Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Links to Website Accessibility
Here are some links to website accessibility. Accessibility yesterday hit the "mainstream" news via articles in Computerworld.
W3C Acessibility Home Page
http://www.w3c.org/WAI
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (W3C)
http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/
Checklist of Checkpoints for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (W3C)
http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/full-checklist.html
Auxiliary Benefits of Accessible Web Design (from the W3C)
http://www.w3.org/WAI/bcase/benefits.html
Computerworld Article: IT Accessibility: An Online Resource Guide
http://www.computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/policy/story/0,10801,60822,00.html
Computerworld Article: One Site Fits All
http://www.computerworld.com/developmenttopics/websitemgmt/story/0,10801,100607,00.html
Bobby (Tool for testing Accessibility)
http://www.cast.org/bobby
ACM: Group on Computers and Physically Handicapped
http://www.acm.org/sigaccess/
Microsoft on Accessibility
http://microsoft.com/enable
Acessibility According to the Federal Government
http://www.section508.gov/
http://www.section508.gov/requirements.html
Juicy Studio (Accessibility tutorials and more)
http://www.juicystudio.com/index.asp
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Gathering Usability Feedbag
Years ago, whenever I saw an elderly couple walking on the street, I would stop them and ask the secret of their happy co-existence. The answers surprised me. One common factor in all the -- lengthy -- replies was this one: "Compromise."
How about this one: Not spending so much time working that you neglect your responsibilities on the home realm ...
I have been negligent in the kitchen and shirking my culinary responsibilities, so this morning I sent my wife the following XHTML and PHP forrm:
Dinner Survey Form B
Monday, March 28, 2005
Tutorial about PHP and XHTML Forms
Here's a tutorial about PHP and Forms. UPS and FedEx don't ship these, so you can use the PHP mail function to send it off.
http://www.freewebmasterhelp.com/tutorials/php/6
Saturday, March 26, 2005
A Free PHP Editor
Working with PHP? ... Need a freeware PHP editor? ... There are dozens available. Here's one that gets high praise from users.
PHP Designer 2005
Thursday, March 24, 2005
New Look for Youthtopia.COM
A new look for Youthtopia.com:
Youthtopia.COM New Look
Have tweaked the Style Sheet to make valid CSS.
And ready for the fashion walkways, this home-page look has been coordinated with the site pages, such as: http://www.youthtopia.net/acontent/about.html
Hansel and Gretel (mentioned in the film I, Robot) would be able to follow the "bread crumb" navigation on this page.
Viruses Can Run, But They Can't Hide ::::: VirusTotal :::::
Suspicious about a file? ... You can upload it -- or send it as an email attachment -- to a website that will automatically scan that file with 17 different virus scanning softwares.
This service is free, and it's called -- not a bad name -- Virus Total.
Read more about ::::: VirusTotal :::::
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Usability First: Usability Glossary
Say this three times fast:
a ubiquitously useful and usable glossary of usability.
Usability First: Usability Glossary
Monday, March 21, 2005
Ourmedia Launches
If you've ever been concerned about the "crushing power of big publishing" and the influence of media in our lives, then here's an answer: OurMedia.
Our Media is a website where you can post your books, articles, photos, videos, and audios -- free. These can be downloaded by anyone, anytime, anywhere.
Ourmedia Homepage
Sunday, March 20, 2005
No Tables Available (about CSS2 - Tableless forms)
No available tables? ... That's what they told me at the Ithaca restaurant last night -- so I walked home and heated up some old cold tempeh.
Here's a web page that explains how to make CSS Forms without using tables:
CSS2 - Tableless forms
Friday, March 18, 2005
Home Page Repair
A brief question to the CSS-Discuss list helped me to figure out some tweaks to the Youthtopia home page.
See the Updated Home Page
It now works perfectly in Firefox, and good enough in MS Internet Explorer 6.
Home Page Design
This week I climbed oceans and swam mountains to design and code a home page.
Here's the best of many experiements:
http://www.youthtopia.net/indextest004navrt.html
One huge problem was Microsoft Internet Explorer: it failed to render the BR tag correctly.
All the subheading text (Resources for Humanizing Technology and a Sustainable World) should be text and not an image, and then it would center on the top. That works flawlessly with Firefox, or Opera -- browsers that are more Standards Compliant than IE. ... But Internet Explorer was taking all my BR tags, and adding a full space in between, as if the BR was P (paragarph).
Since 90% of the web-surfing masses use IE, I didn't think I could afford to show these large gaps at such a prominent location on my site.
A news story broke yesterday that stated that Microsoft's newest browser, IE 7.0, coming soon, will still be -- can you believe it? -- not Standards Compliant.
Next steps for Youthtopia: ... Make other site pages, and then try to get the Youthtopia Blog home page on Word Press (http://www.youthtopia.com) to look like the Youthtopia site pages. ... Try.
"Man is so made that whenever anything fires his soul, impossibilites vanish."
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Web Style Guide from Jennifer Kyrnin
Here is some sensible advice about designing web pages, from the About.com Web Design Guide, Jennifer Kyrnin.
