http://www.pilmore.co.uk two thousand and eight Wed, 11 Jun 2008 07:33:22 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en by Aaron Cannon I have said on numerous occasions that there is no simple checklist that, when followed, will give you an accessible site without fail. There are simply too many variables. But, what do you do when you want to create accessible pages and you have dozens or even hundreds ... http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2008/06/11/the-accessibility-checklist-i-vowed-id-never-write/ by Jina Bolton With proper documentation for clients and content editors fellow developers to follow, you have a better chance at seeing your interface stay beautiful. Future designers and developers who work on the interface will have an easier time adapting, thus making their lives easier and potentially saving time ... http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2008/06/09/writing-an-interface-style-guide/ Luke is Senior Principal of Product Ideation & Design at Yahoo!, Principal of LukeW Interface Designs, and the author of Web Form Design, a new book from Rosenfeld Media. From www.findability.org. http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2008/05/30/very-quick-chat-with-luke-wroblewski/ Article from StylizedWeb (Dejan Cancarevic) listing 12 most used tips and tricks with our friend CSS. There are two that never occured to me (5 and 6) which could well be useful, so my thanks to Dejan. http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2008/04/03/12-most-used-css-tricks/ An interesting way of vertically centering content, using just CSS {display: table;}. A few <div>'s are required with one extra to accomodate IE but it seems to work nicely. I haven't fully browser checked it out but thanks Vdot Media. http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2008/02/12/vertically-center-content-with-css/ If you want to make a custom icon for your website that will show up in the Springboard when a user makes a "webclip", using their iPhone or iPod Touch, the dirt simple way is... http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2008/01/21/custom-webclip-icon-on-the-iphone/ Tens of thousands of surfers have voted www.manchester.gov.uk the best local government website in the country. The praise comes in a poll run by BT Total Broadband which offered readers the chance to vote in 17 categories over the last three months. Thanks to the publishing power of Jadu's Web Content ... http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2008/01/19/manchester-city-council-wins-top-accolade-six-months-after-its-re-launch-with-jadu-cms/ A Compound Document is the W3C term for a document that combines multiple formats, such as XHTML, SVG, SMIL and XForms. The W3C Compound Document Formats (CDF) Working Group will specify the behaviour of some format combinations, addressing the needs for an extensible and interoperable Web. http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/10/17/compound-document-formats/ W3C's Interaction Domain is responsible for developing technologies that shape the Web's user interface. These technologies include (X)HTML, the markup language that started the Web. We also work on second-generation Web languages initiated at the W3C: CSS, MathML, SMIL and SVG and ... http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/10/17/w3-interaction-domain/ Neat overview of the @font-face  for downloadable web fonts by Roger Johansson inspired by Håkon Wium Lie’s article CSS @ Ten: The Next Big Thing, published at A List Apart in August this year. http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/10/09/the-resurrection-of-downloadable-web-fonts/ Plenty to get your teeth into from Smashing Magazine. http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/10/09/30-usability-issues-to-be-aware-of/ One of the new trends among web designers has to be grid design. While grid design is a simple concept, there are now so many tools and ways of doing it that it might get confusing for newcomers. So here is my Sacha Greifs way of doing things, i.e. how ... http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/10/03/seven-smooth-steps-to-superb-grids/ Some of the examples mimic the typography of print, while others actually leverage web technology, smart CSS and delicious HTML to make their pages not only aesthetically pleasing, but legible, user-friendly and easily navigable. From the excellent I Love Typography, see the 15. I only just discovered this site and it ... http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/09/20/15-excellent-examples-of-web-typography/ This is an effect where the bottom of the page seems to fade out. Verse chorus, verse chorus, chorous to fade. It blinking well fades out. Lord, I gotta get me one. http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/09/19/fade-out-bottom/ My thanks to Harry Roberts for this little article on creating a timed stylesheet using PHP. Basically this tiny PHP script will show you how to make a stylesheet switch depending on the time of day, similar to the one found here. http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/09/18/create-a-timed-stylesheet-using-php/ This script lets you draw content from