Sunday November 02 2008
IE Tester
IE Tester is a great tool for the web developer.
IETester is a free WebBrowser that allows you to have the rendering and javascript engines of IE8 beta 2, IE7 IE 6 and IE5.5 on Vista and XP, as well as the installed IE in the same process.
New in v0.2.3 : IE8 beta 2 and Print feature !This is an alpha release, so feel free to post comments/bugs on the IETester forum or contact me directly.
Minimum requirement : Windows Vista or Windows XP with IE7 (Windows XP with IE6 has some minor problems and IE7/IE8 instances do not work under this config)
A couple of features that I would like to see added are the use of a developer toolbar. I checked the forums and it looks like the target is for this to happen in first quarter 2009.
The second feature I would like is tab context menu to open in new tab of whichever IE version you like and/or open in all versions (new tabs). As it stands, you have to manually open a new tab and type in (or paste) the url that you want to look at.
IE Tester is not perfect but as it’s still in alpha, that’s to be expected. I’ve never really liked browswershots or other cam based testing sites as you couldn’t check things real time as you make changes. Now I can do this. IE Tester has now been added to my standard tools along with firebug and the IE developer toolbar. Below is a quick look at what I saw earlier.
I loaded up this blog in IE tester in four different tabs - one each for IE 5.5, 6, 7, 8 beta 2. It was nice to see that my blog looks the same in IE 7 & 8b2.
IE 8 beta 2
IE 7
Things get interesting in IE 6 where the sidebar drops out of view and the design isn’t centered on the page. I wasn’t aware of this since I don’t have access to IE 6 anywhere. Also looking on the portfolio site, some things are a little wacked. I was already planning a redesign of that site and when I get to work on it, I’ll be sure to pay attention to IE 6 there. For this blog I’m not concerned.
IE 6
IE 5.5 does a much better job of rendering than IE6. Everything looks fine except the page isn’t centered, but that’s something I can live with. Just as with IE6 the png images have no transparency, but again for this site, I consider that a non-issue.
IE 5.5
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Sunday Nov 2, 2008 at 12:01 PM
(0)
| 
| tags:
internet explorer,
testing |
Sunday October 19 2008
jQuery Kungfu
Not really kung fu - but considering that I’m just getting into jQuery I’m pretty happy. I’ve set up a FAQ on my clients site where each answer will be displayed after clicking and click again to hide. I also set up a show/hide all switch which is working nicely. *pats self on back*
However there is one area that I’m stuck on. If some answers are open and some are closed, clicking show/hide all closes open answers and opens closed answers rather than moving all answers into a single state. ideas?
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Sunday Oct 19, 2008 at 06:34 PM
Clients | Javascript | (0)
| | tags:
jquery |
Thursday October 16 2008
Sick & Behind & outsourcing
I’ve been sick for the past 10 days or so and it looks like it’s finally starting to clear up. However this illness has led to me falling behind in all areas of my life. I’m currently in the middle of giving and grading mid-term exams at the university where I work on my day job. I’ve also barely been able to do any work on my current clients site. Fortunately, this client is also a close friend and he’s very understanding. Additionally he has a somewhat soft deadline.
Another thing I’m behind on is the reading I need to do. I’ve been asked to write a review on a book about Moodle 1.9 from packt publishing. Anyhow the plan is to finish the reading tomorrow and get started writing the review to be placed on my teaching blog as well as amazon & slashdot.
In the meantime, I’ve secured some other work styling an ExpressionEngine forum for another firm. I’m excited to be doing some outsourcing for another firm and hopefully it will lead to further work. Once I’ve finished the work, I’ll see about publishing their name here. First I want to be sure that I’ve done a good job and second I also want to be sure that the firm is okay with letting it be known that they have outsourced part of their contract.
This is my first time doing this so I’m not sure if I bid too low, just right or too high. Actually it wasn’t so much of a bid as I was asked via twitter if I would be available. I think I may have bid a little on the low side. I guess the only way to find out is to see how long it takes to get the project complete. It’s about to start any time now, I’m just waiting to get the source files.
Saturday October 11 2008
jquery show/hide
I’m trying to do something with jquery but it just isn’t working. I’ve got a list of entry titles that want to be hidden until the user clicks on the h2 tag above it.
Here is the code - I’ve also posted this on the EE forums.
<h2 class="toggle">All Teachers</h2>
<div class="view">
{exp:weblog:entries weblog="teachers" orderby="date" sort="desc" limit="100" status="open" dynamic="off" disable="member_data|pagination|trackbacks"}
{categories}<h3><a href="{permalink=">{title}</a></h3>{/categories}
{/exp:weblog:entries}
</div>
<scr*pt type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function(){
$('div.view').hide();
$('h2.toggle').click(function(){
$('div.view').show();
$(this).hide();
});
});
</scr*pt>
*edit* fixed a typo in the code, but it’s still not working.
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Saturday Oct 11, 2008 at 02:06 PM
Javascript | (2)
| | tags:
ee thread,
code,
jquery |
Saturday October 04 2008
Site Handed Off to Client
Yesterday I completed the publishing guide for my first client. it’s 10 pages long with screenshots and took much longer than I expected it would to write. The client now has access to their site to change and update content. It feels good to have successfully completed my first site and recieve the final payment.
The actual “design” of the site is a commercial theme that the client wanted. I took it and converted it to Expression Engine.
The site is a language school for children in Korea - ILE 외국어 학원. The client wanted a site to provide information for current and potential customers (parents) as well as showcase childrens progress. Student work is showcased via embedded video and mp3s.
A forum has been installed but not styled yet. That’s the second stage of development after the live launch of the site. Right now the forums are set up and can be used by students, parents, & staff. I’ll be working on fitting the forums to the rest of the site look shortly. This is not something I’m looking forward to as I remember styling forums for my teaching blog ages ago and it was a major pain in the butt.
I’m also very pleased to have recieved an email from my client suggesting that he would like to add further enhancements and features to his site in early 2009. Repeat work is always a good thing.
What’s Next
I’ve got to prepare mid-term exams for my students, but I’ve also got another client, also going to use ExpressionEngine. that I will be starting on while at the same time working on the forums for ILE.
Read the rest of this postSean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Saturday Oct 4, 2008 at 07:36 AM
Clients |
| tags:
clients,
development,
expressionengine |
