Standards-Compliance Throwdown: MS-IE5/6 DNS/404 Error-Page Redesign
First of all, congratulations if you are geeky enough to understand the title of this article. Many would be like, "CSS, MS.. IE, error ..what..?" Whatever. If you get the title, you will get the point of this utterly pointless exercise. If that is the case, prepare for a delightful romp through geekland. Otherwise, save your precious time and stop reading here (exit strategy). Continue reading »
Compressed JavaScript Compression
In this article, we extrapolate our favorite CSS-compression technique for JavaScript. Below, we outline the steps required to auto-compress your JavaScript documents via gzip and PHP. Two different compression methods are presented. The first method does not require htaccess, but rather involves the manual editing of JavaScript files. The second method employs htaccess to do all the work for you, thus requiring much less effort to implement. In either case, the result is the same: automatically compressed content delivered only […] Continue reading »
Yes, I Took the Survey
ALA 2007 Survey Web designer? Go take the List Apart Web Design Survey! It’s an easy way to crowdsource insight into the rapidly growing field of web design. So take a moment to share some anonymous statistics, which will help the community understand more about our skills, education, employment, income, and more. So what are you still waiting for? Go take the survey! Continue reading »
Embed Flash or Die Trying
Embed Flash or Die Tryin’ Web designers and developers looking to embed Flash content into a web page currently enjoy a wide variety of methods from which to choose. The most common methods vary along several key dimensions, including standards-compliance, user-friendliness, and universal support. Some methods make it easy to provide alternative content, others enable auto-activation of Flash content, while others feature plugin-detection functionality. In an attempt to round-up the myriad techniques, this article presents nine of the most useful, […] Continue reading »
Smooth Operators: Sharpen your Google Search Skills
Coming soon to the World Wide Web: Everything. The perpetually evolving sum of human knowledge available online. Anywhere. Anytime. So, what are you looking for? Information concerning something, somewhere, about somebody.. You know it’s there somewhere. Sure, you could waste time by digging through that immense labyrinth of browser bookmarks, maybe eventually finding that one link that may or may not lead you to the page that you remember.. No thanks. The Web is far too rich in information to […] Continue reading »
Wild Bill Recommends: Bizarre Flash Diversions
“Perhaps it’s time for a bizarre diversion…” — Wild Bill recommends these bizarre Flash websites for your personal entertainment, education, and enjoyment. Please to enjoy them, and thank you for your generous attention. Continue reading »
Fast, Effective PHP Compression
PHP compression is an excellent method of conserving bandwidth and reducing client download times. We have already discussed an excellent method for CSS compression, and in this article we share a super-easy technique for compressing all PHP content without editing a single file. Continue reading »
Flash-Detection Triple-Threat
In our previous article, Alternate JavaScript Slideshow for SlideshowPro, we present an elaborate method for providing alternate content specifically for SlideshowPro. Although the method points toward a more generalized adaptation, its overall functional implementation remains focused on the presentation of slideshows. Continue reading »
Perishable Press Redirection Lounge
Welcome to the Perishable Press Redirection Lounge! We keep a very close eye on all 404 (resource not found) errors. Every time a legitimate 404 rears its ugly head, we take the necessary steps to resolve the issue. In most cases, we use .htaccess redirects to prevent 404 errors. Often, the missing resource remains available, but has been moved to another location. In this situation, we simply redirect visitors to the new location. And that’s easy enough.. Continue reading »
Alternate JavaScript Slideshow for SlideshowPro
For the unenlightened, SlideshowPro (SP) is a Flash-based slideshow-authoring system that delivers full-featured, high-end, Flash-based slideshows. Websites featuring SP slideshows present content in sophisticated fashion, inspiring users with elegant captions, beautiful transitions, and intuitive navigation. However, many visitors are unable to experience SP slideshows because they lack the requisite Flash support. SlideshowPro-based slideshows currently require Flash 7 or better to function. And, although Flash 7 is quite common, it is far from ubiquitous. In the “worst-case” scenario, Flash-challenged visitors will […] Continue reading »
Go Back via JavaScript and PHP
This quick tutorial explains how to use HTML, JavaScript, and/or PHP to enable visitors to “go back” to the previous page. You can use either method to add a simple “go back” link or form button to your web pages. Continue reading »
WordPress Basics: Uploading and Displaying Images
This article continues a series of tutorials covering the very basics of using WordPress. In this part 5 of the series, you will learn how to upload and display images (and other media) with your WordPress-powered site. Estimated time required: 15 minutes. Continue reading »
Search Engine Registration Notes
In his excellent book, Search Engine Optimization for Dummies, Peter Kent explains that many search engines actually get their search results from one (or more) of the larger search engines, such as Google or The Open Directory Project. Therefore, the author concludes that it may not be necessary to spend endless hours registering with thousands of the smaller search sites. Rather, the author provides a brief list of absolutely essential search sites with which it is highly recommended to register. […] Continue reading »
SEO 101: Establishing and Evolving an Effective Link Strategy
Optimizing your website for the search engines involves many important aspects including keyword development, search engine registration, and SEO logging. This Perishable Press tutorial scopes yet another critical weapon in the SEO wars: establishing and evolving an effective link campaign. We will begin our article by focusing on incoming and outgoing link strategies, proceed with a few tips for internal links, and then conclude with some ideas for getting links. Continue reading »
Random Fixinz for Hotmail via Outlook Express
Note: The methods described in this tutorial apply to older versions of Internet Explorer (version < 6) and Outlook Express (version < 6), and are provided here for reference and historical purposes only. Continue reading »
Dazzle, Marvel and Wonder
One of our favorite command-line screensavers, DAZZLE is a two-dimensional kaleidoscopic program featuring a timeless display of perpetually evolving psychedelic viewscapes. Users may interactively manipulate over thirty image-creation algorithms, or set the program to automatically generate hours of dynamically morphing displays of colorful patterns and geometrically complex graphics. Continue reading »
