Will the new web technologies coming down the pike enable everyone to rage against the elite online?

[ShamelessHussy]

With a professional presentation, that will truly make it hard to tell the difference between well paid corporate lobbyist vs. those with a passion for social justice and access to the internet?

For example, as a web developer, I am often asked to make buttons, which i usually don't look forward to since they can be time consuming as there are often many tweaks before a button is decided on.

However, with some of the exciting new web tech coming out, specifically HTML 5 and CSS 3 I thought that it wouldn't take too much effort to make a little widget that would help me make, and especially tweak these buttons, more quickly, all in my web browser, with 0 plugins required. (e.g. FLASH)

Well, I just gave it a shoot today and I am very impressed with the results, and thought that this is just the tip of the ice berg... no need for highly specialized and expensive software tools (FLASH, PHOTOSHOP) with their long learning curves as all it takes now is just a web browser.

As I said this is just the tip, since this new tech provides many more new features (Audio, Video, Animation, etc.) that i believe will truly democratize communications going forward, but I would love to hear what DU thinks on this.

Thanks DU :hi:

BTW: Here is a link to my primitive online button tool that gives a small taste of what I am getting at...
http://dvia.com/buttonmaker

Unfortunately, this will only work in modern, standards based web browsers, in other words IE (Internet Explorer) doesn't support this new stuff, yet... but they are looking good with their next version of IE (version 9) which is due out later this year i believe.

[RKP5637]

1. +1,000,000 +++ Wow, that worked nicely! Linux with FF.

:yourock: :yourock:

[Webster Green]

2. That is really cool!

It works great! :thumbsup:

Oh yeah..I'm using Windows 7 Pro 64 bit and Firefox.

[EFerrari]

3. Love it!

:applause:

[blogslut]

4. Couldn't get the gradients to work

Probably the browser/ancient OS combo on my laptop.

[ShamelessHussy]

5. hmmm... what browser are you using?

I will check it out on my end if you could tell me the browser version number.

I know that Opera on the MAC isn't up to par yet (ver 10.10 and below) but Opera 10.50 on windows should work fine.

And thank you everyone for the feedback, it is very appreciated, :toast:

and even folks who see something to complain about, please feel free to comment, too as that is the best way i know of to make any app better :hi:

on edit: typo

[blogslut]

8. Firefox 3.5.6

I use the NoScript plugin but I clicked "Temporarily Allow All This Page" :shrug:

[ShamelessHussy]

13. ah, yes... FF didn't get gradients until 3.6

thanks again for the info, it is appreciated :toast:

[blogslut]

15. Yeah, I need to upgrade

I like to wait on upgrades until the bugs are all shook out. I'll get to it soonish. :hi:

[ShamelessHussy]

16. waiting until the bugs are worked out is always a smart strategy

I am on a mac, so it is easier for me to have multiple versions of a browser installed, and I always keep the older version around for a good while until all the bugs are worked out in the latest and 'greatest'.

:hi:

[blogslut]

17. Can you point me to any

HTML 5 tutorials. You know, for Dummies like me?

[ShamelessHussy]

18. Here are some links from my bookmarks

An online book...
http://diveintohtml5.org

A good collection of articles...
http://www.cssdrive.com/index.php/news/resources-cat/C58

An an interactive tool to see and play with the code...
http://css3please.com

have fun, now is a great time to be involved with the web :toast:

[blogslut]

19. cool

Thanks! :hi:

[ohheckyeah]

11. I couldn't get the gradients to show up on the button

either. I'm using Firefox 3.5.8

Neat tool!

[ShamelessHussy]

14. that does remind me of another feature I have to add...

a simple background color for the button.

Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated :toast:

[izzybeans]

6. Totally.

I think what is happening with music is a good example. It's entirely possible to direct sell with no middle man and no distribution and make as much if not more via social media sites (if you have the time and energy) than if you went through a small label. No reason why you couldn't book and manage tours with widgets and get rid of booking agents. The same should be true for lobbying.

You could build a button that automatically sends a letter to all congress critters, theoretically at least right? So if you were someone say on facebook with a blog you could write up a grievance and pump it through facebook and have your friends send the same letter with a click of the button. Am I following?

[ShamelessHussy]

10. definitely

Social Media is a huge part, and building an app that was social media friendly, easy to share, works with the popular sites e.g. facebook, myspace, wordpress, etc. that allowed folks to easily speak their mind, and get it in front of the decision makers, is another great example.

And your example of the music industry is another good one, in cutting out the middle man, and thereby democratizing the medium and the message.

[Electric Monk]

7. Cool tool, but I noticed a typo. It's a label, not a lable.

[ShamelessHussy]

12. D'oh!

thank you, fixed :toast:

[Ex Lurker]

9. with a video camera, an internet connection and a hundred bucks, you can run your own TV ad campaign

http://www.slatev.com/video/how-i-ran-ad-fox-news/

[ShamelessHussy]

20. very cool idea

thanks for the link