Binary by Accident Archives

A creature so stupid...

Not to trivialize the seriousness of Dorothea's post, but you gotta love Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal references. Forget the American Express Card, never leave home without a towel.

10:37:55 PM

Cool Excel File

John Walkenbach has posted a wonderful file that shows both the beauty of mathematics and the power of Excel. He even gives you the code that performs this magic!

6:33:20 PM

Book Review: Eric Meyer on CSS

"We review Eric Meyer's latest book on CSS. The master is back blazing a bug-free path through the maze we know as CSS." [WebReference News]

I have his other two books, and can't wait to grab this one as well. If you have an interest in learning CSS, get one of his books.

7:31:13 PM

TV Schedule

The Onion: On TV Tonight

9:03:51 PM

Legalized hacking

"Congress is preparing to consider a proposal that would authorize copyright holders to disable PCs used for illicit file trading--a step critics say amounts to vigilante justice." [CNET News.com]

How can they (record companies, movie studios, etc.) tell the difference between a pirated song and one that was legally installed on my computer? Their inability to do so may be why the proposed bill eliminates almost all liability when they screw up.

8:50:15 PM

Baptism Pictures

Pictures from Christopher's baptism day, July 21.

9:31:16 PM

The truth is out there

R. Buckminster Fuller. "Sometimes I think we're alone. Sometimes I think we're not. In either case, the thought is staggering." [Quotes of the Day]

6:02:58 AM

Accessibility Wrap-Up

I'll be creating an accessibility statement in the next few days. I'll also be trying to figure out how to add search - I'm not sure where to start since the instructions Mark gave don't apply to my situation. Once I get the search up and running, I'll make sure the form elements are labeled.

This has been an entirely enjoyable series. It's easy to do, is the right thing to do, and certainly doesn't limit your design creativity. Thanks, Mark! I hope that over time you'll give us more tips and hints to improve our web design, including that pesky longdesc attribute.

10:16:12 PM

Tradition

Tomorrow we baptize Christopher. He'll be wearing the same christening gown that his great-grandmother wore when she was baptized. Her 4 children were baptized in it, as well as her 11 grandchildren, including Maureen. Christopher is her first great-grandchild (although 2 more are coming in the next 2 months) and we're continuing the tradition. Then the gown will be sent to Connecticut for great-grandchild #2, and back here to Findlay for #3.

Unfortunately, Great-Grandma wasn't feeling up to making the trip to be here for the baptism, but she certainly is here in spirit.

10:07:13 PM

Minor Radio Frustration

One of the things that make me hesitate in customizing the code generated by Radio is that when (if) Userland goes back and makes their own changes, my changes are overwritten. Which is to be expected and doesn't cause any irritation.

It's when the update changes valid code to invalid that can be frustrating. I don't know how many times I've trudged through the code changing unescaped characters to their escaped variety (in the code used for comments) so that this page would validate. Granted it's a quick fix, but grx!

9:33:19 PM

Profanity and Prayer

Mark Twain. "Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer." (Courtesy: Quotes of the Day)

6:05:39 AM

New Pictures

I've posted three new baby pictures.

8:58:33 PM

Until We Meet Again

Shelley Powers aka Burningbird is stopping her weblog. I've often wondered how she managed to write professionally and still take the time to craft her blog. The answer was that she didn't - her for-pay writing suffered.

I'm holding out hope that we'll continue to see her pop up from time-to-time to keep us in line, speak out against injustice, share a strong opinion, sneak in a cat picture, or let us know when her latest book is published.

Take the time and peruse her archives. Lots of thought-provoking good reads are in there.

8:55:14 PM

Day 27 - Using Real Headers

The latest accessibility tip has to do with using headers to organize your page. Already done here - when I get a few moments free, I may decide to add headings (titles, if you will) to each post. I may not, since writing good titles requires creativity and good writing skills - things which I lack.

8:46:40 PM

Day 26 - Using Relative Font Sizes

Accessibilty tip, Day 26: Using relative font sizes allows all users to make the text here the size they prefer (the ability to do so depends on which browser you use, but most browsers can). There are many practical problems with implementing relative-sized fonts for readers, but I've solved them slightly differently than Mark did - simply because of how simple the styling of this weblog is. Plus, I don't serve a stylesheet to Netscape 4, so I don't have to worry about that (yet). So, in short, the text here looks good by default, but if you prefer smaller or larger text, have at it - it's up to you.

10:44:07 PM

Secret Police

Shelley Powers: Little Brother is Watching You.

The secret police and informants are forming. This is shameful - generation after generation of Americans fought for our freedom, and programs like this aim to take it away. I'm all for protection from terrorism, but not at the cost of competely eroding our Constitution.

10:31:05 PM

Day 24 and 25

Latest accessibility tips:

1. Day 24: It's necessary to provide proper alt text for image maps. Fortunately for me, I gave up messing around with image maps in 1998. So, no work required.
2. Day 25: Mark gives some teriffic ideas on how to spruce up horizontal rules while still keeping their semantic meaning. Use an image (with appropriate alt text of course) and CSS to display the image but hide the default horizontal rule display. Quite neat! For my purposes, I use a single horizontal rule just below the current posts. I'm boring and don't mind the default look for this use.

