CSS Sprite Generator Released

Stuart Collville and Ed Eliot just launched a new CSS Sprite Generator tool, which is the first of many in a series of web-site performance tools.

For the uninitiated, a CSS Sprite is a single image file which contains several graphics. Using CSS background positions it’s possible to display any one of the graphics. By using a sprite you save on multiple http requests which helps speed up the rendering of your page.

The tool allows you to upload a zip of images which the script then concatenates into one image to be used as a CSS Sprite. The CSS offsets for each image are created and output and class-names for each image in the sprite can be generated from the filenames of each of the original images. In fact this approach is recommended.

A feature I’m really pleased with is the ability to screen out duplicate images, and either ignore them or have the classes merged to point to the same graphic. This is achieved through comparison of MD5 hashes of all of the uploaded files.

Original post at Ajaxian: CSS Sprite Generator Released

Common fonts to all versions of Windows & Mac equivalents

Here you can find the list with the standard set of fonts common to all versions of Windows and their Mac substitutes, referred sometimes as “browser safe fonts”. This is the reference I use when making web pages and I expect you will find it useful too.

from AMPsoft Web design tips & tricks:
Common fonts to all versions of Windows & Mac equivalents

Directory Structure For Projects

Directory Structure For Projects

That last part in the title is to indicate that for me, this is
something that has changed several times over the past year with a
change happening even within the last month.
Let me stress the fact that I am a big automated build junkie, and
am not really even a fan of compiling from within studio. To that end I
do the majority of my work using studio + ReSharper as the editor, and
NAnt (currently) as the compile/test tool coupled with FinalBuilder as
my deployment tool.

From Jean-Paul S. BoodHoo’s Blog: Develop With Passion

Directory Structure For Projects

Directory Structure For Projects

That last part in the title is to indicate that for me, this is
something that has changed several times over the past year with a
change happening even within the last month.
Let me stress the fact that I am a big automated build junkie, and
am not really even a fan of compiling from within studio. To that end I
do the majority of my work using studio + ReSharper as the editor, and
NAnt (currently) as the compile/test tool coupled with FinalBuilder as
my deployment tool.

From Jean-Paul S. BoodHoo’s Blog: Develop With Passion

openWYSIWYG

Cross-Browser WYSIWYG Editor

Finally, a free cross-browser WYSIWYG editor that’s packed with every rich-text editing feature you need to make your content management system that much better.

Setting up openWYSIWYG is so easy, you can quickly turn any <textarea> into a powerful WYSIWYG editor with just a few simple lines of code.

Packed with tons of features, openWYSIWYG gives you total control over formatting your text. The ultimate <textarea> replacement for your content management system.

openWYSIWYG 1.0

10 Usability Nightmares You Should Be Aware Of

Sometimes you just want to get the information you’re after, save it and move along. And you can’t. Usability nightmares — which are rather the daily routine than an exception — appear every now and again; usually almost every time you type your search keywords in Google. In his article “Why award-winning websites are so awful” Gerry McGovern points out that “the shiny surface wins awards, real substance wins customers” and that is absolutely true. Nevermind what design you have, and nevermind which functionality you have to offer — if your visitors don’t understand how they can get from point A to point B they won’t use your site.

10 Usability Nightmares You Should Be Aware Of

from Smashing Magazine

Multi-Targeting VS2005 and VS2008 Web Application Projects, a Gotcha!

One of the things I’m most excited about with Visual Studio 2008 is it’s ability to target various versions of the .net framework, a feature known as multi-targeting.

Multi-Targeting VS2005 and VS2008 Web Application Projects, a Gotcha!

[from StevenHarman.net]