A few weeks ago I posted about needing to wrap text in a CFGRID's cell. (Read the original posted that I just updated...)

The code I provided didn't work in IE (figures!) but I've since added display:block; to the rule and it works for me...

Here it is, new and improved:

div .x-grid-cell-text{white-space:normal;display:block;}

I'm interested in hearing if anyone has a better fix, or if this doesn't work right for some use case or browser.

I Googled. I googled some more. I found lots of blogs where people asked in the comments how to wrap text in a CFGRID tag, but either no answer was given or the format was Flash.

Well, for the sanity of those on the same mission I was on, I shall blog the solution that satisfied my quest. (It may or may not satisfy yours depending on what you're trying to achieve.)

A simple line of CSS did the trick in my use case:

div .x-grid-cell-text{white-space:normal;}

UPDATE: To fix IE, add display:block; to the rule above.

That's it, one line of CSS. Hope it helps!

For the last few weeks there's been a lot of buzz about IE8 and how Microsoft intended to make IE7 the default display as not to break existing websites. Recently Microsoft decided to go ahead and render IE8 as itself and many seem to be relieved. I am still skeptical...

I've been meaning to blog on this topic, but I honestly haven't had time to keep up with all the online chatter about it and hence was unsure I should bother. Perhaps what I have to say has been said before? Oh well, I'm going to say it anyway...

What I haven't yet seen talked about is the possibility that a dot release -- or even a full version -- of IE may be incompatible with a website, leaving the web developer wanting to 'skip' it somehow.

The proposed "version targeting" would allow someone to declare the site's compatibility with a specific version of IE so that it would render as that version, despite what the user had installed on their system. For example, the user has IE 15, but the web developer declared IE 7. The IE 15 user is stuck looking at an IE 7 site.

That seems to be the common example that raises all sorts of concerns about the web, user experience, standards and what have you. But what if...

What if IE 9 renders my site perfectly, but IE 9.1 doesn't. IE 9.2 is also perfect. Fixing IE 9.1 would take 40 hours of work and my client doesn't want to do it. Shouldn't I be able to skip IE 9.1 somehow?

Please don't try to tell me that sort of thing doesn't happen. It's happened to me with other software. (Safari being one and QuickTime being another.) So it is fair to say that Microsoft could release a version (be it major or minor) of IE that I don't want to support.

All users shouldn't be forced to the lowest browser supported by the site. In my mind, users should get the highest browser supported. That is, a browser experience that is equal to or the next lower supported version than what they have installed.

Let's pretend I have a list of versions I support on my website that looks like this:

7,8,9,9.2,9.3

Let's say the user has 9.1 installed. I don't support it, they should get the 9 experience.

How does version targeting propose to handle such a situation? Is it something anyone has even though about or discussed? I don't know, and if Google knows it hasn't pointed me there yet.

So therefore I blog, in hopes to spark some conversation be it in my blog's comments or on other blogs.

I have few other odd-ball ideas around this topic but I'll start with this one and see where it goes before revealing more of my wacky thoughts...

It's been roughly 3 months since my last blog. I was almost afraid I've forgotten how! (I forgot my username and password; it took three tries to get in.)

There's good reason to come out of my unintended hiding I've been living in the last few months... I was reading Eric's blog and came across a post he made that stirred up quite a fuss.

Really, I'm not that surprised at the reactions. Reading something that Eric writes (or that anyone writes for that matter) is far different than hearing it spoken. Some people are far to easily offended by words, especially when taken out of context...

People are far too busy to read carefully these days and are quick to take a blurb out of context and run with it. I'll resist the temptation to ramble on about this topic.

Bottom line is, if I were as good a writer, I probably would have written the same thing as Eric did on the topic of diversity in conference speakers. I really couldn't have said it better myself and I'm sure just saying this much is enough to make some people mad at me. Oh well, I can't please everyone and not everyone is out to please me either!

I've spoken at quite a few conferences and it bothers me to think that I may have been chosen because I'm a woman. I'd like to think I was chosen because I know the subject matter well and am recognized by my peers, but who knows!

At least I know that if I were to ever be asked to speak at AEA, it won't be because I'm a girl!

