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Ben Millard’s Do List

A few of the many things I’d like to do. Some might be offline.

Life

• Recovering from chickenpox.
• Did some work with sdesign1 in early June 2008.

Calthorpe Park School

• Designer:
  • Prospectus and existing branding as basis?
  • Get quote after Warren has checked opinion.
• Technical:
  • Technology neutral IRIs.
  • Replace " with ' in PHP.
  • Named entities instead of NCRs.
• Changelog and Tasks List.

Project Cerbera

• TextStudio bug fixes, new features and backend.
• Asked Dave Bateman about getting ben.uk as domain name on 12^th June 2008.
• Turn Thoughts into blog entries?

Life of Ben (Blog) Renovation

• Blog index to show one or more recent entries.
• Generate all indices from entry files:
  1. Spiders through all entries.
  2. Reduce subheadings by one level from entry.
  3. Generate:
     1. All Entries archive
     2. All Months archive
     3. Monthly indices
     4. Yearly indices
     5. Blog homepage
• Link check entire /blog/ area, year by year:
  • Install W3C Checklink locally?
  • Look for href="." in old entries from 2004.
  • Include href and src.
  • Also check error logs via AWstats.
• Entry markup quality assurance:
  • Subheadings in entrys must go up by one level.
  • Code samples (<pre><code>) to use highlighting technique.
  • Review class="dialogue" and class="irc" structures.
  • Retrofit better phrase markup, like I’ve done with <code> before now.
• Sidebar to change with context?

GTA Renovation

• Created /gta/ on 12^th June 2008.
• Redirect existing sections:
  • /gta1/ to /gta/1/
  • /gta2/ to /gta/2/
  • /gta3/ to /gta/3/
  • /gtavc/ to /gta/vc/
  • /gtasa to /gta/sa/
  • /tutorials/gtafoo/ to /gta/foo/tutorials/
• Redirected some of these:
  • /tutorials/ to /gta/tutorials/
  • /.../coding/foo to /.../foo
  • /.../handling/foo to /.../foo
  • /.../info/foo to /.../foo
  • /.../mapping/foo to /.../foo
  • /.../paths/foo to /.../foo
  • /.../important-editors to /.../editors
  • /.../handling/definition to /.../handling-definition
• Simplify old pages:
  • Turn timestamps into dates.
  • Removed fragment links from download pages.
  • Removed “Download Vehicle” subheadings.
  • Better download link text.
• Replaced GTA foo links with a GTA link.
• Review all tables, particularly /gta/.../tutorials/editors.
• Created new indices from /gta/ and /gta/tutorials/ on 16^th June 2008.
• Submit the /gta/ page to DMOZ.

GTA Modding

• MultiSlayer:
  • Instantly respawning weapons and powerups.
  • Arena-style maps using districts of MultiSlayer?
• New Game Hunter Mockups:
  • Command buttons as toolbar.
  • Status messages in status bar?
  • Fewer messages in chat log.
  • Controls to touch edges like Windows Explorer.
  • XP theming with Common Controls 5.0:
    • Loses .FullRowSelect.
    • Maybe Sektor can hook that back in?
  • Radically simplified and rationalised Settings window.
  • Far fewer columns in ListView controls.
  • Player list and its columns fit to longest items.
  • Remove CC column in favour of tooltip on flags.

Web Studies & Research

• Figure out IA.
• /web/study/tables/?
• /web/study/fund/?
• /web/study/iri/ with /web/study/iri/offline for Offline IRI Collection.
• Dates?

HTML and CSS articles

• New articles.

User Interface Reviews

• Basecamp:
  • Messages to work like a mailing list, so you can just Reply.
  • Allow HTML everywhere, including Files page.
  • Always escape contents of <code>, including nested <code>.
  • Dragging a To-do item to a list with no items should add it.
• Firefox 3:
  • Awesome bar ideas.
  • Chatzilla
  • OS integration theme any good?
• Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 mockups of better:
  • Top-level chrome.
  • Add-ons Manager.
  • Menu items and shortcuts.
• Opera 9:
  • XP Theming section with Chat mockup.
  • Redundant toolbar can be hidden using Customise.
  • Joining an IRC channel seems hard.
• phpBB:
  • As used by Accessify Forum:
    • Pagination link absent from tops of topics.
    • Difficult moderation control.
    • Topic title is absent from reply to topic page!
    • No breadcrumbs.
    • Endless message parsing bugs. (Collect real examples from Accessify Forum.)
    • Generates <strong> for bold.
    • No way to use <code>.
    • Evidence of broken or unintuitive editing controls, such as [list=][/list].
    • BBCode used but disabled.
  • Review latest version instead or as well?
• Picture Sizes on TV.
• Secure & Accessible PHP Contact Form
• SmartFTP:
  • Dump notes.txt on a 2.5.1008.40 index page.
• Tiny MCE
• TortoiseSVN
• Virgin TV:
  • See notes.txt.
• Windows XP missing screenshots and notes.

