Here’s another sweet little giveaway…I named him sprout! So, I know what you’re thinking right. Ohh my gourd, I just spent like 6 hours googling for a vector image of 3 seeds and a sprouted leaf. This is is sooooo perfect. Or maybe your site is low on it’s vegetation and it so desperately needs leaves jutting out to and fro from its crevices. Anyhoo, whatever your bag is, take these sukkas off my hands. Enjoy

You’ve can download either the Fireworks PNG for vector editing and gettin’ all wild and crazy or just download the regular PNG for use in any graphic editor for general merrymaking.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

First, an example

Let’s create a text input that we want to be remembered. I’ll give the the every-so-appropriate name of fav_starbucks_drink Here it is:

Fav Starbucks drink o’ choice:

For all you n00bs out there, the XHTML code is:

<input name="fav_starbucks_drink" type="text" />

Test this jQuery code out by entering in a value in the input and then refreshing the page.

jQuery Code:

Realize two things. You’ll need the jQuery cookie plugin as well as a link to jQuery itself. We are going to be using the cookie plugin to cookie or save the user’s data.

function remember( selector ){
$(selector).each(
function(){
//if this item has been cookied, restore it
var name = $(this).attr('name');
if( $.cookie( name ) ){
$(this).val( $.cookie(name) );
}
//assign a change function to the item to cookie it
$(this).change(
function(){
$.cookie(name, $(this).val(), { path: '/', expires: 365 });
}
);
}
);
}

Restoring saved field values

Aight. Let’s just dive into explaining this hunk of code. First, you will notice the function declaration:
function remember( selector ){

The function parameter selector is a jQuery selector, which happens to be either a CSS3 selector that targets the desired inputs or a collection of jQuery objects.

Next:

$(selector).each( function{...

$.each is a sweet function that executes the function passed in as it’s argument for every object within the jQuery collection as created by the selector parameter. If you are lost at this point, let it suffice to say that we are going to loop through all of the input items as identified by their selectors.

Now, lets digest a bigger chunk. This next segment of code will perform the function of restoring any saved values. Now, hopefully this script is being ran on page load, so this restore segment will restore the field values on page load. Here’s that jazzy code now:

var name = $(this).attr('name');
if( $.cookie( name ) ){
$(this).val( $.cookie(name) );
}

First, a variable name is created and set to the attribute of name on the input item. What does that mean you ask? Well, basically we don’t know the selector that targeted this input, but we want to store the name of the form item as we aren’t guaranteed we will have an id. Cool now the name attribute of the input is stored in the var of name, so fittingly named.

Next, the code is if( $.cookie( name ) ). What’s that mean? Think of it like this: “Is there a cookie with this name”? Okay, so if we have cookied the value for this input, it’ll be in that cookie. Radness. Okay, if there is a cookie, set this input item’s value attribute to that value. Simple eh? By using the $.val() function, I can set the value if I pass a parameter or I can get a value by leaving params emtpy. Eazy peezy - set the value to the cookie with that name:

$(this).val( $.cookie(name) );

Ok, now we have code for all input items of type text and textareas to be set. We won’t cover checkboxes, radio’s and select lists on this post.

Creating functions to save field values on change

This block of code is uber simple. Check it:

$(this).change(
function(){
$.cookie(name, $(this).val(), { path: '/', expires: 365 });
}
);

Guess what $(this).change() does? That’s right, it creates an onchange function handler for the targeted input item. So whatever function we pass the change function will be ran when input item’s value is changed. Word.

Wow, this one is easy. Guess what, when this input item gets changed, cookie it. That’s it. In plain english, we are naming the cookie the name of the input item, we are assigning it the value of the input, it’s path is the root of the site and it expires 1 year from now. Rocking.

Last, lets run the code. Do that by calling the function, passing it the selector to target the item. Something like this will suffice:

remember( '[name=fav_starbucks_drink]‘ );

Ooh, check that out, I used an attribute selector, which since jQuery supports up to CSS3 selectors, will actually work on IE6.

You could also run the code as soon as the document is ready by doing something like this:

$(document).ready(
function(){
remember( '[name=fav_starbucks_drink]‘ );
}
);

That’s it. This code could obviously be improved no doubt, including handlers for select, checkboxes, radios and more, but you get the gist. This script was uber easy to bust out. I heart jQuery. Do you?

The web needs you. It needs your thoughts, your feelings, your skills and your position on life and your personal creativity, not a clone. The web doesn’t need another designer site that looks like every other designer site. The web doesn’t need another site with CSS badges, valid xhtml badges, get firefox stamps, apple fanboyness and more if it’s not you. Yes, I believe in making sites accessible. I believe in being excellent in what you do, but you don’t have to conform.

I want to encourage you. For years people have told me that my style or what I do would not hack it in the “corporate” world and that is just not true. People admire originality. People respect when others just be themselves. I have noticed that the most important thing is that you represent your dreams and your ideals with the most excellence that you can muster.