Joseph Lowery, and Eric Meyer both have new titles avaialable at lynda.com!

Joe's newest book, Dreamweaver 8 Beyond the Basics is available for sale in the lynda.com store. Check out the three free sample movies from the CD, including one that covers Spry. Spry is the latest big buzz word in the Dreamweaver community. If you haven't checked out Spry yet, Joe's movie is a good place to start.

A few weeks ago, Eric spent some time in Ojai recording CSS Site Design, which is now available in the Online Training Library™ and coming soon on CD-rom in the lynda.com store. There are several Free sample movies available, including the following:

• What is CSS? 5:34 11.8 MB
• Design tour 2:38 4.9 MB
• Installing the Web Developer toolbar 4:34 9 MB
• XHTML essentials 3:55 3.1 MB
• CSS essentials 5:17 4.1 MB
• Embedded style sheets 2:20 4.7 MB

I've been meaning to blog this for a couple of weeks now... Two very popular speakers in the web design/development arena, especially among the Dreamweaver community, Joe Marini and Molly Holzschlag have recently come out with training titles at lynda.com. Joe was one of the original Dreamweaver product engineers and has been an inspiration to many extension developers, myself included. Molly is widely recognized web standards advocate and author.

There are a few free sample movies in each title...Enjoy!

XML Essential Training with: Joe Marini

CSS for Designers with: Andy Clarke and Molly E. Holzschlag

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you already know that I've been working for lynda.com since late January of this year. I started out as the Web Interface Architect and have since moved to a new position, Web Production Manager.

We've hired Dan as our Web Application Architect. (If JD can "out" my new job, I can certainly "out" Dan's!)

To those who know both of us, to answer your question... Yes, I am Dan's supervisor. Nope, that's nothing new. ;-)

We're building our web team and are looking to fill a few positions in the Austin, Texas vicinity. Please visit http://www.lynda.com/jobs/ for available openings.

I always feel better when I have visitors and I usually heal faster if I get out of the house. Yesterday brought both; I had visitors and I was able to get out for a little while.

Eric, Kat, and Carolyn Meyer came over to visit us. It was so nice of them to fly all the way to California just to visit me. Ok, I'm fibbing and you're gullible! They were here in California for a friend's wedding and so we planned a day together.

When this whole tonsil surgery thing came about I thought I'd be too miserable for company and thought I'd have to cancel. I'm so glad I was well enough for company.

Dan and Gaetano had never met Kat or Carolyn before yesterday. (Last month Eric was on his way to a conference and had a long layover in California, so Dan and Gaetano got to meet him then.) It was also my first time meeting Carolyn too.

When they arrived, Gaetano and I went outside to greet everyone. When Gaetano saw Carolyn he said hello to her but she didn't answer. So Gaetano made a motion with his hands that I barely caught out of the corner of my eye. Kat asked if he was trying to sign to her.

I hadn't told Gaetano that Carolyn signs, so I had to conclude that he tried simply because she didn't respond. When I wasn't able to speak the last few days, I would spell words using finger spelling. There was also a segment on Sesame Street with a little girl who learned a few signs from her deaf friend. Somehow, Gaetano must have made a connection that if someone doesn't speak try signing. Pretty amazing...

It didn't take long before the kids were running around having fun. It was so cute to see our kids play together.

We went out for sushi then for Cold Stone Creamery, my two favorite foods. So good friends, good food, good times...definitely helped me feel better.

They managed to escape without seeing the "gross white stuff on mom's tonsils" that Gaetano described for them. The night ended way too soon. It is really too bad that we don't live close enough to visit often...

My throat was a little sore from all the talking, but it was worth it. I woke up feeling even better than yesterday. My voice is doing fine now, the back of my throat just feels...grody. Yep, that's a good old-fashioned 80's word for it. Now it only hurts if I sneeze or cough, which has been about 6 or 7 times so far today. Not too bad, really...

This just in... Macromedia has put up more MAX session sneak peeks. Yes, there's even one from yours truly. Ok, so I'm not "yours" but you know what I mean.

