Thursday November 13 2008
Review: Everything You Know about CSS is Wrong
I heard some buzz about Everything You Know about CSS is Wrong, by Rachel Andrew & Kevin Yank and decided to order the book through Sitepoint. I ordered the hard copy as I don’t like reading on screen. Upon recieving the book my initial reaction was; this book is small. The page size is small and there are only 111 pages many of those with screenshots.
it is now up to designers to move the web forward. The opening chapter breifly discusses the history of browsers, design for layout, the implementation of CSS and issues designers have had with Internet Explorer and ends with the good news that IE 8 is coming and has passed the Acid2 test. According to the authors this means that it is now up to designers to move the web forward.
Chapter two looks at current techniques for layout in CSS and the hacks used to achieve the desired look, including floats, faux columns and absolute position. It then looks at the flaws of each approach. Finally the same sample web site is built using CSS tables. The authors discuss the display properties used to turn elements into tables - table-row, table-cell, table-row-group, table-header-group, table-footer-group, table-caption, table-column, table-column-group and anonymous table elements. I find the anonymous table elements particularly intriguing as they will potentially reduce markup.
The authors also clarify the difference between CSS tables and HTML tables. CSS tables are about controlling how elements display whereas HTML tables are about organizing tabular data.
Chapter three looks at practical applications including flexible layouts, nested tables, and positioning inside a cellChapter three looks at practical applications including flexible layouts, nested tables, and positioning inside a cell. The reader is also introduced to a way to simulate colspan and rowspan. Might one call this a hack? Not sure, since I’ve never done any tables based development. Source order is looked at - it’s not possible to reorder elements as everything needs to be placed in the order columns are displayed. The exceptions are table-footer-group & table-header-group which can be placed anywhere and will display correctly.
Chapter four addresses older browsers. The basic recommendation is that developers should say “To Hell with Bad Browsers”. That is to say we should design with modern CSS specifications and allow older browsers (IE 6 & 7) display as they will. The authors do offer some solutions including providing a simplified layout for IE6 & 7 using conditional comments. The final option would be to reproduce the layout using current methods in an IE only stylesheet. The benefits according to the authors are greater ease of development and stability. Instead of having to deal with browswer inconsistencies due to hacking CSS to display the grid with floats everything just works (except with IE7 and earlier).
At the begining of this chapter the reader is informed that History Repeats. That is developers should do what was done in 2001 and advocate that users upgrade their browsers by giving them a reason to upgrade - a better internet experience. Save the Developers is recommended for the modern movement - interestingly this site now redirects to a microsoft Internet Explorer page.
The final chapter was very intersting to read about forthcoming CSS3 specifications. However it’s nothing to get overly excited about since it’s not going to be a practical reality for some time to come.
final thoughts
Everything you Know about CSS is Wrong is an engaging read and provides insight into using CSS tables. I’m determined to try this on a couple of personal sites, but am pretty sure I won’t be moving towards CSS tables for client sites until the market shows it’s a more viable option. Anyhow we’ll see what happens - according to wikipedia IE8 final version is slated to be released late 2008. With only seven weeks left in 2008 that should be really soon.
At $29.95 plus shipping I do not think this book was worth the money. It’s far too short - it only took me 90 minutes to read the whole book. If you can read on a screen then I would recommend getting the pdf version.
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Thursday Nov 13, 2008 at 06:47 PM
General | (0)
| 
| tags:
css,
book review |
Thursday October 16 2008
Sick & Behind & outsourcing
I’ve been sick for the past 10 days or so and it looks like it’s finally starting to clear up. However this illness has led to me falling behind in all areas of my life. I’m currently in the middle of giving and grading mid-term exams at the university where I work on my day job. I’ve also barely been able to do any work on my current clients site. Fortunately, this client is also a close friend and he’s very understanding. Additionally he has a somewhat soft deadline.
Another thing I’m behind on is the reading I need to do. I’ve been asked to write a review on a book about Moodle 1.9 from packt publishing. Anyhow the plan is to finish the reading tomorrow and get started writing the review to be placed on my teaching blog as well as amazon & slashdot.
In the meantime, I’ve secured some other work styling an ExpressionEngine forum for another firm. I’m excited to be doing some outsourcing for another firm and hopefully it will lead to further work. Once I’ve finished the work, I’ll see about publishing their name here. First I want to be sure that I’ve done a good job and second I also want to be sure that the firm is okay with letting it be known that they have outsourced part of their contract.
This is my first time doing this so I’m not sure if I bid too low, just right or too high. Actually it wasn’t so much of a bid as I was asked via twitter if I would be available. I think I may have bid a little on the low side. I guess the only way to find out is to see how long it takes to get the project complete. It’s about to start any time now, I’m just waiting to get the source files.
Wednesday September 03 2008
Not Impressed
I downloaded Google Chrome just like the rest of the development community today. While everything seems to render correctly, I find the interface lacking and was not impressed when I clicked the maximize button and the browser fails to maximize correctly on my 22” vertical profile monitor (I use this one for browsing and coding). I can’t see myself switching any time soon, but will keep it installed for development purposes.
I just did day 2 of the hundred pushup challenge. According to the schedule I should have done 12, 12, 10,10, xx I did okay for the first half of this, but hit the wall in the second half. I did 12, 12, 9, 4, 4. Not exactly a stellar performance. I seem to be about halfway between column 2 and column 3. I might end up repeating week one, but would like to be confident enough to make it to week two without repeating.
