Web: browsers, design, markup, and more

Content related to websites, including HTML, CSS, design, troubleshooting, and more

  2 minute read  

The 'Web' refers to any number of different technologies. Here, I collect tidbits related to several.

Notes

Cascading style sheets (CSS)

CSS examples, recipes, and related tidbits.

HTML samples, ticks, and tidbits

An assortment of idea related to HTML and webpage markup.

Tools and Resources

Resources and references for HTML and CSS:

  • World Wide Web Consortium (W3C, also W3): Home of the standards that describe how things are supposed to work, including: HTML, CSS, Web accessibility, and more.

  • Mozilla developer docs: Practical (and ad-free) references to HTML, CSS, and related topics, including useful details such as browser compatibility charts, links to defining specifications, and more.

  • Can I Use…?: Extensive and detailed reference to feature availability across various browsers. Describes issues and frequently includes workarounds.

  • Compart Unicode character reference: Surprisingly useful (and currently ad-free.)

Web browsers

Chrome: Local network access

Chrome persistently requests permission to search for devices on your local network. If you block the request, it repeats within a few days.

An experimental setting (flag) can deactivate the behavior:

  1. Type chrome://flags/#local-network-access into the address bar and then press Enter.

  2. Use the search box to find the Local Network Access Checks setting.

  3. Select Disabled from the drop-menu to deactivate the behavior.

  4. Restart Chrome.

The setting is available on Chromium-based browsers that do not override the behavior of the chrome://flags URI. For example, Brave supports the URI; however, Microsoft Edge supports edge://flags (which contains different settings).

To learn more the permission, see New permission prompt for Local Network Access [Chrome Developer].

Developer tools

Many web browsers provide developer tools to help investigate and troubleshoot websites.

Here’s how to activate and open them in major browsers.

  • Apple Safari (included with MacOS)
  • Brave Browser
    • Menu > More Tools > Web Developer Tools
    • Keyboard: Mac: Opt + Cmd + I, Windows: Ctrl+Shift+I
  • Google Chrome
    • Menu > More Tools > Developer Tools
    • Keyboard: Mac: Opt + Cmd + I, Windows: Ctrl+Shift+I
  • Microsoft Edge
    • Menu > More Tools > Developer Tools
    • Keyboard: Mac: Opt + Cmd + I, Windows: Ctrl+Shift+I
  • Mozilla Firefox
    • Menu > More Tools > Developer Tools
    • Keyboard: Mac: Opt + Cmd + I, Windows: Ctrl+Shift+I

Web servers

DNS alias IP address

When setting up a DNS record alias (ANAME or CNAME), you often need to know the IP address to assign to the alias.

If you don’t know the IP address, use the dig command to discover it:

$ dig example.github.io +nostats +nocomments +nocmd