So, here’s an article about using the lang attribute on the html element. It begins with a simple enough question, a rather short answer, then a curious mind (the author, Adrian Roselli) does some interesting research, and finally there is a pretty good list of benefits for using the attribute. After all of which, I ask: Why not use it? To me this falls into the same category as microformats and the abbr element: Is it really that hard to simply use it? As a publisher, don’t you want your content to be as findable as possible and to be consumed by as many people as possible? And as a human being, if adding one stupid attribute to one stupid element can help one more person understand something better, why not do it??
Quite a bit of buzz (and more than a few jabs, m`self included) was created recently when Microsoft announced their new web-browser, Project Spartan, that is to replace IE. Here is a description of the why and how, and what it all means to the future of the web; I highly recommend reading it, as I think it gives a really good snapshot of who Microsoft’s web browser team is, how they think, and where they are headed. For example, after the initial 45-minute forking of the code that allowed them to separate from IE‘s legacy:
… there was a liberating silence when we realized what this now enabled us to do: delete code, every developer’s favorite catharsis. In the coming months, swathes of IE legacy were deleted from the new engine. Gone were document modes. Removed was the subsystem responsible for emulating IE8 layout quirks. VBScript eliminated. Remnants like
attachEvent,X-UA-Compatible,currentStylewere all purged from the new engine.
This all sounds beautiful, and in the years to come, could be viewed as another huge turning point for our industry. It just could be that, in a handful of years, we can stop using the term “modern browsers”, and simply say… “browsers”…
While it will certainly not win any design awards, if you take a peak under the hood, this website just might win a few development awards…
Nice case study of Yelp adding animation to their mobile site, including initial attempts, tests, results, and improvements.
I’ve mentioned Ana Tudor (and her seriously impressive CodePens!) before, and here she impresses with a combination SVG, SCSS and a freaking buttload of math…
The SVG/CSS work on these image-less wrist watches is inspiring (be sure to play with the location icons in the top-right, too). They also made me hope that one of the first apps that people can download to their smartwatches is something that shows the current time like these… :-)
How do you take, annotate and share images or screenshots? snapshot.io makes it pretty easy, allowing you to upload or drag-and-drop an image (mobile let’s you Take a Photo or Choose from an Existing), annotate, upload to their server, and get a URL that you can then share. Pretty simple.
Ever use Array.prototype.map or Array.prototype.reduce? Even know what they are?? If not, get to know them!
I’ve written about my hosting woes before, and for the most part am happy with my last move, but have always been curious about using Google App Engine to host my WordPress sites; anyone ever try it? Anyone have any thoughts or recommendations?
Hmm, and when you decide it’s time for another move, seems like Deploy4Me could help make the move easier…
Or, if you don’t need something too fancy, webservr will let you deploy via Dropbox!
No question, JSON is a really cool way to ship data to clients. It is also one finicky little bugger, just begging for errors to break your stuff… That’s why Hjson has come to save you, allowing comments, optional key/value quotes, no escaping necessary, and even making commas optional…
An introduction to Accessible Rich Internet Applications. It’s long, and filled with wonderful examples that should make everyone want to implement ARIA in all their websites & applications. Will it make you do it?
Leave it to Chris Coyier to offer this improvement to a years-old solution: Simple CSS-Only Row and Column Highlighting.
And finally, our favorite overlords, Google, are proposing a new way of making information about everyday things available to anyone with a connected device. They’re calling it The Physical web. Discuss.
Happy reading,
Atg