multiple pages and display them on demand, using Ajax. Pagination links are automatically created, with each page downloaded only when requested (speeding up delivery and saving on bandwidth. An overview of this script now: The pagination interface for each Ajax Pagination ... http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/09/18/ajax-pagination-script/ File inputs (<input type="file" />) are the bane of beautiful form design. No rendering engine provides the granular control over their presentation designers desire. This simple, three-part progressive enhancement provides the markup, CSS, and JavaScript to address the long-standing irritation. This solution is known to work in: IE 5.5+ Firefox 1.5+ Safari 2+ Shaun Inman, we ... http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/09/12/styling-file-inputs-with-css-and-the-dom/ Internet Explorer for Windows does not support the <abbr> element that should be used on web pages for the markup of abbreviations. Here's a possible answer. http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/09/07/styling-in-ie/ *Must remember to get some of these books to try out. The light geometric dot matrix serves as a subtle guide for notations and sketches. http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/09/06/dot-grid-book/ Accessible News Slider is a JavaScript plugin built for the jQuery library by Brian Reindel. It meets the accessibility requirements as outlined by WCAG 1.0. http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/09/06/accessible-news-slider/ Make and create favicons today with favicon.cc. http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/08/10/favicon-generator/ Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) 5 introduces new elements to HTML for the first time since the last millennium. New structural elements include aside, figure, and section. New inline elements include time, meter, and progress. New embedding elements include ... http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/08/10/new-elements-in-html-5/ WebAppers have created a simple Ajax based Percentage Bar / Progress Bar which is inspired by Bare Naked App. It's 82.2%. http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/08/01/ajax-percentage-bar/ Great article by Milissa Tarquini over at Boxes and Arrows on debunking the myth of the fold. Something I have long agreed with and which seems to be getting through to us now. This myth that users won’t scroll to see anything below the fold – is doing everyone a great ... http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/07/25/blasting-the-myth-of-the-fold/ The CSS3 Info compatibility table. A few CSS3 selectors are already making their way into modern web browsers. Of the browsers tested thus far, Konqueror is the clear leader in implementation, with the Gecko (Mozilla, etc) engine not too far behind. http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/07/23/compatibility-table-css3-selectors/ So simple we laughed out loud! A very short article and answer to a big problem by Klaus Kjeldsen on using CSS to stop the spam. The basic idea is to make an extra dummy input text field in your form, and using CSS to make it invisible to the real ... http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/07/20/avoid-html-form-spam-using-css/ As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, the initial direct contact with clients during the discovery meeting is likely the most important moment in the life of a project. While most of my previous reference in this regard has been toward the establishment of designer competence and development of fellowship with ... http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/07/12/andy-rutledge-asks-design-questions/ HTML: All elements from HTML 3.2 to XHTML 2.0 from the very nice Jens Meiert. http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/07/04/html-elements-index/ Glossy.js 1.21 allows you to add corners and shading and shadow to images on your webpages. It uses unobtrusive javascript to keep your code clean. It works in all the major browsers - Mozilla Firefox 1.5+, Opera 9+, IE6+ and Safari. On older browsers, it'll degrade and your visitors won't notice ... http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/07/04/glossyjs/ Looking for a way to see how your web creations will look on iPhone? Look no further. And also, Optimizing Web Applications and Content for iPhone from Apples Developer Connection http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/06/23/an-iphone-web-simulator-for-designers/ One of the most commonly overlooked and under-refined elements of a website is its pagination controls. In many cases, these are treated as an afterthought. Faruk Ateş goes deep with his article 'Pagination 101'. http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/06/22/pagination-101/ Some really nice choices from the Zen Garden phenomenon. http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/06/13/15-of-the-best-css-zen-garden-designs/ http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/06/13/there-is-no-fold/ I'm looking for the tower of learning, I'm looking for the copious prize, I saw it in your eyes what I'm looking for, I saw it in your eyes what I'm