It’s Coming Together!

Feb 4

ToddDesign, New Project, Update, Web , , , , , , , , No Comments

Getting the site into the shape that I want has taken a long time, but it’s slowly getting there. You may have noticed some changes if you come here often and look around, you may not have noticed. I am working on getting my site to where it should be. New, improved and user-friendly with some little hidden gems you won’t see or notice right away.

I’ve wrangled up some jquery tidbits and implemented them into the site for the log in to the admin panel, the 404 page, and coming soon to a couple other things as well. I’ll keep those a secret for right now.

Next is an HTML version of my resume that will be viewable on the site and will support a PDF and DOC version (printable) with some CSS goodness sprinkled on top.

Stay tuned!

CSS Notes – Vol. 1

Feb 4

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I went back in time. Looking at some of the sites I have done and/or collaborated on and cringed a bit. It was all in the evolution of what I can do today I know now, but looking back, I still cringed. From the point in time I started to dabble solely in front-end development, I instantly got hooked and tried to find and do the best methods possible, while getting the job done quickly and efficiently.

My biggest thing back then, about 3 year ago plus, was this;

a {

    outline: none;

    }

* {

    margin: 0;

    padding: 0;

    }

Two of the biggest “no-no’s” in my book today. Again, it was all in the learning process. Especially the turning off of the outlining in the a href. A BIG accessibility mistake. The universal star “hack” (for lack of a better term) or Universal Child Selector isn’t really an accessibility no-no as much as some are calling it unnecessary. To me, it’s not really a big deal.

To each his own.

I have been referring myself to Eric Meyer’s Universal Child Replacement Technique.

There are numerous tips and tricks these days it seems. Many more than I can recall 2-3 years back when I was really immersing myself in (X)HTML/CSS. Alphabetizing everything in your style sheets (something that I don’t think really matters, especially when you have a rule that needs to come before others.), indenting a certain number of tab stops, one line style sheets (something I abhor), and more.

I often refer myself to Roger Johansson’s CSS Tips and Tricks, Part One and Part Two.

Trenton Moss has an article on 10 CSS Tricks You May Not Know over at Evolt and there are four years worth of tips, tricks, and helpful articles and advice over at 24 Ways by a bevy of authors.

I’ve taken bits and pieces and the words from these authors and put them to good use. You should too if you’re reading this. I even learned a little accessibility lesson from Bruce about using a link that says “here.” Thanks to Bruce for that. A more descriptive link like “Link to Article over at Opera” so that people know what they are clicking, or if they have a screen reader, etc.

I’ve been big on accessibility, usability and standards of late. Making a push for sites to change, providing only the best articles for those who have questions, learning myself along the way. I don’t think I will ever stop learning, and that’s not a bad thing to say.

The turning point for me was attending An Event Apart in Boston, in June of ‘07. Meeting the people I met and talking briefly to them (I was a little awestruck at the time) I had not only a great 3 days (got into Beantown a day early), but I had an experience of learning that I will never forget.

I’ve been meaning to contact those I had questions for, but life had gotten extremely hectic. Now that I have a little time, I think I may do so.

As far as what this post is about. It’s about learning. The desire to learn. The desire to read and arm oneself with the tools to make better websites. Something I hope to do by getting my name back out there and jumping back into the world of web design/development again.

I’ve provided what i think are the best articles to learn from to people on Twitter and try to provide helpful hints as to what I have learned and know already. I hope I’m doing a good job. I hope that everyone that makes websites wants to continually learn and provide users with the best experience possible with the newer, more improved ways of coding and making web sites.

User Experience

Feb 4

ToddWeb , , , No Comments

I forgot to mention in the previous post, that part about user experience and what Andy Budd had made as his presentation at An Event Apart. In his presentation, Andy talked about user experience and how it can be applied to anything. In his case, a trip to a hotel in Mexico.

Well it dawned on me that in life, you want to be treated to an experience like no other when you go out, go on trips, or even be treated to a good experience when you’re shopping or dining in a restaurant. Which brought me to thinking, apply this to the web. Imagine myself, as the user, imagine myself as I would want to be treated when I go out. To the best experience possible.

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