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JavaScript Accordion
5/7/13
As a developer I have to often take "coding challenges". A recent one had a static picture of a menu that looked like an accordion menu. Being a coding challenge I didn't want to use some giant jQuery package, nor did I want to build a function to toggle each menu. The solution was obviously my own custom JavaScript class that modified the Document Object Model (DOM) based on simple naming conventions.
The JavaScript class will scan the DOM for any div tags with a class attribute value of "accordion_menu". Once an accordion_menu div is identified the AccordionManger class will turn every odd child div into an clickable title that will toggle the display of the proceeding even div tag.
Here is the source that made the above menu.
I have tested this in Opera, Firefox, IE, and Chrome. It seems to work fine in all of them, even older versions. However use at your own risk, it is just an example after all. If you would like to use or expand on this little class, download the example package.
Glen Bradley for NCGOP Vice-Chair
3/7/13
I recently had the pleasure of teaming up with For Liberty Communication to make a web site for Glen Bradley who is running for NCGOP Vice-Chair.
My role was setting up the PHP/MySQL side of the site along with some simple Ajax/JavaScript tools. With our team work the entire site was done in a matter of 3 days.
CSS 3 @ Rules and Font Embeding
1/20/13
Many of us who have done CSS for a while are aware that an @ symbol can be used to @import one CSS file into another. This was never widely used as it has no significant advantage and it's not fully supported by Internet Explorer. Some of you might be familiar with the @media rule. Mostly used to control print jobs, the @media rule can also be used to target projectors, TV, handheld devices, and more. I wanted to mention those, however what I am most excited about is the ability to finally embed a custom font via CSS3!
Many times through my career I have been faced with the challenge of using custom fonts on the web. As most designers would do, I often created PNGs and treated my font like an image. A friend of mine, Steve Perrie, would at times use flash modules with the font embedded and the text value would match an embed param, which is a nice method with it's own set of pros and cons.
Now with CSS 3 we can finally just use a font that is on the local server! With the at-rule
@font-face
we can embed fonts and no longer be at the mercy of the users font directory. Here is a an example of using a custom font on a page,
If your browser supports font-face this will display in the Future Wolf font.
This one is called Guwey Scratchy.
Just remember, not all browsers support @font-face. For that, I have found these two charts, one is a list of supporting browsers, the other, the font types the browsers expect.
Font-face Browser Support
Browser Font Type Support
Happy New Year, New Site!
1/1/13
Happy New Year! I have a new site layout! I was going for an increased display area, as well as using the whole page. It was back in 2008 when I design DonovanH 2.0 and have plans to make it still usable, after I finish up all of the details with the new DH 3.0. I still have a working copy up of my Flash based student site. There is a nice little tool I had on there for showing off type face on line though. It's been a while since I have messed with font making but have often hand drawn letter sets.
Last year was quite an adventure, with a lot of learning experiences and travel. This year I turn 30! So I have to plan for one of the most epic adventures around my birth date. I'm looking forward to making some more art and hopefully make more time to get my other experiments done. Anyways, stay tuned for more posts about the interesting things I do and experience.
Making a Simple House with Blender 3D
12/25/12
Part 1
Part 2
For the build files and example package, click here.
Happy, Mic Check 121212
12/12/12
In honor of Natinal Sound Check day, I dug up my microphone and layed down a track. I started with the guitar rythem, laid down a lead, drumed on my desk, and shook around a sock full of coins. As a result, we now have the MP3 below. ENJOY!
Oh, and if you would like, you can download all of the seperated tracks!
Making Mountains with Blender 3D
12/5/12
A couple months back I started to learn Blender 3D and in an older post I said that I would make a tutorial on how to make some nice looking mountains in Blender. This is my first time making a video tutorial but with all of the free tools on Linux it was actually quite simple.
For this tutorial I am using Blender 3D and GIMP to edit my image files. The demo was recorded using recordMyDesktop the video was edited using Open Shot and the audio was recorded and edited with Audacity
Click here for the example package.
Ana's Corner
9/26/12
Another in my latest works of small end websites. Ana Rodriguez is a very crafty lady who has made a small business with her skill and hard work. I had meet her through a mutual friend. When she was talking to me about her website she said she would rather refer people to her on-line PDF rather than to her website. I told her I would be able to offer he an affordable redesign and have it fixed up in no time. Well, no time is now!
We have already been discussing e-commerce options, a content management system, and SEO, in order to make the most out of her web space. None the less a good appearance is the first step to a good web site.
Ana's Corner is no longer running
ConstitutinalWar.org
9/10/12
Last week I did a re-design for the group Constitutional War. Originally the group purchased the name and used it as an event page. Now that they are on to other things they wanted to have a website that better represented them.
Constitutional War is no longer running
Midwife Advocates Website
9/4/12
Midwife Advocates is a small group that is trying to legalize midwifery, mostly in the state of North Carolina as they are still a small organization. When first moving to NC I found it quite odd that the practice of midwifery was outlawed. My guess would be lobbyists in NC's large medical industry might have something to do with that.
Anyways, I documented one of their events last spring and was recently contacted for web development services. The budget was small, but I'm a sucker for do-gooders. The design and structuring took me about 2 day and another 2 days to finish off their content management system (CMS). They are still putting in a lot of the content, however with their custom CMS, that should be no problems for them.
Midwife Advocates is no longer running