List-u-Like CSS Generator

[brothercake]

I'll soon be ready to launch a new site - an online utility which generates CSS for list-based navigation bars.

Any bug reports, comments or other feedback is most welcome -- http://www.listulike.com/ [as long as you don't dis the name ;)]

[mcdougals4all]

Just a few comments...

I like how the legends on the generator page are linked to the documentation. Maybe this could be more visually apparent?

How about repeating the 'how to use this program' link at the top of the generator page?

Have to say I dig the baked potato! :D

[bazz]

very impressive!! I actually didn't understand what mcdougals4all said until I accidentally found that the legends were links to somewhere because the cursor changed to the hand. Is it possible to add a help button in each fieldset to take us to the same help pages as your legends presently do?

I can't wait to see the preview function working. When'll it be finished? would you consider adding a color chooser for those ppl who dont undertsand hex codes and such-like? Just thought it would keep you busy for a while longer :)

Bazz

[brothercake]

The preview function works already ... but only in Opera 7/8 and Mozilla browsers - IE, Safari and Konqueror can't handle the scripting it takes ;)

An icon in the legend sounds good - making those links more obvious is definitely necessary, ta :)

A color picker is also an excellent idea ... hmm .. have to think about that one :cool:

[AaronW]

No beefs from me, other than the need for a help icon which has already been mentioned.

And just out of curiosity, what's this about?

</textarea><!-- closing tag must be on a line of its own -->

[brothercake]

Well, the form is an include which is parsed line by line, and values added according the content of each line. This is so I can re-populate the form without mixing PHP instructions into the original form HTML.

That particular comment is to remind me that, for the convenience of the parsing process, the opening and closing textarea tags should be on different lines :)

[rmedek]

Jeez, Brothercake... All our menus are belong to you. :D First the UDM, now this!

Other than the already recommended action to make the legends more recognizable as links this is pretty fantastic. Only thing is, I'm going to guess that the same people who want a CSS-only list-based menu are the same types who will want to code it themselves... :)

[brothercake]

Only thing is, I'm going to guess that the same people who want a CSS-only list-based menu are the same types who will want to code it themselves... :)
Well that's true ... but only to a small extent I reckon. List-based navbars are such a good idea, almost everyone with half an eye on semantics is using them - anyone who's read that article (http://www.alistapart.com/articles/taminglists/).

But either way - how much quicker is this ;) It could save a ton of time, even if it's just for prototyping. I'll certainly be using it :)

(Anyone know how to make Dreamweaver extensions ...?)

[mindlessLemming]

Not too shabby ;)

Dreamweaver extensions aren't all that hard -- they're just xml with a bit of custom templating
http://www.dwfaq.com/Tutorials/Extensions/simple_object5.asp

[bazz]

The preview function works already ... but only in Opera 7/8 and Mozilla browsers - IE, Safari and Konqueror can't handle the scripting it takes ;)

I looked at it in FF but I was relying on the default entries which didnt show me the preview. Did it today with inputted things and, Wow!!


An icon in the legend sounds good - making those links more obvious is definitely necessary, ta :)

A color picker is also an excellent idea ... hmm .. have to think about that one :cool:


Does 'excellent idea' translate into 'free license' when it's launched ?? :D

Bazz

[brothercake]

Does 'excellent idea' translate into 'free license' when it's launched ?? :D
Oh yeah, there's no license cost for this one :)

I'm thinking about add uber-cool new features in the future, and probably charging a "gold subscription" or something for that .. I'm sure I can cream a few dollars out of it over time. But the core utility and docs, as it is now (plus the color picker ;)), will always be available free.

[brothercake]

Right then, this is now a public beta (http://www.listulike.com/) - which means it's useable, and linkable, and it should all work ... though there may still be teething troubles here and there.

I've added a color picker (rather an awesome one if I do say so myself ;)) and also a font picker, help icons, and generally tidied it up and finished the documentation.

I've also added a comments board, which I wrote myself from scratch and it's never been field tested before ... that, added to the fact that it infers and builds HTML constructs automatically, and the page is served as XML, could all be a recipe for disaster ... it could break horribly :eek: But hopefully it won't :cool:

So if anyone feels like trying to break it, please be my guest - if you add "[test post]" or something to the title of any post that's just for testing, then I'll know to delete it. If you preview a post in Mozilla or Opera before posting, then anything which would throw a validation error in the final output will also show up at that stage :thumbsup:

[razsports]

brothercake,

Excellent website :) Love the colors, logo and layout. Simple but to the point :)

Good job :)