var g = new google.maps.Geocoder();
var a = $("#myAddress").text();
a = a.replace( new RegExp( "\\n", "g" ), ' ' );
g.geocode( {address: a}, function(results,status) {
	if (s ==  google.maps.GeocoderStatus.OK) {
		//do some cool mapping stuff
	} else {
		//or fail gracefully in the effort
	}
});

First off, we’ll just assume you’ve already added the proper script includes for the jQuery library and the Google Maps API. If you don’t know how, refer to the individual documentation for each for instructions.

The above code first creates a new instance of the Google Maps Geocoder. Then we use jQuery to retrieve just the text inside an address.We then apply a regular expression to strip out any remaining line feeds, and send off the modified address text to Google using the geocoder object we created. We now have a geocoded lat and long for our address, which we can do all sorts of cool things with. Bazinga!

You don’t need to use jQuery to do grab the address text. You can pick it out using some straightforward DOM manipulation, but jQuery makes it so darned easy. If you’re already using the jQuery library for your project, go the route illustrated above. If you’re not, I don’t think it’s a good return on investment to include the jQuery library just for that. Write a little more code and use native functionality.

Update August 25, 2010: My co-worker Josh and I have just discovered that Palm Pre does not support the W3C geolocation API.  Apparently it uses either a proprietary API for its geolocation or doesn’t expose it’s geolocation data to the browswer. C’mon Palm!

Update August 26, 2010: Much to my surprise, the app has been officially accepted for the 10K Challenge. I thought there may be an issue with it being a mobile app or that technically it provides absolutely zero data if you’re using IE9 preview, but it would appear that my fervent pleas in my readme did not fall on deaf ears. So head on over and throw a few stars my way.

It’s not perfect (or thoroughly tested for that matter), but today is my wife’s birthday, and if I don’t start showering some attention her way, she’s not going to be very happy. So hammer away at it. If you see any bugs, leave me a comment and I’ll take a look at it.

Yeah, sure. I’m a purist. Or rather, I was a purist before 10 years of building web sites in the typical business and/or government world. That experience has taught me that most web developers, myself included, don’t live in a homogeneous web vacuum. Rather we live in a marketing whirlpool, and buzz, sexy, and sizzle are the driving forces that spin the spin. I think I’d be better characterized as a pragmatist now. Sure I still get my hackles up just a tad when someone uses the term AJAX interchangeably with DHTML. (I mean, come on! DHTML is clearly not what Garrett was talking about when he coined the term.) Still, these days I usually just sit down and take a few deep breaths until the desire to scramble onto the nearest soapbox and start lecturing goes away. When all was said and done, a broader meaning for what was originally a narrow term ended up being a good thing. People got excited about AJAX, and that excitement helped fuel the revolution du jour. Marketing people heard the word and the energy associated with it, and they wanted that for their site. They weren’t excited about the AJAX (sensu stricto) that could make your web site talk to the server without having to refresh the page. They were excited about that other AJAX (sensu lato): the Google Maps; the Base Camps; the Flickrs. They wanted the cool, the pow, and the wow.

I’m sure a little standardsista part of me will cringe a tiny bit if and when a project manager comes to me and asks me to add geolocation to a site because they’d heard about this new “HTML5″ thing and thinks we should get in on that.  Still I’ll stifle the “but that’s not HTML5″ explanation and gleefully implement whatever they ask, giggling as I do. So yeah, I don’t care what you call the latest collective bleeding edge technologies as a whole. HTML5. Web 2.1. Web++. Whatever it takes to get the right people excited about the evolving standards and technologies for the web and to convince them they can start using these technologies today. It doesn’t matter to me as long as that excitement drives adoption.

It’s an exciting time to be a web developer!

Luke makes a compelling argument for why mobile is the platform of the future (dare I say, the platform of RIGHT NOW), and honestly a lot of developers are all going to be playing catchup if we keep building sites like it’s 1999.  It’s time to adapt to the new paradigm or be left behind with the TRS-80s and 3.5″ floppy disks.

Case in point, if you came here using Internet Explorer, you may not be seeing things as intended. Also, at the moment, the site is crashing mobile Safari on the iPad, but all that’s going to have to wait until I get back from vacation.

$('font').each( function(){
	$(this).replaceWith($(this).html());
});

This little gem will cycle through all the font elements on a page and replace them in the DOM with whatever their contents are. I haven’t tried it on nested font tags yet, but fully expect that it’s recursive.

If you’ve arrived here looking for my photoblog, it should be back soon, as well as all original content and ramblings on all things web, HTML5, and CSS.