Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) and Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) have confirmed that they have joined the Open Book Alliance, a newly formed group opposed to the Google Book settlement.

Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) also reportedly joined the coalition, which is expected to make an announcement next week. Amazon, however, declined to comment. The Open Book Alliance is a distinct organization from the Open Content Alliance, a group with similar goals created by Yahoo, the In, ternet Archive, and many universities.

Last October, Google (NSDQ: GOOG) reached a settlement with the authors and publishers who brought a lawsuit against Google for scanning books for its search index without permission. The settlement awaits approval from the judge overseeing the case. The U.S. Department of Justice is also weighing whether the settlement merits antitrust action.

A fairness hearing to consider approval of the settlement is scheduled for October 7. The deadline for objections to the settlement is September 4.

The major areas of contention revolve around issues of privacy, exclusivity, and indemnification from liability. Critics of the settlement want Google to commit to: offering online readers the same privacy protection enjoyed by offline readers; an open registry system rather than one controlled by two publishing industry groups; and indemnification from copyright claims for those who want to scan orphaned works -- books for which the copyright holder cannot be found -- as Google has done.

In May, Google said that it planned "to build and support a digital book ecosystem to allow our partner publishers to make their books available for purchase from any Web-enabled device," showing that Google Book Search will become a platform for Google book sales. This presumably explains Amazon's reported decision to join the coalition opposing the settlement.

To Google, Microsoft's public opposition seems incongruous because the company shuttered its Live Book Search project last year "to focus on search verticals with high commercial intent, such as travel." "The Google Book settlement is injecting more competition into the digital books space, so it's understandable why our competitors might fight hard to prevent more competition," said Google spokesperson Gabriel Stricker in an e-mailed statement. "That said, it's ironic that some of these complaints are coming from a company that abandoned its book digitization effort because it lacked 'commercial intent.'"

Yet, there's incongruity too in Google's reluctance to brawl publicly with the company that it opted not to name in its statement despite the growing number of skirmishes that Google and Microsoft face across an increasingly broad number of markets.

Two years ago, Google engineers, product managers, and executives tended to downplay competition between the two companies, in part to blunt the efforts of journalists to highlight the corporate conflict. Google Docs, said CEO Eric Schmidt at the 2007 Web 2.0 Expo, doesn't really compete with Microsoft Office. Google Docs "does not have all the functionality, nor is it intended to have all the functionality, of Microsoft Office," he said.

Yet, with the City of Los Angeles weighing whether to replace e-mail and productivity applications from Novell and Microsoft with Google Apps, it's clear that competition between the two companies is real and a matter of high stakes. This has been evident too in Microsoft's opposition to Google's DoubleClick acquisition, its role in rousing the Department of Justice to derail the ad deal that Google last year planned to consummate with Yahoo, and its support for a broad antitrust case against Google.

Google insiders have acknowledged being surprised by the breadth of the opposition to the Book Search settlement and the company has recently been more energetic about making its views known.

In one contentious aspect of the settlement, privacy, Google has been unable to answers to satisfy critics because the settlement doesn't spell out the technical specifics the company claims must be known before commitments can be made. And other complaints about the settlement having to do with the registry are matters in which the publishing industry plaintiffs will have a greater say than Google.

What's clear at this point is that Google, its competitors, and its critics will be wrestling over the settlement until the judge finally rules in two months.

InformationWeek has published an in-depth report on Google's upcoming Chrome OS. Download the report here (registration required).

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) HTML Working Group has published a Working Draft of "HTML 5." HTML 5 adds to the language of the Web: features to help Web application authors, new elements based on research into prevailing authoring practices, and clear conformance criteria for user agents in an effort to improve interoperability. This particular draft specifies how authors can embed SVG in non-XML text/html content, and how browsers and other UAs should handle such embedded SVG content. See also the news about moving some parts of HTML 5 to individual drafts. The " full list of changes" since the previous draft are listed in the updated companion document "HTML 5 differences from HTML 4." http://www.w3.org/html/wg/

Google has announced an upgraded suite of GSA Connectors for the Google Search Appliance (GSA)- including connectors to integrate offline company data with information stored in the cloud. GSA Connectors connect the GSA with content management systems and other repositories, so that users can find the information they are looking for in unified search results. With the upgraded Google Search Appliance Connectors, the connector framework is simplified so that it can search content stored across various databases.

One of the featured GSA Connectors is for Salesforce, enabling the GSA can search content in Salesforce, providing sales, marketing, and customer support personnel access to the information they seek regularly. In addition, new updates and features have been made to the connectors for SharePoint, Livelink, FileNet, and Documentum.

