vanderwal.net

A few minor changes here at vanderwal.net. The comments link has been put on all dynamic pages of the Off the Top section. The only page that had the comment option was the main page (/random/index.php).

The CSS has also been modified to unbold and underline for the underblog links to categories, perma link, and the comments. I have found many users come straight into the categories with out a referring page (meaning they have it book marked). Google dumps users directly into categories, but that is understandable, based on their algorythyms. I had also been hearing from some users that they did not know they could click on the categories. Sorry about the confusion. You can go directly to view the categories used here.

Steven in an open letter to the Web development community asking why he should redesign with CSS. This letter covers a lot of ground and offers good insights into the arguments for and against the move to Web standards. [hat tip Xblog]

Scott offers a great rant on understanding the Web client. Scott is not a generalist, he understands the details of the interface. Did I mention he is providing specialist information in the Dynamic HTML Bible? Bow down and be a sponge when Scott speaks as you will learn a lot.

In a follow-up to the Wall Street Journal site redesign, Webreference explains how WJS achieves the faster page load (scroll down a bit).

Eric Costello finds in-browser content editing and text design tools. These make nice use of the browser's DOM (document object model) to give it functionality.

Looking to stay on top of Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) issues or looking for help? CSS-Discuss, a new mail list group, may be your best bet. Eric Meyer is one of the founders of the list, which adds about as much credibility to the list as the Pope founding a list on Catholicism.

Eric Costello is back writing on his site glish.com. Eric is always full of solid insight and links to great uses of CSS. Oh happy days.

A must read on understanding the state and future of the Web by Owen Briggs. Owen does a wonderful job outlining what most of us have been dealing with and working to explain to others.

One stylesheet have you down? Want to offer your users choices? Paul Sowden provides the insight in the A List Apart article Alternate Styles: working with alternate style sheets. This approach can be used for different browser types or for allowing your users to choose their own styles that suit them best.