My favourite 5 CSS techniques

CSS is probably one of the most versatile and most easy thing to be engrossed into. During the development of Orangified, I came across thousands of such CSS hacks and properties, but the following 5 simply rocked me down...

Here I put them forward....

1. Cross-Browser CSS Gradient

The CSS gradient feature was introduced by Webkit for about two years but was rarely used due to incompatibility with most browsers. But now with the Firefox 3.6+, which supports gradient, we can style create gradient without having to create an image.
This post will show you how to code for the CSS gradient to be supported by the major browsers: IE, Firefox 3.6+, Safari, and Chrome.

Cross-Browser CSS Gradient

2. Sexy CSS Buttons

These buttons employ gradients, for which we use -webkit-gradient and -moz-linear-gradient. Secondly, we use border-radius and -moz-border-radius to make the button round.

For a bit of added depth and eye candy, this one has a subtle drop black drop shadow above the text using text-shadow and around the whole button using -webkit-box-shadow, -moz-box-shadow, and box-shadow.

Sexy CSS Buttons

3. CSS Transparency

One of the trickiest things to control, in a CSS-driven design, is the transparency of the interaction between foreground and background content.Below is a list of the best examples of the differing transparency approaches possible with CSS.

• Partial Opacity- Placing text over an image can sometimes make it difficult to read, but with Stu Nicholls’s methods the background for the text is made ‘opaque’ using various methods of opacity (including css3) and the black text is then quite readable.
  

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• Cross-Browser Variable Opacity with PNG- How to overcome flaky browser support for PNG so you can take advantage of this graphic format’s lossless compression, alpha transparency, and variable opacity.
• Two Techniques for CSS Transparency

4. CSS BAR GRAPHS

BASIC CSS BAR GRAPH

This is a simple bar graph we developed for a tool we’re releasing shortly for our client. The concept is simple, utilize the percentage width abilities of CSS to accurately portray a percentage bar graph.

COMPLEX CSS BAR GRAPH

This is a more complex visualization, yet still following the same basic idea. Here the graph is a ‘bad’ to ‘good’ indicator with a marker that travels the length of the color scheme. A lighter bar shade also helps indicate the marker position as it travels from left to right.

VERTICAL CSS BAR GRAPH

CSS graphs

5. Rounded Corners - with fixed widths

There are so many ways to make rounded corners. Most eiter use extra markup, JavaScript to produce extra markup, or not wideley new CSS properties.

If you are using fixed widths, then you really don't need all that JUNK!

There are so many ways to make rounded corners. Most eiter use extra markup, JavaScript to produce extra markup, or not wideley new CSS properties.

If you are using fixed widths, then you really don't need all that JUNK!

Making of supernovae explained

This is an article from the Astronomy.com

A professor from UCSC has discovered the steps to make the brightest supernova ever: explode, collapse, repeat.

Provided by UCSC

A supernova observed in 2006 was so bright--about 100 times as luminous as a typical supernova--that it challenged the theoretical understanding of what causes supernovae. But Stan Woosley, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, had an idea that he thought could account for it-an extremely massive star that undergoes repeated explosions. When Woosley and two colleagues worked out the detailed calculations for their model, the results matched the observations of the supernova known as SN 2006gy, the brightest ever recorded. "This was a stupendously bright supernova, and we think we have the leading model to explain it. It's a new mechanism for making a supernova, and for doing it again and again in the same star," Woosley said. "We usually think of a supernova as the death of a star, but in this case the same star can blow up half a dozen times." The first explosion throws off the star's outer shell and produces a not-very-bright supernova-like display. The second explosion puts another supernova's worth of energy into a second shell, which expands at high velocity until it collides with the first shell, producing an extraordinarily brilliant display. "The two shells collide out at a distance such that the full kinetic energy is converted into light, so it is up to 100 times more luminous than an ordinary supernova," Woosley said. "Usually a supernova only converts 1 percent of its kinetic energy into light, because it has to expand so much before the light can escape." This mechanism requires an extremely massive star, 90 to 130 times the mass of the Sun, he said. As a star this big nears the end of its life, the temperature in the core gets so hot that some of the energy from gamma-ray radiation converts into pairs of electrons and their anti-matter counterparts, positrons. The result is a phenomenon called "pair instability," in which conversion of radiation into electron-positron pairs causes the radiation pressure to drop, and the star begins to contract rapidly. "As the core contracts, it goes deeper into instability until it collapses and begins to burn fuel explosively. The star then expands violently, but not enough to disrupt the whole star," Woosley said. "For stars between 90 and 130 solar masses, you get pulses. It hits this instability, violently expands, then radiates and contracts until it gets hotter and hits the instability again. It keeps going until it loses enough mass to be stable again." Stars in this size range are very rare, especially in our own galaxy. But they may have been more common in the early universe. "Until recently, we would have said such stars don't exist. But any mechanism that could explain this event requires a very large mass," Woosley said. Other researchers had suggested pair instability as a possible mechanism for some supernovae, but the idea of repeated explosions-called "pulsational pair instability"--is new. According to Woosley, the new mechanism can yield a wide variety of explosions. "You could have anywhere from two to six explosions, and they could be weak or strong," he said. "A lot of variety is possible, and it gets even more complicated because what's left behind at the end is still about 40 solar masses, and it continues to evolve and eventually makes an iron core and collapses, so you can end up with a gamma-ray burst. The possibilities are very exciting."

