Note-Taking Skills

A couple of months ago I was at a conference in Atlanta when I had an epiphany. I decided it would fun to take notes at the conference in HTML. After all, the content of the conference was web development and best practices. So I figured instead of writing about what the code should be, why not just write the code?

As it turns out, I had more fun, a longer attention span, increased retention, and far more enthusiasm about reviewing what I had learned. You wouldn’t understand the notes even if I showed them to you, but I wanted to post screenshots here because I think my notes are… well, beautiful. And beautifully coded!

What’s Hot [and Not] in HTML5 & CSS3

Courtesy of Chris Mills from Opera Software. @chrisdavidmills

  • HTML5 isn’t designed to replace HTML4
  • Adopts to the interactive nature of today’s web experience.
  • More accurate semantics (header, footer, etc.).
  • Features: Drag & Drop, Web workers, Web storage (cookies on crack), app cache, webdb, and more!
  • Syntax rules abstract more away from the developer.
  • Machine & people readable. e.g. <time datetime=”2010-06-04″>My birthday</time>
  • New form elements. e.g. input type=”range” “date” “url” “email” “slider”.
  • Built-in validation of forms! <input type=email required autofocus>
  • One problem: can’t customize validation error messages
  • <canvas id=”” width=”” height=””>Hi world</canvas> – Scriptable graphics API for drawing.
  • <video src=”” autoplay loop controls width=”” height=”” poster=”” preload=””>Alternate content if video isn’t supported by browser</video>
  •  <source src=”” type=”video/mp4″ “video/ogg”>Not much to see</video>
  • VIDEO is just another block-level element, customize it as you like. CSS, JS, etc.
  • Video Caption: <video></video><div class=”transcript”><p><span data-start=”1.3″ data-end=”2.5″>Closed captioning</span></p></div>
  • Internet Explorer is the ONLY browser not supporting HTML5 and CSS3
  • Fake-able in IE using JS: Dean Edwards’ HTML5 Library, Excanvas, SVG Web, Raphael JS for SVG
  • text-shadow: 1px 1px 1px 1px #fff;
    2px 2px 2px 2px #ccc
  • box-shadow, opacity, rgba(255,0,0,0.75), hsl(0,100%,60%), border-radius, transition-timing-function, transition-delay, transition-property, transition-duration, transform-origin, transform: scale(2)
  • CSS3 supports multiple background images!
  • Web Fonts – Download custom fonts along with web pages! FINALLY!
  • @font-face { font-family: “Blue Highway”; src: url(“http://www.com/fonts/blue.ttf”) format(“truetype”); } /* Reference at top of CSS */
  • Media Queries – Display styles depending on user attributes – e.g. screen size, etc. – @media all and (max-width:400px) {} – change layout accordingly
  • Attribute selectors – ^href= href$= title*= “chris”]:before { content: url(heart.jpg); – inaccessible if inserting text.
  • :nth-child(even) { }
  • There’s more! Multiple bg images, multiple col layout, CSS animations, 3D transforms, etc.
  • Opera web standards curriculum: www.opera.com/wsc

Opera developer site: dev.opera.com

www.html5doctor.com

All of the above information is provided by Opera Software under Creative Commons licensing. In other words, take it, use it, share it, spread it!

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