Symbols and icons

Reservation and embracement

Let it be understood: I am no fan of symbols. They are everywhere and they change on the whim of designers – and executive authorities. What has an obvious meaning to many, may draw a blank with me. So I shy away from them. Mostly. There is, however, an interesting use of symbols for external links on web pages. It has gained support, at least among web designers. This way you (may) know that by choosing a particular link, you are taken away from the current web site. The symbol may never mature with a standardized look, however, and my present take on it is the icon suggested by Andy Budd (and there it is, immediately following the link) on the cover of his book, “CSS Mastery. Advanced Web Standards Solutions” (2006). If for no other reason, I implement the icon as an intellectual CSS exercise.

Book cover

If you missed it, here it is again:

Still miss it? My guess is that you are on Internet Explorer 6 or earlier. No luck there!

Come rain come sun

The weather forecast on my main page is obviously only of interest to me and the few people who carve out a living in my neck of the woods. I have implemented this “service” for the site to be of use to me as well. Should you nevertheless care for my choosing the bike or the raincoat for that trip tomorrow, that is fine with me. It is all programmed with ActionScript in Flash, utilizing external XML data from Meteorologisk institutt, Norway. Here goes: