web experiments
Too many people have told me they still use these old things. I left them for archival, but needed to mark some updates. (August 20, 2003)
The web experiments are mostly small projects in PHP, DHTML, XML, Flash, etc. I wrote (or helped to write them) mainly to see if I could. Most have cross-browser support but some are Internet Explorer specific and some were built before NS6 and Moz 0.9 came out.
Block-level background-colors in Netscape 4
This is an old one (early 2002?) but I forgot to post it until now. Documents various ways to get CSS background colors for block-level elements like <div> working on Netscape 4. Posted 2003/02/02.
Changing psuedo-classes with JavaScript
An extension of my getElementByClass() experiment. Uses a for loop to change the CSS class of certain elements. The idea came from the need to change a psuedo-class (like :hover or :visited) dynamically. Using a combination of this script and the original should make for some very powerful functionality. Posted 2001/12/17.
Full Transparency in Flash
An experiment with full object transparency in Flash. The text is regular HTML text. It works in Internet Explorer 5 and 6 on PC. Posted 2001/10/16.
Dynamic Images with PHP
Broken due to a server software update. I may fix it... Someday.
Dynamic Images aren’t a new concept, but I did this with PHP as a learning experience. It’s pretty basic: just RGB colors, rectangles, and text so far. Works in all browsers. Posted 2001/10/14.
Image Rollovers without JavaScript
There are better methods now using the same idea, only more refined. Look up “fahrner image replacement” on Google. You could also look at some of the more accessible solutions for image replacement or this nice new single-image rollover with no preload needed.
I came up with an idea to make image rollovers without using javascript. I expanded on something I did for my Microsoft-Free Fridays page. It works in Mozilla 0.9.4 and Internet Explorer 5.5+.
Client-side XML styling with CSS
This isn’t really “parsing”, just styling. For real client-side XML parsing with the DOM, check out Paul Sowden’s experiments, if you can find them. /me bows.
New browsers can style client-side XML directly. Henceforth, straight XML data can be displayed using CSS. This is just a basic demo to show that it works in the latest versions of Internet Explorer, Netscape, Mozilla, and Opera.
getElementByClass()
Marcus Campbell’s version, getElementsByClass(), is better. Use that one. Notice his is named plural “Elements” as mine should have been, because it returns an array.
I built this one in May of 2001. It uses new DOM-compliant DHTML that allows you to modify the style of an element or elements based on its class name. The advantage to this is that you can select a group (or class) of elements and modify them all at once. Before I would have to determine the ID of each element and modify them one by one. I believe this is upwards of JavaScript 1.2 because it’s not documented in my 3rd edition O’Reilly book. Note: It’s DOM-compliant so it works in IE, NS6, Mozilla, and Opera but it’s not gonna work in Netscape 4. I started working on a new version that extends the functionality even farther, but it's buggin’ out in Opera for some reason, FYI.
Simple JavaScript Calculator
Oddly enough, this is the oldest one on the page and requires no update because I used web standards to begin with. Imagine that.
Hmm... Safari for Mac fails the calculations... Not sure why that interpreter would be any different; probably a browser bug.
This was one of the first projects I did in JavaScript. The functionality works in almost all browsers, (NS4 included). The display only works in CSS-compliant browsers.
Javascript Browser Check by DOM Functionality
Obsolete. It’s better than the method it replaced, but it’s still very obsolete.
An extended idea from a browser check by the Original DHTML Guru. The advantage to using this type of browser check is that you don't have to check for every browser out there. You know that if X works, Y will also work, it doesn’t matter what browser you’re in. So I can say if X then Y, whereas in the long route I would have to say if Netscape or IE or Opera or Mozilla then Y.. I added my own functionality to determine which version of IE and a new check for NS6/Mozilla. This check it not as precise as my server-side PHP browser check, but the two are used for different purposes.
Collapsible Menus
Don’t you dare use these non-standard, proprietary, hacked menus... What was I thinking? I’m working on a better version of the menus, but it’s not finished (As of this update: August 20, 2003).
Expandable text menus. I think I put this one together right after the Calculator project. Written for IE5 and NS4 because NS6/Moz wasn’t out then. I could easily update this for DOM-comliant browsers but I probably won't spend anymore time on it.
grabFromUrl()
The original idea for my 2001 5k entry. It uses JavaScript to rip data out of the url from a get form submission. I’ve actually seen a better version of this since I wrote it, but I thought it'd be cool to share.
Iron Designer
An all-in-fun contest at work modeled after the Iron Chef. We only had one competition before they fired our manager. :( The surprise theme for that week was “waiting in line”. It was one of the first projects I did in Flash.
Patrick Curry’s “we(b)xperiment”
This is IE only. Use web standard methods instead.
Patrick Curry built something and couldn’t get it working so I fixed it for him. ;) No... but seriously, I helped him work on this IE only project with dynamically overlapping color boxes. I tried another variation but lost interest and never finished the “collision” functionality.
