If..Else Log

Sony's prototype offers a fantastic glimpse into the future.

Typedrawing: A wonderful experiment in the art of text.

Dan Rubin is thinking of a CMS based on Ruby on Rails. As is Ryan Sims.

Dave Shea decides to write about his date boxes.

Now there's even a Google Map sightseeing blog. Here's a strange one which they uncovered.

An article introducing the Ajax support built into Ruby on Rails.

Here's an interesting technique that you can use when it comes to blockquotes. Generally most people would style a blockquote as thus:

<blockquote >
<p>I've got a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it
and call it a weasel!</p>
</blockquote>

If we were to semantically mark that up, you may end up with the following:

<blockquote cite="http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Blackadder">
<p>I've got a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it
and call it a weasel!</p>
<cite>Blackadder</cite>
</blockquote>

Now that we have the pieces in place, how about using css to present this information? First, let's apply some basic formatting first.

blockquote
{
	padding:8px;
	margin:0;
	background:#eee;
	border:1px solid #d3d3d6;
}

Nothing particularly clever yet. However, what we can do next is take advantage of two infrequently used css features: the after and hover psuedo-elements and the content property. We can instruct the browser to display the referred source of the blockquote when the user hovers their mouse over the blockquote.

blockquote:hover:after {display:block;content: attr(cite);}

We'll then add a final sprinking of formatting.

blockquote {
text-align:right;
}
blockquote p
{
	text-align:left;

}

And voila! CSS styled semantically marked blockquotes. Hover over the blockquote and you'll be able to see the associated cite meta-information.

I've got a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel!
Blackadder

Note, that this has only been tested in Firefox (IE doesn't provide the required CSS support) but what do you think? Any improvements?

It's been a while since I've written a front page entry. In the meantime however, I've managed to post 40 "shorts" posts. Contrary to what you may think, I don't necessarily consider this a bad thing; instead, it vindication of the last redesign.

One of the driving forces behind the design of the Cobalt theme was that it would free me up from having to write feature posts lest if..else be diluted into a link blog. Keeping the shorts inline like Kottke's remaindered or PhotoMatt's asides doesn't work so well for what is an admittedly infrequently site.

The fact that that I didn't want the site to fall into being a link blog is fairly interesting when you examine my original intentions for if..else and the rest of my online properties. Actually, I lie. It's not. Still, this is my blog so I'll go on.

Back in the early ages of my blogging endeavours, I had a grand masterplan for how I would use my various sites. FullyIndependent would be my main site, powered by a CMS backend that I'd wrote from scratch (WP at that point had not yet been conceived). Whilst I'd been "blogging" before, FI was the first domain that I properly owned.

I'd also have a personal domain in which I'd use as a gallery/portfolio site (I won't list the domain as it's nothing more than a static page at the moment). Endturn would be my review site, focused primarily on movies and video game reviews (hence the name and slogan "endturn - press start to continue").

And finally we'd come to if..else. Back in the days before del.icio.us, I'd had troubles managing cool links. The browser based bookmarking/favourites system was (and still is) far too limited and non-portable for my needs. Therefore, I decided to use if..else as a link blog before that term had even been coined. Rather than writing another system, I looked around for ready made blogging systems. And eventually I discovered WP.

The more I used WP, the more it slowly seeped into my consciousness and eventually, the ease in which I could write somehow meant that if..else became my main site.

We've come a fair way from where we began. Endturn is now powered by TXP (I'll write more on this another time), and deals with design/business related features. FullyIndependent is on a temporary hiatus but will probably feature deeper articles on business, economics and such what. If..else is now my main personal site where I'll be a little freer with the stuff I write about.

And the design? I'm planning a redesign but for now, expect more of the same:-)

Imagine these a "pinata-esque" version of these filled with coins!

The Tiger Admin panel by the wonderful Steve Smith is a fabulous redesign of WP's admittedly lacklustre backend. I would love for this to be integrated into the official release.