Displaying modal content on websites has improved greatly with the usage of lightbox style modal popups.  Most users are familiar with showing images in a lightbox, but showing other types of content is a nice benefit.  Using jQuery and FancyBox allows for several types of content to be shown: Images, Text, Frames, etc.  One content type that has been problematic for many developers is PDF documents.  It would be very nice to show the PDF within the lightbox style popup, but non-HTML content can be an issue in modals.

A simple work-around is to create a handler page (called PressDetailsFile.aspx in this sample) that will display the PDF document within an iFrame and then load that page with FancyBox. You will want to set the frame size to the same size as your Fancybox less about 5 pixels.  This will keep scroll bars from showing on the modal.  The PDF document will scroll within Acrobat.

The jQuery usage is shown below:

This sample can easily be expanded and used within a dynamic listing of documents.

Apple's app store is about to hit the one billion download mark.  Just think of how much we've all personally helped prove Steve Jobs a genius!  But regardless your feeling towards Apple, they are a consistent example of how powerful something can be when it's targeted correctly and made available in a form people will actually use.  There's no freakin box for Steve to get out of because he's making the darn things. 

While we haven't had the pleasure of working with Apple just yet, 1011 Web is a media agnostic marketing company in Little Rock that's helping some businesses in Arkansas and outside the state create their own little iWorlds.  And we build some pretty kickawesome websites along the way too!

To celebrate their billionth download Apple is giving away some nice products.  Here's a link to the no purchase entry form: Apple Countdown Sweepstakes.  Do me a favor, even if you don't like Apple go register at least once and just use my name.

When I created my myspace account in 2003, that form of social networking was still relatively new. Upon mere mention of myspace, people would begin smiling or mocking the movement. As it quickly became more mainstream, people began to grasp that myspace is what I often call “an email with a face.” It allows me to quickly check in and communicate with my friends, getting updates on their life in a short amount of time, similar to an email.

Then came the rise of Facebook with its status feeds. No longer do I have to actually click on every one of my friends slow-loading myspace profiles to get updates on my friends. Their status is fed directly to my Facebook home page in real time. I can quickly and easily read about all of my friend’s lives in a matter of minutes.

Am I lazy because I don’t want to click through 100 friend profiles in myspace in order to get an update on each and every one, or would that realistically take a lot of time to do? Some people have that beef, saying that Americans are too lazy to pick up the phone and talk to their friends. I disagree. Maybe I am biased since I work for a website development company that does online automation, but I appreciate reading automated status updates from my friends.

Hence Twitter, tweets, and twits. Mere mention of the word “Tweet” today compels smiles on even the straightest of faces, similar to myspace in 2003. Twitter delivers real time updates from my friends that I would never think to ask about or have a chance to know about if we were still using email. I mean, email is soooooo 1998.

As with all new social phenomenon, mainstream people still chuckle when they discuss Twitter. It’s understandable since it’s such a goofy name. But, Twitter has its place. We’re just in a moment of time where society is trying to determine that place.

Granted, many people have gone overboard with Twitting. Knowing what color socks someone is wearing is a bit TMI. Yet, now journalists and news organizations are using Twitter technology to report news faster than printing presses and even blogs. This is interesting how Twitter may be finding its place in the mainstream news media.

Where ever that happy medium may be, real time status updates from friends or news sources will ensure Twitter's success. Until then, we'll just have to muddle through mundane snippets of our friend's personal lives until it becomes...normal.