Shared posts

06 Nov 20:10

Local News Report On Ghosthunters Includes Ghost Who Allegeldy Wrote 'The Cake Is A Lie' On Chalkboard

the-cake-is-a-lie-ghost.jpg Because apparently nothing else happens in Tulsa, Oklahoma, this is an almost five minute local news report about Jim Pace and his merry band of ghosthunters who "use technology to see the other side." What kind of technology? Real advanced stuff: video cameras, microphones -- shit you've probably never even heard about before. The sad news reporter quote associated with sign:
Other paranormal signs, Jim says: a message on a chalkboard, which was once part of that basement jewelry business. Someone or something, he says, wrote this message. "The cake is a lie." Which historically, Jim Says, means the promised reward never happened. Meaning somebody down here, isn't very happy.
If I were a news reporter and found myself assigned to this story I would quit and vow to never report again. I mean, just watch it. I knew local news was bad, but this? They ought to be ashamed. And this is coming from the guy who writes Geekologie and can literally work his penis into any article. See? Take it from a pro. Hit the jump for the whole video (including spooky sound and video effects!), all of which is worth a watch, but skip to 2:35 if you just want to see the Portal reference.
06 Nov 15:51

User-Friendly Advice for Accessible Web Design

by George Williams

Logo for WebAIMHere at ProfHacker we’ve published a number of posts over the years about accessibility and digital environments. One of my favorite resources for learning more about how to make digital resources usable by the greatest number of people possible is WebAIM (@WebAIM), a non-profit organization based at the Center for Persons with Disabilities at Utah State University. I really like their “Introduction to Web Accessibility,” for example.

WebAIM, in my opinion, provides well-written and very user-friendly advice and instruction for those who want to learn more about accessibility. Below, I’ve selected a few of their resources that explain some of the most common issues concerning this topic.

Alternative Text: “Adding alternative text for images is the first principle of web accessibility. It is also one of the most difficult to properly implement. The key principle is that computers and screen reader software cannot analyze an image and determine what the image presents. As developers, text must be provided to the user which presents both the content and function of the images within your web content.”

Accessible Images: “Most people know that you need to provide alternative text for images. There is much more to the accessibility of an image than just its alt text. There are many additional accessibility principles and techniques regarding images.”

Captions, Transcripts, and Audio Descriptions: “Captions are text versions of the spoken word presented within multimedia. Transcripts allow anyone that cannot access content from web audio or video to read a text transcript instead. Audio descriptions provide additional information about what is visible on the screen, allowing video content to be accessible to those with visual disabilities.”

Creating Accessible Tables: “There are two basic uses for tables on the web: data tables and layout tables. A table is a data table when row headers, column headers, or both are present. As for layout tables, it is sometimes suggested that layout tables are bad for accessibility. In reality, layout tables do not pose inherent accessibility issues. People with all kinds of disabilities can easily access layout tables, as long as the tables are designed with accessibility in mind.”

Creating Accessible Forms: “Forms are used for many types of interactions on the web. When we talk about the accessibility of forms, we are usually referring to their accessibility to people who use screen readers or keyboard-only navigation. It should be noted, however, that everyone benefits from a well-organized, highly usable form, especially those with cognitive disabilities.”

How about you? What are your go-to resources for advice about creating accessible digital resources? Please share in the comments.

31 Oct 20:17

5 Steps to a Killer Conference Proposal

by Liz Homan

gh - puzzleLiz Homan is a doctoral candidate in the Joint Program in English and Education at The University of Michigan. Her research focuses on secondary teachers’ digital practices and social networks. You can find her on Twitter at @lizhoman or on her blog, Gone Digital.

In my field, it’s conference proposal season. Time to think about what conferences you would like to attend this year, what work you would like to discuss with others in your field, and which aspects of your various projects are ready and ripe for feedback. Time to practice writing about your work really concisely.

Conferences are a fun way to further your own knowledge of your field, to network with prominent individuals in your field, and to inspire your research. Other GradHackers have discussed how to network at conferences and have even provided tips on writing solid conference proposals. This post extends these by adding a few more tips, tricks, and anecdotes to the mix in a five-step process that has worked well for me, and that I hope will work well for you!

1. Pick a conference

Obviously, right? Many of us have our “big conference” – the one most people in the field attend, the one with a conference program that rivals the size of your Webster’s dictionary. These are wonderful to go to, but they can also be expensive to attend and a little bit nerve-wracking, especially if you’re as socially shy as I am. So don’t forget the small regional conferences, the state-based divisions of larger research groups, and even conferences going on at your university, often hosted by your fellow graduate students. These are great ways to meet local collaborators, who might even help you out with #2 on my list. Check out WikiCFP or CFPList, as well as postings in your discipline and field, and try mixing it up a bit!

2. Find some friends

Many conferences, at least in the humanities and social sciences, allow you to propose symposia or full panels instead of individual presentations. My colleagues and I have always had the most luck proposing panels of presentations with a few friends. This works best if you have friends from other universities whose work is similar to yours, because it brings in perspectives from multiple institutions. Not only does this approach help you network with your future colleagues, it makes the job easier for the conference review committee because they don’t need to go looking for similar presentations to form a cohesive panel.

3. Know the theme, but don’t rely on it

Think about it: how many times have you attended a conference and opened up the program to find the same words in the titles of half the sessions? Don’t get me wrong – themes are important. However, a wise professor (who has sat on many conference committees) once told me that an over-reliance on the conference theme might cause a proposal to get lost in the mix. So while it is certainly important to keep the conference theme in mind, it is not necessary to speak directly to it throughout the proposal (or in the title) – propose your own work, with a nod to the conference theme in a sentence or two. Your passion for what you are doing will shine through, making your proposal stand out against others that sound somewhat alike.

4. Either define or omit the lingo

As graduate students—and I know I’m guilty of this—we sometimes worry that we won’t sound like we know what we’re talking about unless we use field-specific vocabulary. This isn’t a problem when done in moderation, but because we have so little space in conference proposals, it can often lead to paragraphs that are packed with verbiage and literature review and are, as a result, vague, confusing, and cryptic. My go-to rule, handed down from a senior graduate student when I was in my first year, is simply this: if you don’t have the space to define the term, then don’t use it. This rule works. It gives you the space to use the terms that really matter to your argument and presentation and forces you to be more clear and direct in the rest of the proposal.

5. Explicitly state an audience takeaway

Conference organizers like to know that conference participants are going to get something out of attending each and every session on their program. Sometimes this is a tangible resource—access to a website or wiki you’ve developed or resources they can use in their classrooms, for example. Sometimes it’s more conceptual or inspirational—ideas for new methodological approaches or a deeper understanding of a theoretical construct. Whatever it is you’re providing for your audience, make sure this is clearly stated in the proposal, along with what you will argue and accomplish during your session. This approach shows that you’re not only thinking about the value of your own work, but also about how your work will contribute to the work of others in your field.

Conference proposals can sometimes prove difficult to write, because they require you to condense a complex, long-term project into a few hundred words while still being thorough. Doing some of the heavy lifting for the conference organizers by stating your purpose and argument in plain language, clearly describing takeaways, and forming your own panels makes this process a little more straightforward, and in my experience, enjoyable.

What have you learned about writing successful conference proposals? Add to my ideas in the comments!

[Image by Flickr user Scott Maxwell and used under Creative Commons License.]

 

31 Oct 20:17

WordPress Accessibility Team

by George Williams

Here at ProfHacker, we’ve written a great deal about WordPress, and we’ve also tried to emphasize the importance of accessibility, the need to make digital (and other) environments as usable as possible to the widest range of people possible. In a combination of these two topics, a couple of weeks ago, I drew your attention to the handy-dandy WordPress Accessibility Plugin, an almost-all-in-one tool for making your WordPress installs more accessible. Just this week, I saw the following announcement (from @WPAccessibility on Twitter):

Welcome to the Make WordPress Accessible Team http://t.co/0wvFMvU5d7

— WPAccessibility Team (@WPAccessibility) October 23, 2013

If you are interested in learning more, the following links are a good place to start:

  • Get Involved with the Make WordPress Accessible Team: “This page explains a bit about what the team does, and how you can help by getting involved.”
  • Guidelines: Accessibility (Draft): “The Theme Accessibility Audit provides an optional theme review for themes submitted to the wordpress.org Theme Repository. Submitted themes (or theme updates) that contain the tag accessibility-ready will undergo an independent, accessibility review after they have been approved for inclusion in the Theme Repository.”
  • WordPress > Codex > Accessibility: Easy-to-understand, user-friendly explanations of the steps you can take to ensure the accessibility of your WordPress site.
  • Useful Tools: Links to plugins, development tools, and validators

Finally, there is a weekly IRC chat devoted to these issues:

Where: #wordpress-ui
When: Wednesdays, 19:00 UTC

These developments are great news that will, with any luck, help make more accessible the software that runs WordPress sites, and the themes that are used for their design. Accessibility should not be an afterthought: rather, the core, default code for content management systems like WordPress should be as accessible as possible right out of the box.

How about you? What steps do you take with your WordPress sites to make sure they are accessible? Alternately, what challenges have you encountered in doing so? Please share in the comments.

15 Jul 17:00

Motivation Follows Action

by Iris
Vforrestal

the practice of setting tiny mandatory goals works amazingly for me. she's right, if you force yourself to do that one little thing, you always end up doing more. something something inertia.

This has really been my first week of “summer.” School runs through mid-June here, and then there’s Reunion to keep us busy, and then sophomore portfolios to read and annual reports to write. Then I always need a week of down time before my brain can shift gears from Interruption Mode to Project Mode, so I spend that week sweeping up the crumbs from the school year, reading things, filing things, tossing things, and generally resetting my brain and my work space. Then comes the equally important week of vacation with my family during which my goal is to be as boring as possible.

Which brings us to this week. This week kicks off the summer projects. Some are really interesting and some are just necessary, but somehow I have to motivate myself to get through them all. So this year I’m trying a new approach: Motivation Follows Action. I say that all the time, and I find it’s true for me, so now I’m trying to put it into practice in a more systematized way.

Here’s the plan. I’ve posted my list of big summer projects on my wall in big letters. Each day, I have to touch at least two of them, no matter how minor the touch. There will be other things that crop up (there always are) so this leaves me plenty of wiggle room, but at least I’ll be making progress for sure.

So far, this is working well. So far I’ve pretty consistently thought, “I don’t really want to work on x but if all I do is figure out where the old file is on the server so that I can update it later, that’ll be a step,” and then find myself doing a morning’s worth of work on the project.

Motivation follows action so far. Fingers crossed that it continues!

15 Jul 15:11

On the language of comic strips

by Rob Beschizza
Since moving to Fast Company's, John Brownlee's been on a roll: everything he's written for them is ace. The latest is Quimps, Plewds and Grawlixes: The Secret Language of Comic Strips, a review of Mort Walker's obscure 1980s Lexicon on Comicana.
To Walker, understanding the design language of the comics was important. Cartooning is usually one of the first means of written expression a child learns, and for Walker, understanding the language of cartooning was the key to communicating with other people in an increasingly international world.
    


11 Jul 15:40

Categorization of user-reported broken links in SFX

by jrochkind

Kasper Løvschall from  Aalborg University in Denmark posted the following to the SFX user’s listserv. I thought it was interesting enough to deserve wider publication, so reproduce it with his kind permission here. The following text and the work it reports is not mine. 

Two months of broken links reports

by Kasper Løvschall with Lone Ramy Katberg
8 July 2013

Between April 22nd and July 5th we have been going through each and every broken link report reported from our SFX menu to Ex Libris (cc. to us) and have analyzed what was wrong – why did the user report the link as broken?

468 broken links were reported and it breaks down to the following scenarios:

kasper-sfx-broken-links

SFX Admin error (6%): The error was corrected by us within SFX admin interface (target/portfolio was enabled/disabled or threshold changed from global to local)

Publisher (16%): The error was reported directly to the publisher (aggregator was informed that the publishing pattern was wrong, that an article was missing, that our access to Taylor and Francis was lost, that we for a period of time had limited access to Lippincott, that we were out of slots for Safari Books, that Ebsco had problems with a new version of Acrobat Reader, etc. etc.)

Insufficient reference (13%): Most often from Google Scholar so SFX is unable to guide the user to the reference or there is information regarding supplement/addendum which SFX is unable to handle

Remote access (5%): It failed (either we forgot to enable proxy in the SFX admin or the resource was missing or insufficient in the proxy configuration)

Pivotal PC (14%): Reported to Pivotal (most often Primo Central records with wrong information unable to guide the user to the correct resource)

Pivotal KB (7%): Reported to Pivotal KB (wrong URL to journal, wrong global thresholds, or journal just isn’t free)

Unknown (39%): We were unable to identify the problem (including links not linking directly to the article page but requiring user to search for the article, pop-up blockers, single-sign-on trouble, users lost overview of the landing page, etc.)

So what can we learn from all that then?

Many errors relate to local (mis) configuration and can be corrected right away. It takes a hell of a lot of time to check up on these errors but it could be well worth the effort as errors do exist on our side. References from both Google Scholar and Primo Central can be problematic and they are not easy for us or others to fix. Only 7% of errors were related to the actual SFX knowledge base. Also 39% of the errors looks as false negatives – e.g. users do not read our notes when SFX are unable to link directly to the article (they expect direct linking). We might be able to provide a better user interface experience or prioritize the targets we present better. We could hide free targets when paid are available but we would seriously disservice users outside the paywalls. So for us this is really not the solution.

Also when we enabled the report broken link functionality in SFX we saw a decline in the number of error reports by mail directly to us. If we just let Ex Libris handle this functionality and don’t look into the issues ourselves we will miss a lot of user requests. The user probably expect that things get fixed when clicking on the link which probably isn’t going to happen (at least within the foreseeable future). This could lead to some negative user experience with our electronic resources as they in these cases do not get fulfilment for their information request and at the same time we are unable to contact and help them directly.

Well, these are our immediate thoughts as of now. We hope that some of them could be of use to you.


Filed under: General
10 Jul 20:06

The Ultimate, Mega, Essential Website Design Guide – 115 Tools and Resources

by Ellyssa Kroski

web_design

Whether you’re building your first website or re-designing an existing one for your organization, this all-in-one guide will get you started with tools and resources for creating today’s modern websites.

    Website Tools – Content Management Systems

    There are many tools available to today’s website designers ranging from simple html to robust content management systems. These CMS systems all have the ability to create, store, and display large quantities of information as well as syndicate content throughout the your website and beyond.

    Articles & Resources

  1. Top 12 Free Content Management Systems
  2. Top 10 Most Usable Content Management Systems
  3. Examples of Libraries Using Content Management Systems
  4.  

