PATRICK.s{code}

Javascript Array.indexOf() Support

Mon, 20 May 2013 21:48:00 -0400

Just a quick tip, if you are working on backwards compatibility with IE8 and below, you might want to add this to your long list of fixes. Internet Explorer 8 and below does not have support for Array.indexOf(). Fortunately, there’s a jQuery solution if you are already using it. Otherwise, you will have to write your own.

Hopefully in the coming months we can begin to cross these “fixes” off our list of things to do before launching a site. Let’s keep upgrading those browsers!

Browser Usage Statistics - April 2013

Wed, 01 May 2013 21:40:00 -0400

Believe it not, May is here and that means another report on last month’s browser usage statistics. According to my sources, the following are the averages for each of the five main web browsers:

Overall Browser Usage
Internet Explorer - 36.58%
Chrome - 29.782%
Firefox - 20.318%
Safari - 9.49%
Opera - 1.38%

Once again, I believe that NetApplications report of Internet Explorer’s usage is skewed as they report IE’s total usage at 55.81% worldwide and Chrome’s is only 16.35%. All my other sources have IE around 35% and Chrome around 28%, which I believe is more accurate.

As a web developer, one of the key areas I check each month is the usage of each version of Internet Explorer. Last month’s IE version usage is listed below:

Internet Explorer Version Usage
IE6 - 1.755% (skewed by NetApplications, around 0.27% from other sources)
IE7 - 2.472%
IE8 - 12.83%
IE9 - 14.116%
IE10 - 4.3%

These numbers indicate to me one very important item, stop developing for IE6 and even IE7. These two browsers cause so many issues that with such a lower percentage of use, it’s just not worth it.

#whychrome?

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 13:04:21 -0400

It’s faster, and Safari’s developer tools are just not very helpful anymore.

I thought I could continue using Safari as it allowed me to keep my bookmarks in-sync with iCloud. However Chrome’s Bookmark syncing takes care of all the issues of keeping bookmarks in-sync as well. Sorry Apple, but until you adopt a rapid-release browser schedule and fix your iCloud issues, I am going to be using Chrome.

Browser Usage Statistics - March 2013

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 11:15:00 -0400

Another month, another report of browser usage is here. March’s report shows what has been consistently happening for months now, Chrome is still gaining ground on Internet Explorer. Although minimal, Chrome is attracting more users each month. Despite Chrome’s gains, the main losers each month seem to be Firefox, Safari and Opera. Each of the three browsers have been losing users each month to either Chrome or the recently modernized Internet Explorer. Firefox is still holding it’s ground, but barely gaining any new usage. Safari and Opera remain niche browsers and cannot seem to attract a large group of users. The following statistics are my averages based on the Browser Statistics sources I collected:

Overall Browser Usage:

IE - 37.088%

Chrome - 29.361%

Firefox - 20.251%

Safari - 9.746%

Opera - 1.408%

Along with overall browser usage, included are the usage statistics for Internet Explorer. The statistics for IE are included for web developers who are still wondering which versions of IE to test. The results are included below:

Microsoft Internet Explorer Usage:

IE6 - 1.364%

IE7 - 2.586%

IE8 - 12.598%

IE9 - 15.676%

IE10 - 2.3%

Finally, I would like to mention an anomoly I have noticed. One of my sources, NetMarketShare reports that IE6 is used by 6.21% of the world. I believe this is because China still uses IE6 more often than other countries. My other sources have IE6 listed at 0.28% and 0.33% respectively. This indicates to me that if you are testing your website, and your main audience is not China, you should not worry about IE6. I generally believe that if you are using IE6, you are using a system that is heavily out-of-date and should not be supported at all. However, I also work with clients whom are in the government and they still have IE6 installed on their computers.

Going back to NetMarketShare, I called them out a few days ago on Twitter for their report on Chrome usage:

I call bs on #netmarketshare’s chrome usage amount. 16.45% really?!
— Patrick Cole (@patrickcole) April 2, 2013

I seriously do not think that Chrome has a 16.45% usage worldwide. Now, I understand that NetMarketShare websites probably do not get a large amount of users on Chrome, but I look at other reports and they have Chrome at least 26% worldwide. Unfortunately, I do not have the funds to sign up for a lucrative NetMarketShare account to check their numbers, so I cannot check the numbers per country. I guess I will have to wait until April’s report is out to see if the trend continues.

Website Spring Cleaning

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 16:59:34 -0400

As you have seen, this blog has gone through a slight cleanup and reorganization as part of my restructuring of content. In addition to moving personal articles away from this blog, I have also been working on my own custom Tumblr theme.

I am happy to announce that I have begun the process of transferring my HTML mockups into the tumblr engine. You may notice some changes, visually, to this blog over the next couple of days. I am still learning the tumblr code and variables, but hopefully should have the updated theme ready soon.

Thanks for reading and look forward to showing you this new, free, theme.

Stop adding "pipes" inside your nav links!

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 21:54:00 -0400

This is a terrible practice because anyone reading the page without a stylesheet STILL can see the pipes. The separators are part of the layout and not the content. If you are someone who usually places the separator inside the <li> tag, STOP!

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about:

<ul> <li>Link |</li> </ul>

What you see above is exactly what a screen reader will read and is really useless. Might I suggest you separate the pipe from the content and use CSS to create a separator.

I have created another basic code sample to illustrate what I am talking about.

Basic List Separators by Patrick Cole on Codepen

Basic Resizable Grid

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 12:29:00 -0500

Here is a new basic code sample for you. You can use this as a “table replacement” for a grid style layout of your site. This sample is set to be full screen that resizes on screen resize. Currently, this is a 4x4 grid with each “cell” occupying 25% of the screen.

