Often when creating forms on a website it is helpful to place descriptive text with some of the form fields to help the user understand what they should type in the box. If this descriptive text is not cleared automatically when the user begins to type, sometimes this will hinder them more than it helps.

Using a simple JavaScript function you can automatically clear the example values from the input box when the user clicks into the field.

For an example of how this works, look at my search field to the right.

This technique can easily be used to clear the contents of any input box.
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Using Google Trends, you can compare the search traffic for your industry’s main phrases. Google Trends also displays data on how often specific topics appear in the news. It can even tell you which geographic regions have searched for phrase the most often.

This data can tell you a lot about your industry and the way people search within it. It can also offer some insight into the direction of future search technology.
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As many web developers may already know, several versions of Windows Internet Explorer (IE), cannot properly render PNG image transparencies. There are many CSS hacks and tricks out there to skirt this issue, most often by using less sexy graphics specific for IE browsers.

There is also a lesser known way of fixing the IE problem using a few simple lines of JavaScript.

The only downside to the JavaScript solution is that it only works on <img> elements, and does not work on background images or images placed with a style sheet. Also, the images must have their height and width attributes defined in the HTML.
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I came across this heat-map at Google today:

This “heat map” illustrates these ideal placements for content on a sample page layout. The colors fade from dark orange (strongest performance) to light yellow (weakest performance).
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Wow… This site is becoming very popular very quickly thanks to a number of sites that are displaying my work in their galleries!

I have now been added to CSS Galleries, Most Inspired, and CSS Bloom.

I want to thank all of those who have been voting on my site and helping me get the word out.
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Google’s Webmaster Tools offer webmasters a free resource to make their sites more Google-friendly. They can show you Google’s view of your site, help you diagnose problems, and let you share info with Google to help improve your site’s visibility.

Matt Cutts speaks on the new features:

Matt Cutts is a Google Engineer that offers SEO advice and information about Google from his blog.

I wanted to a take a moment and thank CSS Mania for adding my site to their directory. If you have not been to CSS Mania before, you should definitely check them out; they feature a great list of the top CSS driven sites on the net.

I am very proud to have been added to their site, as so many other sites in their directory are extremely well designed and unique. Sites like CSS Mania serve an important roll in the design and development community. They are not only helping well designed sites get their moment to shine, but they also help inspire other web developers and graphic artists to push the limits of what they thought was possible.

I may have to add a section to this site that features sites like CSS Mania for their role in the design and development industry. The role of inspiration should not be an overlooked aspect of creative works.

Just came across Matt Cutts’ profile over there at that crazy site, MySpace.com. I have personally never wanted a profile, that is, until now… If Matt Cutts can have a profile – so can I!