[wp-hackers] [OT] Testing needed for WordTrails plugin fromXerox

Wed Oct 7 20:34:53 UTC 2009

Thanks for the clarification, William. Most of the things you mentioned are what I was referring to as "the easy-to-solve issues."

* I think the info attribute is XHTML transitional compliant, however surely not XHTML strict. I could switch it to title, but the reason I didn't use title in the first place is because the info attribute can contain far more data than I think a title tag ever should: Title, Description/Caption, Editorial Blurg, Tags, and soon Modifiers. I will think more about this issue in particular and come up with a compliant solution.
* I already converted a large number of &s to &amp;s, but I guess there are more I haven't gotten to yet.
* DIVs inside As was already only my list to fix
* Empty optgroup is used for pretty spacing. I'm sure I can get the space with more css tweaking and without the empty group. It was only left that way in the interest of time.

Having an admin panel option to force XHTML Strict compliance may not be as bad as you're making it sound. All of WordTrails' multitude of options are already stored in a single wp_options entry, so that is a non-issue. There is already a hook for when to include one or more of the 3 css files shipped with the plugin. Checking against an option that is already loaded into memory at that point and (not) including an additional css file shouldn't add stress to the system. I will keep the option of a second set of css files in mind as I track down and solve the rest of the XHTML compliance issue (once boss-man lets me spend more time on this). At this point, I'm still leaning toward the admin panel option, just in case there are other (as of yet undiscovered) issues with compliance that need to be solved programmatically.

-Jesse

Jesse.Silverstein at xerox.com
Xerox Trails team
Xerox Research Center, Webster

-----Original Message-----
From: wp-hackers-bounces at lists.automattic.com [mailto:wp-hackers-bounces at lists.automattic.com] On Behalf Of William Canino
Sent: Wednesday, October 07, 2009 2:18 PM
To: wp-hackers at lists.automattic.com
Subject: Re: [wp-hackers] [OT] Testing needed for WordTrails plugin fromXerox

Hello Jesse:

> issues in the next version of the plugin. However, the sidebar widget and trail index use divs
> with border-radius CSS, which is not css2 compatible. I think we would like to keep the

I get the impression you are referring to the CSS2 non-compliance,
whereas I meant XHTML non-compliance, such as

* the "info" tag for your convenience so that your jquery code can
pick up what appears on the fancy hovering callout boxes that screen
readers and mobile browsers cannot see anyway.  (I'd have used "title"
instead, if it were my code.)
* & instead of &amp; in urls in hrefs
* div tags inside a tags
* empty optgroups
* ask an xhtml validator for the rest.

> I supposed another option would be to separate out all of the non-compliant css into files that
> are only included based on settings in the plugin. That way, people who don't mind the css
> compliance break can get the pretty divs, and people that need compliance can get it.

This is one way to do this, but then you get more network fetches,
more source code and possibly an extra get_option at runtime. Instead,
I suggest shipping two versions of the css files, with the same
filename. Site admins who need XHTML compliance can plunk the second
one in the first one's place.  It's extra work for the plugin author
maintaining two versions of files, though.

Nonetheless, I believe that people who need compliance are already
using their own CSS and will never use the CSS you ship as-is.

I can hack the patches for the CSS and typos; For the info tag, read
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/883599/on-jquery-metadata-and-xhtml-compliance
.

2009/10/7 Silverstein, Jesse <Jesse.Silverstein at xerox.com>:
> Working up a php snippet to add trail following to post templates is on our to-do list for a near-future version. We realize that not everyone has sidebars, or wants to use them for trail following. However, if someone hacks it out for us, it may get added sooner, so everyone can benefit :) If you're interested in pulling the information, check out the WordTrailsWidget class for details on how to access the data.
>
> The issue of XHTML compliance is a tricky one. The plugin was developed with XHTML compliance in mind, but we have slipped in a few places. I will be addressing the easy-to-solve issues in the next version of the plugin. However, the sidebar widget and trail index use divs with border-radius CSS, which is not css2 compatible. I think we would like to keep the rounded corners, but in doing so, we may be dropping the possibility of compliance. That said, once we fix the rest of the compliance breaks, it would be easy to rip out all of the border-radius entries in our css files (conveniently located in a css folder).
>
> I supposed another option would be to separate out all of the non-compliant css into files that are only included based on settings in the plugin. That way, people who don't mind the css compliance break can get the pretty divs, and people that need compliance can get it.
>
> Thanks for the feedback so far. Keep it coming!
>
> -Jesse
>
> Jesse.Silverstein at xerox.com
> Xerox Trails team
> Xerox Research Center, Webster
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: wp-hackers-bounces at lists.automattic.com [mailto:wp-hackers-bounces at lists.automattic.com] On Behalf Of William Canino
> Sent: Sunday, October 04, 2009 2:22 PM
> To: wp-hackers at lists.automattic.com
> Subject: Re: [wp-hackers] [OT] Testing needed for WordTrails plugin fromXerox
>
>> I agree it could be better marked.  I hope there is a way to put those links
>> at the bottom of each article instead of in the sidebar....
>>
>> Stephen
>
> Exactly what I said and exactly the first mod I will do to this plugin.
>
> I cannot presume that my readers have 27-inch monitors.
>
> W
>
>
> 2009/10/4 Stephen Rider <wp-hackers at striderweb.com>:
>>
>> On Oct 4, 2009, at 12:19 PM, scribu wrote:
>>
>>> I like the ideea of trails, but I can't figure out how to view one.
>>>
>>> I can't get past the Bird's eye view here:
>>> http://blog.trailmeme.com/trails/?t=2bffff2a-efe8-102c-b39a-12313a00c9d2
>>
>> Look for the "Word Trails" sidebar on the right side.
>> <http://blog.trailmeme.com/2009/09/about-trails/?t=8>
>>
>> I agree it could be better marked.  I hope there is a way to put those links
>> at the bottom of each article instead of in the sidebar....
>>
>> Stephen
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