Web Style Guide
Sunday, March 13, 2005
Youthtopia Rescues Kitten in Distress
My neighbor's little girl was excited to find a cute kitten on the Internet. But the poor cat was sitting on a left-column that was too short. Built on a shaky stack of of non-breaking spaces, how could the cat get a comfortable nap?
Weekend Geek 2.0
Usually, that left column gets filled with so much Navbar stuff -- links -- that it extends all by itself automatically. When there's no content in there, or not enough content, then you can extend the size.
We fixed the problem by making the left column extend down, with the reliable CSS property: padding-bottom
http://www.youthtopia.net/tweaks/karenhome.html
The code on the CSS sheet looked like this: padding-bottom: 300px;
Read the Weekend Geek Blog by Karen Whitehouse at:
http://blogs.download.com/Weekend-Geek/
Saturday, March 12, 2005
Youthtopia's 26 Principles of Usability
In his bestselling book Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity (1999), Jakob Nielsen coined the phrase "Home-Run Websites". The term means: "websites that get repeat traffic from loyal users". He makes the essentials easy to remember with an acronym for H-O-M-E. Nielsen's principles are still valid, but six years have passed. I've updated his ideas with three more ideas: an acronym for R-U-N.
High-quality content
Often updated
Minimal download time
Ease of use
RSS enabled (any XML feeds)
Uses XHTML and CSS
Nice to look at
Web Usability might be defined as the art and science of answering four essential questions:
A. Who will be reading the website?
B. What elements or features are needed?
C. How should each of these elements/features look?
D. Where should each of these elements/features be placed?
Based on these questions, my own experience, and works on Usability by Jakob Nielsen and Steve Krug, here are 26 Usability Principles that make sense to me. Nielsen is a usability pioneer, to be sure; but as the web grows, his ideas (like everyone's) should be re-examined. At times he seems to advocate sameness in page design. A world of web sites that all look like clones of Amazon.com? ... That's not for me. Web sites should be easy to use and yet unique, both in content and in style.
Youthtopia's 26 Usability Principles
Youthtopia's 26 Principles of Usability
Friday, March 11, 2005
Tools: EyeDropper Answers "What Color is That?"
"He was born with the gift of laughter, and the sense that the world was mad."
That opening from Sabatini's famous novel describes me; but he might have also said: "He was born with the gift of insight, but he couldn't tell red from green."
No longer color blind, I am now officially "chromatically challenged." But technology comes to the rescue. This excellent color-picking tool is easy to use: simply run the point over the image, and the color values appear in RGB and Hexadecimal.
Even if you have "perfect pitch" for colors, this is a handy tool.
EyeDropper is DonationWare -- if you like it and use it, send some dollars to the maker in Slovenia.
About EyeDropper version 4.0 Beta
(After clicking the link above, find the link in the right column for an English translation.)
Thursday, March 10, 2005
Book Review — Homepage Usability
Homepage Usability: 50 Websites Deconstructed
by Jakob Nielsen and Marie Tahir
Reviewed by Michael Pastore
Jakob Nielsen's classic book, Designing Web Usability: The Practice Of Simplicity — later translated into French, Spanish, German, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Swedish, Portuguese, Hebrew, Japanese, and Chinese — revolutionized the entire website-making world. Homepage Usability, Nielsen's souped-up sequel (coauthored with Marie Tahir), focuses on one small facet of websites: the homepage.
Read the Full Review
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Information Architecture as an Extension of Web Design
An article on Digital Web Magazine shows the relationship between Information Architecture and Web Design.
The key is simpicity itself: separate structure from presentation. Web sites should be designed using a structured model: Use the heading elements -- h1, h2, h3 -- and then the paragraphs and lists and links in between. Then apply your style sheets, and you've got it all.
Here's the article:
Digital Web Magazine - Information Architecture as an Extension of Web Design
The key is simpicity itself: separate structure from presentation. Web sites should be designed using a structured model: Use the heading elements -- h1, h2, h3 -- and then the paragraphs and lists and links in between. Then apply your style sheets, and you've got it all.
Here's the article:
Digital Web Magazine - Information Architecture as an Extension of Web Design
Monday, March 07, 2005
Authoring XHTML Voice
Make your web browser obey your voice commands, and create web pages that talk. So far, the only browser that can do it is Opera 8.0 beta.
Authoring XHTML Voice
Sunday, March 06, 2005
Think Different, But Don't Dare Speak
Do Bloggers have the right to free speech?
Everyone who blogs -- and everyone who reads them -- should be concerned about Apple Computer Corporation's lawsuit against three bloggers who have refused to reveal their sources of information.
Supporting these bloggers is the Electronic Freedom Foundation, and Thomas Goldstein, a former reporter for the New York Times, and former dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Goldstein wrote: "Just because Apple does not want these publications to report on its activities does not mean that they are not news publications."
