How do I create an always-present sidebar in a Chrome browser extension? Do I have to inject something into each page the user views? That seems weird because it would disappear every time the user navigates to a new page. Also, I'd be worried about my code and HTML interfering with the page and I can't possibly test every page on the net to be sure it works everywhere.
It looks like there was an API for this that was just removed? Is this feature dead for good or are there any plans to bring it back?
You have to inject HTML into every page. There was an experimental Sidebar API for a while but it was never developed to state that the Chromium team was happy with. They are still keeping the issue open but it is not currently being developed. You should star the issue if you wish to get updates on it's progress.
Update:
The feature is removed and there is no further development on it.
Quoting from their site:
We will not be proceeding with this feature request. We recognize that there is a significant number of you who will be disappointed with this decision, evidenced in part by the many stars on this issue. We debated it extensively, both inside the team and with members of the community. In the end we decided that the WontFix resolution was more in keeping with Chrome's core value of simplicity.
I know that Apple products like the iPad or the iPhone have trouble with flash apps.
What web development tools should I use in order to avoid compatibility issues when creating a website? My only constraint is that the languages must provide for interactivity and animation - such as in jQuery.
HTML, CSS, and PHP are a few that I can think of that will behave on 99% of all internet enabled devices.
What tools & languages are available to use when creating a website intended to be viewed on any device's internet "explorer"?
Should I just stick to HTML, CSS, & PHP? I want a certain level of interactivity so that, for example, a user can hover over images and have pop-ups containing data to appear... or when an object is clicked, an action can happen without a page reload.
Can someone point me in the right direction and help me develop a list of languages that are all-device friendly?
I am familiar with programming in several web-focused languages, I'm just wondering which ones to stay away from. Certain ones will limit the devices that can view the site and besides that constraint, the site needs to be interactive and animated.
HTML, CSS, PHP, JQUERY are truly your best bet for developing for a wide range of devices. If the scope of devices is the main goal I would stay away from using HTML5 and CSS3. You still may run into problems using much jquery with IE7 below. Mobile browsers on the other hand are much more advanced or up to date with standards then desktop browsers. I would suggest creating two versions of your application. One dedicated to running on mobile devices and one for desktop browsers. It is a shame apple wouldn't support flash applications. If all you need is hoovers for interaction you won't even need jquery / but for the other it will be useful.
The "Web" is a name for the concept of having interlinked documents accessible over the internet. Therefore, to have a website you really only need a document able to link to other documents, namely HTML.
HTML is not really a programming language or a tool though, it is a document format.
If you want to make a website you need use HTML to Markup what you're writing. Then you use CSS to format different sections of the document you marked up.
PHP though, is completely separate from this, PHP is for creating dynamic HTML, or any document on the server side.
If you want to achieve a flash-effect on a site you use Javascript to modify the page content (HTML) and appearance (CSS).
If you need to learn HTML/CSS I would highly recommend http://htmldog.com/
As per the question, HTML CSS and Javascript are pretty much the only mobile-browser compatible method for website content as they don't need plugins.
What exactly are you trying to do?
Is there any good reason why I can't use two of them together?
browser_action
page_action
app
I can't think why single extension can't use browser and page specific actions together. Why should I have to write single extension for each action ...
For a browser that boasts about its simplicity I believe that is the clearest explanation. To prevent clutter.
Packaged Apps is the easiest to explain as they are basically an alternative to Hosted Apps for developers that don't wish to host a service or wish to make their app fully integrated in to Chrome and/or work offline. However, since packaged apps are bundled as extensions this prevents them from adding anything to the browser's chrome since hosted apps don't have this ability.
Regarding the action choice, I can only imagine this restriction is to help prevent extensions from overcrowding the address bar and the toolbar with duplication.
In a lot of cases using badges and the onClicked event correctly can replicate a lot of the functionality of page actions in browser actions while using a combination of content scripts and message passing to trigger changes.
The StumbleUpon extension rotates its browser action's behavior depending on whether or not its toolbar is currently displaying.
I'm working on a project for class. To create a website and a website for mobile users. The site is to recongize the type of device/browser accessing the page and send the appropiate form. So if I was to visit the site on IE8 it will direct me to the mainpage for IE8, if I was to access the site with a mobile device it will direct me to the mobile website main page automatically.
Also, I need to design the website for at least two different screen sizes.
I'm coding in HTML5, I do not know the type of server the site will be hosted on. The use of Javascript is extra credited. The project details are to "design a small mobile web site. The web site should be tested on one or more mobile devices. The iPod Touch device will be used as the base for testing."
I know how to do 8/10 of the requirements (except the two mentioned). I looked at W3C and didn't find anything.
Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you!
Do a Google for:
CSS Browser Detection
JavaScript Browser Detection
Also you should think twice about creating multiple sites - with basically the same content - or creating proper stylesheets that are referred from the same site.
Hope that get's you the other 2 requirements
NOTE: Since this is homework I won't post any links...
