I'm looking for a good way to implement reusable buttons in CSS on my forms. The requirements:
- Separate image and text (text is in many languages)
- Rollover effects
- Plays nicely cross browser
- No javascript (if possible)
- Rounded corners
Whats the best way to do this? Years ago I was using the sliding doors technique, but this seems out of date now. Would you use CSS3 with a fallback for older browsers? Any particularly well thought of techniques out there?
Jquery UI buttons are AWESOME. They're fully tested, completely compliant, and really look great. With one line of code, you can have a fully styled button in no time flat. Here's the thing--they can be executed without Jquery (go figure)
First, the tut
So, the standard method is to build an element (a, button, input) with an id and set it as a button in Jquery like this:$('#element').button()
However, if you do it in the manner that the tutorial shows, you just have to add some classes to an element to get a similar effect. So, to make a button out of an a tag, it would just be
Button
In this example, there's no need to set the button with the jQuery button declaration...you're doing it by style only. With the flexibility to style so many different type of elements, it opens up a ton of doors.
You would have to have the Jquery UI css loaded, which offers the added benefit of ThemeRoller, which can style elements on the page with a simple change of a file. It's really a great way to "theme" a site that has to change branding in a hurry, which has made custom themed apps my company puts out extremely profitable.
I would use css sprites for this. You can find out about them here:
http://css-tricks.com/css-sprites/
It is basically a way to make one large image that has all states of buttons(normal, hover, selected). The benefit is it is one http request and you don't see a flicker the first time a hover occurs. If you use this route, the css background property will be the image. You can then use text-align and line-height to center the text that you want to place over the image.
This library, Nifty Corners Cubed uses Javascript but is a fairly clean way to round div tags links, etc. It is tough to find a reusable solution without using a sliding doors derived technique. Otherwise you stuck making none-resuable buttons that have to fit to your size.
You can also take a look at PIE http://css3pie.com/
A sprite is a great option and I do use them from time to time.
Personally I don't mind if my websites aren't identical in all browsers and I go the CSS class route. I keep in mind what is and isn't supported by various browsers and if there is an element that needs to be a certain way I will double check with W3Schools for compatibility.
The main benefit the keeps me using CSS/CSS3 classes is if something changes it is done quickly by text in a single file, if need be I can do a quick change from a 10 year old computer with a dial-up connection (if they still exist) and no imaging software.
Where the advantage of a sprite is they are supported across all browsers and they will look identical (more or less). SpriteMe is a bookmarklet that I have heard of to help with sprites if you decide to go down this path.
I see this as a what do you prefer matter... these questions are what I ask myself when making this type of decision:
How often will it change? Big or small changes? Will it be a complete redesign job if it changes? What do you already know? How much time are you willing to spend learning something that you may not know? What does your gut say for this project?
I hope this can help you.
Related
I'm trying to create a game that uses buttons (and text areas) that are semi-transparent (Alpha of about 60%). I can do almost everything I want in XHTML and CSS, except for these semi-transparent items. So I'm looking for the easiest way of creating semi-transparent images on my web pages.
Ideas so far:
Create PNGs with semi-transparent pixels. This is supposed to be possible, and there are well-defined interfaces for defining an Alpha channel using PHP and the GD package. Problem: I tried this, but the images were opaque in all the browsers I tried (Chrome, IE8, FF).
Do it in Flash. I know how to use Flash(*) from some work I did before I retired. Problem: Flash is priced for the professional developer, not the hobbyist.
(*) Well, Flash 8. But as I understand it, even with newer versions I can continue to create movie clips the old way, they just get translated into a bunch of AS. And it's supposedly possible to continue using AS2, although you can't mix AS2 and AS3.
Do it in Flex. Problem: interfaces best described as arcane. Even using suggestions from experienced Flex developers, trying to include code from another mxml file (other than as a class) was a PITA.
Use SVG. This looked promising. The SVG syntax is basically XML, the element tags are reasonably obvious, and the interaction of attributes only slightly arcane, and there are plenty of examples in the tutorial. But... about half of current browsers will not support using SVG in an <img> tag. You have to use <embed> That means you can't put it inside an <a> or <button>. Even using embed, I got what look like "broken image" icons in IE8.