To follow this important case, visit the Electronic Freedom Foundation, at:
http://www.eff.org
Saturday, March 05, 2005
CSS Cookbook — by Christopher Schmitt
Technology
Reviewed by Michael Pastore
When I opened up CSS Cookbook I expected to find a collection of recipes to spice up my bland web pages with great-looking styles. The Cookbook met that expectation, and provided another unexpected benefit. In sections called "Discussion," the author explains the mysterious workings of CSS properties and rules. So after reading a chapter you will not become a mindless automaton who blindly follows intructions without understanding 'why'. You will learn some of the important principles of Cascading Style Sheets, and ultimately, how to cook up great styles on your own.
Read more ...
Reviewed by Michael Pastore
When I opened up CSS Cookbook I expected to find a collection of recipes to spice up my bland web pages with great-looking styles. The Cookbook met that expectation, and provided another unexpected benefit. In sections called "Discussion," the author explains the mysterious workings of CSS properties and rules. So after reading a chapter you will not become a mindless automaton who blindly follows intructions without understanding 'why'. You will learn some of the important principles of Cascading Style Sheets, and ultimately, how to cook up great styles on your own.
Read more ...
Friday, March 04, 2005
Web Pages That Look Great In Print
After 10 percent trial and 90 percent error, I now have a Style Sheet for printing pages. To take a look at how it will print, go to this web page, then from the top of your browser click File --> Print Preview:
http://www.bookloversreview.com/nonfict/pasto001.html
How to do it? ... Create another style sheet, then -- on the web page that will be printed -- add a link to this style sheet, underneath the original "media = screen" link.
When you print a web page, what happens to those hyperlinks hidden underneath the linked text? Most of the time those important URLs don't print. ... But they can. And they shall! ... When you use the better browsers (Firefox, Mozilla, Safari, Netscape 7, and maybe Opera), those URLs will be printed, even though you don't see them when reading the web page. But for that URL printing to occur, the Web Designer needs to put a code into the printing style sheet. Here's da code snippet:
a:after {
content: " <" attr(href) "> ";
}
Thanks (for help designing this page) to the About.com Web Design site, and the books CSS Cookbook, and Web Standards Solutions.
http://www.bookloversreview.com/nonfict/pasto001.html
How to do it? ... Create another style sheet, then -- on the web page that will be printed -- add a link to this style sheet, underneath the original "media = screen" link.
When you print a web page, what happens to those hyperlinks hidden underneath the linked text? Most of the time those important URLs don't print. ... But they can. And they shall! ... When you use the better browsers (Firefox, Mozilla, Safari, Netscape 7, and maybe Opera), those URLs will be printed, even though you don't see them when reading the web page. But for that URL printing to occur, the Web Designer needs to put a code into the printing style sheet. Here's da code snippet:
a:after {
content: " <" attr(href) "> ";
}
Thanks (for help designing this page) to the About.com Web Design site, and the books CSS Cookbook, and Web Standards Solutions.
Open Office 2.0 Beta Just Released
With a stunning array of new features:
Open Office 2.0 Beta New Features
Test out the Beta version, or try the current working version at
http://www.openoffice.org
Open Office 2.0 Beta New Features
Test out the Beta version, or try the current working version at
http://www.openoffice.org
Thursday, March 03, 2005
Learn WordPress at the WordPress Codex Page
HTML Kit for more than editing HTML
Here's a superb HTML and XHTML editor, and much more!
HTML Kit for more than editing HTML
HTML-Kit is perfect for making Standards-Compliant websites.
Try it, and try the plug-ins, too.
HTML Kit for more than editing HTML
HTML-Kit is perfect for making Standards-Compliant websites.
Try it, and try the plug-ins, too.
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
And There Was Great Rejoicing ...
Let's not jettison Blogger -- its beauty is its simplicity and ease of use.
But I now have WordPress working, sans style, sans features, sans content, sans everything:
http://www.youthtopia.com
Benjamin Franklin had just explained his discovery that lightning is electricity to the Queen of France and her ministers.
"But Mr. Franklin," said the Queen. "What use is your discovery?"
"Dear Queen," Franklin replied. "What use is a newborn baby?"
But I now have WordPress working, sans style, sans features, sans content, sans everything:
http://www.youthtopia.com
Benjamin Franklin had just explained his discovery that lightning is electricity to the Queen of France and her ministers.
"But Mr. Franklin," said the Queen. "What use is your discovery?"
"Dear Queen," Franklin replied. "What use is a newborn baby?"
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
Hand Coding vs. Software for CSS
I've been making Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) with old-fashioned hand coding, or hand coding with a little help -- such as HTML-Kit. http://www.chami.com
Style Sheet editing software is available:
TopStyle http://www.bradsoft.com/download/index.asp ($ 80 ouch ouch)
but there is a free lite version.
and
Style Master ( $ 60 ouch)
http://www.westciv.com/
And here's another good site for learning CSS -- needs to be added to our big list:
http://www.csscreator.com/
Style Sheet editing software is available:
TopStyle http://www.bradsoft.com/download/index.asp ($ 80 ouch ouch)
but there is a free lite version.
and
Style Master ( $ 60 ouch)
http://www.westciv.com/
And here's another good site for learning CSS -- needs to be added to our big list:
http://www.csscreator.com/
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