Liudvikas Bukys

Web Hosting News: Comodo Declares SSL Price Freeze. Web Host Directory Nov 13 2002 8:38AM ET [Moreover – Computer security news]

Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox, August 19, 2002::
Let Users Control Font Size:

Sometimes technological progress backfires, and the “better” technology turns out to be worse for users. The Web is no stranger to this problem, and has experienced many innovations that would have been best avoided. Examples include frames, changing the color of browser scrollbars, and scrolling text.

Another example of harmful Web technology comes with the increasing use of style sheets , which let web designers specify the exact size of text down to the pixel. Unfortunately, many designers are using this ability, leading to reduced readability of an increasing number of websites.

…

We can’t wait for Microsoft to ship a good browser, though that has to be the ultimate solution to the font size problem. For now, websites can increase readability by following these guidelines:

• Do not use absolute font sizes in your style sheets. Code font sizes in relative terms, typically using percentages such as 120% for big text and 90% for small text.
• Make your default font size reasonably big (at least 10 point) so that very few users have to resort to manual overrides.
• If your site targets senior citizens, use bigger default font sizes (at least 12 point).
• If possible, avoid text that’s embedded within a graphic , since style sheets and font size buttons don’t have any effect on graphics. If you must use pictures of text, make sure the font size is especially large (at least 12 point) and that you use high-contrast colors.
• Consider adding a button that loads an alternate style sheet with really big font sizes if most of your site’s visitors are senior citizens or low-vision users. Few users know how to find or use the built-in font size feature in current browsers, and adding such a button within your pages will help users easily increase text size. However, because every extra feature takes away from the rest of the page, I don’t recommend such a button for mainstream websites.
• Maximize the color contrast between the text and the background (and do not use busy or watermarked background patterns). Despite the fact that low-contrast text further reduces readability, the Web is plagued by gray text these days.

When the Spam Hits the Blogs:
Web spammers populate referral logs.
“They’re trying to jump-start a meme.”

App Dev Trends:
Comparing servlets and EJBs
The Right Java Tool for the Right Job

The Server Side: Application Server Reviews

Mozilla 1.0 Released. The Mozilla open-source Web browser, which has probably been the most sharply scrutinized software development project in history, has reached version 1.0. Standards compliance has always been a primary goal of Mozilla, and XML standards have taken no back seat in the feature set. [xmlhack]

web2ldap 0.10.6 [freshmeat.net]

Marc Barrot’s outline weblog keeps getting cooler.

Apache + TomCat + load balancing

Adam Bosworth (BEA): “Loose coupling is central to the nature of Web services-based application integration. That’s why it seems to me that the right model for XML in Web services is a message-oriented, document-based one rather than one based on remote procedure calls.” [Scripting News]