Re: [WSG] centering an element

2004-05-12 Thread SomeNewKid
The Web Page Design for Designers website provides the following method of
"dead centre":
http://www.wpdfd.com/editorial/thebox/deadcentre4.html

I hope this helps.


- Original Message - 
From: "glenn" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2004 10:04 AM
Subject: [WSG] centering an element


> i am trying to center an element in the middle of the screen using
> css...
> when the browser resizes it moves into the new middle.
>
> with tables i simple make a table 100% height and width.
> then put a fixed width table inside it with postition set to centre
>
> i can only find info on centering columns
>
> thank you
>
> *
> The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
> See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
> for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
> *
>
>
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



[WSG] Is a degree necessary?

2004-05-12 Thread Gabriel Vasquez
Hi Everyone, I apologize if this is off topic but this is one of the few
places that I would be able to talk to web designers and get their opinions
on this.

I've been attending school to get an Associates degree in Digital Media. The
program is 18 months and ranges from html to 3d graphics. I'm already more
than halfway through my courses, but I find that I hit a road block; I'm not
really learning anything. We are just now getting into *basic* css, and
javascript in dreamweaver (which I already know how to do, even though I
prefer to hand-code). The program is now focusing on 3D animation but that's
really not what I'm into at all. I just want to do web design: xhtml, css,
ECMAScript/DOM, etc. -- no more, no less. I don't feel I should spend the
money for something I'm not getting anything out of.

My question to you is this: Do you think it would be wise for me to finish
the program and get the degree even though I'm not learning what I want to
be learning, or should I just call it off and focus on web design?

TIA in advanced for your feedback!

Gabriel

*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



Re: [WSG] Design Philosophy

2004-05-12 Thread John Allsopp
Alan and Dez,


While John Allsopp does have some fairly strident views on web design* 
which make for good discussions, based on the criterion you set out in 
your first post, I think John would entirely agree, ie.
I think strongly thought out and consistent would be a slightly better 
characterization :-)

1) Look good in standards compliant browsers.
2) Degrade gracefully in other browsers.
3) Are accessible to other devices
absolutely.

I think that John's main thesis, then as now, is about encouraging a 
more felxible way of viewing web design, one which harnesses the 
strengths of the medium. "A Dao of Web Design" written a year later is 
probably the most well articulated piece in this regard.
That would b about my best summation of my philosophy

I don't believe John holds the view that "we shouldn't care about how 
our web sites look as long as they use valid mark up language and 
separate content from presentation" and I certainly don't believe that 
to be the gist of the article you cited either.
Absolutely. My main point is that designers can;t and shouldn't 
"control" their designs for the users, rather it is an inherit aspect 
of the web that users can adjust their environment to suit their 
needs/tastes, etc.

That's just how it is.

I guess we could just dump PNGs in a simple HTML page.

The latest release of Style Master has some pretty good looking 
templates which I think shows an understanding of the value of good 
design.
I love design and aesthetics. I have several pairs of campers! What I 
am arguing against is

1. controlling the user's experience (it's neither possible nor 
desirable)
2. reducing accessibility through so called "design"

(*Since the Melbourne meeting where he articulated his views on image 
replacement, John has been promising to detail his positiont in 
writing, hint, hint...)
I have since written a rather, erm. "strident" article that a well 
known online journal felt a little inflammatory. I am in the process of 
reworking it.

These conferences and software chores just keep taking up my time :-)

John

BTW, what' wrong with idealism? :-)

cheers
dez
Alan Milnes wrote:

What articles are you referring to?

Well there's quite a few but here's one where the basic idea is right 
but I
find it just a tad idealistic:-

http://www.westciv.com/style_master/house/good_oil/not_paper/

Alan

*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
*

*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
*
John Allsopp

:: westciv :: http://www.westciv.com/
software, courses, resources for a standards based web
:: style master blog :: http://westciv.typepad.com/dog_or_higher/
:: webessentials Sept 30 - October 1 2004 Sydney Australia
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



RE: [WSG] centering an element

2004-05-12 Thread Miles Tillinger
www.quirksmode.org/css/centering.html

seems that you need to use a table if you want vertical alignment that is consistent 
across recent browsers.  I haven't been able to do it without using a table either...

HTH.

> -Original Message-
> From: glenn [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2004 11:35 AM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: [WSG] centering an element
> 
> 
> i am trying to center an element in the middle of the screen using 
> css...
> when the browser resizes it moves into the new middle.
> 
> with tables i simple make a table 100% height and width.
> then put a fixed width table inside it with postition set to centre
> 
> i can only find info on centering columns
> 
> thank you
> 
> *
> The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
> See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
> for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
> * 
> 
> 
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
*



RE: [WSG] centering an element

2004-05-12 Thread Miles Tillinger
and then in finding the quirksmode url I found this!

http://vmalek.murphy.cz/

Has anyone discovered any issues with this method?

> -Original Message-
> From: glenn [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2004 11:35 AM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: [WSG] centering an element
> 
> 
> i am trying to center an element in the middle of the screen using 
> css...
> when the browser resizes it moves into the new middle.
> 
> with tables i simple make a table 100% height and width.
> then put a fixed width table inside it with postition set to centre
> 
> i can only find info on centering columns
> 
> thank you
> 
> *
> The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
> See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
> for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
> * 
> 
> 
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
*



[WSG] centering an element

2004-05-12 Thread glenn
i am trying to center an element in the middle of the screen using 
css...
when the browser resizes it moves into the new middle.

with tables i simple make a table 100% height and width.
then put a fixed width table inside it with postition set to centre
i can only find info on centering columns

thank you

*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



[WSG] IE layout issue

2004-05-12 Thread simon
i have this layout http://204.157.1.128/~wadigi/index.html which seems 
to work fine in every modern browser bar ie6 . the content div seems to 
drop and the right side bar nav seems to be missing as well ...

any ideas ?
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



Re: [WSG] Application of web standards in real life (new thread)

2004-05-12 Thread Sarah Wedde
On 13/05/2004, at 1:21 PM, Chris Blown wrote:
The paramount problem is not actually the technique that you use, or
which way is wrong / better, rather the problem is that varying degrees
of the standards are implemented in the swag of devices that are now
able to load our content. Add to this the anomalies that arise from
slightly different interpretations of the standards by the browser
developers and you end up with a pretty tricky job.
There are so many variables associated with these new devices. The 
small
screen alone is the major concern, not to mention the memory
limitations. The point about the future is true, though the rate at
which these devices are moving, we'll have bigger screens and more
memory before too long. What happens then, do you still need to support
those people carrying around that old Nokia 6600.. That's the trick..
right?

Consider this. If you manage to build a site that is standards 
compliant
and works in almost every device as expected, then you deserve a bloody
good pat on the back and make sure you post a link to WSG so we can
learn how you managed to do it ;)



And isn't a great deal of the difficulty with trying to support all 
these different devices one of access? I think there are limits as to 
how many different devices we can get our hands on to test. Oh for the 
day when by simply coding to standards our work will display well in 
all devices!

Sarah 

*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



[WSG] Ten questions for Nick Finck

2004-05-12 Thread russ - maxdesign
The latest in our series of WSG "Ten question" interviews. This time it is
Nick Finck.

Nick talks about Digital Web, structure, web standards, liquid layouts and
blogging:
http://webstandardsgroup.org/features/nick-finck.cfm

Thanks
Russ


The Australian Museum.
Australia's first - and leading - natural sciences and anthropology
museum. Visit www.amonline.net.au

The views in this email are those of the user and do not necessarily
reflect the views of the Australian Museum. The information contained in
this email message and any accompanying files is or may be confidential
and is for the intended recipient only. If you are not the intended
recipient, any use, dissemination, reliance, forwarding, printing or
copying of this email or any attached files is unauthorised. If you are
not the intended recipient, please delete it and notify the sender.The
Australian Museum does not guarantee the accuracy of any information
contained in this e-mail or attached files. As Internet communications
are not secure, the Australian Museum does not accept legal
responsibility for the contents of this message or attached files.


Re: [WSG] Application of web standards in real life (new thread)

2004-05-12 Thread Chris Blown
That topic raised some valid points of view, it really demonstrates to
me the challenges and frustrations we face as web developers /
designers.

The paramount problem is not actually the technique that you use, or
which way is wrong / better, rather the problem is that varying degrees
of the standards are implemented in the swag of devices that are now
able to load our content. Add to this the anomalies that arise from
slightly different interpretations of the standards by the browser
developers and you end up with a pretty tricky job.

There are so many variables associated with these new devices. The small
screen alone is the major concern, not to mention the memory
limitations. The point about the future is true, though the rate at
which these devices are moving, we'll have bigger screens and more
memory before too long. What happens then, do you still need to support
those people carrying around that old Nokia 6600.. That's the trick..
right? 

