revford blog

Site Search Added

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 18:11:02 GMT

Added a simple search tool to the site, click Search in the menu and use the box that pops down.

Site Code Updates

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 18:20:33 GMT

Updates to Firefox over the year mean that the -moz CSS3 additions are no longer needed, so I can drop them. This means layout code for the site is now just standard CSS3 and displays correctly on all sensible modern browsers.

It shouldn't make any difference to how things look, it's just going to make pages a tiny bit smaller so load a tiny bit faster.

CSS update

Tue, 14 Sep 2010 02:53:05 GMT

Another under the hood code update to the site, moved all the Mozilla specific CSS into a separate file.

Shouldn't make any difference to viewers, it's just to make the old code easier to remove when Firefox 4 and it's Gecko 2.0 cousins are released that use the CSS3 standard code.

HTML, CSS and Javascript

Site Update, Better CSS, Less Javascript

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 12:15:35 GMT

Minor code updates to the site, removing some javascript and replacing it with smarter CSS. Should cause the main page and news post pages to render faster, while improving the way layout is handled for mobile phones and text browsers.

Traveller UWP Decoder Update

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 17:44:57 GMT

Just a quick update, the decoder was borking over system names with spaces in, all fixed now.

Audio Player Updated

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 20:32:45 GMT

Updated the media player slightly, simplified it to a one button that switches between play and pause, rather than two individual buttons.

There is also a movie player in the code, but I've got no movies to post at the mo.

Grab the code from the links at the bottom.

media-player.js
media.css

HTML5 and CSS3

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 01:47:31 GMT

HTML5
I should have mentioned this in one of the previous site update posts, but I've moved over to HTML5 for the site now. This is long overdue as it makes things easier for me and all the modern browsers have great support for it.

The only thing holding me back was a Firefox validator extension, but I've given up waiting on it to add HTML5 support. This means I'm back to having validator links on the pages, they don't hurt so don't worry about them.

CSS3
The code that's causing pages to not validate is still the -moz- variants of border-radius for Gecko. I like the effect too much to give it up to make my code validate. The WebKit browsers no longer require the -webkit- addition. Come on Mozilla, catch up.

It doesn't cause problems for browsers that don't support it. It just gets ignored. But it's still irritating.

So that's it, the site is now updated to the latest web standards and ready for the crazy future world we've all ended up living in.

New Audio Player

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 01:37:42 GMT

Some fiddling about with HTML5 and Javascript has created a new simple media player for the site.

Thanks to the <audio> tag in HTML5 I can move over from the mess of browser and plugin detection scripts I used to have to one simple player. No plugins required.

I've tested it in sensible browsers (Firefox/Chromium/Opera/Safari) on GNU/Linux and MacOS. It should work in recent versions of these and similar browsers for other platforms too.

Mac users will still need to install the Quicktime Components for Free media formats, I use Ogg Vorbis for audio on this site. MacOS doesn't include support for reasons of wanky Apple corporate greed.

Xiph QuickTime Components

Site Updates

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 12:54:53 GMT

A few minor code updates to the website today.

WebKit no longer requires the -webkit-border-radius CSS code, it now follows the standard border-radius, so I've updated the website. This leaves the Mozilla -moz-border-radius as the only non-standard CSS I include on the site. Come on Mozilla, your CSS3 is lagging behind Opera and WebKit now. :)

Also a minor change to the RSS feed, the current recommendation is to have the actual items as the last elements in the channel, so I moved the link up to the top. The old layout was valid, but the changes now matches all the RSS Best Practices Profile recommendations.

All this shouldn't make any difference to how the site works, other than it being slightly quicker to load (6 or so fewer lines of code, I don't think anyone could notice the difference) and a step closer to prefect standards compliance (which possibly only matters to me).

I'm not dead

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 12:33:37 GMT

It's been a while since I last updated, not been feeling too well, but I'm not so bad now.

Over the next week or so I'll get on and bring the Bloodbowl page up to date and post the season end awards that have backed up the last few.

The last three months, the roleplay has been a Pathfinder game that I've been running through both the early and late slots, but starting this week it looks like Jak will be running Mage in the early game.

For now we'll be getting some Zombie games going in the late slot, until we settle on a new late game. David's work shifts mean he may not be able to cover the late game, so unless anyone else wants to jump in, I'll piece something together.

Site Updated

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 13:46:38 GMT

It's been months but I've finally managed to sit down and write some more proper code.

I've replaced more of the Javascript that drives this site with Perl, this means more of the work is carried out offline, on my machine that generates and uploads this site, leaving less work for the web browsers of visitors to do.

