Sunday, December 28, 2014

Vertical text / tabs with CSS3 transform matrix

These days the UI trends are changing rapidly, everyone is trying to implement something different than regular. For a long time we have always implemented the tabs in horizontal format, we did try to keep the tabs in vertical format but it wasn't easily possible with creepy IE browsers. CSS3 transforms have made the web a lot different than before. Scaling, skewing, rotating, translates are doing beautiful magic with their capabilities.

Today, implementing vertical text / tabs is possible with CSS3 transform matrix. Here is the code -

Browser compatibility: IE 9+

HTML:
  • Tab 3
  • Tab 2
  • Tab 1

CSS:
.tabs-vertcal{ 
 transform-origin: 0% 0% 0px; 
 transform: matrix(0, -1, 1, 0, 0, 350); 
}
.tabs{
 list-style-type: none;
}
.tab{
 float: left; 
 width: 92px; 
 padding: 6px; 
 border: 1px solid pink; 
 background: indigo; 
 color: white;
 text-align: right;
}

Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/oy3gnuxr/1/



Note: It's just a vertical text for now, I'll add the tabs functionality with jQuery soon.


Thursday, November 20, 2014

CSS Tabs Navigation Tricks

Developing a tabs navigation with CSS holds some simple tricks, but most of the front-end guys end up getting the results in an inappropriate way. Here's what you need to know about it -
I. The margin-bottom: -1px to the <li> element
II. The border and background to the <a> element
III. Change in border and background in the <a> element when <li> has .active class

HTML: 

CSS: 
ul{ margin: 0; padding: 0; list-style: none; border-bottom: 1px solid #ddd; 
}
ul:before, ul:after{
    content: ""; display: table;
}
ul:after{
    clear: both;
}
/**/
ul li{ 
    float: left; 
    margin: 0 4px -1px 4px;                /*Trick 1*/
}
ul li a{ 
    display: block; 
    text-decoration: none; 
    padding: 10px 15px; 
    border: 1px solid transparent;         /*Trick 2*/
    background: transparent;               /*Trick 2*/ 
}
ul li a:hover{
    background: #eee;
}
ul li.active a{ 
    border-radius: 4px 4px 0 0;
    border: 1px solid #ddd; 
    border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; /*Trick 3*/ 
    background: #fff;                     /*Trick 3*/ 
}

jQuery: 
$(function(){
    $('li a').on('click', function(e){
        e.preventDefault(); // to avoid page refresh because a elements have # in href 
        $('li').removeClass('active');
        $(this).parent('li').addClass('active');
    });
});


Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/dipaks2011/o35c8yxt/

Note: The fiddle demo is creating a ghost border on the right side of the tabs which doesn't appear in real HTML page.


Saturday, November 15, 2014

JavaScript text selection popover

Those who have read some articles on Medium.com are aware of how they can select text anywhere on a page and share it on Twitter or write a short comment about the selected text right on that page.

That's a nice popover to have, if the requirement is to select the text and show some information related to it on the same spot. I thought of posting a simple demo of it here, so that others can use it.

Here's the code 

HTML:
    
Having been in the field, most recently in India, I have seen that access to safe water is just a few dollars away for many people. A small loan can create a pathway to a household water tap. Making access to capital ubiquitous and affordable for those living in poverty would go a long way towards eliminating water stress.
CSS:
::selection{
  background: SeaGreen;
  color: White;
}
::-moz-selection{
  background: SeaGreen;
  color: White;
}
#textDescription{
  line-height:1.9em; font-size:16px; margin:10px; border:1px #333 solid; padding:5px; width: 450px;
 }
 .selectedText{
  position: relative;
  background-color: SeaGreen; color:#fff; line-height: 1.2em;
 } 
 .popDiv{
  background: ForestGreen; color: white; padding: 6px; width: 180px; height: 80px;  
  position: absolute; top: 18px; left: 0;
  border-radius: 4px; box-shadow: 2px 3px 4px #444;

  -webkit-animation: slideIn .5s;
  animation: slideIn .5s;
 }

 @-webkit-keyframes slideIn{
  from{
   top: 8px; opacity: 0; height: 40px;
  }
  to{
   top: 18px; opacity: 1; height: 80px;
  }
 }

