Oncemade

Nowadays it's very common to find websites "hiding" form labels in favor of input's default text. Even tough it's a cleaver idea, there is a better way to accomplish the same result without compromising accessibility.

First step is to create the form. I usually have all my forms inside a list:

UPDATE: It's necessary to turn off the "autocomplete" so the inputs don't get messed up.

Markup

Don't forget the "for" attribute, the script will rely on it. Go ahead and add the following CSS:

CSS

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I got tired of my colleague, *cough Buz, asking me for links and tools that I find and use while working, so I've decided to create posts where I list these things for future reference. Enough talk lets get to it.

Bookmarklet is a very important piece of my development. Lately, I've been using the following:

1. ReCSS

   Super B tool, used to reload your css without refreshing the whole page. It's very useful if you want to change a website in production that you can't run locally.

2. Firebug Lite

   

   If you develop websites in different browsers like I do (webkit nightly build), and can't live without Firebug; Firebug Lite is the way to go. It isn't as powerful as the Firebug add-on but it does a good job if you need to use the console or check for applied styles. Unfortunately, there is no way to change the css on the fly.

3. Design

   

   A very cool set of design tools. It includes grid, rule, unit and crosshair. A must have if you are designing in the browser.

4. jQuerify

   As expected, it includes jQuery to the page. Very useful if you want to use firebug's console and jQuery selectors.

5. Favelet Suite

   If you are a fan of the web developer toolbar add-on for Firefox, you will love this tool.

6. xRay

   It displays CSS information of a selected object.

7. Microformats

   

   Every time I markup a page, I try to use microformats as much as possible. This bookmarklet gives you a list of vCard on the page. Unfortunately, it doesn't display any other micro data.

If I missed any other bookmarklet, feel free to leave a comment with the link to it.

While at An Event Apart Boston, Jeremy Keith delivered the best lecture of the conference, about progressive enhancement. One slide caught my attention the most. It was about adding a class to the body if JavaScript was available. Here is his code example using jQuery:

Keith's Example using jQuery:

CSS

Why add a class if JavaScript is enabled?

Although the majority of desktop users have JavaScript enabled, mobile is one of the most used platforms to surf the web. Some mobile browsers don't support JavaScript. Keep in mind that search engines don't run JavaScript, so NEVER add important content using JavaScript.

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Lately I've been seeing lots of websites using animated page scroll, it can be easily done with the help of jQuery. Here is how:

jQuery Code

The code gets the href from the anchor and uses it as the target element. If you want to adjust the scroll speed just change the 500.

Browser Support

• Firefox
• Safari
• Chrome
• Opera
• Internet Explore 7 & 8
• Internet Explore 6