Want to have a contact form open up in an overlay window and submit using ajax in WordPress?
I did too. It sounded simple enough, but like most webby things it was a right palaver to get it all working properly.
Step by step instructions below.
I hope it saves you some time, but if you know a different or better way, please let me know. Continue reading
I’m redesigning my website. I want to add more texture and subtlety and tighten up the typography. Here’s where I’m at right now. You like?
Inspired by the post When Visual Style Gets In The Way, I sat down for an hour and worked on these designs for the iPhone’s Voice Memo app.
I wanted to increase the user feedback, make the interface easier to understand and ditch the 50′s microphone. I like labels on my icons and wanted to exploit the crisp display on the device.
Monitoring audio levels - the default state on opening the app
Recording a voice memo
Do you think it’s an improvement?
[Updated 26 Oct]
I’ve been working on setting up an ecommerce site for a client using Big Commerce. As ecommerce solutions go, it’s pretty good – I’ve worked with significantly poorer software that’s for sure.
Customisation is limited on the hosted version, but there’s still plenty you can do with CSS. However, one niggle for me is that it does not output any code to help you indicate to your visitors which section they are currently viewing.
Following the instructions below, you should end up with ‘class=”ActiveSection”‘ being added by jQuery to the active list item or active parent list item in ‘#SideCategoryList’ or ‘#SideShopByBrand’. So instead of outputting
it will output
1 |
when you’re browsing products in categories or brands. Wow 
Continue reading
I booked a stand at the Brighton and Hove Business Show one week before the exhibition. A week in which I was flat out with client work during the day. So, I spent 24 hours over that week getting my act together. Here’s what happened…
At the SCIP event last month, the group leader asked the community organisations if they had any specific problems they wanted addressing.
“Accessibility,” said one man. “What do you mean?” “You know, blind people, that kind of thing.”
Ian shifted in his chair, and then spoke. “Do you have a problem with the site? Are people coming to you, complaining that they can’t access it?”
They weren’t, and a conversation developed. What kind of people visit the site? For what? It’s a radio website, so would partially-sighted people be coming through the site, or through streaming players, or iTunes? Is there any evidence of people using screen readers to reach the site?
How useful is it to focus on blind people when we think about accessibility?
For us, accessibility is a broader concept. It’s about all the different ways people might want to access your site. If you have events, will people want to view them on the move? Do you need some mobile pages?
Is there lots of good information on your site? Will people be wanting to print it out? If so, you should have good print stylesheets to make the printed pages look good and not waste paper.
I like to use a computer-based calendar. I don’t want to visit your website to find out about new events. Can I subscribe to your calendar?
And what about news? I like to read mine as email. Can I get news from your site through email?
This is accessibility. Making sure your site is accessible to all your users in the way they want to interact with it. And that means blind people with screen readers. But it also means a great deal more.