Xah Web Dev Blog Archive 2018-12

Douglas Crockford has a new book How JavaScript Works I thumbed thru in a friend's house. It's very good. It's unusual. It's not for beginners. And written in a stye you have to read from cover to cover in sequence. But you get deep understanding.

2018-11-10

JavaScript SVG Clock

SVG Clock updated code.

it's so convenient to use bleeding edge tech. .insertAdjacentElement JS: insertAdjacentElement and .currentScript JS: Get Current Script Element no more inserting an id and get element by id

2018-11-09

Web Design: Fixed-Layout, Flowed-Layout, Responsive Design

Note that in 2000s, there is big brouhaha among “web design” circles about Fixed-Layout vs Flowed-Layout. Most sites is fixed layout. best example is Apple. They assume ur screen is ≥ 1000 pixels wide. Fixed layout is like printed magazine. if ur window is smaller, u can only see parts.

see Web Design: Fixed-Layout vs Flowed-Layout

here's minimal window width assumptions of apple facebook google microsoft amazon etc sites around 2010 see Web Design, Minimal Window Width

the debate about fixed vs flowed layout is that, fixed is always better looking on a specific screen. But flowed looks much better on a screen not the designer intended/expected.

I prefer flowed, and thought about it for years. Flow layout is supposed to work in any screen size and ratio. In practice, its just impossible. What actually happens, as with today's “responsive design”, is just design for four or so intended screen size and ratio.

note that, web design began in ~1994 when html began. Around that time, most monitor is 640x480. around ~2005 it's 800px width. 2010 it's 1020 width (by now, laptops is most common). most professional web sites use fixed layout. i.e. design for specific screen width.

also, flowed layout is pretty much favored by nerds or programers, who focus on logical structure. example: chapters, sections, subsections. Fixed layout design, is favored by artists or “designers” (aka desktop publishing of 1990s on Mac), because it's pretty.

note, CSS was invented in 1996 but isn't used widely till ~2002. The thinking about flowed vs fixed layout was that, always markup by logical structure, but use css to make the design/layout. this is actually a myth to this day.

Other than academic papers, vast majority of commercial sites do not have any natural logical structure. The “logical” markup is just a artificial pretense. This can be seen today especially with so-called “single page app”. #css #design

2018-11-09

CSS: Display Table on Small Screen (major update)

2018-11-09

HTML: Meta Tag: viewport

2018-11-07

discovered CSS unit “cap”

discovered CSS unit cap. i thought it'd solve the font size problem. But very disappointed. It's a CSS length value. Not a property. We need a property, e.g. font-cap-size:16px.

see Meaning of Font Size

2018-11-07

CSS: Length Units (more major update.)

CSS unit is incredibly complex.

2018-11-07

HTML: the Root Element (new)

2018-11-04

“Alien heads found in Georgia”. 'was the origin of name of the font Georgia.

2018-11-04