Archives for January 2010

Jan 31, 2010 By Jared Heinrichs 1 Comment

How to use CSS to reset the default browser element settings

Here is the contents of “reset.css”. I normally link this all my web sites.

/* RESET CSS FILE */


html,body,div,span,applet,object,iframe,h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6,p,blockquote,

pre,a,abbr,acronym,address,big,cite,code,del,dfn,em,font,img,ins,kbd,q,s,

samp,small,strike,strong,sub,sup,tt,var,dl,dt,dd,ol,ul,li,fieldset,form,label,

legend,table,caption,tbody,tfoot,thead,tr,th,td

{border:0;outline:0;vertical-align:middle; background:transparent; margin:0; padding:0;}


* {margin:0 padding:0; }

a img { border:0 }


/*

This is called the clearfix "hack" to prevent container from colapsing

in on itself when all the elements inside are floated elements.

Make sure to add --[ class="container" ]-- to any object that you

don't want to colapse.

*/


.container:after {

   visibility: hidden; display: block; font-size:0;

   content: " "; clear: both; height: 0;

}

				   

/* start commented backlash hack \*/

* html .container   {height: 1%; }

.container          { display: block; }

/* close commented backlash hack */


/* Easy way for me to float items */

.floatleft      { float:left;       }

.floatright     { float:right;      }

.floatmiddle    { margin: 0px auto; }

Jan 31, 2010 By Jared Heinrichs Leave a Comment

The difference between Block and Inline HTML elements

I “kind of” knew what block elements were but I thought that I should research them. Searching the net I think I have found some good definitions. Basically there are 3 types of elements you can have on a page.

Block
Inline
Not Displayed

Block Elements

A block-display element will span the full width of the space available to it, and so will start on a new line in the flow of HTML. The flow will continue on a new line after the block-display element.

To define an element as a block you can do it in CSS by typing:

display:block;
 
Common HTML elements that are naturally block-display include: 

<div>
<h1> … <h6>
<p>
<ul>, <ol>, <dl>
<li>, <dt>, <dd>
<table>
<blockquote>
<pre>
<form>

Inline Elements
Inline-display elements don’t break the flow. They just fit in with the flow of the document. 
To define an element as an inline you can do it in CSS by typing:
display:inline;
 
More elements are naturally inline-style, including: 

<span>
<a>
<strong>
<b>
<em>
<i>
<img />
<br>
<input>
<abbr>
<acronym>

Can you imagine a “<a>” tag being a BLOCK element? I can’t. That would suck if all links had to be on a new line all by themselves!
Not Displayed
Some tags, like <meta /> and <style> are not visible

Jan 29, 2010 By Jared Heinrichs Leave a Comment

How to calibrate your monitor in Windows 7

Windows 7 has a built in monitor calibration program called the “Color Management”. This program can be run or invoked in several ways and is VERY easy to use as long as you can read and look at pictures. 😉 Here are the four ways I know how to open “Color Management. I’ve listed them from the easiest to hardest IMO.

START ORB – SEARCH LINE – Color Management
Control Panel – All Items View – Color Management
START ORB – SEARCH LINE – dccw and then hit Enter
File is located: “C:\Windows\System32\dccw.exe”

Color management allows you to import and create new ICC profiles for your monitor VERY easily. To run the “Calibrate Display” wizard click the advance tab and hit the big “Calibrate display” button.

One thing to note: if you are running more then one monitor on your system it is important you are running the calibration test window on the screen you want to configure. While this might seem logical I have seen people “configure” both monitors from the same screen. They obviously #failed and I hope I can help them.

If your monitor company gives you and ICC monitor profile file save the file to your desktop. Right click the file and select “Install Profile”.

Back in the “Color Management” tool:

Click on the device’s tab
Put a check in the box “Use my settings for this device”
Click “Add” and then file the ICC profile you installed from the step before.
Hit Close.

Hope this helps with your monitor calibration. If you need more accurate calibration for things like photoediting you should look at devices like the Spyder 3 Pro.

Jan 27, 2010 By Jared Heinrichs Leave a Comment

The best apple commercial ever! Thanks Mad TV

Jan 27, 2010 By Jared Heinrichs Leave a Comment

Winnipeg garbage collectors really fail

I finally got really upset yesterday because the garbage and blue box collectors really suck in Riverheights! I called 311 and complained. I still haven’t heard back from them yet on what is going to happen with the broken garbage containers.

Unfortunately someone had moved some of the garbage can’s out of the way before I took these photos. When I drove home the can’s were located in a similar location to the blue box down the road.

To top it off, when the garbage collectors come they don’t even take all the garbage/recycling. Sometimes they drop the containers and leave the crap all over the back lane as you will see in the pictures.

In this picture you can see how they didn’t pickup someone’s blue box. More garbage on the road. Didn't-even-take-everyone's-blue-box-items

The Recycling company took all of one blue box, 1/2 of the 2nd and completely missed the third. Oh don’t forget that they just had to leave some of the contents from the first one on the back lane as well. If you look done the lane can I ask how the heck can they just leave a blue box in the middle of the road?

Example-of-how-the-recycling-isn't-even-picked-up.