A CSS problem I have been wrestling with lately is how to create a bulletproof shrinkwrapping graphic button. By that I mean an image-based button that will expand and contract to fit the amount of text it contains. It is a very useful technique for CMS-driven sites that allow the client to change the text that is displayed on buttons, as well as for multilingual sites.

A successfull bulletproof image-based button should:

• Automatically grow horizontally to fit any amount of text
• Grow horizontally and vertically if text size is increased or if the text wraps to multiple lines
• Retain its appearance within reasonable limits
• Be able to have rounded (or other non-square) corners
• Have no unclickable areas
• Be readable when images are disabled

Doing this with CSS may sound easy at first, but there are several things to be considered that make it a little tricky. I also ran into several browser related problems before ending up with the solution described in this article.

Before I go on to describe the problems and the solution, I'd like to give you a friendly reminder that this technique should not be used to mindlessly replace real form buttons.

A real form button (normally <input type="submit">) works equally well without CSS and JavaScript. A styled link, however, can only submit a form through the help of some JavaScript. And since You cannot rely on JavaScript being available. Period., you need to take that into account. What I did in the project I came up with this solution for was to use JavaScript to replace the input element with one of these buttons. That way, if JavaScript is not available, the user can click a real button instead.

OK, let's move on. The problems, as always when it comes to CSS, occur in Internet Explorer. The first problem is one that I'm not actually sure whether it is a bug or just a different implementation of the specification. I mentioned the problem in Transparent custom corners and borders, version 2, and it consists of IE having problems figuring out the width of block level elements inside floated elements with no width assigned.

When a floated element has no specified width, the browser should adjust the element's width to fit its content – shrinkwrapping. In the case of a floated link acting as a button, that would come in handy as it will make the link automatically adjust its width depending on the amount of text it contains. Sadly, Internet Explorer will not properly shrinkwrap the following combination of HTML and CSS I use for the Transparent custom corners and borders technique.

1. <div class="cb">
2. <div class="bt"><div></div></div>
3. <div class="i1"><div class="i2"><a href="#" class="i3">A box</a></div></div>
4. <div class="bb"><div></div></div>
5. </div>

When div.cb is floated without a specified width, it will shrinkwrap to fit its content. The width depends on the content of div.i1, and that part works fine. The problem is with the div.bt and div.bb elements, which don't expand to the same width as div.i1. That kind of makes sense, since they are empty siblings of div.i1. A workaround is to give div.cb a width, but I really needed shrinkwrapping buttons, so I had to to come up with something else.

I ran into the second problem while exploring other solutions and experimenting with absolutely positioning the corners. That actually worked, except for a one pixel gap that showed in IE at certain sizes, probably due to a rounding error.

What I ended up with is a link that contains four nested span elements. Here's the markup for a button (nicely indented here for readability):

1. <a class="button" href="#">
2. <span>
3. <span>
4. <span>
5. <span>Shrinkwrap me!</span>
6. </span>
7. </span>
8. </span>
9. </a>

Yes, I know. That is a lot of span elements. It isn't pretty, but I can't think of a better way to achieve this effect until more browsers than Safari support Layering multiple background images. In a production situation I would use a script similar to the one in Transparent custom corners and borders, version 2 to remove the span elements from the markup. The end result is the same to the browser, but the markup is cleaner for us humans who have to edit it.

And of course we need a bit of CSS to turn that markup into a nice-looking button:

1. .button { /* Top left corner, top edge */
2. float:left;
3. color:#ddd; /* Text colour */
4. background:#333 url(button.gif) no-repeat; /* Fallback bg colour for images off */
5. font:1.2em/1.0 Georgia,serif;
6. text-decoration:none;
7. }
8. .button * {display:block;}
9. .button span { /* Top right corner */
10. padding:6px 0 0;
11. background:url(corners.gif) no-repeat right top;
12. }
13. .button span span { /* Bottom left corner, left and bottom edges */
14. padding:0 0 0 6px;
15. background:url(button.gif) no-repeat left bottom;
16. }
17. .button span span span { /* Bottom right corner */
18. padding:0 0 6px;
19. background:url(corners.gif) no-repeat right bottom;
20. }
21. .button span span span span { /* Right edge */
22. padding:3px 12px 3px 6px; /* Extra padding (3px vertical, 6px horizontal) added to give the text some breathing room */
23. background:url(button.gif) no-repeat right center;
24. }
25. .button:hover,
26. .button:focus,
27. .button:active { /* Help keyboard users */
28. outline:2px solid #ff0; /* Not supported by IE/Win :-( */
29. color:#fff;
30. }

You'll need to adjust the paddings to fit your image if it has wider or narrower corners and edges.

