The official January 2011 launch of the robust HTML5 has brought with it a number of powerful coding elements. Among them is the <progress> tag, a very useful tool in putting together quick, attractive online presentations. CSS3 provides a highly flexible methodology for customizing default HTML5 tags. At present, both technologies are undergoing considerable revision. ‘Pseudo-elements’, such as those prefixed by -moz- and -webkit-, were implemented within the CSS3 framework...
With the progress element, HTML5 pages can display the progress of a task, for example a download or background activity. In this tutorial we will demonstrate how to use the progress element in your pages, with a simple JavaScript function updating the element as the task executes. At the moment the progress element is only really supported in Firefox, Chrome and Opera, with support developing in Internet Explorer and Safari, so you can't rely on it just yet. For demonstration, we are simply going to...
Have you ever come across a beautifully designed website and wished you had X-ray vision to see how all those HTML elements on the site work? Have you ever wanted to see how a certain design might look on your site without actually changing the underlying code? Well, you don’t have to wish or think anymore because a powerful and really useful browser extension called Firebug can help you do all that. Any designer or developer looking to experiment with different styles on a website in real-time needs...
Most online text entry fields, including text boxes and search boxes, look exactly like the name implies -- very “boxy”. Relatively few website owners have availed themselves of the latest coding advances to incorporate subtle touches into their form elements to create an entirely new look. With HTML5 and CSS3, powerful, yet simple coding tools will now allow for speedy and effective appearance upgrades for all types of boxes. Say, for instance, you wanted to freshen up a simple multi-line text...
HTML5 introduces a range of new form elements and functions, including the range input type. With the range input element, you can create sliding controls for your site users. There are a number of options to choose from in terms of configuring your range inputs, such as defining the range values and steps. With a little JavaScript, you can capture and respond to user interaction with the range slider control. In this tutorial we will create a basic HTML5 range input slider to resize an image, with a JavaScript...
In the rapidly evolving arena of browser standards, among the newest additions is a tag that significantly facilitates the transfer and sharing of data between online applications and services. The Google-originated ‘Web Intents’ API gives a user the ability to select an application to perform a specific action on a designated piece of data, such as an image, audio or video file, or text file. Here’s how the feature works: Say, for instance, a person wants to edit or share a photo that has been...
HTML5 offers a range of improved options for executing JavaScript functions. With Web Workers, you can execute scripts in the background, so that intensive processing need not interfere with the main functionality of your page. Of course this is most useful for complex tasks, but in this tutorial we will demonstrate the basics of using Web Workers with your pages using a simple example. At the moment the most recent versions of all major browsers, except Internet Explorer, support Web Workers - you...
Web developers are increasingly being asked to build sites that cater to smartphone Internet users, or to recast existing sites into user-friendlier formats for mobile devices. By 2015, statistical research by eMarketer predicts that more than half of the persons who access the Web will do so through a smartphone or other small-screen device. This paradigm shift represents a challenge to the established Web development community, which now has a mandate to configure Web content previously optimized...