kaseytraeger

That's got to be one of the neatest experiences. I wasn't sure if your friend worked at a zoo or what. It was clear that you're getting "special treatment" by being allowed so close, so I guessed that your friend worked at a zoo and let you help him with taking care of some of the animals (or something along those lines). I hope you're having a good time out here in California! Enjoy your vacation

Thanks Lisa! I just finished reading the latest post on your blog. Those tigers are awesome! Where are they ... the SD zoo?

Hey everyone, I'm tweaking my MT Blog and I need the assistance of someone else who also uses MT for their blog. I'm playing around the with TrackBack feature and want to make some changes to how it displays on my site. My blog is still pretty new, so I don't have any trackbacks yet. What I need is for some brave soul to pick a post on my website and do a trackback to it from their blog. Any takers?

I don't have an answer to your first question, but for your second question, I have a suggestion. Try encoding your JavaScript menu specifically inside a <script></script> command. That way, if the user doesn't have JavaScript enabled, they won't see the rollover menu. Then, inside the <noscript></noscript> tag, you would code your text-only menu. So either way, one of the menus will be loaded. Or you can wrap your menu in a DIV container, and have your style sheet set the rollover menu to display: none and that of the text-only menu to display: visible until the browser knows whether JavaScript is enabled. If JavaScript is enabled, you set the display property to display: visible and also change the display property of the text-only menu to display: none.

I use a script called "Jack's FormMail". You can find it at www.dtheatre.com/scripts/. It's very easy to configure and implement.

Thanks, Thomas! I think this will be a lot of fun. Sorry it took me a while to get back to you. Work's been kicking my rear end lately. Putting in double-shifts and near double-shifts to make up for someone else's deficiencies is not my idea of a good time! Mad!!! Hopefully, things will start to quiet down a bit over the next few days. At least we've gotten past the hump (I think). I'm proud and happy to be wearing the deputy badge for the TCH Customers Web Ring!

Glad to hear that others are going to get use out of these. And yes, Mark Pilgrim's www.diveintoaccessibility.org is a very good resource. He even has a 30-day tutorial (one lesson per day) on transforming your site towards accessibility. I would definitely recommend that others check it out!

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your opinion of the matter), the XHTML Strict DTD has removed all references to "target" from any anchor tags. This means that all of the following would be invalid if you coded according to the Strict definition. <a href="..." target="_blank"> <a href="..." target="_parent"> <a href="..." target="_self"> <a href="..." target="_top"> <a href="..." target="name_of_your_window"> Basically, what I'm trying to say is that if it's really important to you to open the link in another window, you'll have to use Javascript to open a new window. You run a slight risk, however, that a user may have javascript disabled on their local machine and will never be able to see the contents of the link. I would do one of two things in this situation (assuming you want and/or need to use the XHTML Strict DTD). (1) If you need the links to open in a new window, notify the user that they need to make sure Javascript is enabled before clicking the link. (2) Adhere to the Strict DTD but notify the user that if they wish to return to your web site, they'll need to use their browser's "back" button.

Hi everyone, As a result of the fact that I work for an organization that's partially funded by the Federal Government, I'm becoming more and more familiar with web accessibility guidelines because web pages on government websites are supposed to be Section 508 approved. I thought I would share with others a few links that have made creating 508-compliant websites at my job a heck of a lot easier... GENERAL INFORMATION Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0: http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/WAI-WEBCONTENT-19990505/ Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (draft): http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/WD-WCAG20-20040311 Checklist of Checkpoints for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0: http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/full-checklist.html How People with Disabilities Use the Web: http://www.w3.org/WAI/EO/Drafts/PWD-Use-Web/Overview.html Section 508 Standards: http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12 SIMULATIONS Screen Readers: http://www.webaim.org/simulations/screenreader-sim.htm Low Vision: http://www.webaim.org/simulations/lowvision.php Distractibility: http://www.webaim.org/simulations/cognitive.php EDUCATION Beyond Accessibility -- Treating Users with Disabilities as People: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20011111.html Web Accessiblity Initiative Home Page: http://www.w3.org/WAI/ Alternative Web Browsing: http://www.w3.org/WAI/References/Browsing CHECKLISTS AND GUIDELINES Dartmouth College Practical Accessibility -- Core Concepts: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~webteach/articles/access.html Dartmouth College Accessibility Downloadables: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~webteach/resources/download.html JSTOR and Accessibility: http://www.jstor.org/about/accessibility.html Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Web Accessibility Guidelines: http://www.its.mnscu.edu/webmaster/access/guidelines/ TECHNIQUES Designing and Understanding Accessible Web Pages: http://www.ataccess.org/resources/webaccess.html HTML Techniques for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0: http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-HTML-TECHS/ CSS Techniques for Web Content Accessibility: http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-CSS-TECHS/ Techniques for Accessibility Evaluation and Repair Tools: http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/IG/ert/ WebABLE Solutions: http://www.webable.com/ Fast Track to Web Accessibility in Five Steps: http://www.webaim.org/techniques/articles/fasttrack Techniques and Concepts: http://www.webaim.org/techniques/ Using Opera to Check for Accessibility: http://www.webaim.org/techniques/articles/opera TOOLS WebAIM Tools: http://www.webaim.org/products/ LIFT for Dreamweaver: http://www.usablenet.com/products_services...dw/lift_dw.html Screenreader Download: http://www.rene4u.com/scr-e.htm MCAM/Media Access Generator: http://ncam.wbgh.org/webaccess/magpie/ The WAVE 3.0 Accessibility Checker: http://www.wave.webaim.org/index.jsp Bobby 5.0 Free Online Checker: http://bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.jsp SNOW Web Accessibility Authoring Tools: http://snow.utoronto.ca/access/tools/ ATA Book -- Using the Technology Toolbox: http://www.ataccess.org/resources/atabook/s02/s02-01.html

