Note: while I’m no longer using special icons to indicate external links on the site, this is still a useful tip.

Another “text instead of image” trick like RSS in CSS is the small arrow icon you see next to external links. Some sites do that with small images. While checking out Wikki Wakka, I noticed theirs were actually text, rendering an HTML entity code of an infinity symbol — ∞ — which in the raw HTML is ∞

Splendid idea, I thought, but I didn’t want to do the same exact thing they had.

Enter the Web Design Group’s (WDG) HTML entities reference page, where you can find all sorts of neat letters and symbols, including the ⇒ “rightwards double arrow” or ⇒

And then Notanda, during its processing of my saved plaintext file entries, automatically adds that code at the end of external links.

On the previous version of this site, I had a couple of badges of the ubiquitous RSS/XML variety:

What’s different about them versus the run of the mill versions were that they were just text, not images like most versions. It’s all done in CSS. Here’s how.

For a given badge, enclose the text you want to appear in a paragraph block and make it a link. Give the paragraph a suitable class name. I used "feeds" for mine. Viz:

<p class="feeds"><a href="http://www.celsius1414.com/index.xml">RSS 2.0</a></p>

Then in your CSS file, use something along these lines:

.feeds a {
     background: orange;
     color: white;
     padding: 2px;
     border: outset thin;
     font-style: normal;
     font-weight: bolder;
     text-decoration: none;
}

Which will produce something like what you see in the picture. A simple trick, but useful for all sorts of things.

Check out External Link Icon for a related tip.

(Miscellanea: A collection of miscellaneous matters; matters of various kinds (Webster’s 1913). Noteworthy tidbits gleaned from all over, sans commentary.)

EFF To Fight Dubious Patents
The Electronic Frontier Foundation launched a campaign on Monday to overturn patents that it says are having a chilling effect on public and consumer interests…. (Slashdot)

What’s It Worth To You
This week my Ralph’s paper grocery bag says, Kids! Color this bag in celebration of Earth Day 2004 and we’ll give you a nickel! At first I was like, I understand why the supermarket unions went on strike… (This Afternoon In Drama)

This is TV turn-off week!
What’s on TV tonight? Nothing! That’s right, it’s the tenth annual TV turn-off week. (MetaFilter) (Cinema Minima)

The grapevine
The San Francisco Chronicle is running a thirty-nine-day series that tracks a single bottle of wine — from grapevine to uncorking…. (CaliforniaAuthors.com/CaliforniaWriters.com)

The Nebulas
Recently, I was contacted by my evil twin, who sent this note: ‘So what about them Nebulas? What kind of group calls itself “The Science Fiction Writers of America” and then gives awards to stories that aren’t even remotely science fiction? Good lord!’… (The Mumpsimus)

George saved by bicycles
Hans and Margret Reys (the creators of Curious George) took a belated honeymoon trip to Europe, and their planned two-week stay in Paris turned into four years. During that time, Hans began to write and illustrate books….In June 1940, on a rainy morning before dawn, the Reys left Paris on bicycles, just hours before the Nazis entered the city. They took only warm coats and their manuscripts and artwork; among the stories was Curious George…. (Velorution)

Text Based User Interfaces in the 21st Century?
With the 3D GUI desktop around the corner, nobody seems to use or think about text based user interfaces (TUI) anymore…. (Slashdot)

Turning (Virtual) Pages of History
Today the British Library announced this cool web site. A nice blend of quick loading images and voice overs of 10 major books on display. ‘Turning the Pages’ brings together on the web treasures of several world cultures, along with scientific works, e.g. Leonardo da Vinci’s Notebook, Elizabeth Blackwell’s Herbal and Andreas Vesalius’s De Humani Corporis Fabrica. (Slashdot)

Knockout pitches
Every major league pitcher has an out-pitch — the weapon of choice when it’s time to put a hitter away. It’s just that some are better — sometimes, much better — than others. That’s what separates the great pitchers from the merely average…. (ESPN.com - MLB)

Korean rock art hints at whaling origins
Stone Age people may have started hunting whales as early as 6,000 BCE, new evidence from South Korea suggests…. (Stone Pages Archaeo News)

Bob Cozby’s Websafe Color Selector
‘Click on a color below to test it in a webpage. From the sample page, you can blend it with a second color to accent your page.’

(via Backup Brain) An awesome chart on MacEdition covering Mac browser CSS support.