Oh, I made a demo page that contains a few buttons.

Ideally, this kind of button would be accomplished by using a single background image, so that was my initial goal. I did not manage to reach that goal, however, but had to resort to using two images. The two images are button.gif and corners.gif. If you take a look at them, you will notice that they are much larger than any button should become since they define the maximum size of the button. If you need even larger buttons, just increase the size of the images.

Note that corners.gif is transparent except for in the corners. That way it can be used to put each corner in place without covering any of the other corners.

And that's it. A bulletproof, resizable, shrinkwrapping graphic button.

There are a few caveats though:

• The corners can't be transparent
• It may be tricky to give the button a non-flat background colour
• It only expands as far as the size of your image

To me, those are completely acceptable drawbacks in most situations.

So, does anyone see how this could be further improved?

Update (2007-05-23): The class attributes on the span elements are gone. I was sure I had a reason for using classes instead of descendant selectors at the time, but I can't see the need for them now. So no more classitis, and a little leaner markup.

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Posted in CSS.

Accounting is a process that primarily discloses financial information of the company. It is generally used by the decision makers, including managers, investors, tax authorities, etc., to allocate resources inside and outside of the company. Accounting is also termed as the “Language of Business”. Thus, many accounting firms have taken a visible and more prominent shape in the mainstream business world.                  

Like many businesses, accounting firms need proper marketing strategies for their promotion and success. They need to incorporate the integrity and value of the accounting business, while focusing on drawing recognition and customers’ trust. Thus, an accounting logo that visualizes these appropriate accounting elements may aspire to attract the audience towards the company and its business.    

Elements of Accounting Logo:
Following are the elements most widely used in designing accounting logos:

Colors in Accounting Logo:
The success of an accounting logo, to a large extend, depends upon the color scheme. A right color scheme with appropriate design can result in the success of an accounting logo, whereas, a wrongly adopted one may result in the failure.

In accounting logos, blue, green and shades of black are widely used and all for good reasons. The color green indicates stability and endurance in an accounting logo, and is generally associated with money. Blue, on the contrary, denotes power, knowledge and integrity; while black represents strength and authority in an accounting logo. These colors further demonstrate elegance, prestige and simplicity in an accounting logo.

Fonts in Accounting Logo:
The fonts, used in an accounting logo, must compliment the rigid significance of the accounting profession with simple and expressive typefaces. Fonts like Times New Roman and Arial are widely used in accounting logos as they simply display the text without much confusion. They further have the ability to reach out to the audience and grab attention of the customers.

Style in Accounting Logo:
Generally, the style in an accounting logo depicts financial integrity of the business and associates the firm with it. Simplicity, character and relevancy are the attributes that together define an accounting logo.

• d.Construct 2007: User Experience Design Conference
  Looks like a great event, and the Web site is really fun. It's a new and fresh take on the live redesign.
• Your Community is a Party Waiting to Happen
  Great advice from Lee Lefever on online community.

It's hard to believe that it's been two years since I first discovered podcasting thanks to iTunes 4.9.

At the time I was predicting that podcasting would take off in a big way. Well, I think it's safe to say that it has (although I'm sure it's still something of a niche medium to most people).

A few months later I wrote about my top 5 favorites podcasts and I've been meaning to update that list ever since. So here goes.

It's worth noting that many of these podcasts are simply the podcast version of radio shows, so it's not surprising that they made my list. However, as a consumer I really don't care where a show originated, as long as the content and recording quality are good.

I've tried out a number of movie podcasts, but only two have stayed on my 'must listen' list — Filmspotting and Mark Kermode's film reviews. Both of these benefit hugely from the entertaining banter between the two presenters.

Keep an eye on Adam and Sam from Filmspotting; I predict great things for them and their show (TV one day maybe?).

