Comments on: sIFR 2.0: Release Candidate

By: Hesam

Hesam — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Thanks for all the hard work, Mike and Mark! Installing this new version as we speak – I’m sure it’ll work great…

Any plans for any other future releases? I know you said it’s a final release, but is this the end of the development road for sIFR?

By: Mike P.

Mike P. — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Man, I was totally going to ask if we can call it siffer.

By: Tomas Jogin

Tomas Jogin — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Good work, Mike and Mark! I keep repeating myself, but I have to say that you’re really leading the (r)evolution of type-on-the-web with this thing. I’m glad to — in some way — have been part of it.

By: Olly Hodgson

Olly Hodgson — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Gabriel – I had some similar problems to begin with. Once you get your head around it all, it becomes a lot easier to sort those issues out. Persevere and you’ll make it work :-)

By: Jim Moran

Jim Moran — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Nice one Mike. Currently being implemented accross a number of our projects where we’ll see real benefits.

One thing though – the name, sIFR. It’s a small issue, but one that’s been bugging me a while now.

1) Why the small “s”? (In fact, why an “s” at all – Flash is inherently scaleable)

2) Why is Mr. Inman more important that the other contributors?

3) Why is it Flash Replacement, when it’s really Text Replacement (with Flash).

4) Do you really pronounce it “siffer”? Eugh.

Bearing that in mind, I’d say Flash Text Replacement (FTR) would be a better choice. It’s pronounced FTR, not “Fitter”. ;o)

Still, it’s the best thing I’ve seen on the Web in YONKS.

By: evil_mad_developer

evil_mad_developer — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

sFIR is great… BUT!

When I try it, the text is not replaced, but rather added. I can still se my h3 heading underneath the sFIR-flashfile.

Other than that small hickup, its fine.

By: Krzysztof

Krzysztof — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Strange thing – if there a multiple headers on a page, only the first one is replaced. Or – like in this example – when h2 and h3 tags share the same swf file, only h2 is replaced.

By: Krzysztof

Krzysztof — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Oh, sorry. Here's the link.

By: Mark Wubben

Mark Wubben — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Regarding “sIFR”, this has to do with the history of the technique. Originally it was founded by Shaun Inman, then someone called it IFR. The “s” is for “scalable”, because the original IFR version wasn’t.

And as with all things which evolve (I think), you don’t suddenly change the name completely to draw more credit to you.

evil_mad_developer, I suspect you don’t have the right CSS in your page.

Krzysztof, they are replaced just fine. Perhaps you disabled CSS after the replacement to test it? The h1 and h2 have a transparent background, and the font-color is white, so you won’t see them.

By: Mark Wubben

Mark Wubben — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

An important comment for everyone noticing size differences between Mozilla and IE: you need to specify a with other than auto.

By: Shaun Inman

Shaun Inman — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Regarding the origins of the IFR acronym: IFR is just an anagram of FIR, and pays homage to Fahrner Image Replacement. And it's "Flash Replacement" instead of "Text Replacement" for the same reason, to parallel FIR. The scaleable distinction is important because the original technique is limited to the font-size specified when the swf is exported. sIFR is smart enough to know it's place and resize accordingly.

By: Krzysztof

Krzysztof — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Suddenly, everything works fine :)

By: Milan Negovan

Milan Negovan — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Right behind you, guys! Doing an ASP.NET adaptation of sIFR.

By: Jim Moran

Jim Moran — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Mark/Shaun,

Cheers – that explains it all. (except the small “s” – I’ll let that one go)

Jim

By: Maxime

Maxime — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hello. I am the French user of this technique. I am often brought to use the characters “Ã´ Ã¹ Ã Ã© Ã¨ Ã§” and others. I noted that these characters are not in the result of flash. How I can change it?

(Editor’s Note: To add extra characters, click the “Character…” button on the Properties palette in Flash before you export your .swf)