6:26:01 AM

Paul Long

I guess I'm in a nostalgic mood. I just happened to see that Paul Long died yesterday. Now, that name won't mean anything to you unless you grew up in Pittsburgh. But, he was the co-anchor of the 6 and 11 PM Pittsburgh news on WTAE, back when local newscasts mattered. His spot on that broadcast started before I was born and ended 5 years after I left Pittsburgh to go to college. His demeanor and voice were authoritative and calming - making you want to trust him. He was a local institution.

9:11:29 PM

Favorite Baseball Game

Baseball has always been a favorite game of mine, especially growing up. We would sit out on the porch and listen to the Pittsburgh Pirates play on KDKA. I really only distinctly remember one game that I listened to. The Pirates were losing going into the bottom of the 9th inning and had only 1 hit all day They somehow scored 5 runs to win it. And, per his routine, Pirates play-by-play man Lanny Frattere, after calling the last out yelled, "The Pirates have won, and there was noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo doubt about it!" This was a bunch of hooey, of course, but quite satisfying at that.

Well, just the other day I found Retrosheet, a resource that has more baseball statistics, game recaps, and play-by-play accounts than you can shake a stick at. In less than 10 minutes, I found the boxscore and play-by-play of this game, even though I wasn't positive which year it was played (I did know it was on or around Memorial Day and played against the LA Dodgers). Ain't the Internet great!

10:47:28 AM

Day 23: Using Alt Text

Today's accessibilty tip deals with making images usable for screen readers and text-only browsers. They also are handy for visual browsers, since a floating tooltip appears by default when you mouse over an image. My template already includes alt text for all the images. Ever wondered what the # after the date and time of the post is? Point at it with your mouse and a description will pop up.

Before this series started, I thought using alt text was the easiest accessibility aid to use - turns out there are several simpler things, but this is still pretty easy.

Later: I went back and changed the alt text - too much "Click here" in the templates. So, while I was mucking about in the Radio app, I added an access key to the macro (radio.macros.mailTo) that generates the envelope icon and link.

6:29:44 AM

Day 22 - Using Real Lists

Today's accessibility tip, using real links, made me think I had another day off, since I use blogrolling.com. Unfortunatley, that means JavaScript, which is unavailable for some browsers, or disabled intentionally by some users. Whoops - must fix!

The solution I opted for: providing more content for those without JavaScript. Huh? Well, the reason I use blogrolling.com is so I don't have to manually edit my blogroll as it changes. So, I looked for a solution that wouldn't require me to manually keep my list. I partially suceeded.

The majority of my favorites have XML versions being picked up in my Radio news aggregator. I have many more sites in my aggregator than I have on my blogrolling.com list. So, by adding a macro to my template that calls my subscription info (made visible only to those without JavaScript), you get almost triple the links I like compared to those with JavaScript enabled. I then added, by hand, the 3 links that I couldn't find an XML feed for. An acceptable solution.

Now, to get Radio to create a properly marked up list, I had to wade into a Radio macro and change tags to list items. I'm not going to list the details, but if anyone is interested I can tell you (hint: look in html.data.standardMacros.opmlToBlogroll).

8:25:09 PM

I've fallen behind on following Mark Pilgrim's accessibility tips, so here goes:

1. Day 16: This one was easy - I just don't open new windows when you click a link. I'm also not terribly fond of the checkbox a lot of sites are sporting where you give instructions on how to open links (in a new window or not). However, that because I don't care to have that ability, so it's a personal preference sort of thing.
2. Day 17: Define acronyms (and abbreviations). This is another tip (along with adding titles to your links) that takes work to apply every day. But, a cursory examination of the last few days worth of posts doesn't reveal any acronyms that I've used.
3. Day 18: Adding a proper caption to my calendar took a few minutes, but I'm clumsy moving through the actual Radio application.
4. Day 19: The days of the week in the calendar are now proper table headers.
5. Day 20: A summary for a table is like alternate text for an image - it's really not optional - just do it. So I did. Painless and behind-the-scenes.
6. Day 21: No spacer images were used in the creation of this weblog. Therefore, I get a day off.

8:14:47 PM

I've added a few new pictures of Christopher. 6:23:24 AM

The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived, Ted Williams, died today at the age of 83. 4:54:08 PM

I'm officially accident-prone. For the second straight summer, I have managed to burn my right hand. I'm right-handed.

Last year my lawn mower got stuck in my neighbor's chain link fence. So being, the safety conscious person I am, I turn off the mower while trying to get it loose. Still stuck. So, I bend over and try to work on it in close. I put one hand on the fence, one hand on the mower to pull it away. Unfortunately, I chose to place my hand on the motor case. Goodbye use of right hand for 2 weeks.

Yesterday, I was grilling dinner. Somehow, the side burner (sort of a stove top) had been turned on. We have never, ever used this side burner. It has a metal cover. Which means the cover was extremely hot. I use it as a flat surface to set plates on, or whatever. Well, yesterday I place my hand on it. The good news is that I've only had to forego use of my middle and ring fingers.

Maybe I'll just lock myself up inside over summers - it appears this idiot is safer there.

6:24:32 AM

I generally stay away from discussing politics and religion (which is why these pages are quite sparse compared to many other weblogs out there), but if you do, make sure you read the The Bird's Tips to being a Good American. Reasonable people can and will differ in their opinions and some will do so strongly, but you should make your argument without having to resort to the sorts of tactics Shelly pokes at. Whatever happened to forensics being a fairly standard part of a high school curriculum, anyhow? 8:48:02 PM

I'm going to be one of only a handful of people at work this week. I really can't wait until next year when I get another week of vacation. 6:19:00 AM