This feels a bit like linking to an article in 2009: there's a bug in IE8 and there's a fix for it. Knowing these silly bugs and knowing how to fix them was a big part of our job. I don't miss it at all.
browsers, bugs
Looking for that special symbol like ✎ or ⚖, or just looking for more information about the letter D? Here's a tool you might like.
typography
Here's a very nice write-up about changing a site from Mobile Friendly to Mobile First. Looks good (although 13px georgia is way too small).
redesign, mobile, responsive design
I'm really happy about this article by Paul Boag, one of the more experienced web people out there. He was a bit skeptical about responsive design a while ago (and published some less thought through posts on the subject) but now he suddenly shares his excellent thoughts on responsive wireframing, one of the less studied parts of responsive design. A definite must read, if only for this reminder: …they do have to look good and present a better user experience when compared to pinching and zooming a mobile browser rendering our pages at desktop size
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wireframes, responsive design
Classic brainstorming doesn't work, says Reena Jana, and she gives some suggestions for a better creative workflow like working in a highly inefficient building. Inspiring.
design, workflow, creativity
If you're following the incredible JS1K competition you probably saw this rose. Román Cortés explains how he made it.
javascript, nerd
The most clever way to write a star-rating system is by using unicode-bidi: bidi-override. There is a fair chance that you don't even know what it does, but the ever brilliant Chris Coyier doesn't just know what it does, he know how to make use of it. As always with his articles: clear, smart, complete and super clever.
css, brilliant
Here's a write-up by Harry Roberts about how sites should be designed and built: layered, based on content, considering small screens as well as big screens. Yes, I know, many projects are more complex than a simple portfolio site but even on huge sites this approach will pay off. Must read for designers struggling with the workflow.
design, responsive design, workflow
When you choose class names you try to choose them in a way that describes what they're for. So when you choose class names for a grid layout system you would probably choose a class name that describes the size of the grid, something like .grid-half; you probably understand what that does. The problem with these grid-names is that the don't work in responsive designs. Here's a very nice article by Alex Duloz about this very problem and a possible solution (I used the names of the Greek letters a while ago, but more abstract things are definitely possible).
grid, css, responsive design
Karl Groves suggests that we should do automatic testing first when we do web accessibility testing (did you see what I did in the previous sentence? I shuffled the words of the title a bit, added seven words (five if we don't count the duplicates) and presented it as news).
accessibility, testing
Me and my colleague Peet Sneekes drove my old Mercedes through the Car Wash, again, and talked about content, again. If you think fourty seven minutes is too long, here a six minute version. And if you don't care at all about us talking (or you don't understand Dutch), here's a stop motion film of our route.
content, car-wash
Many non-programmers find the command prompt (or terminal in OSX) intimidating. It is a very handy tool though that gives you super powers. Here's a good introduction by John W. Long. Yes, you should read it.
terminal
An important part of layout design is the ratio between the font relative to its space. Once you get that right the design already looks good. This sounds easy but, alas, we're talking about fonts so nothing is easy. Here's an interesting article by Tim Brown which explains some core concepts about this ratio.
fonts, ratio, typography
Responsive web design is hard. I see front-end developers and interaction designers jumping with joy about this concept, but at the same time I see visual designers struggling: it's not easy to understand the relationship between web design’s fundamental fluid nature and the typographic standards of construction that have served us heretofore
. Tim Brown collected some links to sources about responsive typography, commented them but – most importantly – in the last paragraph he explicitly asks for your help.
typography, responsive design
The second edition of Contents Magazine is about First Principles. In this article Karen McGrane, Randall Snare, Henrik Berggren, Elizabeth McGuane, Ian Alexander, Dorian Taylor, and Kat Meyer answer a few questions about their own first principles. Very inspiring!
content, design, principles
It used to be hard and unsafe to communicate between two windows. Not anymore, we now have a thing called web messaging. Tiffany Brown explains what it is and how it works.
html5, messaging
Here's an interesting interview with Andreas Bovens and Divya Manian about the web of devices, about the different platforms on which you can use Opera, about the (lack of (complete)) support for new HTML5 features, about the luring browser monoculture, about the new TV-Store, about the future and more. You should definitely read it if you want to know where we're heading.
opera, html5, tv, future
With the width property in CSS you set the width of the content, not the width of the container. Everybody – except for some philosophers – hates this. Paul Irish explains how we can finally get rid of this feature.
css, width
Cache can be hard on the web – I remember a conversation on my first job as a web developer a long time ago where a colleague of mine told a client that a certain fix was not visible because of a cash problem, which resulted in much faster payments – but cache with ebooks is even harder. Here's something you can do about it when you are testing your ebook on an iOs device.
cache, ebook, epub
Here's a very interesting presentation by Chui Chui Tan which looks at the differences between Chinese web design and the web design of the west. Many assumptions we make are simply not true and others are explained with a basic lesson in Confucianism. A must click for everybody who works on international web sites.
design, culture, international
A few weeks ago Firefox was updated to version 10. Here's a list of accessibility things that were fixed.
accessibility, browsers
The time element was removed from the spec for a day or so and then re-included with more features. Bruce Lawson explains.
html5, semantics, time
You don't want to send unnecessary bytes to the people who visit your site, that's why you optimize your images. There is an issue with images on responsive sites. Mat Marquis explains the problem and the possible solution.
responsive, responsive design, images
Here's a nice article about the incredible mobile Lanyrd site/app. Yes, there's a lot that can be done with HTML.
html5, apps
The best practices we use seem to be changing and that is not a good thing, according to Thierry Koblentz. He explains why good old accessibility and progressive enhancement are good (Does anybody have any idea when this article was published? I can find no date on that page and I think a date is very important, especially on tech articles like this).
best practices, progressive enhancement
Looking for nice examples of Google Webfont usage? Here you are.
typography
There are some common arguments against the use of meta languages like Sass and Compass. Tom Genoni gives some counterarguments and uses an old drug pusher trick to seduce into using these languages.
meta-languages
We should know a thing or two about HTTP – the protocol we use on the web to get our documents from the server to the browser – because it will help you to define better user interactions, achieve better site performance and create effective tools for managing information on the Web
, according to Karl Dubost. You should read it, it really isn't as hard as it sounds.
http
Yes, I know, this week's been a lousy Daily Nerd with less links than normal and even a whole day off. I expect the next few weeks to be as bad since I'm pretty busy at the moment with other cool things. The Mozilla Developer Engagement Team posted this weekly link list, filled with up to date links. If you really have nothing to do this weekend and want more to read, here's a link to a random post on the Daily Nerd (many are in Dutch, most links lead to English content though). Enjoy!
links, linkdump, random
Many interaction designers and architects I know are looking for good wireframing tools. Johan Ronsse – it's his birthday today, did you congratulate him yet? – wrote this useful comparison of different tools and techniques he uses (and the ones he never uses). Handy.
A nice small article by Jeremy Keith about how remarkable the web is.
web
Here's a good reminder by Michael Woloszynowicz that people do not read everything. He shows some possible solutions for some situations.
usability, content, ux
There are many types of hosting. Maciej Cegłowski looks at five different forms and explains the good and bad about them. As always with his articles, a very interesting and entertaining read.
hosting
The web is weird. Designers never had to deal with things we don't know, ever: the context and content was always predefined. On the web not so. Chris Coyier looks at some of the things we don't know and explains them. A must read for all designers.
design, uncertainty
This looks like a very nice swipe slider.
swipe, slide
Ha, I always thought you needed jQuery to target a specific className but Christian Heilmann point us into the direction of classList. And yes, there is a polyfill!
javascript, classes