Image Optimization, AlphaImageLoader

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This article, part 5 of a series on image optimization, talks about the use of transparent PNGs with IE6 and why the AlphaImageLoader hack is bad and a very interesting solution

This installment of the image optimization series is about the IE-proprietary AlphaImageLoader CSS filter, which developers often use as a workaround to solve transparency issues with truecolor PNGs in IE. The problem with AlphaImageLoader is that it hurts page performance and, therefore, hurts user experience. I argue that AlphaImageLoader should be avoided when at all possible.

The rest is here.

Yahoo! Releases YUI 2.6.0

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YUI 2.6.0 introduces a new Carousel Control, offers the Paginator Control for general use (it was previously bundled with DataTable), includes more than 450 total fixes, enhancements and optimizations, graduates eight components out of “beta,” and now ships with more than 290 functional examples.

The YUI library has grown to include two new components:

  • Carousel
  • Paginator (functionality previously released in DataTable but spun out for standalone use)

The following components have graduated from Beta to GA status:

  • Cookie
  • DataTable
  • DataSource
  • Layout Manager
  • Rich Text Editor
  • Resize
  • Profiler

“Where on Earth” Platform by Yahoo!

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It is actually the newly released Yahoo! Internet Location Platform, which allows applications to share predefined location identifiers, known as WOEIDs.

You can use the platform to match a WOEID to a place on earth, find parent and child relationships to that location and neighboring areas.

The Yahoo! Internet Location Platform provides a resource for managing all geo-permanent named places on Earth. Our purpose in creating the Internet Location Platform is to provide the Yahoo! Geographic Developer Community with the vocabulary and grammar to describe the world’s geography in an unequivocal, permanent, and language-neutral manner.

The Internet Location Platform is designed to facilitate spatial interoperability and geographic discovery; users can traverse the spatial hierarchy, identify the geography relevant to their users and their business, and in turn, unambiguously geotag, geotarget, and geolocate data across the Web.

An In-Depth Look at Yahoo!’s Open Strategy Platform

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Last week, Yahoo! unveiled its new open strategy platform.

The Y!OS platform will centralize user profile and social data in one place on Yahoo! and make it available across Yahoo! properties and accessible by developers outside Yahoo!. We’re creating a standard way for developers to build extensions (applications) into Yahoo!’s most popular websites, and we’re standardizing our web services so it’s easier to turn them into compelling mashups and apps.

Watch Neal Sample’s presentation below for an in-depth look at the new platform.