I suspect that ServerFault isn't the best place for this question...but aside from that, your question is a little vague. A google search for "designing a mobile website" turns up what looks to be several pages of relevant information. If you first try working with the information in those documents and then come back with specific questions (e.g., "I tried this and it behaved this way instead of the way I expected") you're apt to get better answers.
I know this might be a no-brainer, but please read on.
I also know it's generally not considered a good idea, maybe the worst, to let a browser run and interact with local apps, even in an intranet context.
We use Citrix for home-office, and people really like it. Now, they would like the same kind of environment at work, a nice page where every important application/document/folder is nicely arranged and classified in an orderly fashion. These folks are not particularly tech savvy; I don't even consider thinking that they could understand the difference between remote delivered applications and local ones.
So, I've been asked if it's possible. Of course, it is, with IE's good ol' ActiveX controls. And I even made a working prototype (that's where it hurts).
But now, I doubt. Isn't it madness to allow such 'dangerous' ActiveX controls, even in the 'local intranet' zone? People will use the same browser to surf the web, can I fully trust IE? Isn't there a risk that Microsoft would just disable those controls in future updates/versions? What if a website, or any kind of malware, just put another site on the trust list? With that extent of control, you could as well uninstall every protection and just run amok 'till you got hanged by the IT dept.
I'm about to confront my superiors with the fact that, even if they saw it is doable, it would be a very bad thing. So I'm desperately in need of good and strong arguments, because "let's don't" won't do it.
Of course, if there is nothing to be scared of, that'll be nice too. But I strongly doubt that.
We use Citrix for home-office, and people really like it. Now, they would like the same kind of environment at work, a nice page where every important application/document/folder is nicely arranged and classified in an orderly fashion
I haven't used Citrix very many times, but what's it got to do with executing local applications? I don't see how "People like Citrix" and "browser executing local applications" relate at all?
If the people are accessing your Citrix server from home, and want the same experience in the office, then buy a cheap PC, and run the exact same Citrix software they run on their home computers. Put this computer in the corner and tell them to go use it. They'll be overjoyed.
Isn't it madness to allow such 'dangerous' ActiveX controls, even in the 'local intranet' zone ? People will use the same browser to surf the web, can I fully trust IE ?
Put it this way. IE has built-in support for AX controls. It uses it's security mechanisms to prevent them from running unless in a trusted site. By default, no sites are trusted at all.
If you use IE at all then you're putting yourself at the mercy of these security mechanisms. Whether or not you tell it to trust the local intranet is beside the point, and isn't going to affect the operation of any other zones.
The good old security holes that require you to reboot your computer every few weeks when MS issues a patch will continue to exist and cause problems, regardless of whether you allow ActiveX in your local intranet.
Isn't there a risk that Microsoft would just disable those controls in future updates / versions ?
Since XP-SP2, Microsoft has been making it increasingly difficult to use ActiveX controls. I don't know how many scary looking warning messages and "This might destroy your computer" dialogs you have to click through these days to get them to run, but it's quite a few. This will only get worse over time.
Microsoft is walking a fine line. On one hand, they regularly send ActiveX killbits with Windows Update to remove/disable applications that have been misbehaving. On the other hand, the latest version of Sharepoint 2007 (can't speak for earlier versions) allows for Office documents to be opened by clicking a link in the browser, and edited in the local application. When the edit is finished, the changes are transmitted back to the server and the webpage (generally) is refreshed. This is only an IE thing, as Firefox will throw up an error message.
I can see the logic behind it, though. Until Microsoft gets all of their apps 'in the cloud', there are cases that need to bridge the gap between the old client-side apps and a more web-centric business environment. While there is likely a non-web workaround, more and more information workers have come to expect that a large portion of their work will be done in a browser. Anything that makes the integration with the desktop easier is not going to be opposed by anyone except the sysadmins.
The standard citrix homepage (or how we use it) is a simple web page with program icons. Click on it, and the application get's delivered to you. People want the same thing, at work, with their applications/folders/documents. And because I'm a web developer, and they asked me, I do it with a web page... Perhaps I should pass the whole thing over to the VB guy..
Ahh... I know of 2 ways to accomplish this:
You can embed internet explorer into an application, and hook into it and intercept certain kinds of URL's and so on
I saw this done a few years ago - a telephony application embedded internet explorer in itself, and loaded some specially formatted webpages.
In the webpage there was this:
Call John Smith
Normally this would be a broken URL, but when the user clicked on this link, the application containing the embedded IE got notified, and proceeded to execute it's own custom code to dial the number from the URL.
You could get your VB guy to write an application which basically just wraps IE, and has handlers for executing applications. You could then code normal webpages with links to just open applications, and the VB app would launch them. This allows you to write your own security stuff (like, only launch applications in a preset list, or so on) into the VB app, and because VB is launching them, not IE, none of the IE security issues will be involved.
The second way is with browser plug-ins.
For example, skype comes with a Firefox plug-in, which looks for phone-numbers in web-pages, and attaches special links to them. When you click on these links it invokes skype - you could conceivably do something similar for launching your citrix apps.
You'd then be tied to firefox though. Writing plugins for IE is much harder than for FF, I wouldn't go down that path unless forced to.