The <bdo> HTML tag is used to override the default direction of text. This can be handy when a web page contains paragraphs of other languages such as Chinese.
Attributes for this tag include:
dir - Specifies the direction [ltr or rtl]
lang - Specifies Language Code (RFC 1766)
This is the only tag that will reverse the direction of text so far and is only supported by Internet Explorer 5 upwards.
RFC 1766 Language Codes
There are two different ways to define the meaning of an acronym within an HTML document, the ACRONYM tag and the ABBR tag. In practise they are very similar, although their compatibility varies with browsers.
Examples
<acronym title="Hypertext Markup Language">HTML</acronym>
<abbr title="Extensible Markup Language">XML</abbr>
<ABBR> is only compatible with Netscape 6 upwards (Mozilla) whereas <ACRONYM> is supported by Internet Explorer 4 upwards and Netscape 6 upwards. It's probably a better choice to opt with <ACRONYM> in light of this.
Use the following JavaScript if you want to display an email address on your website, but you don't want to receive spam mail. It will avoid getting picked up by Spammer's email collecting scripts.
<script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">
<!--
var LinkText = "click here";
var e1 = "mail";
var e2 = "to:";
var EmailPart1 = "yourname";
var EmailPart2 = "yourdomain";
var EmailPart3 = ".com";
document.write("<a h" + "ref=" + e1 + e2 + EmailPart1 + "@" + EmailPart2 + EmailPart3 + ">" + LinkText + "</a>")
//-->
</script>
Making HTML forms easier for the user is no easy task.
Make good use of Radio buttons, Check boxes and drop-down menus within the form instead of text boxes where possible to keep the users typing down to a minimum.
Use the "Tabindex" HTML form attribute to set the tabbing order if your HTML forms are large and complex.
Make clear which elements of a form are compulsory with and * or similar, stating what the asterix is for at the top. If you think any of the fields might be filled in wrongly, then think about adding help pages (pop-ups) for the form.
If your form is asking for personal data, then link to your site's privacy policy on the page. Information such as Credit Card details should only be submitted over a secure SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) connection, you will need to set this up if you don't already have one.
If you already have data on the user then pre-populate the fields and ask for confirmation where necessary, this will save the user re-typing them.
Finally you will be able to judge your forms usability by how many badly filled forms you receive.
HTML tabindex
The following URL is a template CV that Russians use to get jobs in the west (Apparently). All you need to is add your name/dob/address/phone no/email and invent a couple of company names and addresses and bobs your uncle... :)
Template web CV
Currently working on an ASP function to automatically generate meta keywords from a field of text. Words that appear more than once will come first in the list and will only be shown once. Stop words will be removed.
ASP META Keyword generator
Tabindex is very useful when designing large forms as it dictates what element the tab key jumps to next. Only works in IE. Tabindex of -1 is ignored. Tabindex's of 0 come after the highest tabindex.
The amount of data that you can send to the server using WML forms and Nokia WAP enabled phones such as Nokia 3330 and Nokia 7110 is limited. The URL and querystring lengths are also affected since they affect the size of the HTTP header. To fix this problem you have to change the CONNECTION TYPE property to CONTINOUS in the settings menu of the mobile.
The maximum size of a WML page varies between different handsets. When coding WML pages Microsoft recommend that they are less than 1200 characters to be compatible with the majority of cellphones.