aPaddedCell

3 Ways to Highlight Links to the Current Page with CSS

Megan McDermott — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 16:44:11 +0100

Good usability suggests that you should always indicate links to the page the user is currently on. In fact, in an ideal case you wouldn’t link to the current page at all. On the other hand, in order to build a site that’s consistent and easy to maintain, navigation menus need to be either included with a separate html file or generated with a scripting language.

How to Design Graphic Mock-ups

Megan McDermott — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 23:22:26 +0100

A typical stage in the web design process for most professionals is the creation of a graphic mock-up. A graphic mock-up or proof allows you to focus on the overall design rather than the logistics of creating the design using CSS. This article will outline the process of creating a graphic mock-up and include several examples for download.

An Introduction to the User Stats Module for Drupal

Liam McDermott — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 18:50:26 +0100

The User Stats module inserts information on a user into their posts on a site. It is aimed at forum administrators who need to see the post counts, date registered and IP addresses of their users. This article provides an introduction to the User Stats module and shows how it may be used in themes.

Making Web Pages Search Engine Friendly

Terry Llewellyn — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 18:49:49 +0100

They say that if you have the world’s best mousetrap the world will beat a path to your door. When it comes to the Internet this couldn't be further from the truth. For any product to succeed you have to let the world know you have it. One of the easist ways to do that is to have the search engines pull up your site on page one of the search results for your product or service.

Choosing the right doctype for your site

Megan McDermott — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 17:11:22 +0000

Which Doctype should I use? This is one of the first questions people ask when they start using web standards. There are four main doctypes in use today. This artcile will firstly define what a doctype is and how it works, and then go on to explain the four types and help you to decide which one to use.

Web Standards > Validation

Megan McDermott — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 15:16:31 +0000

Many programmers seem to think that complying with web standards means passing the validator. Validation is an important part of standards compliance but it is not the whole story.

Complete Guide to Pre-Installed Fonts in Linux, Mac, and Windows

Megan McDermott — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 16:48:26 +0000

Web designers often feel that they are restricted to a basic set of core web fonts. This small set of fonts has been widely distributed and most designers stick to them, just to be on the safe side. However, when you look at the fonts available on the three most widely used operating systems, you can see that this really isn't necessary.

What is a Div?

Liam McDermott — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 19:32:28 +0100

Web designers use it nearly every day, but not many actually know what the div tag means and where it should be used. This article aims to de-mystify the div tag, explain when and where it should be used and compare it with the similar span tag.

Goodbye vBulletin, Part 1: Reasons to Switch

Liam McDermott — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 23:59:02 +0100

The aim of this article is not to poke holes, or say ‘vBulletin sucks’, but to provide constructive criticism of a successful product, proving that vBulletin is not always the best choice.

Divitis: What it is and How to Avoid it

Megan McDermott — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 03:20:53 +0100

When they start designing with CSS instead of tables, many web designers fall into the same trap. Instead of putting tables around everything on a page, they use divs instead. The underlying design practices remain largely unchanged.

Easy PHP Debugging in Ubuntu (using Xdebug and Vim)

Liam McDermott — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 12:54:36 +0100

A debugger helps greatly when testing or bug fixing in PHP, when working with complicated code, or fixing difficult problems: a debugger is an invaluable tool. This article shows how to set up a PHP debugger in Ubuntu (tested on both Feisty 7.04 and the upcoming Gutsy 7.10) using Xdebug and Vim.

Pretty in Print: Making a Site Look Good When Printed

Liam McDermott — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 01:56:50 +0100

This will show a simple guide on how to create print stylesheets... Like the ALA article but much easier (concentrating more on the import statements in the )

5 Steps to a Search Engine Friendly Site

Megan McDermott — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 04:04:16 +0100

Creating a site that ranks well in search engines is a difficult task. This article breaks it down into 5 simple steps, and points out some key features that search engines are looking for. Follow these steps and you'll be ranking well in no time! (well, more like 3-4 months)

Creating a Custom Home Page in Drupal Using Views

Liam McDermott — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 18:35:05 +0100

One of the most popular questions people new to Drupal ask is: ‘How do I change the home page?’ By default the index page of a Drupal site has a bloggy feel, the latest items shown in date order, but it doesn't have to look like that! That is the aim of this article, to show two ways—because there is always more than one way to do something in Drupal—to customize a Drupal home page.

