Web Development (8)

To Be Clear (on Conditional Comments and Resets)

My articles on Conditional Comments and “reset” style sheets belong to the most popular articles on the respective topics not just on this site, but apparently on the Web. Now, it looks like I could still clarify my standpoint.

#50 · Aug 24, 2008 · html, css

Best Practices for ID and Class Names

I’m working on another article for German Dr. Web mag, this time covering recommendations for IDs and classes, an issue likely as old as the Web itself. Taking a different approach than usual I’m feeling free to publish a “guerrilla sneak preview” in this place.

#49 · Aug 12, 2008 · css

A Few Words on HTML/CSS Frameworks

Public, or open, or external, HTML/CSS frameworks are rarely a good idea. Why? Because framework developers are outside of your organization and cannot know your needs. This simple fact, the inevitable ignorance of a third party, means that—

#48 · Aug 5, 2008 · html, css, frameworks, minimalism

Yes, You Can Use HTML 5

You can already use HTML 5: Just use <!DOCTYPE html> as your HTML documents’ document type. This works even though you will not yet benefit from new elements and attributes.

#47 · Jul 8, 2008 · html

10 Measures for Continuous Website Maintenance

Website maintenance and quality assurance constitute the backbone of high-quality offers of information, and they make the difference between amateur and professional web design.

#46 · Jun 24, 2008 · quality, optimization

When Validation Becomes Unimportant

Validation becomes unimportant only once you’re ahead of the game. Even then, truly mastering HTML and CSS, it’s best to stick with valid markup and styling. Improving latency might constitute the only exception—if at all.

#45 · Jun 16, 2008 · html, css, conformance

Optional Tags in HTML 4

For your convenience, here’s a list of all optional tags according to the HTML 4.01 Strict DTD. Omitting these tags allows to save markup and thus file size—if you choose to. I created this list because even nine years after release of the HTML 4 specification…

#44 · Jun 1, 2008 · html

Über-Semantics

Premasagar Rose recently published a great demonstration of what can be considered “über-semantic” code. I guess we can thank the microformats community here, which carefully avoids to rely on the semantics of HTML elements but…

#43 · May 27, 2008 · html, semantics

Tip: vi Configuration

Long story short: It’s easy to modify the vi editor’s standard configuration. The most useful changes probably relate to encoding (UTF-8) and display of line numbers…

#42 · May 25, 2008

Less Is Still More

Time and money spent on making things worse is something I find absolutely fascinating. Let me elaborate, beginning with HTML newsletters: Hours are spent writing supposed content, creating and decorating mockups, working around email client limitations…

#41 · May 21, 2008 · maintainability

CSS: Simple Rules for Better Organization and More Efficiency

“Organization is not everything, but without organization, everything is nothing,” one of my teachers used to say. Almost everything benefits from organization, and so does work with CSS—especially when working with many people.

#40 · May 15, 2008 · css, maintainability, performance

Website Optimization Measures, Part IV

Once again, though already covering a few weeks of various improvements, some of which have been implemented in Bremen, others in Zurich, all on some of my sites. Enjoy additional optimization tips, this time touching typography, usability, SEO, and performance.

#39 · May 5, 2008 · design, optimization

The World’s Best HTML Template

…again, exclusively, and as long as HTML 5 is in progress.

#38 · Apr 29, 2008 · html, minimalism

Why “Reset” Style Sheets Are Bad

Jonathan set the pace, Eric countered, a few people chimed in, and I, having criticized reset and undo style sheet criticism back in January, feel obligated to repeat that reset style sheets are bad: A novice should not use them, an expert would not use them…

#37 · Apr 19, 2008 · css

CSS Properties Index

A list of all properties in CSS 1, CSS 2, CSS 2.1, and CSS 3, including their initial values.

#36 · Mar 27, 2008 · css

Website Optimization Measures, Part III

Jens on quality assurance again, this week featuring the link density challenge, updated ping service lists, improved WordPress plugins and security, revised layout grids, font karaoke, and more prominent update information. Hot and spicy.

#35 · Mar 17, 2008 · optimization

Great CSS Techniques and the Simple Truth Behind Them

There’s a simple recipe to judge CSS techniques: Does the method in question require HTML additions and modifications (beyond introducing IDs or classes)? If yes, the technique likely isn’t elegant and might be inadvisable.

#34 · Mar 11, 2008 · html, css, maintainability

The Secret of Maintainability

Keep it simple.

#33 · Mar 7, 2008 · maintainability

“helvetica, arial”, Not “arial, helvetica”

Unless you truly want Arial and not the better Helvetica font, use the order helvetica, arial in your CSS font declarations, not the all-so-common arial, helvetica.

#32 · Feb 20, 2008

Website Optimization Measures, Part II

Now that we talked about blog cleanups, structure and element revisions as well as search engine verification in part I, here are some additional suggestions, small options for improvement consisting of .htaccess stuff, SEO, and consistency checks…

#31 · Feb 15, 2008 · optimization

Website Optimization Measures, Part I

Focus on QA requires occasional website reviews, not necessarily immediate redesigns or relaunches. This week I spent some time analyzing, refactoring, and optimizing my personal sites. I thought to share a few things for inspiration and discussion.

