Category: web design

Web Standards Curriculum: Coding in Harmony

With all my heart, I want to see the web reach it’s full potential. To do that, I think we must stop wasting our time coding for different browsers and focus on developing with web standards. Yes, yes, that means that the browser vendors have to play by the same rules. Good news is, IE8 is coming out soon with the best standards mode ever released in a Microsoft Browser. I do believe that MS has seen the light!

So, while it may seem surreal that we no longer have to beg browser vendors to care about web standards…this opens up a whole new arena for web standards adoption. The arena is education. Have you dropped into your local high school or college web class to see what is being taught there? Is their curriculum up to date? Or (shudder) is it the same curriculum that the instructor has been using for 10 years?

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the web community worked together to build a Web Standards Curriculum that was up to date? Well, close your eyes, make a wish and then head over to the Opera Web Standards Curriculum. And realize that this is only the beginning!

SXSWi2008 is Paradise

How can I possibly explain the magic of SXSWi? Imagine you are high in the sky with Willy Wonka in the great glass elevator. Anything is possible. Magic is probable. (Sigh) That is how SX feels. What moments took my breath away in 2008? Let me share a few.

Get Naked with Dustin Diaz!

Today is CSS Naked Day! How can I resist? I’m gettin’ naked by shedding my css and showing nothin’ but deliciously semantic mark-up. Reminds me of when I look in the mirror with no make-up on and love the bare bones me.

Thanks Dustin for this creative way to strip down, while emphasizing the importance of separating content from presentation.

Come on, it doesn’t hurt one bit. Let your design down, just for 24 hours!

Blue Beanie Day: Raise Awareness of Web Standards

my teddy bear wearing a blue beanie

Do you remember when you first became a web standards believer? Whether it was last week, last year or last decade, it forever changed the way you create for the web. But, when was the last time you helped someone else understand the value of web standards? Until web standards have completely permeated our industry, it is important for us to continue to spread the word while producing content that illustrates the point.

If you haven’t heard, Monday, November 26th is “Blue Beanie Day”. What in the world is “Blue Beanie Day”? It is a great idea dreamed up by Douglas Vort of Detroit, Michigan to show support for web standards and accessibility. Here is an excerpt from the Blue Beanie Day Event Page in Facebook:

Play-doh as Interface?

One of my designers handed me a mind altering book the other day, Analog In, Digital Out: Brendan Dawes on Interaction Design. This boy is a twisted, brilliant, genius, my favorite kind ;) He uses the most amazing things as input devices for his systems. Can you imagine:

  • Using Play-Doh as a user interface to control the speed of a video
  • Creating sonic paintings based on the sound-frequence of jazz music
  • Transforming the movement of people walking on a crowded street into visual creations