boogdesign links

Link: http://www.nickfitz.co.uk/2007/02/14/why-left-9999px-is-better-for-accessibility-than-display-none/

The most complete technical description I've read so far about why 'left: -9999px' is usually better for screen readers than 'display: none' in IE. It's always better to understand why you're doing what you're doing...

Link: http://willcode4beer.com/design.jsp?set=littleUsedHtml

Some nice examples of what can be done with those HTML elements you never use. The main thing I wasn't aware of was the cite attribute on the blockquote tag, I'll be updating some of my pages with that in the near future.

Link: http://webdd.backnetwork.com/feeds/

Some alternative opinions on WebDD, from people who went to at least some of the same talks I did, culled from the excellent Backnetwork site for the event:

• Shaun Hare
• David Cumps
• Andrew Westgarth
• Simon Harriyott
• Ross Dargan

Link: http://www.christianmontoya.com/2007/02/01/css-techniques-i-use-all-the-time/

I sometimes feel like I'm developing a deep understanding of CSS, and then I read an article like Christian's and realize how much there still is to learn. A collection of great tips.

Link: http://steve.ganz.name/blog/2007/01/linkedin-launches-hresume.html

While the user has the ability to turn off Public Profile publishing altogether, only a small percentage have chosen to do so and with just the information listed [in the Basic View profile], the minimum requirement for hResume is met. In essence, we just launched ~9 million hResumes.

Pretty cool! Get yourself the Operator extension and go have a look at my resume

Link: http://www.getfirebug.com/

Started up Firefox just now and the automatic updater told me that Firebug 1.0 is now available. Of course, I immediately upgraded. The visual look has definitely seen some work and there are a number of new features - see the screenshot to see a loading time breakdown of all the elements of this page.

This, coupled with the 1.1 release of the Web Developer Toolbar (my favourite new feature - it is now possible to validate local pages) and the release of Prototype 1.5 (now with documentation!) last week, makes it an exciting couple of weeks for web developers everywhere.

Link: http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2007/pulpit_20070119_001510.html

Blog posts are a bit like buses, wait for ages for one to turn up then two come along at once! Anyway, Robert X. Cringely has been one of my favourite columnists for a long time and this article is a very interesting analysis of what Google's long term plans might be.

Of course, in true internet tradition, when I say 'world' it means 'the US' If you want a bit of perspective after reading that then let Eric Sink explain to you why that isn't as important as you think it is.

Link: http://gtdwannabe.blogspot.com/2007/01/my-procrastination-hacks.html

I was surprised today to notice I'd not made a blog post for two weeks, so that's me blowing guideline seven (again). Perhaps if I stopped procrastinating and got stuff done? So here's some anti-procrastination tips from GTD Wannabe that have got to be worth a try:

• Turn off the TV
• Techno Kicks It
• Keep Track of Time
• Start Strong
• Plan Ahead
• Do It Tomorrow
• Your Computer is a Distraction
• Your Desk Can Be A Distraction
• Pretend You Don't Have Wireless

I'm not going to get very far with 'Your Computer is a Distraction', but I can definitely make inroads with 'Start Strong' - I've spent a significant number of mornings doing nothing but reading through articles on reddit...

Link: http://www.google.com/coop/cse/overview

I came across the Google Co-Op search today and decided to set up a 'search engine' of my own. It allows you to add a list of your favourite web sites (relating to a particular topic) and then either get search results exclusively from those sites or prioritize those sites over the 'standard' Google search results. I've got mine setup in the latter mode at present, because I know I've forgotten some sites. It also wraps up the whole thing into a nice ajaxy interface to embed on your own website - check out the boogdesign Web Technology Search.

Link: http://www.programmingbooks.org/

Shane Sherman has had an excellent idea:

...this led me to thinking about a way to allow everyone to pick their top 5 programming books they think every programmer should read, and aggregate the results and make some sort of master list of the best books. That's how this site came to be.

Get on over there and add your favourite books!

Link: http://simonwillison.net/2006/Dec/19/openid/

I signed up for a Ma.gnolia account the other day and, as part of the signup process, I was offered the opportunity to get an OpenID. I'm always a sucker for anything with open in the title so I clicked on the option and got an ID at myopenid.com. Although it looked interesting, a sort of open source equivalent of CardSpace (which I discussed briefly in a previous blog post), I had no clue how it was actually supposed to work until I read this excellent blog post by Simon Willison.