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First Look at Adobe BrowserLab

Author

Ethan Poole

Date

Sun 26 Jul 2009 at 12:16

Type

Blog Entry

Last month, Adobe released BrowserLab, an online tool to help web developers easily preview their websites in multiple web browsers without needing to have each browser installed. You simply input your website's URL and it shows you how your website renders in Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari. Furthermore, it has an overlay feature that enables you to see two renderings on top of one another so that you can identify even the most minute differences. This feature is poorly named "Onion Skin View". browserlab_1.jpg|Screenshot of Adobe…
Are Resizable Layouts Dead?

Author

Ethan Poole

Date

Thu 13 Nov 2008 at 17:45

Type

Blog Entry

Comments

8 comments

I've noticed in the past few months that fewer and fewer websites have resizable layouts that can properly shrink for an 800x600 resolution. The few resizable layouts I've encountered will only shrink for an 1024x768 resolution, which I guess they assume is the most common monitor size now, and slightly expand for anything larger. It was only a few years ago that most websites catered to an 800x600 resolution! Now it seems the era of resizable layouts is dying out. Resizable layouts are ultimately better for the user because they don't re…
Opera Report: the Current State of the Net

Author

Matt Oakes

Date

Sun 19 Oct 2008 at 13:26

Type

Blog Entry

I sometimes feel like I write too much about Opera, but I couldn't really pass this article up! Opera have just released a large report that attempts to document the current state of the webpages that make up the World Wide Web. The report is called MAMA (Metadata Analysis and Mining Application) and it uses a large set of URLs (3,509,180 URLs in 3,011,668 domains) to generate statistics about the current state of webpages on the Internet. The report details many different aspects of the Internet, including what server software the website u…
Redesigning Lowter's Homepage

Author

Ethan Poole

Date

Thu 25 Sep 2008 at 10:41

Type

Blog Entry

As some of you have probably noticed, Lowter's homepage has been redesigned! The design was much needed and gave Lowter a nice facelift without redoing the entire design. An issue I personally have is not being able to do subtle design changes. Rather, every update to the design of Lowter is always radically different and retains very little from the previous design. However, Lowter's current layout works very well across browsers and in different screen resolutions, so there was no need for a major layout change. The goals for the new h…
Adobe Kuler Colour Scheme Generator

Author

Ethan Poole

Date

Mon 15 Sep 2008 at 21:24

Type

Blog Entry

Comments

1 comment

I am a programmer that, like many others, lacks basically any form of creativity. Sadly, I am not one of those talented people who can both design and program well. Hence, when I start working on a new website, I always play around with colour scheme generators to get the swatch of colours to use. I know generally what I want the base colour to be, but I just need a little assistance finding colours that work well with that particular base colour. Before, my favourite colour scheme generator used to be the one at Wellstyled.com, but recentl…
Web Browser Testing 101

Author

Ethan Poole

Date

Thu 4 Sep 2008 at 8:12

Type

Article

The web browser market has grown: Opera, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Seamonkey, Konquerer, K-Melon, Netscape... and the list goes on. So many browsers! How are you going to test in all of them? Wait, you don't even have IE6 on your computer anymore! You don't have a Mac, how do you test in Mac browsers? Don't worry! There is a sensible way to approach browser testing. Read on to find out!
Radical Redesign vs. Subtle Redesign

Author

Ethan Poole

Date

Thu 1 May 2008 at 22:02

Type

Blog Entry

Comments

1 comment

I have always been one for radical redesigns of websites, instead of doing subtle, face-lifting redesigns. At times, radically redesigning a website from the ground up has its benefits, but, in actuality, a face-lift redesign can often prove to be much more effective. Sure, styles in web design change over time, as technology improves and the Internet cranks onwards. However, in reality, the general convention of a website does not really change over time; there are tried-and-true techniques for much of web design. Logos work best in the up…
Importance of Cross-Browser Compatibility

Author

Ethan Poole

Date

Sun 9 Apr 2006 at 20:25

Type

Blog Entry

Comments

2 comments

Companies seem to not realize the importance of cross-browser compatibility. If a customer cannot use their preferred browser to use your online service, it is unlikely the customer will switch browsers just for your website. Some may, but you had better be a darn good website for that to happen. A few days ago, I went to Progressive Auto Insurance's website. For those who do not know, Progressive is one of the largest online auto insurance providers. They advertise their focus on their customers and how great their service is. Well, I …
Opera Passes Acid2

Author

Ethan Poole

Date

Wed 15 Mar 2006 at 20:27

Type

Blog Entry

Comments

2 comments

The latest weekly build of Opera 9 - build 8265 - passes the Acid2 web-standards test. This puts Opera as the second web browser to completely pass the Acid2 test, with Safari being the first. Other browsers, such as Konqueror and iCab, partially pass the Acid2 test, but not completely. You can download the latest weekly build at the Opera Lab's website.…
Top Ten Don'ts of Usable Web Design

Author

Ethan Poole

Date

Sun 29 Jan 2006 at 8:33

Type

Article

What makes a website unusable? Large media files? Complex navigation? Inconsistency? How about all this and more! Find out here as Ethan tells us the top ten don'ts of practical usability.
Checking the Browser

Author

Ethan Poole

Date

Fri 15 Jul 2005 at 20:22

Type

Blog Entry

Comments

3 comments

JavaScript can be useful in some hard spots, and a browser detecting script can be very convenient. Detecting the browser of the visitor can easily assist in cross browser web design. JavaScript allows you to access the user's browser via the navigator object: <script type="text/javascript"> var browser = navigator.appName; alert(browser); </script> You can also use another property of the navigator object known as userAgent to access a description of the browser version of the appName property. Here we can combine t…
Cross-Browser to the Extreme

Author

Ethan Poole

Date

Sun 19 Jun 2005 at 19:29

Type

Blog Entry

Comments

1 comment

As you browse around the web you come up on many interesting finds, which happens to me quite often. Last week I found Cross-Browser.com, a website full of cross-browser CSS and JavaScript examples. Every example that I've tried works in Opera, Firefox, and Safari. Generally it will probably work in Internet Explorer too. If you're looking for something interesting to spice up your website then you should look through the library on this website. I'll post more on some of the scripts on the website later this month.…
Know the Big Players

Author

Ethan Poole

Date

Sun 12 Jun 2005 at 7:44

Type

Article

To some, cross browser design may seem close to impossible, but you have to start somewhere. Here Ethan introduces you to the four main browser rendering engines - KHTML, Gecko, Trident/Talsman, and Presto.
Color Schemes

Author

Ethan Poole

Date

Wed 6 Apr 2005 at 19:52

Type

Blog Entry

Designing a web page can prove to be a challenge at first when you have to decide on the perfect color scheme. It can be the most challenging design practice as you have to find the perfect colors. You want colors that are easy going, have good readability, and look great! Color Generators True designers have created tools for those of us who are 'Color-Palette-Impaired'. Although there are quite a few effective color generators, I find wellstyled.com's to be the best. Their color scheme generator allows for a variety of useful opti…