Comments for The Blog of Clint Andrew Hall http://www.clintandrewhall.com/blog Welcome to my corner of the web, where I post my ponderings, pictures and pontifications. Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:56:38 +0000 hourly 1 Comment on Contact Form Experiment by Patrick Denny http://www.clintandrewhall.com/blog/2009/10/contact-form-experiment/comment-page-1/#comment-6032 Patrick Denny Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:56:38 +0000 http://www.clintandrewhall.com/blog/?p=95#comment-6032 Hi there, I'm the original site owner. I appreciate the work you did on this, and will probably recode my form to include a variation of your solution on my site (I'll leave credit and a pointer back to this post in the HTML source when I'm done). However, I feel I must explain my initial design decisions, at least partially. First off, yes. I did justify my decision to hide the labels behind a "know your target audience" excuse, but - as your facebook friend mentioned - I knew my site visitors would be individuals looking for a web developer/designer, and expect to see graphic heavy content (it is a portfolio site). It was a decision I made only due to the fact that many other fairly prominent designers and developers had decided to use similar graphical text replacement techniques despite this short coming. That said, I used the screen media type so that mobile browsers (other than iPhone) got straight up html, with text labels intact, and the labels were hidden in a manner that made them accessible to screen readers. Also, while the page linked to by Smashing didn't have any other contact info, the form was originally for my contact page. That page does also list several other ways of contacting me - email, phone, snail mail, twitter - so that even if someone couldn't use the form for what ever reason, they would still have other options available to them. You see, accessibility isn't always about limiting yourself (or jumping through crazy hoops) so that everyone has the exact same access to an interface. Sometimes it's about offering a reasonable (if somewhat clunkier) alternative when non-accessible techniques are utilized. However, I admit that the image is large and slow to load. I'm still trying to find a way of compressing it that keeps its fidelity and alpha channel intact. I also think that I could have added title attributes to the form elements to allow someone a method of deducing the use of each field without the graphic available. Again, Thanks. I like the solution you came up with. Hi there,
I’m the original site owner. I appreciate the work you did on this, and will probably recode my form to include a variation of your solution on my site (I’ll leave credit and a pointer back to this post in the HTML source when I’m done).

However, I feel I must explain my initial design decisions, at least partially.

First off, yes. I did justify my decision to hide the labels behind a “know your target audience” excuse, but – as your facebook friend mentioned – I knew my site visitors would be individuals looking for a web developer/designer, and expect to see graphic heavy content (it is a portfolio site). It was a decision I made only due to the fact that many other fairly prominent designers and developers had decided to use similar graphical text replacement techniques despite this short coming.

That said, I used the screen media type so that mobile browsers (other than iPhone) got straight up html, with text labels intact, and the labels were hidden in a manner that made them accessible to screen readers. Also, while the page linked to by Smashing didn’t have any other contact info, the form was originally for my contact page. That page does also list several other ways of contacting me – email, phone, snail mail, twitter – so that even if someone couldn’t use the form for what ever reason, they would still have other options available to them. You see, accessibility isn’t always about limiting yourself (or jumping through crazy hoops) so that everyone has the exact same access to an interface. Sometimes it’s about offering a reasonable (if somewhat clunkier) alternative when non-accessible techniques are utilized.

However, I admit that the image is large and slow to load. I’m still trying to find a way of compressing it that keeps its fidelity and alpha channel intact. I also think that I could have added title attributes to the form elements to allow someone a method of deducing the use of each field without the graphic available.

Again,
Thanks. I like the solution you came up with.

]]> Comment on Contact Form Experiment by Mike http://www.clintandrewhall.com/blog/2009/10/contact-form-experiment/comment-page-1/#comment-6031 Mike Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:49:32 +0000 http://www.clintandrewhall.com/blog/?p=95#comment-6031 Well presented Clint. I strongly agree with the semantic and accessible approach. At first I did it because it was right; now I do it because it performs better, its easier to read, easier to maintain, and easier to style. Well presented Clint. I strongly agree with the semantic and accessible approach. At first I did it because it was right; now I do it because it performs better, its easier to read, easier to maintain, and easier to style.

]]> Comment on Run Safari 3 and Safari 4 beta on the same Mac by Clint http://www.clintandrewhall.com/blog/2009/03/run-safari-3-and-safari-4-beta-on-the-same-mac/comment-page-1/#comment-5240 Clint Tue, 14 Jul 2009 20:41:10 +0000 http://www.clintandrewhall.com/blog/?p=63#comment-5240 Phil, I don't think so... but YMMV. Phil,

I don’t think so… but YMMV.

