Archives
September 13, 2008
If you’ve been struggling with CSS based page layouts (as apposed to using tables) and you’ve been smacking your head against the wall to get things to work … believe me, you’re not the only one!
No, you’re not stupid … CSS for page layout is.
What?! CSS is flawed?
Indeed. CSS for page layout sucks hard because the logic behind CSS page layout is weak at best, and perhaps, even flawed. I can say this with experience in other languages like Java and even VB. Not that I am saying CSS is a programming language.
Anyway …
For web designers used to the craziness of CSS layouts, they would be flabbergasted at how easy creating layouts/views/screens are in VB or even Java when compared to CSS.
What’s the main problem with CSS?
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September 2, 2008
Hi,
You may have heard that Google just released its’ open source browser – Chrome. So, should web designers be freaking out about it?
Short answer: no.
Why not, you say … why not!?
Simply speaking, Chrome uses the same rendering engine that Safari, Adobe AIR, iPhone, and Android use. Something called ‘Web Kit’. So as web designers, we don’t have to worry about another annoying engine that can screw up our code.
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August 31, 2008
With the new (and hot) Apple iPhone on the market, web designers might be considering what they should do to accommodate the fast growing audience of iPhones users.
In a nutshell: probably not too much.
The iPhone web browser, is Apples’ Safari and it reads any web pages – even table-based websites! Gasp! Web standards zealots around the world are eating crow now.
Anyway …
It will come down to what kind of site you are running; I think that most websites will not be the target of iPhone users while on the go. My guess, is that it will be limited to:
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August 26, 2008
Hi,
I just released a podcast where discuss the differences between Ajax and Flash.
You can read more about it in the killersites.com Magazine.
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August 20, 2008
Hi,
In this session of the Business of Web Design, I go over what you need to have in a typical web design contract.
There are important elements that you must include to avoid problems down the road, things like:
– Payment terms.
– Delivery dates.
– Project specifics: how many pages, functionality etc.
… and a whole lot more.
Check it out: Writing Web Design Contracts.
Thanks,
Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com
www.killerphp.com
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August 20, 2008
I recently got a call from someone wanting to know what I thought about various image editing programs in terms of their abilities to make buttons:
“Stef, what program do you think I should use to create buttons for my websites? One buddy tells me he likes Corel Draw and another guy is big on Adobe Fireworks. What do you use?”
My answer to this question is simple:
Web designers should not be making buttons.
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August 14, 2008
I recently got a phone call (wow, actual voice communication!) from a member of the killersites.com forum, where he was anxious to delete his account from the system because he had used a celebrities first name as his user name. Harmless, right? No, wrong!!
Apparently he was contacted by one of this celebrities minions, where this minion-of-celeb, demanded (under threat of legal action!) that the member terminate the account!
… Yes, threats from a looser celebrity because someone was using their name as a user name on a web design related forum!!
I changed the user name because I don’t want to stress out any member of our community here. But I have to tell you, this really pisses me off.
.. Or better yet, I’m a minor nerd-celebrity of sorts, maybe I should go around the Web threatening to sue people who use my first name on a message board!
Yes, it’s official, no one can use the name: Stefan
Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com
www.killerphp.com
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August 5, 2008
Hi,
I just released another episode for the ‘Ask a Web Nerd’ show/podcast. This time around I explain what an organic website is, and how to create one.
Let me know what you think.
Thanks,
Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com
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August 4, 2008
I recently got this email:
I have read or watched a few of the items about flash, but still have not gotten an answer to a big question I have.
Here is the question with a little of my background first. I’m a career programmer/developer having gotten my degree in 1972, I have been in the business ever since.
… I have done some web development for the last 4 years. Not full time, just part time. I spend most of my time developing and maintaining MS Access databases, using VBA to control whatever needs to be controlled. With that background, I would like better control over the UI within a web page and have the feeling that Flash is the tool to use, but I have not been able to find a good summary of what is possible with flash, from an interactive standpoint.
The short answer to this question is: YES.
Flash has evolved from being an web animation program to a full fledged application framework. It includes built in drag-and-drop UI components, data binding along with a powerful object oriented language that looks like a cross between Java and Javascript: Flash Actionscript.
Since Flash is a vector based engine, it provides a pixel accurate layout capability … that means you can produce any type of layout / UI you could possibly want for your application.
Adobe has created a framework for Flash called Flex. This extends Flash and provides a very rich set of tools for building applications for both the Web and the desktop. To get you Flash based applications on the desktop, Adobe has created the Air framework.
Thanks,
Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com
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August 4, 2008
I’m very busy with things (video games, movies etc …) so it is not uncommon for me to outsource some programming work these days.
Side note: I have to tell you, as an old-school web nerd who likes code, it was really hard at first to let go and let others do the work. Fortunately, it’s getting easier with every project!
😉
Anyway, I do have my assistants here at killersites.com, who by the way, are a tremendous help. Nonetheless, sometimes I get outside help for whatever reasons.
Crazy quotes from Java nerds
I decided recently that I wanted to contribute back to an open source project that I have used in the past … by throwing the people involved in that project, some work. I also agreed to release the additions/modifications back to the community.
Anyway …
The modifications I wanted were relatively simple – a couple of filters, some rearranging of the UI etc ..
So I get back the quote for this project. I want to mention that I could do it myself in say two days – and my Java skills are rusty! The point is, this was not a big project.
… And yet in the quote, we had a project manager budgeted in and crazy time devoted to testing. For example:
For a button that took the user to a screen/view that already existed … just a button: 8 hrs of testing!
??
Now we all know that Java guys love to over engineer, but this is crazy! When will Java nerds learn that you don’t need an aircraft carrier to move a rocking chair.
Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com
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