Real Chase Adams

This post is archived from thechasescene.com & rcalabs.com

One of my reader’s asked:

What’s the difference between a span element and a div element?

That’s a great question!

The main difference is that spans display as “inline” elements while divs display as “block” elements.

Say what?!

Inline & block may seem like abstract concepts, but as the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, so let’s draw one.

Below, I’ve created two “containers”: the first containing a couple of span elements and the second containing a couple of div elements.

An Experiment with div and span elements

Do you see how the container with span elements “fill” in the area that contains them as the spans are created? They are only as wide as the contents inside of them (unless you add margins or padding), and they stack next to each other inside the container.

A div, on the other hand, is the full width of the container it’s in (unless you define a width in styling), and stacks on top of the div that follows it.

You can always define a div as an inline element by using the CSS display: inline; and a span as a block element by using display: block;, but if you’re just starting out with learning CSS, it’s best to get used to working with divs and spans as they were intended to be used.

This post was archived from thechasescene.com and rcalabs.com

Are your sidebar links Finger Friendly? Do your links offer your users some wiggle room? If not, make them big links!

A link is regularly set to be an inline-element, which means it’s only as big as the text or element it holds.

So a link like this one:

Unleash Your Inner Gravatar

is only as big as the text itself. It’s obvious when you scroll your cursor over it, your cursor changes from an arrow to a hand. When you get move your cursor to the right of it, the link is no longer active and the “hand” cursor turns into an arrow.

If you move your cursor to my sidebar, you’ll see that regardless of where you are in a link’s “block” the cursor remains a hand. Even if you’re at the very edge of the block it’s in, the hand remains, making your links easier to click with both a mouse and a finger (for touch devices).

Want to create big links for your sidebar? It’s SO simple! Let’s get started.

The HTML

First, let’s create an unordered list in the Sidebar (found in your sidebar.php). We’ll give it a class of “sidebar-list”.

The CSS

Now, we’re going to use CSS to style the links.

ul.sidebar-list {
			color: #000;
			margin: 0;
			padding: 0;
}

ul.sidebar-list li {
			border-bottom: #ccc dotted 1px;
	                color: #900;
			display: list-item;
			line-height: 1.5em;
			list-style: none;
			margin: 0;
}

All we’ve done so far is remove the margins & paddings from the ul and li. We made the list item:

• Solid grey border on the bottom of 1px
• Made it 1 and a half times the size of the text inside
• Removed the list-style (the list-style normally gives you a dot on the outside of the li element).

This next snippet is more for personal preference because I like for the border to disappear on :hover. In order to remove the border without having the list item jump, we have to add a margin to the bottom the same size (1px in this case) as the border.

ul.sidebar-list li:hover {
			background: #fff;
			border: none;
			margin-bottom: 1px;
}

Next, we’re going to style the a tag, specifically the link and hover state.

ul.sidebar-list li a {
			display: block;
			padding: 5px 5px 7px;
}			 	

ul.sidebar-list li a:link, ul.sidebar-list li a:visited {
			color: #000;
			font-weight: normal;
}

ul.sidebar-list li a:hover {
			background: #900;
			color: #fff;
			text-decoration: none;
}

That’s all! You’ve just created BIG LINKS!

What do you think? Are big links a waste of space, or do you think more clickable area makes a link easier to use?

“Bad habits are like a comfortable bed, easy to get into, but hard to get out of.” ~ Anonymous (Shared by Cindy Holbrook)

It felt like the longest 7 minutes of my life.

You know what I’m talking about if you’ve ever been in a situation where you had to take a cold shower because hot water wasn’t an option. That being said, I’m sure you got in and got out as fast as you could. Watching the clock made it seem like the torture would never end.

Two weeks ago, I decided that based on some research I’d done about the potential effects of a cold shower on metabolic rate, I was going to attempt to take cold showers every morning. I can’t say for sure that it’s made a difference in my metabolism, but I can say this with a certainty: It has changed the way I do life.
Read the rest of “The Commitment Cascade: How a 7-Minute Cold Shower Boosts Productivity”

(Updated October 21, 2011)
5 AM: It’s a new beginning. I’ve been trying to blog consistently for the past 2 years, but I just couldn’t do it. At least, that was how it felt. I remember trying to organize categories, build structure, carve out time to just do it, and then…nothing.

Read the rest of “The New Deal of Blogging”

Read the rest of “3 Simple Steps to Changing the Orientation of your Trackpad Swipe in Mac OSX Lion”

(Updated October 21, 2011)
5 AM: It’s a new beginning. I’ve been trying to blog consistently for the past 2 years, but I just couldn’t do it. At least, that was how it felt. I remember trying to organize categories, build structure, carve out time to just do it, and then…nothing.

