Kevin Leary is a Web User Interface Designer and Front End Developer specializing in standards compliant XHTML, CSS and JavaScript.

True Seperation of Presentation & Content with XML

Web standards books praise the idea of separating presentation from content. Unfortunately doing so is harder said than done in the professional world. When I begin working on a re-design I usually find myself spending countless hours re-formatting content, so what’s the point? If a client wants specific information laid out as an unordered list (or outline) one day and tabular data the next you’ll find yourself rebuilding the pages structure.

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Testing page load speed with Firebug

The more I find myself using JavaScript, the more I begin to worry about the weight of my pages. With the use of jQuery, much that was tradiotionally server side can now be handled on the client side with JavaScript.

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External JavaScript on Demand with jQuery.getScript()

I find myself using JavaScript more and more often in my work. As work on a particular site grows, I find that too many external scripts begin to pile up in the <head> section of my document, eventually effecting performance. Thanks to jQuery’s $.getScript method, I’ve found an elegant solution to this problem.

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AJAX, XML and Internet Explorer

While working on the KMC Partners website I stumbled upon a cross browser issue using jQuery’s AJAX $.get() method to load and parse XML data.

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Graffiti Street Art

Working with Dreamweaver Site Files (.STE)

When connecting to a new project via FTP I will occasionally come across .STE (Dreamweaver Site File) files being used as a means to store FTP username and password information. The FTP password is always encrypted in these files. This causes problems because I do not use Dreamweaver to build websites. Even worse, what if I were someone else that did not own a copy of Dreamweaver?

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jQuery Safer Mailto Links Plugin

Recently I realized that jQuery plugins are the way to go for building re-usable, modular code snippets. As a result I have revisited the jQuery Safe Mailto’s function, building a jQuery Plugin to replace it.

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Create your own ring tones

What you need

  • Cell phone with MP3 ring-tone support
  • CD or MP3 of the song
  • Method of transferring the ring tone from computer to phone (USB, Bluetooth, e-mail, instant message, etc.)
  • Audacity

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2008 Apple MacBook Pro…

So I finally saved up enough to buy a new MacBook Pro. I’ll be curious to see how this “Multi-Touch” business works. I’ll plan on giving a write-up once she arrives.

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Improving Workflow with Shortcuts

Taking advantage of shortcut keys can save valuable time, speed up your workflow and increase productivity. I’ve put together a list of links to shortcuts and cheat sheets for the various applications and tools I frequently encounter. Please let me know if I’m missing out on anything extraordinary (because I probably am).

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