Robert Spangler

xHTML 1.0 Strict Doctype Template

Robert — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 14:29:14 +0000

This is just the xHTML document that I usually start off with, already included tags for title, description, keywords, favicon, and stylesheet.




	
	
	
	<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />

There were a few occasions where I gave up on using the UTF-8 charset because IE6 had a ‘white screen’ bug on certain pages using a post through PHP. If you’re having these problems use ISO-8859-1, ex:

WhatTheFont iPhone App

Robert — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 01:53:01 +0000

Ever been looking through a magazine and wondered what font you’re reading? MyFont’s just released a WhatTheFont iPhone app to answer that question!

I took a picture of my mouse pad at work which has one of our client’s logos printed on it. I’ve always wondered what that font was…

First Crop Your Font Selection

Crop Selection

Upload Your Image

Upload Image

Verify Font’s Characters

Check Chars

Pick the Correct Font!

Font Matches

The app isn’t quite perfect, you definitely have to make sure that you have a clear picture with decent lighting. But for headings, and larger font faces it’s great to be able to figure out the font.

Don’t have an iPhone? I don’t blame you, they’re expensive. Use this!

New Redesign and WordPress 2.7

Robert — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 04:36:26 +0000

The feeling of “I’M BORED” was definitely the impetus for the redesign. I wanted something that was a bit more personal and I always felt like my last design was a bit too “corporate.” I have a few pictures that I’ve taken sampled throughout some of the backgrounds, and just an overall warmer feel. Still a bit of a work in progress, let me know if you have any suggestions!

Along with the design changes I decided to ditch Textpattern and head back over to WordPress. The latest WP changes have been great and the platform has become so much more flexible since the pre-2.5 days. Hopefully Textpattern will begin some updates for us, but in the meantime I’m definitely happy sticking with WordPress for a while.

Taking a Little Break

Robert — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 11:42:57 +0000

Well friends, I’ll be away from the computer for about a week (jealous?). Me and the wife are heading out to Daytona Beach for Student Life & The Beach 2008 with the students at our church.

Bye!

Thinking About Using Video on Your eCommerce Website?

Robert — Tue, 06 May 2008 00:27:19 +0000

I just posted a blog over on Groove Commerce’s eCommerce Blog about using product videos on your eCommerce websites. Check it out, and let me know what you think, or if you have any questions.

eCommerce Gallery Has Launched!

Robert — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 22:09:28 +0000

I’m pleased to announce that eCommerce Gallery has finally launched. This has been a side-project I’ve been working on for quite some time.

I frequently check a lot of CSS/website galleries, but I’ve always struggled because most of them simply feature websites for edgy design firms. What about eCommerce and lead generation? Not all clients are going to want that hot glossy header with that 300k grunge background (though some do, and that’s fun too!).

Please check it out and let me know what you think. Feel free to submit your eCommerce sites!

I have some fun features in there such as ratings and comments, but mainly it’s about the sites and hopefully that comes across clearly.

Random Tidbits of News

Robert — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 21:48:10 +0000

1. WordPress 2.5 is out, and looks great. Admin was redesigned by Happy Cog (Jefferey Zeldman’s Crew)

2. Magento just launched it’s first production build (v1.0)

3. Nathan Smith released 960.gs a web design grid system for 960px wide designs.

4. This guy raps about SEO & Conversions (thanks Luke)

Is Gmail’s Spam Protection Too Good?

Robert — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 00:52:26 +0000

I’m a huge Google fan but I laughed a bit when I checked my spam folder today…

In case you didn’t notice, Google put it’s own “Google Alert” in the spam folder.

Safari for Windows Released

Robert — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 00:24:39 +0000

This is a little bit dated now, but just in case you haven’t heard. Safari 3.1 is out for Windows! This is great news for web developers using a PC, as you no longer have to boot up your Mac to check out your site (though, you probably should as i doubt that they’re completely identical).

Download Safari

Usability / Accessibility Issues With Dropdowns

Robert — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 00:27:12 +0000

There’s still some debate as to whether or not it’s OK to use dropdowns in usable, accessible web design. I’ll definitely say that there are some dropdowns that are really well put together and are both accessible and usable. For example the Suckerfish dropdown seems to do pretty well (while not perfect).

Today I was checking out Jiffy Lube’s site because I really…really need to get my oil changed. You can tell right away that the site is designed for an monitor with an 800×600 resolution. It’s about 760px wide. However when you click on their custom designed dropdown you’re missing out on a few options without any way of scrolling down. As soon as you move the mouse to the scroll bar, the dropdown goes away.

(one thing I do like is that the dropdown *is* keyboard accessible, so when you’re tabbing through the dropdown you can actually get to all of the options. Nice!)
JiffyLube.com

Now I’m a savvy web user with a hot mouse that has a scroll wheel, so I can get around it simply by staying on the dropdown and scrolling down with my wheel. That’s great for me, but it’s just not appropriate to think that most of your customers will be able to do that. Especially if a customer has problems with hand dexterity or any other disability leaving them unable to get to the rest of that dropdown.

How Do I Fix It?

Well, one thing is to always provide an alternate way of getting into any dropdown sub-item. ie, if you have a dropdown called “Products,” make the hyperlink for products actually go to a products page. Sounds simple enough.. However, that’s not always an option, in that case, take a look at Gmail. There’s a handy scrollbar in the dropdown itself to get into all of your labels (which works nice for people like me who have 20+ labels).

Something to think about!