Australian Made and Owned

Introducing the Lovely Caption Maker

Posted June 19, 2008

Lovely Caption Maker CSS Transparent OverlayA recent trend I’ve noticed on some Australian media websites has been evoking my interest for a few months now. Sites like The Age and Fox FM have started overlaying a lovely coloured banner with a caption over feature images. The great thing is, they’re not rendered but glorious SEO-friendly and accessible HTML and CSS. I’m not surprised, however, since The Age and Fox FM have always been trend early adopters. The ABC still beats them, though.

Unfortunately, this effect can’t be achieved without knowing and entering the width and height of an image - making it kind of tedious to implement. After deciding that I’d like to use it with wordpress posts, it was decided that a tool should be built. And then The Lovely Caption Maker was born. Here’s an example of Lovely Caption Maker’s glory: (more…)

Filed under: CSS, SEO, Web Design, tools — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — Tim @ 7:35 am

Clean URLs Using Apache’s mod_rewrite and PHP - Beginner’s Tutorial

Posted February 10, 2008

In technology, there’s always the goal of making complex and difficult things more simple - this goal has brought about ‘clean URLs’. Clean URLs are website addresses that are easy for people (and also search engines) to read and understand. For example: An interesting article about the Bermuda Triangle might be at www.articles.com/article.php?id=23452 - That address tells us (and search engines) nothing about the article. Using a clean URL, the same article might be at www.articles.com/articles/bermuda-triangle - much easier, right? Well, here is how you can implement this on your website… (more…)

Filed under: PHP, SEO, Web Design — Tags: , , , , , , — Tim @ 3:39 pm

Adding, Removing and Editing Elements Dynamically using JavaScript

Posted January 19, 2008

Using Javascript to Dynamically Add and Remove Elements While working myLookAgain (the second attempt), I’ve had to use a little bit more AJAX through JavaScript. One of the reasons was that I needed to allow users to add as many ‘pieces’ to each look and delete them if they want - preferably without reloading.

In JavaScript terms, I needed to be able to add (or create) and remove (or delete) elements, within another element, the form. After a little bit of research on the internet, I had what I needed to do just that. See a basic example of javascript dynamically adding and removing elements… Here’s how to do it:
(more…)

Filed under: Javascript, Web Design — Tags: , , , — Tim @ 1:54 pm

Does Your Site Need Fresh Content, Regularly?

Posted January 13, 2008

Fresh AppleAlthough always available, I want to publicise one of the features offered by logon2 that can make your website a living, rich, thriving community - rather than just another website. I’m talking about adding a blog to your website or even turning your website into a blog. If implemented properly, a blog is a communication platform between you and your audience. It improves your relationship with customers, returns feedback from customers, brings you new customers and it gives you total control of your website… (more…)

Zig Zag Hair Parting Pattern - WizzComb’s Website Re-launched

Posted January 6, 2008

Presentation of WizzComb Zig Zag Hair Pattern CombJust finished rennovating the WizzComb website which offers the ingenious zig zag hair part comb - have a look at WizzComb’s new portfolio page or directly at the zigzag hair comb’s website. If you can suggest any improvement or criticisms, leave them in the comments or email me.

I personally developed the original WizzComb website in 2004, being only the second website I had ever developed it was pretty abysmal when it came to standards, accessibility and even good markup form. The website became out of date so after some tinkering, the WizzComb website is now fresh, valid, accessible, SE-Friendly and better looking.

Filed under: Clients, SEO, Uncategorized, Web Design — Tim @ 6:40 am

Accessible, Valid Dropdown Menu or Popup Menu using CSS and Semantic HTML

Posted December 28, 2007

CSS and HTML Only Menu - Using Suckerfish SolutionWe’ve all seen dropdown / popup menu lists on websites before, and generally they’re extremely useful because they save space, but offer extra functionality. Sometimes, though they’re tricky to implement. I remember doing a image-only popout menu for the Lonsdale Views, who offer accommodation in Point Lonsdale and it was more difficult than expected - First, there was Internet Explorer’s lack of support for “:hover” and then there was Internet Explorer’s z-index issue. Now that I’ve got a blog, I thought I’d publish a how-to guide for valid, accessible semantic HTML and CSS dropdown menus… (more…)

Google Goes Geographic!

Posted November 18, 2007

In the last two or three weeks, something that had been long awaited had finally arrived. Google finally allowed webmasters to set the geographic region of the primary audience of a website. (more…)

Filed under: Internet News, SEO, Web Design — Tags: , , — Tim @ 12:31 am

Get a Free Website

Posted November 17, 2007

If you have the time and you’re willing to design your own website, you can get one for free! Here’s the info on what you get, and how to do it… (more…)

Filed under: Tips, Web Design — Tags: , , , — Tim @ 11:46 pm