six03 » HTML

HTML5 For Web Designers

Todd — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 17:58:28 +0000

What can I say? This book was exceptionally written, Instead of having to go through and read the long-winded spec that mainly caters to browser developers, you get a good chunk of the information in this book, you get the gist of the information in 95-pages of “get your hands dirty” reading with “HTML5 For Web Designers”

Hitting valuable and informative points on such topics as Web Forms, Semantics and Rich Media, Jeremy Keith delivers a home run, in my opinion with this book. Anytime I can pick up and read a refresher book or book on emerging web technologies, I will, I’m not one to think I am above needing to look back once in awhile and say to myself, “I think I’ll go read up on ho to code a form.”

This book just solidifies my belief that using HTML (HTML5) now will benefit me and the sites I build in the long run. A Book Apart hits the nail on the head with this release. I look forward to purchasing more releases from A Book Apart in the future!

New Project – Caypen Magazine

Todd — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 15:08:48 +0000

Just released is a joint venture by six03 Studios and Web 7 Media for Caypen Magazine. Featuring CSS3 tomfoolery, handcrafted HTML and a lot of backend oil, Caypen runs off the WordPress publishing platform and features lots of nifty plugins for MailChimp newsletter signups, ad sponsors, social networking with the magazine, and much more.

Head on over and check it out or go to the “Portfolio” section of this site to read more.

Handcrafted CSS

Todd — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 04:55:09 +0000

Finally getting around to my review of Handcrafted CSS by Dan Cederholm (@simplebits).

This isn’t the book for the hardcore coder, it’s not the book for the elitist programmer. This IS the book for the developer that wants to pick apart at things and take themselves through a refresher course in some CSS and HTML “lessons.”

The book covers a sample site that Dan made, called “Tugboat.” Taking you, the reader, through the series of steps he took to get the CSS and HTML looking so sharp. Using some methods and explaining them extremely well in the time that he had to do it in, Dan takes you through the steps it took to achieve such CSS3 prestidigitation as rounded corner and transitions, among others.

Guest author, Ethan Marcotte (@beep) takes you through a little bit of responsive web design, fluid grids and fluid images.

The companion video is also very helpful, informative and entertaining, as we get to see Dan play the ukulele at the end.

Overall, the book was a fantastic refresher into new ways of bulletproof web design from one of the masters in the industry, along with a master of fluid grids, images and typography as a guest author. If you’re a seasoned veteran of programming and are looking for a hardcore programming book, this is not your cup of tea.

If you’re always looking to keep up-to-date and get back to basics once in a while, this book is for you, like it was for me.