sIFR 2.0.5 Compatibility Release
sIFR 2’s links do not work with the new Flash Player 9,0,115,0 if a hover color is specified. Additionally, no elements are replaced in Safari 3 if the content type of the XHTML document is application/xhtml+xml. This has been resolved in sIFR 2.0.5.
If you’re using sIFR 2.0.3 or older, and have a hover color specified for links, or are using XHTML documents with the proper content type, you are advised to upgrade immediately. You must upgrade the sifr.js JavaScript code and re-export the Flash movies.
If you’re using sIFR 2.0.4, and are using XHTML documents with the proper content type, you are advised to upgrade immediately. You must upgrade the sifr.js JavaScript code and re-export the Flash movies.
sIFR 3 is not affected by the Flash player issue. Revision 341 is no longer affected by the Safari XHTML issue.
sIFR 2.0.3 Security Update
Yesterday, a security vulnerability was found in sIFR 2 and 3. Malicious websites can trick visitors into running JavaScript code on domains hosting sIFR movies. No exploits are known. If you are currently using sIFR 2, you are advised to update to version 2.0.3.
sIFR 3b1: The Mo’ Betta Beta
Just in time for Christmas, I present you a new sIFR release! It’s been a long time coming but with this release I feel sIFR 3 is ready for widespread deployment. There’s great control over how the text is rendered inside the Flash movie: you can easily use bold and italics together, or use different colors. There’s support for leading, kerning and opacity, filters, blend modes and anti-aliasing.
sIFR 2.0.2 Final Release
I’ve just released sIFR 2.0.2, which is a maintenance release for the problems caused by the “Eolas patch”. There is still no insight into what is causing these problems, so please deploy this patch to ensure everyone can see the headlines.
sIFR and Eolas, Testing the Patching
While working with Microsoft to fix the mentioned problems with sIFR and the Eolas patch (the security updates for Internet Explorer released on April 11th) I’ve also been working on a patch for sIFR itself.
On sIFR and the Eolas Patch
After Microsoft rolled out their Eolas patch I got a few reports about sIFR not working correctly. As sIFR is a script which creates the Flash movies there shouldn’t be any issues, but unfortunately that is not the case.
There are two problems, one is easy to fix and is the result of extra steps taken in the deployement of sIFR. The other seems to be a system issue, and as such is harder to fix.
Pre-fetching Flash
One of the advantages of sIFR is that the Flash files are cached on the client, saving bandwith. Except, of course, when they aren’t cached, as was pointed out on the sIFR forum. Luckily a solution was hinted at by Marc van den Dobbelsteen from Webbforce. Requesting the Flash file using a document.write() call fixes the problem. Thus, I set out on a journey through seemingly endless browser reloads and cache emptying…
sIFR 3 Feature List
As I’ll have to focus on course-work and money-making-work in the next few weeks here is a feature list for sIFR 3. Of course, when something turns out to be too hard to implement, it’ll be removed from the list. Don’t take it for granted!
Font Sizing with sIFR
Font sizing is the most difficult part of using sIFR. In this post, I’ll discuss how the algorithm in sIFR 2 works, or rather, why it doesn’t work as well as originally intended. Coincidentally, this makes this post an excellent tutorial for font tuning in sIFR 2. We’ll also look at how things will be improved with sIFR 3.
sIFR 3: A Look into the Future
Some time ago Mike and I asked you what features you wanted to see in sIFR 3. While we haven’t defined the exact list of features for the new version it has become time to look into the future to see where sIFR is heading.
sIFR 3: A Request for Requests
What do you wanna see in sIFR 3?
sIFR 2.0
A post celebrating the release of sIFR 2.0.
JavaScript Terminology
This is an introductory tutorial to the sIFR Explained series. It’ll be updated from time to time when more information is necessary.
sIFR Explained
This is a series about how the JavaScript code in sIFR works.
Named Arguments
Implementation of named arguments in JavaScript. Written in December 2004 for sIFR. Licensed under CC-GNU LGPL. Download the source.
Named Arguments
Implementation of named arguments in JavaScript. Written in December 2004 for sIFR. Licensed under CC-GNU LGPL. Download the source.
Where to Replace
Explanation of where to place the replacement code of sIFR.