Consider this. If you manage to build a site that is standards compliant
and works in almost every device as expected, then you deserve a bloody
good pat on the back and make sure you post a link to WSG so we can
learn how you managed to do it ;)

Regards
Chris Blown
http://hinterlands.com.au 
  


 


On Thu, 2004-05-13 at 10:14, James Ellis wrote:
> Sorry about this everyone, flames to my address if you want. Trying again from 
> scratch.
> 
> Cheers
> James
> 
> 
> 
> 
> James
> 
> Do you know what percentage of people browsing the net use handhelds? I 
> have been unable to find any statistics on it, but suspect its a very 
> small number.
> 
> My mode of operation is to always keep in mind the law of diminishing 
> returns when designing for a client as commercial realities must be 
> paramount when trying to earn a living
> 
> So ...
> 
> 1. Depending on the client ill aim for HTML 4 transitional or XHTML 1.0 
> transitional validation and complying to the spirit of web standards (no 
> presentational tables etc and code that validates), or to the letter 
> (code that validates). In both cases I will do my best to make it 
> accessible.
> 
> 2. Whatever design is decided upon i'll get it to work well on the 
> newest mozilla, IE 4, 5, 5.5, 6, newest opera, see if it looks tolerable 
> on Safari using Dan vine's icapture and in Netscape 4.08
> 
> 3. Anything else is a bonus, eg: my personal site is table free, and 
> scales from very small resoltions to very large with no problems (AFAIK) 
> because I had the time to make it so.
> 
> However some clients are not willing for you to go the Nth degree of 
> cross browser compatibility, ill do my best to convince them but in the 
> end its their choice
> 
> -- Neerav Bhatt http://www.bhatt.id.au Web Development & IT consultancy 
> James Ellis wrote:
> 
> > 1. I have a multi-column layout... when I psuh the site to a layout for 
> > handheld I'll turn off the floats that handle the columns. The content 
> > will then cascade down the page. This will involve adding a new 
> > stylesheet and linking to it via a media attr, a user agent sniff or a 
> > hyperlink for the user.
> > 
> > 2. I have a multi-column layout... when I push the site to a layout for 
> > handheld I'll have to change the markup so that the table rows have only 
> > one cell in them each. This will also affect the screen and print 
> > versions of the site (so I'll have to do mutiple markup for the same 
> > content).
> > 
> > Which one is easier and better in the long run?
> > 
> > faffing around with rowspans and colspans can be frustrating as well. 
> > The difference being that one method has a future, the other doesn't.
> > 
> > Cheers
> > James
> > 
> > 
> > Neerav wrote:
> > 
> 
> >> hear hear .. multi-columnnar sites are much easier to do with a single 
> >> wrap around table and work cross-browser than using a CSS "for the 
> >> sake of it approach" creating multi column layouts and "faffing about" 
> >> s=as Mike says
> >>
> >> standards are all well and good, and where possible I have no problem 
> >> with adhering to the letter and spirit of webs standards, but 
> >> sometimes things like wrap around tables are indispensible.
> 
> *
> The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
> See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
> for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
> * 
> 
> 
> 

*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



Re: [WSG] Brisbane Meeting Report

2004-05-12 Thread Scott Barnes
Doh!

I got into work today and saw my "Reminder Notice" is hours overdue. heh 
I totally forgot about attending this :(

Oh well, See yas next month though

Scott.

Gary Menzel wrote:

Ditto that, and the rest. Thanks to all involved. What a wonderful thing
it is to realise that there really are human beings that exist that are
as attached to the web as I am :).
   

I just wanted to add my thanks to the people who attended.  The turnout 
was certainly a big surprise to me (but I will leave it to Russ and Peter 
to provide more details about numbers).

For the rest of the WSG (both in Australia and around the world) we can 
definitely say that the Brisbane Group is well established now and looks 
like having a very good future.

We will stay with our original plan of meeting every two months on the 2nd 
Wednesday of the month.  Next meeting date to be.

July 14th

The presenter has already been chosen (volunteered) and more details will 
be provided as they come to hand.



Gary Menzel
Web Development Manager
IT Operations Brisbane -+- ABN AMRO Morgans Limited
Level 29, 123 Eagle Street BRISBANE QLD 4000
PH: 07 333 44 828  FX:  07 3834 0828


To unsubscribe from this email please forward this email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

If this communication is not intended for you and you are not an authorised recipient 
of this email you are prohibited by law from dealing with or relying on the email or 
any file attachments. This prohibition includes reading, printing, copying, 
re-transmitting, disseminating, storing or in any other way dealing or acting in 
reliance on the information.  If you have received this email in error, we request you 
contact ABN AMRO Morgans Limited immediately by returning the email to [EMAIL 
PROTECTED] and destroy the original. We will refund any reasonable costs associated 
with notifying ABN AMRO Morgans. This email is confidential and may contain privileged 
client information. ABN AMRO Morgans has taken reasonable steps to ensure the accuracy 
and integrity of all its communications, including electronic communications, but 
accepts no liability for materials transmitted. Materials may also be transmitted 
without the knowledge of ABN AMRO Morgans.  ABN AMRO Morgans Limited its directors and 
employees do not accept liability for the results of any actions taken or not on the 
basis of the information in this report. ABN AMRO Morgans Limited and its associates 
hold or may hold securities in the companies/trusts mentioned herein.  Any 
recommendation is made on the basis of our research of the investment and may not suit 
the specific requirements of clients.  Assessments of suitability to an individual?s 
portfolio can only be made after an examination of the particular client?s 
investments, financial circumstances and requirements.
ABN AMRO Morgans Limited (ABN 49 010 669 726 AFSL 235410) A Participant of ASX Group
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 

 

--

Regards,
Scott Barnes
-
http://www.mossyblog.com
http://www.bestrates.com.au
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
*


RE: [WSG] Application of web standards in real life (new thread)

2004-05-12 Thread Kay Smoljak
> Do you know what percentage of people browsing the net use 
> handhelds? I have been unable to find any statistics on it, 
> but suspect its a very small number.



> 3. Anything else is a bonus, eg: my personal site is table 
> free, and scales from very small resoltions to very large 
> with no problems (AFAIK) because I had the time to make it so.

That pretty much sums up my approach as well. I care about things like
handhelds when given the opportunity because I'm the kind of person who
likes playing with that kind of technology. I have a PDA, and yes, my
personal site looks great on it. 

Really, there are no average users. I spend a great deal of my time working
on a Tablet PC, which has a resolution of 1024x768 - but that's actually
768x1024 when I'm holding it in slate mode, using the pen rather than the
keyboard (which is most of the time). You'd be amazed at the number of sites
that look crap at a smaller width than 800px, even only fractionally
smaller. My boss has a 19" LCD monitor, but he hates the high resolution, so
he has his fonts set to absolutely massive in both Windows and his browsers,
and it's amazing how much havoc that can play with a non-flexible design. We
have a client who's elderly father is a director of the company, and so he
bought him the best pc available, complete with a 21" CRT. But the old guy
is so blind, the resolution is set to 800x600 with large fonts. Looking at
web sites on that monster makes me cry. And then I found out the other day
I've been working on a site for a guy using an old PowerMac, OS9, and the
only browser he had installed was Netscape 4. We just have to work with what
we can.

K.

--
Kay Smoljak
Senior Developer/QC Leader/Search Optimisation
PerthWeb Pty Ltd - http://www.perthweb.com.au/
Ph: 08 9226 1366 - Fax: 08 9226 1375 

*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



Re: [WSG] Brisbane Meeting Report

2004-05-12 Thread Gary Menzel
> Ditto that, and the rest. Thanks to all involved. What a wonderful thing
> it is to realise that there really are human beings that exist that are
> as attached to the web as I am :).

I just wanted to add my thanks to the people who attended.  The turnout
was certainly a big surprise to me (but I will leave it to Russ and Peter
to provide more details about numbers).

For the rest of the WSG (both in Australia and around the world) we can
definitely say that the Brisbane Group is well established now and looks
like having a very good future.

We will stay with our original plan of meeting every two months on the 2nd
Wednesday of the month.  Next meeting date to be.

July 14th

The presenter has already been chosen (volunteered) and more details will
be provided as they come to hand.




Gary Menzel
Web Development Manager
IT Operations Brisbane -+- ABN AMRO Morgans Limited
Level 29, 123 Eagle Street BRISBANE QLD 4000
PH: 07 333 44 828  FX:  07 3834 0828



To unsubscribe from this email please forward this email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

If this communication is not intended for you and you are not an authorised recipient 
of this email you are prohibited by law from dealing with or relying on the email or 
any file attachments. This prohibition includes reading, printing, copying, 
re-transmitting, disseminating, storing or in any other way dealing or acting in 
reliance on the information.  If you have received this email in error, we request you 
contact ABN AMRO Morgans Limited immediately by returning the email to [EMAIL 
PROTECTED] and destroy the original. We will refund any reasonable costs associated 
with notifying ABN AMRO Morgans. This email is confidential and may contain privileged 
client information. ABN AMRO Morgans has taken reasonable steps to ensure the accuracy 
and integrity of all its communications, including electronic communications, but 
accepts no liability for materials transmitted. Materials may also be transmitted 
without the knowledge of ABN AMRO Morgans.  ABN AMRO Morgans Limited its directors and 
employees do not accept liability for the results of any actions taken or not on the 
basis of the information in this report. ABN AMRO Morgans Limited and its associates 
hold or may hold securities in the companies/trusts mentioned herein.  Any 
recommendation is made on the basis of our research of the investment and may not suit 
the specific requirements of clients.  Assessments of suitability to an individual?s 
portfolio can only be made after an examination of the particular client?s 
investments, financial circumstances and requirements.
ABN AMRO Morgans Limited (ABN 49 010 669 726 AFSL 235410) A Participant of ASX Group

*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
*



[WSG] Application of web standards in real life (new thread)

2004-05-12 Thread James Ellis
Sorry about this everyone, flames to my address if you want. Trying again from scratch.

Cheers
James


James

Do you know what percentage of people browsing the net use handhelds? I 
have been unable to find any statistics on it, but suspect its a very 
small number.

My mode of operation is to always keep in mind the law of diminishing 
returns when designing for a client as commercial realities must be 
paramount when trying to earn a living

So ...

1. Depending on the client ill aim for HTML 4 transitional or XHTML 1.0 
transitional validation and complying to the spirit of web standards (no 
presentational tables etc and code that validates), or to the letter 
(code that validates). In both cases I will do my best to make it 
accessible.

2. Whatever design is decided upon i'll get it to work well on the 
newest mozilla, IE 4, 5, 5.5, 6, newest opera, see if it looks tolerable 
on Safari using Dan vine's icapture and in Netscape 4.08

3. Anything else is a bonus, eg: my personal site is table free, and 
scales from very small resoltions to very large with no problems (AFAIK) 
because I had the time to make it so.

However some clients are not willing for you to go the Nth degree of 
cross browser compatibility, ill do my best to convince them but in the 
end its their choice

-- Neerav Bhatt http://www.bhatt.id.au Web Development & IT consultancy 
James Ellis wrote:

1. I have a multi-column layout... when I psuh the site to a layout for 
handheld I'll turn off the floats that handle the columns. The content 
will then cascade down the page. This will involve adding a new 
stylesheet and linking to it via a media attr, a user agent sniff or a 
hyperlink for the user.