So what’s different, right now?  It’s 5 AM in the morning. Maybe that’s what is different. Maybe it’s the personal journey I decided to take two weeks ago. Maybe it’s the amount of sleep I’ve been getting lately. I can’t say for certain which, or what mix of these lifestyle changes, it is that’s driving me, but I know that now more than ever, I have an unrestrained, unabated fervor for sharing the things I know, the things I’m learning and the opinions (yeah, that’s right, I said opinions. Unedited, unfiltered raw opinions) I have. Right here.

In the past I’ve been afraid to say a lot of these things for fear of upsetting people. It’s no way to live, and it’s certainly no way to grow.

You’re going to see me write a lot about technology (of course, right? You can always filter it out if it’s not for you), Lifestyle Changes (mostly health & vision casting), Religion & Spirituality, Leadership, Politics & Books. Leather bound books. Okay, maybe not leather-bound…but definitely books.

I know it seems as if I’ve just laid out the first Thanksgiving dinner and you don’t know where to start or if you even want to partake in it, but trust me, it’ll all come together and you’ll have a some good laughs (at my expense, of course), get some things to take away, and best of all, get to argue/agree with the things I’m saying.

I’ve abandoned all my other personal/business blogs, I’m letting domain names expire and I’m starting here fresh, on my proverbial last shot at trying to make this thing work.

So thanks  for joining me on my re-maiden voyage. And thanks for all the fish.

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

This post is archived from thechasescene.com & rcalabs.com

Why Your Post Titles Can’t Suck

You know the saying: Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.

People don’t say it so we’ll focus on the content, but because we’re so easily drawn by first impressions (the cover). We constantly make assessments based on first encounters (what you see, hear or smell…that’s right, I said smell).

And it’s said so much for one simple reason: Because we do it…all the time.

It’s a part of our nature that we make long-term judgements about people, places and things based on our first encounter. Guess where else this holds true? Your post titles.

This is huge, because you can get a very elemental glimpse into what you’re dealing with as blogger who’s trying to optimize your blog for search engines and ultimately, people.

When someone finds you for a term on a search engine, your post’s title is your blog’s first impression on that searcher. It’s the difference between if they ramble past or decide they want to jump into a “dating period” with your blog.

So what makes an undeniable blog post title?

Read the rest of “Titles: Why Searchers Aren’t Reading Your Blog”

This post is archived from thechasescene.com & rcalabs.com

If you’re trying to use Simply Typekit: A WordPress Plugin, you need to have your Typekit ID. Finding it is a simple 3 step process.

Step 1: Launch the Kit Editor

Once you’ve logged in to your Typekit account, in the top right corner you’ll see a green button that says Launch Kit Editor. Click this and it will take you to your kit editor.

Step 2: Open the Embed Code Pane

Now that you’re in your kit editor, in the top right corner of this page you’ll click the link that says Embed Code.

Step 3: Copy the Typekit ID

In the bottom right corner of the Embed Pane, you’ll see a 6 to 7 digit code that you want to copy, this is your Typekit ID.

So there you have it, simple as 1-2-3, typekit ID!

Don’t forget to check out the Simply Typekit: A WordPress Plugin, the easiest way to integrate Typekit into your WordPress blog or site!

This post is archived from thechasescene.com & rcalabs.com

SEO.

It’s one of those terms that “experts” and news anchors have perverted so badly that a lot of really smart people list it with Astrophysics and Quantum Mechanics. It’s gotten so bad that most bloggers don’t want to do it, think it’s so unattainable it’s not worth it or even worse, buy into the “GET SEO’ed fast!” schemes.

Well, I’ve got a news flash for you, Walter Cronkite, SEO is really simple.

If you have a website now, odds are you’ve got a lot of simple, quick tweaks that can be made to help you get bumped up in search rankings but more importantly, that can make your site’s result the one searchers choose when Googling for widgets, decoder rings or whatever it is that you want to get found for.

What SEO IS: Start With A Blank Slate

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is essentially a tool belt of techniques, practices and structure that make your site get picked up by search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo and Dogpile. (That’s right, I said Dogpile. If you google “search engine” guess who comes up first?)

There’s a secret twist to SEO, however.

Read the rest of “The REAL Simple Guide to SEO”

This post is archived from thechasescene.com & rcalabs.com

Web Safe Fonts are exactly what they sound like: Fonts that are safe to use on the web.

But what does that mean, exactly? It means that if you don’t use one of the following fonts (or a Web Font Replacement Kit), it’s likely that most people won’t be able to see your site or blog in the font you intended for them to see.

Here’s a list of web-safe fonts and what they look like…

Read the rest of “A Brief Guide to Web Safe Fonts”