Just when you thought Javascript was safe to use

Again from CNET.com

“Security researchers have found a way to use JavaScript to map a home or corporate network and attack connected servers or devices, such as printers or routers.”

Read the article.

And here’s another article about Web 2.0 security problems.

US moves to ban myspace.com from schools

From CNET.com:

“By a 410-15 vote on Thursday, politicians approved a bill that would effectively require that “chat rooms” and “social networking sites” be rendered inaccessible to minors, an age group that includes some of the Internet’s most ardent users. Adults can ask for permission to access the sites.”

Read the article

Commentary: Movie Web Sites on MySpace.com

While watching TV the other night, I noticed the URL for a few movies being based on myspace.com. This demonstrates in real terms that the web has evolved from watch and discover to involve and participate.

The web 2.0 movement is about having users network socially - and movie marketers have recognized this. They seem to be attempting to create movie communities. What better way to spread the word about a film than by putting a movie’s website directly into one of the most popular social networks?

What does this mean for the regular web designer? It means that more often than not - designers will have to come up with new and original ways to make their sites interesting beyond using flash and fancy graphics. They have to think more about the users and what they want to do and say to other users. Users can no longer be considered as solo visitors to a site, but potentially part of a bigger network of friends and colleagues.

Think about giving your site’s users ways to better interact with not only your clients - but with each other - and they’ll be beating a path to your door… assuming of course your site has high-value content.

Just my 2.0 cents.

Firefox Update Released

From the good people at Mozilla:

“Firefox 1.5.0.5 is a security update that is part of our ongoing program to provide a safe Internet experience for our customers. We recommend that all users upgrade to this latest version.”

Download the update here (of course, most Firefox users have the update downloading in the background as we speak).

IE7 Auto Update blocking

Hopefully you all have been keeping up with the beta releases of IE7, and have been testing all your existing sites with Microsoft’s new browser. IE7’s release is coming soon and unless users block the IE7 auto update they won’t have much choice but to upgrade.

This auto update blocker won’t have an expiry date unlike many of its predecessors, so most companies will have time to work the browser into their workflow when they’re ready. But don’t count on the everyday user to notice the notification asking whether they want to install, or not to install, or to be asked again later.

Read the Information Week article

Google Maps goes Mobile

Proving that people who surf the web using mobile phones are a serious demographic, Google has released Google Maps for mobile phones. In line with recent reports that web surfing using cellphones have increased by 40% over the last year alone - more and more cell phone services are popping up everywhere trying to profit from this “new” found market.

What does that mean for web designers? It means we not only have to think about the extra-wide screens, but also the extra small. I think many designers have been getting a touch lax when it comes to document size, finding comfort that broadband is becoming more common. Considering that cellphone download speeds are achingly slow, designers now have to create light versions of sites - proving once again that you can NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING about your users.

Read more about the Google Maps for Mobile release.

Walking the DOM

If you’ve ever wanted to alter the markup after the page has loaded (in a standards complaint way of course), here is a great summary. It lists what browsers supports what method, etc as well.

Visit the article

If you want to read more about DOM scripting, here is a great beginner’s book on the subject.

Good or Bad: depricated target="_blank"

We’ve all heard it before, and we’ve all done it before - open a new browser window using the target attribute. The first I heard it was deprecated - I was outraged. Why remove something SO basic - and force people to use fancy javascripts? The quick answer is accessibility.

According to sitepoint.com, the BACK button is the second most used navigation method, links are first. So when you open a new browser - you destroy the back button’s functionality - disorienting/frustrating many users - especially visually impaired users. This alone should be enough to persuade you to avoid target=”_blank”. But even if you DO stop using _blank, users will still get lost unless you tell them they will be leaving the site. ALWAYS tell a user that they will be leaving a site (or be downloading a PDF, etc). Never surprise a user. A simple title in the link saying “This is an external link” or an icon, or a written note is enough.

Some have suggested that ctrl+clicking on a link will open a window in a new window, and that users can use that method if they REALLY want a new browser window - which is better than being forced to. Personally - I think if a new browser window popping up confuses you - chances are you won’t remember the ctrl+click trick. But it’s good to remember - if you can.

Read the sitepoint.com article.

Read the W3C guidelines regarding new windows

Research about the BACK button

Links about accesskeys

From Stewart Web:

“This site can be navigated not only by using the mouse, but also with the Keyboard. Allowing motor impaired users, and those who prefer not to use a mouse, to access the site content.”