Specifically, the SharePoint connector supports batch authorization and multiple site collection, and has added 64-bit Windows support. Additionally, the Google Search Box can be implemented within SharePoint, which would be powered by the GSA, giving results from databases outside of the SharePoint system. Multiple connectors now support more recent versions of content systems, such as the Documentum v6.5, or the FileNet v4. www.google.com/enterprise/search/gsa.html

The latest stable release of WordPress (Version 2.8.4) is available in two formats from the links to your right. If you have no idea what to do with this download, we recommend signing up with one of our web hosting partners that offers a one click install of WordPress or getting a free account on WordPress.com.

What’s Next?
With our famous 5-minute installation, setting up WordPress for the first time is simple. We’ve created a handy guide to see you through the installation process. If you're upgrading your existing installation, we've got a guide for that, too. And should you run into any trouble along the way, our support forums are a great resource, where seasoned WordPress experts volunteer their time to help you get the most out of your blog.

Click here to download wordpress 2.8.4

What is the purpose of a template?
A template controls the overall look and layout of a site. It provides the framework that brings together common elements, modules and components as well as providing the cascading style sheet for the site. Both the front-end and the back-end of the site have templates.

When Joomla! is first installed several templates are automatically included. You can find many more templates at other websites. Some are available without charge under various licenses, and some are for sale. In addition, there are many developers available who can make custom templates. You can also make your own template.

Templates are managed with the Template Manager, which is located on the Extensions menu in the back-end (administrator) area of your site.

Why does Joomla! Use templates?
The way Joomla! is designed separates out the key tasks involved in producing a website for efficient maintenance of the software. One of these tasks is to create the aesthetic (the look, feel and layout) of the site. This includes making decisions such as which content elements (components, modules and plugins) you may want to place in any given page.

When producing a web page, the location of most elements will stay the same (menus, banner locations, sidebars etc.). Additionally, you will want to create the same look (fonts, header styles, colour scheme etc.) for every page. For some parts of the site you may want to alter the general feel to indicate a different purpose for those pages (such as a blog section). A little planning is required for this, but once you have settled on the overall layout for your site, you then have the task of producing each page of content.

And that’s where the template comes in. You can either write all the code for each page separately, or use a template for each major section of your site so that when you want to create a new page you simply “fill in the blanks”. Okay, perhaps its not that simple, but this tutorial is designed to give you a step by step guide for effective template use, starting with how to use one and ending with how to create one for yourself.

   1. Use one of the templates supplied with Joomla!
   2. Download one of the many free offerings from the internet
   3. Pay for one to be modified or produced from scratch if your needs cannot be met any other way.

Summary – a template controls the look of your site and makes your life a great deal easier when creating new pages.

For further details on what you can achieve with templates go the next section, “What can I do with templates?”

A template is used to manipulate the way content is delivered to a web browser or screen reader. Here are some ways you can employ this on your Joomla!-powered site.

Layout
The template is the place where the design of the main layout is set for your site. This includes where you place different elements (components, modules, and plugins), which are responsible for different types of content. For example:

   1. The various menus (you can chose from existing options and create your own)
   2. Advertising banners
   3. Polls
   4. The main body of the page (you can select from different styles such as typical blog layout, a news article, etc.)

If the template is designed to provide choices, you can also "dynamically" alter the content placement on your site, perhaps putting the main menu on the right or left side of the screen.

Color scheme
Using CSS within the template design, you can change the colors of your backgrounds, text, links or just about anything that you could within your ordinary (x)html code.

Images and effects
You can also control the way images are displayed on the page, and even create flash-like effects or include AJAX applications such as drop-down menus.

Fonts
The same applies to fonts. The designs for these are all set within the template's CSS file(s) to create a uniform look across your entire site, which makes it fantastically easy to change the whole look just by altering one or two files rather than every single page.

Browser specific solutions
A template can be designed to alter how it displays on different web browsers, allowing you to take full advantage of the latest developments without making your site inaccessible to those who are not able to run "up-to-the-minute" system upgrades (such as certain companies who limit what software their employees can use).

Templates supplied with Joomla!
The following templates are supplied with a default installation of Joomla! 1.5:-

    * Milkyway (this is the default template).
    * Beez
    * JA_Purity

The life of a designer is often complicated by customer supplied photos. Many times there's little you can do to save them. One rule you can always count on is. . .

Isolation

One of the tricks I've always depended on is isolation. You can almost always add drama or focus the readers' attention by isolating the subject of an image. While there are many ways to do this, in some cases the best way is through depth of field. 

Several Web designers are attempting to discourage the use of Internet Explorer 6, not the use of all Microsoft products, a Web design expert in Britain says.

Dan Oliver, editor of the British Web design magazine .net, said Microsoft itself is not the target of an ongoing campaign that accuses Internet Explorer 6 of damaging online expansion and enjoyment, CNN reported Thursday.

"This isn't an anti-Microsoft campaign," Oliver said. "Microsoft makes some fantastic products. The latest version of their browser is a good browser. But with regards to IE 6 ... (it) is an awful browser and no one should be using it."

