Using CSS gradients in HTML5

I've been exploring some elements of HTML5 and was happy to see a new tool in one of the add-ons (extensions) of Firefox that helps me understand the use of CSS gradients.

Colorzilla has a tool called CSS Gradient Generator which generates the CSS style(s) for whichever colors you choose, etc. I say styles because it uses the style elements for different browsers. Here is an example:

---------------------------

<style type="text/css">
<!--
.boxback{
background: -moz-linear-gradient(left, #f1e767 0%, #feb645 100%); /* firefox */
background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, right top, color-stop(0%,#f1e767), color-stop(100%,#feb645)); /* webkit */
filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#f1e767', endColorstr='#feb645',GradientType=1 ); /* ie */
}
-->
</style>

---------------------------
Note: Just in case you are unfamiliar with what "webkit" is: WebKit is an open source web browser engine. WebKit is also the name of the Mac OS X system framework version of the engine that's used by Safari.


You can see this work in a sample file that I created and loaded on the LS Web Site:
http://library.austincc.edu/gradient-demo.htm

Faculty librarian

The dean has asked me to revise the LS web pages to say "faculty librarian" instead of "librarian" or "reference librarian." A quick check for "reference librarian" by doing a google search of the library web site produced 95 results. A similar search for just "librarian" produced 145 results. I'll need to analyze the 234 guides and 1828 pages as well.

Proposed outline of Project:

====================================
LS Web Change "librarian" > "faculty librarian"
====================================

---------------------------------------------------------------
1 Objective:
To emphasize that librarians are faculty members.
---------------------------------------------------------------

• 1.1 Replace instances of "librarian" on LS web pages with "faculty librarian"


• 1.2 Replace any pictures of librarians with pictures of librarians with students

-------------------------------------------------------------
2 Methods:
-------------------------------------------------------------

• 2.1 Identify instances on LS Web Pages


• 2.1.1 Full and Mobile LS web site
  
• 2.1.2 CampusGuides
  
• 2.1.3 LS Catalog


• 2.2 Make a second backup copy of all pertinent folders on the LS Web Site


• 2.3 Use global text replacement software to find and replace instances of "librarian" with "faculty librarian."


• 2.4 Have HLs and Web Cmte alert librarians to replace their pictures on LS Web pages to include students.

-------------------------------------------------------------
3 Issues
-------------------------------------------------------------

• 3.1 Not all instances are appropriate to replace


• 3.1.1 Ask a Librarian
  
• 3.1.2 Head Librarian
  
• 3.1.3 Official title: Reference Librarian


• 3.2 Some tutorial formats may be problematic for global replacement


• 3.3 CampusGuides do not have a global replace option.

-------------------------------------------------------------
4 Solutions
-------------------------------------------------------------

• 4.1 Disguise phrases we don't want altered.


• 4.1.1 First alter "Head Librarian" and Ask a Librarian with global replacement to something like "Head XXLIbrarian", etc.
  
• 4.1.2 Then replace "librarian" with "faculty librarian."
  
• 4.1.3 Go back and replace the altered phrases to their original wording.
• Note: I ran into many variations and case sensitive instances of "librarian" using my text-replacer program (TextCrawler). By approaching this folder by folder, I am easily able to identify like instances of variations, etc., and replace appropriately. It is slower, but fairly easy to do.
  


• 4.2 Identify pages with official titles and don't use global replacement there.


• 4.3 Work with tutorial authors to identify and alter appropriately


• 4.4 Web Cmte will need to work with Springshare (CampusGuides) to determine if there is a global solution.
• Note: I've changed the wording on the Get Help! page that most campusguides are linked to so that should take care of the most apparent instances. We'll have to closely examine other possibilities before asking individuals to edit their guides for this phrase.

Documenting library@austincc.edu account uses

I am documenting the ways we use the library@austincc.edu email account.

This account is used for others (from outside of Library Services) to communicate comments, questions, requests to us.

There are automatic subject lines generated by our own email forms as well as by our LivePerson Chat service:

1-- (Ask a Librarian)
Many links on multiple web pages solicit user interaction, e.g., Get Help. These use the email form that generates the subject line, "Ask a Librarian Email."

2-- (Feedback)
The library home page has a feedback on the bottom which uses an email form that generates the subject line, "Website Feedback Email."

3-- (LivePerson )
When no one answers the chat invitation inititated by our LivePerson Chat subscription (or an Ask Academic bypass), an option is given to email a question; that subject line is "When you were offline (via LivePerson)."

4-- (ILL)
ACC employees and students can submit an interlibrary loan request online; that subject line is "Interlibrary Loan Request: username."

5-- (No specific subject line)
Other legitimate requests come directly to that email with no subject line. [Note: The library web manager has tried to minimize spam by utilizing an email form, with Captcha, linked to all instances of the character phrase "library@austincc.edu" on the library website. Periodically, she checks to see if other web authors have used mailto with that email address.]


OTHER LS DEPARTMENTAL ACCOUNTS REPORTED:

• III-related accounts:
• tsalrsad - used for listservs [ma]
  -- no one sends email to it
  -- no standard subject line
  -- can probably go away when departmental emails will expire in the summer
• other campus ones - rgclrsad, rvslrsad, etc. [ma]
  -- no one sends email to them
  -- can go away when departmental emails will expire in the summer
• lsnotice - used for notices and responses [mg]
  -- no standard subject line (But...When it is sent out to others there is a standard subject line: ACC Library Notice. So, if a recipient uses the reply feature, it will show "Re: ACC Library Notice" However, sometimes people just use the email address to send back some explanation, etc., and then there is no standard subject line.)
  -- important - needs to remain in some form


• E-Resources Librarian
• ereslib - used to register admin access to vendor platforms primarily [aw]
  -- receive vendor email
  -- no standard subject line
  -- will need to continue in some form
• Other????

Printer Friendly Pages in Skyline Webpac

I've begun to experiment in the Staging directory using the example mentioned in the Webpac wiki for this topic. It seems to work well.

The page I used was the recommended bib_display.html which is the page which governs the display of a bibliographic record.

To see how this works,

• search anything in the catalog and click on title to display the record;
• click on Print Preview to see how that record will look when printed.

WHAT I DID:

• Created a style sheet called printX.css which sets certain iii existing classes to display:none. For example: .topLogoDiv {display:none;} eliminates the top banner from printing.
• Created a new class -- .nonprinting {display:none} to apply to specific divisions or spans in different pages when we don't want those divisions or spans to be affected globally.
  

  In the case of bib_display.html, I added class="nonprinting" to three page elements:
  

  • The non-named division surrounding the token [!--{navrow}-->
  • The non-named division surrounding the ResourceTable and Cover image.
  • The table cell containing the token [!--{recordlink}-->.

  
  
• Added a line to the wwwoptions INSERTTAG_INHEAD option to call the new style sheet. --- [link rel="stylesheet" media="print" type="text/css" href="/screens/printX.css">

TO BE DONE:
-- Decide which other pages need modification and which elements to modify.

Improvements to the Catalog

We've never applied different style sheets for printing. This is an area we should explore. Information can be found on the Tips for Example Sets.
(http://csdirect.iii.com/lswiki/WebPAC/ExampleSetTips)

Need to review other tips before migrating to the 2009 example set -- maybe next year.