Read the article.

From Cabinet Office:

“Listed below is the recommended UK Government accesskeys standard:

S - Skip navigation 1 - Home page 2 - What’s new 3 - Site map 4 - Search 5 - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) 6 - Help 7 - Complaints procedure 8 - Terms and conditions 9 - Feedback form 0 - Access key details”

Regarding general accessibility, they write:

• Keep pages simple
• Be consistent throughout the website
• Use HTML as the default information format
• Browser-specific HTML or scripting methods should not be used in the website
• Keep the use of images to a minimum - consider the use of thumbnails
• Do not rely on colour to convey information
• Text colour must always contrast with background
• Only use clear, commonly used fonts
• Use HTML to structure the document, not style it
• Use Cascading Style Sheets to format and style basic elements of a website
• Any font sizes defined in the Cascading Style Sheet must be customisable by the end user - do not hard code
• Any colour used must be customisable by the end user
• HTML page should validate against specified version of HTML
• All important images must have an ‘alt’ attribute and description
• ‘alt’ descriptions should be meaningful
• A consistent text navigation bar should be used along with a ‘skip navigation link’
• Other forms of navigation should be available for users who cannot use pointing devices
• If used, imagemaps should always be in client-side format
• A text alternative must be offered if a client-side imagemap is used
• An alternative text version of any information offered in audio or video format must be supplied
• Any information offered in a format that requires a plug-in must also be offered in HTML
• All web pages must comply to the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) ‘A’ standard
• The appropriate WAI logos can be displayed on the organisation’s homepage to illustrate compliance with W3C recommendations

Read the article

Google Accessibility Search

From the people at Wired.com

“While this isn’t exactly news to designers and user experience experts, the fact that Google is pursuing the accessible search market means that page designers using antiquated layout techniques and deprecated code will be pressured to bring their site’s infrastructure up to current accessibility standards, lest they lose out on higher rankings.”

I’m sure many standards-compliant, semantic designers out there are praising this move by Google and doing a little “told you so” dance towards those still designing using only tables. But I should remind you people that standards are just a part of accessibility - as for myself, I’m going to work on putting some accesskeys into this site.

Read the Wired article.

Lightbox JS Ver 2 Usability Problems

As much as I love this script for its beauty, I’m finding it has too many usability holes. Firstly, if javascript is disabled, the user is brought directly to the image, not exactly graceful. Second, there is no way to bookmark the images. Thirdly, the required javascript libraries are way too heavy.

To get around the linking to an image issue, you have to dig in the lightbox code, and modify it to redirect to a PHP file that can tell whether it was called by lightbox, or by directly from the markup (hint: rewrite the url to include “?js=true”). Based on whether javascript is activated on not, the PHP file can redirect the user to a standard HTML page or output the contents of the image file (hint: use headers and the readfile function). This way you can serve the user a backup web page, rather than simply an image. Also note, that if the image reference for some reason is not available, there is no obvious way to know how to cancel the load (you simply see a spinning wheel). I suggest opening the animated GIF in Imageready and adding the words “Click to Cancel”. At least this way users will know they have a way out other than reloading the page, or closing the window (GASP) - and of course, don’t forget that ALT attribute!

To get around the bookmark issue - you can’t. But you CAN offer the lightbox effect as a “slideshow” - and offer a seperate gallery page with thumbnails (remember to find a place in your navigation for it!)

Finally, there are a few lighter javascript libraries around - but they’ll only reduce your page weight by a few dozen K. As much as over 100K webpages are becoming more common - especially for flash sites - you always have to keep in mind what type of users visit your site. Always TRY to get a page size down to 50-60K, some people still use dial-up modems you know ;)

But with that said - Lightbox is a beautiful solution to the slideshow problem and is definitely worth checking out (and modifying if you ask me.)

Visit the Lightbox site

No more EMBED

“Break the chains of EMBED and live free. Elizabeth Castro explains how to embed movies without using invalid markup.”

Read the article

Firefox Beta 2 Released

“Firefox 2 Beta 1 is a developer preview release of our next generation Firefox browser and it is being made available for testing purposes only. Firefox 2 Beta 1 is intended for web application developers and our testing community. Current users of Mozilla Firefox 1.x should not use Firefox 2 Beta 1 and expect all of their extensions and plugins to work properly.” - The Browser News

Visit the Firefox site