Usability and a Simple JavaScript hovering menu
by drew on December 5, 2009
Many web developers ask ‘what is usability?’. This is one of those topics that I can explain, but it may be easier to demonstrate. My this experiences have led to some principles; one of them is that if I’m going to build it, it must be usable. Unfortunately, many sites that I like, that tout usability, screw up one important concept that annoys me greatly.
I ask myself, “when using a menu, why do I have to drag my mouse from one button to the next, and fear losing the menu if I cross it’s border anywhere?” Some menus are just annoying because they disappear mid mouse move, some are extremely hard to use because of several layers of menus, some I have resorted to using `tabs` to get to the correct menu item. It’s unfortunate that people can’t get this right.
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Scribd and Slide mode : Why is my height wrong?
by drew on July 29, 2009
While recently using Scribd‘s services, I came across a very nasty bug, and a nice clean fix. Scribd allows developers to tap into a great, but somewhat basic API. One of these settings allows a developer to set a default ‘mode’ before the API then builds the flash calls necessary to display the document. The issue comes up when you choose the ‘slide’ mode as the loading view. No matter what ‘height’ you set, with ‘auto_size’ set to false, the height will adjust to the wrong height.
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Making a better notification plugin: jQuery
by drew on July 22, 2009
I find myself at a crossroads. I really like using jQuery, and I really like not having to write my own plugins as there are some really good ones out there. But I have run into a problem when it comes to a notification system. Let’s take a step back and discuss the purpose for a minute.
** Update 7/29/2009**
I now have a page dedicated to this at http://www.alldorks.com/wordpress/notify where you can also find the source code repository.
Slowly and surely
by drew on July 11, 2009
I’m slowly but surely getting this site up and running to where I want it to be. Please leave feedback if you are having any issues with it. I may be having an announcement soon about a new JavaScript Framework I’m working on that relies on other open sourced tools like jQuery. Also, quite a few other things in the works, like a usable hovering menu that I made. In any case, enjoy the site as I construct it!
Geedew going through some changes
by drew on June 1, 2009
So I have finally been able to spend some time on one of my own sites! Hurray for me right? For the time being, you may be seeing some weird illusions in the design… and you will notice that some links at the top are not working. It’s all in the works, I’m just happy I have time to work on it!
Perfecting the Linux User Desktop
by drew on March 8, 2009
The linux desktop over the years has been a large struggle for many users. I hear many complaints from people that have ‘tried’ linux out and they seem to all come to the conclusion that it is difficult or even impossible to use. The unfortunate part about most of these complaints, is that they are reiterating something they read 10 years ago, or something their friend who knows computers becaues he is a ‘gamer’ told him so.
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jQuery Dialog Shadow Issues.
by drew on March 1, 2009
While working on a dialog in the new jQuery UI 1.6rc6. I have come accross an issue.
If you were to open a dialog, and then dynamically change the content in the dialog, the shadow border will not resize. The problem is, the code does not ‘know’ the box is larger, and is not able to watch for the changes. Their have been some solutions that I have found to solve this, like turning off shadows, etc. But I think I have a better one, a 3-line solution so to speak
Go into your code, mine is in my jquery-ui-personalized-1.6rc6.js file… Also could be in ui.dialog.js etc.
Inside the code (mine is line 4218) after this function
$.widget("ui.dialog", {
_init: function() {
add this function
refresh: function() {
this._refreshShadow(1);
},
Then from within your code you can call something like this…
$("#dialogbox").dialog("refresh");
Check for updates, I may write a drop-in style patch so the coding isn’t necessary.
Enjoy!
Introducing my new projects site, all dorks!
by drew on February 2, 2009
As I start to push more bloggin on my end (Yes, 8 hours of work a day and 3 hours of school at night, two dogs and a lovely wife are just not enough for me to handle), I am branching out to a site I have had for a while that I haven’t really done much on.
The goal of the site is to host all of the ideas that I have in my head and that will in the end help motivate me to get them done and worked on… if individuals decide to comment on them 
I will attempt, at my best, to keep the projects code clean and easy to follow, along with good documentation.
A few may be very helpful to some (jCritic, jSave, jSuite) so as I get them done, I will defitely get them on there with working demos etc.
In the end, enjoy!
Announcing jSuite!
by drew on January 18, 2009
Ok, so over the past few months I have been working on a nice little package that I am calling jSuite. jSuite is a JavaScript library that utilizes much of the the jQuery UI platform. But it takes it one step further. It is also using some YUI CSS files for resetting, fonts, etc. Not just that it drops in the 960.css grid for the overall layout of the page. And to make matters better, it has a PNG fix built in for IE 6. And if you think that is just too much… it also has a built in debugger that uses firebug. But wait, it has a standalone firebug installation that allows it to work on IE6 and IE7! So you can use the debugger like you would in firebug to see the console, but in IE. There is much to do with it, but it’s pretty stable. I don’t have all of my notes ready for the site and documentation, but for early grabs check here…
http://wiki.github.com/geedew/jsuite
The code is all up and should be working… there is a test.html that I am turning into a full working demo. Much work is still in the works with it, and I have to upgrade to jQuery 1.3 now!
Bamboo Gone Wild: TiddlyWiki Theme
by drew on January 8, 2009
I wanted to post this for others, since I really liked making it for my personal use. I am sure many others will like it too!
Of course you can Download it here!