I’ve read a number of articles about the best approach for delivering content to mobile devices using CSS3 Media Queries, including Ethan’s article at A List Apart. While the general consensus seems to be “be careful”, I decided to do some testing of my own. Of course this “be careful” attitude is because, done incorrectly, you can cause a mobile device to download much more than you think. Oh, and there’s also the problem of that pesky Internet Explorer thingy… The question that I wanted answered is simply “what does a mobile device download when encountering a page using media queries?”

First, I created a simple page that contains a few boxes (list elements styled with CSS). In addition to text, one of the boxes contains (more…)

As I’ve been getting more and more into HTML5 and thereby also native video, I’ve come to realize that it’s a lot easier said than done. Of course, we all know about the need for multiple encodings in order to provide for the variety of browsers that proliferate the market. But even after encoding H.264, Ogg and WebM, we’re still left with the need to provide a fallback for our Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 8 users – which means using Flash.

There are several approaches to provide this fallback, but the “recommended” way to do this is as follows. We begin with the <video> element, and then a list of <source> elements providing the multiple encodings. Of course, you have to remember to list the MP4 file first, because iDevices are so damned arrogant that they won’t look further if they don’t see their desired format first. (more…)

While I’m really loving Dreamweaver CS5 and all of its new features, it’s funny that there are so many features that I’ve just taken for granted for too long. In fact, if you’re like me, you’ve even begun to forget features – only to “rediscover” them later! The Snippet panel is one such feature.

At a recent conference, I had the chance to ask a former Dreamweaver user why he’d begun using Coda instead. One of the reasons he cited was Coda’s snippets feature (called Clips in Coda). I couldn’t help but laugh – and point out that Dreamweaver not only has a snippets panel, it’s been in the program for over 10 years!

Used properly, the Snippets panel becomes one of Dreamweaver’s most productivity-enhancing features. Let’s take a closer look…

Depending upon your current workspace layout, the Snippets panel may or may not be visible. The easiest way to access it (without clicking through the various panel groups) is simply to use the Window>Snippets command. By default, Dreamweaver comes with 8 predefined folders of snippets, providing various pieces of functionality. But honestly, 7 of these are completely useless unless you are an absolute noob. The 1 folder that I actually have found a use for is the Javascript folder. There are actually some really useful snippets in there. (more…)