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I write regularly
for Webmonkey, mainly tutorials about HTML, javascript, and DHTML, but recently
I've been venturing into punditry. Here is some of my work.(Some of it has even
been translated into Japanese and Chinese)
DHTML
tutorial
This was my big opus for Webmonkey, and my big braindump from all the projects
I have done for HotWired using DHTML. Unfortunately it's a tutorial that will
date itself rather quickly as the 4.0 browser disaster gets forgotten and all
the browser vendors start to follow a standard. Look for an updated version
soon.
(in Japanese)(in
Chinese)
Name
class and ID
This was one of the weirder articles that I have written. It takes the form
of a parable about my friend Shvatz and how people would refer to him in college
by many names -- and how that relates to the many ways to reference objects
using javascript, CSS and the Document Object Model.
(In Japanese)
How
I learned to stop worrying and love Microsoft
My most controversial article. I wrote a review of Internet Explorer 4.0 for
the PC where I lauded its CSS compliance, DHTML ability, and Document Object
Model. I was then flamed to a crisp by the readership on HotWired's threads
boards for daring to give a good review to a Microsoft product. Ahh politics.
Dreamweaver
Walkthrough
I was never actually planning to write this tutorial, but needed
to get it done to support another crash course. I think that this
marks a large turning point for me and how I felt about internet
tools, a move from the "Do it all yourself by hand" false
hubris, to a more enlightened attitude (I think) where one focuses
on how to get the job done in the best, quickest fashion. At any
rate I teach you how to use Dreamweaver.
(In Japanese)(in
Chinese)
Fireworks
Vrs Image Ready
And speaking about tools, this article was very interesting to write.
After years of tools that never really fit the net right, all of
a sudden two big companies released a graphic tool specifically
for doing internet graphics, and they were both really good. In
this review (or shoot-out as it's called in Webmonkey) I give my
take on which tool is right for you. I like this one because a Wired
designer Jonathan Louie wrote it with me so we have two different
perspectives on the tools.
(In Japanese)
The
Browser of the Future Needs Your Help
This was a pure advocacy piece. Soon after Netscape released the
source code to Communicator there was some question as to how the
project would proceed in terms of their HTML layout engine. Would
they stick with the supremely crappulent version they had used for
version 4.0, or would they junk it and go with an all new one built
from scratch to render to the standard. I published this call to
action to drum up support for the NGlayout portion of Mozilla. A
few months later, Netscape junked the old engine in favor of the
new. Not to say anything arrogant, but I think I helped in the process
and I walked around doing that fan's #1 dance that day.
JavaScript
Image Rollovers
One of the first articles that I wrote for Webmonkey about the now ubiquitous
image rollover.
Building
the Webmonkey Toolbar
For the redesign of Webmonkey a spiffy new DHTML navigational toolbar
was planned. As the programmer of the toolbar I wrote this article
to explain how it was done. If I were to rewrite the article today
I would have included a Dreamweaver object that would insert the
toolbar on the page for you. But this was a while ago.
(In Japanese)
No
More GIF Text!
This is one of my all time favorite articles. Mostly because it deals with one
of my arch nemesis(s), GIF TEXT, but also because that the dialog used within
the article was a lot of fun to write.
(In Japanese)
Image
Filtering with CSS
I think I'm probably the only person to have used the CSS filtering available
from Internet Explorer. The standards committee rejected them, no sites used
them, and they weren't even ported over to the Mac version of IE. But I don't
care I loved them. LiveWired used them heavily and they helped me cut down on
file size tremendously and keep things structural.
(In Chinese)
Sifting
Through Netscape 4.0's Layers
My first ever DHTML article. Unfortunately it's on Netscape's Layers implementation.
Which should never, ever, under no circumstances be used. Though I had fun doing
the demo
for this, I tried to envision the demo
it as my worst nightmare for what DHTML could bring, however it was shown around
as an example of what we'd like to do with DHTML. Ahhh well.
(In Japanese)
CGI
Scripts: Steal or Build?
The very first Webmonkey article I wrote. It covered whether one should borrow
an existing cgi script, or write your own.
(In Japanese)(in
Chinese)
Snooping
with JavaScript and CGI
This article concerned how to access the environmental variables
through both cgi and javascript. This was one of my earlier articles,
back in the days before crash courses.
Gather
'round for a Popup Toolbar Tell-All
I think that I deserve the title of toolbar king, a title that I
will gladly hand over to anyone who wants to take it. But during
my reign I built up quite a few for HotWired and others. This article
covers the basics of opening windows with javascript.
Building
with the Document Object Model
The DOM is the most important part of the interaction between javascript
and HTML, but it's not necessarily obvious when one is learning
javascript.
(In Chinese)
Flying
Bobbies: An IE 4 Demo
This was mainly an excuse to try to do an animation with DHTML.
I took one of Anna McMillan's illustrations from the Netizen and
animated it. It's an IE4 demo and makes extensive use of filters,
javscript and the DOM. The article steps through my process and
the problems I faced, but many just took away the idea that DHTML
was too hard to do animations with. Hmmmmmmmm.....
Introduction
to CSS Positioning
This was a fun article to write. Not only did I get to emit a blood
curdling scream that scared the entire office, but I got to rant
about table design and preach the truth about there being a better
way. I'm a big proponent for absolute positioning and use of CSS
for design. Let's hope that the 5.0 browsers come through and make
all this speculation a reality.
(In Chinese)
Captain
Cursor and his Cursor Styles
This is the article that started it all. Superficially I'm introducing
everyone to the concept of changing the cursor using CSS. But in
reality this was my first step towards experimentation with comic
imagery and defining a new visual and personal style for myself.
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