Archive content from 2000 to 2010
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This page is part of a searchable archive of the Code Style site log. Technical implementation notes that shed light on when, why and how the site has evolved since 2000.
Follow the latest entries to the site log.
Updated the Javascript Anchor Points external links page with Code Style Twitter feed favourites dating back to May 2009.
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Re-combined the DOM1 visibility drop down menu system article into a single page, amended all links to the secondary pages and set up redirects for the abandoned URLs.
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Created a Javascript NewsletterSubscription.js script to enable followers to check all “Join” or “Leave” newsletter radio buttons with a single click. Separate functions get the subscription form reference and set all radio buttons as necessary. The joinAll() function loops through all form elements, matches radio type elements whose value property is subscribe or true and sets their checked status to true.
/** * Check all subscribe radio buttons. */ function joinAll() { var formElement = getSubscriptionForm(); if (formElement != null) { for (i = 0; i < formElement.elements.length; i++) { if ((formElement.elements[i].type == 'radio') && ((formElement.elements[i].value == 'subscribe') || (formElement.elements[i].value == 'true'))) { formElement.elements[i].checked = true; } } } } /** * Returns the DOM node for the subscription form. * @return DOM node for the subscription form element. */ function getSubscriptionForm() { if (typeof document.getElementById != 'undefined') { return document.getElementById('SubscriptionForm'); } else { return null; } }
Updated all subscription forms with the necessary SubscriptionForm id value for selection.
Created a new draft article about Javascript interaction with Java applets. Created a JavascriptApplet class with public APP_VERSION constant field and getMessage() method to test calls from Javascript.
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Continued the removal and replacement of em markup with strong throughout the Help & FAQs section for simpler, clearer text formatting. Also changed emphasis to strong markup in several servlets and supporting classes:
CompareSample
TextSample
ImageSequence
FontStack
SiteMap
AbstractXhtmlTemplate
CodeStyleTemplate
CustomerDiscount
ServletUtilities
Also updated emphasis markup in Soupermail mail templates.
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Removed or replaced em markup in all static content pages with strong for simpler, clearer text formatting.
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Created two new SQL scripts to count the number of FAQs created per month and per year using the PostgreSQL extract() function. Query results show that since 2005, 597 FAQs have been added at an average 10 answers per month.
SELECT extract('year' from time_created) AS Year, count(*) AS FAQs FROM question GROUP BY Year ORDER BY Year;
SELECT extract('year' from time_created) AS Year, extract('month' from time_created) AS Month, count(*) AS FAQs FROM question GROUP BY Year, Month ORDER BY Year, Month;
Created two new bash scripts to restore temporary copies of the FAQ and newsletter mailing list databases for testing. Created and tested an FAQ question recovery script extracted from SQL dump format.
Also wrote a simple SQL select query to count the total number of newsletter subscribers.
SELECT count(person.person_id) AS count FROM person;
Added Lighttpd server request log and error log files to the PSFTP download script for routine backups.
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Made a couple of link corrections for the W3C CSS validator installation article link in the site log and CSS Contents pages. Also corrected a bad fragment anchor link in the CSS glossary and CSS email newsletters subscription page for the Fantasy font sampler.
Created a new draft One Percent Better call to action for Java & servlets foundation level, un-published.
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Retrospectively added publication checklist content for the new Web font sampler FAQ including the site subject index, site map, CSS style guide section and Web font sampler subsection index pages, CSS email newsletters and CSS news feeds list pages. Also added some other font sampler FAQs that were missing from the Font sampler contents pages.
Made some minor formatting changes to the Soupermail email template for newsletter subscriptions. Added several font sampler section news feeds to the Quartz HTTP monitor checklist.
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Removed a number of Netscape-specific browser questions from various FAQs. Thankfully the Netscape 4 browser is long gone and won't be missed. These historic questions just made the FAQs seem dated. Some remaining questions still refer to Netscape incidentally.
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Completed the latest FAQ update with a friendly redirect for the announcement page.Created a new Web font sampler FAQ by extracting existing questions from the Web font survey FAQ page to reduce its length.
for loop instantiation fail to compile?
Reformatted the main links on the Web font sampler index page with new calls to action.
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Adjusted output format of the Subscriber Java class to list newsletter subscriptions in a tab separated value (TSV) format, first name and email address, to enable mail merge dispatch of email newsletters for more personalised messages. Also changed the selection and output format for the font survey mailing list to extract subscriber data in the same format from the single realname field. The selection uses several PostgreSQL string functions to select names that are more than 2 characters long without a full stop, set the initial character in upper case and format the email address with subscribers' real names.
SELECT upper(trim(substring(realname from 1 for 1))) || trim('.' from trim(substring(realname from 2 for (position(' ' in realname) - 2)))) || ',\t' AS firstname, '"' || upper(trim(substring(realname from 1 for 1))) || trim('.' from trim(substring(realname from 2))) || '"<' || trim(email) || '>' FROM submission WHERE submission.survey_id = 1 AND submission.notify = true AND char_length(trim('.' from trim(substring(realname from 0 for position(' ' in realname))))) > 2 UNION SELECT '\t' as firstname, '"' || upper(trim(substring(realname from 1 for 1))) || trim('.' from trim(substring(realname from 2))) || '"<' || trim(email) || '>' FROM submission WHERE submission.survey_id = 1 AND submission.notify = true AND char_length(trim('.' from trim(substring(realname from 0 for position(' ' in realname))))) <= 2
Updated the font survey mail templates to the new mail merge format and issued standard monthly updates through Pegasus mail.
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Completed the monthly updated of the font survey results and added the Cursive font sampler and survey results to the set of email newsletter templates for results notification.
Latest: Build a better CSS font stack with our font survey results:
Created a new “baseline” SQL query to compare the number of font survey applet submissions since the Linux font survey adopted this approach on 21 February 2009. Did some analysis of survey submission rates compared with the proportion of Windows, Mac and Linux visitors to the site in general and the Java support for each platform towards a forthcoming XHTML applet object article. Java support on Linux is significantly lower than Windows and Mac, however survey submissions from Linux browsers is proportionally higher than other platforms. Java support on Mac is significantly higher than on Windows and Mac survey submissions are proportionally higher than for Windows.
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Increased the average unique visitors figure on the text ad service page to 65,000 per month according to current statistics. Removed the Alexa page rank banner, which made have made it look like the site is low ranked.
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For a summary overview, see the final site log contents.
