2004.09.14 validate me:
so, i've spent the past week-and-a-half (or so) working on a little bipolar related project i've been wanting to do forever–"translating" all of bipolar's various themes (currently standing at 5) into some form of valid XHTML using CSS Positioning and various and sundry other new-fangled web-standards type things. so now we're frames and (mostly) table free.
it's been a bit of a bear to get things working right, mainly on the front-end, as once i got the first theme figured out, the rest kind of just tagged along (pardon the pun).
i also had to decide whether i wanted to preserve the current layout (fits in a single window and has scrolling "panes", versus full-page vertical scroll to fit content) or not, and i think i'm pretty please with how well i was able to capture the original layouts while keeping the ability to resize the window however you like.
and, on the low tech theme, i think i even managed to go lower tech than the original–no frames (though it does have full-page scroll, which is deliciously lower tech.)
anyway, i haven't "flipped the switch" yet, as i kind of wanted people to poke at them for a few days before they become the new bipolar. everything should work well, but if something weird happens, please let me know. here are some links to get you started:
bipolar 1.0 :: validate
bipolar 1.5 :: validate
bipolar 2.0 :: validate
bipolar xarian :: validate
bipolar low tech :: validate
the themes are all valid XHTML Transit. at the moment. we might do something in our posts to break their validity, but we've got a fresh new start.
oh, and an added benefit (invisible to you, the user, unless you're on a text based browser) the content is now first in the source! the header and the links dropdown/section comes at the end of the source for the pages, and, of course, with no frames, all the content is on the same page! so, it's a very positive step to improve the indexability of the site. i've still got some work to do on making things work properly from a search engine link, but i've got some ideas. and i need to figure out a way to get the search engines to index either the monthly archives pages (and nought else) or just the individual entry archives pages.
this is a huge step though, and i'm glad i finally tackled it.
check the pages out, let me know what you think.
brian. said:
The "frames" don't scroll on mouse over focus (with a scroll wheel mouse).
m@ said:
yeah. i've noticed that one too… it works in IE, but not in Moz/FireFox…
i'm going to try to find out if there's a way to fix that, but i'm betting there's not much i can do.
brian. said:
Then I'm betting your whole idea is STUPID!
The regular version, by the by, works perfectly in Firefox.
*stomps off angrily*
m@ said:
MC Seth-yo did me a huge favor and tested all the new versions in different browsers. i've still got some work to do to make them "truly universal" but what we've got is a good start.
a guess a good question to ask would be… how important is it to maintain the "fits in the window" look, versus a big long-ass scrolly page look (like the lowtech theme)?
brian. said:
Why you always gotta change shit, bitch? What the fuck is up with you?
Point: Look at the difference in length of our sides in the low-tech version. That should be your answer, right there.
brian. said:
Also: Why the fuck won't Seth return my calls or emails?
brian. said:
By the way: I like how the Bipolar 2.0 theme looks in your new version. Fix that scrolly thing and you're gold!
m@ said:
yeah, that's one of the reasons i wanted to stay away from the full-page scroll, 'cause even though you post more frequently, i post more voluminously.
yeah, i like the fix to 2.0, it's nothing huge, but i think it brings it together a bit.
as for why i've got to keep changing things, you should keep in mind that it's always a struggle to *improve* things, not simply to change them for changes sake.
seth says the new pages actually display pretty well in the text-based browsers now, so that's a bonus. it just means the pages should degrade fairly well.
as for the scrolly thing, we've gotta get the firefox devs to fix the boog. vote for this bug http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=241418
(it was the most appropriate one i could find)
brian. said:
COnsider it voted on.