If you’ve been following HTML5, you know that the canvas element is a big part of the new spec. If you’d like to play with canvas, Jacob Seidelin has put together a great cheat sheet with pretty much everything you need to know about the canvas API.
HTML5 Canvas Cheat Sheet
February 23rd, 2009Make HTML5 code work in most browsers
February 16th, 2009One thing I can’t wait for in HTML5 is the new structural tags, such as <header> and <nav>. What I didn’t know, is that with a little work you can actually use them right now. Because most browsers have support for unknown tags, you can just use them as normal. There are a couple issues, but they can be addressed with a few lines of code. The first is that all unknown elements are treated as inline, so you have to style them. The second is that unknown elements aren’t added the the DOM correctly in MSIE, but a quick document.createElement will fix that. Here’s a code snippet that shows you how to put it all together:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<title>HTML5</title>
<style type="text/css">
section, header, footer, nav, article {
display: block;
}
</style>
<!--[if IE]>
<script type="text/javascript">
function(){
var e = ["section","header","footer","nav","article"];
var i = e.length;
while (i--) { document.createElement(e[i]) };
}();
</script>
<![endif]-->
</head>
I’ve only enabled a few basic tags. For a minified javascript file that enables them all, check out Remy Sharp’s HTML5 enabling script. You’ll also have to style all the elements you plan on using.
I haven’t tested this technique a whole lot, and my guess is it could introduce other issues (for example, some browsers would handle it in “almost standards” mode), but it’s worth playing with.
When can I use…?
February 11th, 2009Lately I’ve been wondering what a “Web standards” group really means. It’s 2009, and most of us get the picture: use CSS and valid markup (unless you shouldn’t—but I won’t get into that right now). Though there are plenty of non-designers who are still putting together table-based junk, the Web design community has mostly moved on (or at least us in Philly have). Designing With Web Standards is an important part of our history, but we get it!
So lately I’ve been looking into upcoming standards like HTML5 and CSS3, micro formats, SVG, ECMAScript4, etc and thinking, “this is the stuff we should be talking about.” We need to look forward, to standards that can excite designers and developers, and we need to explore how those standards might affect us today. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to explore some of these topics soon. In the meantime, I came across a fantastic Web site that makes it easy to measure where we stand right now, and what we can look forward to in the near (and not so near) future.
Basically, you choose the features you’re interested in and can view when they will or won’t be supported by the major browsers out there. I see this as a fantastic resource for us “standards geeks” out there.
Social Media & Music : Lecture February 18th
January 20th, 2009Using Social Sites for SEO and Community Benefit
The field of social media has split and splintered off into wide range of niche communities and interests. A savvy marketer needs a presence everywhere that niche conversations are happening. This presentation will cover social media’s use in the marketing of music, with tactics that can be applied to any social niche. The audience will learn how to harmoniously steer multiple social profiles towards common marketing objectives including audience building, keyword coverage and reputation management. Emphasis will be placed on getting the most out of social site features for community and SEO benefit.
About the Speaker
Ron Sansone joined the SEO team at Razorfish following time spent at a boutique online marketing agency handling SEO strategy, copywriting, and marketing communications for such clients as Calvin Klein, Speedo, and Citizens Bank. As an SEO copywriter with Razorfish, Ron has engaged in the strategic development of content recommendations, link relationships, reputation management, and social media. He has written for Philadelphia Ad News and is a member of the International Association of Online Communicators.
Sansone has previously written “Link Development: A strategic approach to natural backlink expansion” for Razorfish, outlining a five-tier strategy for link building.
February 18th at Ly Michaels (101 N 11th St., Philadelphia, PA 19107)
6:30pm — drinks and food
7 — lecture
Leave a comment or give us a tweet if you will be showing up.
January Drink-Up
December 30th, 2008Mark your calendars for the January Drink-Up on Tuesday the 13th. At National Mechanics, 22 South 3rd Street (6pm to ?).
2008 was a good year for the PSO and we are hoping to improve in 2009.
In November, Kel Smith gave and awesome lecture about Web Accessibility. And in September Tim Shortt (from G2/Refinery) gave us a rundown on who passes the standards test in Philly.
Besides lectures, there is the social and networking aspect of PSO that is helping connect like minded developers as well as helping some of us get jobs/contracts. Just remember to bring your cards to meet ups.
In the coming week the PSO blog will be revived and we will be looking to the community to keep it vibrant and useful. Anyone who wants to get involved (speakers, ideas, ?) please contact us.
Other ways to stay updated:
