January 28, 2008

Web Developer Position in Philadelphia Area

This job opening was sent to me from a recruiter whose client, located north of Philadelphia, PA, is a rapidly growing global leader in the e-commerce industry.

The Senior Web Developer II will be act as a liaison for communication
between the Creative and Engineering teams including Graphic Designers,
Marketing Groups, Information Architects, as well as Project Management
Teams. An extensive background with JSP is vital to this position as well
as experience with: HTML, CSS, XML, and Java Script.

Requirements:

2-3 years demonstrated development experience with HTML, CSS, JSP, and
JavaScript.
Proficient with XML.
Fluent in a code-based code editor (such as Macromedia HomeSite).
Proficient with Adobe Photoshop or Fireworks, and in image optimization
techniques
Understanding of browser capabilities and design constraints on the web.
Demonstrable experience managing multiple projects on tight schedules.
Ability to demonstrate previous work via URLs.

Contact:
Christopher Corso
Evolution Staffing
215-922-6263

January 26, 2008

January 26 Meeting Report:
Rounded Corners

At our January meeting, we looked at creating rounded corners on boxes using CSS. We looked at small boxes and then full page layouts, both fixed-width and fluid width.

With table based layouts, we made rounded corners by putting curved images in the cells at the four corners of the table. CSS uses the same concept, but the images are backgrounds to the elements of the HTML. For fixed-width boxes, you just need an image with round edges at the top and one at the bottom. For fluid width, there has to be quarter-circle graphics at the four corners in order to allow expansion horizontally.

There are tons of techniques for creating rounded corners. We used examples from The Art & Science of CSS from Sitepoint, http://www.sitepoint.com/books/cssdesign1/, but a search for “rounded corners CSS” will reveal a lot of examples. Some use JavaScript instead of pure CSS. A couple of sites to look at are:

25 Rounded Corner Techniques,
http://www.cssjuice.com/25-rounded-corners-techniques-with-css/

Smiley Cat Web Design,
http://www.smileycat.com/miaow/archives/000044.php

CSSplay, http://www.cssplay.co.uk/boxes/three_cornered.html

And if you don’t want to create your own graphics, try the Rounded Corner and Gradient Generator: http://www.roundedcornr.com/

CSS3 will make the use of images unnecessary because it will include the property “border-radius.” Browsers don’t currently support this property, but in Safari and the Mozilla browsers, there are commands that will let you use border-radius. See these sites:

CSS rounded corners without images - Arve Bersvendsen, http://virtuelvis.com/archives/2004/11/imageless-rounded-corners

CSS3.info, http://www.css3.info/preview/rounded-border/

January 23, 2008

January 26 Meeting Announcement

The next meeting of the PACS CSS Workshop will be this Saturday, January 26, at 9 to 10 am.

This month, we will talk about using CSS to make rounded corners. If you look at any current website, you can see that the old boxy layouts have often given way to rounder looks. It's not just for looks, though. Varying the style of elements on a page can help draw attention to those elements, and there is something visually comfortable about a softer looking page.

There are actually many techniques for making rounded corners. We will cover the basics and show some easy, cross-browser options that work on fixed-width and flexible boxes.

We will of course have the usual lineup of web-related meetings, and we should have a book or two to raffle off during the day.

January 11, 2008

FeedDemon RSS reader is now free

FeedDemon is an excellent RSS reader that is written by Nick Bradbury, the talented developer who also created the TopStyle web editor. Bradbury's products are published by NewsGator, which announced this week that FeedDemon and several other products in its RSS Web 2.0 Suite for Individuals are now free. Check out FeedDemon, and be sure subscribe to CSS Workshop site's RSS feed.