Hit the Deck- SXSW, 2008.3.13 @ Light Bar in Austin, TX
Hit the Deck- Winter Music Conference, 2008.3.28 @ The Catalina Hotel in Miami, FL
FutureArts 2008 April 18 and 19, 2008 @ The Boston Center For The Arts
Two more shows + more info as it comes to me.
I get home today and found out…
I broke my site.
Right before going away for the weekend.
I lost maybe 10,000 page views because of a stunningly stupid error that I should have caught.
Last week was so condensed I just missed the error.
More thorough testing would have uncovered it instantly. I just ran out of time.
If, like me, you cut your web development teeth during while CSS was still in its infancy, you likely put together a lot of sites that featured two (or more) columns decorated with bgcolors or background images that flowed together in lockstep, always retaining equivalent height. It was pretty standard and basically came along free with tables for layout.
Then? Along came CSS, the separation of style and content (don't forget behavior!) and the two columns living in perfect harmony became a casualty of the war against crufty code.
Which brings us to this post. I've played around with a similar technique before, but I'd never taken it to this, it's logical conclusion. This technique grew out of some conversation at work. I don't remember the specifics, but I remember I was looking at some unrelated piece of code on someone else's monitor. Walking back to my desk it reminded me of one thing or another and then the pieces started to tumble around in my head. It was a couple of hours later, on my drive home from work, when they clicked into place and I thought, "hey, I could fake that old technique!"
The basic idea goes a little something like this: just because a background color or gradient appears to be part of an element, that doesn't mean it needs to actually be applied directly to that HTML element. Instead, using some basic CSS and a repeating background image we can fake that two column look by positioning the two columns on top of the "columns" formed by the background image . As long as the containing DIV grows with either of the columns and the gap in the background image matches the background (or is transparent, wlloing the background to show through) the illusion is maintained.
It's like magic.
Here's the sample (which I only tested in FF2 and IE7):
Here's the CSS:
/*the two-column container*/
#container #two-columns {
/*set that background image*/
/*repeat it and center it*/
background: url(images/bg.jpg) repeat-y center;
height: auto;
width: 500px;
margin:auto;
margin-bottom:20px;
}
#container #two-columns #column-2 {
/*float it*/
float:right;
height: auto;
width: 215px;
padding:5px;
}
#container #two-columns #column-1 {
height: auto;
width: 215px;
padding:5px;
}
/*clear the above float*/
#container .clr {
clear:both;
}
and here's the HTML:
<div id="two-columns">
<div id="column-2"> A column in structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. </div>
<div id="column-1"> A column in structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. </div>
<div class="clr"></div>
</div>
I told you it was simple. If you're familiar with modern layout techniques the above should be commonplace. The interesting bit (to me at least) is the concept of pulling the "background" of the two columns off of the columns themselves and onto the containing DIV. This separation can be a powerful technique. I've used it before in a different context, but I think this example really illustrates how useful it can be. I'm already starting to see other possibilities for this pattern.
Expanding the toolbox is fun.
Of course, before I can actually use this technique where it's most needed by me, I have to come up with a scheme that works with both variable width and variable height. Tricky stuff. If I can pull that of, I'll install it right on my home page. As it stands now I'm using JavaScript to equalize the heights on the two news DIVs at the bottom.
Boo.
The good news is I've actually made some progress with the variable width/height version. Unfortunately, nothing is quite ready for prime time though so that'll have to be unveiled in another post. Keep your eyes peeled and your fingers crossed. I'll keep at it with the typing.
First the graffiti- check out the early early early shots:
And then behold the glory of another bunch of photos from the Graphic Violence contest. Here's a sample from that new set (which just happens to feature a great shot of the SCRATCH piece hinted at in several other photos form the contest:)
They were going for $20,000 not so long ago. £96,000 is a long way away from $20,000.
Check it out:
A screenprint of model Kate Moss by artist Banksy fetched three times its estimated price at an auction last night devoted solely to street art.
The work, a pastiche of Andy Warhol's iconic portrait of Marilyn Monroe, sold for £96,000 at Bonhams in London.
The Bristol-based artist's Laugh Now, a stencil image of a monkey wearing a sandwich board which was expected to sell for £150,000-£200,000, went under the hammer at £228,000.
To the Editor:
Nicholas D. Kristof writes that liberals should reach out to evangelicals whose focus has shifted from stopping abortions to helping fight poverty, AIDS and climate change. But these same new efforts to help, while admirable, are undertaken with the intention of obtaining new converts to Christianity.
This type of missionary zeal, with Bibles and crosses in hand, reflects the same colonial mind-set that angered the third world to begin with.
We liberals aren’t deriding true religious faith, only the self-serving idea that Christians must spread their ways and beliefs upon those they deem not yet civilized.
Daniel Vinkovetsky
I got tagged twice with the "8 things you may not know about me" meme thingamabob. The first was a few weeks ago and while I've meant to do it, I've had a draft post staring at me for a couple of weeks with no real movement.
The second was apparently just what it took to get this thing out the door.
So bear witness as I do my business.
The deed is done.
How did I miss this?
In the early morning hours in mid-December, an amazing masterpiece of epic pink proportions appeared above the Melrose strip. Not MOCA's Murakami billboard itself, but rather a young curator's fantasy art show: "Murakami/AUGER/REVOK." The spectacle lasted two days, and then it was gone. For most of us who missed it entirely, the billboard became art-opening gossip - already a mythic achievement - and yet another coup pulled off by a couple of L.A.'s most prolific and talented AWR/MSK writers. Luckily, REVOK carried his camera that day, and L.A. Weekly received the photo; we were wowed. So, it turns out, was Murakami, whose Kaikai Kiki studio found the evidence via the Internet and had the billboard surreptitiously removed. Murakami buffing billboards all the way from Japan? On the contrary, according to his representatives, he found it "so wonderful, he had to have it for his collection." Our billboard is now on its way to Tokyo.
WordPress 2.3.3 is out.
Since it fixes a security issue there's no better time than now to upgrade…
WordPress 2.3.3 is an urgent security release. If you have registration enabled a flaw was found in the XML-RPC implementation such that a specially crafted request would allow a user to edit posts of other users on that blog. In addition to fixing this security flaw, 2.3.3 fixes a few minor bugs. If you are interested only in the security fix, download the fixed version of xmlrpc.php and copy it over your existing xmlrpc.php. Otherwise, you can get the entire release here.
Also, there is a vulnerability in the WP-Forum plugin that is being actively exploited right now. If you are using this plugin, please remove it until an update is available from its author.
Since we are talking security, remember to use strong passwords and change them regularly. While you’re updating WP and your plugins, consider refreshing your passwords.
Speaking of Wordpress, does anyone know why Akismet suddenly sucks? The past few days it's consistently been beaten by trackback spam touting the night vision exploits of a certain hotel heiress. It's the EXACT same URL, with the EXACT same text and formatting, but it keeps getting through. I've had a handful of false negatives over the years I've used it (a few a month) and all of a sudden I've seen dozens of identical examples in just the past week.
Is someone gaming the system?