looking for. I really do fear that I'm dying, I really do fear that I'm dead, I saw it in your eyes what I'm looking ... http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/06/07/tower-of-learning/ The Microsoft-led DesignIT 2007 competition has been won by an innovative concept that will help people with dementia. The winning design, submitted by The Alzheimer's Society, is called 'memories are made of this' and comes in two parts. The first is a customisable screensaver. The user will be able to upload ... http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/05/31/alzheimers-society-picks-up-prize/ This is a demo document for the technique described in the article Creating bulletproof graphic link buttons with CSS. A successfull bulletproof image-based button should: Automatically grow horizontally to fit any amount of text Grow horizontally and vertically if text size is increased or if the text wraps to multiple lines Retain its appearance ... http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/05/23/456-bulletproof-shrinkwrapping-buttons/ Site settingings and colour schemes for accessibility as laid out by the Disability Rights Commission. More site settings as the British Dyslexia Association see things. http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/05/18/how-the-disability-right-commission-does-it/ ワンクリックアワード http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/05/17/%e3%83%af%e3%83%b3%e3%82%af%e3%83%aa%e3%83%83%e3%82%af%e3%82%a2%e3%83%af%e3%83%bc%e3%83%89/ When dealing with form elements, the biggest loser of them all in the battle for a standardised look is the infamous Submit button. Let us not ignore this! This is just how they decided to handle things at Wufoo. http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/05/16/rediscovering-the-button-element/ WordPress announce the immediate availability of version 2.2 “Getz” for download. This version includes a number of new features, most notably Widgets integration, and over two hundred bug fixes. http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/05/16/wordpress-22/ ReadSpeaker PodCaster is an On-Line service that makes news feeds automatically accessible to more people in a high-quality and cost-effective way. There are thousands of companies, blogs, government bodies and other organisations trying to make their news and content accessible as a text-based RSS feed. Podcasting and “Pod radio” are technologies ... http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/05/16/just-listen-to-your-feeds/ A little warning / nudge / reminder from MobHappy on the shape of things to come. http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/05/15/mobile-web-is-19-of-pc-web/ From fadtastic. It’s important for web designers and developers to know how to write good ALT and TITLE attributes. Practices like these should be employed into each web page element as it’s created. Alternate text is not meant to be used as a tool tip, or more specifically, to provide additional information ... http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/05/11/proper-use-of-alt-and-title-attributes/ From Boxes and Arrows, some reasons to buy this book. New Web 2.0 interaction design can offer a lot of new suggestions for easier interactions, good use of white space and other glaring design solutions to the typically very busy space of information architecture. But, if you practice IA well, including some ... http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/05/09/zen-and-the-art-of-ia/ Eric Meyers latest version of the “baseline” style sheet. Nice and neat. Nice and tidy. http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/04/17/reworked-css-reset/ Article from Wilson Miner on A List Apart. At some point as designers we have to strike a balance between creating pixel-perfect layouts and infinitely flexible ones. Stop with the scrappy type and set it down to a baseline, man. http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/04/10/setting-type-on-the-web-to-a-baseline-grid/ I'm running naked through the street, stripped down as nature intended. The idea behind this is to promote Web Standards. Plain and simple. visit the Annual CSS Naked Day website for more nakedness. http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/04/05/what-happened-to-the-design/ I'd like to say hello to Nelson Galaxy. It's been some time. Can't wait to hear the music. I recognise 'In the sea', obviously, very strange hearing it again. http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/04/04/hello-nelson-galaxy/ In the mind of Subtraction. This is one of the best explanations of making the grid work. Practical, yet amusing. And the example goes Yeeaahh! Note to self. Mr Vinh's image captions hanging there on the left are very sweet. An idea's an idea. http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/04/03/layers-cake-or-how-grids-are-made/ Well they've been back for ages I just didn't know. A strange place the past. Good to see the future could be stranger, could be enormous. I'm from Mansfield Town, as are these boys, but I've not seen or heard from them in a long long time. Enormous the band (left ... http://www.pilmore.co.uk/2007/04/02/enormous-theyre-bloody-back/