2. I have a multi-column layout... when I push the site to a layout for 
handheld I'll have to change the markup so that the table rows have only 
one cell in them each. This will also affect the screen and print 
versions of the site (so I'll have to do mutiple markup for the same 
content).

Which one is easier and better in the long run?

faffing around with rowspans and colspans can be frustrating as well. 
The difference being that one method has a future, the other doesn't.

Cheers
James
Neerav wrote:


hear hear .. multi-columnnar sites are much easier to do with a single 
wrap around table and work cross-browser than using a CSS "for the 
sake of it approach" creating multi column layouts and "faffing about" 
s=as Mike says

standards are all well and good, and where possible I have no problem 
with adhering to the letter and spirit of webs standards, but 
sometimes things like wrap around tables are indispensible.
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



[WSG] Application of Web standards in real life

2004-05-12 Thread James Ellis
...just starting a new thread on this one so it doesn't get mixed up in 
the other one (forms labels etc).
Cheers
James

James

Do you know what percentage of people browsing the net use handhelds? I
have been unable to find any statistics on it, but suspect its a very
small number.
My mode of operation is to always keep in mind the law of diminishing
returns when designing for a client as commercial realities must be
paramount when trying to earn a living
So ...

1. Depending on the client ill aim for HTML 4 transitional or XHTML 1.0
transitional validation and complying to the spirit of web standards (no
presentational tables etc and code that validates), or to the letter
(code that validates). In both cases I will do my best to make it
accessible.
2. Whatever design is decided upon i'll get it to work well on the
newest mozilla, IE 4, 5, 5.5, 6, newest opera, see if it looks tolerable
on Safari using Dan vine's icapture and in Netscape 4.08
3. Anything else is a bonus, eg: my personal site is table free, and
scales from very small resoltions to very large with no problems (AFAIK)
because I had the time to make it so.
However some clients are not willing for you to go the Nth degree of
cross browser compatibility, ill do my best to convince them but in the
end its their choice
--
Neerav Bhatt
http://www.bhatt.id.au
Web Development & IT consultancy
James Ellis wrote:

1. I have a multi-column layout... when I psuh the site to a layout for 
handheld I'll turn off the floats that handle the columns. The content 
will then cascade down the page. This will involve adding a new 
stylesheet and linking to it via a media attr, a user agent sniff or a 
hyperlink for the user.

2. I have a multi-column layout... when I push the site to a layout for 
handheld I'll have to change the markup so that the table rows have only 
one cell in them each. This will also affect the screen and print 
versions of the site (so I'll have to do mutiple markup for the same 
content).

Which one is easier and better in the long run?

faffing around with rowspans and colspans can be frustrating as well. 
The difference being that one method has a future, the other doesn't.

Cheers
James
Neerav wrote:

hear hear .. multi-columnnar sites are much easier to do with a single 
wrap around table and work cross-browser than using a CSS "for the 
sake of it approach" creating multi column layouts and "faffing about" 
s=as Mike says

standards are all well and good, and where possible I have no problem 
with adhering to the letter and spirit of webs standards, but 
sometimes things like wrap around tables are indispensible.

 

*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
*
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
*
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



RE: [WSG] Launched my third xhtml site!!

2004-05-12 Thread Taco Fleur

Hi Mike,

I'm glad to hear you did not take the comments badly. It's always good to receive 
criticism, it only improves your and everyone else's work, I know it does mine.

I understand what it is like to work with a client that puts in ideas that don't work 
so well, its an art to guide them away from the bad input they provide. You have to 
make them understand that it is not about them liking the site in end, but about the 
clients liking and being able to use the site so the user can order stuff and they can 
make money.

If they make bad decisions it is up to you to explain why the decision they made is 
bad, and a simple "its no good" will not do for them, they need valid points to 
understand why their idea is no good. After you explained this to them it's best to 
take an attitude like you done your work and its up to them how they handle the 
information that you given them.

T

-Original Message-
From: Mkear [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, 12 May 2004 9:57 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: [WSG] Launched my third xhtml site!!


Thanks Hugh, Cameron, Taco for your thoughts on my site.  I really
appreciate your going to the trouble to look for me and let me know what you
think.  This is something that normally happens across a desk in a bigger
shop, but since I'm a one-man-band, I have no one but the client to ask
about these things.

A lot of the points you raise are a result of the client wishes.  For
example his son made the large front page graphic that takes up so much
space. I don't know how to tell him we ought to lose it, so I just figured
I'd work around it.  I think it will go on the next site review in a month
or so.

The other things can be altered when I next work on the site after it's had
a while running live.   The client will have things he wants changed and
I'll do them then.

Thanks again for your thoughts.This group is extremely valuable to me as
a resource for lots of things, not just improving my standards compliance.

Cheers
Mike Kear
Windsor, NSW, Australia
AFP Webworks
http://afpwebworks.com



Message sent using UebiMiau 2.7.2


*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
*


Register now for the 3rd National Conference on Tourism Futures, being held in 
Townsville, North Queensland 4-6 August - www.tq.com.au/tfconf
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
*



RE: [WSG] css and accessibility question

2004-05-12 Thread Kay Smoljak
> On Wed, 12 May 2004 15:06:46 -0400, Brian Foy wrote:
> > I have seen before (perhaps ALA?) that if the image is decorative a
> > simple "null" would surfice as an ALT tag.

Lea de Groot wrote: 
> Syntactivally, this should be implemented as:
> 
> ie, the alt attribute should be blank - a quoted string of no length.

If you've ever listened to a screen reader, you'll know why this is
recommended. They read from top to bottom, generally, and no one really
wants to hear "blank spacer gif - Blue repeating border image with slight
drop shadow - Blurry photograph of a pink seashell - Blank spacer gif". If
it adds something to the content, put an alt tag on it, otherwise just put a
blank one in.

K.

--
Kay Smoljak
http://kay.smoljak.com 

P.S. Not that anyone here would use a spacer gif. It's just a good example.

*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



Re: [WSG] css and accessibility question

2004-05-12 Thread Lea de Groot
On Wed, 12 May 2004 15:06:46 -0400, Brian Foy wrote:
> I have seen before (perhaps ALA?) that if the image is decorative a
> simple "null" would surfice as an ALT tag.

Syntactivally, this should be implemented as:

ie, the alt attribute should be blank - a quoted string of no length.

HIH
Lea
-- 
Lea de Groot
Elysian Systems - http://elysiansystems.com/
Brisbane, Australia

I ... can mostly solve the problems of the universe in one line of perl
 -- John Carter
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



[WSG] WAS: css and accessibility question

2004-05-12 Thread Luc
 Good evening list,

 Tnx to all who have answered. I'm a bit clear on it now :-)
 
-- 
Best regards,
 Luc


http://www.dzinelabs.com

Powered by The Bat! version 1.63 Beta/7 with Windows 2000 (build
2195), version 5.0 Service Pack 4 and using the best browser: Opera.

"Dieting is wishful shrinking."


*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



RE: [WSG] css and accessibility question

2004-05-12 Thread Chris Keane
> > In the (odd) case i'm right, is there some spec that states that an
> > image always needs a description?

The http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd requires an alt
attribute for images, and the HTML DTD shows a similar requirement:






*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



Re: [WSG] css and accessibility question

2004-05-12 Thread Jeremy Flint
If the content of the image is not anything of meaning to someone who 
can't see the image, then a simple alt="" would suffice as it would 
validate xhtml.

if the image has some sort of text in it (for instance, a menu item), 
then an alt tag needs to be present. but what if the image is surrounded 
by a link? would the title attribute of the link be sufficient?

-
Jeremy Flint
www.jeremyflint.com


Brian Foy wrote:
Hi Luc,

It's my understanding that if you want the page to validate and pass
some basic 508 stuff, ALT tags must be present for any images that are
included in the page markup.
I have seen before (perhaps ALA?) that if the image is decorative a
simple "null" would surfice as an ALT tag.
I think this, like most things, involves a bit of preference and I don't
believe there is a definitive answer. Using a CSS image replacement
technique (and there are a few available) is always a valid option but
comes with it's own series of issues (what happens when images are
disabled? etc...)
So what to do? I (notice the preference) tend to use CSS background
images where I can unless the img serves a real purpose, then it's
included in the markup and ALT tagged appropriately.
Hope that helped,

Brian

Luc wrote:

 Good evening list,

My  understanding  is  that an image _always_ needs a description for
accessibility  purposes,  even  if  the  image is there for decorative
purposes and adds no important information to the page.
Now,  somebody  told  me  that,  if  the  image  is  there  purely for
decorative  purposes and adds no important information to the page, it
doesn't  need  a description and putting it in CSS as background image
makes  sense.  However, if the image needs a description, it should be
in  the  html  because  it is content. If you do put it in the css and
give a title to the div, it is wrong use of css.
Is this correct and am i wrong?

In the (odd) case i'm right, is there some spec that states that an
image always needs a description?


*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
*


*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



Re: [WSG] IE5 v Mozilla

2004-05-12 Thread Brian Foy
Hi Alan,

Try:

table width="100%"

Brian



Alan Milnes wrote:

Can anyone tell me what causes the table under "Latest Results" not to take
the whole 100% width of the div??
http://www.gameplan.org.uk/

http://www.gameplan.org.uk/styles/gplan.css

Thanks

Alan

*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 





*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



Re: [WSG] css and accessibility question

2004-05-12 Thread Brian Foy
Hi Luc,

It's my understanding that if you want the page to validate and pass
some basic 508 stuff, ALT tags must be present for any images that are
included in the page markup.
I have seen before (perhaps ALA?) that if the image is decorative a
simple "null" would surfice as an ALT tag.
I think this, like most things, involves a bit of preference and I don't
believe there is a definitive answer. Using a CSS image replacement
technique (and there are a few available) is always a valid option but
comes with it's own series of issues (what happens when images are
disabled? etc...)
So what to do? I (notice the preference) tend to use CSS background
images where I can unless the img serves a real purpose, then it's
included in the markup and ALT tagged appropriately.
Hope that helped,

Brian

Luc wrote:
 Good evening list,

My  understanding  is  that an image _always_ needs a description for
accessibility  purposes,  even  if  the  image is there for decorative
purposes and adds no important information to the page.
Now,  somebody  told  me  that,  if  the  image  is  there  purely for
decorative  purposes and adds no important information to the page, it
doesn't  need  a description and putting it in CSS as background image
makes  sense.  However, if the image needs a description, it should be
in  the  html  because  it is content. If you do put it in the css and
give a title to the div, it is wrong use of css.
Is this correct and am i wrong?