    Tools

  5. Drupal – This popular application is an open source content management platform powering millions of websites and applications. It’s built, used, and supported by an active and diverse community of people around the world.
  6. WordPress – This free open-source content management system and blogging platform has become one of the most used software products for designing websites with over 60 million installations.  Both the iLibrarian blog and my professional website are powered by WordPress.
  7. Joomla – This is also a free and very popular open source content management system with over 35 million dowloads to date.
  8. Expression Engine – This Content Delivery Platform,has been around for over a decade and this popular content management system powers sites such as Disney, Apple, and Adobe.  It’s built on an open source PHP framework.
  9.  

    Information Design & Navigation

    Web users spend an average of 8–10 seconds and three clicks on your Web site looking for what they need before they get frustrated and click away. Whether you are developing a new Web site or redesigning an existing one, it is imperative to determine an intuitive and usable navigational structure and taxonomy for your user community.  These articles and tools will help you do just that.

    Articles & Resources

  10. Guide to Website Navigation Design Patterns
  11. Do You Make These 7 Website Navigation Design Mistakes
  12. 50+ Gorgeous Navigation Menus
  13. 21 Examples of Excellent Navigation Menus in Web Design
  14.  

    Tools – Boilerplates

  15. HTML5 Boilerplate – A boilerplate template for HTML5 apps or sites.  Comes with optimized Google Analytics snippet; placeholder touch-device icons; and docs covering dozens of extra tips and tricks as well as jQuery and Modernizr libraries.
  16. 960 Grid – The 960 Grid System is an effort to streamline web development workflow by providing commonly used dimensions, based on a width of 960 pixels. There are two variants: 12 and 16 columns, which can be used separately or in tandem.
  17. Bootstrap – A sleek, intuitive, and powerful front-end framework for faster and easier web development. Includes responsive CSS as well.
  18. Less Framework 4 – A CSS grid system for designing adaptive web­sites. It contains 4 layouts and 3 sets of typography presets, all based on a single grid.
  19. Foundation – The most advanced responsive front-end framework in the world – and it’s free!
  20.  

    Graphic Design

    Graphic designers need to think about things like color theory and usage, optimal image placement, layout design and much more.  These articles and tools on graphic design theory will help you get a handle on how you can best design an aesthetically pleasing website.

    Articles & Resources

  21. 50 Totally Free Lessons in Graphic Design Theory
  22. Graphic Design Theory: 50 Resources and Articles
  23. 20 Vital Techniques & Best Practices For Effective Web Design
  24.  

    Tools

  25. Adobe Photoshop – One of the most popular graphics editing software programs on the market, Adobe Photoshop enables you to do just about anything with images and has a vast array of tools for creating graphics.
  26. Gimp – (GNU Image Manipulation Program) – This is a free open source alternative to Adobe Photoshop.  Similar to Photoshop, it has tools for image editing and creating original graphics.
  27. Adobe Kuler – upload, create, and edit color schemes
  28. Pixel Dropr – create sets of icons, illustrations, photos, buttons etc. that you can drag and drop into any photoshop image.
  29. PLTTS – easily create and find color palettes based on hex #’s
  30. Pictaculous – Upload an image and it will produce a color palette instantly.
  31. Dribble – Get graphic design inspiration and search by color.
  32.  

    CSS

    CSS or Cascading Style Sheets is a language that’s used to describe the presentation of a Web page.  It includes elements such as fonts, layout, and colors and allows designers to specify very granular rules about formatting and presentation for each.  Here are some resources to get you started creating your own CSS style sheets.

    Articles & Resources

  33. 30 CSS Best Practices for Beginners – Net Tuts
  34. CSS Tutorial – W3Schools.com
  35. A List Apart – Articles specifically on CSS.
  36. CSS-Tricks – Forums, articles, videos, and tutorials on CSS
  37.  

    Tools

  38. CSS Beautifier – Type or paste in unformatted CSS and have it beautified automatically so that it’s consistent and easy to read.
  39. Reset CSS
  40. CSS3 Click Chart – This is a fantastic reference tool for CSS3 attributes with code examples, descriptions, links, tutorials, polyfills, tools, and browser support info for all new CSS3 features.
  41. Patternizer – An easy to use online tool which enables you to generate CSS3 stripes in an online interface, allowing you to customize the space in between each stripe and then provides the code.
  42. Sprite Box – A WYSIWYG tool to help Web designers quickly and easily create CSS classes and ID’s from a single sprite image.
  43. Primer – Paste in your HTML and Primer will pull out all of your classes and id’s and placing them into a starter stylesheet
  44. Mincss – Clears the junk out of your CSS by comparing each and every selector in the CSS to find out which ones aren’t being used.
  45. CSSCSS – CSSCSS will parse any CSS files you give it and let you know which rulesets have duplicated declarations.
  46.  

    Social Media Integration

    Social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter are used by millions of people worldwide which is why it’s essential to strive to incorporate those sites’ functionality into your own.  Here are some articles and tools to help you best leverage the power of social media sites within your own website.

    Articles & Resources

  47. 3 Ways to Integrate Social Media into Your Website – Web Ascender
  48. How to easily integrate Social Media into your website – 1st Web Designer
  49. 9 Tips for Integrating Social Media on Your Website -  Social Media Examiner
  50.  

    Tools

  51. Add This – Easily create “Share This” and “Follow” buttons for over 300+ social media services (Facebook, Twitter and more)
  52. ShareThis -  Quickly create “Share” buttons for your website with this easy-to-use tool.
  53. Facebook Comments Box – The Comments box is a social plugin that enables people to comment on your site. Features include moderation tools and distribution.
  54. Facebook Like Button – The Like button is a simple plugin that lets people quickly share content on Facebook.
  55. Gigya Activity Feed – The Activity Feed plugin allows users to see the latest actions on a site, according to who performed the actions.
  56.  

    Coding Tools

    There are a lot of excellent tools and resources available to assist website designers in creating and editing their sites as well as adding new functionality.  Here are a few to get you going:

    Articles & Resources

  57. Best Free HTML Editors    Gizmo’s Freeware
  58. HTML TOOLBOX: 30+ HTML Tools and Tutorials – Mashable
  59. SuperheroJs – A collection of the best articles, videos and presentations on the topic of creating, testing and maintaining a large JavaScript code base.
  60.  

    Tools – jQuery & JavaScript

  61. JQuery Mention Input – This plugin will give your website the ability to mention out to friends by tagging them with @.
  62. Chardin.js – Add overlay instructions to your apps with this jQuery plugin.
  63. JSFiddle – This web-based editor allows you to create JavaScript, HTML, and CSS and see the results in real-time.
  64. FitText.js – A jQuery plugin for inflating web type and also making font-sizes flexible and responsive.
  65. JSLint – Created by Douglas Crockford, JSLint checks JavaScript code against best coding conventions for quality assurance.
  66.  

    Tools -HTML Editors

  67. Adobe Dreamweaver – This is my preferred HTML editor.  It has a streamlined user interface, connected tools, and new visual CSS editing tools that let you code efficiently and intuitively.
  68. Adobe Brackets – Brackets is an open-source editor for web design and development built on top of web technologies such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
  69. CodePen – An HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code editor right in your browser with instant previews of the code you see and write.
  70.  

    Tools -Misc

  71. Site Validator – This service lets you validate HTML5 and CSS3 on your whole site with a single click.
  72.  

    Responsive Website Design

    Responsive Web Design (RWD) is, in a nutshell, all about designing your website so that it can be optimally viewed on a wide range of devices such as tablets, smartphones, laptops, etc. The idea is to design and maintain one website that can be viewed on all.  Here are tools and resources to help you do just that:

    Articles & Resources

  73. 85 Top Responsive Web Design Tools
  74. 16 Top Tools for Responsive Web Design
  75. 50 Useful Responsive Web Design Tools For Designers
  76.  

    Tools

  77. Responsive Nav – A tiny JavaScript plugin which helps you to create a toggled navigation for small screens.
  78. Gridset – Enables Web designers to design and build responsive grid-based layouts and offers a selection of presets.
  79. Respond.js – A javascript snippet of code which allows media queries to be compatible with older versions of browsers that lack support for them.
  80. Responsive Tables – A simple JS/CSS combo that will let your tables adapt to small device screens “without everything going to hell”.
  81. Adaptive Images – Detect your visitor’s screen size then automatically creates, caches and delivers device-appropriate re-scaled versions of your HTML images.
  82.  

    UX/Usability

    Usability tests, card sorts, focus groups, and more are all used by website designers in an effort to create user-driven designs and deliver an engaging user experience to their visitors. Learn how to use these inexpensive techniques to understand how your users think about your Web site and its content.

    Articles & Resources

  83. Best books on usability and web interface design
  84. UX Magazine
  85. Usability 101: Introduction to Usability -Jakob Nielsen
  86. Smashing Magazine – UX Category
  87. Card Sorting from A–Z – iLibrarian Series
  88. 18 Usability Resources for Librarians – iLibrarian
  89.  

    Tools- Wireframing & Mockups

  90. Microsoft Visio Professional – This is my favorite wire-framing tool, Visio is a powerful diagramming platform with a rich set of built-in stencils that lets you create wireframes, maps, and many other types of charts and diagrams.
  91. Mockingbird – an online tool that makes it easy for you to create, link together, preview, and share mockups of your website or application.
  92. Mockup Builder – A prototyping application that helps you design software or websites by making it easy to create mockups of the finished project.
  93. Balsamiq Mockups – Online wireframing tool with 75 built-in user interface components and 187 icons.
  94. Moqups – a nifty HTML5 App used to create wireframes, mockups or UI concepts, and prototypes.
  95. Mockflow is a super-easy wireframing tool that enables you to design and collaborate on user interface concepts for your software and websites.
  96.  

    Tools – Usability Testing

  97. Websort – Card sorting application
  98. OptimalSort – Card sorting application
  99. Feedback Army – Set up usability tests in as little as 2 minutes for $20.
  100. UserTesting.com – Set up a usability test and submit it for review from a user base of over 1 million participants.
  101. Silverback 2.0 – Guerrilla usability testing software for designers and developers.
  102.  

    SEO

    SEO or search engine optimization is all about improving or “optimizing” your ranking in search engine results in an effort to increase traffic to your website.  Techniques for accomplishing this vary according to individual search engine.  Here are some helpful resources to improve your website’s rank.

    Articles & Resources

  103. What Is SEO / Search Engine Optimization? – SearchEngineLand
  104. Search Engine Optimization Guide – Google
  105. The Beginner’s Guide to SEO – Moz
  106. Advanced Guide to SEO – QuickSprout/ Neil Patel
  107. SEO Book’s Search Engine Optimization Tools Directory
  108.  

    Tools

  109. Google Rich Snippets – Customize and preview the way your website will display in Google search results.  Rich snippets offer  markup help to enhance your search results listings.
  110. GetListed – Claim your local U.S. business listings on Google+ Local, Bing Local, Yelp, and other prominent local search engines.
  111. Google Website Optimizer – Website testing and optimization tool that allows you to increase the value of your existing websites and traffic without spending a cent -  now a part of Google Analytics.
  112. Meta Tag Generator – Instantly create meta tags that can be pasted into your site by entering the page title and description with this quick tool.
  113. Spider Test Tool – This is a search engine indexing simulator tool that shows the source code of a page, all outbound links on the page, and common words and phrases found in the page copy.
  114. Google AdWords Keyword Tool – This is a great way to get keyword ideas and find the best text for your audience. Identify what words or phrases will drive the most traffic to your site.
  115.  

    Accessibility

    Designing an accessible website includes accomodating visually impaired visitors, visitors that utilize voice reading devices, and visitors that turn off images.  Here are some excellent resources to help you design an accessible website.

    Articles & Resources

  116. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0
  117. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Overview – Web Accessibility Initiative
  118. Section 508 Standards
  119. State Accessibility Laws, Policies, Standards and Other Resources (U.S.)
  120. Improve Your Website’s Accessibility With the W3C’s ‘Guide to Using ARIA’ – Webmonkey
  121.  

    Tools

  122. Browser Emulator – See what your site looks like on many ancient browsers.
  123. 38 Mobile Browser Emulators
  124. IE Tester – Browser Compatibility Check for Internet Explorer Versions from 5.5 to 10
  125. Colorblind Web Page Filter -  See what your website looks like for the colorblind.
  126. Wave Accessibility Evaluation Tool
  127. HiSoftware CynthiaSays™ Portal – A joint education and outreach project of HiSoftware, ICDRI, and the Internet Society Disability and Special Needs Chapter. Cynthia Says educates users in the concepts behind website accessibility.
  128. Accessibility Evaluation Toolbar 1.5.7.1 for Firefox- Supports web developers in testing web resources for accessibility features.
  129. Fangs Screen Reader Emulator 1.0.8 for Firefox – Fangs renders a text version of a web page similar to how a screen reader would read it. The ambition is to help developers understand how an assistive device would present a website and thereby increase chances of finding accessibility issues early.
  130.  

    Analytics

    Analytics tools are an invaluable way to show the ROI of marketing campaigns, popularity and usability of website content, value of blog posts, social media influence, and much more.

    Articles & Resources

  131. Web analytics -  Wikipedia
  132. Web Analytics Tools – SEOBook
  133. Web Analytics Category – Mashable
  134. 4 Analytics Tools Librarians Should Know About -  iLibrarian
  135. Google Analytics for Libraries by Joe Morgan – 50 page book on using GAnalytics in Libraries.
  136.  

    Tools

  137. Google Analytics – Free tool that lets you access robust reports indicating the total number of visitors to your website, their demographic, browser, and engagement information.
  138. SiteMeter – Similar to Google Analytics, this free tool provides a quick snapshot of traffic to your website.
  139. Open Web Analytics – An open source web analytics software that you can use to track and analyze how people use your websites and applications.

 

 

The post The Ultimate, Mega, Essential Website Design Guide – 115 Tools and Resources appeared first on OEDB.org.

10 Jul 20:03

20+ resources for learning web design & development

by admin

By Cameron Chapman, WebDesignerDepot

There are tons of blogs, tutorial sites, and other resources out there that can teach you about web design and development. But what if you want something a little bit more formal, without actually having to go back to school? That’s where resources like the ones below can come in handy. These sites offer courses modeled after those you’d find (or actually from) leading colleges and universities. They’re a great option if you’re not sure where to start, or if you want to bridge the gaps in your current training. They can also be excellent options if you’ve taken courses in the past, but want to make sure your knowledge and skill-set is completely up to date.

http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2013/07/20-resources-for-learning-web-design-development/

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10 Jul 19:37

CSS3 Regions – How it Works [Web Design]

by Thoriq Firdaus
Vforrestal

i would love, Love, LOVE to do a library website magazine-style.

One of the best advantage of print media, like a magazine or a newspaper, over the website is the full flexibility on arranging the pages and the paragraph layout. For example, print media has been able to gracefully flow the content in more than one columns, and even rather complex ones as shown in the following screenshot.


Image Credit: Atelier Martino & Jana

However, due to the way content on the Web is structured, trying to mimic a similar layout in Web content is very tricky.

