Real World Web Design
April 29, 2008
I can’t stand articles that make you read two pages before getting to the point. With that in mind, let’s look at how I think css code should be organized.
In a nutshell: css code should be divided up into at least 4 separate pages:
- page-structure.css
- text-styles.css
- misc.css
- ie-styles.css
How about we call this the ‘killer’ css structure.
🙂
Before I go into the details of what each css file contains (if it’s not already obvious), I want to quickly cover WHY you might want to use this basic css structure for all your websites.
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January 5, 2008
A few days ago, I got this email that is all about starting a web design business, so I thought I would answer it here because I think a lot of people might find it interesting.
I need your opinion. I was looking to quote a friend a price for a small, simple, informational website. No more then 10 pages at the most. Possibly holding scedules for his football team too (which would need to be updated).
I know he wants a deal from me. Also, design is my weak point. How would i properly word the idea of using a website template? If i go and get a template from somewhere, it would be ethically correct to tell him since he could come across the same design someday. How would i go about doing that without him thinking- well i can go get a template and i don’t need you! Then I’ve lost a job!
Let me know your ideas.
Thanks,
Tim
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November 7, 2007
Firefox is the Web browser of choice for most web designer’s, because it is fast and it sticks to the Web standards better than say IE6 or IE7.
That said, Firefox has a bunch of other features that makes it attractive to Web professionals. One of the big ones for me, is the ability for anyone to add to Firefox’s core functionality by way of plugins.
Add-ons/Extensions
My only complaint about Firefox plugins is that the Firefox nerds don’t call them ‘plugins’! Instead they use the terms ‘add-ons’ and ‘extensions’. Besides that little issue, Firefox plug-ins turn this nimble Web browser into an important tool for Web designers.
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September 18, 2007
Web design has been transformed over the last many years. In many ways, the skills a web designer needed in 1996 are totally different from the skills you need in 2007 … and the foreseeable future.
I won’t go into what you needed in the past, because it matters not. So let’s talk about what you need to know today, to be a complete and competitive web designer.
The Web Designer’s Study Guide:
- HTML
- CSS
- PHP
- Javascript
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April 4, 2007
Hi,
I just wanted to announce that we now have several Drupal templates on webshapes.org
You should see more on the system within the next few days, and soon thereafter, there will be templates for other popular CMS’ as well.
–
If you have any request, please feel free to comment.
Thanks,
Stefan
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January 7, 2007
I’m happy to announce the public beta release of our new web template sharing site: Webshapes.org.
From the site:
Webshapes, a community-driven website template resource.
- Contribute your open-source templates: help build the community and get your name out there!
- Download templates to learn web design, or use them to rapidly build your own websites.
URL:
Visit Webshapes
This is a public beta release and I appreciate any feedback (good or bad) that you have.
Thanks,
Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com
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December 10, 2006
Ah, web designing nerds, you have studied hard, validated your pages and now you’re ready to leverage your skills for fame and fortune … ok, maybe for just a steady paycheck.
When it comes to the earning a living, what matters most, is what your potential clients are concerned about.
The musings of ivory tower nerds (who probably don’t get too many jobs) often times does not help to pay the bills!
… Code is not beautiful (a fat bank account is) and the Web standards means nothing to the people who put the food on your table.
(Now I’m in trouble!)
THE HIERARCHY OF CLIENT CONCERNS
When it comes to web design, I think the hierarchy of client concerns are:
- Price – everyone wants to save a buck!
- Design – a website has to look good. Remember the job is ‘web designer‘ and not ‘web coder’.
- Usability – though clients have no idea what ‘usability’ is, they just want the site to navigate easily.
- Google position. If you can make a site rank on Google quickly (even with obscure search terms,) you will be god.
Notice that Web standards and code that validates is not on the list.
Thanks,
Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com
www.killerphp.com
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December 10, 2006
Web monkeys are web designers who make their living designing websites. That may seem like a redundant statement, but there are many out there who are just casual web designers …
I wanted to point that out because this article targets the full time web designer (web monkey) and not the casual web-nerd.
SWINGING WEB MONKEYS
Swinging web monkeys are those few smart web designers who don’t rest on the laurels – they continue to learn.
.. If you want to stay competitive and pull ahead of the pack (of nerds,) you ought to spend time learning new technologies, techniques and even be brave enough to graduate to ‘code monkey’ status.
CODE MONKEYS
I defined what a code-monkey is in a previous post. But in a nutshell, code monkeys are nerds who are inclined to code and not design.
For these people, I strongly suggest that they learn to program – especially PHP. But even if you are a great web designer, I still suggest that you become a little ‘code-monkeyish’ and learn some PHP – it will make your web design better.
SWINGING: CODE MONKEY STYLE
It is even better to learn several programming languages because with each new language, you will gain a better overall understanding of programming – and that’s just the half of it!