Basically that means the whole site should speed up a bit. We should loose that second or so delay before the menu and logo appear.

I've also stopped trying to fix things for IE 6 now. Seriously now if you're still using IE 6 you should either switch to a standards compliant browser [Firefox| Opera|Chrome| Safari|Lynx] or at worst upgrade to a more recent version of IE.

Updated CSS

Tue, 26 May 2009 12:29:13 GMT

A while back Jak mentioned that he couldn't read the text on this page clearly, after a chat it turned out that the transparency on the page divs was the problem. The variations in the shades of grey on the text made it tricky to read.

So I've dropped the transparency and updated the colours used, borrowing the palette from the Tango open desktop project to hopefully provide a nice clear colour scheme.

Tango

That should solve any legibility issues.

You can grab all the CSS used on the site here:

HTML, CSS and Javascript

We've Moved!

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 12:24:27 GMT

Transfer complete, we've now moved from revford.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk to revford.co.uk.

Everything should have crossed over now and a magical redirection page at the old address should give you the right link to the new site.

Nothing should really change right away, other than a much neater address. I've got a few new features planned that should appear over the next few months.

Usage Stats, also Chrome is a sneaky bastard

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:25:21 GMT

Stats day today. As usual, it's a split between IE7 and Firefox, with IE6 in a solid third.

I'm starting to see some Chrome users. Which is great by me, as long as people are moving away from IE6.

It will be interesting to see how Chrome does compared to Opera down at the thin end of the share.

Chrome also claims to be Safari, which is sneaky of it. It would be good if browsers we more honest about who they are rather than claiming to be other software.

Claiming to be WebKit should be good enough, they don't need to pretend to be Safari too.

IE is bloody awful

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 14:29:10 GMT

Looking at the usage stats for the website, I'm seeing that just under a third of people are still using Internet Explorer 6.

IE is bloody awful in general, but at least newer versions have vaguely modern rendering engines.

If you're still using Internet Explorer 6, you're missing out on so much of the modern web.

It kinda works for most stuff, so people don't change it, but you're missing out on many of the great features of the World Wide Web and causing unending headaches to all the web developers out there.

You can change this, it doesn't take long, it won't cost you anything, your computer will be safer and run better.

There are many very good alternative browsers out there, you can install a few and see which one you like. I'm going to recommend two.

One is the free software Firefox, the other the proprietary Opera.

Firefox is best for newer computers, it should run on anything vaguely modern, so any machines from 2003 or later should be fine.

Firefox is the very best web browser available today. Packed with great features and excellent support for the latest web standards.

You can get Firefox, for free by clicking here: Firefox

Opera is best for older or lower powered computers, it works well on anything with Windows 98 or better. This is the browser used on the Nintendo Wii and some good quality mobile phones.

Opera is a good choice for anyone. It has excellent standards support and runs well on almost any computer from the late 90s to today.

You can get Opera, for free by clicking here: Opera

Another new icon, this time for Doctor Who News

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 12:01:38 GMT

A new Doctor Who news icon, replacing the slightly obscure Gallifreyan Clock with a much more recognisable police box.

This time it's based upon a photograph released as Creative Commons by Zir. Details and proper credit information here.

Image:TARDIS2.jpg

The licence terms ask for a credit to zir.com, but that doesn't seem to be a current website. So I guess the original image is copyright to the former owners of zir.com. Who can now be found on Wikipedia here.

User:Zir

New Politics Icon

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 10:52:02 GMT

Built from two bits of public domain clip-art, a very simple icon for Politics news.

Javascript Icon

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:43:09 GMT

Yet another new icon, this time it's for Javascript news. The icon itself is a combination of the web and code icons I've set up here, recoloured a distincitve red to help it stand out.

+ =

It's built partly from the Deer Park Globe.

So once again as per the licence, this edit remains available to anyone to use under the LGPL, GPL or MPL licences. Details here.

Image:Deer Park Globe.png

It also uses parts of this public domain Cogs artwork.

Image:Cog-scripted-svg.svg

New Site Feature, Sortable News Updates

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 23:26:45 GMT

A new feature for the website, you can now click on the news topic icons to get all news posts on that subject.

So if you just want news about roleplaying, click on a icon like this:

It makes things quicker to find than trawling through 17 pages of posts.

Yet another new Icon, Themes

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 22:28:33 GMT

Another new Icon, this time one for themes, icons and other little art projects.

It's simply a window in my usual desktop theme.

For the smaller versions, instead of just a rescale I've also reduced the space within the window, or increased the relative size of the borders if you look at it the other way, to make the icon clearer at smallers sizes.