Sweet! Now I'll never have to join facebook

Google just saved me the effort. Thanks Goog!

I’ll have to take a look and see if I can make something real outta this…

Microformats for you and me

After nearly 3 months sitting on my bookshelf, I got around to

What and How

Very simply, Microformats give our already semantic xhtml elements an extra layer of meaning when using a common set of attribute values. Consider the case of an “hCalendar”, a microformat that gives xhtml the structure of an events calendar. An events calendar is simply a set of events. This relationship is easily described by a parent-children relationship. The problem is that xhtml can easily describe parent-children relationships, yet it cannot semantically describe this calendar-events relationship. Microformats do just that… they provide a way to describe this common relationship through the use of attribute values.

To create an “hCalendar”, you would write something like the following:

> <div class="vcalendar">
> 
> > <span class="vevent"/>  
> > <div class="vevent"/>  
> > <dl class="vevent"/>
> 
> </div>

As you can see, the supplementary calendar-events structure is added by setting specific attribute values, in this case ‘vcalendar’ and ‘vevent’. Microformats use exiting attributes like ‘class’ and ‘rel’ as hooks for this structure, in the same way these attributes can be used as hooks for additional CSS information. Additionally, these attributes can be applied to whichever element you choose*. I demonstrated the use of the same attribute/value pair (class=“vevent”) on the ‘span’, ‘div’, and ‘dl’ elements in the example above.

[* The rules for applying attributes to elements are the same as the existing xhtml spec]

Why you should use them

While I foresee a wide array of future uses for Microformats, there are limited practical applications today. That being said, the small number does not mean they have limited value; their use can provide substantial value. For example: later this week I am going to re-write the concert-listing page for my orchestra website. I am going to use the hCalendar Microformat to code this season’s events. I will then use an open-source converter to allow users to download a iCal file of this calendar on the fly.

Why would I do this? Because it’s advantageous. Using the hCalendar Microformat I can…

I just killed WordPress

Well, that was kinda fun. I was trying to create a post, and when after I edited a <pre>, something I did killed WordPress within Firefox on my MacBook. So I went inside and tried it on my frankenmac, and Firefox died there… three times. Odd. So I turned on my trusty old PC, and it crashed Firefox there too!

Finally, I opened Opera for Windows and it brought up a post with all the categories and title set, but with an empty text box. Guess I have to delete that post, and try again! Boo!

Firefox for Mac and displaying small font sizes

So I had a problem a while back where I thought Firefox for Mac was picking up some left-over or un-overridden size styles, while the other browsers were not. It turns out that it wasn’t actually my problem.

While all of the other browsers that I tested… for both Windows and Mac display the default font (serif) set to .8em as glyphs that are 9 pixels tall, Firefox for Mac displays glyphs that are 8 pixels tall, but with 1 pixel of anti-aliasing on top. The difference of one pixel usually doesn’t mean much, but when dealing with font-sizes that small, it makes a big visual difference.

I submitted a Mozilla bug report which has not yet been picked up, but I’m not sure if there’s anything to be done, especially if the rendering engine is at all based on the system software (doubtful, since none of the other browsers work the same way). I wonder if the release of MacOSX Leopard is going to affect this.

Gotta love the Mozilla people, though. It’s such a relief that you can even submit a bug report for something like this. A chance for actual interaction, and a chance to better the product. I only wish Microsoft would pay a little attention.

Not the worst movie ever, and the worst

I know the title isn’t English… but I’m a little out of it after what I just watched.

Not that I really need to say this, but between writing two blog posts, doing some XSLT exercises, playing with the cat, and a few other random things, I only ended up looking up at Snakes on a Plane about 15 or so times. I still thought it was terrible, but I think that I saw just the right amount to make it as bearable as possible.

For the record, I think I saw what I consider the worst movie ever the other night. Went to see Rob Zombie’s remake of Halloween, and I was really excited about it. I really like his music, and thought that he would do a great job with it. Not even close. I had so many problems with it that I’ve tried to block it out of memory. There was a point near the end where I felt… I felt almost claustrophobic, and wanted to get out. The only other time that has happened to me was when my parents took me to see Evita… and I found out that musical, and that they would never stop singing.

I would feel wrong if I made a statement like that without supporting it, so let me just point out that you see every single killing full-frame. No interesting camera angles, and nothing is left to the imagination. You simply see a killing machine going about his business without any real interest. I’ve seen Itchy and Scratchy episodes with more passion. But that’s all I am going to say… I refuse to keep going, as I won’t be able to stop.

Serves me right… everyone knows that Halloween begins and ends with Garfield’s Halloween Special (which I am saving for Halloween night itself!)