Interactive Rich Media

I noticed that a layer with an embedded webpage as an object is not covered by an other layer having a higher z-index in Internet Explorer, whereas it is correctly displayed in Firefox. The same problem has been reported in the webmasterworld forum. I found a workaround (see www.artgallery.lu/expositions/expo_samuel_martin.html) to integrate the text from the second layer in the embedded webpage, but this works only without links.

Another tough nut to crack for developers is the z-index working with Flash, because the Flash Player always writes the SWF on the topmost layer of the page, regardless of z-index order. It works with swfobject if the parameter wmode is set to opaque (see an example on the website of Leslie’s Artgallery).

A very useful tool to print a listing of files included in a directory with folders and subfolders (Directory File Listing Utility for Microsoft® Excel®) is offered free of charge by Financial Reporting Inc.

Spam is a great problem for all website owners. A simple method to stop email harvesters from picking up e-mail addresses from web pages consist in encoding the email address in hexadecimal characters. By encoding the entire e-mail address including the “mailto” portion, most e-mail harvesters (except the most sophisticated) can’t find it. If they can’t find it, they can’t send spam to it.

A free hexadecimal email encoder is offered on the website from K’nechtology Inc. 

To protect web-forms from spam abuse, more sophisticated solutions are required. Spam Blocker For Web Forms is  a powerful, easy-to-use application ideal for protection of web forms from being parsed and used for sending spam emails. Includes adjustable spam filters and anti spam source code protection. I use a registered version since more than a year with great success.

Spam Blocker For Web Forms is developped by Dmitry Konovalov from White Stranger Group. The current version is 1.1, a single user license is available for 40 US$, a business license for 60 US$.