Books of the Decade!!(2000-2002)

Well, first and the foremost, these are those books, which demanded a reading from you guys. But if you all failed, I can surely, provide some insight into some of the best books this decade. Lets see, if you get interested and start grabbing some.!!!

1.  The Blind Assassin ( Margaret Atwood - 2000 ) : This book by the Canadian writer Margaret Atwood basically focusses on a novel written in this novel, by the narrator Chase's sister Laura who committed suicide after WWII. Based on obsession, this book Hailed as 1st great novel of the new millenium, Atwood's clever and complex work won her many awards, including 2000 BOOKER PRIZE

2. True History of Kelly Gang ( Peter Carey - 2000 ) : The NewYork based Australian's piece of creation, which got him the 2001 BOOKER PRIZE, is based on Australia's most popular outlaw Ned Kelly, who was executed as a murderer and a horse thief in 1880. Keeping the aura of the legendary Kelly alive, this book is narrated in form of letters which Kelly writed for his baby daughter whom he never sees. Born ot very poor Irish immigrants, a conspiracy of circumstances makes him an outlaw, who is a murderer in British eyes and a national hero to Australians. A lovely book, I must say!

3.  Atonement ( Ian McEwan - 2001 ) : Based on the fortunes of Briony Tallis, a 13 year old writer whose false evidence regarding a crime convicts an innocent man Robbes. The rest of her life is an atonement for her guilt. The book found a place in the Time Magazine's 'All Time 100 Greatest Novels' .The British writer Ian presents the book in the best way, anyone could have ever done.

4. Life of Pi ( Yann Martel - 2001 ): Based on the story of Pi Patel, a 16 year old sea adventurist who voyages 227 days across the Pacific waters from Toronto to Pondicherry through Mexico. His sole companion being a 450 pound Royal Bengal Tiger, Richard Parker. Through his admirable presence of mind and great strength of character, the guy manages to tear apart threats from nature and creatures alike. 2002 BOOKER PRIZE was won by Martel for this book.

5. My name is Red ( Orhan Pamuk - 2001 ): Set in 16th century Istanbul, this novel is about miniaturists and art. The story starts with murder of Elegant, a miniaturist and revolves around 20 first person voices including those of murderers and the victims. This complex, slow paced novel won Pamuk the 2006 Nobel Prize for Literature.

6. Family Matters ( Rohinton Mistry - 2002 ):  With Mumbai as the background, this book on family relations depics vividly that Family Does Matter. Its about a domestic crisis affecting adversely a happy Middle Class Family. 79 year old Nariman Vakeel suffers from Parkinson's disease and his step children can suffer him no more. He goes on to live with Roxana, his daughter. The disintergration of the family, caring for old and disabled, infilial ingratitude and betrayal are just something which come under the narrative spotlight.

The Origin

To start with, I really had no knowledge, what I am upto, or what shape, this new blog of mine is going to acquire. You know, sometimes we come across strange facts.. which are actually so simple.. so much happening around us. So most probably, I would rather focus on informations which must be known to you.

I haven't seen anything of that kind ever. So, lets see what this shapes up to.... Best of luck to me, and to you all who are reading this.