 @-moz-keyframes slideIn{
  from{
   top: 8px; opacity: 0; height: 40px;
  }
  to{
   top: 18px; opacity: 1; height: 80px;
  }
 }

 @keyframes slideIn{
  from{
   top: 8px; opacity: 0; height: 40px;
  }
  to{
   top: 18px; opacity: 1; height: 80px;
  }
 }
JavaScript / jQuery:
 


 var parentContainerId = "textDescription"
  
 if(!window.CurrentSelection){
  CurrentSelection = {}
 }
 
 CurrentSelection.Selector = {}
 
 //get the current selection
 CurrentSelection.Selector.getSelected = function(){
  var sel = '';
  if(window.getSelection){
   sel = window.getSelection()
  }
  else if(document.getSelection){
   sel = document.getSelection()
  }
  else if(document.selection){
   sel = document.selection.createRange()
  }
  return sel
 }
 //function to be called on mouseup
 CurrentSelection.Selector.mouseup = function(){
  
  var st = CurrentSelection.Selector.getSelected()
  if(document.selection && !window.getSelection){
    var range = st
    range.pasteHTML("" + range.htmlText + "");   
  }
  else{
    var range = st.getRangeAt(0)    
    var newNode = document.createElement("span");
    newNode.setAttribute("class", "selectedText");
    range.surroundContents(newNode);
    //
    var getTitle = newNode.innerHTML;
    newNode.setAttribute("title", getTitle);

    //
    var popDiv = document.createElement('span');
    popDiv.setAttribute('class', 'popDiv');
    popDiv.innerHTML = getTitle;

    if(newNode.innerHTML.length > 0) {
     newNode.appendChild(popDiv);
    }     
    //Remove Selection: To avoid extra text selection in IE  
    if (window.getSelection) {
      window.getSelection().removeAllRanges();
    }
        else if (document.selection){ 
         document.selection.empty();
        }
        //
  }
 }
        
 $(function(){

  $("#"+parentContainerId).on('mouseup', function(){
    $('span.selectedText').contents().unwrap();
    $(this).find('span.popDiv').remove();
  });

  $("#"+parentContainerId).bind("mouseup",CurrentSelection.Selector.mouseup); 
 })        


Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/dipaks2011/uz0gsu8a/1/



Related Posts:

jQuery tab navigation:
http://dipaksblogonline.blogspot.in/2012/03/simple-jquery-tab-navigation.html

Defer third party scripts:
http://dipaksblogonline.blogspot.in/2012/06/defer-third-party-scriptsads-until.html

Using multiple iScrolls in one page:
http://dipaksblogonline.blogspot.in/2013/06/using-multiple-iscroll-in-one-page.html



Wednesday, September 17, 2014

HTML5 details element

Have you ever wondered if you could achieve that jQuery Accordion widget effect without jQuery or JavaScript? Did you think it will be ever possible to create it with just HTML? If no, well, you can achieve that with the HTML5 <details> element.

The details element is used as a widget to show/hide additional information.
Click me to toggle more information
The details element is used as a widget to show/hide additional information.
Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/8mthoj5g/

Attributes:

It comes with one additional attribute that is 'open'. By default it appears in closed state, but if you want to keep the hidden information visible on-load, you can use the 'open' attribute -
Click me to toggle more information
The details element is used as a widget to show/hide additional information.
Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/8mthoj5g/1/

Nesting:

Nesting multiple details in details is possible -
Click me to toggle more information
The details element is used as a widget to show/hide additional information.
More links to help
Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/8mthoj5g/2/

Styling:

This is the area where you can make the widget look beautiful with CSS. If you want to style the marker you can use ::-webkit-details-marker pseudo class  -
details{
    border: 1px solid #666; 
    border-radius: 4px; 
    margin: 0 0 4px 0;
}
summary{ 
    background: linear-gradient(to top, #f1efef 0%, #e8e9e9 50%, #e8e8e8 100%); 
    padding: 8px; 
    outline: none; 
}
.more-info{ 
    border-top: 1px solid #666; 
    padding: 8px; 
}
details[open] summary{ 
    background: none; 
}
summary::-webkit-details-marker {
  color: #818b94;
}
Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/czs29fd3/

