Geek Status Confirmed

As if there were any doubts, my co-workers received definitive proof of my geekiness, and being the troopers they are, they took it all in stride (I’ve no doubt my wife would’ve found it quite endearing had she seen it).

Today was Steve Jobs’ keynote address at the 2006 Macworld San Francisco. And if you’re at all familiar with Jobs’ keynotes, you know they’re a) very entertaining — the man is nothing if not charismatic — and b) always chock full of new goodies. Unfortunately, Apple didn’t broadcast the keynote live (it’s available now, however), but a number of folks were blogging the keynote as it was happening.

I followed the proceedings via Mac Rumors’ newsfeed, and with each new update, it seemed like there was something that made me clap my hands with glee. But when I saw that Apple’s first Intel Macs were going to be the iMacs and not the Mac Minis or iBooks like everyone though, I’ll admit to letting out a little bit of the ol’ schoolgirl glee. I’ve been looking at getting a new iMac for quite some time now, and this makes them all the more tantalizing (of course, as with any new product update, best to wait a few months and see how things shake out).

No Jobs keynote would be complete without a “One more thing…” moment, and this keynote was no different. And once again, I let out a little girlish whoop when he announced Intel-based PowerBooks… or MacBooks as they’re now called. Folks have been clamoring for more powerful Mac laptops for awhile, and it looks like they now have them. Dramatic speed increases, a brighter screen, built-in iSight, an inch thin, and a sweet new magnetic power adapter… how could you blame me?

(I might also add that I’m really digging the new modifications Apple’s been making to their website. First, the Aperture pages broke out of the narrow confines that every page on the site used (as well as the white background). Now, the MacBook Pro pages are using stylish black gradient backgrounds with huge, gorgeous photos and the new iMac and iLife pages are incorporating QuickTime and AJAX in some very elegant ways, hefty download times notwithstanding. Compared to Apple’s site, every other hardware/software manufacturer’s website I’ve seen is, at best, a clumsy eyesore. I don’t know if Mike Matas’ hiring has anything to do with this, but kudoes to the parties responsible.)

So that was the first nail in the coffin. The second came right before lunch, as I checked out the latest on 456 Berea Street. Once again, Roger Johansson went above and beyond the call of duty with this excellent article on CSS 3 selectors. These things are too good to be true. I’ve become a huge fan of the “first-child” pseudo-class, but I about freaked when I saw the “nth-child” pseudo-class.

No more having to use extra classes when I want to target say, the 5th or 6th child of a parent element (such as an unordered list). No more extra markup to do alternately-colored table rows. I’m already geeking out at the possibilities of what, say, the “checked” pseudo-class might allow me to do with checkboxes and radio buttons that before would have required some freakish JavaScript to accomplish.

Unfortunately, no browser supports the level 3 spec entirely, but still, it’s definitely nothing but good news. There’s no reason that one couldn’t start using them judiciously in current designs. That way, when browser support for the spec does begin to become more widespread, your webpages will upgrade, nice and easy.

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