Web design
HTML5 vs. Flash: A Complex Political Battle
A few days ago, I wrote about what the iPad means for web design. One of the most controversial issues is the effect Apple's spurning of Flash will have on the future of that technology. This subject has been written about widely; much of the commentary is along the lines of "good riddance to Flash" and "HTML5 can do everything Flash can do", and is emotional and ill-informed.
Why Fluid Designs are Usually a Poor Choice
I occasionally hear people say that web sites should be designed to stretch to the width of the browser (a fluid design), because this lets the user take advantage of whatever their screen size is. Most fluid designs, however, decrease usability.
What Does the iPad Mean for Web Design?
Browsers have always been the primary driver of the technologies and techniques that are available to web designers. In recent years, mobile browsers have entered the fray, adding not only new, tiny screen sizes but also new sets of technology constraints. The iPad adds a new twist to the complex and evolving set of targets that web designers need to aim for.
Great-Looking SEO-Friendly Headlines with Cufon
Thanks to the small set of fonts that you can depend on being available on most computers, typography on the web tends to be, well, boring.
There's lots of ways around this limitation. For the Webvanta.com site, we chose to use Cufon, an excellent all-JavaScript solution.
Recommended Upgrades: Firefox 3.6 and Firebug 1.5
Last week, Mozilla released Firefox 3.6, the lastest version of most web designers' favorite browser. We highly recommend the upgrade. Unlike the more minor releases, it appears that users are not automatically prompted for the upgrade, so you may need to download it manually.
Should Designers Write Code?
In the past few months, I've met with dozens of designers to better understand their workflow and their pain points. One of the interesting issues that has come up is the question of just what a web designer does, and what skils they need to have. At one extreme is the graphic designer who works in Photoshop and Illustrator to create web page mock-ups. They then hand these off to someone else who builds the web site. At the other extreme is the coder who works in HTML and JavaScript from the start, and the design evolves in code.
The Future of (X)HTML
Last week, the W3C officially threw in the towel on XHTML 2. This was a Good Thing, as the bulk of the web community has been behind HTML 5 and there was little apparent future for XHTML 2. Eliminating it just cuts out some confusion and largely fruitless effort.
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