On the 22nd April 2008 I will cease to offer my services as a web developer to private clients. I will then take a break from website development until September, when I am likely to return to the field as a freelance sub-contractor. From now until September I will not be available to discuss or carry out new work.

Why?
Due to personal circumstances I am currently unable to provide the level of commitment necessary to work for and manage private clients.

Thank you for your understanding and I’m sorry for any inconvenince this may cause.

Haphy clients were notified a few weeks prior to this public announcement.

This is a handy way of previewing a live domain name without changing it’s DNS records. I find this technique particularly useful when transferring the hosting of live websites. The instructions are for Mac OS X users.

1. Open Terminal
2. We need to edit the hosts file, so type “sudo pico /etc/hosts” and hit enter
3. Enter your password
4. Use the arrow keys to move the flasher down to create a new line beneath any of the other entries
5. Type the IP address of the server, hit tab and type the domain name you wish to preview, e.g.
01.23.45.67 haphy.com
6. Press CTRL+X and type “y”, then hit enter to save your changes
7. Visit http://haphy.com in your browser.

Notes

• www.haphy.com will still function with the “real” DNS settings on your computer.
• Remember, the server that you’re previewing needs to be setup to recognise your domain.
• For some servers, you will need to enter the full domain (i.e. www.haphy.com) to your hosts file, and then visit that address in your browser - it depends on your setup.

Internet Explorer has a habit of wrongly displaying the alt attribute of an image as a tooltip. This can prove irritating when using images as links or when trying to implement an alternative tooltip solution such as Prototip.

There is a simple way to stop IE using the alt attribute as a tooltip:

1. Add a title attribute to your image. The contents of this attribute will be used as a tooltip instead.

A blank title attribute will prevent IE displaying a tooltip at all.

This month marks the beginning of my membership of the South Coast Design Forum (SCDF). Based in Chichester, the organisation is “run for and by designers and creatives from all disciplines” and has a number of aims including “to provide support, awareness and network channels for the South Coast as an area rich in designers, architects and creatives of all kinds.”

As a local website designer I fully support the SCDF in its objectives and am delighted to become an official member at what is an exciting time for creatives on the South Coast.

You can read more about the SCDF by visiting their website: http://www.scdf.org.uk.