Samurai Coder

lynda.com:

Accessibility on the web has been an issue for over a decade, and it remains a crucial—but often overlooked—element of web design. Instructor Zoe Gillenwater explains the concept of accessibility as it applies to the web, and describes how it affects the audience. She also covers how to set up accessibility testing, and how to apply accessibility principles to new and existing sites using standards-compliant markup and CSS. Exercise files accompany the tutorials.

I wish I had money to throw out to learn accessibility.

Update: There are people visiting this blog, searching for a way to save a document as PDF. Visit Apple’s Support Page for more information. I wrote this post, expecting that most users know how to save a document as PDF, and I tried to point out an issue around this. Most of applications don’t have settings as the two screenshots below.

Macs are better at handing and generating PDF files. It’s so easy that you only need to bring up Print sheet and choose Save as PDF… from PDF pulldown menu.

Before receiving emails, asking how to make a PDF, look at the following screenshots from Nisus Writer Pro (beta) and Shiira.

The comparative I used “better” in the first paragraph is against Windows OS and Windows applications. Definitely some Mac developers are better than other Mac developers. To Mac developers, Mac OS X-built in systems are great, but you guys can go beyond the systems.

Sortable Table JavaScript:

Ramon Eijkemans pointed me to a script written by Stuart Langridge. This unobtrusive table sorting script was awesome, offering sort mechanisms for text, numbers, dates and currencies, by simply adding an external script to a page and a class to a table!

However, it lacked a few things, most importantly: support for alternated row classes. Working on it more, I found there were a few bugs to it too. So I started adapting it. At first there were just a few changes. Now more and more e-mails with feature requests are coming in, and I have started versioning my table sorting script.

Cool JavaScript efftcts for sorting tables. Check out the example.

Update: My point is that this script is more than just an eyecandy; this is practical.

I have been using a bunch of non-document-based apps. One confusion for me is the inconsistency of the shortcuts for the main windows across applications. Here is a list from apps in my Applications folder.

• Activity Monitor — Command-1
• Audio Hijack Pro — Shift-Command-A
• Billable — Command-1
• iTunes — Option-Command-1
• MacTracker — Option-Command-1
• Mail (by Apple) — Option-Command-N for New Viewer Window ¹
• MarsEdit — Command-0
• NetNewsWire — Shift-Command-N
• VisualHub — Command-1
• WebnoteHappy — Command-1
• Yojimbo — Command-1

My definition for Main Window isn’t rigid. It should also be noted that each application is totally different in its own. Some are used more often than others. The choice of a shortcut for Main Window is somewhat related to whether the app has another window. For instance, Billable uses a Command-2 for Client Editor window. Looking at “Window” in menubar in AudioHijack Pro and VisualHub leads me to general understanding of why these shortcuts are used. As you can see, not all of the apps have the same shortcut for Main Window.

I use Command-Tab to switch between applications. I may close Main Window of iTunes before moving to Yojimbo. When I come back to iTunes by pressing Command-Tab, I don’t see any window open. The easiest way to bring up a Main Window is to click the Dock icon, however; for those who prefer to use their keyboard, this is a pain.

The solution is simple: you don’t close the window. Instead, you hide it by pressing Command-H. Command-W is something we all use, but the power of Hide isn’t as common. In this way, when I come back to the app I hided by pressing Command-Tab, the app brings up the Main Window.

Update: Added Activity Monitor. I will have a more in-depth analysis on this and propose a general guide for apps to (try to) be consistent with other third-party and Apple apps.