runion.cc/

So, IE sucks. The javascript errors usually look like:

Line: 1
Char: 1
Error: Object doesn’t support this property or method
Code: 0
URL: http://art.renoir.brylanehome.com

Which could mean absolutely anything at all.

Anyway, here’s the solution: debugging JavaScript with Visual Web Developer Express
They’ll walk you through setup, and from there you can get some actual debugging done. It’ll show you what line of code actually caused the error and it’ll give you real messages rather than a blanket one. It’s free too, but that’s expected.

Of course, normal people just use Firebug in Firefox.

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Take one look at the YUI files (like connection.js) and you’ll immediately realize that these guys are the Red Barons of Javascript. Just the same as how the CSS Zen Garden taught me how to write CSS, these guys are setting the bar high for my future with Javascript. For quite some time it was just too high and I was in over my head, but now I’m starting to peek above the waves here and there. The JavaScript Module Pattern is going to be a big help. Right now I’m using global variables everywhere. Sloppy, sure, but then again, my clothes are sorted by which pile they’re in on the bedroom floor. The pile at the foot of the bed is clean. I’ll get to it when I get to it, okay?

YAHOO.myProject.myModule = function () {

//”private” variables:
var myPrivateVar = “I can be accessed only from within YAHOO.myProject.myModule.”;

//”private” method:
var myPrivateMethod = function () {
YAHOO.log(”I can be accessed only from within YAHOO.myProject.myModule”);
}

return {
myPublicProperty: “I’m accessible as YAHOO.myProject.myModule.myPublicProperty.”
myPublicMethod: function () {
YAHOO.log(”I’m accessible as YAHOO.myProject.myModule.myPublicMethod.”);

//Within myProject, I can access “private” vars and methods:
YAHOO.log(myPrivateVar);
YAHOO.log(myPrivateMethod());

//The native scope of myPublicMethod is myProject; we can
//access public members using “this”:
YAHOO.log(this.myPublicProperty);
}
};

}(); // the parens here cause the anonymous function to execute and return

A JavaScript Module Pattern » Yahoo! User Interface Blog

PS: wordpress is destroying all my code formatting, and using the <code> tags is not useful as WP adds </code> unhelpfully at the end of the first line, meaning the </code> twenty lines later goes unused. I’m working on it.

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The new world of Ajax makes more things possible, all we need these days is a little knowledge and patience and a unique idea. Spyjax takes advantage of the fact that your browser displays visited links differently than non-visited links. For example, if you’ve ever been to CNN.com, the computed style of the link will be different than if you haven’t already visited it (purple, rather than the default blue). Via Ajax, we can test whether links are “visited” or not and report back to the server. This doesn’t allow someone to get your entire history, the author describes it as a “Go Fish” method of guess-and-check. Because it can do in the range of 20,000 links per minute, even brief visits are enough to get a significant amount of information. If you click on the link, you’ll see it in action, how it works, and you’ll even be able to adapt it for your own site, if it fits in with your own personal ethics. But be warned: if you click the link, Spycat will steal all ur urls!

Spyjax

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