Ikea made a pretty big oops on their United Kingdom site today. On their homepage, somebody scheduled a large flash mod, but didn't set the wmode correctly. They used a variable in their embed tag I haven't seen used before, flashvars="wmode=transparent", when they should have just done wmode="transparent". This is still surprisingly a common mistake on sites that combine flash elements with good ol' html, css and javascript. Unfortunately, there is no way to fix this by assigning z-indexes to the holder for the flash element and the navigation, the flash must have the wmode set to transparent.


Here is their source code:


Remove that line and add wmode="transparent" and everything would work kosher.

Labels: flash, oops

posted by Tim Avery at 4:18 PM  -  1 Comments ©

Now by no means am I a spelling expert, grammar aficionado, or professor emeritus of the English language--but I like to think that most of the time I am on top of spelling when it comes to putting things into production on the web (just don't read my past blog posts, they are filled with my lack of edits). At least when it comes to major items, like large banners, headings, or images with text on them. Basically, anything that gets special attention from users will usually get special attention from an editor. In my case the editor is my girlfriend. She is a member of the grammar and spelling police and usually catches all my mistakes before they make me look like a moron. With that said it is one of my biggest pet peeves to see major mistakes of the spelling nature online. Take for instance this large ad from a major online retailer I came across this morning (you don't have to be a genius to guess who, but I won't divulge that information up-front)--I for one am excited about the "Vancuver" Olympics... What about you?



Now in this case I don't feel all that bad to point out the flaw. I mean this is a pretty big mistake. I actually can't compare it to anything else, because I don't think I have seen anything this blatant. Nothing at least in recent memory. The point is, everyone should have an edits process, whether a one man operation, or a billion dollar a year company. Don't just create something and push it out the door. Create something and check it yourself, then have someone else check it, and if you are really concerned have a third person. It doesn't matter if its a copywriter, or your mother-in-law.

Labels: oops

posted by Tim Avery at 3:39 PM  -  2 Comments ©