In the (odd) case i'm right, is there some spec that states that an
image always needs a description?


*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



RE: [WSG] Design Philosophy

2004-05-12 Thread Nancy Johnson
I have been following this thread and this is a wonderful answer.

Nancy Johnson

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
Behalf Of Mkear
Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2004 9:45 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: [WSG] Design Philosophy

It seems to me that too many people confuse "Design" with "artwork" or
"colours, pictures - the pretty stuff".But design goes a lot further
than that.  It's to do with "DOES IT DO THE JOB IT'S FOR?".   A designer
has
to take account of the medium he's designing for.

A designer for a magazine has to think in terms or 4 or 6 colour
printing
presses, A4 paper size, space for headers, page numbers, gutter margins,
all
that stuff.

A designer of home electrical appliances has to think in terms of
safety,
fashion look, easy use for all people including children, people with
disabilities, colours dictated by the capabilities of the manufacturing
factory regarding powder coating or enamel, or plastics etc etc.

A designer of warships has to think in terms of huge bits of steel,
predominantly grey/green colouring, allowing for battle damage but still
keeping the ship functioning etc.

And a web designer doesn't have those parameters to work with.  A web
designer has to design with colours that may vary from user to user,
font
sizes (and therefore page layout) that differs from user to user, little
control over the browser the user's going to use now or in the future,
varying font sets.  If a designer comes up with a pretty-looking design
that
requires every browser to produce exactly the same look on a screen, and
doesn't have a way (i.e. CSS hacks etc) to make that happen in every
browser, then it's a poor design, no matter what it looks like because
it's
too inflexible.  I'd suggest that such a designer is probably still
thinking
like a magazine designer and isnt thinking in the medium he's working
with
yet.   One of the parameters of the medium a web designer has to learn
to
work with is that the output is FLEXIBLE.  If the design isn't flexible
it's
a poor design.

As an example (obvious perhaps but it will illustrate the point):  If
the
design requires a particular font to be installed then it's a poor
design. 
The design should allow for a variety of fonts.  A good design will look
different, but acceptable if the font displayed is one of a range of
fonts. 
  Similarly so with all the other parameters.   If the design requires a
colour to be rendered in precisely the same way on all users' machines,
it's
a poor design, because you have no control over users' monitors, and how
well they're maintained.


Designers who think they just handle the way a site looks aren't doing
all
their job.   It's conceivable you could have a gorgeous looking site
that is
poorly designed because it doesn't work properly in the browsers of the
target market.   Or it looks fantastic but its difficult to find the
information you're looking for.   It's also conceivable that a very well
designed site might be very boring to look at but functions very well
indeed.

In other words, if you're a "web designer", and you think that is
roughly
the same as "graphic artist" you're a long way short of the mark.

Cheers
Mike Kear
Windsor, NSW, Australia
AFP Webworks
http://afpwebworks.com




Message sent using UebiMiau 2.7.2


*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 


*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



[WSG] IE5 v Mozilla

2004-05-12 Thread Alan Milnes
Can anyone tell me what causes the table under "Latest Results" not to take
the whole 100% width of the div??

http://www.gameplan.org.uk/

http://www.gameplan.org.uk/styles/gplan.css

Thanks

Alan

*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



RE: [WSG] Design Philosophy

2004-05-12 Thread Mkear
It seems to me that too many people confuse "Design" with "artwork" or
"colours, pictures – the pretty stuff".But design goes a lot further
than that.  It’s to do with "DOES IT DO THE JOB IT'S FOR?".   A designer has
to take account of the medium he’s designing for.

A designer for a magazine has to think in terms or 4 or 6 colour printing
presses, A4 paper size, space for headers, page numbers, gutter margins, all
that stuff.

A designer of home electrical appliances has to think in terms of safety,
fashion look, easy use for all people including children, people with
disabilities, colours dictated by the capabilities of the manufacturing
factory regarding powder coating or enamel, or plastics etc etc.

A designer of warships has to think in terms of huge bits of steel,
predominantly grey/green colouring, allowing for battle damage but still
keeping the ship functioning etc.

And a web designer doesn't have those parameters to work with.  A web
designer has to design with colours that may vary from user to user, font
sizes (and therefore page layout) that differs from user to user, little
control over the browser the user's going to use now or in the future,
varying font sets.  If a designer comes up with a pretty-looking design that
requires every browser to produce exactly the same look on a screen, and
doesn't have a way (i.e. CSS hacks etc) to make that happen in every
browser, then it's a poor design, no matter what it looks like because it's
too inflexible.  I'd suggest that such a designer is probably still thinking
like a magazine designer and isnt thinking in the medium he's working with
yet.   One of the parameters of the medium a web designer has to learn to
work with is that the output is FLEXIBLE.  If the design isn't flexible it's
a poor design.

As an example (obvious perhaps but it will illustrate the point):  If the
design requires a particular font to be installed then it's a poor design. 
The design should allow for a variety of fonts.  A good design will look
different, but acceptable if the font displayed is one of a range of fonts. 
  Similarly so with all the other parameters.   If the design requires a
colour to be rendered in precisely the same way on all users' machines, it's
a poor design, because you have no control over users' monitors, and how
well they're maintained.


Designers who think they just handle the way a site looks aren't doing all
their job.   It's conceivable you could have a gorgeous looking site that is
poorly designed because it doesn't work properly in the browsers of the
target market.   Or it looks fantastic but its difficult to find the
information you're looking for.   It's also conceivable that a very well
designed site might be very boring to look at but functions very well
indeed.

In other words, if you're a "web designer", and you think that is roughly
the same as "graphic artist" you're a long way short of the mark.

Cheers
Mike Kear
Windsor, NSW, Australia
AFP Webworks
http://afpwebworks.com




Message sent using UebiMiau 2.7.2


*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



[WSG] css and accessibility question

2004-05-12 Thread Luc
 Good evening list,

My  understanding  is  that an image _always_ needs a description for
accessibility  purposes,  even  if  the  image is there for decorative
purposes and adds no important information to the page.

Now,  somebody  told  me  that,  if  the  image  is  there  purely for
decorative  purposes and adds no important information to the page, it
doesn't  need  a description and putting it in CSS as background image
makes  sense.  However, if the image needs a description, it should be
in  the  html  because  it is content. If you do put it in the css and
give a title to the div, it is wrong use of css.

Is this correct and am i wrong?

In the (odd) case i'm right, is there some spec that states that an
image always needs a description?

-- 
Best regards,
 Luc


http://www.dzinelabs.com

Powered by The Bat! version 1.63 Beta/7 with Windows 2000 (build
2195), version 5.0 Service Pack 4 and using the best browser: Opera.

"Observe your enemies for they first find out your faults."


*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



Re: [WSG] Design Philosophy

2004-05-12 Thread Jeremy Flint
the meaning behind my statement was more to the fact that there are a 
lot of different options for people to browse the web now. its not like 
5 years ago when all people were using were computers with browsers.

now people are using cell phones, palm pilots, pocket pcs, etc. there 
are screen readers for the visually impaired, as well as applications 
that blowup the onscreen content. you have people using Lynx (text-based 
browsing) for one reason or another. I know of several school systems 
(k-12) that still standardize on NS4 because that is what some web 
application they use supports.

you can't design a site to "pixel precision" and expect others to see it 
that way.

so it's not really a matter of statistics. its more a matter of how 
widespread the medium has become, extending to non-traditional devices 
and browsers.

-
Jeremy Flint
www.jeremyflint.com


P.H.Lauke wrote:
Yes, but are there any really hard statistics about what the 
public is 
doing.  We know roughly 7% don't use or diable javascript.  But what 
about disabling styles?



Why is that relevant? Heck, it's almost like we're going back to the
old "how many % of users still run at 800x600...lamers"
We know it's 7% ? Do we ? Lies, statistics and lies...it always comes
down to *your* particular audience.
Yes, we have to give up a level of control on how our pages are presented
(if you want pixel perfect, go back to print, or use flash/PDF/etc), but
we gain flexible delivery based on user preferences. We're not forcing our
visual sensibilities onto users that don't want them (e.g. those surfing
with a simple text browsers couldn't give a damn about lines and lines of
markup relating to presentation, or stylesheets). However, that's obviously
*not* the same as saying that we should therefore not care about presentation
at all.

P
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 




*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



RE: [WSG] Launched my third xhtml site!!

2004-05-12 Thread Mkear
Thanks Hugh, Cameron, Taco for your thoughts on my site.  I really
appreciate your going to the trouble to look for me and let me know what you
think.  This is something that normally happens across a desk in a bigger
shop, but since I'm a one-man-band, I have no one but the client to ask
about these things.

A lot of the points you raise are a result of the client wishes.  For
example his son made the large front page graphic that takes up so much
space. I don't know how to tell him we ought to lose it, so I just figured
I'd work around it.  I think it will go on the next site review in a month
or so.

The other things can be altered when I next work on the site after it's had
a while running live.   The client will have things he wants changed and
I'll do them then.

Thanks again for your thoughts.This group is extremely valuable to me as
a resource for lots of things, not just improving my standards compliance.

Cheers
Mike Kear
Windsor, NSW, Australia
AFP Webworks
http://afpwebworks.com



Message sent using UebiMiau 2.7.2


*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



[WSG] Re: Design Philosophy

2004-05-12 Thread Alan Milnes
> That article was written in 1999 as an intervention against the printed
> page paradigm and to get desinegers to transition to CSS.

Sorry if I picked a bad example - have been reading a lot the last few days!

> Justin French

Thanks for the feedback and encouragement Justin.

Alan

*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



RE: [WSG] Design Philosophy

2004-05-12 Thread P.H.Lauke
> Yes, but are there any really hard statistics about what the 
> public is 
> doing.  We know roughly 7% don't use or diable javascript.  But what 
> about disabling styles?


