Innovative way for styling numbers in ordered list

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Usually, to output a numbered list , we use ol. In this case by default , we dont have any semantic way to customize the look of the numbers.

Roger Johansson provided an excellent solution for this problem. A demo page is also provided.

  • Default numbering is disabled (list-style:none)
  • Numbers are initiated using counter-reset:li property,
  • The list counter is put as a the content using :before pseudo-element
  • The counter is incremented by 1 using counter-increment:1
Note: IE7 does not support content property. People having IE8 or greater will enjoy the stylish look, otherwise default numbering style is displayed.

User Interface Design Tools

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As web designers always need to consider better user experience while designing user interface. In this post, I tried to mention some useful resources for awesome user interface design.

As I have gone through the list of 50 User Interface Design Tools, some of them are really impressive.Mentioning my favorites:-

1. Patternry

patternry

Patternry is a user interface design pattern library aimed to help solve common interface design problems.

2. User Interface Design Patterns

uipatterns

User Interface Design patterns are recurring solutions that solve common design problems. Design patterns are standard reference points for the experienced user interface designer.

Continue reading →

Clearing Floats

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When a container has multiple elements with float properties we need to clear the float at the end. Usually what we do is create an empty div with clear:both property below the float elements inside the container. Without extra mark-up this issue can be solved using css.

Need to prepare a clearfix class like below:-

.clearfix:after
{
content: ".";
display:block;
height:0;
clear:both;
visibility:hidden:
}

To support IE 7 & IE 6 additional codes needed to be written:-

*:first-child+html .clearfix{min-height:1px;}  /*for IE 7*/

* html .clearfix{height:1%;} /*for IE 6 */

Assigning the clearfix class to the container will automatically clear all the floats.

Understanding Inter VLAN Routing

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To make 2 separate network usually we use 2 sepearate switches and configure router according to that. But its also possible to maintain multiple networks using a single switch. That can be done in two ways:-

Traditional way: Suppose we have two networks (VLAN) connected with the switch. Therefore two connections are also made from switch to a router and each port of the router is configured with an IP Address of a particular VLAN. For larger networks its quite impossible to maintain a single port of the router for each VLAN. So a modern way is followed to overcome this problem.

Modern way: In this case, a trunk path is created in between the switch and the router. Then sub-interface is defined to the router port that the switch is connected to. Code to accomplish this task is given below:-

Assuming the trunk path is connected to fast ethernet 0/5 of the router.

#config:interface fa0/5.10;

#config(sub-if):encapsulation dotIq 10

#config(sub-if):ip address 172.16.10.1;

Similarly other networks are configured. To configure native vlan we need to write encapsulation dotIq 99 native.

No shut command is inserted under the actual interface mode like below:-

#config:interface fast-Ethernet 0/5;

#config(if):no shut;

Centering elements both Horizontally & Vertically

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An element can be easily horizontally centered using margin:0 auto properties. To make it vertically centered more works are needed to be done.

Lets say we have a markup  like following having a div with id Body. Its going to be centered.

 <body> 
  <div id="body"> 
    Content goes here 
  </div> 
</body>

CSS Code:


 html,
 body {
 width:100%;
 height:100%;
 }
 html {display:table;}
 body {
 display:table-cell;
 vertical-align:middle;
 }
 #body {
 max-width:50em;
 margin:0 auto;
 }

Here, we made the HTML to behave like a table and body as a inner cell of the table. So saying vertical-align:middle makes everything inside body vertically centered.
More explanation can be found in 456bereastreet.com

STP Configuration

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STP is defined as Spanning Tree Protocol, used in switches to prevent looping problem when multiple switches are connection with each other. As we need to maintain redundancy , we also need to prevent any looping events.

By default STP Basic Mode is ON in switches. But this can be further modified using certain commands.

STP Convergence comes in three steps:-

Step 1: Election of Root Bridge:  Considering Bridge ID(Bridge Priority+MAC), a bridge is selected as root bridge.

Step2: Root Port Selection: Port through which other switches are connected with the root bridge.

Step3: Designated/Non-Designated Ports: After all switches having their root port selected, other ports can be either designated or non designated depending on costing. The port through which cost is lower to connect with root bridge is defined as designated port. The other ports are defined as Non-Designated Port.

A port of a bridge can be in different modes. Modes are Blocking, Listening, Learning, Forwarding & Disabled.

Root Bridge Election can be influenced in two different methods.

Method 1:
By default priority is set to  32768 in VLAN 1.. To define the Bridge Priority  followig commands can be used:-
Config# spanning-tree vlan <vlan id> primary

#spanning-tree vlan <vlan ID> secondary

Range for primary-> 24576 or 4096 incremental but below the lowest detected
secondary 28672 (predefined)

Method 2:
This commands should in interface mode.

spanning-tree vlan vlan<vlan id> priority 24576
range of priority (0 – 65536)

Defining switch priority:
In some cases, it might happen that multiple ports get the same cost for reaching root bridge. In this case, switch port priority can be modified. By default switch port priority is 128. For fa0/1 it is 128.1, for fa0/2 it is 128.2.

Configuring port priority:
(config-if)# spanning-tree port priority <value>   value range (0 – 240), Incremental of 16

To prevent broadcasting bpdu packet to access mode ports (through which pcs are connected):

(config-if)# spanning-tree port-fast

There is also another command bpdu guard to shutdown the certain port if any switch is connected instead of a pc through that port.

Configuring VLAN

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1. Create Topology

2. All switch (codes in global configuration mode)

a. Vtp mode (vtp mode server/client/transparent)

b. Vtp Domain (vtp domain )

c. Vtp password (vtp password )

3. All trunk should be configured (code in interface mode) (switchport mode trunk, switchport trunk native vlan )

4. Server configured switch (create Vlan) (in config mode: vlan 10, name gp)

5. Transparent configured switch (if any) (Create VLAN)

6. VLAN assign to ports (switchport mode access, switchport access vlan )

7. IP configuration of switch

8. IP configuration of PC

Troubleshooting Vlan

Show vlan brief (vlan assignments showed)

Show interface trunk

Show vtp status

Show vtp password

Checklist before sending design to print

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Keep a backup of your original file.

Outline all the texts: select all the text by pressing ctrl+A. Click TypeMenu->Create Outline.

Make sure all the images have 300dpi and color is converted to cmyk.

Make sure all the transparencies are flattened preserving alpha transparency (Object->Flatten Transparency)

Embed all the images used in the design. Bring the Links window (Window->Links). Now select images and click embed from sidemenu). This needed to be done for all the pages.

Variations in Black

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The black color which we use in adobe photoshop looks quite different when its printed. Thats because its not actually the real black.

For printing we may use 2 variations of black. Those are:

Rich Black (CMYK) : 40,0,0,100

Standard Black (CMYK): 0,40,0,100

Registration Black (CMYK): 100,100,100,100  (used only for crop and registration marks)

Using proper CMYK values ensures that the design is printed as we have seen in the computer screen.