In order to make the Web layout more flexible like in print media, a new CSS3 Module was introduced – CSS3 Regions. Rather than placing the content within multiple elements, this module allows the content to flow in the specified areas (regions) on the page.

Let’s see how this module works by example.

Enable Experimental Feature

This module is still in its experimental stages, and it is currently only supported in Google Chrome and Internet Explorer with prefix. If you are using Google Chrome you need to first enable the experimental feature. To do so, go to chrome://flags/ and set the Enable experimental WebKit features to Enabled.

Basic Usage Example

In this example, we will have two types of content: main content and complementary. We will place the main content in Region 1, 2 and 4, while the complementary will be displayed in Region 3, as illustrated in the following figure.

HTML

Let’s start off with the HTML markup.

The CSS3 Regions module is not restricted to the content structure, thus we can simply add the complementary outside the main content, like so – though, as we mentioned above, we actually will display it in the middle of the main content.

 <header class="cf"> <h1><span>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,</span> consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut.</h1> <h2>labore et dolore magna aliqua</h2> </header> <article class="cf"> <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.</p> </article> <aside> <p><img src="img/stat.jpg" width="500" height="300"></p> <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.</p> </aside> 

Then, we need to add the regions markup where the content should flow. It does not matter whether we add the markup above or below the actual content.

 <div class="regions cf"> <div id="region-1" class="region cf"></div> <div id="region-2" class="region"></div> <div id="region-3" class="region"></div> <div id="region-4" class="region cf"></div> </div> 

CSS

In the stylesheet, we specify the width and height of the regions. The height is necessary to specify the content breakpoint, otherwise the content will not flow to the other regions.

 .demo-wrapper #region-1, .demo-wrapper #region-4 { width: 100%; height: 250px; } .demo-wrapper #region-4 { height: 400px; } .demo-wrapper #region-2, .demo-wrapper #region-3 { width: 50%; height: 700px; margin-bottom: 25px; } 

To add the content in the regions, we use the new CSS properties flow-into and flow-from. These properties are used to bridge the content and the regions. To flow the content across the regions, we can write the style rules this way.

 article { -webkit-flow-into: article; flow-into: article; } .demo-wrapper aside { -webkit-flow-into: aside; flow-into: aside; } #region-1, #region-2, #region-4 { -webkit-flow-from: article; flow-from: article; } #region-3 { -webkit-flow-from: aside; flow-from: aside; } 

With some additional decorative styles, we will get the following nice result in the browser.

You can head over to the demo page to see it in action.

Further Resources

    


10 Jul 19:35

20 Lifelike Pencil Drawing Masterpieces

by Humza Mehbub
Vforrestal

some of these are truly amazing. i had to look twice to prove to myself they were pencil drawings and not photos.

Artists can work on different surfaces like on Starbucks cups, pavements and walkways, walls on buildings, and even on coffee. All it takes is creativity and the need to make something awesome. Even with the humble pencil, an artist with the talent to run the strokes in the right angle can really produce simply amazing masterpieces you won’t believe were drawn.

In the age of Photoshop, many artists have fallen back on tricks and tools to cover up flaws, and enhance the cosmetic side of their results. This makes the following pencil-drawn artwork all the more amazing. Mistakes don’t get an undo button in these circumstances but this isn’t a problem for the perfectionist: they don’t make mistakes.

Here are just some of the incredible artworks of extremely talented pencil sketch artists, that will make you question what you see.

Recommended Reading: 40+ Mind-Blowing Photorealistic Paintings

The Artworks

Check out the amazing pencil sketches by the following artists:

Daan Noppen

aiweiwei

lucian

Osm Productions

osm

Zindy S. D. Nielsen

little kitten

Merel

day dreaming

Vimal Chandran

hide and seek

Mihalyi Anita

native american

Linda Huber

no idea

water splash

Jon

legolas

Paul Cadden

after

Diego Fazio

diego

the eyes

Henrik

dancer

Lucie Culkova

cat

Geinen

hugh laurie

Ileana Hunter

liz taylor

half series

Charlie

katy perry

    


10 Jul 19:33

Piwik – Open Source Web Analytics Platform

by Dylan Langlois

As website or app owners, we all most likely want clear and precise statistics on who visits our website, where they are from, how long they stayed, what they clicked and more. And we want this without the app selling your data to third parties and invading you and your visitors online space as Google Analytics and other services do.

Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce to you: Piwik. In this article I will be showing you the features and all the cool tools this self-hosted, decentralized, open source Web analytics platform has to offer.

Recommended Reading: Real Time Web Analytics Services – Best of

Getting Piwik

To get started using Piwik, start by installing the latest version on the project website here. Almost any server will work with Piwik since it is open source, and it is always being updated to work on the latest hardware and software versions. Having that said, you can install Piwik on as many servers as needed, free of charge.

To be sure your server meets the requirements of Piwik, check here.

After uploading the necessary files to your server, all that is needed to finish your installation is to visit your Piwik directory in a web browser and complete the easy step-by-step install.

Dashboard

When you first use Piwik you may notice that it looks extremely similar to other popular analytic applications such as Google Analytics.

The dashboard is a hub for all your stats of the most importance. You can also add, replace or move widgets, giving you fast access to stats and widgets you need most.

Stats

When digging into the app even deeper you will find that Piwik has so many advanced and useful statistics available for you. It gives pretty well detailed statistics regarding your most recent visitors and organized information about them you may want to know as a website operator.

Even though Piwik’s main design and stats are very minimalistic, it is easy enough for even the newest beginners to read and interpret. Also, when you use Piwik your data is not being sent off to third parties unlike other popular services.

Advantages

  • Free and Open Source
  • Own your website data
  • Multiple websites can be setup on one install
  • Easy setup and installation
  • Advanced browser plugin identification
  • Site Search stats
  • Open Source Community
  • Advanced Real-Time Visitor Stats

Disadvantages

  • Requires a server to be set up on. Not always convenient for some people.
  • Somewhat weak design compared to other services
  • With a self-hosted app, you get new features after you manually update it. You’re also prone to forget about checking to see if they have updated it.
  • Limitations on registering your team for analytics viewing
  • No features to share your statistics

Conclusion

Piwik has a lot of neat and useful features and is on my recommendation list for any website or analytic needs, and being open source makes an even bigger recommendation as I am a big fan of active open source projects.

    


10 Jul 18:34

13 Sites to Learn How to Code for Web Developers

by Alvaris Falcon
Gone are the days when programming languages could only be mastered programmers like Bill Gates, who later got to dominate the world by storm. Now everyone holds the same potential, and the chance to...

Visit hongkiat.com for full content.
10 Jul 18:19

Alerting on twitter feeds - now that RSS output is dead - IFTTT & Google script, Zapier & Mention

by Aaron Tay
On July 1, 2013 Google reader was retired. This was high profile news that was covered heavily online.

This wasn't the only blow to RSS usage, a lesser blow was struck when Twitter announced permanently retiring the Twitter API v1.0 which allowed Atom and RSS feeds output. The current Twitter API 1.1 only allows JSON format and requires authentication to access. This took effect, June 12.

For most people, this did not make a difference. But for me it was a blow, because I was pairing RSS output from Twitter feeds with IFTTT to filter and  alert me only if a certain keyword appeared in the feed.




To backtrack a little, I've written many times on this blog about techniques on how to proactively scan for tweets about your library.

There are 3 ways to figure out if a tweet is about your library even though the person tweeting does not @mention your library.

1. If the  tweet contains the keyword (e.g NUS Library)

2. If the tweet contains keyword (e.g. Library)  and is within say 1 km of your library

3. If the tweet contains keyword (e.g. Library)  and is from people you can identify as your user

In general, my current technique involve, pulling out the results from Twitter in RSS & putting them into IFTTT which will then alert you when that occurs

In fact, before the retirement of Twitter API v1.0, IFTTT could even pull directly from Twitter results without RSS for search terms but this is no longer an option and now IFTTT can no longer trigger on Twitter but can work only as an action.

You might wonder why I use IFTTT, when Tweetdeck is capable of tracking such items including location alerts. 

IFTTT is pretty handy because 

1. It can filter and alert on a specific keyword only - eg You could put in a RSS of a twitter group of people who are presumably your users, but get alerts only if the word library is mentioned.

2. It provides a host of alert options, from email to SMS and more.

But now that Twitter does not provide results in RSS, what can be done?

1. Use a third-part service to provide Twitter output in RSS

Digital Inspiration has posted a tip on how to use Google Script to setup rss feeds from Twitter

"What we really need is some sort of a parsing program sitting between Twitter and our RSS Reader. The parser would fetch updates from Twitter at regular intervals and convert them from JSON to RSS which we can then subscribe in our favorite RSS Reader."

Follow the instructions,  then convert the existing RSS feed url to the new URL.

If you have no idea of the syntax on how to grab Twitter results in RSS in the first place see this for the syntax.

Using that, you just need to replace the portion before the q=xxxx with the new URL from the Google Script. 

For example if before you were doing

http://search.twitter.com/search.rss?q=nuslib%20OR%20nuslibrary%20OR%20nuslibraries

You just need to replace the part in red, with the new Google Script url given to you via email once you have set it up, eg.

https://script.google.com/macros/s//exec?action=search&q=nuslib%20OR%20nuslibrary%20OR%20nuslibraries


Below shows one IFTTT Recipe I setup that will SMS me, if certain keywords are tweeted.,




This works like a charm, but for some reason I couldn't get it to work with location alerts, though I wonder if it is due to the length of the rss string.  

IFTTT itself polls every 15 minutes, Google script itself only pulls from Twitter periodically, so this creates even more delay, so if you want close to real-time alerts this isn't ideal.


2. Use Zapier - a IFTTT alternative

Gary Green who is a bit of a IFTTT expert blogged about IFTTT alternatives and Zapier was mentioned.

It's very similar to IFTTT but it seems to be a lot more powerful in particular for Twitter and a bit more customizable.

The first few parts are similar to IFTTT, you select Trigger and actions. Here I select Twitter as a trigger and to email myself to Gmail as action.



Select the specific accounts



The Twitter options look promising because unlike IFTTT you can directly pull in Twitter search results without RSS


The basic options allow location searches, so you could pick a Latitude and Longitude and a radius around for tweets to be alerted on. 

But it gets really interesting if you click on Add custom filters



I soon realised the basic options just scratches the surface, Zapier is apparently capable of filtering on pretty much every piece of metadata available from a Tweet, and it is a very long and complicated list. 

So for example, you could setup alerts on favourited tweets, whether they are retweeted, how many times and much much more. 

The downside is, you pretty much need to be an expert on Twitter API to know what each field means.

Setting up the action can be also quite customized.



Unlike IFTTT which has defaults for Zapier, you are expected to set your own, some are pretty obvious. But others are not.


The text in Orange are actually dynamic based on the metadata from tweets. It takes some experimenting to know what you want. But the "live preview" helps by showing what the data will be like. Below shows for example what "User Created At" field will show.



I found this part of Zapier a bit buggy, occasionally it won't show any data (because there is no real tweet to draw on) which is normal, but occasionally some fields just wont appear, even though I know they are available for selection, but if I reload the pull down again after several tries the option appears?

But in general it works. Here's an example.




Compared to the RSS->IFTTT method, Zapier sends out the alert faster, based because there is only a 15 minutes delay for the free version, while IFTTT also boasts the same 15 minute polling time, there is additional time delay due to the additional of the Google Script to pull in Twitter results.

The free version of Zapier is also limited because you can get up only 5 such tasks and receive a maximum of 100 alerts per month for the free version, while IFTTT has no such limits.


3. Use Mention

For some different, try the Mention Service, this covers not just Twitter but also blogs, facebook etc and pretty much everything. It does not allow location based alerts, and is limited to 250 alerts per month for free. I use the ios app mainly but there is a desktop version, Chrome 





Conclusion

This is a somewhat geeky post, though I have been using such techniques since 2010 and have found them invaluable in keeping on top of news I am interested in. 
05 Jul 19:18

Fresh Resources for Web Designers and Developers — July 2013

by Thoriq Firdaus

Ah yes, the regular monthly roundup is back. This round, we have another 10 different tools, apps and services to help designers and developers.

In this set you will find a flipclock tool that can double as a countdown timer, a handy site that lets you grab the identity of colors easily, a cheatsheet for screen size & resolutions, as well as weather font icons!

iOS 7 Icon Template

Apple has just introduced iOS7, and one of the different thing is in the icons (but I’m not referring to their new look). The new icons for iOS has different rounded corners, grids and are a little different in size too. This PSD template lets you to design icons for iOS7 precisely.

Forecast Fonts

Forecast Fonts is a set of font icon for weather. It has a complete set of weather icons for weather patterns like Sunny, Drizzle, Sunset, Snow, Thunderstorm etc. It’s a perfect fit for a weather app!

Picksum Ipsum

Bored with Lorem ipsum? Try out Picksum Ipsum, a dummy text generator tool that generates the lines from legendary Hollywood actors, Michael Caine, Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman (and Jim Carrey). If you are a designer as well as a movie fan, Picksum Ipsum can help you mix things up a bit.

Topcoat

Recently Adobe introduced a CSS Framework that aims for performance, called Topcoat. It is equipped with a some additional components like UI, a set of icons, and a PSD to craft your design before getting into the codes.

Swiper

Swiper is a free content/image slider that is optimized for mobile. It is responsive, and has support for touch interaction. It is a lightweight library which is only 6.5 Kb, and runs fast as it does not require a third-party library like jQuery to work.

Screensizes

Screensiz.es lists numerous size specifications for popular phones, tablets, and monitors. The dimensions shown include screen size, physical size, the pixel density etc. It’s a very useful “cheatsheet” when we are building a responsive website – worth bookmarking.

Flipclock JS

Flipclock is a jQuery plugin to build a clock with the flipping effect. You can use this library as a normal clock showing the current time, a timer that shows how much time has been passed, or a countdown timer, like those displayed in a “Coming Soon” page. The output is customizable through CSS and extendable with the provided APIs.

Mmenu

Since mobile devices have a very limited viewable area, it is common to hide the menu navigation on the side. The user simply clicks on the menu icon to reveal the navigation. Using Mmenu it is very easy to create a mobile-like menu on your website. It provides a set of options to customize the menu.

Pure

Pure is a super-tiny responsive framework that is developed by Yahoo. It is easily themable through the Skin Builder, and could be an alternative to some already popular framework like Bootstrap and Foundation.

Web Colour Data

Web Colours Data is a webapp that allows you to grab colors from other websites in a snap. Simply enter the URL and hit the “Get Color” button; the color scheme and the Hex number of the colors will be instantly generated.

    


05 Jul 18:43

Free Library Continuing Education Events for July

by HelenL

Listed below are FREE programs American Management Association, Booklist, Effectiveness Institute, GrantSpace, Infopeople, Library Journal, Lyrasis, Montana State Library, Nebraska Library Commission, Nonprofit Webinars, O’Reilly, School Library Journal, TechSoup, Texas State Library and Archives Commission, United States Census Bureau, VolunteerMatch, Washington State Library, and WebJunction will be webcasting during July.

