Page Affairs

Browser Testing

An overview of the various ways to test web pages in multiple browsers, from virtualization software to a number of free, online tools.

Fluid, Elastic, Fantastic!

A fluid-elastic web page combines the best of fixed-width and fluid layouts in a way that beautifully adapts to a range of browser conditions and user needs. This post shows how to construct a fluid-elastic layout and how to ensure that images scale nicely with the rest of the design.

Choosing a CMS

An overview of the kinds of web content management systems that are available, how they differ conceptually, and possible reasons for choosing one over another.

Bookmarking Without JS

A simple post on my experiments with adding social bookmarking links to my website without using messy JavaScript code.

Running PHP on HTML Pages

A simple guide to running PHP scripts on pages with a .html or .htm file extenson.

Simple Tips on Containing Floats

The float property of CSS is a powerful way to lay out the elements of a web page. Floating an element can cause some unexpected layout results. Floats often need to be “contained”; and, fortunately, there are some easy ways to do this, as demonstrated in this post.

Grammar vs Usage

I was quite interested to find this old web article on the distinction between Grammar and Usage. The author acknowledges that the definitions offered in the article are somewhat “tendentious”, but they are interesting food for thought.

Enhance Your Site with PHP Includes

A simple post on how “PHP includes” can be used in a similar way to external style sheets—allowing elements that appear on multiple pages to be controlled from one location.

Tips on Character Encoding

This post provides a simple introduction to character encoding, character references and entity references, so that you will be able to add any character to your web page with confidence.

Why I Choose HTML 4.01

An explanation of why I have decided to use HTML 4.01 instead of XHTML.

Create Your Own Simple RSS Feed

Fri, 01 May 2009 23:00:00 +1100

Typically, blogging software (like WordPress) and content management systems come with built-in RSS feeds that update automatically.

But what if you have a simple site without either of these, and you would like to provide an RSS feed? Knowing nothing about RSS myself, I decided to have a go at creating my own simple RSS feed. It turned out to be very easy, as this post explains…

Adapting a WordPress Theme

Wed, 30 Apr 2009 23:00:00 +1100

WordPress makes it ridiculously easy to set up its software on your own site. However, integrating the blog’s look into your site’s design is another matter. This post outlines, in simple terms, how the default WordPress ‘theme’ can be adapted to match the look of your site.