To replace the default marker with some fancy icon, you can use the CSS :before and :after pseudo classes with summery element, but before using a replacement for marker you must hide it first -
summary::-webkit-details-marker {
  display: none; /*Hide the default marker*/
}
summary:after {  
  content: "+";   
  float: left; 
  font-size: 1em; 
  font-weight: bold;       
  width: 22px;
}
details[open] summary:after {
  content: "-";
}
What about the browsers that don't support details element?
Use this Bulletproof HTML5 <details> fallback using jQuery by @MathiasBynens

Browser Support:

You can see the latest browser support at caniuse.com




Monday, August 18, 2014

Understanding HTML5 Pattern Attribute

What is HTML5 Pattern?
The HTML5 pattern attribute is nothing but a JavaScript Regular Expression. It is used to match form field's value against the specified format. Patterns are used to validate email addresses, dates, credit card numbers, zip codes and so on.

For example, the following pattern requires one number and three uppercase character, if you didn't enter the said format it will prompt you with a message:
  pattern="[0-9][A-Z]{3}"
Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/aoq22s54/

Similarly, if you have a field to accept only five numeric values, use this pattern:
pattern="\d{5}" in this pattern the '\d' stands for numeric values and '{5}' to accept only five characters.
Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/fhcox947/

Let's validate a DD/MM/YYYY date format:
Here's the pattern we need to use for validating this date format - pattern="(0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])\/(0[1-9]|1[0-2])\/\d{4}" 

The first section of this pattern (0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01]) says - use 0 before the first value 1-9 except when the first value is 1/2, and use 0-9 after the first 1/2 value, and when the first values is 3 use only 0/1 after it. Sounds simple? I guess yes :)
Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/j8qpe3ca/

I hope you have understood how the patterns workplease refer this HTML5 pattern website for some common regular expression styles.


Monday, August 11, 2014

Language Specific CSS - The :lang attribute

Do you know the German words are much longer than English? And the Arabic language is read from right-to-left? How about using different font family for Chinese version of your website? Oh! That would be awesome! Can I achieve that via CSS?

Yes! With the help of the :lang(X) pseudo class and with the [lang="x"] attribute selector.
body{ 
 font: normal 14px/1.1em "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Sans", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;
 color: RoyalBlue;
}

/*For German version*/
:lang(de) body{ /*or - html[lang="de"] body{}*/
  color: ForestGreen;
}
A demo without the lang attribute: http://jsfiddle.net/a5Ltfge0/
A demo with German version: http://jsfiddle.net/2nkmjzv6/

We can also use it with any container element such as: div, section, article, span and so on. For example
German Content
span[lang="de"]{
  color: red;
}

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Installing Grunt and Plugins

Installing Grunt Task Runner is simple enough when you know how to install it, but it's quite frustrating when you are installing it the first time. Once you started using grunt, you will never leave it. Here are some simple steps to install and run.

1. Download and install NodeJS from here.
Once you are done with the installation of NodeJS, create folder somewhere on your hard-drive and name it as first-grunt-project. Now, create a project structure inside the first-grunt-project folder as:
-first-grunt-project
  -- dev
     -- js 
     -- styles
        -- less 
           -- variables.less 
           -- colors.less 
           -- style.less /*we need to import all less files in this file with @import "variables.less" and so on
     -- css 
        -- style.css 
     -- index.html 
Now right click inside the root folder that is first-grunt-project and select the option Open command window here. Since you have already installed NodeJS just verify the version with a command node --version that should show you the NodeJS version you have installed.

2. Create a new file called package.json and save it at the root directory:
first-grunt-project
  -- package.json
Add this code in package.json file and save it. You can check the current version of package.json here. More information on package.json can be read at the npm website.
{
  "name": "grunt-project", 
  "version": "1.2.5" 
}
3. Go to command window and type npm install -g grunt-cli, this will install the cli for you.
Note: npm stands for Node Package Manager.
And cli stands for Command Line Interface

4. Create a new js file and save it as Gruntfile.js. Add the following code in it. This code is to compile LESS files to CSS. Refer the video below for installing JavaScript plugins.
module.exports = function(grunt) {

  grunt.initConfig({
    pkg: grunt.file.readJSON('package.json'),
    less: {
      development: {
        options: {
          compress: true,
          yuicompress: true,
          optimization: 2
        },
        files: {
          // target.css file: source.less file
          "styles/style.css": "styles/less/styles.less"
        }
      }
    },
    watch: {
      styles: {
        files: ['styles/less/**/*.less'], // which files to watch
        tasks: ['less'],
        options: {
          nospawn: true
        }
      }
    }
});

//plugins
grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-less');
grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-watch');

//tasks
grunt.registerTask('default', ['less','watch']);
};
5. Go to command window and type npm install grunt --save-dev this will install grunt for you.