I see we're going with a theme here ... Chevy Chase in Caddyshack co-starred with Bill Murray, who then starred in Ghostbusters with Sigourney Weaver and said that very line to her!

How 'bout this one? "A flute without holes is not a flute. A donut without a hole is a danish."

Rock on, Bruce! Unless I've missed a post, I think you and I are the only ones who posted here that code using a plain text editor. Yay, we're a clique of two "die-hards!" I think we should call our group the Text Editor Die Hards ... TEDH for short. Actually that sounds a bit like a hospital, doesn't it? TEDH = The Evil District Hospital (or something like that!)

Unfortunately, yes, the computer I need to use the program on is a WinXP machine. I ended up installing KDiff3.

Thanks for the reminder, Bruce. Apparently, I didn't look closely enough at the download page and just clicked on the first link. If I had looked 0.5 cm below, I'd have seen the .exe download. I just installed KDiff3 and it seems to be working. Now I need to learn how to really work the tool!

Sorry 'bout the delay, Nat. I got terribly busy at work yesterday and was pulled off my computer for the rest of the day. By the time I got home, I had to fix dinner and was so pooped I fell asleep almost immediately. Anyway, let me see if I can address some of your questions: (1) Clearing cache: I wouldn't delete *everything* from your temp folder. I usually do delete most all .tmp files because apps I run on my computer will recreate the files as needed. For other files and folders, I really try to look at what's in each folder and the contents of each file before I decide to delete it. Once I've done this for a few days, I have an idea of which files are regenerated and which stay put. I run WinXP on both my work and home computers. It's been about 5 years since I've run Win98, but if memory serves, you're looking for the "Local Settings" file. It's probably somewhere under c:/WINDOWS32/, c:/WINDOWS32/system/ or somewhere in the near vicinity. On my Windows XP machine, my files are located in c:/Documents and Settings/kasey/Cookies/ c:/Documents and Settings/kasey/Local Settings/Temporary Internet Files/ c:/Documents and Settings/kasey/Local Settings/History/ c:/Documents and Settings/kasey/Local Settings/Temp/ (2) Concerning the differences between Top Style 3 and DW style sheets: I'm not familiar with the Top Style 3 program, so I can't tell you what's going on there. Can you tell me a bit about how you use the program? Also, have you checked both of the style sheets to make sure they are EXACTLY identical? Sometimes there can be a small error in the stylesheet that IE will process correctly but NS or Mozilla won't because IE doesn't adhere to the stricter standards that NS and Mozilla do. That could explain why the style sheet works in IE but not NS. (3) Re Resizing Text: I just tried it in firefox, and the big problem I see is the bottom of your "visual frame" (the pink one that contains your content) starts screwing up. It looks like I spoke too soon. I thought I would have time today to look at your source and give you some more insight, but one of my pesky co-workers (who always pulls me away to do some stupid task for him) is frantically waiting for me to finish this message so we can go track down some 30 year old cables. I wish I had more time. If I'm able to pull away at some time today, I'll try diving into your source and see if I can't fix your problem. "Slicing" your design using CSS divs (if that's what you were referring to when you said "slice") is, IMO, a much better approach than tables, but I really need to take a look at your source before seeing where the problem lies. Sorry to type and run...

