A LIST Apart: For People Who Make Websites

No. 183

June 15, 2004

Triple issue for your pleasure.

Dynamic Text Replacement

Let your server do the walking! Whether you’re replacing one headline or a thousand, Stewart Rosenberger’s Dynamic Text Replacement automatically swaps XHTML text with an image of that text, consistently displayed in any font you own. The markup is clean, semantic, and accessible. No CSS hacks are required, and you needn’t open Photoshop or any other image editor. Read about it today; use it on personal and commercial web projects tomorrow.

Dynamically Conjuring Drop-Down Navigation

Got content? Got pages and pages of content? Wouldn’t it be nice if you could offer your readers a drop-down menu providing instant access to any page, without having to sit down and program the darned thing? By marrying a seemingly forgotten XHTML element to simple, drop-in JavaScript, Christian Heilmann shows how to do just that. There’s even a PHP backup for those whose browsers lack access to JavaScript. Turn on, tune in, drop-down.

Creating Liquid Layouts with Negative Margins

Two- and three-column, liquid page designs with header and footer are easy to dash off using old-school HTML table layout methods. Designing them in CSS is trickier, and can sometimes even require you to structure your page’s content elements in a specific (and undesirable) order. Negative margins to the rescue! Ryan Brill whips up two quick CSS layouts to demonstrate the power of negative thinking.

New publishing schedule

We have always published on Fridays. Now we publish on Tuesdays. Carry on.

“For people who make websites”

A List Apart Magazine explores the design, development, and meaning of web content, with a special focus on techniques and benefits of designing with web standards. Explore our articles or find out more about us.

Editor’s Choice

originally ran: February 2, 2004

Everything I Need To Know About Web Design I Learned Watching Oz

Making it as a web designer is like staying alive in the slammer. So before you sharpen your Photoshop skills or crack open that new book on crafting more effective customer experiences, you’d be well advised to catch a few reruns of HBO’s Oz. ALA system designer Brian Alvey points out the parallels between a successful career in web design and the popular prison drama.