Favorite Links from August
Sep
3
Occasionally, the Web Admin group runs across links that are both helpful to the campus Web community and are also safe for work. We scour the internet for sites that are informative and interesting. Here are a few we found in August.
10 Principles of the CSS Masters
One of the great things about the Web is the ability to get useful information from industry leaders for little to no cost. In the case of Web design and development, there are libraries full of books by all the top designers but many of the same people are available online with tips and suggestions on how to work better and smarter. This article gives us examples of CSS principles by acclaimed Web gurus Jeffrey Zeldman, Dan Cederholm and others for the low, low price of nothing!
7 Principles of Clean and Optimized CSS Code
We all love lists, don’t we? They’re easy to read and because they are numbered, you know from the start if you’re ready to commit. In this case, Smashing Magazine decided to pare down the list from 53 and offer up a mere seven principles of clean and optimized CSS code. This article has fantastic suggestions on how to make your code leaner and easier to read.
Summer of Web 2008
Now that we’ve included content from the event, I’d recommend visiting our Summer of Web page. We have content that relates to CSS, writing for the web, and coordinating web teams.
Browsershots.org
As mentioned by Al Kirby in his blog entry, Browsershots.org is an website that assists with the difficult but necessary task of testing your design in many of the various browser and operating system configurations. Brilliant!
Image Replacement Techniques
One of the CSS techniques that Web Administration uses in the web templates is an image replacement. This allows the template to be usable by screen readers while also allowing for general browsers to view images. It also offers a solution for those who shut off images to reduce page size. There are a few different methods available and Mezzoblue has offered up a sizeable list, each with pros and cons.
If you have any suggestions of sites that might be of interest, please post in the comments.
September 4th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
I found the Image Replacement Techniques to be a good general overview.
I personally take project accessibility as far as keeping the underlying code clean (validating XHTML to a specific doctype, using alternate stylesheets, and maybe, if I’m feeling adventurous, a skip navigation menu.) My role in web development is largely on the programming side though, so I’m admittedly not always thinking about complete accessibility in my applications.
Has your team dove into XHTML/CSS frameworks at all. If so, what have your experiences been? (Blueprintcss, YAML, and 960 come to mind.) Overall a good list!
Regards,
EJ Vincent
September 5th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
I can’t speak for the team, but I’ve looked over some of the frameworks you mentioned. There are some positive and negative aspects to all. I hope to evaluate these further and perhaps discuss in a future post.
Thanks for your comments!
September 8th, 2008 at 1:52 am
Yahoo’s Exceptional Performance “rules” is a great read and Steve Souder’s recent presentation has his latest work in this area. More than you ever wanted to know about HTTP and browser rendering engines.
September 8th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
I saw Steve Souders speak at SxSW and really enjoyed his presentation. We also have a copy of his book High Performance Web Sites in the office, for anyone who wants to borrow it.
Thanks, Mr. Clay!