Why is that relevant? Heck, it's almost like we're going back to the
old "how many % of users still run at 800x600...lamers"

We know it's 7% ? Do we ? Lies, statistics and lies...it always comes
down to *your* particular audience.

Yes, we have to give up a level of control on how our pages are presented
(if you want pixel perfect, go back to print, or use flash/PDF/etc), but
we gain flexible delivery based on user preferences. We're not forcing our
visual sensibilities onto users that don't want them (e.g. those surfing
with a simple text browsers couldn't give a damn about lines and lines of
markup relating to presentation, or stylesheets). However, that's obviously
*not* the same as saying that we should therefore not care about presentation
at all.


P
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
*



Re: [WSG] reference entity "year" end with ; ???

2004-05-12 Thread Rimantas Liubertas
>It's frustrating as it can be very difficult to find information about 
>these things via Google.
>Anyways, I'm getting alot of error messages when I validate - in 
>particular I'm getting messages like this:
>
>
>7. Line 50, column 40: cannot generate system identifier for general 
>entity "year"
>href="?month=4&year=2004&a=Home">«
<...>

>Oi vey, wondering what I'm doing with this stuff anymore...
>Can somebody shed some light on these messages?

Yes :)
All links in your (x)html should be url-encoded. That means, if you 
have link that looks like xyz.php?var1=some&var2=thing in your source
it should look like this: xyz.php?var1=some&var2=thing

Note the & instead of "&". Validators sees & and expects it to be some entity.
Those look like &something;, 'something' being name of the entity. 
Hence the complain about entity year.

Always write variable delimiters as & in your links and validator will stay happy.
Or you can use semicolons for the same purpose.

Regards,
Rimantas
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
*



Re: [WSG] Design Philosophy

2004-05-12 Thread Justin French
On 12/05/2004, at 11:03 PM, Alan Milnes wrote:

I have seen some articles on the web that say we shouldn't care about 
how our web sites look as long as they use valid mark up language and 
separate content from presentation.
 
Personally I want to design web sites that:-
 
1) Look good in standards compliant browsers.
"Look good" is a subjective term, but yes, I'm designing websites which 
look good.


2) Degrade gracefully in other browsers.
I design for standards-compliant browsers first, optimising for the 
future, rather than the past.  Once I'm happy, I'll use a combination 
of the following to attack older, less compliant browsers:

1. @import (to hide the CSS from NN4, IE4, etc), so they just get plain 
text.  I'm guessing WebTV falls into this category too.

2. IE-only conditional comments [1] to provide style-sheets targeted at 
IE5/5.5/6 if they're proving to be problematic with the main style 
sheet.

As I'm sure you're aware, "Graceful Degradation" means you (and your 
clients) do need to let go of pixel-perfect designs on older browsers.  
Make sure the content is accessible first, and then see what you can do 
about style on top of that.


3) Are accessible to other devices (one of my readers uses Internet 
Television so this is a real practical issue for me).
The beauty of standards is that most of the work is done for you here.  
If you mark-up your pages with structural, semantically rich XHTML 
without any presentational code, you've made a good start.  Now, make 
sure that your pages function and are legible with JavaScript turned 
off, and with CSS turned off (or just comment out your style sheets).  
REALLY good start.

Then have a glance at the 508 and WAG accessibility checklists, and 
cover as much of it as you can within reason (another subjective term).

The biggest hurdle right now in terms of multiple devices is that a lot 
of hand-helds and PDAs are reading the "screen" media stylesheets, 
instead of the "hand-held" media stylesheets.  Who knows what WebTV 
reads (if any).


Is this a reasonable philosophy or is there something I have missed in 
this debate?
Totally reasonable, well within reach, and it's all around you.  There 
are thousands of beautiful, valid, standards-compliant, reasonably 
accessible, usable, cost-effective websites out there.  It can be done.

Those who argue that design doesn't matter are probably not taking into 
account the real-world business, branding and marketing needs of my 
clients, which is why I think they're wrong :)  I do agree that the 
content and code should be the primary objectives, but we can have our 
cake and eat it too.



---
Justin French
http://indent.com.au
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
*


Re: [WSG] reference entity "year" end with ; ???

2004-05-12 Thread Vaska . WSG
Thanks Justin,

It's clear to me.  But what I can't figure out is why I've never 
noticed this one before?  Really...I'm just amazed this hasn't crossed 
my path before...

It will probably only take a couple of hours to make all the changes, 
not very much in the grand scheme of things...v

On 12 May 2004, at 17:29, Justin French wrote:

Vaska,

The answer is simple.  Your URLs contain ampersands (&), which are a 
character which cannot be used directly in HTML.  Why?  Because it's 
used for entities, like & and © and —.

Without boring you with the details, you need to use 
"?month=4&year=2004&a=Home", not "?month=4&year=2004&a=Home" 
to pass validation (hence write well-formed HTML).

No, the validator is not broken or wrong.
Yes, I know every book tells you to use a plain ampersand.
Yes I know it works in most browsers and situations today, but plain 
ampersands are not correct :)

If it's a huge deal to re-write your application at this point, you 
might consider writing a quick function (in PHP, I'd use ob_start() 
with a call back function with a regex to replace all the problematic 
ampersands in URLs on the way to the browser), but your mileage may 
vary.  You're better off getting it right now, rather than relying on 
such a beast.

Justin
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



Re: [WSG] Design Philosophy

2004-05-12 Thread Vaska . WSG
Yes, but are there any really hard statistics about what the public is 
doing.  We know roughly 7% don't use or diable javascript.  But what 
about disabling styles?

On 12 May 2004, at 16:13, Jeremy Flint wrote:

On the web, you really have NO control over your site once it is 
public. Users have the ability to disable styles, images, apply 
different fonts and colors that override yours. The only thing you 
truly have control over is the information and the code behind it.

All asthetic aspects of a site are open to whether a user wants to see 
them.
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



Re: [WSG] Design Philosophy

2004-05-12 Thread afdesign
Alan

That article was written in 1999 as an intervention against the printed 
page paradigm and to get desinegers to transition to CSS.

While John Allsopp does have some fairly strident views on web design* 
which make for good discussions, based on the criterion you set out in 
your first post, I think John would entirely agree, ie.

1) Look good in standards compliant browsers.

2) Degrade gracefully in other browsers.

3) Are accessible to other devices

I think that John's main thesis, then as now, is about encouraging a 
more felxible way of viewing web design, one which harnesses the 
strengths of the medium. "A Dao of Web Design" written a year later is 
probably the most well articulated piece in this regard.

I don't believe John holds the view that "we shouldn't care about how 
our web sites look as long as they use valid mark up language and 
separate content from presentation" and I certainly don't believe that 
to be the gist of the article you cited either. The latest release of 
Style Master has some pretty good looking templates which I think shows 
an understanding of the value of good design.

(*Since the Melbourne meeting where he articulated his views on image 
replacement, John has been promising to detail his positiont in writing, 
hint, hint...)

cheers
dez
Alan Milnes wrote:

What articles are you referring to?
   

Well there's quite a few but here's one where the basic idea is right but I
find it just a tad idealistic:-
http://www.westciv.com/style_master/house/good_oil/not_paper/

Alan

*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 

 

*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



Re: [WSG] reference entity "year" end with ; ???

2004-05-12 Thread Vaska . WSG
Thanks, all of this is just making more stupid by the second... ;)

On 12 May 2004, at 17:15, Chatham, Will wrote:

What it's trying to say is that you need to change your '&' to the 
'&'
entity in your URL's.  The XHTML validator is trying to parse &year, 
which
isn't valid.  Check out this (Section C12) for more info:
http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/

Will Chatham
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



Re: [WSG] reference entity "year" end with ; ???

2004-05-12 Thread Justin French
Vaska,

The answer is simple.  Your URLs contain ampersands (&), which are a 
character which cannot be used directly in HTML.  Why?  Because it's 
used for entities, like & and © and —.

Without boring you with the details, you need to use 
"?month=4&year=2004&a=Home", not "?month=4&year=2004&a=Home" to 
pass validation (hence write well-formed HTML).

No, the validator is not broken or wrong.
Yes, I know every book tells you to use a plain ampersand.
Yes I know it works in most browsers and situations today, but plain 
ampersands are not correct :)

If it's a huge deal to re-write your application at this point, you 
might consider writing a quick function (in PHP, I'd use ob_start() 
with a call back function with a regex to replace all the problematic 
ampersands in URLs on the way to the browser), but your mileage may 
vary.  You're better off getting it right now, rather than relying on 
such a beast.

Justin

On 13/05/2004, at 1:03 AM, Vaska.WSG wrote:

It's frustrating as it can be very difficult to find information about 
these things via Google.
Anyways, I'm getting alot of error messages when I validate - in 
particular I'm getting messages like this:

7.  	Line 50, column 40: cannot generate system identifier for general 
entity "year"
«
[snip]

Oi vey, wondering what I'm doing with this stuff anymore...
Can somebody shed some light on these messages?
---
Justin French
http://indent.com.au
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



Re: [WSG] reference entity "year" end with ; ???

2004-05-12 Thread Manuel González Noriega
El mié, 12-05-2004 a las 17:03, Vaska.WSG escribió:
>
> 7.Line 50, column 40: cannot generate system identifier for general 
> entity "year"
>  href="?month=4&year=2004&a=Home">«
 
> 
> Oi vey, wondering what I'm doing with this stuff anymore...
> Can somebody shed some light on these messages?
> 

Convert your '&' to the & entity

(a bunch of similar emails are heading your way in this very moment :)

-- 
Manuel trabaja para Simplelógica, construcción web
(+34) 985 22 12 65 http://simplelogica.net 

*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
*



Re: [WSG] Design Philosophy

2004-05-12 Thread Jeremy Flint
Actually, I think it was Jeff Veen who mentioned something along those 
lines at SXSW. Kind of stuck with me.