You are ready with the installation of grunt, you can confirm that by running grunt --version command. After installing grunt, install the two plugins we are using in the gruntfile.js above for compiling LESS file - that are contrib less and contrib watch.

Videos:
All about packge.json and gruntfile.js:


All about creating a basic project with Grunt:


Create another folder and try with installing grunt first and the cli and then the next steps from here - http://ericnish.io/blog/compile-less-files-with-grunt and see the effect


Saturday, June 21, 2014

Need a candidate who can control DOM

Document Object Model (DOM) is an Application Programming Interface (API) for HTML and XML. I was reading this article at Mozilla Developer Network (MDN) and it has mentioned that DOM is a fully object-oriented representation of web page and we can modify its content and control the visual representation (CSS/styling) by using client side scripting languages like JavaScript.

If the DOM can be controlled by JavaScript for both modifying the content and to control its visual appearance then why a front-end developer is always deprived from writing JavaScript? You may say: No. He/she writes JavaScript for showing/hiding elements, and to create a modal dialog, or to develop some widgets like tabs and accordions. But, we never let him/her write business logic. Wait. That’s the point where you are under-utilizing your resources. Let them write the business logic. Everyone can learn, everyone can improve, and everyone can contribute. Just give them that opportunity—start with small.  

A front-end developer whose job is to create DOM is not allowed to control it with JavaScript and the JavaScript developer who knows very less about DOM is allowed to control it. Isn't it strange? Are we actually letting the right people do the right job, or we are making the working system more complex? Wouldn't it be great if all front-end developers know JavaScript and all JavaScript developers understand the DOM as a first step in development?

It is absolutely necessary to create such all-rounder developers in the organization itself instead of separating these two essential parts of DOM.

The requirements are changing in IT industry today. Most of the companies are looking for the candidates who have in-depth knowledge of the DOM and JavaScript. A few people succeed in it and the majority settles for the one half of it compromising the other. How can we expect such a blend when we haven’t created one?


Monday, June 16, 2014

Basic HTML structure/skeleton with CSS Flexbox Layout

We need some kind of miracle to get rid of IE8 and IE9 and start development with the IE 10+ version. I do understandIt will take some more years for it to happen. But, if you are working on a project that needs compatibility only for the latest and greatest browsersyou can start with flexbox layout right now. Most of the flexbox properties work very well in IE 10 with -ms- prefixes. Here's more on Flexible box ("Flexbox") layout in Internet Explorer 10.

Keeping the restriction in mind I thought of putting up a plain HTML page skeleton with CSS Flexbox which works as a liquid layout without any width and height properties specified.

My previous post [ CSS Flexbox explained with examples ] focuses on the real-world scenarios where the flexbox properties work as life-saver. With it, I can proudly say No to the floats, widths and heights. Also, to the overflow in some cases so that I don’t have to worry about the elements overlapping or adjusting the widths pixel-by-pixel to keep them aligned. Flexbox does it for me.

Here is a Fiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/KKp2c/5/



Related articles:
CSS Flexbox explained with examples


Saturday, May 24, 2014

CSS Flexbox explained with examples

The CSS flexbox layout is the widely discussed/suggested/encouraged/used layout of these days. You must be wondering why? Why is that many developers give that ah! look when they are advised to use flexbox? Well, it's because it provides the most efficient way of aligning, resizing, stretching the elements in the most appropriate way. It is a big help in laying out the dynamic layouts, because it stretches and shrinks depending on the available space. No JavaScript required.

