I’m Presenting at WordCamp Boston January 23, 2010

Posted on by Rob Larsen

I’m excited to announce that I’m going to be speaking at the 1st WordCamp Boston. I’ll be talking about the marriage of two of my favorite technologies: WordPress and HTML5.

The Future is Now: WP Themes With HTML 5

Excited about HTML5? Wish you could start using the new semantic elements right now? You can. In this presentation Rob Larsen will show you how to create cross-browser, HTML5 enhanced WordPress themes using nothing more than a little extra JavaScript, basic WordPress knowledge and some knowledge of the new elements.

Check out the rest of the program.

It takes place January 23, 2010 and is being held at:

Microsoft New England Research and Development Center
1 Memorial Drive
Cambridge, MA 02142

Thanks once again to Microsoft for hosting pretty much every technology group in the area 🙂

Microsoft’s CSS Filters, Could The Syntax Be Any Uglier?

Posted on by Rob Larsen

The answer is no 🙂

While some of the functionality of MS’s CSS filters is actually pretty useful (sue me, I need to use them from time to time), the implementation is ugly as hell. Ryan, one of the smart guys here that helps me fool people into thinking I know what I’m doing, had to implement the Microsoft gradient filter as a (brilliant) hack for a performance issue on a small subset of IE browsers. We were discussing the solution and then he called up the code.
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What I Read This Week (jQuery’s live(), algorithms, IE8 + VPN, Chrome )

Posted on by Rob Larsen

These are the posts that have kept me engaged during my quiet moments this week.

Demystifying jQuery .live() and why it’s generally faster than .bind()

A short article looking at jQuery’s .live().

List of Algorithms

Just what it says it is- a big-ass list of algorithms. I wish more had source code.

Using a VPN Clobbers IE 8 Performance

The folks at HttpWatch detail the ins and outs of the way that IE8 handles their enhanced connection rules. The browser is set to use 6 open connections, but only when a broadband connection is in use, so there are situations where it can fall back to using just 2.

(down)Loading JavaScript as strings
Steve Souders is a font of performance wisdom. I wish I’d been able to check out the Velocity Online Conference today.

Technically speaking, what makes Google Chrome fast?
Front end engineers can learn much from the people who make browsers. That’s the case here. The video content is excellent.

Computer science in JavaScript: Base64 encoding
This is a great series, moving the discussion of JS beyond the browser and the DOM and into a more primary, and therefore really interesting, realm.

Great New Google Webmaster Tools Feature – “Site Performance”

Posted on by Rob Larsen

You use Webmaster Tools, right? If you rely on Google traffic in any way shape or form you really should be using it.

It’s an invaluable service and it just got better with the addition of a new, performance specific feature. From the Google Webmaster Central blog:
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Want to Test Your Site Without a Mouse For Accessibility’s Sake? These Keyboard Shortcuts Will Help

Posted on by Rob Larsen

Once thing that’s vital to testing the accessibility of a web app or site is running through it without using a mouse. If you can successfully work a site or app without touching the mouse, you’ve gone a long way towards ensuring that your site is available to a wide range of people and devices.

One thing that’s difficult about that process is most of us rely far too much on the mouse when browsing. Which is where these lists of keyboard shortcuts for Firefox, and Internet Explorer come in handy.
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