I've tried downloading the two apps from Sourceforge (Meld and KDiff3), but I must be doing something wrong because when I try to decompress the tar ball, my decompressing app tells me that the files are empty, even though when I look in File Explorer, it shows that the tar balls actually have some mass (e.g., the Meld tar.gz file is 357K and the KDiff3 file is 1435K). I first uploaded these tar balls to my web space and tried using cPanel to extract. That didn't work. So I downloaded SimplyZip (http://www.sofotex.com/Simplyzip-download_L7200.html) to try to decompress the files on my local machine, but that program also couldn't open KDiff3 or Meld. Have you any ideas what I'm doing wrong?

Oops, I forgot to add about the stylesheet. If I've got a problem with stylesheets loading, I typically reference an absolute URL to help me debug. I would definitely try it if I were you. Sometimes when I do this I discover that I'm trying to reference the wrong directory. This allows me to catch my error.

As for the missing images ... every page I looked at in both IE6 and Firefox0.8 showed all the images. None were missing. I would tend to say that it sounds like you've got images suppressed, but since you are seeing the same problem in every browser, that's really quite odd. Perhaps you have some cPanel protection mechanisms on the images in your web space? Are all these images in the same folder? If so, there may be a folder setting. However, now that I think about it, that's probably not the problem either since I can see all the images just as clear as day. It definitely sounds like something in your computer. I wish I could say exactly what. Are you running a Windows machine? If so, you might try clearing your cache the way I do ... using File Explorer. I've noticed that I can clear cache using the Tools >> Internet Options in IE but still have files showing up in my Temporary Internet Files directory when I use File Explorer. Another thing to do is check your system for viruses. You may have one that's caused your computer to bork on images. Again, that comes with a caveat. If you're only having difficulting loading images on your web site, then you probably don't have a virus. As to scan lines not lining up ... did you modify your source code since the last time I posted? When I look at the current site in IE or Firefox and compare it to my screenshots, the scanlines look different. They line up just fine, but the lines themselves seem smaller, and they don't alternate in the IMA header like they used to.

I've never used FP to create a site or source code, so pardon my ignorance. You use a lot of includes ... are there includes that FP has that can't be duplicated in PHP? Here at work, I do have to use FP to include a date and time on my pages because we don't have PHP on our servers. So in order to get the date and time of the most recent file update to display on a page, I have to use a FP date include and reopen my source code in FP to get the date to update. I make all my changes in Crimson Editor or Textpad, but at the end of each session, I open each file and resave using FP just to get the date and time to update. Talk about stupid...

Wow, it looks like there are quite a few out there. I'll have to check out those that have been suggested. BTW, does "diff" stand for "difference/different"?

Nat, Here's something I see that may be causing problems in IE... ><table width="800" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" bordercolor="#cc9999" align="center" height="631"> <tr bgcolor="#663333" valign="bottom" align="center" background="../images/background/ima_top.jpg"> <td height="160" colspan="3"> I notice that you've got your header image (ima_top.jpg) set as the background for a table row. I've had several occasions in the past where styling the background for a row didn't work for me. You can try moving it down to the column and it should display properly in IE. ><table width="800" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" bordercolor="#cc9999" align="center" height="631"> <tr bgcolor="#663333" valign="bottom" align="center"> <td height="160" colspan="3" background="../images/background/ima_top.jpg"> I just tried it and got the results seen in the attached screenshot.

Here's how it looks to me in IE6...

Hi Nat, Good to hear from you again! OK, I'm looking at your site in Firefox (mozilla-based), and it looks good to me. I'm attaching a screenshot so you can see it as I see it. Is this not how it's showing up for you? Also, I looked at it in IE6, but the only difference I see is that IE is not displaying the header image. I'll attach a screenshot of that one under a separate post. Please let me know if my screenshots accurately reflect what you're seeing. If that's so, then I'm not sure what needs to be fixed with the FireFox rendition. It's clear that IE needs to grab the image, but that may be a minor issue.

I'm trying to find a text editor or another similar program that can take two .txt/.htm/.css/.php/.js/fill-in-the-extension ... files and compare them to determine if the two files have the exact same content. Does anyone know of a program or tool that does this? Thanks.

I use CTRL-T to add new tabs in Firefox. However, I also generally have more than one Firefox window open at a time because I try to keep like-minded topics in one window (e.g., web development stuff in one browser window, my various email accounts in another, etc.) I use ALT-tab to switch focus between the different browser windows. So I guess you could call me a CTRL-T / ALT-tab hybrid kind of person. When I used to use IE, I had several add-ons ... Google toolbar, Yahoo companion, mapquest address bar. Mostly I used Google to suppress pop-ups and Yahoo to access my mail. But now with Firefox, I don't need any of those. It's very nice having such a clean, efficient browser as Firefox. I won't be going back to IE except to test newly developed pages to see how they look in IE.