Here are two really helpful links that rock:
- Web Design + - a great list of common tip and tricks for Web Standards based development
- UserFly - a wondrous tool to record user usage of your site. WOW!
If you do web development check them out NOW!
I did some more work last night until 03:00 (3:00am) and a little this morning which should take care of a few of my remaining issues:
Hand-held Style Sheet
I finished the Hand-Held style sheet last night and have only tested it in Opera’s small screen mode. Looks OK. I am hoping that realted devices such as the iPhone, Blackberry, and others support this media type.
Dean Edward’s IE7
I have implemented this primarily as a way to get IE6 to work properly due to its lack of support for hover events on non-anchor elements. I need this so the Main Navigation area will work properly, since we hav a significant amount of users that use IE6 still. =(
It seems to correct the issues just fine, but I do notice a little bit’o latency involved. I guess I cannot complain too much. =) I also learned that when testing this on a test box where you have IE 7 installed as well as the previous versions of IE that the conditional comments will not register since it thinks you have IE 7 running even if you are looking at IE 7. =)
Google Based Site Search Engine
Now I have the scripting behind the Google based site search engine to fix. I also need to make sure the Google Analytics is working properly too.
I finished It’s All About You’s site for our Yoga Studio to-be. It took me one day to put the basic site together. A second day was used to tweak and play with the navigation. The third day was used to get some of the content out there.
There is still some work that needs to be done. It is definitely not perfect, but it is working and it doesn’t look too bad. If you note any issues with it, or if you have questions, comments or suggestions please let me know. This is my first real production site.
I should note, rather importantly, that the design is not of my own. Michael Lopresti of Lopresti Designs came up with the design and I coded it. He is working on porting it to the Wordpress or Drupal CMS
The W3C release the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0
Keyboard
I have not posted about this before, but quite a while ago I have been diagnosed with overuse syndrome which is a precursor to carpal tunnel syndrome. I had some annoying symptoms like a slight burning senesation in my wrist and near my elbow.
At that time part of how I combatted that was to mouse using my left hand and the use of a Microsoft split ergonomic keyboard, which I will say that I love and would never go back to a conventional keyboard… evah. This combo took me about a month to get used to and then it rocked. =)
So, now a few years have passed and now some symtoms are starting to manifest again and I am cranking my response up a notch. Work will be buying for me a split vertical keyboard (SVK) from Safe Type so that I can combat this problem. I am excited, yet afraid. This keyboard is so strange and it will really force me to touch type all-of-the-time. I can basically touch type, but I definitely do look at the keyboard on occasion. I know, I know. - “Cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater!”. This will be a good moment to improve my typing skills as well as save my hands from a horrible fate.
Mouse
I also ordering a new mouse from ‘The Human Solution’ which is also basically vertical as well. I had to choose between the Aerobic Quill Mouse and the Evoulent Vertical Mouse. In the end I chose the left-handed Quill Mouse for the lower hand support and hooking to make it easier to move without having to grasp the mouse.
Dvorak Layout
I have also started to work with the Dvorak keyboard layout as well. =)
Misc
I also found this interesting keyboard and mouse replacement: the Orbitouch Keyless Keyboard.
Now, I realize that, by virtue of being a web standards based developer, that I am a significant minority, but this is the first time that I have had this reality really had it crammed down my throat. =) =(
Well, at work I have been searching specifically for web standards developers for a major Drupal project. I have posted about the County’s needs on Drupal.org and on the Web Standards Group (of which I am a member), and none specifically showed their head. There were many who expressing interest in working with us, many of which were from India, which was interesting to see, but none of their business and sites said or specifically showed web standards, validation, accessibility, or usability as a priority. Most seem to be of the ‘get the contract, churn out a solution and move on to the next‘ mindset. This I found highly disconcerting.
I had quite a few firms interested in working with us and as soon as they expressed interest in our project the first thing I did is went to their business’ home page and validated it and looked at their source code, and every single time I cried and died a little bit inside. Even after that I took a look at some of their sample sites, and validated and analyzed their code… while my tears were still drying, only to cry again. On occasion I would find one site in their samples that would validate but the code was just OK.
When I responded to these firms who were interested I specifically asked for examples of their work that validate and showed a care for Semantics, Separation of Layers, Validation, as well as Accessibility and Usability. Each time the firm sent me a list of all of their sample sites, seeing that actually giving me what I wanted was not possible or they did not understand or care enough to take the time…. Annoying…. really annoying….
So, after seeing that this was the case it was a matter of finding the firm that showed the most potential (at a reasonable cost) to be able to give me the result that I want, and there were not a whole lot of options. In the end we signed up with a firm that looked like they could get the job done.
I do realize that Drupal does have strong level of decent code, but none go that extra mile that I am looking for…
I do realize now that this post is turning into a rant stemming from the fact that Web Standards Developers are a minority, so take this post for what it is worth. I feel better now.
Web Standards, Accessibility, and Usability Resources
I have just finished the PHP Intro course through Webucator and will be taking their Advanced PHP course in a little over a week. I am sooo glad that work is paying for this. =)
In general I like PHP and what it can do. My immediate feeling is that it is not a robust as something like Java is especially when it comes to error reporting and trapping. It seems powerful, flexible, and forgiving. A little too forgiving perhaps and the precompiler does not seem to generate enough compile time errors to know what may be causing a problem with the code which has resulted in some frustrations. More communication please.
I will need to spend some time getting used to it. I look forward to actually being able to getting the Sauk County site moved over to Drupal and then being able to work in PHP more.
Tomorrow, I will be taking and Introductory PHP Class for 4 days (Tue through Fri) via Webucator. It is in a webinar format with Voice over IP. This is my first webinar type of training so we shall see how this goes.
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CMS’ and PHP
So work will most likely have me working on the Drupal Content Management System (CMS) and my BLogs (Arion’s Home and Free Xenon) are on Wordpress, both of which are PHP and MySQL driven. I have training next week to learn PHP which is something that I have wanted to do for a very long time, but have not had a reason for work to pay for it. The time has come… Yea!
So, I will have fun learning PHP as well as 2 different CMS’ (Drupal and Wordpress). I am looking forward to it. If any of you have any good resources (books, websites, etc) for any of these please let me know.
I finally have us moved to Dreamhost, so please forgive the dust while I figure things out with the Wordpress CMS, an no this is not my design work. It is one of the default Wordpress templates. I know. I know. =( =P =)
Please forgive the dust while I am still figuring things out and rearranging things. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know.