As I'm writing this, I notice several items under "similar questions" that look promising. But when I look at them, they use attributes that are not mentioned in the CSS spec: opacity, filter:alpha, and rgba. When working in a complex language, I really prefer to have the complete language spec open in another window, or to have the equivalent dead-trees version (e.g., the O'Reilly salmon book Cascading Style Sheets, The Definitive Guide, which sits on a bookshelf next to my desk.
So I'm asking for recommendations. If the consensus is to use SVG, I'll post my code and see if people can tell me what I'm doing wrong.
The CSS "opacity" property is perfectly valid. It is part of CSS3, and is supported in all browsers (*).
http://caniuse.com/css-opacity
Or you can use semi-transparent PNGs, as Alvaro demonstrated. They should work just fine. Not sure what happened with your attempts, but you must have done something wrong.
Note for versions of IE <= 8, you need to use the "filter" property instead.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/opacity
I don't know what problem you have with PNG's. Imo the best and easiest option by far. And they look as they should in all browsers from my own experience.
check this out: http://jsfiddle.net/BDLYG/
(and here a code I need to add)
If you have most users with the 'modern' browsers, I would say go with SVG. If you do, post here, and I'll be glad to help.
Many thanks for all the useful answers. I'm currently using a combination of CSS and PNGs (generated via PHP). I could have gotten along with just CSS, but I decided I wanted to change the opacity of the background when the user hovers over the button -- but keep the text opaque. It's easy to change the opacity of the whole thing, but (as far as I can tell) not of just the background.
I also experimented with SVG, and it also works fine, but it requires extra computation so I chose the simpler (for me) approach of CSS and PHP. I'm already comfortable with those two languages, just needed to be introduced to the newer stuff in CSS3 and the one extra function call needed to make alpha work in PNGs generated by the PHP GD package.
I been working on rollover images with pure css and i am aware of 2 solutions to achieve the desired result. I wonder if there are any benefits which i am unaware of with those methods and if there is a preferred method or is it just a preference (I just want to make sure before i finish a giant project so there are no surprises later)
first method
The first method i run across is to save multiple images as one image.
then to set the image as the background of a divider (that is smaller then the whole image)
then on :hover you set background position to negative and the other images appear
Some cons and pros i thought of is that:
pros
you do not need to preload the images manually (by placing code at the end of css file)
It might be easier to organize your image files as there could possibly be fewer of them
cons
it can be difficult to know how much exactly move the image especially if you have seperate team designing the graphics
second method
The second method i run across is to set an image background of a divider and then to change the background url on :hover
Some cons and pros that i can think of on top of my head:
pros
possibly less time in development
can exchange rollover images with more ease and dont need to specify the size of the divider
cons
need to preload images at the end of css file
possibly more mess in your image folder if you have a lot of files
Is there any pros or cons that i am missing? Is one method generally preferred over the other and why? Or is it personal choice and there is no problem with using either one??
Update:
Here is a link to simple preload for the second method with pure css. I thought there was an even simpler way (of just placing the links) but i cannot find it. Still this is pretty basic.
Update(2):
I have learned that sprites have additional
benefits of making websites faster by reducing the number of http requests.
and benefit of rollover being as fast as possible with no flicker
And a blunder of making a less accessible site, and would limit the potential benefits of the title and alt attributes in the HTML. (if used incorrectly for all images instead of just decorations and buttons)
CSS sprites (the first method) is generally favored due to the fact that pre-loading isn't necessary to maintain a quality user experience.
the ALA link Wex posted is a good primer on the benefits of sprites, and Smashing Magazine recently published an article which addresses your concerns about background-position when using a sprite with many images
http://coding.smashingmagazine.com/2012/04/11/css-sprites-revisited/
The first method is much better than the second one. You don't always have to bundle up every image into one giant image - that usually makes it hard to add new images - but it does make sense to put every image and their hover state in the same image so you don't see a flicker on hover, and so you don't have to rely on some preloading script.
Here's a good article that talks about the benefits of using CSS sprites: http://www.alistapart.com/articles/sprites
A customer has asked us to a add a feature to his website allowing visitors to colour in panels in a simple line drawing.