In the event that you aren’t available during those times, or you would like to check out past webinars, here are the links to archived events:

OPAL Webinar Archives
Infopeople
Common Knowledge
School Library Journal
Booklist
Tech Soup
Library Journal
eSchool News Webinars
WebJunction
SirsiDynix Institute Webinars
TL Virtual Cafe
Washington State Library First Tuesdays
NonProfit Webinars
Texas State Library and Archives Commission
Colorado State Library: CSL in Session
Lunch Lessons with CLiC (Colorado Library Consortium)
ALA Tech Source Makerspace Webinars

 

July 3 (10-11 am)

What You Should Be ‘Subjecting’ Your Teens To: The Nonfiction Switch (Nebraska Library Commission)

There has been a lot of debate recently over “weeding” out the Dewey Decimal System in exchange for a more patron- and browsing-friendly Subject Classification System. Can this really work? What are the pros and cons of such a dramatic change? Join us to discover how the Teen Advisory Board of the La Vista Public Library implemented such a change in their teen department. This session will be presented by Lindsey Tomsu, the YA librarian, and Sarah Kreber, a member of the La Vista Public Library Teen Advisory Board, who played a huge part in making this project successful.

For more information and to register for this program, visit: http://nlc.nebraska.gov/scripts/calendar/eventreg.asp?ProgID=12388

 

July 9 (12-1 pm)

Events for (Almost) Everyone (Washington State Library)

Events can be an excellent way to connect with patrons, volunteers, your partnering organizations, and your surrounding neighborhood. They build good will, educate about your services, and add to your list of annual successes.  This presentation will share the rudiments of low- or no-cost events for which the idea and spirit behind them are as important as the successful execution.

For more information and to register for this program, visit: http://www.sos.wa.gov/library/libraries/firsttuesdays/default.aspx

 

July 9 (1-2 pm)

How to Build Websites Like Hollywood Builds Movies (O’Reilly)

In this webcast, we’ll look at the lifecycle of various Web development projects through the lens of Hollywood storytelling. Learn how to deliver successful projects that are on time, on budget, and meet customer expectations through a comparison of how the narrative structure of various films compares to different process models for site development. Not only will you come away with a better understanding of how to approach your next Web development project, but you’ll also gain a greater appreciation for the life lessons taught by some of your favorite Hollywood films.

For more information and to register for this program, visit: http://bit.ly/128vH8U

 

July 9 (2-3 pm)

Grantseeking Basics (GrantSpace)

Gain an introduction to the world of foundation fundraising. Are you a representative of a nonprofit organization? Are you new to fundraising? Do you want to learn how the funding research process works, and what tools and resources are available? Learn how to become a better grantseeker! In this class we will cover: what you need to have in place before you seek a grant; the world of grantmakers; the grantseeking process; and available tools and resources.

For more information and to register for this program, visit: http://bit.ly/111YEZ5

 

July 9 (2-3 pm)

Libraries, Children and Families: new research and policy recommendations on role of libraries in early reading (WebJunction)

The importance of early childhood education was underscored by President Obama in his most recent State of the Union address: “Study after study shows that the sooner a child begins learning, the better he or she does down the road.” Join us to hear Susan Hildreth, director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, present on a recent report, Growing Young Minds, developed with the Campaign for Grade-level Reading, that highlights the role of libraries in early learning. The report also offers a plan of action for policy makers to build on current research and include libraries in early learning strategies. Attendees will learn about best practices for enhancing reading programs and how to participate in your community’s efforts to address literacy concerns. In addition, Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, will describe the Project’s newly released report about the special role that libraries play in the life of families with children. Attendees will learn what matters to parents about their library experiences with their children, and how library programs and outreach can address those needs.

For more information and to register for this program, visit: http://bit.ly/14eqOOS

 

July 10 (12-1 pm)

Kiss Your BUT Good-Bye to Achieve Professional and Personal Success (American Management Association)

Joe and Bob Azelby are seasoned business executives who believe that a career stalls because an individual lacks a certain skill or has a behavior that makes them a less qualified candidate. We all have weaknesses, which the Azelby brothers refer to as “BUTs.”  For example: Bill is a hard worker BUT he can’t influence people and Larry is a great producer BUT he is a lousy manager.  Most people do not have any idea how their BUTs are inhibiting their career advancement because their colleagues and even their managers are unwilling to provide much needed candid feedback. This webcast will help you identify your BUTs and provide the tools necessary to shrink them. In addition, they’ll explore the importance of strong managers and demonstrate how a manager’s BUT can have a negative impact on his or her team.

For more information and to register for this program, visit: http://bit.ly/Yr606r

 

July 10 (4-5 pm)

3D Printing for Everyone: What you need to build your own 3D printer (O’Reilly)

In this webcast, I will introduce you to my open source 3D Printer that I built from a kit. I’ll share my experiences of both joy and tears, from assembly and tuning, to modeling and printing. We’ll cover the kinds of open source models, compare their commercial counterparts, talk about heat, plastic types and potential. If you are curious about 3D printing, but don’t know much about it, I hope to cover all of the basics. If you have been doing your research, but have some pointed questions that will get you off the fence, I hope to answer those too. By the end of the session, my hope is you will all want to build 3D printers of your own, and have all of the information you need to get started.

For more information and to register for this program, visit: http://bit.ly/152kyL7

 

July 10 (2-3 pm)

Engaging Pro Bono and Skilled Volunteers (VolunteerMatch)

Integrating skilled volunteers into your existing volunteer program is both exciting and scary. If you’re thinking about adding skilled volunteers to your program, or if you’ve just started, this seminar can help you make the experience successful for both the volunteer and the organization. Navigating the introduction of the idea into your organization, developing the art of delegating work to volunteers, and setting achievable outcomes will be covered.

For more information and to register for this program, visit: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/504365512

 

July 10 (3-4 pm)

Five Clicks (or Fewer) to Census Data: Navigating the latest release of the American FactFinder – Part 1 (InfoPeople)

Linda Clark, data dissemination specialist for the U. S. Census Bureau, will guide you through the latest version of the American FactFinder database. At the end of this one-hour webinar, participants will be able to: Quickly find the most current population for any city or county in the U.S., Obtain basic counts of people in specific categories, Drill down to find rich topical data for your community at low levels of geography, Locate tables that cross-tabulate broad subject areas with local race, ethnic, and tribal groups, and Answer most user inquiries in five clicks or fewer!

For more information and to register for this program, visit: http://infopeople.org/training/five-clicks-census-data-part-1

 

July 10 (3-4 pm)

Hire Like A Pro: How to Avoid the 4 Fatal Hiring Mistakes That Almost Everyone Makes (NonProfit Webinars)

Hiring the right people is absolutely critical to the success of any organization. Your team dictates your ability to execute your organization’s mission. Unfortunately, so many managers are using old hiring strategies that are not effective any longer. They ask the wrong interview questions and they make poor hiring decisions. The result? An inadequate team, or a lot of bad turnover. The team suffers, the manager suffers, and no real work gets done. In this webinar we will describe the 4 most common hiring mistakes and how to stop them immediately.

For more information and to register for this program, visit: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/126861193

 

July 11 (1-2 pm)

Location, Location, Location: Mastering HTML 5 Geolocation (O’Reilly)

Do you know where your users are? The HTML 5 Geolocation API is a JavaScript-based interface that allows you to programmatically get access to a user’s approximate latitude and longitude. You can get a snapshot of their location or even continuous updates. The best part is the API is now built into many of the latest generation of browsers. In this hands-on webcast presented by Andy Gup, he’ll step you through how the API works, as well as take an in-depth look at the data it provides and how to use it effectively. We’ll nail the key things you need to know to implement this API into your existing systems right away. You’ll learn that not all data is created equally. To hit home the concepts we’ll demonstrate using the API in several real world scenarios and show how this information can be successfully integrated into a backend system for analysis.

For more information and to register for this program, visit: http://bit.ly/15N0xoO

 

July 11 (1-2 pm)

Using Census Data to Apply for a Grant (United States Census Bureau)

Practice accessing statistics from the decennial census, the American Community Survey and economic information from American FactFinder in order to complete a grant scenario.

For more information and to register for this program, visit: http://bit.ly/17oR6ze

 

July 12 (2-3 pm)

Making Difficult Conversations Easy (Effectiveness Institute)

Do you shy away from conflict? In organizations across the world conflict is avoided. Expectations go unmet, values are violated, and overall under-performance exists because people do not know how to effectively resolve issues without resorting to the use of power. This one-hour session introduces you to concepts that enable you to begin to “integrate conflict” – to walk into it and effectively handle it – rather than avoid it.

For more information and to register for this program, visit: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/702428768

 

July 16 (2-3 pm)

Book Group Buzz (Booklist)

Leading a book group can be a lot of work, from finding new titles to searching for discussion questions. In this free, hour-long webinar, Rebecca Vnuk, Reference and Collection Management Editor for Booklist, will be joined by representatives from HarperCollins, Random House Library Marketing, and Sourcebooks for a discussion of upcoming and backlist titles that are a perfect fit for adult book groups, as well as a whirlwind tour of must-know websites for book discussion leaders.

For more information and to register for this program, visit: http://bit.ly/14Adlzr

 

July 17 (1-2 pm)

Leading Organizational Change (NonProfit Webinars)

In a rapidly changing world, every leader needs to understand how to effectively guide organizational change. Change may be necessary for many reasons, such as meeting new customer demands; implementing a strategic plan; upgrading technology systems; or coping with challenges. Leaders often wonder how to promote buy-in and engagement during what is sometimes a difficult process. This webinar for staff and board members will focus on: principles of change; understanding how people react to change; common mistakes and how to avoid them; working with resistance; and maintaining open communication. You will learn practical tips and be introduced to resources for further learning.

For more information and to register for this program, visit: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/788949432

 

July 17 (2-3 pm)

Library Social Media Use (WebJunction)

Over half of the world’s 2 billion internet users interact with social media tools to create, share, and exchange information and ideas while online. Libraries are using these tools to market programs and services, and to connect and engage with their communities beyond the library walls. Join us as we explore Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest as examples of tools that are being used successfully by libraries. The webinar will cover how to create, administer, moderate, and leverage your library’s online presence. Some basic security settings for each social media tool will be discussed as well.

For more information and to register for this program, visit: http://bit.ly/13dtqhZ

 

July 18 (11 am-12 pm)

DIY Options for Mobile Websites (Texas State Library and Archives Commission)

Are you interested in do-it-yourself options for developing a mobile website for your library?  The Texas State Library is planning on offering training on this topic, but we need your input.  Christine Peterson of Amigos Library Services is conducting a 1 hour webinar, showcasing the following common DIY mobile options: Google Sites mobile templates, Kurago Kurogo Mobile Platform, jQuery Mobile, and Responsive Web Design using CSS media queries.  In conjunction with the webinar, you will have an opportunity to vote via survey for the solution you would like to receive training on.

For more information and to register for this program, visit: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/310538570

 

July 19 (1-2:30 pm)

Information Literacy Assessment: What Works? What Doesn’t? (LYRASIS)

During the last Polite Debate Society, we addressed Information literacy from the teaching perspective… How to teach the Hard Stuff (Recording: http://lyrasis.adobeconnect.com/p42slccadgz/).  In part 2 of the series, panelists from the information literacy community will spend 90 minutes discussing key issues in information literacy assessment. The teaching landscape for IL librarians continues to evolve rapidly. Assessment strategies used previously in the traditional classroom environment are challenging, if not impossible to implement in an educational setting where we use both the physical and virtual classroom, where technology dictates our approach to teaching so heavily, and where many deal with the pressure cooker of the “one shot” class.  Still others are learning what kinds of assessment strategies are most effective in the semester long credit bearing information literacy course. In our Polite Debate Society session, our panel will review and critique some common assessment strategies, discuss what works and what doesn’t in a variety of settings, and share ideas for best practices in information literacy assessment.

For more information and to register for this program, visit: http://bit.ly/10prAYA

 

July 23 (2-3 pm)

Localize, Mobilize, and Spotlight Your Library Services and Outreach (WebJunction)

Libraries play a critical role in their communities that goes beyond their collections, focusing on events, outreach and library as place. In an increasingly digital and mobile world, libraries need new ways to reach out and engage. Now with the new OCLC Library Spotlight program (www.worldcat.org/spotlight), you can set up a dynamic mobile view of your library and dramatically extend its visibility into many popular web services—in just 10 minutes. Learn about this free service, available to all, that will make it easier for your library to be found on the web and through highly trafficked services like Yelp. Hear how one library focused its messaging and engagement through coordinated efforts at a local level to maximize their web presence and reach.

For more information and to register for this program, visit: http://bit.ly/12qER3S

 

July 24 (11 am-5 pm)

School Library Journal Summer Teen (School Library Journal)

SummerTeen presents popular YA authors talking about their writing experiences and current and forthcoming titles in a conversational panel format, including Q&A sessions with the audience. Presentations led by school and teen library experts will address the hottest trends in YA literature including mystery/thriller, historical fantasy, technology and diversity. And you’ll hear directly from publishers about the newest books you’ll want for your teens this year. SummerTeen is a free, must-attend online event for teen and young adult services librarians and educators from public and school library settings, as well as teen advisory groups, book clubs and anyone who loves YA/teen literature.

For more information and to register for this program, visit: http://bit.ly/11cXqDx

 

July 24 (12-1 pm)

5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity (American Management Association)

Attend this webcast and learn about FranklinCovey’s program called “5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity.” The program, supported by science and years of experience, will give you an overview, key concepts and elements of a process that has helped countless individuals yield a measurable increase in their productivity. It will also give you hope, a renewed sense of engagement, and show you how implementing these tools and concepts can make or break your ability to achieve the most important outcomes in your work and personal life.

For more information and to register for this program, visit: http://www.amanet.org/training/webcasts/5-Choices-to-Extraordinary-Productivity.aspx

 

July 24 (1-3 pm)

Accessing Employment Statistics Using “OnTheMap” (United States Census Bureau)

Uncover a wealth of information available on U.S. workers in an overview of this online mapping and reporting application. See where they are employed and where they live with companion reports on worker characteristics and optional filtering by age, earnings, or industry groups.

For more information and to register for this program, visit: https://questionweb.com/83870/registrationform.asp?P1=4g37-j9xg-0nh

 

July 24 (1-2 pm)

Building Social Capital to Enhance Collaboration (NonProfit Webinars)

Typically when people think about social capital, it is associations, networks and relationships that result in a gain. I believe that organizations tend to build partners with those who are similar (bonding social capital) instead of bridging, another form of social capital with those who are different. In this workshop, participants will learn more about social capital and how to leverage networks that can increase program partners and potential funders.

For more information and to register for this program, visit: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/436959193

 

July 24 (3-4 pm)

Early Literacy Programming in the Digital Age (InfoPeople)

Check the Infopeople website for more information on this program.

