SmackTheMouse.com: Table of Contents
Standards, BEST PRACTICE, accessibility, usability, XML
Reviews and Articles about Webdesign
2007
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Don't use copyright all over your website
Copyright statements can be necessary also in web pages but should be used sparsely. Boilerplate statements only add noise to most web pages and they discourage some websites from linking to our resources. [redirects to my new website www.xmlplease.com]
2006
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The benefits of footnotes in webpages
Good old footnotes are undervalued in webpages. Even serious commentary and longer articles and reports often use mediocre tooltips made with the title attribute as a poor substitute. Footnotes are much more usable and accessible. [redirects to my new website www.xmlplease.com]
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User friendly 404 error messages reconsidered
For years we have praised the wonders of user friendly 404 error messages tailored to the website. But most often such error messages are as bad as they can be even forgetting to use the 404 status code in the HTTP header. It is high time to reconsider if the job is better left to an improved default 404 provided by web servers where it naturally belongs. [redirects to my new website www.xmlplease.com]
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Page Zoom in IE7 Beta is a usability disaster
Nice that Internet Explorer is on the move again but the new PAGE ZOOM is just a deprecated magnifying glass: No line wrap, no fluid webdesign. As soon as you start zooming the dreaded horizontal scroll panel is right in your face. [redirects to my new website www.xmlplease.com]
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Use inverted colors to highlight the link having focus
It is often difficult to find the cursor when a web site is navigated using the keyboard. Where is the link having focus? With CSS the author of a web page can adjust how the the link having focus is visualized. Using inverted colors are the best way to highlight it. [redirects to my new website www.xmlplease.com]
2005
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XHTML, http accept-header and mime-type application/xhtml+xml
In 2005 it is high time to start serving XHTML as XML on a grand scale. Others have been doing it for years. I have been doing it since Christmas. Switching between XHTML as xml and text/html is easy using the HTTP accept header.
2004
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Don't CSS your XML
CSS should not be used to present homemade XML as web pages. You end up with nothing but style. Neither man nor machine can understand the structure of your document. CSS should only be used for widely supported XML applications like XHTML.
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The logo should not link to the homepage
It is a nice convention that a company logo also has a secondary role as a link back to the homepage. But a convention should be challenged if most users have not heard about it or don't use it, or if the concept is wrong.
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ABBR and ACRONYM are for user agents not for end users
The WCAG (1.0) guideline 4, checkpoint 4.2, about ABBR and ACRONYM, has for a long time been too unclear to implement. The drafts for XHTML 2.0 and WCAG 2.0 seem to have solved most problems.
2003
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Access key, HTML accesskey generated by JavaScript
One of the great advantages of using first letter of the link text as access key is that it can be generated by code. Conventional wisdom states that it should be done server-side. Bad that it is much easier with JavaScript.
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MAX-WIDTH and flexible layout with short lines
It is now possible to make flexible layout with user-friendly short lines that adapt to screen resolution, to width of browser window, and to font-size chosen by the user. This could be a new beginning for more accessible and usable web pages.
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Don't force new windows on users
A web site should never force new windows on users. If it is necessary as exception to the rule, target="_blank" is the method to use. JavaScript's window.open does not send information about the referrer in IE.
2002
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Use first letter as ACCESSKEY
The traditional way of implementing the HTML accesskey attribute using unique letters does not work. I propose always to use the first letter of the link name as access key. The first letter can be generated by code. We badly need are more accessible Internet.
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ENTER and event driven programming
The event driven programming model in ASP.NET made possible by HTML and WEB controls "runat server" is a great idea but not without problems. It is a usability disaster that the use of ENTER in forms no longer works as expected.
Copyright © 2000-2007 Jesper Tverskov. All rights reserved.