#30 · Feb 10, 2008 · optimization

CSS: Selector Variables

Complex projects suffer from higher cost of selector changes, and long sequences of simple selectors do impact the understandability and efficiency of style sheets. One solution could be selector variables or “synonyms,” a concept I proposed to the CSS Working Group …

#29 · Feb 7, 2008 · css

Choke Web Development Framework 1.0

After years of thorough research I may finally present the Choke Web Development Framework 1.0, “Choke” or “CWDF” in short. Choke is an easy-to-use, easy-to-maintain, and future-proof platform for web design and development…

#28 · Nov 13, 2007 · css, frameworks

User Agent Style Sheets: Basics and Samples

CSS manages the default formatting of documents through user agent style sheets, a cornerstone of the cascade. This means that a web browser doesn’t just present a line of text when it’s fed with an HTML document that has no styling information, but…

#27 · Sep 22, 2007 · css

Microformats Would Benefit From a Namespace

Microformats become more and more popular, accelerated by the questionable success of the nofollow microformat. However, those of them that mandate class names cause problems that could be avoided by using a “pseudo-namespace.”

#26 · Sep 13, 2007 · html, css, maintainability

Are You a Web Designer or a Web Decorator?

This has bothered me for for a long time. The topic popped up when I thought about art and design, and it had to be covered when Roger asked whether we were designers or developers—

#25 · Aug 24, 2007 · design, usability

HTML Elements Index

A regularly updated list of all elements in HTML 1, HTML 2.0, HTML 3.2, HTML 4.01, XHTML 1.0, XHTML 1.1, HTML 5.2, and living HTML, including their meanings.

#24 · Jun 30, 2007 · html

Arguments for the “style” Attribute

The HTML Working Group is currently arguing whether to drop the style attribute. To encourage discussion outside the Working Group, here are the reasons I see to keep @style.

#23 · Jun 27, 2007 · html

A Plea for Better Software: Provide Auto-Save

So far, applications rarely automatically and periodically save users’ work. They therefore fail to prevent unnecessary, frustrating, expensive loss of work and information. Since this isn’t just a but a critical problem, we need to encourage application developers and owners…

#22 · Jun 25, 2007 · design

Load Time, the UX Factor: Facts and Measures

Load time of websites seems to remain our industry’s stepchild, but the vision is real-time surfing, not spending bandwidth improvements. There are still some facts and measures to consider when it comes to fast websites with a certain ease of use. Here are eight, to be exact.

#21 · Jun 21, 2007 · performance

WCAG, HTML, and CSS: Maybe the Standards Need a Break

The web development community worries about the development of WCAG, HTML, and CSS (about the latter since recently). These worries and the related criticism appear valid and legitimate, and there are things we could do.

#20 · Jun 15, 2007 · html, css, accessibility

Requirements for Website Prototypes (and Design Systems)

Best practices for website prototypes based on HTML, CSS, and DOM scripting, covering essential requirements from accessibility to universality, and including definitions, pros, and contras. Compiled from a recent presentation.

#19 · Jun 9, 2007 · design

10 Steps to Create a High-Quality Website

A quality website doesn’t fall from the sky, and it’s impossible to create in a few fast clicks. When setting up a website, one needs goals, content, structure, design, programming, and maintenance. What one needs is…

#18 · May 10, 2007 · quality, design

On Updating a Book (Webdesign mit CSS, 2nd Edition)

I’m still working on the second edition of Webdesign mit CSS. And I can say: I like this work, though updating a book is more challenging than starting from scratch. It looks like less work at first, but that work is different.

#17 · May 3, 2007 · css, design

.htaccess: 7 Useful Ingredients (Plus Bonus)

This article features useful directives for .htaccess configuration files, based on my experience with a number of lightweight projects. It’s a pretty simple collection and you may be aware of some of these things…

#16 · Apr 12, 2007

25 Excellent Usability/UX Articles and Resources

Today I thought I’d share some of the most valuable usability and user experience articles and resources I know, in a somewhat wild mix. Since there’s presumably enough to read and talk about later, please welcome a few great articles and research papers…

#15 · Mar 30, 2007 · design, usability

CSS Practice: Namespaces in Complex Projects

Working in complex projects or in projects that don’t provide a good overview of forthcoming page types and elements may require a defensive strategy for writing CSS. Such a defensive strategy rests on certain safety measures to ensure better maintainability…

#14 · Mar 21, 2007 · css, maintainability

Why I Love DreamHost

No kidding. Unconditional love. Almost.

#13 · Mar 13, 2007

“Valid CSS” and Similar Claims Are Unprofessional

You know them. “Valid CSS” here, “Valid HTML” there, complemented by a “WAI AA” button. When these website claims hold true, that’s a great thing. Unfortunately, these conformance and quality claims have no place on professional websites.

#12 · Mar 9, 2007 · css, conformance

Hire Only Web Designers With a Website

…is a good rule of thumb when you need a web designer or developer. Though it’s not necessarily the most important criterion, the benefits are obvious. Web designers who also own websites are more likely to be close to the medium…

#11 · Mar 6, 2007 · design

HTML: Semantics of “title” Element Content

I already proposed this in October 2005 but see the need to bring it up again: It would be useful to allow other elements within the title of an HTML document. Why? You otherwise cannot mark abbreviations and other flow content elements, which means their meaning gets lost…

#10 · Feb 26, 2007 · html, semantics