When it comes to CSS, Thierry Koblentz is convinced that the only way to improve how to author style sheets is by moving away from the sacred principle of “separation of concerns”. CSS authors thrive on styling documents entirely through style sheets, an approach that has been sanctified by the CSS Zen Garden project (what most developers consider to be the standard for how to author style sheets).
Read more…
Over the past few months Jon Rundle has been involved in launching two large institutional websites with complex navigation systems on which maintaining simplicity becomes increasingly difficult as content requirements grow and tiers of navigation are added. In this article, Jon will illustrate the techniques involved in implementing responsive navigation on a large website.
Read more…
Emotional interaction is an important, but frequently neglected, component that must be considered in Web design. Crafting an element of surprise on Web pages can raise visitor engagement without obfuscating important content, sidelining mobile visitors or disadvantaging users who require accessibility features. Naturally, this must always be balanced with the need to guide users through the website.
Read more…
In this article, we will explore an alternative approach to styling Web documents. With the use of “intelligent” selectors, we’ll cover how to query the extant, functional nature of semantic HTML in such a way as to reward well-formed markup. If you code it right, you’ll get the design you were hoping for. Heydon Pickering hopes that employing some of these ideas will make your workflow simpler and more transferable between projects.
Read more…
Web helps designers and developers find the best inspiration and resources for their projects. Even though there are different tutorials and tips available online, Oleg Solomka feels that HTML5 canvas techniques are missing the most. Good news: he had the chance to fulfill this wide gap. In this article, Oleg would like to share his experience and story of how he brought the “Jelly Navigation Menu” to life!
Read more…
In this article, Stephen Shaw introduces a technique for perfect horizontal and vertical centering in CSS, at any width or height. The techniques works with percentage-based width/height, min-/max- width, images, position: fixed and even variable content heights.
Read more…
Tools for live CSS editing aren’t new these days. So, why would someone ever need to create yet another tool and even call it a “live CSS editor of the new generation”? In this article, Sergey Chikuyonok would like to introduce Emmet LiveStyle. This plugin takes a completely different approach on updating CSS. Unlike other live editors, it doesn’t simply replace a whole CSS file in a browser or an editor, but rather maps changes from one CSS file to the other.
Read more…
We’re constantly refining two interfaces simultaneously: one for visitors who load the website, the other for developers who have to tackle the code in the future. But we shouldn’t forget that developers are users, too. Therefore, our convention for naming and organizing files is critical if we are to ensure active development in the future. But do we really design the partials, files and directories that make up this interface with a particular set of users in mind?
Read more…
There’s an easy, straightforward way to deliver responsive images that’s supported by all of today’s Web browsers: A CSS background image. However, the approach has some limitations, and it doesn’t work in all cases. But if your requirements aren’t complicated, and if you’re willing to make an extra effort to ensure your images are accessible, CSS background images may be all you need!
Read more…
Extensive use of media queries is not a viable long-term solution. Media queries do not allow for reusable modules that adapt based on their containers’ size. Responsive Web design has inspired us to think beyond device classifications and to use media queries to adapt a layout to the browser’s viewport size. But this deviates from the hierarchical structure of CSS and characterizes elements relative to the viewport, instead of to their container.
Read more…