The website visitor will have a limited palette to choose from and will select a colour and click in a shape within the line drawing to colour it in as in:
There will only be four or five of these line drawings. The drawings themselves are not required to be interactive or flexible, only the colouring.
The line drawings will be super simple and we don't need to save the visitor's selections although the visitor will want to print or email the result.
Simple simple stuff. Most of the time where you see this done on sophisticated websites I assume it's done with Flash.
But is Flash the only way to go? Or can it be done with JQuery/Javascript or Silverlight or something else? Our team's knowledge covers ASP.NET, HTML, CSS, Javascript. No experience of Flash.
If you have a finite number of line drawings, and a limited number of colours, you could just pre-generate every possible colour/section combination - isolate each area as a transparent GIF/PNG and composite them using position:absolute to create an "onion skin" / animation cel effect. Use some old-school HTML image-map code (or server-side parsing of the myimage.X / myimage.Y parameters, or jQuery) to work out where they clicked, identify the image section under the mouse click location, and replace that image only with the corresponding version in their selected colour.
You can't draw these kinds of shape without using canvas or SVG. And I am not sure about the support provided by browsers for these.
If you can go for canvas then you ca ntake a look at
Processing js library
or for SVG
Raphaël—JavaScript Library
There are only two ways i can think of atm:
Split the line drawings into the colourable elements and show each image absolutly positioned to merge the images into one on the website.
Use Javascript to load a pre-coloured image of that part with "onclick" (or generate a coloured version with asp/php/whatever server-side.
Not sure if it's possible to print absolute positioned elements cleanly.
Use flash, it's simple there so even without experience you should be able to do it in 1-2 workdays.
My guess is that you could use the new HTML 5 canvas element to achieve this goal in an open, standards compliant manner.
Note: canvas is a new feature and is only supported in recent browser releases (latest Safari, Firefox or Chrome for example).
I'm working on a web app that currently has a table-based layout. Ideally I'd like to go to pure css, or failing that, a hybrid tables-and-css layout* .
I've banged my head against the wall trying to understand css layouts and positioning. The main problem I'm encountering is that, depending on the state of the app, I have different things appearing in a 'section' of the layout -- what might be contained in a div or table. For instance, I might have some text and links, and then after user interaction, there might be a form, a table, some images, different text, etc. Anytime I find a css solution, it is for a fixed-element layout, or works in a specific case, etc. They're not robust solutions, in other words.
From this In Search of the One True Layout, the author about "Vertical placement of elements across grids/columns": "Designers face the choice of relying on elements being a particular height, resorting to tables or simply not bothering." Is this true? In my app, I can't rely on elements being a particular height.
Do I fall back on tables when I have elements of various hieghts ( which is quite a bit of the site, actually). I noticed that quite a bit of sites done by well-respected people and organizations use tables for layout in certain places, and not just for tabular data! This site included.
The chances are that there are CSS techniques to achieve what you want, but they may not be obvious if using CSS for complex layouts is new to you.
In your case, to 'get it done', I would recommend a hybrid type layout, and not feel bad about using a table to layout the pieces of the application that require those particular behaviours.
If it is particularly complex and difficult than a table might be the best and simplest approach even for the CSS expert.
Dynamic heights are only a problem if you need to implement a special effect of soem sort or a background image and oftent there are ways around that. It really depends on the Visual Design and what needs to be done to make each "block" flexible to use. Sometimes things arent possible but most of the time they are - they jsut tend to add complexity to the markup. But even that added complexity is easier for me to understand than nested tables :-)
My advice if you want to get things done and spend a ridiculous amount of time on css layout, browser compatibility, CSS reset, fonts:
write simple, valid, semantic HTML
use a simple CSS framework (like blueprint). You will rely on a simple grid system for positioning and layout.
add CSS classes to your HTML
add your custom CSS for colors, backgrounds...
Please reconsider using a table layout 'to get it done'; you will be disappointed, especially if you want to add some JS magic later.
I use CSS layouts for my web apps. But, my apps don't have wildly varying information, so I can set the content area and not have to worry about the layout looking "off" because a column is way out of balance with the rest of the content.