]]> Comment on Run Safari 3 and Safari 4 beta on the same Mac by Phil http://www.clintandrewhall.com/blog/2009/03/run-safari-3-and-safari-4-beta-on-the-same-mac/comment-page-1/#comment-5228 Phil Sun, 12 Jul 2009 20:17:32 +0000 http://www.clintandrewhall.com/blog/?p=63#comment-5228 Will your standalone work on a G4 running Tiger or is it only for Intel and /or Leopard? Will your standalone work on a G4 running Tiger or is it only for Intel and /or Leopard?

]]> Comment on PSD2HTML: Terrible Pricing for Web Development by XHTML Candy http://www.clintandrewhall.com/blog/2008/01/a-terrible-pricing-model-for-web-development/comment-page-1/#comment-4277 XHTML Candy Sat, 25 Apr 2009 16:06:31 +0000 http://www.clintandrewhall.com/blog/2008/01/insane-stupid-pricing-model-for-web-development/#comment-4277 We here at xhtml candy totally agree to that. That is why we don't add additional price for anything that is must for a website to work properly. We provide everything within total cost. We never charge extra for cross browser compatibility, commented xhtml and css, load speed optimization etc. We here at xhtml candy totally agree to that. That is why we don’t add additional price for anything that is must for a website to work properly. We provide everything within total cost. We never charge extra for cross browser compatibility, commented xhtml and css, load speed optimization etc.

]]> Comment on An Open Letter to a Car Thief by matt sosa http://www.clintandrewhall.com/blog/2008/01/an-open-letter-to-a-car-thief/comment-page-1/#comment-3581 matt sosa Sun, 05 Apr 2009 05:35:26 +0000 http://www.clintandrewhall.com/blog/2008/01/an-open-letter-to-a-car-thief/#comment-3581 We got broken in back in October-- same story: can these assholes even use what they took? Like you said: wait till I'm home, knock on the door and save us both the hassle. We got broken in back in October– same story: can these assholes even use what they took? Like you said: wait till I’m home, knock on the door and save us both the hassle.

]]> Comment on Creating Elements in JavaScript, (any good?) by Jim http://www.clintandrewhall.com/blog/2009/03/creating-elements-in-javascript-any-good/comment-page-1/#comment-3502 Jim Thu, 26 Mar 2009 01:23:59 +0000 http://www.clintandrewhall.com/blog/?p=76#comment-3502 I like your post. However, I don't see why you wouldn't consider using a js framework...after all if you were you wouldn't need to worry about the best way to do this since it would take care of it for you. Cheers, jim I like your post. However, I don’t see why you wouldn’t consider using a js framework…after all if you were you wouldn’t need to worry about the best way to do this since it would take care of it for you.

Cheers,
jim

]]> Comment on Run Safari 3 and Safari 4 beta on the same Mac by Harry http://www.clintandrewhall.com/blog/2009/03/run-safari-3-and-safari-4-beta-on-the-same-mac/comment-page-1/#comment-3496 Harry Tue, 24 Mar 2009 22:42:46 +0000 http://www.clintandrewhall.com/blog/?p=63#comment-3496 The standalone version works. Thanks for doing that. To make it easier, it would be great if you named it Safari3.app instead of Safari.app. Saves a step. The standalone version works. Thanks for doing that. To make it easier, it would be great if you named it Safari3.app instead of Safari.app. Saves a step.

]]> Comment on Run Safari 3 and Safari 4 beta on the same Mac by Harry http://www.clintandrewhall.com/blog/2009/03/run-safari-3-and-safari-4-beta-on-the-same-mac/comment-page-1/#comment-3495 Harry Tue, 24 Mar 2009 22:18:09 +0000 http://www.clintandrewhall.com/blog/?p=63#comment-3495 Didn't work for me. 1. Have Safari 3 running on Leopard. 2. Start from your instructions. 3. Click Safari icon in dock to start. 4. Icon disappears; Safari doesn't start. I had to re-install Safari. Didn’t work for me.

1. Have Safari 3 running on Leopard.
2. Start from your instructions.
3. Click Safari icon in dock to start.
4. Icon disappears; Safari doesn’t start.

I had to re-install Safari.

]]> Comment on Run Safari 3 and Safari 4 beta on the same Mac by Clint http://www.clintandrewhall.com/blog/2009/03/run-safari-3-and-safari-4-beta-on-the-same-mac/comment-page-1/#comment-3494 Clint Tue, 24 Mar 2009 22:07:34 +0000 http://www.clintandrewhall.com/blog/?p=63#comment-3494 Not sure what step I missed writing down... see the updated post; I've posted an archive containing the Safari 3 app I created. Not sure what step I missed writing down… see the updated post; I’ve posted an archive containing the Safari 3 app I created.

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