For more information and to register for this program, visit: http://infopeople.org/training/early-literacy-programming-digital-age

 

July 25 (9-10 am)

An eBook Publishing Primer – what librarians need to know to help local authors (Montana State Library)

Where do local authors go to find out about self-publishing an eBook? Why, they should go to the library, of course! Jo Flick of the Montana State Library and Jodi Christophe of the Missoula Public Library’s Web-On-Wheels branch library will introduce librarians to several epublishing options that they can share with local authors interested in self-publishing.  Jodi and Jo will explain the issues and decisions that authors face when choosing which service they use to self publish, they will provide links to many resources available to authors from epublishing to researching copyright issues. Participants will leave this session with a working knowledge of how epublishing works.

For more information and to register for this program, visit: https://student.gototraining.com/r/6272527270498923264

 

July 31 (10-11 am)

Tech Talk with Michael Sauers (Nebraska Library Commission)

In this monthly feature of NCompass Live, the NLC’s Technology Innovation Librarian, Michael Sauers, will discuss the tech news of the month and share new and exciting tech for your library. There will also be plenty of time in each episode for you to ask your tech questions. So, bring your questions with you, or send them in ahead of time, and Michael will have your answers.

For more information and to register for this program, visit: http://nlc.nebraska.gov/scripts/calendar/eventreg.asp?ProgID=12387

 

July 31 (12-1 pm)

Keys to Improving Project Team Performance Using the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (American Management Association)

If there weren’t people involved, my project would have been delivered on time and under budget! Sound familiar? Unfortunately, the reality is that people are involved in the execution of every project and not even the most sophisticated software or project template can change that fundamental truth. Communication, interpersonal skills, and an understanding of team dynamics are a project manager’s greatest asset for driving optimal project performance, and the MBTI tool can fast forward that competence exponentially. This webcast will present an overview of personality type and how the different types can be leveraged to form a team that harnesses the best of all of them.

For more information and to register for this program, visit: http://bit.ly/13cbohc

 

July 31 (1-2 pm)

Accountable Fundraising: You Can Integrate Achievement, Long-term Success and Stewardship (NonProfit Webinars)

Suggested practices in this webinar will significantly improve your bottom line as you gain better results for your cause, increases loyalty from staff and board, and deepen the level of appreciation from those who support your mission.

For more information and to register for this program, visit: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/363727288

05 Jul 18:42

Facilitating Access to free online resources: challenges and opportunities for the library community

by cmlinar

Webinar: Facilitating Access to free online resources: challenges and opportunities for the library community
The digital world has exploded over the past 10 years. How are librarians adjusting to the management of the existing free online resources alongside paid for content? Taylor & Francis wanted to explore the key issues and challenges librarians face in facilitating access to free online content.
We would like to share the key findings of this research with you via our webinars.
Four sessions will be available— be sure to register by clicking on a link below:
Monday 29 July, 1000 GMT (1100 CET).
Tuesday 30 July, 1500 GMT (1600 CET; 1000 EST).
Wednesday 31 July, 1000 GMT (1100 CET).
Thursday August 1 1900 GMT (2000 CET; 1400 EST).
The webinars will explore the following key themes:
• The growth and value of free content
• Resource challenges for librarians
• Identification and selection of content
• The role of the library
• Information literacy
• User needs and expectations
• The role of publishers
Resources- In the meantime, you can access the White Paper and download the report and analysis of results from our survey here.
Can’t Make It? No problem! We will be scheduling more webinars to accommodate all time zones. Simply email us and we will let you know when new sessions are made available.


17 Jun 18:48

How Often Do You Visit Your Local Library?

by Walter Glenn

How Often Do You Visit Your Local Library?

Libraries have changed a lot in the last few years, offering more up-to-date options and local community services than ever before. When's the last time you paid a visit to yours?

Read more...

    


17 Jun 18:26

The Problem With Psychiatry

by thuudung

What passed in the 70s as anxiety became in the 80s and 90s depression. Now it’s ADHD. Psychiatry is much about culture as it is science… more»

17 Jun 18:26

So many handbags, so little time

by thuudung

Fame today is a matryoshka doll,” says Andrew O’Hagan, “inside each celebrity is a series of smaller, hollow simulacra, and, at the very core, there is a hard little being who feels buried alive”… more»

17 Jun 16:41

Creating Responsive Websites with Adobe Edge Reflow

by Thoriq Firdaus

In today’s, we are going to explore a new tool from Adobe called Edge Reflow. I believe it helps creating a responsive website “looks so easy”, definetely something a designer and developer should check out.

Adobe Edge Reflow is at the time of this writing in public beta stage, and available to download for free. To download, login to the Adobe Creative Cloud site, and you can find the app listed in the Apps Center page under the Edge Tools and Service section.

Check out: 50 Useful Responsive Web Design Tools For Designers

Setting-up Grid and Workspace

Edge Reflow comes with a set of UI that allows you to manage responsive layout without dealing with codes.

At the left of the workspace, you will find several options to control webpage properties; you can set the number of columns, column gutter, the width of the content and specify the unit measurement for those lengths – px, percentage, or em.

In Edge Reflow, You can set “break points” easily. The break points are the threshold where your website styles will shift. To set the break points, click on the Plus button that is found at the top right of the workspace. Then, slide the page handler to the right or left and click on the plus button to set a new break point.

You can specify different styles for the elements on how they should look or adapt within each break points.

Adding Elements and Styling

Adding an element in Edge Reflow is as easy as a click. To create a new element, click on the rectangle icon and drag your mouse across the workspace. Upon selecting the element, Edge Reflow will display the properties that are applied, such as the width and the height, the margins, and the paddings.

You can find more options to add styles in the Styling tab. In this tab, you can add background color (even with gradients), borders (including border radius), and adjust the opacity for selected elements.

You can inspect the styles of the elements from the DOM Tree Inspector. It is found at the bottom of the workspace.

You can also preview the result in the browser by pressing Command + F12 (on Mac) or Ctrl + F12(on Windows).

Adobe Edge Service Integration

Reflow is integrated with other Adobe Edge services. When you are working with text, you are able to apply font families from Adobe Edge Webfont.

You can also test your website across your mobile devices seamlessly using Adobe Edge Inspect.

Conclusion

Since this is only a Preview, there are several key features that are not included. In the current version, I can’t find how to export projects to HTML and stylesheet documents, and the Preference menu is disabled.

Still, Adobe Edge Reflow looks really promising as a tool in the niche, and it could be very helpful particularly for entry-level users. With Reflow, they can create a responsive website without having to deal with the codes behind the screen.

Have you tried this tool?

    


17 Jun 16:39

8 things we know about web scale discovery systems in 2013

by Aaron Tay
Web scale discovery systems as a class of product has existed for over 4 years, and there has been rapid adoption by academic libraries around the world. We are currently way past earlier adopter phase, and probably deep into if not past early majority phase.

Some of the early leaders in this space like Summon are even announcing a "2.0" version, which may or may not be marketing hype but is symbolic I guess in signalling that products in this class have reached a certain amount of maturity.

Today in 2013, Summon alone has over 500 libraries using it, and many more are using Worldcat local, Primo Central, Ebsco Discovery Service etc. As usual, this has led to the rise of professional literature written on the topic (see list curated by me here), covering a host of areas including
  • impact on resource usage (full-text downloads, print catalogue items, A&I usage, articles not indexed in discovery)
  • impact on workflow for management of eresources
  • proper marketing and positioning of discovery products for users
  • impact on teaching of information literacy by librarians
  • surveys on attitudes of librarians, undergraduates, graduate students and faculty towards discovery services vs databases
  • usability testing & intergretion of discovery services into library websites 
and many more.

With all this literature out there, what do we really know about web scale discovery services in 2013 that we didn't know in 2009  and what are some issues where the jury is still out?

Some qualifiers.

First, I don't profess to know all the answers or have read or even remembered every study done on discovery services, nor am I an "expert", though I have kept my eye on this interesting area.

Second, I have far greater familiarity towards Summon (which we test and implemented in our institution in 2011-2012) and to some extent EDS so what I write might apply only for Summon. (e.g I wonder if EDS interface with more advanced features at the cost of a crowded user-interface would mean advanced users would be more satisfied) . Still I suspect on the general high level view, the web scale discovery services on the market are similar enough that most statements appear for all of them.

Third, I am going to speculate based not just literature but also my own knowledge and feel of what the general consensus is (which might be wrong).

I hope this post can lead to some fruitful discussion, even if you disagree with what I have written.


1. Web Scale Discovery Services increase accessibility of eresources and will definitely on the whole increase full-text downloads

This seems to be the result that is most robust and uncontroversial. Every library that has implemented discovery services has reported on the whole usage of eresources has gone up.

Distractors might say, users might be downloading more, but do they actually find what they need? Or even if they found something that is just good enough but is it the best? That's a (possibly) fair but different point.


2. Undergraduates generally love discovery services
Again another point that is I believe mostly accepted. Survey after survey has shown undergraduates are generally happy with discovery services because it mostly fits their mental models by functioning somewhat like Google. Are they perfect and do all undergraduates like them? Of course not, but on a whole, libraries that have surveyed users have mostly obtained positive feedback compared to existing catalogue or search tools, this is of course unlike results for federated search in the past.


3. Librarians reactions towards discovery services are mixed at best. 

The earliest study I am aware of that surveyed librarians reactions to Summon reported "culture shock". This seems to be the default reaction of librarians who encounter discovery tools for the first time. Of course, this was by one earlier adopter library in Australia, back when the concept of discovery tools was still novel to the profession. and the study itself suggests based on a followup survey 6 months later that as librarians get used to the concept, they become more positive towards the tool.

However, more recent studies on librarians attitudes towards information literacy such as this one and this one suggest that librarians attitudes towards discovery tools are still polarized or ambivalent whether it be when using it and recommending it to users at the reference desk or teaching in classes. Attitudes range from enthusiastic support (see the series of free recorded webinars on Summon and information literacy adopted by librarians) to acceptance (sometimes grudgingly) to extreme opposition for instance claiming that teaching Summon is "a dereliction of duty reference librarians have towards their users" - one of the more extreme statements found in the literature.

Based on discussions with librarians both within and outside my institution, I can verify as well that there are many highly qualified reference librarians who dislike discovery services intensely and not out of mere ignorance or resistance to change.

There have been a couple of blog posts and papers trying to explain this resistance. Here's my take combining reasons I have seen given in various papers with my own thoughts.
  • Relevancy ranking results can be inconsistent if not awful (opinions vary on how bad this issue is, possibly depending on expectations, implementation and discipline). 
  • Lack of advanced search features 
  • Worry that some important material is missed out in the index or in some disciplines totally inadequate. Related is the view that a subject specific database is almost always better eg PubMed.
  • Worry that users are unaware that they are missing out material not found in the index, and they may settle for good enough instead of the best available
  • Worry that discovery services are damaging information literacy skills by misleading users into thinking research is easy
  • Technical issues relating to instability of linking to full-text, clarity of labels in the interface etc
  • Uncertainty on how to position discovery systems next to databases and how to teach
  • Worry that libraries are handing over too much power to discovery services due to lockin by discovery service providers who are simultaneously content providers (example of recent dispute).
Each point can be of course expanded further, for instance relevancy itself can be a big area, with some librarians unhappy about the weighting of content types (newspaper articles appearing too often instead of books) while others are unhappy with the overall relevancy ranking for known item searches.


4. Advanced searchers generally mirror the attitudes of librarians and are not as satisfied 

As expected, experienced researchers and faculty staff generally mirror the opinions of librarians and they are a lot less enthusiastic than undergraduates in general because they are familiar with what databases offer and are more demanding on what they should get.

That said the Ithaka Faculty Survey 2012 speculates that library heavy investment in discovery services are paying off leading to more faculty starting their search from the library catalogue in 2012, the first time ever it increased since the survey started in 2003.

As Barbara Fister points out, faculty staff are often searching "for known items, something discovery systems seem to handle rather badly", so this seems off.


5. Relevancy ranking can still be improved

This differs from service to service with some services claiming superiority in this area.

Head to head tests give mixed results, eg. This gives victory to EDS over Summon, this to Summon ,  this simple one gave A&I>Summon>Google Scholar, but this one gave it to Google Scholar over Summon etc.

But I doubt most librarians will say Summon or any other discovery service is as good as it can be and would yearn for better relevancy.

I am personally more sympathetic towards discovery systems in this area, though having spent countless hours studying and duplicating thousands of user searches since June 2012, I am well aware of how poor the relevancy ranking of Summon can be on some searches (I have also done limited testing on other systems).

Lest I be accused of not giving examples here's one Singapore "national service" , where currently the first 9 results are totally irrelevant. Though one example hardly proves a pattern, I am sure any librarian familiar with discovery services can give dozens of examples similar to this one. But of course, relevancy isn't an easy problem to solve and to be fair in this case, doing the same search without quotes actually gives you better results but still poor results.

Compared to the early days where discovery services raced to sign up content providers and boasted of the size of their index (they still do I guess), there is a increasing realization by all parties whether librarians or discovery providers that all this content can be counter-productive if the relevancy ranking isn't capable enough to surface the right or at least decent content.

Also as mentioned before there was in the early days doubts on how good such systems are for known item searching particularly for catalogue items and this continues to this day despite improvements.


6. Adding Federated search does not add much to web scale discovery (currently)

This is somewhat more controversial. But I believe the current consensus is moving towards the idea that tagging on federated search to web scale discovery is not that useful, at least with current implementations of this. An early debate in 2009 was sparked on the Federated Search Blog with the post Beyond Federated Search and followups, that critiqued Summon for lacking federated search, claiming that a hybrid solution of indexing what you can, and doing a broadcast search (federated search) over what you can't should be the way to go.

I could be wrong, but my impression is that many libraries that implemented Ebsco Discovery Service which does have federated search, have chosen to turn off the federated search portion, basically because it wasn't used and/or was counterproductive.

Federated Search is Dead -- and Good Riddance! , a piece explaining why James Madison University (JMU) turned off the EBSCO Integrated Search federated search add on included in EBSCO Discovery Service is perhaps a typical reaction.

Essentially the sheer size of the index of discovery services like Ebsco Discovery service or other services, means that students have no incentive to wait 30 seconds for more results, the problem they face typically is too many results, not insufficient results. Scholars will already be using traditional databases anyway  as primary search tool (e.g Scopus) and may just use Web Scale discovery tools as a final round-up of what they have missed so they don't really have a dying need to see results from such traditional databases anyway.

I would say even Ebsco is downplaying the significance of the option of federated search in their EDS service, as a look at their pages on EDS does not mention federated search at all (though to be fair it's a seperate product EHIS), and there is even a page on platform blending (which I frankly don't quite understand what is going on here despite a vendor explaining it to me) where they go out of their way to state it is "not federation"

Of course, an argument could be made (correctly I think) that the idea of a hybrid system is sound but the implementation needs a lot of work to make it worth it, but currently it seems of the 4 major players in the market none seem to have cracked this issue yet and may not do so in the foreseeable future as it is perhaps not a priority.