Enabling Clean URLs and the Path Module in Drupal

Liam McDermott — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 21:12:33 +0100

Clean URLs and the Path module are complementary features of Drupal. This mixed text and video article shows how to enable this functionality. Many aPaddedCell articles on Drupal expect that readers will have Clean URLs and the Path module enabled.

Moving the Login Block to a Seperate Page in Drupal

Liam McDermott — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 18:56:20 +0100

This text and video tutorial will show how the login block may be moved to a seperate page in Drupal. This can be desirable for site owners who only allow login access to administrators, not all visitors.

Using Web Standards to Reduce Cost

Liam McDermott — Sat, 12 May 2007 07:10:08 +0100

The advantages of Web standards have been listed in this series of articles. These advantages can also reduce the cost of a project, which is what this article aims to show.

Installing the Latest FFMPEG on Ubuntu Feisty Fawn 7.04

Liam McDermott — Fri, 11 May 2007 23:43:04 +0100

Ubuntu Feisty Fawn comes with an old (relatively: 2006/08/23) version of FFMPEG. The developers of FFMPEG believe everyone should be running the latest and greatest daily builds though and released versions are few and far between.

Using Web Standards for Quality Assurance

Liam McDermott — Fri, 04 May 2007 19:09:55 +0100

Quality assurance is exactly that. Ensuring a Web project is of a quality high enough to work on all modern browsers, now and in the future.

This article outlines how Web standards can be used to provide quality assurance and how this benefits a customer.

Creating a semantic FAQ page with definition lists and advanced CSS, Part 2

Megan McDermott — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 20:39:11 +0100

In Part 1 of this series, we created a semantic FAQ page using definition lists and made it look pretty with CSS. Now it's time to work on some more functionality.

Creating a semantic FAQ page with definition lists and advanced CSS, Part 1

Megan McDermott — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 17:34:12 +0100

Most websites have FAQ pages, but few put much effort into creating an attractive and usable interface. This article will explain one method of creating a nice FAQ page

What’s the Difference Between Usability and Accessibility?

Liam McDermott — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 04:18:43 +0100

‘Usability’ and ‘Accessibility’ are terms often misused and confused. This article aims to explain the differences between the two terms, their meanings and where they overlap.

Future Proofing Using Standards

Liam McDermott — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 16:37:34 +0100

When creating sites it is important to realise the code might not be changed for years. This article shows how Web standards can be used to ensure a Web site still looks good, and functions well, years after it's creation.

What is the Semantic Web

Liam McDermott — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 20:29:15 +0100

‘Semantic Web’ is a term often used by Web professionals, luckily it's not a buzz-word yet, but is a term everyone involved in the Web should know and understand. This article aims to explain the Semantic Web in plain English.

Ensuring People with Disabilities have Equal Access

Liam McDermott — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 19:23:01 +0100

Continuing the ‘Web Standards for Everyone’ series, this article discusses the use of Web standards to ensure the disabled have equal access to Web sites.

Making it Easy for Search Engines to ‘Read’ Your Site

Liam McDermott — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 21:56:46 +0000

This part of the ‘Web Standards for Everyone’ series discusses the advantages of Web standards in SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

What are the Differences Between the Internet and the World Wide Web?

Liam McDermott — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 20:34:02 +0000

Many people do not realize the Internet and World Wide Web (we'll call it the Web) are actually different things.

This article aims to explain the differences.

11 Practical Reasons to use CSS for Layout

Megan McDermott — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 00:10:27 +0000

In this article I'm not going to talk about semantics, ‘proper’ coding, or the W3C. You've probably heard all of that already (and if you haven't, you can check out Why Tables for Layout is Stupid: problems defined, solutions offered by Bill Merikallio and Adam Pratt). Instead of preaching about standards, I am going to present some real world, results–oriented reasons to use CSS instead of tables for web page layout. Let's get started right away.

7 Things all Webmasters Need to Know about SEO

Megan McDermott — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 00:10:26 +0000

Webmasters come to the forums with a lot of of misconceptions about SEO. They ask all kinds of questions about PageRank, or how to get the most out of their meta tags. It's time to set the record straight with five basic things all webmasters need to know about SEO.

Web Standards for Everyone

Liam McDermott — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 21:30:46 +0000

There are many tutorials explaining how to use Web Standards ^[1], what seems to be missing are reasons to use Web Standards. This series of articles aims to remedy that.