Basic Resizable Grid by Patrick Cole on Codepen

Basic CSS Dropdown Lists

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 21:41:00 -0500

Another basic HTML/CSS code sample. I use this very basic beginning for most of my horizontal drop down lists. The code provided creates a basic semantic list with a navigation class. Please note that I have addressed Internet Explorer’s issues with the :pseudo class.

Basic CSS Dropdown List by Patrick Cole on Codepen

In this sample, I handle IE’s issues by using jQuery but only for IE8 and below as the other browsers mainly handle the :hover pseudo class just fine.

Links, You Love to Hate them..

Sun, 10 Feb 2013 17:08:20 -0500

Links, You Love to Hate them..:

Since Valentine’s Day is coming up this week, I thought I would share a simple rule you can use to code all your anchor links.

An update

Sat, 09 Feb 2013 15:06:35 -0500

So I’ve been neglecting this blog for some time and for that apologize. However, I have something new and exciting. In an effort to better separate my personal life and my work life, I have re-dedicated this blog to all work.

What that means is now I will be posting code samples, tutorials, important links and such. With my first new post under this new setup, I have included my very first post on codepen.io. I hope this code sample can be useful for any web developers who need some help.

Enough with jQuery sliders! /rant

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 09:44:11 -0500

There are soo many jQuery sliders people have built, it is crazy! Look, I know it is probably one of the easiest tutorials with jQuery, but come on. There are plenty of open source samples to provide what you need to accomplish your sliding task.

I just get really sick of searching through a billion jQuery sliders. I have settled on jQuery Cycle Plugin as it is included in the CMS we use at work.

If you are thinking of writing a new tutorial on how to build a slider, I would encourage you to first do some research and see if there is one already out there that suits your needs.

/rant over

More Object Oriented Javascript

Sun, 07 Oct 2012 18:17:00 -0400

I’ll be posting another quick sample from my Object Oriented Javascript tutorial on my coderwall.

UPDATED: It’s there now.

Check out my coderwall

Sat, 29 Sep 2012 17:42:25 -0400

Check out my coderwall:

I just found out about coderwall and it seems pretty cool! I’ll be posting any new tutorials or code samples there.

Back to school..well kind of

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 22:53:13 -0400

Well with a new school year for students, I figured I may as well join in on the learning. So, I have begun taking classes, well sort of. I found some great resources for learning some more programming languages and their concepts. So, I have been spending about 1-2 hours a night going through these resources.

Currently, I am learning Objective-C core concepts and intro to Android Development. Why you ask? I am hitting the ground on Mobile App Development now. I have done a few projects with Adobe AIR’s Packager to iOS and Android and I see why native applications are soo much better. In addition to Adobe AIR, I have dabbled in Phonegap/Cordova and once again, I see why native apps are better.

In my opinion, mobile applications are the way of the future, they are going to somewhat replace websites. Application development is not new to the web, but it is definitely something to study up on. So that’s what I’m now focusing my energies on. Rather than working on my website, I want to build applications.

I’ll keep you updated on my progress, but if you want to check out one of the apps I have built, with Phonegap, you can download it here.

Yeah I'm still here...

Sun, 29 Jul 2012 20:04:08 -0400

I’ve been working a lot.. seems like all I do.. Thank you for reading.

Making Love to WebKit

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:28:04 -0500

Making Love to WebKit:

webkitbits:

Steven Wittens redesigns Acko.net with some awesome 3d and parallax effects, based on three.js and a custom CSS3 3d renderer.

This is why webkit is the best browser out there.

Five Years Later...

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 20:33:53 -0500

So it was five years ago today, Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone. He made a bold statement by saying that it was 5 years ahead of any other phone out there. Well it’s 5 years later and was Steve right?

Before, I begin I have to admit that I am biased towards Apple, but I encourage you to put your feelings aside and think about what was announced on this day, 5 years ago.

Obviously Android is very very popular now, but short of Android are there any other phones out there that truly rival the iPhone? Think about what has happened in the last couple of years since Android started rising in popularity and usage. Nokia has decided to drop its Symbian operating system and has decided to adopt Windows Mobile 7, which is still trying to gain some traction in the market. Research in Motion’s BlackBerry OS phones continue to show decline in the market and HP (prev. Palm) webOS phones are almost nonexistent now.

That just really leaves Apple’s iOS (prev. iPhone OS) and Google’s Android operating system. Despite the patent disputes and accusations of stealing ideas from both Apple, Google, HTC, etc.. Apple’s iPhone really set the benchmark for Android (and other mobile operating systems.) So can we say Steve was right? I think he had a great head start and there are aspects of Android that still have not caught up for sure. To be fair there are aspects of iOS that have taken a long time to implement and others that are still lacking.

It’s really interesting to see how far phones have come in 5 years and how it has changed the entire landscape of mobile devices and the race to develop the next best thing for a mobile device.

staff: Keep your blog safe! Never type in your password unless...

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 07:50:04 -0500

staff:

Keep your blog safe!

Never type in your password unless you see the green “Tumblr, Inc.” emblem in your browser.

Spammers and other bad guys use fake forms to steal passwords.

Webkit is hands down the best browser engine out there right...

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 16:28:45 -0500

Webkit is hands down the best browser engine out there right now. I’ve been able to achieve soo much in the past few days while using Webkit.

A Touching Story from the Apple Store [Cult of Mac]

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 19:27:03 -0400

A Touching Story from the Apple Store [Cult of Mac]