I would also add that many of the issues brought up back then about the dangers of ceding control to your discovery provider on the content can be found if you don't do federation, may still retain its teeth (again see recent spate), but at the very least on the practical front, the inclusion of a federated search option in a web scale discovery system generally isn't considered critical by most librarians now.


7. Content providers are generally eager to cooperate with discovery vendors to have their content indexed. 

One of the reasons why the need for federated search seems to have diminished is because more and more content is getting indexed. In 2009, there was still uncertainty on how content providers would react , would they want to be included? and discovery vendors had to work hard to get content included. If most did, then federated search would be of limited value except for reasons related to currency of results. If most couldn't be indexed, then federation would be crucially important to get at those resources.

As of 2013, the situation has clarified, over the years as more libraries started to release data showing that usage tends to fall for anything not in discovery services and or conversely anything indexed in them will lead to increased in usage, content providers have become more and more eager to be indexed or risk being cut out of the game.

The earlier mentioned James Madison University paper is perhaps instructive. Back in 2010 where he was describing the situation, of the sources, he mentioned that was accessible via federated search, by now many like JSTOR, Sage, Sciencedirect etc all are now indexed in Summon and probably other discovery services.

More interesting even A&I services like Scopus, Web of Science, MLA, ERIC are often included in many discovery services now though with appropriate safeguards to ensure their records are shown only for authenticated users.

That said, there are still hold-outs, the well known Psycinfo, EconLit etc and other A&I databases that work with Ebsco Discovery Service only is perhaps the most gaping hole currently existing.

And of course the above refers only to publishers but in general aggregator databases have been less willing (Gale seems to be a an exception here being included in Summon since 2009 and recently added to ebscohost discovery service as well as others) particularly those owned by Proquest and ebscohost are typically out of bounds to discovery services of competing services barring some special agreement.


8. Problems of broken links are still an issue though the problem is less serious and likely to be so in future

One of the greatest issues with discovery services is that they typically rely heavily on openurl to get to the full text. As is well known openurl linking is not 100% reliable, so discovery services have put in place alternate routes to full text.

For example Summon implemented "Index-Enhanced Direct Linking" and EDS has their smart links (if content is in the ebscohost databases) or custom links (I believe equivalent to Summon's index-enhanced direct linking in most cases)

That said, linking to newspaper articles, non-journal items and free content can still be iffy.

Still new efforts like KBART and Improving OpenURLs Through Analytics (IOTA) are underway, so perhaps in time to come this issue will be hopefully reduced.


Others

Some other less important findings,



Conclusion

I confess it took quite a bit of effort and courage to get this piece written and posted. Sometimes I wondered if I was getting the general consensus totally wrong, and yet other times I thought what I wrote is totally trite and obvious that people knew even right at the start of 2009.

I suspect the later is more likely to be correct, because I decided to err on side of caution and list the statements I thought were definitely agreed upon and bump the ones I was unsure to a follow- up blog post  "X things we still are unsure about web scale discovery systems in 2013".

But what do you think? What else is it we know about discovery services that were in doubt in 2009?

14 Jun 19:47

Are you donating to one of America's worst charities?

by Maggie Koerth-Baker
The Tampa Bay Times has done some excellent investigative reporting on the 50 worst charities in America — organizations that took in more than $1 billion over the past 10 years, and gave almost all of that money to their own staffs and professional solicitors. The series explains how charities like this operate and skirt the regulatory system. But if you're feeling TLDR, there's also a PDF that can help you quickly figure out if you're donating to one of these scams. A large portion of the 50 worst is made up of charities devoted to cancer and veterans' issues.
    


12 Jun 17:57

Remove Background From Images Easily With Clipping Magic

by Hongkiat.com

Want to remove the background from an image and just focus on the subject? That’s easy, just Photoshop it. Don’t know Photoshop? Well, that’s a problem now, isn’t it? Not with Clipping Magic, it’s not. In fact, by the end of this post, some of us who know Photoshop may even opt to use Clipping Magic instead.

intro image

Clipping Magic is an alpha-stage, free online tool which helps you to easily remove background from images. If you’re struggling with the lasso tool on Adobe Photoshop, you should definitely try this to ease your life.

Recommended Reading: 30+ Free Online Multimedia (Photo, Audio, Video) Editors

Remove Background From An Image

To start, browse to Clipping Magic and choose an image file that you want to work on. Depending on the image size, you may need to wait a few minutes.

Choose an image to upload

You will now see two copies of your image: one is the ‘Original+Mask’ image and another is the ‘Result Preview’ image.

the interface

On the ‘Original+Mask’ image, there’s a green brush. The green brush is used to highlight the part of the image that you want to keep. For this guide, the part that we want to keep is the gun-wielding hero and the Android it is protecting.

highlight part to keep

Press Spacebar to change the brush to red and use this to highlight the area you want removed. You can instantly see on ‘Result Preview’ the outcome.

highlight part to remove

Made a mistake? Press Ctrl + Z to undo or you can press X to turn it to a blue brush then use it to highlight the mistake that you made. Press Ctrl + Y to redo what has been undone.

highlight mistake

When you’re done, you can download the image by clicking on Download on the top bar.

click download

Apart from downloading the result, you can also share the result with friends.

download result or copy link address

Limitation

Clipping Magic might come out as an intelligent web tool, but there’s one major problem: it doesn’t have brush size control. The default brush size is rather large and you might have problems which involve highlighting areas you don’t want highlighted. To compensate, try zooming in first before higlighting with the brush. The brush is relatively smaller in this zoomed mode.

zoom in to highlight areas better

    


03 Jun 18:45

A Couple Handy Online Image Editing Tools

by Brian Herzog

It's been awhile since I've talked about image editing tools. My favorite website for quick and easy editing (cropping, resizing, etc) is still Pixenate, but I recently read about Clipping Magic - and it is amazingly awesome.

Here's how it works: upload your image, draw a green line through the part of the photo you want to keep, draw a red line through the background you want to remove, and you're done:

clipping magic demo

The live preview on the right lets you adjust your lines to get as close as possible to what you want - and since you can change your line size and zoom in on the image, you can really fine-tune it.

I've been using Photoshop for years to do exactly this, and this is way quicker. Photoshop is still better of course, but like Pixenate and other web-based tools, I have access to this no matter where I am in the library (Photoshop is only installed on the computer on my desk in the office, which I rarely actually use).

Unfortunately, it looks like Clipping Magic is only free while it's in development. Hopefully it'll stay that way, but try it out while you can.

31 May 20:54

Itty. Bitty. Friends.

by Brinke

Cuteporter A.sal sent this in. “You should probably have this girl make official renderings of the animals on CO. Just saying. You’re welcome. LOVE your site.” We’re not endorsing this seller, of course- but let’s face it, these are MAXIMUM REDONK!

8783299147_ef92221eb5_z

8783299703_8a0a974ea6_z

8789886556_d88e0b6155_z

8789887176_eccd1bb764_z

8789887452_b92d625a94_z


Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: What Is This I Don't Even
31 May 20:20

50 Useful CSS Snippets Every Designer Should Have

by Jake Rocheleau

With so many new trends advancing every year it can be difficult keeping up with the industry. Website designers and frontend developers have been deeply ingrained into the newer CSS3 properties, determining the ultimate browser support and quirky hacks. But there are also brilliant CSS2 code snippets which have been unrequited in comparison.

For this article I want to present 50 handy CSS2/CSS3 code snippets for any web professional. These are perfect for storing in your development IDE of choice, or even keeping them saved in a small CSS file. Either way I am sure designers & developers can find some use for some of the snippets in this collection.

Recommended Reading: 20 Useful CSS Tips For Beginners

1. CSS Resets

html, body, div, span, applet, object, iframe, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, p, blockquote, pre, a, abbr, acronym, address, big, cite, code, del, dfn, em, img, ins, kbd, q, s, samp, small, strike, strong, sub, sup, tt, var, b, u, i, center, dl, dt, dd, ol, ul, li, fieldset, form, label, legend, table, caption, tbody, tfoot, thead, tr, th, td, article, aside, canvas, details, embed, figure, figcaption, footer, header, hgroup, menu, nav, output, ruby, section, summary, time, mark, audio, video { margin: 0; padding: 0; border: 0; font-size: 100%; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; outline: none; -webkit-box-sizing: border-box; -moz-box-sizing: border-box; box-sizing: border-box; } html { height: 101%; } body { font-size: 62.5%; line-height: 1; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, sans-serif; } article, aside, details, figcaption, figure, footer, header, hgroup, menu, nav, section { display: block; } ol, ul { list-style: none; } blockquote, q { quotes: none; } blockquote:before, blockquote:after, q:before, q:after { content: ''; content: none; } strong { font-weight: bold; } table { border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0; } img { border: 0; max-width: 100%; } p { font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.0em; color: #333; }

Basic CSS browser resets are some of the most common snippets you’ll find online. This is a customized snippet by myself which is based off Eric Meyer’s reset codes. I have included a bit for responsive images and set all core elements to border-box, keeping margins and padding measurements aligned properly.

2. Classic CSS Clearfix

.clearfix:after { content: "."; display: block; clear: both; visibility: hidden; line-height: 0; height: 0; } .clearfix { display: inline-block; } html[xmlns] .clearfix { display: block; } * html .clearfix { height: 1%; }

This clearfix code has been around the Web for years circulating amongst savvy web developers. You should apply this class onto a container which holds floating elements. This will ensure any content which comes afterwards will not float but instead be pushed down and cleared.

3. 2011 Updated Clearfix

.clearfix:before, .container:after { content: ""; display: table; } .clearfix:after { clear: both; } /* IE 6/7 */ .clearfix { zoom: 1; }

From what I can tell there isn’t a major difference in rendering between this newer version and the classic version. Both of these classes will effectively clear your floats, and they should work in all modern browsers and even legacy Internet Explorer 6-8.

4. Cross-Browser Transparency

.transparent { filter: alpha(opacity=50); /* internet explorer */ -khtml-opacity: 0.5; /* khtml, old safari */ -moz-opacity: 0.5; /* mozilla, netscape */ opacity: 0.5; /* fx, safari, opera */ }

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Some of the newer CSS3 properties have pampered us into thinking they may be applied everywhere. Unfortunately opacity is one such example where CSS still requires some minor updates. Appending the filter property should handle any older versions of IE with grace.

5. CSS Blockquote Template

blockquote { background: #f9f9f9; border-left: 10px solid #ccc; margin: 1.5em 10px; padding: .5em 10px; quotes: "\201C""\201D""\2018""\2019"; } blockquote:before { color: #ccc; content: open-quote; font-size: 4em; line-height: .1em; margin-right: .25em; vertical-align: -.4em; } blockquote p { display: inline; }

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Not everybody needs to use blockquotes inside their website. But I feel these are an excellent HTML element for separating quoted or repeated content within blogs or webpages. This basic chunk of CSS offers a default style for your blockquotes so they don’t appear as drab and bland.

6. Individual Rounded Corners

#container { -webkit-border-radius: 4px 3px 6px 10px; -moz-border-radius: 4px 3px 6px 10px; -o-border-radius: 4px 3px 6px 10px; border-radius: 4px 3px 6px 10px; } /* alternative syntax broken into each line */ #container { -webkit-border-top-left-radius: 4px; -webkit-border-top-right-radius: 3px; -webkit-border-bottom-right-radius: 6px; -webkit-border-bottom-left-radius: 10px; -moz-border-radius-topleft: 4px; -moz-border-radius-topright: 3px; -moz-border-radius-bottomright: 6px; -moz-border-radius-bottomleft: 10px; }

Most developers are familiar with the CSS3 rounded corners syntax. But how would you go about setting different values for each of the corners? Save this code snippet and you should never run into the problem again! I’ve included both a condensed version and a longer base with each corner radius broken down into a different property.

7. General Media Queries

/* Smartphones (portrait and landscape) ----------- */ @media only screen and (min-device-width : 320px) and (max-device-width : 480px) { /* Styles */ } /* Smartphones (landscape) ----------- */ @media only screen and (min-width : 321px) { /* Styles */ } /* Smartphones (portrait) ----------- */ @media only screen and (max-width : 320px) { /* Styles */ } /* iPads (portrait and landscape) ----------- */ @media only screen and (min-device-width : 768px) and (max-device-width : 1024px) { /* Styles */ } /* iPads (landscape) ----------- */ @media only screen and (min-device-width : 768px) and (max-device-width : 1024px) and (orientation : landscape) { /* Styles */ } /* iPads (portrait) ----------- */ @media only screen and (min-device-width : 768px) and (max-device-width : 1024px) and (orientation : portrait) { /* Styles */ } /* Desktops and laptops ----------- */ @media only screen and (min-width : 1224px) { /* Styles */ } /* Large screens ----------- */ @media only screen and (min-width : 1824px) { /* Styles */ } /* iPhone 4 ----------- */ @media only screen and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio:1.5), only screen and (min-device-pixel-ratio:1.5) { /* Styles */ }

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This is an excellent template which you can find on CSS-Tricks for other bits and pieces of media queries. However I’ve copied their example in full which includes tons of real mobile devices. These codes will even target retina-based devices using min-device-pixel-ratio.

8. Modern Font Stacks

/* Times New Roman-based serif */ font-family: Cambria, "Hoefler Text", Utopia, "Liberation Serif", "Nimbus Roman No9 L Regular", Times, "Times New Roman", serif; /* A modern Georgia-based serif */ font-family: Constantia, "Lucida Bright", Lucidabright, "Lucida Serif", Lucida, "DejaVu Serif," "Bitstream Vera Serif", "Liberation Serif", Georgia, serif; /*A more traditional Garamond-based serif */ font-family: "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, Palladio, "URW Palladio L", "Book Antiqua", Baskerville, "Bookman Old Style", "Bitstream Charter", "Nimbus Roman No9 L", Garamond, "Apple Garamond", "ITC Garamond Narrow", "New Century Schoolbook", "Century Schoolbook", "Century Schoolbook L", Georgia, serif; /*The Helvetica/Arial-based sans serif */ font-family: Frutiger, "Frutiger Linotype", Univers, Calibri, "Gill Sans", "Gill Sans MT", "Myriad Pro", Myriad, "DejaVu Sans Condensed", "Liberation Sans", "Nimbus Sans L", Tahoma, Geneva, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; /*The Verdana-based sans serif */ font-family: Corbel, "Lucida Grande", "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Sans", "DejaVu Sans", "Bitstream Vera Sans", "Liberation Sans", Verdana, "Verdana Ref", sans-serif; /*The Trebuchet-based sans serif */ font-family: "Segoe UI", Candara, "Bitstream Vera Sans", "DejaVu Sans", "Bitstream Vera Sans", "Trebuchet MS", Verdana, "Verdana Ref", sans-serif; /*The heavier “Impact” sans serif */ font-family: Impact, Haettenschweiler, "Franklin Gothic Bold", Charcoal, "Helvetica Inserat", "Bitstream Vera Sans Bold", "Arial Black", sans-serif; /*The monospace */ font-family: Consolas, "Andale Mono WT", "Andale Mono", "Lucida Console", "Lucida Sans Typewriter", "DejaVu Sans Mono", "Bitstream Vera Sans Mono", "Liberation Mono", "Nimbus Mono L", Monaco, "Courier New", Courier, monospace; 

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It is difficult brainstorming your own CSS font stacks for designing new webpages. I hope this snippet may alleviate some torture and give you a few templates for getting started. If you want to find more examples check out CSS Font Stacks which is one of my favorite resources.