What does this mean in the web design and blogging world? Don’t conform. Don’t be average. Be you and be you to your fullest. Pour as much excellence into your site design and articlees as you can. So its a rogue idea? Who cares! Throw yourself into your project or article with as much reckless abandon as you can fathom. So you have a cool idea. Shoot for it!

There’s one thing I’ve learned about the design industry. There is something about design and visual work that draws people to critique it. It’s almost like because most people have vision and can see, they are instantly a design critic. Instantly they talk about what they don’t like about your site, your work, your art. Does this happen for programmers? Not necessarily. Not all people can form an opinion on the effectiveness of code. Because of this reason, it is so important that you take critique with a grain of salt.

Don’t listen to negativity. Be humble and take honest real critiques, but be yourself. You have something to offer. You have something within you that the world hasn’t seen yet. You can bring something to the table that doesn’t conform with everything else out there. The web needs you to bring your skills to the table. The web needs your creativity. The web needs you and not a clone.

These are the feelings that I feel about myself regarding design style and representing my faith. There are so many times when I feel like I need to conform to the populous. In many of my decisions in design and blogging, I have been on the fence, but it is so important that I represent myself and what I bring to the table as well. I want the same from others. We need to represent our own voice and respect the voice of others.

I searched high and low for a font for Komodo Media. It is such a pain to find a font for your own site. I can’t tell you how many times I scrapped the font families for the whole site and started over. I can however, remember 2 fonts that I wrestled with. Initially, I started with Chalet London 60 from House Industries, which I absolutely love, but didn’t feel right for this site. I later battled with using the lovely Archer from Hoefler & Frere-Jones, which I still love to this day and want very very badly. Somehow, I was dissatisfied with both (perhaps because of the price at the time). I decided to move on.

I’d been waiting months watching Museo unveil on Jos Buivenga’s site as he skillfully worked his craft. The timing was perfect and he released his Museo just as I was finishing my site. I just wanted to throw a shout out to him for his fine work on Museo. I think it needs more praise and is extremely low-priced for such a great slab serif font. I encourage you to check out all of the weights and drool over this sweet font.

Cheers Jos! Nice work.

So, in the process of creating this site, I’ve made yet even more leaves and guess what? Yeah thats right, some are gonna be freebies. This time, its the almighty philodendron.

You’ve can download either the Fireworks PNG for vector editing and gettin’ all wild and crazy orjust download the regular PNG for use in any graphic editor and general merrymaking.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Please send your offer(per month) to my email at rogie@komodomedia.com and tell me what your Ad is all about. I’d like to research what it is you are advertising. I may think it is as great as you do! I’d love to genuinely represent your product or company. I’d like to present it in a blog article as well as on my site. Also, I may do a review of it and show some features.

I came back later to learn more about em sizing and elastic layouts and it hit me:

This site is gorgeous. I can learn a lot from this stud.

Jon Tan truly is a master of typography and shows exactly how a designer can pull off a beautiful site, with very few images and a few colors. I encourage you to take a gander at the site, look around and pay attention to the details.

From ampersands, headings, side notes, his site logo (text all styled with CSS!), to his about page, Jon Tan truly is a master of CSS, typography and immaculate web design. I dig it. Go Jon! You Rock!

I have some Fireworks vector mushrooms to give away for free today. Come one, come all and let the download fest begin! These mushrooms were intended for the version 4 release of this site, but I decided to bag them making an appearance at the last minute. They are inspired by the Mario Brothers series as you can well see and are completely healthy for consumption.

Feel free to use them as you wish, guilt free, just don’t pawn them off as your own work or charge for them. If you want a version for adobe illustrator, you’ll have to find a clean way to convert them and if you do, please tell me!

Enjoy.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

For years I used a PC to accomplish tons of tasks from CD and DVD burning to thesis writings to programming a 3D Landscape generator. Currently, I use Mac Pro by day for web design/development and a Macbook Pro by night for web design, illustration, coding and blogging. In my previous job, I used a PC for design and coding and I managed FreeBSD (which I loved) servers for our local College.

I’ve seen many aspects of the computing world and I hate the biased reviews from all ends. It seems to me that once someone becomes a fanatic, follower, or “brand loyal”, all balance of opinion is lost. They seem to defend their turf no matter what the cost. What I want are some realists, some people that are willing to voice a balanced opinion on a feature of any hardware setup or OS feature that are truly innovative, truly helpful, no matter what brand name is slapped on it’s case. I’m looking for a few good men and women to tell me what you love about a Mac, PC or both.

Please comment below and let me know what you love about your favorite computer and why. Possibly tell me what that feature, say 2-finger scroll, etc. is worth to you (how much money would you pay extra to have that feature). Also, let me know your favorites, say Dell XPS, MacBook Pro 17 inch, Windows XP on a MacBook, whatever. Be specific.

I’ll post more on what I learned in the designing process as well as releasing some freebies, so stay tuned. As for now, I’m a tired boy and I’m gonna take a rest. Please leave a comment and let me know what you think!