If you've been looking for more Dreamweaver 8 sneak peeks, here's a few you may not have seen yet. The following three links will lead you to previews of three MAX 2005 presentations. Can you guess which one of these three were written by yours truly? ~ Using the Power of XML with Dreamweaver ~ Using the CSS Box Model for Page Layout ~ Dreamweaver Killer Tips

Deer Park Alpha 1.1 is the code name for the recently released alpha of what will become FireFox 1.1. I'm really excited about the future of FireFox. Developers can expect to see improved CSS2, more CSS3, SVG support and much more.

I've recently started building some admin interfaces for internal use on my website and it is so nice to be able to build just for FireFox. I also have a client who has recently given us the okay to build their admin interfaces for FireFox only, cutting out Internet Explorer and Safari completely! I really didn't expect that we'd be so lucky but once we got into the project and it was clear that trying to support Safari was slowing down production the decision became a "no-brainer" for our client. Going forward, all admin interfaces I build will most likely be built for FireFox and if they happen to behave nicely in other browsers that's great but it won't be priority.

Like other web developers, I still long for the day when I can code and it just works in any current browser. Until then, I can at least build admin interfaces without the headaches of testing in multiple browser versions...

I'll be presenting Dreamweaver Killer Tips at this year's Macromedia MAX conference being held in New Orleans from November 1-4.

It's best to register early for MAX because you have to choose your schedule in advance and sessions do fill up quickly. Last year I gave the session only three times, and it was full for all but the final presentation (but I think it was not quite filled because it was last session in its track of the last day). So this year, they're having me do the session four times!

I won't be giving the exact same presentation, though a few tips are too cool that I will have to include them even though I did them last year. Not all tips are in the book either, so Killer Tips fanatics can walk away with something new too.

What kind of tips do you want to see? Let me know by leaving a comment. Hurry though, I have deadlines to meet that are coming up really really fast. (Macromedia doesn't mess around; they have all sorts of deadlines for presenters months in advance of the conference. It's very well organized.)

I mean it; let me know what kind of tips you want...ColdFusion, CSS, WorkFlow, etc. ? Click the link* to leave a comment already...c'mon, you know you want to... Do it frenchy!

• If you don't see an Add Comments link, you're reading this from an RSS feed. Here's the URL for commenting on this post:

http://www.dwmommy.com/addcomment.asp?id=503

7 weeks in the making, Toggle-O-Matic Suite is finally released! I can't even begin to explain how excited I am about this extension package. What is this Toggle-O-Matic stuff anyway you ask? Allow me to explain...

Toggle-O-Matic Suite was inspired by my project (Project 2: Toggle-O-Matic Menus) for Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 Magic. Toggle-O-Matic Suite is comprised of three behaviors: Toggle-O-Matic Class, Toggle-O-Matic Display, Toggle-O-Matic Visbility. The Toggle-O-Matic behaviors switch an ID'd element's class, display property or visibility property respectively between what is specified and the element's original state.

Sound's technical doesn't it? It's really not. It's very very simple. In fact, the navigation on DWmommmy.com and the comments both use Toggle-O-Matic. You can toggle any ID'd element, with the only limitations being your imagination and browser support for your CSS.

Toggle-O-Matic is $45 and only available at the DWfaq Store. (Cartweaver 2 customers may purchase at 50% off by May 16th! Log in at DWfaq to verify eligibility.)

Full documentation is available online with a bunch of examples too. There's also a list of sites using Toggle-O-Matic so you can see how it is put to use in the real world.

If you have any questions about Toggle-O-Matic, please feel free to ask!

Special thanks to Dan Short for all his help (especially the examples). A big thanks to Alex Mariño for the sketch of the product logo. Thanks to all the beta testers (you know who you are). You guys and gals have been fantastic!

Get your mind out of the gutter people... :-) Last week I released a new extension, Strip List Whitespace, which fixes a bug in Internet Explorer on the PC. The download response to this extension has been utterly amazing. I think it is because this is one of those "must have" type of free extensions. There are other ways to remove the whitespace, but it all comes down to personal preference, and this happens to be mine.

I also updated Strip <?xml?> Tag, which removes the XML prologue which throws Internet Explorer into quirks mode. The update was to fix a bug found only in Dreamweaver MX 2004, that kept the extension from running if the document was currently in Code view.