When you learn a new programming language you will:
- Gain a deeper understanding of languages in general.
- Learn new methods of solving problems.
I was reminded of this just recently when I took a serious look at Ruby. As a played with this nifty language, I found that it expressed concepts (that I had trouble with in Java,) in such a way that it was finally made clear.
.. Because I bothered to learn a little Ruby, my understanding of Java got better!
Beyond the conceptual level, I also picked up some practical programming strategies that I could apply to both my Java and PHP programming.
CONCLUSION
So there you have it; it makes sense to learn new techniques and technologies, if you want to stay ahead of the game.
Thanks,
Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com
www.killerphp.com
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November 28, 2006
The Web standards zealots have been running rampant on the Web, spewing their tripe of how you must follow the Web standards no matter what is happening in the real world.
… Why pay attention how (the most popular) web browsers read and understand code? To hell with them, so says the Web standards zealots.
No, instead of pulling our heads out of the sand, we should follow the W3C wish list of how code should be rendered, and use a bunch of fragile hacks to make our pie-in-the-sky code work.
DON’T BE FOOLED
As you read this, you may be asking yourself why would anyone ignore reality? If it’s raining, it makes sense to use an umbrella – even if the weather man says it ain’t raining!
Well, I would have to agree with you. After I read the weather reports, I look outside…
Unfortunately, many in the web design community haven’t. They blindly follow the teachings of the web standard zealots, despite the facts their websites are hacked up, require more work than necessary, and add no real value or advantage to the web site.
WEB STANDARDS MYTH DEBUNKED
I will not go into the details here, I’ve covered that elsewhere. But consider these myths:
- By following the Web standards you will save money on bandwidth: yes, bandwidth is expensive (sarcasm) and saving a few kilobytes is going to make a difference … ya right!
- By following the Web standards your code will be forward compatible: except for your hacks where many have broke in IE 7 – I hate to say it, but I told you so!
Clean code (regardless if it is Web standards compliant or not) makes for easier to maintain pages. Most (99.999%) of us are building average websites where bandwidth limitations are not even being approached – hosting is dirt cheap and getting cheaper all the time!
In the days of high-speed Internet, video (Youtube) and mp3, to quibble about 5k savings on a web page is a classic example of the old expression ‘penny wise and pound foolish’.
XHTML FOOLISHNESS
Along with Web standards foolishness comes XHTML foolishness. First a little background:
Nerds, being what they are, love to get the ‘latest and the greatest’ – makes them feel special. So it is only natural that they gravitate to XHTML – the new and better HTML. Yes nerds, I know XHTML is XML.
The point is that XHTML is not ready for prime-time … if you know what I mean. It has two major flaws today:
- IE6 and IE7 will not render XHTML properly, so all the supposed advantages are totally lost!
- XHTML makes working with the DOM (and thus AJAX) a real pain. Since AJAX is the future of web application development it would seem silly to me to hinder DOM scripting in any way.
I mention XHTML because many Web standards zealots are enamored with XHTML, and so the pattern of continued denial of reality goes on. Tisk, tisk tisk.
WEB DESIGN NIRVANA
I hate it when people bellyache but don’t offer a solution, so here it is:
- Use the latest HTML and just be sure to close your tags and that the code is properly formed. This makes the pages easier to maintain and makes DOM scripting work easier.
- Don’t use hacks! Use IE conditional comments to deal with browser issues like IE6’s problems with CSS positioning etc.
The real world Web standards are found in the browsers being used, not what the W3C would like them to be.
Best,
Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com
www.killerphp.com
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November 24, 2006
With all these Web standards zealots running around proudly placing W3C validation buttons on their websites, you have to ask yourself:
Does anyone really care about web standards, clean code (xhtml, html and css) in the real world?
THE SAD TRUTH
Only in large companies (if you’re lucky,) and government might you find someone that may care. Sorry zealots, you can take down your little W3C buttons now …
🙂
The web design community codes itself into an academic dreamland sometimes. That’s why I attacked the web-standards-movement in the past … the leaders were misleading the ‘faithful’ down the path to the unemployment line.
PAYING WEB DESIGN, IS ABOUT BUSINESS
At the end of the day, all this web design junk is there to do, is to get out a message.
As for business, they don’t care about code validation and other nerd stuff that the web design zealots have fooled everyone into believing really means anything in the real world.
A LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL FOR CODE-MONKEYS
But in the programming world, code quality moves to the front – well near the front of the line. This is because good code means faster more adaptable software – this has a bottom-line ($) affect.
… On the other hand:
Clean, standards compliant web design code (html/xhtml and css,) does not have any financial impact for most sites:
In the days of super cheap hosting and bandwidth, saving a few kilobytes on a web page amounts to nothing – most of us are not building sites that have millions of page-views!
So if you’re a frustrated web designer who is obsessed with code, you should get into php programming!
By Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com
www.killerphp.com
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