If this doesn’t want to make you be in a band then I don’t know what will:
Maybe this:
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Testing in old versions of Internet Explorer
When you are laying out websites, testing in different versions of IE is really important, but also really hard, as when you install an new version it writes over the top of the old one, so you can’t have two side by side. For a long time Multiple IEs was a good way round this problem. Of course it’s no replacement for a real test machine (or virtual machine) but it’s a useful tool for developers to do some quick checks. However javascript support is notoriously bad, and it is gradually going out of date, so we have started using spoon which is a great replacement.
But now the new firewall settings have blocked us from using this. Back to square one. Then I remembered a tool that I have used in the past that did something like multiple IEs but was much better. It took me ages to find it again, so I am blogging so that I don’t forget and maybe someone else will find this too. The tool is called IE Collection and it does a great job.
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Vote for me
A few weeks ago I entered a busking competition. I did this song which in hindsight was probably a mistake as it’s so quiet and no-one knows it, but never mind.I should have done some cheesy beatles cover but never mind. Please give me a sympthy vote!
I worked out a system for what songs would work well to busk:
- If I like it
- If Alan Partridge likes it
That’ll be lots of Kate Bush then!
Don’t forget to vote:
http://www.london.gov.uk/rhythmoflondon/showcase-events/busking/busker.jsp?ref=ajtR5ViwcjY
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Making a Kitchen Garden/Brick BBQ
I had some work tops left over from our old place, so I decided to make a kitchen in the garden. Here is a brief summary, but there are lots more pictures on Flickr.
Planning it out took quite a bit of time. I had to work with the space I had and the worktop was already cut to a size, so getting the plan right was important.
Once I knew where everything was going I laid the blocks in post-crete and got them all level with a spirit level.
Once that was done then it should have been pretty easy to build it up to height. I had never worked with mortar before so I learnt a lot and got a lot better as I tried more things.
Ok so there was a bit of a complication. The breeze blocks didn’t stick to each other.
Years of building jumps made me realise that the problem was that both surfaces were too smooth so the mortar didn’t bind to them. I made the surfaces textured and they stuck a lot better.
Also it’s important to make the surfaces wet I think.
So then it all went up much easier. Cleared the ground.
Lick of paint
Stick the tops on.
Stop for a break (this actually took a few weeks in total)
Now on with the bbq/oven thing/
Finishing touches
Testing the oven
All done
Finished
Time to use it…
Yummy
Works pretty well.
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New site layout
The internet is changing. Again. These days there really doesn’t seem to be much of a need for a “webiste” any more. People interact online in so many different ways and it gets ever more complicated. Some people try to integrate this all into one site, which is really good, but it’s a lot of work to bring everything together and make it all work well. It’s also a never ending job as APIs change and new networks keep appearing.
I sort of feel like this site has served its function for me, and I don’t see much of a use for it any more (hence the number of updates I guess). I want to keep it here for posterity, but I have changed the homepage to reflect better the huge amount of other places I do things now. I hope it makes sense.
I guess the thing is I don’t have the time or the motivation to build a massive complicated and personalised system, when there are better free things out there, so I’ll just be using them now, and this is just a way of cross referencing them. A starting point. Isn’t the internet amazing?
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The Shed (part 1)
I started building a hut in the garden. It’s really fun, but also quite hard as I am only using salvaged wood I have found in skips, so it’s a case of having to make do a lot of the time. Any advice gratefully recieved.
I wish I had a before picture. There are more here.
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2 new old songs
I have been working on little bits of hundreds of songs for ages, but riding always got in the way. Since I have not been riding for a while I have had a chance to finish some of them. They are on myspace and have 0 listens, which is mildly embarrasing.
Both of them are about 4 or 5 years old, but just never really got finished, so I am glad that they are done now, even if the recording quality is terrible. If you can bear my voice then you might like to listen, but I know it’s not good so I won’t hold it against you.
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Internet Explorer ignores display: block;
Today I have spent a lot of time investigating a bug in Internet Explorer (it still seems to be there even in IE8). Basically I have an image, part of which needs to be a link, and I can’t use an image map, so I thought I would position the link over the top of the image and set the width/height of the link to match the area that I want the link in. Something like this:
<a href=”http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/” style=”display:block;height:23px;position:absolute;right:88px;top:44px;width:164px;z-index:1;”><span style=”display: none;”>Click here to download the latest version of flash</span></a>
For accessibility reasons I put a span inside the image containing text to say what the link did, and then hid this with display: none. This should work fine. Indeed it did work fine in Firefox, but the problem was IE8 (and 7 and probably all of them). In fact this code works fine in IE when in isolation. However when on the page there was obviously some conflict with something else because for some reason IE was ignoring the display: block declaration on the link – if I allowed the text inside it to be displayed, then it worked like a link, but only as an inline one, not a block.
I fiddled around for a long time and was unable to find anyone else who has had this problem, or any good solution so in the end I resorted to setting a transparent background image on the link like this
<a href=”http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/” style=”background: url(transparent.gif);display:block;height:23px;position:absolute;right:88px;top:44px;width:164px;z-index:1;”><span style=”display: none;”>Click here to download the latest version of flash</span></a>
Not very pretty I know but it does the job. Hopefully this helps someone out. If you can explain this bug I would love to hear from you!
scruffian 