If you're having trouble with CSS layout and positioning, I'd suggest tables first, learn more about CSS/HTML positioning, and then convert your layout LATER. I'm sure that it's made for a frustrating experience learning CSS on a "real" project.
In the meantime, get some really good sources for CSS: books by Andy Budd, Simon Collison, Eric Meyer, et. al. Also, go to their blogs and dig into the archives. A really good book for CSS layout, positioning and general use is Beginning CSS Web Development by Simon Collison from APress. All the ins and outs with great working examples.
Having asked this question How to reach CSS zen?, I now understand that the issues I have are mostly related to positioning. I've found some articles telling that CSS is not always good enough as a layout system.
http://echochamber.me/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=40154
http://www.flownet.com/ron/css-rant.html
http://blog.workaround.org/2009/03/17/dont-abuse-css-for-page-layout/
Do you as CSS designers limit yourselves upfront to designs that CSS can handle? Should I avoid things that seems perfectly easy are in fact difficult to do with CSS?
Of course you limit yourself. As a designer, you should always think about the medium you're working with. If I were designing a magazine ad, I wouldn't be thinking about animations or video. There are certain rules you must adhere to, and it doesn't make sense to ignore that.
But of course, rules were always meant to be broken.
Why?
If you are "designing", why would you limit yourself based on a the limitation of one technology? When you design your site, you should always try to achieve the most usuable interface for the user.
If you do limit yourself, then you are just asking for the site to not be used, and then what's the point of creating it?
I don't limit myself upfront to any designs that CSS can handle (within reason of course), just figure out your design and there will be someway that you can get it looking right using CSS, but it might involve a lot of hair pulling, especially if IE6 is involved!
When implementing a web design (assuming I've got an image/drawing of what the site will look like) I always follow these steps:
I look at the design and determine what components it has. Examples are navigation areas, headers, content areas, and so on.
I implement (X)HTML that can represent the content areas without really taking the design into account (there are certain things such as content order that I use the design to determine.)
I start making the CSS and images needed for the site to look the same way it did in the original design document. Depending on the complexity of the design, I might come up short of elements to use for styling the page, and may end up adding elements that don't really make sense for the content. I try to avoid it as much as possible, though, and I try to create the elements in a way that isn't obtrusive to the content.
As you can see, I never limit the design to the capabilities of CSS. CSS comes last. Now, depending on the complexity of the design, it might not look exactly like it did in the original design document, but the goal is always to make it as identical as possible, while still maintaining clean HTML so that the design can easily be updated in the future.
Most layouts I find can be done with CSS. There are a very few exceptions (normally to do with verically centering text).
For me the main factor which limits my designs is a reluctance to use huge background images. If an effect can't be done by combining/repeating a few tiny bg images I tend to reject or tweak it. Eg a diagonal gradient on a box with curved corners which could be any height might fall into this category using CSS2.1
Almost every painter limits themselves to paint on canvas, almost every sculptor makes 3D shapes from stone or clay or metal...
But there's also the few who dream new dreams and create new things. Some flop, some shine.
Should you limit yourself based on what CSS can do with layouts? Not completely. I say dream big.
Once you've got your dream design, either figure out how to create it, find a technology other than CSS that can do it, or go start inventing!
You can do absolutely almost anything using CSS 2.1 as far as layout. Its a complete pain in the ass that has no reason to ever exist, but you can do rounded corners (using background images), gradient backgrounds (more background images) and all kinds of other bloated crap you don't need all together and still not completely destroy the semantics of your HTML.
Doing all that garbage and still attempting to be standards compliant reduces usability, because its the designers who need round corners and other frivolous crap and not the users. Usability tests have confirmed this. Sites that are bloated to accommodate presentation and usability at the cost of semantics and efficient fail in usability tests compared to their competition. I work for a website that gets several million visitors a day and I have seen the results of our usability tests.
CSS provides a very good way to create an overall design that easily can be changed by small changes in one CSS file, and instantly applies the design changes to all your pages. Of course there are things that are tricky to do with CSS, and in those cases you might want to do it in other ways, but even if your layout is mainly based on CSS, doesn't mean that you can't do some special parts using other technology! You can mix!
So you don't limit yourself when you go for CSS. You just make use of a powerful technology that can be used in perfect harmony along with others!