HTML5 Notes: My First Time Using the Canvas Element

Posted on by Rob Larsen

Quick verdict? It’s fun.

The long verdict (albeit one not base on the work I did here?) The accessibility concerns are valid and will need to be addressed before we end up with a replay of Flash circa 2000. And no one wants that.

Anyway, the example I did do for the demo is actually one of the use cases imagined when the Canvas element was introduced. I took a simple data table and turned it into a simple chart. This is obviously not the most complicated, impressive example of the technology, but it’s an easy one to digest so it’s a perfect way to highlight the technology as part of a 45 minute presentation. Especially since I’ve got to run through another five or six features of the spec.

Anyway, here’s the example.
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As If URL Shorteners Alone Weren’t Bad Enough, Now They’ve Mated With URL Hijacking Frames

Posted on by Rob Larsen

The Digg Bar is the most obvious (and noxious) example, but the new trend of URL shorteners coupled with a URL hijacking frame is spreading alarmingly. More and more I’m seeing this odious technique. These things break bookmarks, wreck navigation cues from the URL and are generally sleazy and rude.

And there’s how to beat them. Insert this code in the head of your document and frames will disappear:

Best Frame-buster JavaScript

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HTML 5 Notes: The Video Element Rocks

Posted on by Rob Larsen

Now if we could just get everyone to support it.
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HTML 5 Notes: In Case a Client Asks… No Full Screen Video

Posted on by Rob Larsen

I’m going to be posting a series of notes on the production of my first HTML 5 demo page. I’m doing a presentation on it at work (to be shared here, of course) and I want to capture my thoughts as I have them in the process of producing some fully formed HTML5 content.

One of the things I’m looking at with interest is the new Video element. Anything that simplifies embedding video on a web page gets a thumbs up in my book.
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JavaScript Perfromance Tip- Don’t Test Against obj.length. Test Against a Local Variable.

Posted on by Rob Larsen

I saw it yesterday in some code I was debugging and I realized I’ve become hyper sensitive to this common pattern:

var anchors = document.getElementsByTagName('a');
if (anchors.length > 0){
    for (var i=0; i < anchors.length; i++) {
        addEvent( anchors[i], 'click',  trackLinks );
    };
};

Why am I sensitive to it? Well, what are some of the things we know about JavaScript performance?
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