• Aug 11, 2003

  Getting with the style switcher

  I've always been fascinated with JavaScript-based style switchers, like those at A List Apart and Netscape DevEdge. It's fun to have a (limited) amount of customizability, without having to reload the webpage like those done using server-side scripting. It's like a shiny toy for your users to play.

  I got myself one of those using Paul Sowden's Style Switcher and following the (simple) instructions at his A List Apart tutorial entitled "Alternative Style: Working With Alternate Style Sheets".

  And so, redemption in a blog now sports a new Default style and a Clean style, along with the Original style.

• Aug 11, 2003

  Redesigning made easy with "edit styles" bookmarklet

  I've recently redesigned redemption in a blog, optimizing the CSS and reducing line width for more optimal reading. I did this quickly and painlessly with a gem of a bookmarklet, the "edit styles" bookmarklet.

  The "edit styles" bookmarklet allows on-the-fly editing of the active CSS file of any webpage. Try it out - click here (only in Mozilla and Mozilla Firebird - all the more reason to switch, if you haven't). Changing the CSS changes the webpage immediately, allowing for a great way to try out new styling painlessly and saving you the constant edit-reload cycle. This is a must-have tool for the web designer/developer. Drag it to your bookmark toolbar. Don't style your site without it.

• Aug 10, 2003

  Web designer article series: A Second Voice

  Dave Shea has started a new series of articles on Mezzoblue titled "A Second Voice". It is a group effort consisting of web designer specialists in their field, including Usability, Design and Programming. The 1st article on accessibility by Nic Steenhout reads easily.

  This is definitely one to watch and bookmark. I'm just passing it along as "word of blog".

• Aug 8, 2003

  Alphabet != Letter

  One thing that turns me off is when people (wrongly) use 'alphabet' in place of 'letter'. An alphabet is a collection of letters. 'A', 'b', 'c' are letters. They are not alphabets. Everytime I hear someone say it wrong, I'm tempted to correct them whether they like it or not, and I often do.

  Don't make that (painful, painful) gaffe. At least don't make it in front of me.

• Aug 8, 2003

  Designing with web standards slides online

  Jeffrey Zeldman has put up the slides for the Web Design World keynote. For those of you still unfamiliar with Web Standards, the slides (in HTML) would be a pretty good run through of what web standards can do for you and your website. CSS layouts are used by commercial websites like EPSN and Wired.com to good effect. Some that don't break or ask you to download X browser (with MS IE being the most common - check out MSN Gaming Zone in Firebird).

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