Blinking IE 6.0
I noticed this a while back, when attaching a background image style to an anchor tag with a hover event it causes IE 6.0 to flicker when the hover action is triggered.
The reason the flicker occurs is because the browser (IE 6.0) requests the image from the server each and every time you rollover the image. Not only is the flicker annoying it also creates an unnecessary load on the server.
One solution detailed by Dean Edwards is to add the following to your htaccess file in apache.
ExpiresActive On
ExpiresDefault A18000
ExpiresByType
image/gif A2592000
ExpiresByType image/jpeg A2592000
ExpiresByType
image/png A2592000
This forces the server to tell the browser to cache the images, for a certain time period, however it does require apache and the 'expires_module' to be loaded.
Another solution as mentioned at fivesevensix.com is to buffer the image by placing it in the containing element and the anchor.
/* double buffer the image by placing it on BOTH the
containing element and the anchor */
#nav dt.share {
width: 164px;
background-image:
url(/images/home_share.gif);
}
#nav dt.share a {
background-image:
url(/images/home_share.gif);
}
/* using the pixy double image
method, so move the image around on :hover */
/* Note: this is one of the
causes of flicker, but we don't see it because it's double-buffered */
#nav
dt dt.share a:hover {
background-position: 0 23px;
}
Further references:-
- http://dean.edwards.name/my/flicker.html
- http://www.fivesevensix.com/studies/ie6flicker/
- http://wellstyled.com/css-nopreload-rollovers.html
Web developer toolbars
Back in Jan 2003 I blogged an entry about IE Booster, the only problem were all the adverts that went with it. In fact now it is called "Site Inspector" and even has a licence price.
That is why this tool needs a shout, it's a Web Accessibility Toolbar for Internet Explorer, and has some useful tools, like validate, resize and CSS manipulation. It is very similar in functionality to the Firefox toolbar for web developers.
Beer logo madness
Lots and lots of beer logos and insignias in very high quality eps format, doubt i'll ever need them but here they are in one place, for future reference.
Spellbound
If like me your spelling isn't that great then why not let this firefox spellchecker plugin save your blushes.
There is also a Spell Checker plugin for IE - called IESpell