CNN reported two Web monitors said up to 25 percent of online visitors use the Microsoft Web browser to access the Internet.

Microsoft itself is not promoting the use of Internet Explorer 6, instead encouraging Internet users to switch to a modern version of the U.S. company's famed Web browser.

"Microsoft has consistently recommended that consumers upgrade to the latest version of our browser," Microsoft said in a statement to CNN. "Internet Explorer 8 offers improvements in speed, security and reliability as well as new features designed for the way people use the Web."

Designing Web pages is challenging enough without having to build pages that work on every possible combination of Web browser and operating system in existence. So many Web designers choose to take the easy route and design just for the most popular browser, which is IE 6 right now.

But if you're going to focus your site on IE 6 you'll be causing some problems for yourself:

    * When IE 7 comes out, your site will need to be redesigned.
    * People who use other browsers won't get a good experience.
    * If new browsers come out and gain popularity, chances are your site won't be able to support them.

Standards-Based Web Design Is Best
If you design for Web standards then your Web site will be functional with every browser that supports those standards. And even long into the future, your site will stay functional.

But Internet Explorer 6 and 5 are not standards compliant. So what do you do? The common response is to design just for them and then try to force your site to look okay in standards compliant browsers like Firefox, Safari and Opera. But this is both backwards and difficult.

How to Design for Internet Explorer

   1. Build your site for Firefox or Safari first.
      Build your site and test it using Firefox or Safari first. This will insure that your Web pages look good in standards compliant browsers. And it's actually fairly easy to do.
   2. Use a DOCTYPE.
      I prefer to use XHTML 1.0 Transitional, but another good one is HTML 4.01. By using a DOCTYPE, you insure that your page isn't displayed in quirks mode, and the browsers act the same.
   3. Once you've got it looking perfect for Firefox, then start editing for IE 6 or 5.
      IE 6 or 5 should come last because it's not standards compliant. When IE 7 comes out, your page will look correct because it looks correct in the other standards compliant browsers.
   4. Don't use hacks to design for IE.
      Instead, use the cascade and valid CSS properties and selectors that IE 6 and 5 don't recognize to hide styles for standards compliant browsers. Put the IE 6 styles first in the cascade - then the standard-compliant properties.

Hiding Styles from IE 6

It's actually really easy to hide styles from IE 6 but make them visible to standards compliant browsers. Use child selectors.

In one design I built, I created a two column layout that required margins and padding. This meant that I was hitting the box model differences when I viewed the page in IE 6. My first CSS style sheet for Firefox included a line like this:

    div#nav { width: 150px; margin-left: 20px; }

This made the page line up perfectly in Firefox and Safari, but in IE the nav column was pushed over to the right too far.

So, I converted the line to use child selectors. The #nav div is a child of the body tag, so I changed the line to read:

    body > div#nav { width: 150px; margin-left: 20px; }

Of course, doing this made the #nav div lose all it's properties in IE, so I needed to add in some IE styles to get IE 6 looking okay. I added this line to the CSS:

    #nav { width: 150px; margin-left: 10px; }

The placement of this line of CSS is important if my page is still to look good in Firefox and Safari. The IE line needs to come first. Firefox and Safari will read that line and then it will be over-ridden by the body > div#nav selector lower in the document. IE 6 will read the first line and set the styles. It will then ignore the child selector, as it doesn't recognize them. When IE 7 comes along, it will act like Firefox and Safari.

By designing for a standards-compliant browser first, and then modifying your CSS to support IE's quirks, you spend a lot less time fiddling with the design and a lot more time actually designing.

CSS2 doesn't have a property to add a shadow to a box. You can try to add a border to the right and bottom, but it won't look right. However, if you have two nested elements, you can use the outer one as a shadow for the inner one. For example, if you have a text like this (HTML):

<div class=back>
  <div class=section>
    <h2>Die Rose duftet - doch ob sie empfindet</h2>
    <address>Heinrich Heine (1797-1856)</address>

    <p>Die Rose duftet - doch ob sie empfindet<br>
    ...
  </div>
</div>

you can use the outer DIV as a shadow for the inner one. The result might look like this separate page. First, give the BODY a background (light green in this example), the outer DIV a somewhat darker background (green-gray) and the inner DIV another background (e.g., yellow-white):

body {background: #9db}
div.back {background: #576}
div.section {background: #ffd}

Next, by using margins and padding, you offset the inner DIV a little to the left and up from the outer DIV:

div.back {padding: 1.5em}
div.section {margin: -3em 0 0 -3em}

You also have to move the outer DIV a little to the right. And if you have multiple sections, you probably want some space between them, too:

div.back {margin: 3em 0 3em 5em}

That's basically it. You can add a border around the inner DIV if you want. You'll probably also want some padding inside it, e.g.:

div.section {border: thin solid #999; padding: 1.5em}

Of course, you can vary the size of the shadow to your taste.