Archive for November, 2005

As Asa indicates, Firefox release candidate 2 is now available (at least through the auto-update feature in Firefox).

Many websites use an image as the background of a page element (take the header of this website, for example). And all too often, those websites do not provide a corresponding background color to go along with that image. Take, for example, the games section of Slashdot. The purple background for each headline is an image. In order for the headline text to be readable on this background, the text color is set to white. The following rules are used in the corresponding CSS file (the image URL has been chopped for formatting reasons):

.generaltitle h3
{
    margin: 0;
    padding: .3em .8em .2em .8em;
    color: #fff;
}

#slashboxes h4, .article h3, .generaltitle h3
{
    background: url(<path>) repeat-x;
    padding: .3em 0;
}

Note that no background color has been specified for the h3 element. What is the effect of this omission? If images are disabled, we end up with white text on a white background, rendering the page illegible! “But who would turn images off?” you ask. People on dial-up may turn them off (to speed up download times). Some low-vision users may also turn them off, to prevent distracting backgrounds (and presumably improve text contrast). And keep in mind that the image file may be corrupted, or the server that actually serves up the images (if they are located separately from the site content) may go down, causing images to be inaccessible. Regardless, a specified background color would fix this problem. The image would override the color (when images are available and enabled), but the color would get used when images are disabled.

If you ever develop a website, and you use images to specify a certain region, make sure that you also specify a corresponding background color. Web users the world over will thank you for it.

Nearly 40 days ago, my family and I moved to a new house. And sadly, there are still boxes nearly everywhere you look. But we’re definitely a long way from where we started. Most everything major has been repaired, and several exciting new features are coming this week: our backup generator and wood-pellet stove.

Just tonight, I actually got around to unpacking a couple of boxes in my room (something I’ve been horribly negligent about). I just counted, and was shocked to learn that I still have 13 boxes left to open! Fortunately, the majority of them are in my sister’s room (which isn’t being used). With any luck, I can make more progress on the unpacking front this week. Most of the remaining stuff will go through the following decision making process:

1. Is the item in question something I need to keep? Yes: keep it. No: proceed to 2.
2. Is the item valuable enough (and in good enough condition) to auction off on eBay? Yes: auction the item off. No: proceed to 3.
3. Can the item live somewhere else? Probably not, so proceed to 4.
4. Throw item away.

I recently downloaded the tech-demo level Lost Coast for Half-Life 2, and all I can say is … wow! This level is a fantastic piece of work. The game play isn’t anything new (you fight a few Combine soldiers, those ultra-freaky head-crabs, and a Combine gunship), but the technology behind the level is simply amazing. The high dynamic range (HDR) lighting is stunningly gorgeous; it makes the HDR technology in Serious Sam 2 look like something a child came up with. The effect is surprisingly effective, and it adds an incredible amount of realism to an already excellent game.

Half-Life 2 is one of only two games released in the past several years that really impressed me with its graphics capability (the other game being Far Cry). Half-Life 2 just feels real. And HDR only makes it more so. The wet sand on the beach in the Lost Coast level is truly dramatic, as is the lighting in the monastery. Also, the new character (the old fisherman) is so well done … you just have to see it to believe it! Be warned that you need some serious horse-power to play the level in all its glory: an ATI x800 or NVIDIA 6800 (or better), 1GB of RAM, and a 2.9 P4 or AMD 3000+. My processor (at 2.8 GHz) is a little under-powered, but got the job done beautifully thanks to my 6800 GT.

The in-game commentary system is also an excellent addition. It was cool to hear the thoughts of the developers, why they chose to do some things and not others, as well as what technical challenges they faced. Hopefully they will include this feature in future games. All I can say is that I simply cannot wait for the Aftermath expansion; I’ve got to have more HDR!

For those who don’t already know, the JavaScript console is one of the greatest tools built in to Firefox. It makes finding JavaScript errors a breeze, and can be a life-saver for extension developers. Unfortunately, the console has become rather bloated in Firefox 1.5. Not only do JavaScript errors appear, but now CSS errors (which are way more likely to appear on various websites) are also logged. This results in a terribly cluttered console, making it hard to find what you’re looking for.

Thankfully, I was recently pointed to the Console² extension (which only works in Firefox 1.5). This extension makes it possible to filter out CSS errors, in addition to a number of other great features. It smartly renames JavaScript Console to Error Console (CSS != JavaScript), and is an excellent light-weight solution to the bloat added in 1.5.

In looking at my site statistics this morning, I noticed that my previous post on Google and OpenOffice actually made it to NewsForge. That was surprising to me (albeit a pleasant one), but I certainly didn’t expect such a wide audience for my thoughts on the matter. Had I expected such a turnout, I would have put a little more thought into the post before actually publishing it. As such, I’d like to clarify a few of the points I made.

My ultimate point was that, in my opinion, the office application battleground is likely to see more cut-throat action in the short term than operating systems are. I certainly cannot support this claim with fact. But operating systems seem to me to be a much more difficult problem to solve, simply because they are bigger, more complex beasts. As a result, it seems like it would simply take longer to create an excellent OS than it would an excellent application.

I also believed I oversimplified my stance on the Linux community. The points made by Greg Raiz in his recent article on Linux are exactly how I feel. Linux is certainly poised to encroach on Microsoft’s territory. But desktop users need to have a reason to want to switch. As Mr. Raiz pointed out, a unified environment, where there’s One Way to do things, would appeal to many people (particularly “newbies”). Apple was heading down that very road before they made the switch to a UNIX base.

A unified environment, where the user interface paradigm is the exact same for every application would be awfully appealing. I would certainly consider switching to such a solution. I want Linux to succeed. The more developers can weaken Microsoft’s iron grip on the market, the better the universe will be for everyone. But there’s a long road to ride down before we reach that point. Let’s get to work!

Googlebar Lite 3.1 is now available, as is CoLT 0.9.2. Both versions add support for Firefox 1.5 RC1, so be sure to update!

There’s a story over at Slashdot that points to an article written by Greg Raiz, a former Microsoft employee and user-interface designer. In it, he discusses what’s wrong with Linux, and how Linux can catch up (and perhaps surpass) Windows. His points not only hit the nail on the head, they drive the nail into the board.

Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, a number of Linux fanatics are doing nothing but whine in the article’s comments. This only illustrates Greg’s point even further. Operating systems are no more than religion. You have your beliefs; I have mine. And just like with actual religion, it turns out to be rather difficult to convert people to your point of view.

The first release candidate for Firefox 1.5 has just been released. Exciting times! I’m thinking about trashing my default profile (gasp!) and starting fresh for 1.5. Recreating my profile will take some time, but I think it will be worthwhile in the long run.

In semi-related news, I hope to have Googlebar Lite 3.1 available very soon (I’m only waiting on one more translation), so 1.5 RC 1 users can continue using GBL. CoLT should be upgraded soon as well.