Improve Public Pages

• W3C mailing list web interface:
  • Public Lists
  • List Archive
  • Month by Date (default with index.html disparity)
  • Month by Thread
  • Month by Subject
  • Message
• HTML5 IRC Logs:
  • Main Index
  • Day by Time
• Recode “Accessible” Data Visualization with Web Standards:
  • Concise text:
    • Start: a. End: b. High: c. Low: d.
    • From a to b, up to c and down to d.
    • a at start, b at end. High of c. Low of d.
    • a at start. Rose to c, fell to d. Ended at b.
    • a to b between c and d.
  • <ul> for lists.
  • <table> for tabular data.
  • Shorter element names than <span>.
• Edit photo: Lego Stormtroopers from Stop using Ajax:
  • Use <textarea> for tagging.
  • Use overflow for vertically expanding <textarea>.
• Location for mockups:
  • Create /web/mockups/ folder, with a subfolder per mockup?
  • Move everything from Site Surgeon development area to Project Cerbera?
• Mockups to accompany my advice about Woking’s website.
• Mockup for BBC’s failed redesign.
• Recode ARIA Button and maybe other ARIA examples with clever use of HTML4.

HTML

• Resume HTML5 stuff.

<abbr> and <acronym>

• Make them aliases.
• Element content as “a short version”.
• title as “a long version” of elements content.

<address>

• As “any contact details or authorship information”.

<figure>

• Is largely solved by clever use of HTML4:

  <p>
   <img src alt>
   ...
  </p>

Headings

• Treat any <hn> as a heading of that level.
• Enables arbitrary heading depths.
• Simple to style.
• Simple to author.
• Introduces no new attributes or algorithms.
• Consistent with existing HTML element names.
• Already present on the web, although very rare.
• Minimal complexity to specify and implement, I would guess.

id and name

• Only require uniqueness where it has a real effect:
  • <a name>
  • <input name>
  • Other places?
• Make them space-separated lists?
  • Specification headings have a section number and a section name.
  • Other examples?
• Allow numbers at start.
• Allow any valid character, trimming whitespace?
• Is this already what the spec says?

Forms

• for as space-separated list:
  • Radio buttons ending with Other and a textbox as example.
  • Date of Birth applying to various combinations of text fields and dropdowns.
• for+name as fallback when for+id fails.
  • Mockup using Google Custom Search:
    • With radio buttons.
    • Without radio buttons.
• <label> proximity as fallback when for+name fails. (As implemented by ATs?)
• Use name as label when all else fails? (As implemented by ATs?)
• Reserve some name values to formalise autocomplete features?

Lists

• <ol>:
  • As “a list of items where each marker affects the meaning”.
  • Authors choose the list which has the markers they want.
  • Source order already provides the order.
  • Order can be essential in parts of lists but not others.
  • Who arbitrarily re-orders the contents of every <ul> they read?
• Family tree mockup using nested <ul> and <li>:
  • Present as:
    • Bullet list.
    • Treeview.
    • UK style with clear and float.
  • Parents share a <li>.
  • Offspring nested in <li> of parents.
• <ul> as “a list of items not covered by <ol>”.
• <li value="P"> for skipping letters more easily.
• <li value="foo"> for arbitrary list markers?
• <ol type> to override list-style.

Tables

• <td scope> (literally):
  • As an alias for <th>.
  • Creates a table header without bold or centering.
  • Avoids <font>, <span>, style and align.
  • Remains accessible.
• Define table types:
  • Layout tables. (Paper notes.)
  • Data tables. (Paper notes.)
  • Tabular forms. (Tables with form fields: am I crazy?)
  • Only tables which match the definition for that type are conforming.
  • Would help AT become more robust and interoperable?
  • Data tables, layout tables and tabular forms IRC discussion, 14^th April 2008.
  • Mockup using 1-5 scoring table.
  • Mockup using Shopping Basket table?
• Pages using <th> from Philip Taylor’s study.
• Finish remaining tables for Collections of Interesting Data Tables.
• ESPN could do <th>Results<th>Results rather than <th colspan="2">Results.

Accessify Forums

• Leave it, with an announcement?
  • Talk about how valuable it has been in introducing me to accessibility.
  • Polite and constructive community...most of the time!
  • Best wishes in continuing help for newcomers and growing the number of conciencious website developers.
• Switch to PunBB?
• Switch to sCssBoard by Elxxy?

Done Recently

Sunday 29 June 2008

• For bettor or worse, I’ve gone live with all the new IA.
• Created 2 RedirectMatch rules which cover most changes.

Friday 27 June 2008

• Created the Blog Organisation, Navigation and Information Architecture topic in Site Critiques of Accessify Forum.
• Published my Offline URL Collection.
• Resumed HTML5 stuff.

Wednesday 25 June 2008

• Went live with new IA for 2004 section of Blog.

Tuesday 24 June 2008

• Typed up Offline IRI Collection. Not live.
• Went live with new IA for 2003 section of Blog.
• Link checking all online blog indices.

Saturday 7 June 2008

• Page per entry for entire /blog/ area.

Friday 30 May 2008

• Blog sidebar:
  • Starts with a list of all years.
  • Most recent 5 months instead of 13.
• Page per entry for 2007.
• Not live.

Thursday 29 May 2008

• Yearly index:
  • Everything ordered from oldest to newest.
  • Horizontal list of months across top.
  • Subheading per month.
  • Each month has list of blog entries with date as <li value>.
• Page per entry for 2006.
• Not live.

Tuesday 27 May 2008

• Page per entry for 2004 and 2005.
• Markup of blog indices.
• Automation of yearly blog indices.
• Indices for 2003, 2004 and 2005.
• Not live.

Friday 23 May 2008

• One page create per entry for all of 2003.
• Not live.

Saturday 17 May 2008

• Completed blog about Sight City 2008 Notes & Experiences.

Tuesday 29 April 2008

• Complete Archive now built by an update.php script checking files and folders.

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Last modified on Monday 30^th June 2008 at 1:14pm.