You're viewing posts in Uncategorized how-tos & web design (ing)
Using Google Chrome, a Web Designer’s Experience, Part 2: Inspect Element
written 25 Jun 2010 in the earliest morning
Firebug is like a baby made of candy. If you don’t get that analogy, no one will blame you but best not to bring it up around the hitching post, water cooler or back of the garbage truck, wherever you take your particular daily break. Suffice to say, this little plugin developed for Firefox is like having a twin brother who will go to school for you, do all of your homework, sit in the waiting room until the doctor is ready to see you and let you take his girlfriend home after he did all of the wining and dining.
The process for building websites in the past went a little something like this:
- Write some code in your favorite editor (I like Coda for Mac, FYI).
- FTP that to your website.
- Open up the site in your browser, wait for it to load. Wow, it’s all messed up.
- Edit the code back in your favorite editor (I like Coda, did I mention that?)
- Repeat steps 2 through 3, over and over again until Comcast calls you and says you’re using too much bandwidth and you find out you’re 93 years old for all the time spent waiting.
With Firebug, you just right click on an element and can edit the CSS values right there. Figure it all out, go back and make the changes in your editor, and you’re done.
Chrome comes with a built in feature similar to this, and it’s a lot like Safari’s Element Inspector. Both of those browsers differ from the Firebug plugin in one major way: they’re not as easy to use. Firebug opens up in a pane at the bottom of the browser window. Chrome’s Inspector opens in a new window of its very own, requiring crafty keyboard shortcuts or mouse clicking to go back and forth between browser and inspector. Weak.
That’s my only major complaint there, but it’s one of those little things that itches your knuckles just enough to keep you from wanting to use Chrome full time.
More Posts in Uncategorized
Kickflips and Friendships
I have felt a complacency of late. A strange peacefulness unlike any of many before. It’s not one of those life-altering, time warping masterpieces that end in you living in Peru on a stick raft, mind you, but a comforting settling of mixing up some good ol’ fashioned mind blowings with a dash of organic epiphony. Okay, maybe that’s pushing it.
See the Volcano
It was karma getting back at me for accidentally letting the bus door slam on that guy that one time. I didn’t know, I swear, that the door would automatically fly backwards. I’m from Pittsburgh. We keep our backdoors on buses shut at all times. Or maybe it was my dental insurer, they’d secretly planted something in that envelope that transmitted the noxious gases necessary to cause this ailment of the mouth. They had, only a week ago, sent me the renewal forms for this year’s ticket to lower prices at the dentist’s office, after all. I figured I skip out on renewing for a couple of months, wait and see if we found a place to call home. We’ve been gypsying it for the past year or so and there’s talk about settling down soon, though I wouldn’t be surprised if sooner turned into later. Anyway, I don’t like the dentist, and my smile shows it, but even so, I don’t like the dentist.
Obama to Make Technology a Hub, not Just a Spoke
According to NPR, Obama plans to seriously overhaul some technological aspects of the government and everyday American’s lives as well. He specifically mentioned hiring a Chief Technical Officer to coordinate government IT departments and making certain they’re using the best technology, to put government affairs online so that citizens can review what’s being spent on what and other decisions, and ensuring that everyone in the nation has access to broadband Internet.
Read more on Obama to Make Technology a Hub, not Just a Spoke…
Reading RSS: Excerpts vs. the Full Content
A Short History of RSS
First there were blogs, maybe 10 of them. People liked blogs and some of those people started blogging themselves. Then there were thousands and eventually millions. When there were only 10 blogs, you could easily visit 10 sites a day. Now that you’re hooked on a thousand blogs, you can’t waste half of your work day sifting through 1,000 websites, waiting for them to load, etc. Hence RSS was born, which delivered an easy way to let your readers do so without actually visiting your site.
Dear America, Thank You
Seriously, I have so much more hope in us as a nation and mankind as a people now.
I’ve Burned out the Internet
I remember the 1990s, that long gone era where life was still young and blissful. We hadn’t been let down by Y2K and their was no YouTube and 9/11 hadn’t “changed everything”, whatever that means. I wasn’t so cynical, at the very least.
App Store Uncool to Girlfriend
Two problems i’m having with the App Store: 1.) When I download or update apps, all of my icons on my various screens get rearranged, seemingly without logic (ie. some apps just get tacked onto the first empty space, others stuffed in somewhere randomly). Annoying when you want to have things in some type of order for easy sorting.
Owner of Recliner Seeks Person to Buy It
I was particularly happy with this post on Craigslist:
Hello, I am the owner of a leather recliner. It is a fine leather recliner that not only reclines, but also does indeed rock (when not in the reclined position).
The recliner shows the kind of wear and tear that seems to indicate that someone enjoyed the chair very much, as though it was and still is one of the most comfortable chairs you’re likely to recline on in the near future. The leather is, therefore, slightly worn, particularly on the right arm. Some people refer to this look as “rustic”. In fact, I just referred to it as rustic today.
BREAKING NEWS: Early Morning Email Wakes Up Neighbors
Local resident Sam Brahm mentioned that he and his wife were awoken at 5:47 this morning when, rudely, his brother had emailed him.
“It was even worse,” said Brahm, “because I have to get up at 6 am, and this was just like ruining my last 10 minutes.”
Read more on BREAKING NEWS: Early Morning Email Wakes Up Neighbors…
Up to Date?
RSS Feed »
Navigation
Good Ol' Days
Zipcar - Wheels When You Want Them - Get $25 in Free Driving Credit