Find Motive

I am having a very weird issue with Firefox and my Lightbox implementation. I have a flash movie inside the iframe content thats being called by the Lightbox, but sometimes the flash will not load or render. Upon viewing the source I found that all the code is there. I’ve searched mozilla’s bug database and found nothing matching my issue.

The Rundown
- Lightbox is being called
- iFrame inside lightbox is loading content
- HTML and flash embed is there
- Flash does not load randomly

Calling the lightbox the first time in the same tab seems to work, but once I close the tab and open a new tab in Firefox and try it again then the flash does not load. I usually can recreate the issue this way. Blah.

Anyone who has had or is having this problem let me know. I would love to discuss this.

I’ve heard the terms “It’s just business” or “Business is Business” over and over again as I’m sure many of you have as well, but I am a firm believer that honor, integrity, and a clean conscious are worth more than any business deal. Going home at the end of the day and being able to sleep well and with a unburdened conscious is invaluable to me.

At the end of your days on this earth what will you be remembered by? I hope I’ll be remembered as a person with honor and integrity. A business man who valued people more than money and advancement. Be careful who you step on to get to the top, because you’ll meet those people again on your way down.

This is a follow up post to an article I wrote a few weeks ago about Lightbox Using iFrames Instead of AJAX.

That article described how to use an iFrame to display content in a Lightbox without using AJAX. There are advantages to this and you can read about them at the link above.

Traditionally a Lightbox could be closed using the code below:

This code will only work if the link is being called from the same window that the lightbox is defined in, which presents a problem with our iFrame Lightbox because the iFrame is a separate window and knows nothing about the Lightbox defined in the parent.

Two parts are required to achieve closing a Lightbox from an iFrame. The first is a JavaScript function in the parent that can be called from the child window(iframe).

Parent Code

The second is the call in the child window to the parent function closeLightbox

iFrame(child) Code

Throw the above code into a link or button click and the Lightbox will be closed.

Download Complete Source (includes demo)
lightbox-iframe2.zip (15k)

Special thanks to Manuel Ribeiro. This code is based off of his implementation.

I'm moving FindMotive.com to a new server today, so there may be some downtime. Everything should be back to normal by Thursday(tomorrow) or Friday depending on how fast the DNS changes propagate.

I started the idea for Indiefy about 2 years ago, although it wasn't Indiefy then and the idea has evolved, but since the idea was conceived I have done all work on it myself. I have not outsourced any programming/design/business work to anyone. This may be a character flaw or blessing, but it is hard for me to work with other people on ideas that I have conceived. Since I am able to do everything needed to get Indiefy off the ground, I find no reason to outsource. There are downfalls to this methodology and that being it has taken me longer to get this idea off the ground being a one man show, but it has also kept things simple. No partners to worry about or employees/contractors to pay.

Bottom line do what works for you and your company. Doing everything yourself may not be the best way to go for you.

Steve Jobs held a press conference Tuesday and announced new features for iTunes and some new products (or at least updated products). Here is a run down:

iTunes 7
This new release of iTunes adds movie downloads from these Disney affiliated studios: Miramax, Pixar, Touchstone, and Disney. Pricing will run 12.99 for pre-orders and the first week of release, 14.99 after that for new releases and 9.99 for older titles. Oh yeah...and you can't burn them to DVD. Bummer.

iPods
The iPod video received a storage boost and some price adjustments on the lower end models. The nano got a colorful facelift now with 5 colors to choose from (silver, black, green, blue, pink) and a storage boost. The Shuffle was redesigned the most and is now half the size of its predecessor. I think this was a much needed design update.

iTV
This one was the climax of the show. iTV (I don't know if that’s the final name) is a hardware device which uses WiFi to stream movies/photos from a PC or Mac running iTunes to your TV. It will be released Q1 or 2007 and will retail for $299. Last winter I started on a project similar to this, but I was side tracked by a more viable business idea. I hope to one day complete this project.

- Start wrapping up the Indiefy Artist Manager AKA IAM
- Air up my tires on my car on my lunch break
- Go to Starbucks and get an overpriced iced coffee and look mysterious as I sit and drink alone.

Have a great and safe Labor Day weekend everyone!