Browser Support to flexboxhttp://caniuse.com/#search=flex

Here are some examples with the use cases:

1. Vertically center align content with CSS flexbox: (align-items: center | justify-content: center; )
Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/k72uf/

Vertically center aligning the content with CSS has been always a big issue for developers. From IE8 and above they could use display: table-cell; property, but the new and fancy flexbox gives more flexible way of vertically center aligning content. Here is the code:
.flex-container{
  display: flex; 
  justify-content: center; 
  align-items: center; 
  height: 350px; 
  background: LightSeaGreen; 
}
2. Flex Directions: (flex-direction: row | row-reverse | column | column-reverse;)

flex-direction: row; Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/x83Pu/ 
.flex-container{ 
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: row;
  border: 2px solid SaddleBrown; 
}
.flex-container div{
  width: 100px; 
  height: 100px; 
  margin: 4px; 
  background: chocolate;
}
.wrap{
  flex-wrap: wrap; 
  flex-flow: row wrap;
}
flex-direction: row-reverse; Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/7UBTL/1/
.flex-container{
  display: flex; 
  flex-direction: row-reverse;
}
flex-direction: column; Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/C3rdD/
.flex-container{ 
  display: flex; 
  flex-direction: column; 
  height: 350px;
  border: 2px solid SaddleBrown; 
}
.flex-container div{
  width: 50px; 
  height: 50px; 
  margin: 4px; 
  background: chocolate; 
}
.wrap{
  flex-wrap: wrap; 
  align-content: flex-start;
}
The reverse property for columns works same as the row-reverse.

3. Item orders: (order: integer)
By default the flex items are placed in source code order. The order property helps in controlling the order by which the child elements are placed in the flex container.
Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/z96C7/
.container{
  display: flex; 
  flex-direction: row; 
  border: 2px solid SaddleBrown;
}
.container *{ 
  background: ForestGreen; 
  color: white; 
  margin: 4px;
  flex-basis: 100px;
}
.container header{ order: 3; } 
.container nav{ order: 1; }
.container article{ order: 2; }

4. Alignments: (justify-content | align-items | align-self)

justify-content: (flex-start | flex-end | center | space-between | space-around | inherit)
Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/Kj9KY/
.flex{
  display: flex; 
  margin: 0 0 30px 0;
  border: 2px solid ForestGreen;
}
.flex div{ 
  background: OliveDrab; 
  color: white; 
  width: 50px; 
  height: 50px; 
  margin: 4px; 
}

.start{ justify-content: flex-start; }
.end{ justify-content: flex-end; }
.center{ justify-content: center; }
.space-between{ justify-content: space-between; }
.space-around{ justify-content: space-around; }
align-items: (flex-start | flex-end | center | baseline | stretch)
Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/2x4Xq/1/
.flex{
  display: flex; 
  flex-direction: column;
  margin: 0 0 30px 0; 
  height: 300px;
  border: 2px solid ForestGreen;
}
.flex div{  
  background: OliveDrab; 
  color: white; 
  height: 50px; 
  width: 50px; 
  margin: 4px; 
}

.start{ align-items: flex-start; }
.end{ align-items: flex-end; }
.center{ align-items: center; }
.baseline{ align-items: baseline; }
.stretch{ align-items: stretch; }
5. flex-basis:
It specifies the initial size of the flex items. But, its behavior depends on the flex-direction property. If the flex-direction is set to row--the initial size works as width, and if the direction is set to column--the initial size works as column.
Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/3Lamd/
.flex{
  display: flex; /*flex-direction: row;*/
  border: 2px solid ForestGreen; 
  margin: 0 0 30px 0;
}
.flex div{  
  flex-basis: 100px;
  background: OliveDrab;
  color: white; 
  margin: 4px; 
}
.column{ flex-direction: column;  }
6. flex-grow:
Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/V7hA3/
.flex{
  display: flex; 
  border: 2px solid ForestGreen;
}
.flex div{  
  flex-basis: 50px;
  background: OliveDrab; 
  color: white; 
  margin: 4px; 
}
.grow{ flex-grow: 3; }
7. flex-shrink:
Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/GyBjQ/
.flex{
  display: flex; 
  border: 2px solid ForestGreen;
}
.flex div{  
  flex-basis: 200px;
  background: OliveDrab; 
  color: white; 
  margin: 4px;
}
.shrink{ flex-shrink: 3; }
There are a few more properties like: align-self | flex-wrap | flex-flow. I have used some of these properties in the examples above, I will put some examples of these soon possible.