-
Jeremy Flint
www.jeremyflint.com


!!blue wrote:
Jeremy,

Can I copy your statement, paste it in Illustrator, make it prettty & bold, and
post it here at work on the bulletin board? Please?!
Too many creatives here (at where I work) don't seem to understand this
concept...
thanks,
Zulema
· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
! ! b l u e
w e b  d e s i g n e r
email : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
website : http://zoblue.com/
weblog : http://blog.zoblue.com/
· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
Quoting Jeremy Flint <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:


On the web, you really have NO control over your site once it is public.
Users have the ability to disable styles, images, apply different fonts
and colors that override yours. The only thing you truly have control
over is the information and the code behind it.
All asthetic aspects of a site are open to whether a user wants to see them.

-
Jeremy Flint
www.jeremyflint.com
Alan Milnes wrote:

I have seen some articles on the web that say we shouldn't care about
how our web sites look as long as they use valid mark up language and
separate content from presentation.
Personally I want to design web sites that:-

1) Look good in standards compliant browsers.

2) Degrade gracefully in other browsers.

3) Are accessible to other devices (one of my readers uses Internet
Television so this is a real practical issue for me).
Is this a reasonable philosophy or is there something I have missed in
this debate?
Alan

*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
*
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 




*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



Re: [WSG] Design Philosophy

2004-05-12 Thread Jeremy Flint
sure, go ahead.

-
Jeremy Flint
www.jeremyflint.com


!!blue wrote:
Jeremy,

Can I copy your statement, paste it in Illustrator, make it prettty & bold, and
post it here at work on the bulletin board? Please?!
Too many creatives here (at where I work) don't seem to understand this
concept...
thanks,
Zulema
· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
! ! b l u e
w e b  d e s i g n e r
email : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
website : http://zoblue.com/
weblog : http://blog.zoblue.com/
· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
Quoting Jeremy Flint <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:


On the web, you really have NO control over your site once it is public.
Users have the ability to disable styles, images, apply different fonts
and colors that override yours. The only thing you truly have control
over is the information and the code behind it.
All asthetic aspects of a site are open to whether a user wants to see them.

-
Jeremy Flint
www.jeremyflint.com
Alan Milnes wrote:

I have seen some articles on the web that say we shouldn't care about
how our web sites look as long as they use valid mark up language and
separate content from presentation.
Personally I want to design web sites that:-

1) Look good in standards compliant browsers.

2) Degrade gracefully in other browsers.

3) Are accessible to other devices (one of my readers uses Internet
Television so this is a real practical issue for me).
Is this a reasonable philosophy or is there something I have missed in
this debate?
Alan

*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
*
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 




*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



RE: [WSG] Design Philosophy

2004-05-12 Thread P.H.Lauke

> Can I copy your statement, paste it in Illustrator, make it 
> prettty & bold, and
> post it here at work on the bulletin board? Please?!

You could, but then you'd just show that you haven't understood
the basic premise behind his statement...as you're effectively
trying to force a certain visual presentation onto users, rather
than letting them decide how it should be presented...
Unless it's meant to be an ironic statement...

;)

P
Patrick H. Lauke
Webmaster / University of Salford
http://www.salford.ac.uk 
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
*



RE: [WSG] reference entity "year" end with ; ???

2004-05-12 Thread Chatham, Will
What it's trying to say is that you need to change your '&' to the '&'
entity in your URL's.  The XHTML validator is trying to parse &year, which
isn't valid.  Check out this (Section C12) for more info:
http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/



Will Chatham






> -Original Message-
> From: Vaska.WSG [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
> Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2004 11:04 AM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: [WSG] reference entity "year" end with ; ???
> 
> 
> It's frustrating as it can be very difficult to find 
> information about 
> these things via Google.
> Anyways, I'm getting alot of error messages when I validate - in 
> particular I'm getting messages like this:
> 
> 
> 7.Line 50, column 40: cannot generate system identifier 
> for general 
> entity "year"
>  href="?month=4&year=2004&a=Home">«
> 
> 8.Line 50, column 40: general entity "year" not defined and no 
> default entity
>  href="?month=4&year=2004&a=Home">«
> 
> 9.Line 50, column 44: reference not terminated by REFC delimiter
>  href="?month=4&year=2004&a=Home">«
> 
> 10.   Line 50, column 44: reference to external entity in attribute 
> value
>  href="?month=4&year=2004&a=Home">«
> 
> 11.   Line 50, column 44: reference to entity "year" for which no 
> system identifier could be generated
>  href="?month=4&year=2004&a=Home&q=index">« 
> 12.   Line 50, column 39: entity was defined here
>  href="?month=4&year=2004&a=Home">«
> 
> 
> Oi vey, wondering what I'm doing with this stuff anymore...
> Can somebody shed some light on these messages?
> 
> v
> 
> *
> The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
> See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
> for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
> * 
> 
> 
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



[WSG] reference entity "year" end with ; ???

2004-05-12 Thread Vaska . WSG
It's frustrating as it can be very difficult to find information about 
these things via Google.
Anyways, I'm getting alot of error messages when I validate - in 
particular I'm getting messages like this:

7.  	Line 50, column 40: cannot generate system identifier for general 
entity "year"
«

8.  	Line 50, column 40: general entity "year" not defined and no 
default entity
«

9.  	Line 50, column 44: reference not terminated by REFC delimiter
«

10.  	Line 50, column 44: reference to external entity in attribute 
value
«

11.  	Line 50, column 44: reference to entity "year" for which no 
system identifier could be generated
«

12.  	Line 50, column 39: entity was defined here
«

Oi vey, wondering what I'm doing with this stuff anymore...
Can somebody shed some light on these messages?
v

*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



Re: [WSG] Design Philosophy

2004-05-12 Thread Alan Milnes
> What articles are you referring to?

Well there's quite a few but here's one where the basic idea is right but I
find it just a tad idealistic:-

http://www.westciv.com/style_master/house/good_oil/not_paper/

Alan

*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



Re: [WSG] Brisbane Meeting Report

2004-05-12 Thread Andrew Sione Taumoefolau
On Thu, 2004-05-13 at 00:02 +1000, Lea de Groot wrote:
> A short report, as its bloody late and I really should go to bed.
> Tonight's first WSG meeting in Brisbane was a resounding success.

Ditto that, and the rest. Thanks to all involved. What a wonderful thing
it is to realise that there really are human beings that exist that are
as attached to the web as I am :).

Cheers,

Andrew

*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



Re: [WSG] Design Philosophy

2004-05-12 Thread !!blue
Jeremy,

Can I copy your statement, paste it in Illustrator, make it prettty & bold, and
post it here at work on the bulletin board? Please?!

Too many creatives here (at where I work) don't seem to understand this
concept...

thanks,
Zulema

· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
! ! b l u e
w e b  d e s i g n e r
email : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
website : http://zoblue.com/
weblog : http://blog.zoblue.com/
· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·

Quoting Jeremy Flint <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:

> On the web, you really have NO control over your site once it is public.
> Users have the ability to disable styles, images, apply different fonts
> and colors that override yours. The only thing you truly have control
> over is the information and the code behind it.
>
> All asthetic aspects of a site are open to whether a user wants to see them.
>
> -
> Jeremy Flint
> www.jeremyflint.com
>
>
> Alan Milnes wrote:
> > I have seen some articles on the web that say we shouldn't care about
> > how our web sites look as long as they use valid mark up language and
> > separate content from presentation.
> >
> > Personally I want to design web sites that:-
> >
> > 1) Look good in standards compliant browsers.
> >
> > 2) Degrade gracefully in other browsers.
> >
> > 3) Are accessible to other devices (one of my readers uses Internet
> > Television so this is a real practical issue for me).
> >
> > Is this a reasonable philosophy or is there something I have missed in
> > this debate?
> >
> > Alan
> >
> *
> The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
> See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
> for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
> *
>
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



Re: [WSG] Design Philosophy

2004-05-12 Thread Jeremy Flint
On the web, you really have NO control over your site once it is public. 
Users have the ability to disable styles, images, apply different fonts 
and colors that override yours. The only thing you truly have control 
over is the information and the code behind it.

All asthetic aspects of a site are open to whether a user wants to see them.

-
Jeremy Flint
www.jeremyflint.com
Alan Milnes wrote:
I have seen some articles on the web that say we shouldn't care about 
how our web sites look as long as they use valid mark up language and 
separate content from presentation.
 
Personally I want to design web sites that:-
 
1) Look good in standards compliant browsers.
 
2) Degrade gracefully in other browsers.
 
3) Are accessible to other devices (one of my readers uses Internet 
Television so this is a real practical issue for me).
 
Is this a reasonable philosophy or is there something I have missed in 
this debate?
 
Alan
 
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



Re: [WSG] Design Philosophy

2004-05-12 Thread afdesign
Alan,

What articles are you referring to?

Andrei Herasimchuk writes some excellent posts against this kind of 
attitude at his site, Design By Fire (http://www.designbyfire.com/).

See for instance the now famous Design Matters 
(http://www.designbyfire.com/59.html) or Gurus v. Bloggers, Round 1 
(http://www.designbyfire.com/76.html).

cheers
dez


Alan Milnes wrote:

I have seen some articles on the web that say we shouldn't care about 
how our web sites look as long as they use valid mark up language and 
separate content from presentation.
 
Personally I want to design web sites that:-
 
1) Look good in standards compliant browsers.
 
2) Degrade gracefully in other browsers.
 
3) Are accessible to other devices (one of my readers uses Internet 
Television so this is a real practical issue for me).
 
Is this a reasonable philosophy or is there something I have missed in 
this debate?
 
Alan
 


*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



[WSG] Brisbane Meeting Report

2004-05-12 Thread Lea de Groot
A short report, as its bloody late and I really should go to bed.
Tonight's first WSG meeting in Brisbane was a resounding success.
Thank you Tony, for your presentation. Your details of form layout, 
your apps online and the ensuing discussion were interesting and 
enlightening - looking forward to reading your announcement of your 
discovery, first announced at Our Meeting (I feel so honoured :))
Thank you, Russ and Peter, not only for coming up and helping us run 
the meeting so smoothly, but for starting up the WSG in the first place 
so that this list could happen, and BWSG come about :)
Thank you Gary, Vaughan and Carole-Ann for being the bods on the spot, 
supplying the premises and supplying the food (I cleverly arrived just 
after all the bits were chopped)
And thank you, too, to everyone who attended - without you the night 
wouldnt have been a success, let alone interesting and fun. :)

Looking forward to the next one!
Lea
-- 
Lea de Groot
Elysian Systems - http://elysiansystems.com/
Brisbane, Australia
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



RE: [WSG] Launched my third xhtml site!!