They're both on my Free Extensions page, so you can read more about them there. As always, they're only available for download from the DWfaq Store, where I host all my free and commercial products.

Back in late October, we launched Cartweaver 2. It has been an incredible few months since. Cartweaver is selling in record numbers, and I couldn't be more excited about it. This version is such a gigantic improvement over Cartweaver 1, and that's no marketing hype either.

If you haven't heard of Cartweaver yet, it is a ColdFusion shopping cart and adminstration area built specifically to be compatible with Dreamweaver MX and Dreamweaver MX 2004. The biggest changes in this version are the improved database, choice of 3 different ways to display products, a complete PDF user's manual that's nearly 100 pages, and the Cartweaver 2 extension suite.

My role in all of this is primarily extension development. My other work includes CSS, help documentation, the Cartweaver site and first level support on the Cartweaver newsgroup.

Back in May of 2003, Dan, Lawrence and I met in San Francisco and began working together on Cartweaver 2. (Lawrence had already begun, but Dan and I joined in at that time.) Over the next few months we worked daily and we're all very proud of the outcome.

I can't explain just how proud I am of the Cartweaver 2 extension suite especially. I've put my heart and soul into building these extensions, from creating the icons pixel by pixel in Fireworks to writing the HTML and JavaScript in Dreamweaver. I even built a couple of translators which required me to use HomeSite because Dreamweaver would try and translate my code and corrupt it. All in all it has been a great learning experience for me. I've become a much better programer because of my work on Cartweaver 2.

I would be remiss to not thank Massimo Foti and Danilo Celic for giving me permission to use a few of their functions, saving me the time to build my own. I must also thank Tom Muck for pushing me in the right direction on more than one occasion, helping me get over the code writer's block. Last but not least, a special thanks goes to Dan for inspiring some damn cool array code and showing me the way. Thanks guys!

Anyhow, enough rambling from me. If you have any questions or comments about Cartweaver 2 and/or my work on the project I'd be happy to hear from you.

It is always nice when I can help Dan with work, considering he's always helping me with things. About the only two things I ever help him with are JavaScript and Regular Expressions, because he claims he's allergic to them. :-) This time, I helped him take a user's selection in a popup window and select the right item in a select list in the parent window.

If you look at Lary McKee's site, you'll see a hyperlink under the in the Options section that says: Preview Mats. When you click it, you'll be able to choose an outer and inner mat, then click on the Choose Mats button to close the window and set the select lists in the Options section. Dan did all the fancy JavaScript that changes the Mats using CSS, and I did the part that happens when you click the Choose Mats button. We make a great team, I say! :-)

Lary's work is gorgeous, and highly detailed. Would make a nice Christmas gift if you're lacking ideas. ;-)

I'm so excited, I must blog. :-) Eric and Kat Meyer are the proud parents of Carolyn Maxwell Meyer. I couldn't be happier for them and I know they're going to make awesome parents. Wow...talk about wonderful news! :-)

Macromedia has announced Studio MX 2004. Naturally I'm most excited about Dreamweaver MX 2004. :-)

Alright, let's hear it; how do you like my stripes? Would you like me to have a style changer? Do you want to submit your own theme? Tell me what you think by adding a comment. I'm listening...

Tables are evil :-) Nah, not really... Not when they're used for tabular data at least. However if your clients aren't ready for standards, then there's no point in doing it economically speaking.

I've been to a lot of keynotes, well about 5 or 6 at least... and Eric is impressive. We're all awake, nobody dosing off. He's not preaching table-less design at all like one might expect. Instead, he's talking about standards-oriented design, keeping the code lean and clean. If you use a table for layout, avoid nesting tables excessively, spacer GIFs, and HTML elements for styling.

I'm liking this because though I've been pushing for XHTML and table-less designs whenever I can, I do realize that the audience and other factors must be considered before making that design decision.

Three people – who could have checked the source code because they know how – have asked me already if the navigation on the left is Menu Magic 1, by Project Seven. No, it's not Menu Magic 1. :-) If you don't believe me choose View » Source.