9. Custom Text Selection

::selection { background: #e2eae2; } ::-moz-selection { background: #e2eae2; } ::-webkit-selection { background: #e2eae2; }

Some newer web browsers will allow you to define the highlight color on your webpage. This is set to light blue by default, but you can setup any color value which tickles your fancy. This snippet includes the typical ::selection target along with vendor prefixes for Webkit and Mozilla.

10. Hiding H1 Text for Logo

h1 { text-indent: -9999px; margin: 0 auto; width: 320px; height: 85px; background: transparent url("images/logo.png") no-repeat scroll; }

I first noticed this technique being implemented on the old Digg layout. You can setup an H1 tag which also has your website’s name in plaintext for SEO purposes. But using CSS we can move this text so it isn’t visible, and replace it with a custom logo image.

11. Polaroid Image Border

img.polaroid { background:#000; /*Change this to a background image or remove*/ border:solid #fff; border-width:6px 6px 20px 6px; box-shadow:1px 1px 5px #333; /* Standard blur at 5px. Increase for more depth */ -webkit-box-shadow:1px 1px 5px #333; -moz-box-shadow:1px 1px 5px #333; height:200px; /*Set to height of your image or desired div*/ width:200px; /*Set to width of your image or desired div*/ }

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Applying this basic snippet will allow you to implement .polaroid classes onto your images. This will create the old photo-style effect with a large white border and some slight box shadows. You’ll want to update the width/height values to match that of your image dimensions and website layout.

12. Anchor Link Pseudo Classes

a:link { color: blue; } a:visited { color: purple; } a:hover { color: red; } a:active { color: yellow; }

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Most CSS developers know about the anchor link styles and :hover effects. But I wanted to include this small code snippet as a reference for newcomers. These are the four default states for an anchor link, and also a few other HTML elements. Keep this handy until you can memorize some of the more obscure ones.

13. Fancy CSS3 Pull-Quotes

.has-pullquote:before { /* Reset metrics. */ padding: 0; border: none; /* Content */ content: attr(data-pullquote); /* Pull out to the right, modular scale based margins. */ float: right; width: 320px; margin: 12px -140px 24px 36px; /* Baseline correction */ position: relative; top: 5px; /* Typography (30px line-height equals 25% incremental leading) */ font-size: 23px; line-height: 30px; } .pullquote-adelle:before { font-family: "adelle-1", "adelle-2"; font-weight: 100; top: 10px !important; } .pullquote-helvetica:before { font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; top: 7px !important; } .pullquote-facit:before { font-family: "facitweb-1", "facitweb-2", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; top: 7px !important; }

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Pull-quotes are different from blockquotes in that they appear off to the side of your blog or news article. These often reference quoted text from the article, and so they appear slightly different than blockquotes. This default class has some basic properties along with 3 unique font families to choose from.

14. Fullscreen Backgrounds with CSS3

html { background: url('images/bg.jpg') no-repeat center center fixed; -webkit-background-size: cover; -moz-background-size: cover; -o-background-size: cover; background-size: cover; }

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I should note that this code will not work properly in older browsers which do not support CSS3 syntax. However if you’re looking for a quick solution and don’t care about legacy support, this is the best chunk of code you’ll find! Great for adding big photographs into the background of your website while keeping them resizable and fixed as you scroll.

15. Vertically Centered Content

.container { min-height: 6.5em; display: table-cell; vertical-align: middle; }

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Using the margin: 0 auto technique it is very easy to embed content into the horizontal center of your page. However vertical content is a lot harder, especially considering scrollbars and other methods. But this is a pure CSS solution which should work flawlessly without JavaScript.

16. Force Vertical Scrollbars

html { height: 101% } 

When your page content doesn’t fill the entire height of your browser window then you don’t end up getting any scrollbars. However resizing will force them to appear and append an extra 10-15 pixels to the width of your window, pushing over your webpage content. This snippet will ensure your HTML element is always just a little bit higher than the browser which forces scrollbars to stay in place at all times.

17. CSS3 Gradients Template

#colorbox { background: #629721; background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, from(#83b842), to(#629721)); background-image: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, #83b842, #629721); background-image: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #83b842, #629721); background-image: -ms-linear-gradient(top, #83b842, #629721); background-image: -o-linear-gradient(top, #83b842, #629721); background-image: linear-gradient(top, #83b842, #629721); }

CSS3 gradients are another wondrous part of the newer specifications. Many of the vendor prefixes are difficult to memorize, so this code snippet should save you a bit of time on each project.

18. @font-face Template

@font-face { font-family: 'MyWebFont'; src: url('webfont.eot'); /* IE9 Compat Modes */ src: url('webfont.eot?#iefix') format('embedded-opentype'), /* IE6-IE8 */ url('webfont.woff') format('woff'), /* Modern Browsers */ url('webfont.ttf') format('truetype'), /* Safari, Android, iOS */ url('webfont.svg#svgFontName') format('svg'); /* Legacy iOS */ } body { font-family: 'MyWebFont', Arial, sans-serif; }

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Here is another bit of CSS3 code which isn’t the easiest to memorize. Using @font-face you may embed your own TTF/OTF/SVG/WOFF files into your website and generate custom font families. Use this template as a base example for your own projects in the future.

19. Stitched CSS3 Elements

p { position:relative; z-index:1; padding: 10px; margin: 10px; font-size: 21px; line-height: 1.3em; color: #fff; background: #ff0030; -webkit-box-shadow: 0 0 0 4px #ff0030, 2px 1px 4px 4px rgba(10,10,0,.5); -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 0 4px #ff0030, 2px 1px 4px 4px rgba(10,10,0,.5); box-shadow: 0 0 0 4px #ff0030, 2px 1px 6px 4px rgba(10,10,0,.5); -webkit-border-radius: 3px; -moz-border-radius: 3px; border-radius: 3px; } p:before { content: ""; position: absolute; z-index: -1; top: 3px; bottom: 3px; left :3px; right: 3px; border: 2px dashed #fff; } p a { color: #fff; text-decoration:none; } p a:hover, p a:focus, p a:active { text-decoration:underline; }

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20. CSS3 Zebra Stripes

tbody tr:nth-child(odd) { background-color: #ccc; }

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Possibly the best item to include zebra stripes is within a table of data. It can be difficult when users are scanning 40 or 50 rows to determine exactly which cell is lined up to which row. By adding zebra stripes on default we can update odd rows with varying background colors.

21. Fancy Ampersand

.amp { font-family: Baskerville, 'Goudy Old Style', Palatino, 'Book Antiqua', serif; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; }

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This class would be applied to one span element wrapped around your ampersand character in page content. It will apply some classic serif fonts and use italics to enhance the ampersand symbol. Try it out on a demo webpage and see how you like the design.

22. Drop-Cap Paragraphs

p:first-letter{ display: block; margin: 5px 0 0 5px; float: left; color: #ff3366; font-size: 5.4em; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; }

Typically you’ll notice dropped capitals appear in printed mediums, such as newspapers and books. However this can also be a neat effect in webpages or blogs where there is enough extra room in the layout. This CSS rule is targeting all paragraphs but you may limit this based on a single class or ID.

23. Inner CSS3 Box Shadow

#mydiv { -moz-box-shadow: inset 2px 0 4px #000; -webkit-box-shadow: inset 2px 0 4px #000; box-shadow: inset 2px 0 4px #000; }

The box shadow property has offered immense changes into how we build websites. You can portray box shadows on nearly any element, and they all generally look great. This piece of code will force inner shadows which is a lot harder to design around, but in the right cases it looks pristine.

24. Outer CSS3 Box Shadow

#mydiv { -webkit-box-shadow: 0 2px 2px -2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.52); -moz-box-shadow: 0 2px 2px -2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.52); box-shadow: 0 2px 2px -2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.52); }

In relation to the inner CSS3 shadows I also want to present an outer shadow code snippet. Note the 3rd number in our syntax represents blur distance while the 4th number represents the spread. You can learn more about these values from W3Schools.

25. Triangular List Bullets

ul { margin: 0.75em 0; padding: 0 1em; list-style: none; } li:before { content: ""; border-color: transparent #111; border-style: solid; border-width: 0.35em 0 0.35em 0.45em; display: block; height: 0; width: 0; left: -1em; top: 0.9em; position: relative; }

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Believe it or not it is actually possible to generate triangle-shaped bullets solely in CSS3. This is a really cool technique which does look awesome in respected browsers. The only potential issue is a major lack of support for fallback methods.

26. Centered Layout Fixed Width

#page-wrap { width: 800px; margin: 0 auto; }

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I know earlier it was mentioned how to setup horizontal positioning. I want to jump back in with this quick snippet for horizontal positioning, which is perfect to be used on fixed-width layouts.

27. CSS3 Column Text

#columns-3 { text-align: justify; -moz-column-count: 3; -moz-column-gap: 12px; -moz-column-rule: 1px solid #c4c8cc; -webkit-column-count: 3; -webkit-column-gap: 12px; -webkit-column-rule: 1px solid #c4c8cc; }

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CSS3 columns would be nice to see in website layouts, but the reality is how we can split up text based on column styles. Use this snippet to place any number of columns inline with your paragraphs, where text will split evenly based on your column number.

28. CSS Fixed Footer

#footer { position: fixed; left: 0px; bottom: 0px; height: 30px; width: 100%; background: #444; } /* IE 6 */ * html #footer { position: absolute; top: expression((0-(footer.offsetHeight)+(document.documentElement.clientHeight ? document.documentElement.clientHeight : document.body.clientHeight)+(ignoreMe = document.documentElement.scrollTop ? document.documentElement.scrollTop : document.body.scrollTop))+'px'); }

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This is actually a lot more useful than it sounds, but appending a fixed footer into your website is quite simple. These footers will scroll with the user and may contain helpful information about your site or unique contact details. Ideally this would only be implemented in cases where it truly adds value to the user interface.

29. Transparent PNG Fix for IE6

.bg { width:200px; height:100px; background: url(/folder/yourimage.png) no-repeat; _background:none; _filter:progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.AlphaImageLoader(src='/folder/yourimage.png',sizingMethod='crop'); } /* 1px gif method */ img, .png { position: relative; behavior: expression((this.runtimeStyle.behavior="none")&&(this.pngSet?this.pngSet=true:(this.nodeName == "IMG" && this.src.toLowerCase().indexOf('.png')>-1?(this.runtimeStyle.backgroundImage = "none", this.runtimeStyle.filter = "progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.AlphaImageLoader(src='" + this.src + "', sizingMethod='image')", this.src = "images/transparent.gif"):(this.origBg = this.origBg? this.origBg :this.currentStyle.backgroundImage.toString().replace('url("','').replace('")',''), this.runtimeStyle.filter = "progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.AlphaImageLoader(src='" + this.origBg + "', sizingMethod='crop')", this.runtimeStyle.backgroundImage = "none")),this.pngSet=true)); }

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Using transparent images inside websites has become a very common practice. This started with gif images, but has evolved into alpha-transparent PNGs. Unfortunately older legacy versions of Internet Explorer have never supported the transparency. Adding this brief CSS snippet should clear up the problem.

30. Cross-Browser Minimum Height

#container { min-height: 550px; height: auto !important; height: 550px; }

Developers who have needed to work with min-height know all about the shady support. Many newer browsers can handle this perfectly, however Internet Explorer and older versions of Firefox do have trouble. This set of codes should provide a fix to any related bugs.

31. CSS3 Glowing Inputs

input[type=text], textarea { -webkit-transition: all 0.30s ease-in-out; -moz-transition: all 0.30s ease-in-out; -ms-transition: all 0.30s ease-in-out; -o-transition: all 0.30s ease-in-out; outline: none; padding: 3px 0px 3px 3px; margin: 5px 1px 3px 0px; border: 1px solid #ddd; } input[type=text]:focus, textarea:focus { box-shadow: 0 0 5px rgba(81, 203, 238, 1); padding: 3px 0px 3px 3px; margin: 5px 1px 3px 0px; border: 1px solid rgba(81, 203, 238, 1); }

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I really enjoy this basic custom CSS3 class because of how it overwrites the default browser behavior. Users of Chrome & Safari know about annoying input outlines in forms. Adding these properties into your stylesheet will setup a whole new design for basic input elements.

32. Style Links Based on Filetype

/* external links */ a[href^="http://"] { padding-right: 13px; background: url('external.gif') no-repeat center right; } /* emails */ a[href^="mailto:"] { padding-right: 20px; background: url('email.png') no-repeat center right; } /* pdfs */ a[href$=".pdf"] { padding-right: 18px; background: url('acrobat.png') no-repeat center right; }

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Quite the obscure bit of CSS but I love the creativity! You can determine the file type of your links using CSS selectors and implement icons as background images. These may include the various protocols (HTTP, FTP, IRC, mailto) or simply the file types themselves (mp3, avi, pdf).

33. Force Code Wraps

pre { white-space: pre-wrap; /* css-3 */ white-space: -moz-pre-wrap; /* Mozilla, since 1999 */ white-space: -pre-wrap; /* Opera 4-6 */ white-space: -o-pre-wrap; /* Opera 7 */ word-wrap: break-word; /* Internet Explorer 5.5+ */ }

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The typical pre tags are used in layouts to display large chunks of code. This is preformatted text like you would find inside Notepad or Textedit, except you’ll often notice long lines produce horizontal scrollbars. This block of CSS will force all pre tags to wrap code instead of breaking outside the container.

34. Force Hand Cursor over Clickable Items

a[href], input[type='submit'], input[type='image'], label[for], select, button, .pointer { cursor: pointer; }

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There are lots of default clickable HTML elements which do not always display the hand pointer icon. Using this set of CSS selectors you may force the pointer over a number of key elements, along with any other objects using the class .pointer.

35. Webpage Top Box Shadow

body:before { content: ""; position: fixed; top: -10px; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 10px; -webkit-box-shadow: 0px 0px 10px rgba(0,0,0,.8); -moz-box-shadow: 0px 0px 10px rgba(0,0,0,.8); box-shadow: 0px 0px 10px rgba(0,0,0,.8); z-index: 100; }

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Developers may not find a great use for this other than some pleasing aesthetics. But I really enjoy this effect and it’s definitely something unique! Simply append this CSS code targeting your body element to display a dark drop shadow fading down from the top of your webpage.