I would have included Ebert & Roeper; however, even though the show continues on TV there haven't been any new podcast episodes for some time — maybe for good?

Slate's Spoiler Specials is worth a mention from a novelty standpoint, although recently they've mostly been reviewing episodes of 24 which I haven't been watching.

I don't consider myself a political junkie, but I do seem to get my fill of news-related podcasts. Washington Week and Diane Rehm Show: Friday News Roundup are great ways to keep up with what's been happening during the week (in the US, of course).

On The Media is a great way to hear about what's going on in (you guessed it) the world of the media.

I've been listening to Left, Right & Center but it's getting a bit samey with the co-hosts trotting out pretty much the same talking points each week.

I haven't had too much luck with comedy podcasts, but Real Time with Bill Maher and The Now Show are always entertaining.

Although it's off the air right now, The Now Show (which has a British focus) is hilarious — get it.

For something a little different, try The Leth & Sex News — often laugh-out-loud funny, although I wish the sound quality was better.

Ah, I love my video games. I've tried a bunch and two stand out from the crowd for me — 1UP Yours and Game Theory.

I used to listen to the PC Gamer podcast but I just got tired of the fact that they didn't talk about actual games very much. C'mon guys, there's only so much Jack Thompson a man can take!

The UIE Brain Sparks podcasts are definitely worth subscribing to if you're into usability (and if you're not, shouldn't you be?).

They're still finding their way as far as format and presentation is concerned, but they typically contain a few nuggets that make your investment of time more than worthwhile.

I'm always on the lookout for new suggestions, so if you have any personal faves, please let me know in the comments.

Oh, and by the way, I'm one of those rare people who don't own an iPod. I actually have a Rio Karma. It's a great bit of kit, although it's a little bulky by today's standards. I'm trying to come up with a good reason to upgrade, but I just can't find one. It works too well. :-(

On April 1 I posted WCAG 2.0 released today, which of course was an April Fool's joke. But this time I am not joking: WCAG 2.0 has been updated, and a new WCAG 2.0 Working Draft was published on May 17.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (WCAG WG) received a lot of criticism (read To Hell with WCAG 2 for details) after publishing a Last Call Working Draft of WCAG 2.0 in April 2006, and appears to have listened to much of the feedback from the accessibility community.

A rundown of what has changed since the previous version is available in Summary of Issues, Revisions, and Rationales for Changes to WCAG 2.0 2006 Last Call Draft.

I have not read the whole thing yet. WCAG 2.0 has been shortened and reorganised, but it still consists of a number of documents, some of which are quite long. It will be a while before I have time to read all of it. I have read the summary of changes and skimmed through the Techniques for WCAG 2.0 document though, and what I've seen so far really seems like an improvement.

Like last year, the WCAG WG has issued a Call for review and is accepting comments on this Working Draft until June 29. Instructions for Commenting on WCAG 2.0 Documents are available.

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Posted in Accessibility.

• StarCraft II
  Hell YEAH it's about time!

I've just finished listening to the podcast of Jared Spool's keynote speech at the User Interface 11 Conference — User Experience in a High-Speed Development Environment — and it is well worth a listen.

I guess I'm a bit of a Jared Spool fanboy; largely because most of what he says just makes so much damned sense.

This presentation is no exception. It's even laugh-out-loud funny in a few places (well, for me at least). And at the end of it you will be fired up to go out and make the web a more usable place.

• The original blog commenters - (37signals)
  Classic!!
• Patrick Rothfuss on Poerty
  "But my favorite authors love words AND character AND story... and sometimes unicorns, I guess." I've been enjoying his blog and his book, The Name of The Wind, is amazing.

• The waves of creativity
  Nathan goes all science on creativity. Very interesting stuff.

• Robots And Monsters: A Charitable Menagerie
  Be charitable. Get a monster.
• my response to the JPG community
  A little bit of the other side of the story. You knew there was another side didn't you? There is a lesson (or two) to be learned here and it's not that an internet "rock star" got screwed.
• Breaking Out of the Box [CSS Tutorials]
  Jina Bolton talks grid-based layouts and how to break them (in a good way) with CSS.
• IA One Sheeters
  Ah, these could be pretty darn useful.