, base layout or skeleton style sheet, advertisements. However you page breaks down, you should have seperate style sheets for each complex piece of design. If your site is minimal or your header and nav are more simplistic...then you don't necessarily need a seperate style sheet for them, but always be thinking about the future and where you want to go with you site...maybe one day you want to ad a more intricate header, better to have the style sheet for it now.

FOUR - ID and CLASS Names. Relevance is key here. the right column class should be named something like 'rightCol'.

FIVE - Consistency. Keep the same formula through out your style sheets and always look for ways to improve your work.