Vendor Prefixes, WODs and the Uncaring Class

by Art Thompson, Jr.   |   May 2, 2012

First, let me state that I semi-agree with the sentiment that “vendor prefixes are hurting the web” though I’ve yet to form a more solid opinion—a situation that’s recently been made worse in the wake of news that Opera will introduce support for WebKit CSS prefixes. The argument for this support is that, allegedly, several “lazy” web developers are rampantly using only WebKit CSS prefixes (minus even unprefixed versions!), which renders some content ugly and/or unreadable on non-WebKit browsers, which could in turn make it seem like those browsers don’t work as well as WebKit browsers.

So, let me get this straight, the lazy practices of what are essentially sloppy coders are determining browser feature development? Bring on the zombie apocalypse.

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Remove CSS Comments – Automagically!

by Art Thompson, Jr.   |   March 5, 2012

Dreamweaver CSS comments

I’ve shared this info via email and Twitter, but have yet to blog about it, so here goes:

First, I LOVE using and finding comments in HTML and CSS markup. Since 1993, I’ve learned almost all that I know about web development by viewing source and then later inspecting elements of other peoples pages. While the detective work required by uncommented code proved a great teacher, those comments proved a great time-saver. Not to mention the fact that they’re critical in a multi-user work environment. Nevertheless, there can definitely be too much of a good thing.

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HTML Email Presentation Slides

by Art Thompson, Jr.   |   February 1, 2012

Below are my slides from the “HTML Email: Coding Like It’s 1999″ presentation I gave at Refresh Austin in February of 2011:

HTML Email: Coding Like It’s 1999

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5 Free Web-Based Design and Development Tools I Actually Use

by Art Thompson, Jr.   |   August 18, 2011

Web-Based Development ToolsWe web folks are using web-based design and development tools within our workflow more and more each day. Working in this often challenging and dynamic environment is frequently made easier by the kindness of strangers in the form of freely-available tools and resources. Well, as a small way of saying “thanks for making today easier,” I’d personally like to tout some extremely helpful web-based tools I use on a weekly, if not daily, basis. Below are my current top 5—in no particular order (since they’re all #1).

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Gotham-Light Ain’t a Web Font

by Art Thompson, Jr.   |   May 24, 2011

Here’s something peculiar I came across recently:

On the left is what I saw in Chrome and on the right is what I saw in Chrome after I’d deleted ‘Gotham-Light’ from the beginning of that page’s <body> font stack within the Chrome Web Inspector. Actually, there were a couple of linked CSS files on this page competing for control over which font the browser should use to display text. Here’s what I saw:

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More Notes on Coding HTML for Email

by Art Thompson, Jr.   |   April 14, 2011

[First, don't yell at me—I know HTML is a markup language. But, until a better term/phrase comes along than "marking-up" this is what you're getting. Anyway, on to the topic at hand...]

Since publishing my tome, HTML Email: Coding Like It’s 1999, and subsequently presenting the same topic at Refresh Austin I’ve been jotting down notes and tips about specific issues that I encounter daily while working on eblasts and newsletters. I thought I’d post them here in no particular order and keep doing so over time as a sort of repository. Since the best way to find anything on the web these days is search, I thought merely posting them was enough. Everyone knows how to ctrl-F or cmd-F, right? Well, if this list gets too long, perhaps then I’ll address its structure and order. In the meantime, here we go!

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SXSW 2011 Wrap-Up

by Art Thompson, Jr.   |   March 17, 2011

SXSW Interactive 2011 is finally over and I’m once again sifting through a stack of biz cards, stickers and miscellaneous scraps of paper with email addresses and twitter handles scribbled on them.  Once again I’m weighing the cost of entrance, the interruption of several days of work and the physical toll of all-day conferences followed by all-night schmoozing. My overall gut reaction is that SXSW 2011 felt like a much better organized experience than last year’s conference. Perhaps it’s because the organizers managed to keep related panels and speakers closer to one another to minimize the amount of walking one had to do. Perhaps it’s because I was more diligent in planning my days. Either way, this year was MUCH more “worth it” than last.

One caveat here is that I’m not going to mention the panels that I missed because there were easily twice the number of folks wishing to hear them than could fit into the tiny rooms in which they were held. SXSW conference organizers need to do a better job of anticipating what we attendees want to know. Too many interesting topics overflowed while other, less exciting ones looked silly in those cavernous halls only a quarter-full.

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HTML Email: Coding Like It’s 1999

by Art Thompson, Jr.   |   January 6, 2011

Okay, why HTML Email?

  • Doesn’t it seem you’re constantly having to design and/or code more and more eblasts and newsletters?
  • Didn’t you, at first, agree with the marketing folks that it’s a total no-brainer and that you could knock it out after lunch?
  • Didn’t you once hastily “yes” the salesperson who asked if they could just send out your coded eblast to their list through Outlook?
  • Didn’t that beautifully designed eblast consisting of a single, embedded JPEG yield the lowest clicks and the highest unsubscribe numbers to date?
  • Doesn’t it seem way more complicated than it need be?

Welcome to the wonderfully frustrating world of HTML Email. And welcome to 1999.

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Always Display the Current Year in your © Copyright Notice

by Art Thompson, Jr.   |   January 3, 2011

January 1st comes around every year at the same time, but it used to always catch me off guard with respect to updating my websites’ copyright notices. That is until I found this handy little code snippet. First, let me say that I am NOT the original author of this code snippet. I would love to know who wrote it so that I can finally thank them for relieving me of this yearly task. I’m sure I stumbled upon this in a sea of search results, likely several replies down into a JavaScript forum posting. Regardless, here is the simplest, JavaScript-based way I’ve found to always be displaying the current year in your websites’s copyright notice:

<p>&copy; Copyright 2000-
<script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">
    now = new Date
    theYear=now.getYear()
    if (theYear < 1900)
    theYear=theYear+1900
    document.write(theYear)
</script>
Logical Things, Inc. All rights reserved. Version 4.01g</p>

There might even be a leaner way to do it, but this has always worked perfectly well for me. Have an even easier way? Let me know!

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Embedding Video with HTML5 for iOS Compatibility

by Art Thompson, Jr.   |   November 28, 2010

Update March 27, 2012: I penned this article waaay back in 2010, before I’d discovered John Dyer’s excellent MediaElements.js script, which renders my blog post moot. Please consider this information ephemeral and possibly a PHP user-agent sniffer tutorial at best.

I never dreamed that I’d be writing an article with a title like this. Well, I recently worked on a project where I had to embed a locally-hosted video onto a web page that the client wanted to be able play on “any” PC as well as on an iPad or iPhone. Easy enough, right? My first thought was to Dive into HTML5, but, with limited current browser support, HTML5 alone wasn’t going to be an option for PC users. My favorite container for embedding video has always been the Flash-based Flowplayer, which does actually provide a fall-back option for users on iOS devices by allowing you to display a splash image that links to your MP4 (required format) video file.

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