2004-05-12 Thread Lea de Groot
On Wed, 12 May 2004 00:09:41 -0700 (PDT), Cameron Adams wrote:
> Can I order a strangulation by proxy? ;o]

I wondered why he snuck in late, after we'd done the introductions!


Lea
-- 
Lea de Groot
Elysian Systems - http://elysiansystems.com/
Brisbane, Australia
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



Re: [WSG] Design Philosophy

2004-05-12 Thread Andrew Sione Taumoefolau
On Wed, 2004-05-12 at 15:03 +0200, Alan Milnes wrote:
> I have seen some articles on the web that say we shouldn't care about
> how our web sites look as long as they use valid mark up language and
> separate content from presentation.

While I think that designing for the web requires a certain looseness
(it may sometimes be possible to produce pixel-perfect cross-platform
designs, but is it worth the effort?* The web is not a medium suited to
precision design), it's silly to argue that looks don't matter.
Thousands of well-paid graphic designers would beg to differ.

> Is this a reasonable philosophy or is there something I have missed in
> this debate?

Your philosophy is reasonable.

Cheers,

Andrew

* I'm as big a fan of k10k as anybody, for example, but jeez, even
thinking about trying to implement something of its visual complexity
and precision gives me shivers.

*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



[WSG] Design Philosophy

2004-05-12 Thread Alan Milnes



I have seen some articles on the web that say we 
shouldn't care about how our web sites look as long as they use valid mark 
up language and separate content from presentation.
 
Personally I want to design web sites 
that:-
 
1) Look good in standards compliant 
browsers.
 
2) Degrade gracefully in other 
browsers.
 
3) Are accessible to other devices (one of my 
readers uses Internet Television so this is a real practical issue for 
me).
 
Is this a reasonable philosophy or is there 
something I have missed in this debate?
 
Alan
 


Re: [WSG] Forms, labels & headers

2004-05-12 Thread Andrew Sione Taumoefolau
On Wed, 2004-05-12 at 12:33 +1000, Jake Badger wrote:
> It's not as though if we hadn't had tables for layout we would
> have sat around doing nothing. If it hadn't been for table layout
> CSS would have been developed sooner and taken up a lot faster.

Assuming that the web would have been popular enough to warrant our
attention even if it hadn't been as visually interesting as tabular
layouts allowed it to be, sure. I'm not sure that that's a safe
assumption to make, however.

Apologies to the list admins if this is moving off-topic.

Andrew Taumoefolau

*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



RE: [WSG] Forms, labels & headers

2004-05-12 Thread Mike Pepper
>Mine is different one and we both have arguments for them, so let's stop
here.

Good call, Rimantas.

Have a good one,

Mike

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Behalf Of Rimantas Liubertas
Sent: 12 May 2004 13:00
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: [WSG] Forms, labels & headers


>Look at papers, magazines and websites. Columns, columns and columns. Can
>these be easily achieved using current CSS?

Yes.

>Because I need to look to the future.

Well, then we see different future. I see increasing usage of handheld
browsers for which one column is the best bet so far.

You are looking to fhe future with xhtml1.1 (which is much much younger than
CSS) but care for the older browsers. Properly marked up content is
accessible for any browser even withous CSS support, nothing new in that.

Anyway, I can see your point. Mine is different one and we both have
arguments for them, so let's stop here.

At least your site is an good example of well coded hibryd layout ;)

Regards,
Rimantas
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
*


*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



RE: [WSG] Forms, labels & headers

2004-05-12 Thread Rimantas Liubertas
>Look at papers, magazines and websites. Columns, columns and columns. Can
>these be easily achieved using current CSS?

Yes.

>Because I need to look to the future.

Well, then we see different future. I see increasing usage of handheld browsers for 
which one column is the best bet so far.

You are looking to fhe future with xhtml1.1 (which is much much younger than CSS) but 
care for the older browsers. Properly marked up content is accessible for any browser 
even withous CSS support, nothing new in that.

Anyway, I can see your point. Mine is different one and we both have arguments for 
them, so let's stop here.

At least your site is an good example of well coded hibryd layout ;)

Regards,
Rimantas
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



RE: [WSG] Forms, labels & headers

2004-05-12 Thread Mike Pepper
Hi Rimantas,

>Bold assumption. Does that mean that you are absolutely sure that
>any person who might be potentially interested in the content provided
>on your site won't use handheld for browsing?

No, I'm not sure; I just don't care. I have not developed the site for them.

>Once again, does that mean that handheld devices, celular phones and
>all other non desktop browsing stuff does not exist in the real world?

I just don't care. I have not developed the content for them.

>And then what? Complain about old browsers being used by too many people
>to be ignored,  complexity of the CSSx etc?

I'm not complaining. I use of current technology. And my sites will be
accessible to older browsers.

>Once again, does that  mean that handheld devices, celular phones and
>all other non desktop browsing stuff does not exist in the real world?

You're mixing statements.

>Sure you can use whatever you wish to, but statement that current CSS
>is not ready for real world is wrong, IMO.

Look at papers, magazines and websites. Columns, columns and columns. Can
these be easily achieved using current CSS?

>And by the way: xhml1.1 cannot be served as text/html.

No, it can't; it's - to use the cute phrase - tag soup.

>And IE does not support application/xthml+xml.

Yup, silly, eh.

>Why not to stick with HTML4.01 till better times?

Because I need to look to the future.

Mike Pepper
Accessible Web Developer
www.seowebsitepromotion.com


-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Behalf Of Rimantas Liubertas
Sent: 12 May 2004 10:36
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: [WSG] Forms, labels & headers


>That's like the 'make your site accessible to handhelds' argument. In the
>real world, nobody is going to access my site with a handheld because it
>contains no relevant data.

Bold assumption. Does that mean that you are absolutely sure that
any person who might be potentially interested in the content provided
on your site won't use handheld for browsing?

>But as Neerav implies, there is the law of diminishing returns, and
>accessibility is about making your site as accessible to as great an
>audience - a real, not imagined or hypothetical audience - as possible.

Once again, does that  mean that handheld devices, celular phones and
all other non desktop browsing stuff does not exist in the real world?

>Use the currently available tools and wait for CSS and browsers to go
>columnar.

And then what? Complain about old browsers being used by too many people
to be ignored,  complexity of the CSSx etc?
But I agree - use tools currently available, not those from last century
(199x).
Sure you can use whatever you wish to, but statement that current CSS
is not ready for real world is wrong, IMO.

And by the way: xhml1.1 cannot be served as text/html.
And IE does not support application/xthml+xml.
Why not to stick with HTML4.01 till better times?

Regards,
Rimantas



*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
*


*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



[WSG] Re: some guidance on inheritance please

2004-05-12 Thread Alan Milnes
Nick and Cameron,

Cheers guys - now working OK.

Alan
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



RE: [WSG] Forms, labels & headers

2004-05-12 Thread Rimantas Liubertas
>That's like the 'make your site accessible to handhelds' argument. In the
>real world, nobody is going to access my site with a handheld because it
>contains no relevant data.

Bold assumption. Does that mean that you are absolutely sure that
any person who might be potentially interested in the content provided
on your site won't use handheld for browsing?

>But as Neerav implies, there is the law of diminishing returns, and
>accessibility is about making your site as accessible to as great an
>audience - a real, not imagined or hypothetical audience - as possible.

Once again, does that  mean that handheld devices, celular phones and
all other non desktop browsing stuff does not exist in the real world?

>Use the currently available tools and wait for CSS and browsers to go
>columnar.

And then what? Complain about old browsers being used by too many people
to be ignored,  complexity of the CSSx etc?
But I agree - use tools currently available, not those from last century (199x).
Sure you can use whatever you wish to, but statement that current CSS
is not ready for real world is wrong, IMO.

And by the way: xhml1.1 cannot be served as text/html.
And IE does not support application/xthml+xml.
Why not to stick with HTML4.01 till better times?

Regards,
Rimantas



*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



RE: [WSG] Site Review and some guidance on inheritance please

2004-05-12 Thread Nick Cowie
Alan wrote:

> page at the moment but I am interested in how it looks to you 
> guys. 

It is a starting point and compared to my early attempts quite sucessful.

> I have one thing I am struggling on - perhaps some of you know a good
> resource that will help me understand this concept.  The text "Latest
> Results" should be black but is white.  I think this is because the h2
> setting is more specific than the class "content" and the id 
> "results".  So
> how do I specify that h2 within "results" should be a 
> different colour than
> a general h2?  I have tried various different formats gleaned 
> from the web
> but can't get any of them to work.  

try 

#results h2 {color: black; }

it means that all h2's inside the container with the id of "results" with have a color 
of black

or you could try
.content h2 {color: black; }

which means that all h2's inside the containers with a class of "content" with have a 
color of black

in both cases it is parent (results, content), child (h2) relationship.


Nick
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
*



Re: [WSG] Site Review and some guidance on inheritance please

2004-05-12 Thread Cameron Muir
I think I understand the question. Try:

#results h2 {
   color: #00;
}
CSS Web Design wrote:

Hi,

Having done a couple of WestCiv courses on XHTML and CSS I'm now starting to
develop my hobbyist site at http://www.gameplan.org.uk/ - it's just the main
page at the moment but I am interested in how it looks to you guys.  The css
is at http://www.gameplan.org.uk/styles/gplan.css
I have one thing I am struggling on - perhaps some of you know a good
resource that will help me understand this concept.  The text "Latest
Results" should be black but is white.  I think this is because the h2
setting is more specific than the class "content" and the id "results".  So
how do I specify that h2 within "results" should be a different colour than
a general h2?  I have tried various different formats gleaned from the web
but can't get any of them to work.  In addition I would really like to
understand what is going on rather than just cut and paste something I don't
understand.  Any links, pointers etc gratefully received.
Many thanks,

Alan Milnes

*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



 

*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



RE: [WSG] Forms, labels & headers

2004-05-12 Thread Mike Pepper
Ok Michael,

Rewrite www.seowebsitepromotion.com, making it appear as is, meeting 640,
800 and 1024+, windowed of not, whilst maintaining non
collapsing/overlapping columns whose alternate sheets 1px delimiting column
borders do not break at certain resolutions in certain browsers -- and I'll
take my hat off to you. Why bother?