Menu Magic 1 is a great extension and I use it on the current version of Site-Drive.com. Actually the new DWmommy menu was done for the upcoming new version of DWfaq.com. I liked it so much that I decided to use it here too. Dan and I are still refining the JavaScript and CSS. Eventually I'll be making an extension out of the final code. Of course, I'll talk about it here first...

Had a great time working on some top secret stuff in San Francisco from the 14th thru 18th. (Try not to draw too many conclusions about why we were there.<wink />)There are some pictures in the gallery if you're interested.

While there, we visited Macromedia twice. Billy Ray took us for a long walk up many hills to have sushi. Well worth every step to get there. Billy also took us on a tour of Macromedia, which is spread out over 3 buildings. Our first visit was Thursday and there were hardly anyone left. Apparantly they all went to go see Matrix 2. Didn't anyone tell them we were coming? Oh, the nerve. :-) So we returned on Friday and met many of the Macromedians we exchange email with or see on the newsgroup, including John Dowdell, George Fox, Heather Hollander, Chris Valliquet, Donald Booth, Jeff VonWard, and Scott Unterberg. (Please excuse any mispellings!) It is always nice to put names and faces together.

Only bad thing about the trip was that my laptop died on Saturday night so I didn't get much done after that happened. Luckily Dell will be here by tomorrow (hopefully) to fix it. Meanwhile, I'm stuck on my desktop...

Wow, what a night. Matt (my cousin "Nasby", a radio DJ in Palm Springs) and I were up almost all night working on the new layout and it is looking pretty darn good if I do say so myself... I think I got to bed at about 3:30am and was up by about 8:30. Been working on the site all day. Can't wait to get it finished and online!

The moment I've been waiting for since July has finally come and I barely know what to say... Dreamweaver MX Killer Tips by Joseph Lowery and yours truly is now available!

Today is my dad's birthday. Happy Birthday Dad, I hope I made you proud :-)

Sheesh, not even one email asking if a power outage has kept me from adding new entries (see previous entry). Oh well... The answer is no, power didn't go out here, but about 20 minutes away the power was out for almost 2 days in some areas the news reported.

Anyhow, I've been busy working on CSS Assistant. This extension is going to be so much more than originally planned. I'm very excited about this one since it is something I've been wanting to code for over a year but wasn't skilled enough that long ago to pull it off. I still have a few hurdles to get over though since there are some rather advanced things going on, however I do have Danilo Celic as a co-creator on this extension to help when needed. I'll be revealing details about CSS Assistant as it nears completion. I'd say it is only at its 1/2 way point now, so it will be awhile but well worth the wait!

I always announce here first, as promised :-). The Color Assistant is now officially launched, and available for just $10 at the DWfaq Store. I hope you enjoy using it as much as I have!

As always, I show it to you here first :-). Here's the Color Assistant Flash Demo for the DWfaq Store. I'll post the link to the store soon as it is ready for sale, which should be in about an hour or so. Thanks to all my beta testers for your help, you're the greatest!

The problem with adding new features is that it almost always introduces new bugs! Sure enough several bugs were found in the new features, and I believe I've squished them all now. Assuming beta testers confirm I've fixed all their findings, and don't discover anything new, it won't be too long before Color Assistant is released. The more I use the extension, the more I like it... and several of the beta testers have told me the same. I'm hoping that's the general perception for it, but we shall see...:-)

So far beta feedback has been very helpful, which means enhancements need to be made. I can take it though. :-) I've already fixed 3 bugs, 2 typos, and added 1 new feature. If I can add one more feature this release, I'll do it, otherwise I'll work on it for a dot release because it is a cool idea. Since you've been so patient, I'll tell you that the name of the product is Color Assistant. It is the first in what may turn out to be a line of "Assistant" extensions. I don't want to release feature details just yet, but soon as they're locked down, shortly before release I'll post it here first. :-)

I've added some validation routines to the extension now to prevent bad input from a user. (Thanks to Danilo for help with the Regular Expression - got me going in the right direction.) A clue for those of you still wondering what this is all about. Here's part of the regular expression #[1-9A-F]{6}. We're getting closer to a final product now. I can't wait!