CSS reference guide

The folks at xhtml.com have put together a first-rate CSS reference guide with lots of useful examples and illustrations.

Stupid browser, V7

I’d like you to hover your mouse pointer over the mugshot on the left. What does the tooltip text say?

1. Ivan’s blog posts
2. You are using a stupid browser

If it’s the former, congratulations on using a smart browser. If it’s the latter, then I know you’re using Internet Explorer, even though you might be on the latest version.

From the HTML 4.01 Specification, Objects, Images, and Applets:

“The alt attribute specifies alternate text that is rendered when the image cannot be displayed (see below for information on how to specify alternate text ). User agents must render alternate text when they cannot support images, they cannot support a certain image type or when they are configured not to display images.”

So, is anyone else other than Microsoft confused by this? It seems pretty simple to me: Your browser will either show the image or the alt text, but never both.

Building accessible websites

For anyone who’s fair dinkum about web accessibility, make sure you read Joe Clark’s highly informative book Building Accessible Websites. Although Joe is kind enough to offer an electronic version on his website, the paper edition is still a very good buy for those who prefer the feel of paper.

Simple HTML chart

One of our readers recently observed that we don’t seem to be using any images to draw our barcharts and wondered how it was done.

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Easy printer friendly pages

You don’t need to muck around with JavaScript, page redirection or PDF integration just to make your XHTML web pages printer friendly.

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