"Murphy was an optimist!"
Spy Journal Tips November 10, 2004 5:51 am
Posted by djuggler in : Daily LifeIf you haven’t checked out Tim’s tips pages yet you should have a look at Spy Journal Excel Tips, Spy Journal Blog Tips, and Spy Journal Tech Tips.
Below is a reprint of a Spy Journal Blog Tip that I contributed. The tips found on Spy Journal Blog Tips are all well written and worth checking out by all bloggers.
How do I change my cursor?
Note: The techniques in the article should work in most modern browsers. To see examples in action hold your mouse over any word with text that is not in a regular font (such as emphasized or bold)
In CSS Positioning the acronym CSS has a faint line beneath it and placing the mouse pointer over it changes the cursor (in most browsers) to an arrow with a question mark. How was this done?
First I should comment that I am amazed to find that in nearly a decade of coding websites I still find basic HTML elements that for one bad habit or another I either do not use or have overlooked. I now make an effort to periodically review the basics. The W3C has invaluable reference material concerning Internet specifications and W3Schools is an absolutely wonderful place to review a skillset or develop a new one for free.
What is the difference between an abbreviation and an acronym? Dictionary.com gives the following definitions:
- abbreviation
- A shortened form of a word or phrase used chiefly in writing to represent the complete form, such as Mass. for Massachusetts or abbr. for abbreviation.
- acronym
- A word formed from the initial letters of a name, such as WAC for Women’s Army Corps, or by combining initial letters or parts of a series of words, such as radar for radio detecting and ranging.
The W3C in section 9.2 Structured Text devotes a sub-section to Phrase elements. These include: EM, STRONG, DFN, CODE, SAMP, KBD, VAR, CITE, ABBR, and ACRONYM. In this article alone I have made use of EM, STRONG, DFN, CODE, CITE, ABBR, and ACRONYM.
Now that we have learned or relearned some basic HTML, let’s combine it with some CSS to create a working example. Let’s use the acronym CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) as our example. Since this is an acronym and not an abbreviation we will use the HTML <acronym>:
<acronym>CSS</acronym>
That changed the appearance but didn’t give us text. The text is added with the title atttribute.
<acronym title="Cascading Style Sheets">CSS</acronym>
Now if we hover our mouse over CSS for a second or two the words "Cascading Style Sheets" appear. What about the cursor? The cursor needs to be done with, ironically enough, CSS. We will use an inline style in our example and discuss alternatives in a different article.
<acronym title="Cascading Style Sheets" style="cursor:help;">CSS</acronym>
Abbreviations (definitions etc) can all be done the same way.
<abbr title="Street" style="cursor:help;">St.</abbr>
In upcoming articles, I will discuss:
- different ways to define the style for this method
- pointer options
The inspiration for this article came from frequent visits to Terreus who uses this technique and inspired me to ask "How does he do that?!" Terreus has to be one of the most exceptional well marked up sites I have visited in recent times. Kudos to the developer!
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Of Grasshoppers November 10, 2004 5:47 am
Posted by djuggler in : Daily LifeStudent: I am tired.
Master: You think you are tired.
A New Day! Let’s start the day off with a PayPa… November 10, 2004 5:44 am
Posted by djuggler in : Daily LifeA New Day!
Let’s start the day off with a PayPal donation link:
This Morning
Have you ever been so tired that you wanted to cry? I probably need exercise more than sleep but I cannot have either right now. At least I’m up at 4:30 like I wanted to be.
Of Grasshoppers November 9, 2004 10:04 pm
Posted by djuggler in : Daily LifeStudent: How do I control my yearnings?
Master: Satisfy them.
Screwed November 9, 2004 7:15 pm
Posted by djuggler in : Daily LifeI hate my line of work sometimes. Imagine Monet working in a shared studio on a team project. You have the draft canvas where you work out ideas and as they are finalized and approved they are moved into the museum for display. Now imagine another artist on the team accidentally works in the museum instead of the studio and to fix the problem decides to throw away all the studio canvases and copy the museum canvases into the studio.
That’s what just happened to me. Effectively a two day set back…or, two days of my life thrown away for naught. And this happens all the time in the technology business.
add a commentShort of breath November 9, 2004 6:31 pm
Posted by djuggler in : Daily LifeShort of breath
add a commentFrustrated! November 9, 2004 6:24 pm
Posted by djuggler in : Daily LifeOne mouse has a snag in it and jumps every few pixels
The phone keeps misdialing and when it does connect the number is busy
People are changing things without discussing the changes first causing wasted time and effort
I keep clicking a link for the window to open so I can make an urgent reply to a webbased email and it won’t let me
I can’t type without errors today
I can’t fast enough
Ugh!
