21 XML declaration on second line

nice and clean article.
just one complain: the example warns about having the XML delcaration on the first line because of the IE problem. but the way it it done in the source with <?xml …?> on the 2nd line is not the best solution.
the declaration is optional anyway so i guess it is better to leave it out completely. you have to state the encoding with a HTTP header then, but thats what most browsers would use anyway. as i understood XML, if an XML declaration is present it must be the start of the file so that a processor is able to guess the encoding. i did not check but i doubt the example should validate in a fully compliant XML processor. the w3c HTML validator does not complain, but i guess that does not say it is ok to do it the way it is done.

posted at 04:01 am on April 10, 2004 by chris

22 text resize with mouse

does no one use “ctrl+mouse-wheel” anymore ??? i do all the time…

instead of using so much code we should make apple do a mouse with a mouse-wheel so all of you soo called designers can see the simplicity of a PC mouse, instead of all this annoying code.

the change font size has been a html ingredience for many years know and people still dosn’t seem to see the simplicity in just using the right tag sizing…

posted at 06:04 am on April 10, 2004 by marz

23 Helpful

Helplful article which combines some of well known facts and extends them in an easy “useit” solution (after you download all the files :)

posted at 04:23 pm on April 10, 2004 by Ian

24 I do not understand...

… the beginning of this method, particularly this part:

/* default font size*/
@import url(small.css);

You put this rule in the html file right? And the following rules, where do you put them? What is contained in the small.css file? Sorry I do not get the logic…

/* Netscape 4 safe font sizes */
body, div, p, th, td, li, dd { font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;
}

h1 { font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;
}

h2 { font-size: 110%; font-weight: bold;
}

Thank you for your help

posted at 12:18 am on April 11, 2004 by Chris

25 well...

i think the idea described in this article is nice, but look at this web site: http://www.glish.com/ – there, in the upper right corner you can see a similar js font size switcher plus a font switcher. and, as mentioned in one of the previous posts in this discussion, the buttons used to change the font size become unclickable when you reach the smallest or the largest font size possible. also, if you look at the js source code, you’ll see that the script sets a cookie to remember your preference for future visits…

posted at 03:41 am on April 11, 2004 by Nick

26 Only change content block

In my script only the main content area’s text is changed. The actual text of the buttons don’t change at all.

posted at 12:52 pm on April 11, 2004 by Dante&#8211;Cubed

27 Forget about the alternate stylesheets already!

Having done quite a bit of experimenting with switching stylesheets myself, I found this approach quite interesting. Intellectually.
I’ve yet to see a really good, trouble-free implementation of font resizing on any of the dozen or so sites where I’ve seen it used. (A visual “bump” when the page re-renders; horizontal scrollbars; general ugliness at the new font-size; etc…)
Also, it seems to me that it adds a lot of complexity in exchange for very little payoff.
Five extra server requests plus the extra weight just to nudge the fonts!

In fact, the whole W3C spec for alternate stylesheets leaves a lot to be desired. Especially in that it only affects one page at a time rather than at the domain (or site)level.
The whole multiple stylesheet switching thing is and will remain little more than a CSS parlour trick if you ask me.

However, I have found a two-sheet switcher very useful in fine tuning style sheets to accomodate IE5’s quirks behavior. I remove the doctype so the page viewed in IE6 emulates IE5. Then I add the style amendments to stylesheet #2 and click the switcher to immediately view the result. (I set the stylesheets and javascript up differently than Paul Snowden’s method, however.)
After the “right” quirks mode style rules are in the second stylesheet, I move them over to stylesheet #1 along with the Tantek Celik hack. Then the doctype gets uncommented and the javascript removed.

posted at 10:04 pm on April 11, 2004 by Richard Fink

28 Missing the point

I don’t see a reason to duplicate functionality built into most web browsers- most likely implementations of this ‘solution’ will break more often than a flexible positioning model.

posted at 02:59 am on April 12, 2004 by John Wehr

29 Don't get it

I see a bunch of ‘ya this is great’ comments and thought I would add a ‘what is the point?’ Seriously though, you now have 5 stylesheets to keep in mind and some more JS in your page for what purpose? To mimic behaviour found in all browsers if you use percentage font sizes?

This is a cool style switcher but I wouldn’t encourage anyone to use it. Maybe this was for the so called enlightened blogger…

posted at 06:44 am on April 12, 2004 by Jesse Rodgers

30 the point?

I guess it is always war between designers who always want small fonts, and usability exeperts who wants them at least 12px, and here is the reader between them, who has the choice (we hope he has) in the second level menu. wow, has ever anyone clicked “Tools > Mail and News > Send a link” to send link to interesting page to a friend? I guess this options could be in the toolbar by default or at least in context menus.

posted at 11:50 am on April 12, 2004 by Chris