That's like the 'make your site accessible to handhelds' argument. In the
real world, nobody is going to access my site with a handheld because it
contains no relevant data. It's meant to be viewed on a desktop. If I were
offering columnar data, like flight schedules and fairs I would ensure
wireless pad users could access the data (but, of course, because of the
limiting screen size, I wouldn't use tables but collapsing s), since
they may be en-route to the airport and needed last minute departure times.

But as Neerav implies, there is the law of diminishing returns, and
accessibility is about making your site as accessible to as great an
audience - a real, not imagined or hypothetical audience - as possible.

Use the currently available tools and wait for CSS and browsers to go
columnar.

Mike Pepper
Accessible Web Developer
www.seowebsitepromotion.com

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Behalf Of Michael Donnermeyer
Sent: 12 May 2004 02:19
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [WSG] Forms, labels & headers


>> using a CSS "for the sake of it approach" creating multi column
>> layouts and "faffing about"

I don't look at it that way...it's quite easy to get everything to work
right without tables if you're willing to put the effort in.  Since mid
03 I have stopped using tables for anything other than what they're
supposed to contain...tabular data.  That's their purpose in the world,
just like ours is to pay outrageous taxes and work our butts off for
low pay (isn't it?).  I've had very few issues arise since...less than
the layouts before, that's for sure.

The worst thing that ever happened to the web was the idea of using
tables for layout, although frames are a very close second.
Accessibility should be the primary concern of every developer for the
web.  The web was intended to make sharing information/data/etc. simple
and far-reaching.

Why a developer would make so much more work for him/her self is beyond
me when there's a valid, easy, better, standardized alternative.


~MD



On May 11, 2004, at 20:49, James Ellis wrote:

> 1. I have a multi-column layout... when I psuh the site to a layout
> for handheld I'll turn off the floats that handle the columns. The
> content will then cascade down the page. This will involve adding a
> new stylesheet and linking to it via a media attr, a user agent sniff
> or a hyperlink for the user.
>
> 2. I have a multi-column layout... when I push the site to a layout
> for handheld I'll have to change the markup so that the table rows
> have only one cell in them each. This will also affect the screen and
> print versions of the site (so I'll have to do mutiple markup for the
> same content).
>
> Which one is easier and better in the long run?
>
> faffing around with rowspans and colspans can be frustrating as well.
> The difference being that one method has a future, the other doesn't.
>
> Cheers
> James
>
>
> Neerav wrote:
>
>> hear hear .. multi-columnnar sites are much easier to do with a
>> single wrap around table and work cross-browser than using a CSS "for
>> the sake of it approach" creating multi column layouts and "faffing
>> about" s=as Mike says
>>
>> standards are all well and good, and where possible I have no problem
>> with adhering to the letter and spirit of webs standards, but
>> sometimes things like wrap around tables are indispensible.
>>
>>
> *
> The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
> See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
> for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
> *

*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
*


*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



RE: [WSG] Looks good in IE but a little off in Moz? Could I ask for some peeks and ideas?

2004-05-12 Thread Robert Reed
Hi brian,

Try:

http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"; xml:lang="en-us">

Regards,
Rob

Robert Reed
SiteStart
www.sitestart.co.uk

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Behalf Of theGrafixGuy
Sent: 12 May 2004 09:03
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [WSG] Looks good in IE but a little off in Moz? Could I ask for
some peeks and ideas?


Hey - building a site using XHTML 1.1 and CSS and while I have the look
right in IE, Moz is screwing a few things up. While "acceptable" in a visual
sense, I can see the difference and want to minimize this and "do it right"

Also, what in XHTML 1.1 can I use to replace the lang="en-US" attribute? I
keep seeing references to some XML:lang variation but am unable to find
anything further on how to implement this.

Thanks as always!


Brian Grimmer

theGrafixGuy


*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
*



*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



[WSG] Site Review and some guidance on inheritance please

2004-05-12 Thread CSS Web Design
Hi,

Having done a couple of WestCiv courses on XHTML and CSS I'm now starting to
develop my hobbyist site at http://www.gameplan.org.uk/ - it's just the main
page at the moment but I am interested in how it looks to you guys.  The css
is at http://www.gameplan.org.uk/styles/gplan.css

I have one thing I am struggling on - perhaps some of you know a good
resource that will help me understand this concept.  The text "Latest
Results" should be black but is white.  I think this is because the h2
setting is more specific than the class "content" and the id "results".  So
how do I specify that h2 within "results" should be a different colour than
a general h2?  I have tried various different formats gleaned from the web
but can't get any of them to work.  In addition I would really like to
understand what is going on rather than just cut and paste something I don't
understand.  Any links, pointers etc gratefully received.

Many thanks,

Alan Milnes

*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



[WSG] DOHeth! URL Helps doesn't it!

2004-05-12 Thread theGrafixGuy








Sorry bout that J

 

http://www.mosincorporated.com/site2/

 

Hey - building a site using
XHTML 1.1 and CSS and while I have the look right in IE, Moz is screwing a few
things up. While "acceptable" in a visual sense, I can see the
difference and want to minimize this and "do it right"

 

Also, what in XHTML 1.1 can
I use to replace the lang="en-US" attribute? I keep seeing references
to some XML:lang variation but am unable to find anything further on how to
implement this.

 

Thanks as always!

 

 

Brian Grimmer

 

theGrafixGuy








[WSG] Problems with styling links within list items

2004-05-12 Thread Peter A. Shevtsov
Hello!

My problem is the following:
Right border for some (exactly for "ÐÐÑÑÐÑ" and for "ÐÑÑÐÐÐ") of the 
navigation links at http://mera.com.ru/new/ disappears in 
Mozilla/Firefox, while in IE everything's good. CSS for the page is 
located at http://mera.com.ru/new/style/style.css

Thanks!
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
*


[WSG] Looks good in IE but a little off in Moz? Could I ask for some peeks and ideas?

2004-05-12 Thread theGrafixGuy
Hey - building a site using XHTML 1.1 and CSS and while I have the look
right in IE, Moz is screwing a few things up. While "acceptable" in a visual
sense, I can see the difference and want to minimize this and "do it right"

Also, what in XHTML 1.1 can I use to replace the lang="en-US" attribute? I
keep seeing references to some XML:lang variation but am unable to find
anything further on how to implement this.

Thanks as always!

 
Brian Grimmer
 
theGrafixGuy


*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



Re: [WSG] Launched my third xhtml site!!

2004-05-12 Thread Hugh Todd
Good on you, Mike.

You've confessed before that you're not a designer, so you've done 
reasonably well given that. (This is meant to sound encouraging!)

Just some quick comments:

* Instead of the grey bullets, which take up a lot of room on your 
navigation elements, how about either scrapping them altogether or 
perhaps making a fat left hand border instead? This would leave a 
little more room for your text to expand if a user wants to increase 
font size.

* You still have a bit of legacy code in the footer. You could get rid 
of that "align="center"" stuff with CSS. You could turn the "Home | 
News | etc" links into a list in the HTML just as you have at the top 
of the page and use a "border-left" with a little padding for the 
s. If you add a ul + li to your css for the footer you can turn the 
left border and padding off for the first li, even if IE users will 
still be stuck with them.

* Can you line up the top of the product pictures with the red product 
codes? This would look better than having them floating half way 
vertically.

* Don't forget that you can make text a different colour from black. 
You could go with a darkish grey or perhaps a dark, desaturated green 
to go with the dominant colour of the page. Don't worry about web-safe 
colours any more.

* Can you make the colour of the shopping cart icons match the green of 
the other elements? If you could extract those little shopping cart 
images from the current buttons and attach them to some real text links 
(with a border-left and a background-image) this would be better 
coding/accessibility practice and would look better, too. And perhaps 
place them at top right of the header with the same margin (top and 
right) as that of the table-leg "l" in the logo from the line above it.

* It's a bit confusing (to me) that the shopping cart icons appear on 
pages that don't seem to relate to ordering. Would it be best either to 
confine them to a set of logical pages or have them appear (visibility: 
visible;) only when an ordering process has been undertaken?

All the best -Hugh Todd

(Hope the WSG can cope with this mix of coding and design comments.)

I'm really thrilled to have launched my third xhtml site today.
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
* 



RE: [WSG] Launched my third xhtml site!!

2004-05-12 Thread Taco Fleur

For $199.90 you can..

-Original Message-
From: Cameron Adams [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, 12 May 2004 5:10 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: [WSG] Launched my third xhtml site!!


Can I order a strangulation by proxy? ;o]

--
Cameron Adams

W: www.themaninblue.com


--- Taco Fleur <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> If you come to the Web standards meeting tonight you
> will have a chance to strangle me, and so will a lot
> of other people...
>





__
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Movies - Buy advance tickets for 'Shrek 2'
http://movies.yahoo.com/showtimes/movie?mid=1808405861
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
*


Register now for the 3rd National Conference on Tourism Futures, being held in 
Townsville, North Queensland 4-6 August - www.tq.com.au/tfconf
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
*



RE: [WSG] Launched my third xhtml site!!

2004-05-12 Thread Cameron Adams
Can I order a strangulation by proxy? ;o]

--
Cameron Adams

W: www.themaninblue.com


--- Taco Fleur <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 
> If you come to the Web standards meeting tonight you
> will have a chance to strangle me, and so will a lot
> of other people...
> 





__
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Movies - Buy advance tickets for 'Shrek 2'
http://movies.yahoo.com/showtimes/movie?mid=1808405861 
*
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
*