Chaos upstairs, I’m in charge
On Days like today, life seems so hard!
Noah about to escape across the state line. November 9, 2004 10:55 am
Posted by djuggler in : Daily Life
Noah about to escape across the state line. 
A New Day! Let’s start the day off with a PayPa… November 9, 2004 7:57 am
Posted by djuggler in : Daily LifeA New Day!
Let’s start the day off with a PayPal donation link:
This Morning
Oh the bed was so warm and comfortable! I really didn’t want to move.
Last night I did that thing my wife didn’t want me to do. Well… I cleaned (that she wanted) It was not cleaning in the sense that anything got tossed. I re-organized in the bedroom. Basically I made the woodstove usable. Then I did that thing she didn’t want me to do. I climbed up on the roof at midnight to look down the flue. Man it was dark. I turned my light out to stare at the stars and absolutely could not see the edge of the roof. Felt like I was flying!
The fire burned until 3:30am. I stoked it but didn’t have the energy to make it rip roaring. I could not convince myself to stay up either. This is going to be a long day.
add a commentProgress! November 8, 2004 6:24 pm
Posted by djuggler in : Daily LifeCourt done.
Client 2 progress.
Dry wall at friend’s house progress.
Next support group.
Followed by computer repair.
Geeks toppled November 8, 2004 3:33 pm
Posted by djuggler in : Daily LifeI had my day! No I get 30 more. November 8, 2004 12:32 pm
Posted by djuggler in : Daily LifeI went before the judge over my bogus traffic citation. Interesting day. Better than CourtTV.
So, I’m driving down the road trying not to get too worked up over this and regreting having not subpoenaed the tape to see just how innocent or guilty I was. I get to the parking garage and see that all day parking is going to cost me $5 (add it to the court costs!). At least I had some fun in the garage. A wrong turn made me pass a particular truck three times. The roar of the Jeep was so loud that it set the truck’s alarm off two out of the three passes! Btw, improperly working equipment on a vehicle is $67.50 per incident (tail light, muffler, etc). Better get that fixed soon!
I go to the City County Building and see the line of people waiting to go through the metal detectors and knowing darn well I don’t have time to get to the car and back I just drop my two pocket knives, the ones I meant to leave in the Jeep, into the plastic tray to see if they’ll pass. At the Duncan Federal Building they aren’t concerned about pocket knives. They don’t pass. The officer picks them up and I beg him to let me take them back to the car but unlike the airport they don’t confiscate they just put them in an envelop that you get on your way out. Little did I know my way out would be in 3.5 minutes.
The administrative person at Circuit court says, “I think you are supposed to be behind the Coliseum but check with Sessions court.” Session court admin confirms that I have to get back to street level, then to the Jeep, pay for parking and get a half mile down the road in 3 minutes. I wonder if they’ll excuse a speeding ticket because you were “trying to get to court on time.”
Parking: $1 and, oh no, a one way turn to the right. My bridge sits beside the parking garage to the left but is only accessible by monthly parkers. So right it is and rewarded by downtown construction–closed road! Forced to the right again. Oh good. That will put me on the parkway and I can get off at Summit Hill for a quick shot down the road and into the police station parking lot. One thing. There is no exit ramp for Summit Hill so its either Magnolia or the Interstate to Asheville. Alright. Magnolia and a U-turn to get back onto the parkway…only, the exit to Magnolia is right turn only. Ok. Backroads, gut feelings and guesses. By some miracle I get to the police station at 9:03 for my 9:00am court and the session has not begun. I even have time for a pit stop and urinal conversation with another traffic violator.
** to be continued **
add a commentTime’s up! November 8, 2004 8:55 am
Posted by djuggler in : Daily LifeNot even sure I have time to get to the courthouse on time now. I wonder if they would excuse a speeding ticket to make court on time.
add a commentWeekend Visitors November 8, 2004 7:31 am
Posted by djuggler in : Daily LifeMy folks and sister were in town this weekend. The kids love getting to see them! They also love the tons of candy that was dropped on them as a Halloween gift. We really had a great visit. I wish it could happen more frequently.
add a commentFound Book November 8, 2004 7:29 am
Posted by djuggler in : Daily LifeSabrina, call me about picking up this book.
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