DevEdge News: The Netscape Gecko Cross-Browser Development Newsletter 2003 Issue #4 - 9th May 2003 Dear Web Developer, You have received this newsletter because you subscribed to devedge-news@netscape.com. Subscribe and unsubscribe information is located at the end of this newsletter. <-------------- I N T H I S E D I T I O N -----------------> 1) Mozilla 1.4 Beta Released 2) Case Study in a Successful Standards-Based Migration 3) JavaScript 1.3, 1.4 and 1.5 Now in Netscape Sidebar Tab 4) Popular CSS Support Charts Now on DevEdge 5) XSLT and JavaScript 6) Using Breakpoints in the Venkman JavaScript Debugger 7) Using Mozilla in Testing and Debugging Web Sites 8) The xbDesignMode Object 9) Scripting Plugins: Macromedia Flash 10) Styling the Amazing Netscape Fish Cam Page 11) QuickTip: The Importance of Correct Commenting <---------------------------------------------------------------> ------------------------------------------------------------ 1) Mozilla 1.4 Beta Released ------------------------------------------------------------ Mozilla 1.4 Beta is out. This release includes support for NTLM authentication (for Microsoft web and proxy servers), usability improvements, and lots of performance, stability, and site compatibility fixes. The next Netscape release will be based on a branch of Mozilla 1.4. Make the browser even better by filing bugs you find. Download: http://www.mozilla.org/releases/ Release notes: http://www.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla1.4b/ Bugzilla: http://bugzilla.mozilla.org ------------------------------------------------------------ 2) Case Study in a Successful Standards-Based Migration ------------------------------------------------------------ In March of 2002, Media Farm was approached by the Web team at NYU Stern School of Business' Executive Programs to help them with their Web site. Media Farm outlines the steps they took in correcting these issues through application of standards-based coding practices, as well as providing general best practices to help other web managers migrate to standards. http://devedge.netscape.com/viewsource/2003/media-farm/ ------------------------------------------------------------ 3) JavaScript 1.3, 1.4 and 1.5 Now in Netscape Sidebar Tab ------------------------------------------------------------ The convenient DevEdge "MultiBar" Sidebar Tab now includes guides and references for JavaScript 1.3, 1.4 and 1.5. Get the MultiBar or individual tabs here: http://devedge.netscape.com/toolbox/sidebars/ ------------------------------------------------------------ 4) CSS Support Charts Now on DevEdge ------------------------------------------------------------ Formerly part of WebReview.com, these invaluable charts detail browser support for the CSS1 specification as well as portions of CSS2. The material focuses on browsers with versions released in 2000 and later, although there is an historical (pre-2000) CSS1 support chart also available. http://devedge.netscape.com/library/xref/2003/css-support/ ------------------------------------------------------------ 5) XSLT and JavaScript ------------------------------------------------------------ Learn how to combine the power of XSLT with JavaScript to build pages that load quickly, offer more sophisticated features than CSS provides, as well as fine-grained control of your document structure. http://devedge.netscape.com/viewsource/2003/xslt-js/ ------------------------------------------------------------ 6) Using Breakpoints in the Venkman JavaScript Debugger ------------------------------------------------------------ This article describes breakpoints in JavaScript and how to use the Venkman JavaScript debugger to set and examine breakpoints. http://devedge.netscape.com/viewsource/2003/venkman/01/ If the name Venkman means nothing but "Ghostbusters" to you, get to know this popular free tool, in "Venkman, the new JavaScript Debugger for Netscape 7.x" http://devedge.netscape.com/viewsource/2002/venkman/01/ ------------------------------------------------------------ 7) Using Mozilla in Testing and Debugging Web Sites ------------------------------------------------------------ Learn about features in Mozilla which allow you to quickly find and debug errors in your web site and web applications. http://devedge.netscape.com/viewsource/2003/mozilla-webdev/ ------------------------------------------------------------ 8) The xbDesignMode Object ------------------------------------------------------------ Develop cross browser rich-text editing features using xbDesignMode, a JavaScript object that provides a wrapper for the designMode feature and hides differences between Explorer and Mozilla. http://devedge.netscape.com/toolbox/examples/2003/xbDesignMode/ ------------------------------------------------------------ 9) Scripting Plugins: Macromedia Flash ------------------------------------------------------------ This article discusses scripting with the Macromedia Flash plugin -- that is, exposing the plugin to JavaScript so the Flash plugin can access the JavaScript functions in the HTML page. http://devedge.netscape.com/viewsource/2003/scripting-flash/ ------------------------------------------------------------ 10) Styling the Amazing Netscape Fish Cam Page ------------------------------------------------------------ A classic reborn! The Amazing Netscape Fish Cam Page has been restructured and restyled for the new millenium, ditching tables for strong and accessible markup. Take a cruise through one aspect of the redesign with master styler Eric Meyer. http://devedge.netscape.com/viewsource/2003/fishcam-style/ ------------------------------------------------------------ 11) QuickTip: The Importance of Correct Commenting ------------------------------------------------------------ When in standards mode, incorrectly formed comments can break your pages, resulting in part or all of your content being commented out. Per the W3C: "White space is not permitted between the markup declaration open delimiter(""). A common error is to include a string of hyphens ("---") within a comment. Authors should avoid putting two or more adjacent hyphens inside comments." Example problems/discussions: http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=144432 http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=102127 Reference: http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/intro/sgmltut.html#h-3.2.4 ------------------------------------------------- HOW TO SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE FROM DEVEDGE NEWS ------------------------------------------------- Got feedback? Email devedge-news-request@netscape.com, or visit our community page at http://devedge.netscape.com/community/ . * To unsubscribe send an email message to devedge-news-unsubscribe@netscape.com with "unsubscribe" as the subject. * To subscribe send an email message from the address you wish to subscribe to devedge-news-request@netscape.com with "subscribe" as the subject.