As more and more javascript and AJAX are used IE6s incompetencies are increasingly becoming apparent. It really is getting on now. This is especially the case with transparencies and overlays.

The latest that we’ve been running into here quite a bit lately (as the designers use more and more modal windows) is the fact that whatever z-index trickery you try and perform, a select box will always display above any intersecting elements. You can see an example below:

Quite ugly, non? After a bit of digging around a while back we found the official reasoning:

Windowed controls in IE will always cover DHTML layers. That means if you have a DIV that pops up or floats on the page and it intersects with a windowed control (such as the common SELECT box), the windowed control will obscure the DIV, no matter what zIndex you have set for each element. The problem is based on the historical fact that form fields have typically been rendered by the operating system/windowing system, where everything else on the page is rendered by the browser.

Luckily there’s a relatively simple way to solve this – IFRAMES. Not only are they good for cross domain AJAX requests, they save us here again by their ability to exist in the z-index for both page controls and windowed controls at the same time. Simply placing an iframe element behind (and inbetween in the z-index) your modal / overlay will block the windowed controls from view, like so:

Remarkably simply, setting the iframes opacity will also still block out the windowed controls underneath.

iframe.style.filter=’progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Alpha(style=0,opacity=0)’;

So you can have any kind of transparent elements in your overlay.

Recently working on the reporting side of a large application, we’re building here at We Love, a fast, free charting solution was needed for early prototypes. There are many solutions around but when we happened upon the charting API from Google we hit the jackpot. A simple URL is all that is required; the URL below:

http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?cht=p4&chd=t:80,40,10&chs=275x100&chl=Cats|Dogs|Iguanas&chco=ff3333|ff6666|ff9999

produces this chart:

and there are libraries all over for many scripting languages, such as PHP, Python, Rails, and many more.

It’s extremely fast – so fast it shouldn’t be free – and there are many options to play with. You can check them out here at Google Chart API.

If you use them in any cool projects post the link below!

Double news today. Yep we have a new talent… But we also have a new home. We Love has moved into Springfield House. Built in 1891 by a local mill owner it has been an army headquarters in WW2 as well as glamorous office for the county council. But now it’s ours… all ours… well not quite… only part of it is… so we have to be nice and share.

It over looks the river medway and millenium park… so we have our own fishing rights and place to shoot when its grouse season.

Welcome to our manor.

… breeze blows in our latest new starter… So HELLO MEL…

A talented little grad from the south side. Ye get me. She has joined our growing ranks as a loved up developer.

Yep she is in a dark room coding away with glorious RGB reflecting in her eyes.

Welcome.

With only a week into the life of Dripping In Fat – the exceedingly cool t-shirt site, we have made it into Darks best website design page. Not bad… so thanks for all those voting and to Dark for believing in what we are aiming to achieve.

And also getting extremely positive write ups on tee blogs, such as POP TEES CULTURE – one of the most prominent tee sites out there. Not only for our ethos, but design of site and the tees that we are promoting.

The word is speading… Visit the site and be one of the first to wear a DiF tee >>

Harley street specialist, Endocare commissioned We Love to develop their brand including their logo and offline collateral – creating a specialist marketing pack for distribution throughout the UK.

Through a structured layout and vibrant colour palette, the final solution was clean, elegant and distinctive, adding value to their brand and bringing life to an industry that is traditionally seen as dry.

Another site launches – ON A FRIDAY EVENING!!!!! Whose idea was that

We are glad to announce that Dripping in Fat – The place to improve your wardrobe – is now up and running. So go review, have a nosey and make yourself happy by buying what you really wanted for Xmas with the money you got from returning all the unwanted pairs of socks…

A colloboration between an ethical tee manufacturer and We Love we have launched a site that promotes all that is good design on tees. Yes we may branch out into other products, but for now we will focus on making people feel special by wearing design from some of the best and latest designers and illustrators out there.

Go check out the site, buy a tee and be happy happy happy >>

Commissioned to design a cost effective / multi-purpose brochure for INPlace housing developers we created a generic folder for mail outs that can hold up to six inserts (specific housing brochures) and sub brochures.

The generic folder / sleeve included a window allowing prospects to see an image of the development for which they had requested information, helping associate brand and product. The sleeve also featured a cropped top third to allow the use of colour coded inserts, i.e. Toad Hall is Magenta, helping to further the individualism of each delivery.

A simple and cost effective solution delivered.