Monday, April 21, 2014

Best shorthand to CSS border property

When I started coding CSS I coded the border property as:
.box{ 
  border-width: 1px;
  border-style: solid;
  border-color: blue;
}
And after a few months later I improved in coding the same property as shorthand:
.box{
  border: 1px solid blue;
}
If the border colors needed to be different, or if the requirement is like - I need left, right, and top borders but not the bottom border. To this, I used the property as:
.box{ 
  border-top: 1px solid blue;
  border-left: 1px solid blue;
  border-right: 1px solid blue;
  border-bottom: 0 none;
}
The above method can be improved with the new/unknown CSS border shorthand:
.box{
  border-color: blue;
  border-style: solid;
  border-width: 1px 1px 0 1px; /*top right bottom left*/
}
Check the demo: http://jsfiddle.net/X3QHc/

Here's how it works: 
.box{
  border-color: red green blue black; /*top right bottom left*/
  border-style: solid dotted dashed double;
  border-width: 6px 4px 2px 10px;
}
Check the demo: http://jsfiddle.net/X3QHc/1/

Related Articles: 
Styling input type file
- IE 7/8 stretching background image to 100% width and height
Change parent elements background image position on child mouseover


Thursday, April 10, 2014

jQuery modal dialog popup window without plugin

I just googled for jQuery Modal dialog window and to my surprise, I saw some links that redirected me to some jQuery plugins which is not necessary for such a small task. I didn't see a pain and easy to understand solution to it. So I decided to put it up in this post.
 
Here's a simple jQuery Modal Dialog Popup Window that even works in IE7: Demo



Related Articles:
- IE 7/8 stretching background image to 100% width and height
- HTML - DIV vertically center align image/elements
- jQuery increase/decrease number in input field

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

AngularJS show hide html elements

AngularJS is becoming more popular in web application development day by day. And it is not as simple as jQuery. Its main focus is not DOM manipulation, but it's more in Data manipulation, and is more logical. It teaches all jQuery developers a more sophisticated way of coding where the developers understand the next level of OOP.

I miss jQuery a lot. Especially, the handy methods like show() hide(). If we want to get the same effect with AngularJS, we have to put some logic in controllers and implement it with ng-click, ng-class, ng-show, ng-hide. In this post I will write some simple and easy to understand examples for this most needed ng-hide and ng-show methods .

Show Hide DIV on Click: Demo



Toggle DIV : Demo 



Toggle DIV with Animations: Demo



Related Articles:
AngularJS Add Class and Toggle Class
AngularJS Toggle Class with Animation


Saturday, April 5, 2014

Separate CSS for different browsers

It's a general expectation that the web application you are working on must be supported in all major browsers. Since the implementation of CSS properties in different browsers varies, they force front-end developers to write specific properties separately for them. There are some CSS properties that don't give similar result in all browsers. The most popular one is vertical-align; it behaves differently in chrome/firefox and in IE. The situation becomes even tougher when the client asks support for different versions of the same browser.

Here are some tricks that help developers serve separate CSS files/classes for different browsers and browser versions depending on the requirements.

Separate CSS for Mozilla Firefox - CSS only solution:
@-moz-document url-prefix(){
    div{ color: red; }
}

Separate CSS for IE version - with conditional comments:
The traditional code:

The HTML5 BoilerPlate code:

These conditional classes get appeneded in the <html> tag depending on the version you are using. For example, if you are using IE9, the '.ie9' class will get appeneded in the <html> tag which gives you an option to write CSS only for IE9 with '.ie9' class as a parent class -
.ie8 .className{ color: green; } /* This css will be applied to IE8 only*/
.ie9 .className{ color: red; } /* This css will be applied to IE9 only*/

Separate CSS for IE version - with jQuery:


Read more on jQuery.browser

Separate CSS for Windows OS Versions using javascript:
If you are supporting all versions of windows OS, these tricks can help you write separate CSS files for Windows OS versions.

For Windows 8: 

For Windows 7:

For Windows XP:

Read more on understanding user-agent string

Related Articles:
Vertically center align image, DIV, and other html elements in IE 7 and IE 8
Styling input type file
Essential CSS Pseudo Classes


Wednesday, April 2, 2014

AngularJS Add Class and Toggle Class

There are several ways of adding a class to an element in angularJS which varies in different situations. I want to put the solutions without much of explanation in angularJS terminology, because sometimes it scares to the HTML developers, so I won't get into that. I will just post some plane code which will be useful to most of the developers and designers.