36. CSS3 Speech Bubble

.chat-bubble { background-color: #ededed; border: 2px solid #666; font-size: 35px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 10px auto; padding: 10px; position: relative; text-align: center; width: 300px; -moz-border-radius: 20px; -webkit-border-radius: 20px; -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 5px #888; -webkit-box-shadow: 0 0 5px #888; font-family: 'Bangers', arial, serif; } .chat-bubble-arrow-border { border-color: #666 transparent transparent transparent; border-style: solid; border-width: 20px; height: 0; width: 0; position: absolute; bottom: -42px; left: 30px; } .chat-bubble-arrow { border-color: #ededed transparent transparent transparent; border-style: solid; border-width: 20px; height: 0; width: 0; position: absolute; bottom: -39px; left: 30px; }

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Numerous user interface purposes come to mind when discussing speech bubbles. These could be handy in discussion comments, or creating bulletin boards, or displaying quoted text. Simply add the following classes into your stylesheet and you can find related HTML codes from this CSS3 snippets post.

37. Default H1-H5 Headers

h1,h2,h3,h4,h5{ color: #005a9c; } h1{ font-size: 2.6em; line-height: 2.45em; } h2{ font-size: 2.1em; line-height: 1.9em; } h3{ font-size: 1.8em; line-height: 1.65em; } h4{ font-size: 1.65em; line-height: 1.4em; } h5{ font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.25em; }

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I have offered lots of common syntax including browser CSS resets and a few HTML element resets. This template includes default styles for all major heading elements ranging from H1-H5. You may also consider adding H6 but I have never seen a website using all six nested headers.

38. Pure CSS Background Noise

body { background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,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); background-color: #0094d0; }

Code Source

Designers have seen this effect added into websites for a long time, although they generally use repeating tile images with alpha-transparency. However we can embed Base64 code into CSS to generate brand new images. This is the case as in the snippet above which generates a small noise texture above the body background, or you can create a customized noise background over at NoiseTextureGenerator.

39. Continued List Ordering

ol.chapters { list-style: none; margin-left: 0; } ol.chapters > li:before { content: counter(chapter) ". "; counter-increment: chapter; font-weight: bold; float: left; width: 40px; } ol.chapters li { clear: left; } ol.start { counter-reset: chapter; } ol.continue { counter-reset: chapter 11; }

Code Source

I feel this may not be an extremely popular snippet, but it does have its market among developers. There may be situations where you’ll need to continue a list of items but split into two separate UL elements. Check out the code above for an awesome CSS-only fix.

40. CSS Tooltip Hovers

a { border-bottom:1px solid #bbb; color:#666; display:inline-block; position:relative; text-decoration:none; } a:hover, a:focus { color:#36c; } a:active { top:1px; } /* Tooltip styling */ a[data-tooltip]:after { border-top: 8px solid #222; border-top: 8px solid hsla(0,0%,0%,.85); border-left: 8px solid transparent; border-right: 8px solid transparent; content: ""; display: none; height: 0; width: 0; left: 25%; position: absolute; } a[data-tooltip]:before { background: #222; background: hsla(0,0%,0%,.85); color: #f6f6f6; content: attr(data-tooltip); display: none; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; height: 32px; left: 0; line-height: 32px; padding: 0 15px; position: absolute; text-shadow: 0 1px 1px hsla(0,0%,0%,1); white-space: nowrap; -webkit-border-radius: 5px; -moz-border-radius: 5px; -o-border-radius: 5px; border-radius: 5px; } a[data-tooltip]:hover:after { display: block; top: -9px; } a[data-tooltip]:hover:before { display: block; top: -41px; } a[data-tooltip]:active:after { top: -10px; } a[data-tooltip]:active:before { top: -42px; }

Code Source

There are lots of open source jQuery-based tooltips which you can implement on your websites. But CSS-based tooltips are very rare, and this is one of my favorite snippets. Just copy this over into your stylesheet and using the new HTML5 data-attributes you can setup the tooltip text via data-tooltip.

41. Dark Grey Rounded Buttons

.graybtn { -moz-box-shadow:inset 0px 1px 0px 0px #ffffff; -webkit-box-shadow:inset 0px 1px 0px 0px #ffffff; box-shadow:inset 0px 1px 0px 0px #ffffff; background:-webkit-gradient( linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(0.05, #ffffff), color-stop(1, #d1d1d1) ); background:-moz-linear-gradient( center top, #ffffff 5%, #d1d1d1 100% ); filter:progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient(startColorstr='#ffffff', endColorstr='#d1d1d1'); background-color:#ffffff; -moz-border-radius:6px; -webkit-border-radius:6px; border-radius:6px; border:1px solid #dcdcdc; display:inline-block; color:#777777; font-family:arial; font-size:15px; font-weight:bold; padding:6px 24px; text-decoration:none; text-shadow:1px 1px 0px #ffffff; } .graybtn:hover { background:-webkit-gradient( linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(0.05, #d1d1d1), color-stop(1, #ffffff) ); background:-moz-linear-gradient( center top, #d1d1d1 5%, #ffffff 100% ); filter:progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient(startColorstr='#d1d1d1', endColorstr='#ffffff'); background-color:#d1d1d1; } .graybtn:active { position:relative; top:1px; }

Code Source

As another helpful template for web developers I have included this simplistic CSS3 buttons class. I am using the class name .graybtn which is appropriate for the colors, but this isn’t to say you couldn’t change the styles to match your own website. Check out the hex values inside a color wheel to match similar hues in different color ranges.

42. Display URLS in a Printed Webpage

@media print { a:after { content: " [" attr(href) "] "; } }

Code Source

If you run a news website or resource with lots of print material, this is possibly one of the greatest snippets you’ll ever find. Anchor links in your webpage will look and display exactly as normal. However when printed your users will be able to see the link text along with the full hyperlinked URL. This is handy when visitors need to access a webpage you’ve linked but cannot see the URL in a typical printed document.

43. Disable Mobile Webkit Highlights

body { -webkit-touch-callout: none; -webkit-user-select: none; -khtml-user-select: none; -moz-user-select: none; -ms-user-select: none; user-select: none; }

Depending on your experience working in mobile this snippet may not appear very helpful. But when accessing mobile websites in Safari and other Webkit-based engines, you’ll notice a grey box surrounds elements as you tap them. Just append these styles into your website and it should remove all native mobile browser highlights.

44. CSS3 Polka-Dot Pattern

body { background: radial-gradient(circle, white 10%, transparent 10%), radial-gradient(circle, white 10%, black 10%) 50px 50px; background-size: 100px 100px; }

Code Source

I was a bit taken back when initially finding this snippet online. But it is a really interesting method for generating CSS3-only BG patterns on the fly. I have targeted the body element as default but you could apply this onto any container div in your webpage.

45. CSS3 Checkered Pattern

body { background-color: white; background-image: linear-gradient(45deg, black 25%, transparent 25%, transparent 75%, black 75%, black), linear-gradient(45deg, black 25%, transparent 25%, transparent 75%, black 75%, black); background-size: 100px 100px; background-position: 0 0, 50px 50px; }

Code Source

Similar to the polka-dots above we can also create a full seamless checkerboard pattern. This method requires a bit more syntax to get working, but it looks flawless in all CSS3-supported browsers. Also you can change the color values from white and black to match that of your own website color scheme.

46. Github Fork Ribbon

.ribbon { background-color: #a00; overflow: hidden; /* top left corner */ position: absolute; left: -3em; top: 2.5em; /* 45 deg ccw rotation */ -moz-transform: rotate(-45deg); -webkit-transform: rotate(-45deg); /* shadow */ -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 1em #888; -webkit-box-shadow: 0 0 1em #888; } .ribbon a { border: 1px solid #faa; color: #fff; display: block; font: bold 81.25% 'Helvetiva Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0.05em 0 0.075em 0; padding: 0.5em 3.5em; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; /* shadow */ text-shadow: 0 0 0.5em #444; }

Code Source

As a big user on Github this basic code snippet blew my mind. You can quickly generate Github corner ribbons in your webpage using CSS3 transform properties. This is perfect for open source plugins or code packs which have a popular following on Github. Also great for hosted HTML/CSS/JS demos if you have an active Github repo.

47. Condensed CSS Font Properties

p { font: italic small-caps bold 1.2em/1.0em Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica; }

Code Source

The main reason web developers don’t always use this condensed font property is because not every setting is needed. But having an understanding of this shorthand may save you a lot of time and space in your stylesheets. Keep this snippet handy just in case you ever want to shorten the formatting of your font styles.

48. Paper Page Curl Effect

ul.box { position: relative; z-index: 1; /* prevent shadows falling behind containers with backgrounds */ overflow: hidden; list-style: none; margin: 0; padding: 0; } ul.box li { position: relative; float: left; width: 250px; height: 150px; padding: 0; border: 1px solid #efefef; margin: 0 30px 30px 0; background: #fff; -webkit-box-shadow: 0 1px 4px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.27), 0 0 40px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.06) inset; -moz-box-shadow: 0 1px 4px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.27), 0 0 40px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.06) inset; box-shadow: 0 1px 4px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.27), 0 0 40px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.06) inset; } ul.box li:before, ul.box li:after { content: ''; z-index: -1; position: absolute; left: 10px; bottom: 10px; width: 70%; max-width: 300px; /* avoid rotation causing ugly appearance at large container widths */ max-height: 100px; height: 55%; -webkit-box-shadow: 0 8px 16px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.3); -moz-box-shadow: 0 8px 16px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.3); box-shadow: 0 8px 16px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.3); -webkit-transform: skew(-15deg) rotate(-6deg); -moz-transform: skew(-15deg) rotate(-6deg); -ms-transform: skew(-15deg) rotate(-6deg); -o-transform: skew(-15deg) rotate(-6deg); transform: skew(-15deg) rotate(-6deg); } ul.box li:after { left: auto; right: 10px; -webkit-transform: skew(15deg) rotate(6deg); -moz-transform: skew(15deg) rotate(6deg); -ms-transform: skew(15deg) rotate(6deg); -o-transform: skew(15deg) rotate(6deg); transform: skew(15deg) rotate(6deg); }

Code Source

This page curl effect can be applied to almost any container which holds website content. Immediately I thought about image media and quoted text, but really this could be anything at all. Check out the snippet’s live demo page for a better grasp of how these page curls function.

49. Glowing Anchor Links

a { color: #00e; } a:visited { color: #551a8b; } a:hover { color: #06e; } a:focus { outline: thin dotted; } a:hover, a:active { outline: 0; } a, a:visited, a:active { text-decoration: none; color: #fff; -webkit-transition: all .3s ease-in-out; } a:hover, .glow { color: #ff0; text-shadow: 0 0 10px #ff0; }

Code Source

CSS3 text shadows offer a unique method of styling your webpage typography. And more specifically this snippet is an excellent resource for custom creative links with glowing hover effects. I doubt this effect can be pulled off elegantly in the majority of websites, but if you have the patience to get it looking nice you are sure to impress visitors.

50. Featured CSS3 Display Banner

.featureBanner { position: relative; margin: 20px } .featureBanner:before { content: "Featured"; position: absolute; top: 5px; left: -8px; padding-right: 10px; color: #232323; font-weight: bold; height: 0px; border: 15px solid #ffa200; border-right-color: transparent; line-height: 0px; box-shadow: -0px 5px 5px -5px #000; z-index: 1; } .featureBanner:after { content: ""; position: absolute; top: 35px; left: -8px; border: 4px solid #89540c; border-left-color: transparent; border-bottom-color: transparent; }

Code Source

Generally you would need to setup a background image to duplicate this effect in other browsers. But in CSS3-supported engines we can generate dynamic banners which hang off the edge of your content wrappers, all without images! These may look good attached onto e-commerce products, image thumbnails, video previews, or blog articles, to list just a few ideas.

More

Here are more articles published in the pass you may be interested in:

Final Thoughts

The frontend style language for websites has grown into a majority controller on the World Wide Web. The W3C has put out public specs for HTML5 and CSS3, deeming them as the default languages for constructing websites. Both experienced and new developers should be able to enjoy this collection and hopefully find some useful codes.

All readers should be able to copy and save any of these snippets without a required attribution. Mostly all CSS codes released today are held under open source licenses and offered free, based on the publication. I don’t claim to offer every possible CSS code you could ever want, but I’m hoping we got pretty darn close! If you have thoughts or questions about this collection feel free to share with us in the comments discussion area below.

    


22 May 19:54

3D latte foam art

by Cory Doctorow


Brian Ashcraft updates us on the astounding foam-art of Osaka barista Kazuki Yamamoto. Yamamoto has now mastered 3D foam, and is blowing my mind. Ashcraft has a series of posts documenting the journey of Yamamoto to undisputed novelty foam king of the Pacific Rim.

3D Coffee Art Reaches New, Dizzying Heights [Brian Ashcraft/Kotaku] (via Geekologie)

    


21 May 21:26

Dumping the OPAC #1 – The Project Spec

by Dave Pattern
Vforrestal

although the thought of using summon as a catalog scares me (why are book reviews titled the same as the books they review?! whygodwhy?!!!) these features are amazing, and i think would push usage a ton.

To go into a little more detail about what we’re hoping to achieve, here’s the project spec. Primarily, we’ll be creating a new library portal (currently dubbed “MyLibrary”) that will provide a bespoke view of key library services and will include the following planned functionality:

  1. the ability to view items on loan and renew them, and see details of current holds/requests and their status
  2. allow users to place hold requests from within Summon
  3. within Summon search results, highlight which items the user has previous borrowed
  4. provide easy access to module reading lists
  5. provide the user with a history of items they’ve borrowed previously from the library
  6. links to the relevant LibGuides for the user
  7. a feed of new items (books, journals, journal articles, etc) tailored to the modules that the student is studying, based on analysis of circulation and e-resource activity
  8. offer an opt-in service that will track usage within Summon and the link resolver, so that the user can re-run previous searches and locate articles that they’ve viewed
  9. generate bespoke “you might be interested in…” suggestions based on the user’s recent borrowing
  10. extend the functionality of the reading list software to allow students to create their own lists of items found in Summon

The new library portal will replace the existing library page within Blackboard (which is currently a static page of links) and will integrate with the student portal to provide an overview of the user’s library account.
Development work started about 2 weeks ago and the aim is to launch the initial version of the portal (with the functionality marked in bold) by mid-June. The remaining functionality will be gradually iterated into the library portal during the 2013/14 academic year.

21 May 21:10

How-To: Kitty Cat Donuts

by Haley Pierson-Cox
Vforrestal

want for my bday, in lieu of cake.

mypapercrane_cat_donuts_01Transform plain donuts into squee-worthy treats with this awesome and adorable cat donut tutorial!

Read the full article on MAKE