JavaScript Workshop

10 Ways to Speed Web Page Download Time

Frank Stepanski — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 06:42:11 +0000

We all want or pages to load as fast as possible. But when we develop our site, time constraints may prevent us from properly designing it for speed. Here are a few tips that should help: 1. Lay out your pages with CSS, not tables 2. Don't use images to display text 3. Call up decorative images through [...]

The Seven Deadly Sins of Landing Page Usability

Frank Stepanski — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 06:05:52 +0000

There are seven serious usability mistakes that most corporate websites commit. Interestly, these common errors are often products of sound principles that Web designers mistakenly apply: 1. Too Much Introductory Text on Your Landing Page The worst kind of filler copy usually starts with, "Welcome to our site", click on the blah, blah, etc. Telling people [...]

Color Theory and Web Design

Frank Stepanski — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 08:57:05 +0000

Color theroy is a set of principles that enables the creation of harmonious color combinations via the comprehension of color relationships. Making things more complicated is the fact that color theory doesn't take tints, tones and shades into account, instead it concerns itself solely with the base hues themselves. There are significant psychological aspects to [...]

Bookmark your Webpage?

Frank Stepanski — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 07:51:13 +0000

I'm not a fan of creating a script that only works in one browser or differently in other browser(s). I had to create a link on a website for work website that made a URL their home page. This annoying task proved difficult as there wasn't much good information online and it seems only [...]

John Resig Interview at Boagworld Podcast

Frank Stepanski — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 13:51:14 +0000

In a recent Boagworld podcast, Paul Boag interviews John Resig, creator of jQuery. Boagworld is a weekly podcast show that talks about topics for people who design, develop and run websites. In this snipet of the full weekly podcast, Paul asks John questions such as: when is it appropriate to use a JavaScript library; do people [...]

Talking Data: Unravel the SQL and Database Mysteries

Frank Stepanski — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 09:10:07 +0000

Understanding how databases work and learning basic SQL (Structured Query Language) techniques is crucial for any type of web development that requires you to store your data in a database. No matter what DBMS you use for your own website (SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle, etc.), the basics of design and retrieving data are the same. [...]

The Why and Which of JavaScript Libraries Podcast

Frank Stepanski — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 03:39:05 +0000

John Resig, creator of jQuery and author of Pro JavaScript Techniques, spoke at @Media 2008 in London about the different types of JavaScript libraries such as Prototype, jQuery, Yahoo! UI, and Dojo and why should one be used. John compares how each library can help the developer with DOM, Events, Animations, Ajax as [...]

JavaScript: Unobtrusive Programming @ LVS Online.com

Frank Stepanski — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 05:22:10 +0000

I am teaching another online class called JavaScript: Unobtrusive Programming at LVS Online.com. This 6-week class will be covering many of the topics I have covered on this website, but with greater detail and, of course, includes on-one-one assistance. Topics Covered: Week 1: Unobtrusive Scripting: Three Layers of a Web Page Week 2: The DOM: Referencing and [...]

Creating an Internet Radio Talk Show

Frank Stepanski — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 00:09:49 +0000

Recently, I was given the responsibility at my current employer to create an internet radio show. This was of course based upon my vast experience in radio engineering and broadcasting which mainly consisted of listening to Howard Stern for years. After hours of online research and calling a few vendors, I was able to purchase [...]

An Unobtrusive Image Viewer using jQuery

Frank Stepanski — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:51:30 +0000

Continuing from my last presentation on jQuery basics, I thought I would take what I have covered so far and create a little useful example. This jQuery Image Viewer can be considered and updated to the DOM Image Gallery I discussed last season from Jeremy Keith's DOM Scripting book. jQuery methods are used to [...]

DHTML in Review

Frank Stepanski — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 01:27:28 +0000

DHTML is a buzzword that came onto the scene during the version 4 browsers and tried to bring the "sexy back" to web development. Even though web standards, accessiblity and unobtrusiveness were still in their infantcy, it did make the web world more aware of what you could do on the client (browser) before sending [...]

jQuery Selectors Cheatsheet

Frank Stepanski — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 22:02:30 +0000

The people at Refcardz have a great cheatsheet on jQuery Selectors (.pdf). jQuery selectors are one of the most important aspects of the jQuery library. These selectors use familiar CSS syntax to allow page authors to quickly and easily identify any set of page elements to operate upon with the jQuery library methods. [...]

Ajax Kung Fu Meets Accessibility Feng Shui Podcast

Frank Stepanski — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 01:55:10 +0000

Jeremy Keith and Derek Featherstone talked about how Ajax and Accessibility can live in harmony with each other at SXSW07. Topics covered include: progressive enhancement, the 3 layers of the web (content, presentation and behavior), thin vs. rich clients, XMLHttpRequest object, patterns, screen readers, and much more. Here are their presentation notes (.pdf) as well.

10 Ways to Increase Website Stickiness

Frank Stepanski — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 03:27:53 +0000

Not only are users browsing your website looking for a reason to engage, but they are speaking to a coworker, watching TV, holding a conference call...you get the point. Internet users are notorious for multi-tasking and, in addition, there are many options out there for users to find the same information on your Web [...]

SQL Injection Defenses

Frank Stepanski — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 18:35:08 +0000

SQL Injection is subset of the an unverified/unsanitized user input vulnerability, and the idea is to convince the application to run SQL code that was not intended. If the application is creating SQL strings naively on the fly and then running them, it's straightforward to create some real surprises. For people who use databases for web [...]

Eloquent JavaScript

Frank Stepanski — Mon, 19 May 2008 03:24:58 +0000

Marijn Haverbeke has put together an online book titled Eloquent JavaScript that not only has some nice content, but also incorporates a really cool integrated interface for editing and running the example programs. I would categorize these lessons as beginner to advanced so there is something for every level of developer. Introduction Basic JavaScript: values, variables, and [...]

April 08 Meeting - jQuery Basics pt2

Frank Stepanski — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 09:39:30 +0000

A whole component of the jQuery library is dedicated to the detection and reaction of standard browser events which are likely to occur frequently (during every visit to our page) when visitors view our pages. One event that is used almost every time the jQuery library is engaged is the ready event. This can [...]

Beginning Web Development with ASP.NET @ LVS Online.com

Frank Stepanski — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:49:32 +0000

I am teaching a third online class called Beginning Web Development with ASP.NET at LVS Online. This 6-week class will focus on the understanding the basics of how the .NET framework works with creating ASP.NET web applications using the C# programming langauage. Students will use the free web development tool Visual Web Developer [...]

Future of Web Interfaces Podcast

Frank Stepanski — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 06:26:27 +0000

Cameron Adams, web developer and author of Simply JavaScript gave a presentation at Web Directions North 08 about how JavaScript has affected the design and development of web interfaces. Here are the presentation (.pdf) slides he used as well.

The Ultimate CSS Reference Book

Frank Stepanski — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 01:38:16 +0000

A a great reference book (.pdf) on everything you would ever need to know about CSS. A great read. Note: For short reference checkout out the Core CSS RefCardz: Part 1 and Part 2 (.pdf) by Molly Holzschalg. To learn more about CSS, check out CSS Basics 101 - Video Tutorials. Learning while watching is [...]