Add/Remove Class:
The directive you need to read to understand this example:
ng-app  ng-click and ng-class




Toggle Class Example 1:
The directive you need to read to understand this example:
ng-controller ng-app  ng-click and ng-class




Toggle Class Example 2:
The directive you need to read to understand this example:
ng-init ng-app  ng-click and ng-class



Related Articles:
- AngularJS Toggle Class with Animation



Saturday, March 22, 2014

The CSS3 multi-column layout

The CSS3 multi-column layout allows us to place long articles in short columns. This column approach helps  many users as sometimes they miss the track of reading with the long lines. And that's the main reason why newspapers are printed in columned layout. Also, in the world of large screen monitors most of the web layouts are stretched too long causing the reader more trouble. Here the multi-column layout is the best option to serve data to the users.

Properties of multi-column layout:

column-count: 3;
Number of columns to be displayed.

column-width: 8em;
Width of each column.

column-gap: 2em; 
The gap between each column.

column-fill: auto; 
Is used to indicate that columns are filled in a consecutive manner.

column-fill: balance;
Is used to indicate that content is equally divided between the number of columns defined.

column-span: all; 
Similar to the colspan in table layout. (This property is not supported in Firefox yet, but they will add the support soon.)

column-rule: 1px solid #ccc;
Sets border to the columns.

These properties can also be used separately -
column-rule-width: 1px
column-rule-style: solid
column-rule-color: #ccc

Shorthands:
The shorthand is mainly used for column-count and column-width properties:
columns: 3 20em; /* column-count column-width */

Browser Support:
Check the browsers who support these properties at - When Can I Use
And the old browsers who don't support multi-column layout they will happily ignore these properties.

Demo:



Note:
The multi-column layout module is still a candidate recommendation, but considering the implementation of these properties in major browsers it seems it will not take too long for W3C to approve it.

Related Articles:
- Essential CSS Pseudo Classes
CSS Media Query min-width Vs min-device-width with meta viewport
Grayscale images with CSS3 Filter Property
CSS - Indenting Second Line of LI (List Items)

Monday, February 24, 2014

AngularJS Toggle Class with Animation

The jQuery Toggle Class was much easy to work with, wasn't it? Yes! I agree with it! But, toggling CSS classes with AngularJS is much more interesting. How? Well, with jQuery we do direct DOM manipulations. For example, if we want to toggle CSS class on the <section> element, we have to tell the browser to traverse the DOM until it finds the <section> element and then add or remove the class, which directly affects on the performance of the page/application. 

With AngularJS the DOM manipulation becomes more relevant because it connects to the HTML elements via API methods and provides more scope to the data with custom attributes.

A quick demo:


Open this fiddle in JSFiddle to check the files I used for this demo.

Related Articles: 
AngularJS Add Class and Toggle Class


Sunday, February 23, 2014

Essential CSS Pseudo Classes

CSS Pseudo classes are the heart of CSS. Most of these classes are supported by all major browsers today. They make writing CSS simple and fun, as if there is no problem as such that can’t be handled with CSS Pseudo Classes without modifying the HTML. Let’s begin with some unknown Pseudo classes first.

:enabled and :disabled
Identifying elements state has become easy with these two classes. Also, they can be used as a good alternative to the enabled and disabled attribute selectors.



:empty
Have you ever got into a situation where some dynamically added empty elements disturb the layout? Well, the :empty class is here to help


:target
:target is generally used to point out/display/go to the selected element which is triggered by the hash(#) links. In web 2.0 this trend is becoming a quite famous as most developers are choosing to develop single page websites.



:nth-child()
This is a super-powerful class that can be used in most difficult situations. This class solves the issues that can only be resolved using JavaScript or jQuery. It accepts integer values and ‘odd’ and ‘even’ keywords. This can also be used in many different ways, such as - li:nth-child(2n+2), li:nth-child(-2n+3), :nth-of-type(), nth-last-child(), :nth-last-of-type().



:not()
This Pseudo class tells browser to apply CSS to all elements except the on that is in the parentheses of :not() class.



:hover
This is a widely known and used Pseudo class, almost all front-end developers are aware of it because of the most important use of it – 
a{ }
a:hover{}

We can easily include some simple classes in the same category - :focus, :active, :visited

:before and :after
These are the life saver classes! They help in most critical situations allowing us to make use of two virtual HTML elements without actually adding the elements in HTML. 


Additionally there are the :first-child, :last-child simple pseudo classes, you can try some simple examples with it and see for yourself :)