Using SVG in backgrounds with PNG fallback
My last post was about using SVG values for the background-image property, and I pointed out one big problem with the technique:
The drawback of this is that it’s not ready for use just yet — browsers that don’t support SVG in
background-imagewill not provide any fallback, even if you supply anotherbackground-imagevalue; so in non-supporting browsers, no image at all will be displayed.
This was annoying me a little, and I couldn’t find any workarounds that didn’t use JavaScript. However, after a bit of head-scratching I’ve come up with a way to get around it.
My Name In Print
I hope you’ll forgive a little self-promotion, as I’d just like to play a few quick notes on my own trumpet. The latest issue of Net magazine is now on sale, and features a tutorial article, Create A Dynamic Content Panel, written by me.
In the article I explain how to build a dynamic Contact area, as we did on our recent redesign of Preloaded.com, using the Web Storage API and the BBC’s Glow Javascript library.
I’m not sure what the rights situation is with this article, but I hope that at some point in the future I’ll be able to post it here on my blog. But in the meantime, you can buy a copy of Net magazine in the UK at all good newsagents, as the saying goes (I don’t know if it will be in overseas editions also).
On the subject of print, I’m also currently writing a book about CSS3 which should be published later this year. I’ll have more information on that nearer the time.
The State of the Web 2008
Web Directions have posted the results of their 2008 survey today; full results and selected highlights are available. The most shocking result to me is that 10% of respondents still use tables for layout.
Personal notices, open practices
Today is my penultimate day in my current job; next week I’m going on a trip to Spain, and when I get back I’m starting my new job at the award-winning Preloaded agency. My focus will be shifting away from client-side development and onto information architecture; it’s a fantastic challenge for me, and I’m very excited about working on top brands for a top agency.
I’ve been slowly introducing IA into my role over the past three years, and so this is a logical step for me to take. I’ll be sad to leave my current agency, but delighted to be moving to somewhere I’ll be able to focus on what I think are the next hot topics on the web: findability & usability.
Are URLs on their way out in the UK too?
Back in March of this year I read the article Japan: URL’s Are Totally Out, which showed the trend amongst advertisers in Japan to forsake URLs and instead show a search term (read the article; it explains better than I can).
So I was intrigued when I saw what I believe may be the first instance of this strategy being used here, for Orange’s new “I am” campaign:
Unveiling my new theme
Anyone not reading this in an RSS feed will notice that I’ve installed a new theme. I was never really happy with the previous one, as it was based on a design that had been rejected from another project and was called into action before it was ready.
I’ve given this one a version number of 0.5, as I still have a lot I want to do with it, notably: embedding more microformats in the code; adding more progressive enhancement to the CSS; making more use of WordPress’ tagging system; and testing more thoroughly in IE.
However, I’m pretty pleased with the more typographic direction in this design, and am excited to be using a theme I genuinely care about.
If any readers have any constructive criticism to give, please go ahead and do so in the comments. However, do please be gentle with me!
Aside
Usually when I attend @media (that is, on two previous occasions) I write a follow-up blog post on what I saw there. Well I attended this year, and I’ve written the post, but it’s on the blog of my employer, Preloaded: HTML5, Mobile, and UCD: what we saw at @media.
[#] 0 Comments