Web Developer Toolbar for Internet Explorer

:: Permanent Link (read more at forum) ::
(PreScript note: I was going to add this to my "windows live space" but the Advertising server makes each page load amazingly slow, or not at all. On top of that, the MS live search couldn't even tell I wanted to get there when I entered livespaces.msn.com and live.spaces.com : silly microsoft search can't even find itself, apparently...)

(Bumping thread) I downloaded the more recent version of the
'Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar'

  [
  IEDevToolBarSetup.msi ;
  1.00.2188.0 ; 
  Date Published: 5/9/2007
  ]

for Internet Explorer 6 (on Windows XP Home),

only to find that it wouldn't work...

This even after restarts, adding the button to the 'Standard Buttons bar',
and going to Internet Options > Programs > Manage Add-ons
to make sure that

* [ blank file called "IE Developer Toolbar"] and
* [IEDevToolbar.dll (Browser Helper Object/ BHO)
were enabled.

The solution in post "11 May 2007, 8:33 PM UTC" also worked for me.

Please consider adding this solution to the (quote-unquote) Release Notes.

(Does anyone know where we can get some more detailed Release Notes for this?)

We really need to get the word out that the Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar beats the pants off the default "DOM Explorer" in Firefox, and good documentation is the best way to do it...

How to implement abbreviation definitions correctly in HTML

This page serves as a simple test of formatting ABBR and ACRONYM so that these HTML tags appear properly in Internet Explorer 6.

Code sample (1):

<abbr title="Getting Things Done">GTD</abbr>

Here's an example: GTD followed by more text.

If you're viewing this page in Internet Explorer 6, you won't see the intended result, which is a dotted line under "GTD".

Here's another example, but with a fix: GTD followed by more text.

In the previous line, you should now see the dotted-underline. This is supposed to prompt the user to point at the abbreviation with their mouse and pause,at which point (after a short pause) they should see a "mouse-over window" (a.k.a. "tool tip" or "pop up") displaying what the abbreviation is short for.

Here's the same sample, but with just the ACRONYM tag: GTD followed by more text.

Here's a simple block of STYLE you can use in your HTML HEAD:

acronym, abbr, span.caps
{
font-size: 0.9em;
letter-spacing: .07em;
}

acronym, abbr, span.caps {
cursor: help;
}
acronym, abbr {
border-bottom: 1px dashed #999;
}

Conclusion

Since abbr doesn't work in IE, but acronym works in IE, Opera, and Firefox, that means "acronym" wins (even if the word isn't being used correctly).
Therefore, despite the backflips proposed by http://www.sovavsiti.cz/css/abbr.html, all you have to do is:

acronym {
padding-bottom: 2px;
border-bottom: 1px dashed #999;

cursor: help;

}
...
<acronym title="Getting Things Done"">GTD</acronym>

See also

• abbreviation vs. acronym vs. initialism (lyberty.com)

---

Permanent link (external site), "abbr IE"

Posting to your Blog using Blogger: Post an entry using an email address

[Posted by Liberty Miller, July 22 2007, 5:15 pm (gmt-7)]

Blogger has a feature that allows you to post to your blog by writing your blog entry as an email, then sending that email to blogger.
Blogger will then either post it immediately, or will just save it in your account as a draft (so that it won't appear on your blog until you log in to Blogger.com and publish it yourself).

To use this feature, you have to go to the blogger dashboard and look for the 'email' tab.

Then what you do is you make up a "secret word" extension for your email address. This functions as a kind of password. The format of the email address is username.secretword@blogger.com . Note that this email address must be kept secret; anyone who gets it will be able to post to your blog.

(TIP: This means don't Cc: anyone on the blog post email you send.)

(.. Dear google, ...)
The option that decides whether you want the email to post right away, or just remain in your account is NOT clear for new users. If you want the email to post right away, check the box next to [] Publish.

More info

Image Blog for July 22

Click to view image blog:

Structured Procrastination

[posted by Liberty Miller, 2007-July-22 at 1:56am gmt-7]

John Perry's essay on Structured Procrastination

(...there are still big opportunities ahead in search, collaborative filtering, and recommendation systems ...)

... how to turn a "bad habit" into an effective strategy:

"This is the essence of what I call structured procrastination, an amazing strategy I have discovered that converts procrastinators into effective human beings... The key idea is that procrastinating does not mean doing absolutely nothing...the procrastinator can be motivated to do difficult, timely and important tasks, as long as these tasks are a way of not doing something more important. Structured procrastination means shaping the structure of the tasks one has to do in a way that exploits this fact."

It's short and concise -- definitely worth a read if you're not 100% satisfied with your ability to get things done.

bloggercred: Scott McMullan

How I Hacked Your LinkSys Router (Which You Probably Bought at Best Buy)

An instant classic. How to feel like a hacker without trying.

Link: Read "How I Hacked Your LinkSys Router Which You Probably Bought at Best Buy" (February 2007)

Liberty writes:
I had a similar experience, in that I was using my neighbor's wireless access point for a while without realizing it.

Maybe we should all just open up all our routers for sharing, and just use whichever has the strongest signal of the moment. Instant community-based Wide Area Network (WAN)!

odd relationships : 'blogger.com' to 'blogspot.com' to 'google.com'

Illustration: relational links for 'blogger' and 'blogspot':

I had a theory at one point that, before being acquired by Google, 'blogspot' was part of (or had a relationship with) jotspot.com, but this assumption appears to be incorrect, per the history described at http://www.blogger.com/about.



From the archives; a self-description from blog*spot, circa 2000:

BlogSpot is a free hosting service for Blogger™-powered blogs ...

BlogSpot is a service of Pyra Labs.

So, in a nutshell:

"Blog*Spot" is a HOST (where you can choose to publish your blog to), while "blogger" is a USER INTERFACE, which is used to set up and manage your blog.

The original Blog*Spot clearly explained the relationship of these two sites as they walked you through the process; see http://web.archive.org/web/20010405072515/blogspot.com/tutorial.asp

This clarified what you could expect from the process before you started. Google, on the other hand, doesn't tend to give you too many details on their services ahead of time (or effectively hides this information). The problem seems to be that there is an underlying assumption by the people who organize
the Google service entry points that users already know what each service is for, how
to use it, etc., or, if they don't, that the potential users are willing to sign up for the service in order to figure out what it's for and how to use it.

(Note that Google isn't the only one guilty of this; I see it a lot on the web for web sites, services, and applications. Sort of an accidental 'if you have to ask you don't deserve to use it' philosophy...)

A Message for the CSS and XML Cultists

A message for the neigh-fanatical XML and CSS cultists.
(And you can quote me on this...)

1. Formatting communicates.
2. When you separate 'presentation' from 'content', you lose part of the message.*
3. Presentation is part of content.

*footnote: do a search on CSS and you'll read what is essentially the same message over and over: that CSS (et al.) is "superior to HTML because it separates presentation from content".

Case in point; you should be able to see how the MEANING of the following statements changes because of the way it is formatted:

"Presentation is part of communication."
"Presentation is part of communication."
"Presentation is part of communication."

- Liberty Miller, July 20 2007

The Department

What they did was, they delivered me to the Department of Redundancy Department. So many links were cross linked with links that by the time we'd unlinked them they were only single bits of information we'd already seen before: lolcatz, diylife, The Algorithm. They looked different lumped together in a social network. I felt lost in the swarm of information, unable to contribute. I mean, after all, what was new here? Certainly nothing worth mentioning. Did you hear the one about the pirate who wore a ships wheel as a belt buckle? It was driving 'im nuts! Or, maybe you've seen Tut Barking? I'd hate to keep you from that gem.

If, however, you were DEAD SET interested on hot new shit (tm), I suppose you could check out Rulon Oboev's gallery. More of Rulon's works can be found here. Also, Rulon's homepage (in Russian).

Office Politicos: The Maverick

click to enlarge:

from Office Politicos: A Field Guide on bNet.

Placeholder for future entries

The beginning.

So, okay, this is blogger on blogspot; (http://libertymiller.blogspot.com); but what the heck did they mean by "host your blog on another provider" in "Advanced Setup?
If you already have an external host, why in the world would you signup for a blogger/blogspot account?