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Wednesday Sep 3, 2008 at 02:48 PM
General |
| tags:
100 pushups,
browsers |
Thursday August 14 2008
Smokin’ Busy
Since the weekend I got smokin’ busy. From friday to Sunday I wrote a massive post comparing online slideshow services for my teaching blog. I also got in touch with my original client, but he hasn’t yet delivered the promised images. Also I am about to start a site design for a friend opening a business (yes he’s paying me) and was contacted by a language school in a nearby city about doing a site for them - still emailing back and forth.
finally I also picked up a small design project of replicating a menu built in tables and making it tableless as well as adding superfish javascript functionality to it. This was going well until I looked in IE and realized it was completely messed up. I don’t know why it took me so long to find the solution, but I had to delete one of the classes in superfish.css to get everything to render fine. Now I just need to tweak up the navbar a bit and send it to the client.
Later today, I’m meeting a local web designer (also a non-Korean) for a coffee to talk about design and life in Korea. Hopefully this turns into a good connection or friend.
Busy busy busy.
Tuesday August 05 2008
Portfolio Inspiration
Design mag has a list of 101 Awesome Portfolio Sites. Definitely inspirational and I hope one day to design something that can be a candidate for a similar list.
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Tuesday Aug 5, 2008 at 10:06 AM
General |
| tags:
design,
inspiration |
Tuesday July 29 2008
networking
Today was a good day for networking. Last night I started searching for English speaking web designers in Seoul and found one. I sent him an email and he responded positively a couple more back and forths and it looks like we’re going to meet for coffee after his trip to the States next week. Big bonus, he only lives 4 subway stops away from me so it’s really easy to get together.
This morning I was teaching a corporate class and on my way down the elevator to go home I ran into a friend from a Korean class I took two years ago. It turns out he’s a php programmer, lives walking distance to my house and is developing an online translator for Korean to English. We had coffee and there seems to be a pretty good chance of collaboration on a project in the future - i.e. if I need custom php work he’ll do it and I might help with the design of his translator web site.
Last week I met up with a graphic designer in Seoul that I had commissioned to do artwork for a personal project. He’s also amenable to taking on photoshop work beyond my skill and lives only a couple of subway stops away. Overall this has been a good week for connections - now it’s just a matter of turning this into paid work. Need to find a client.
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Tuesday Jul 29, 2008 at 12:38 PM
General |
| tags:
clients,
networking |
Thursday July 24 2008
They have no idea
I’ve been watching a couple of freelancing sites for the past few days and it’s depressing to see the ads being placed. I just saw one for 4 blog templates requiring 3 wireframes, psd, 3 html pages with sample blog entries and allowance for 1-2 reviews of each stage. Total budget $250-$750. I don’t think I’ll be bidding.
Another one was for 6 pages using dreamweaver, maximum budget $60. I could go on, but I won’t. What’s really depressing is that there are tons of people bidding on these projects. If you work for peanuts how can you live.
I do have a full time day job and am bidding on some projects at a somewhat low price, but I’m not going to be taking projects where I’m making less than minimum wage. Honestly, how can these designers work for so little? I want to set my minimum at $50 but haven’t been able to get any work yet so am considering dropping down to $35 for a couple of projects.
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Thursday Jul 24, 2008 at 01:37 PM
General |
| tags:
clients,
freelancing,
clueless |
Tuesday July 22 2008
Web 2.0 how-to design syle guide
Web 2.0 how-to design syle guide is an excellent and informative post from WebDesignFromScratch. I found this link via the site5 forums - this thread. Topics covered are:
- Simplicity
- Central layout
- Fewer columns
- Separate top section
- Solid areas of screen real-estate
- Simple nav
- Bold logos
- Bigger text
- Bold text introductions
- Strong colours
- Rich surfaces
- Gradients
- Reflections
- Cute icons
- Star flashes
Monday July 21 2008
Finding Work
I’m in the process of trying to secure new clients. This is really hard to do when I don’t have any current referrals and live in a country where I don’t speak the local language well enough to network. I am of course networking with the expat population, but my experience is that they are for the most part cheapskates who wouldn’t buy their own mother a drink let alone pay for a web site (blogger is very popular).
I’ve registered with get a freelancer (and added a link to the sidebar), but it seems like either the budgets are too low for what’s being asked or the scope of the project is beyone my skill and knowledge. I have bid for two projects, but am not particularly hopeful at this point. If anyone is reading and would like to recommend another freelancing site I would be very grateful.
In my searching I also found this article by Andy Budd on the 7 habits of a highly successful freelancer web designer. The article is quite old, but still seems very relevant to me at this point.
In other news I’ve set up XAMPP on my desktop for local production. I’ve also set up a no-ip account so I can post a link to my local dev when I run into troubles and need help. It’s not running right now, but is available.
In the meantime, I’ve started mockups of two different personal sites: my family web site which desperately needs a new look and a portfolio site for my teaching (day job). Unfortunately I can’t find the notes I made a few months back about what i wanted to do with the site, so i’m starting fresh.
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Monday Jul 21, 2008 at 03:34 PM
General |
| tags:
read this,
freelancing,
personal sites,
development |
Friday July 18 2008
EE Mug
I got my EE Mug in the post today after submitting a video entry for the Show us your Mug showcase at Expression Engine. The video entries don’t appear to be up yet, but below you can see a picture of the mug I got - will be drinking coffee out of it tomorrow morning.
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Friday Jul 18, 2008 at 05:34 PM
General |
| tags:
coffee,
expressionengine |
Tuesday July 15 2008
No comp - no code
I haven’t got a comp back from my graphic designer after having sent the latest feedback a few days ago. Without the comp, the client isn’t going to approve the design. Without approval I can’t slice the image and start coding. The client is also partly to blame, as I haven’t yet received a key image to include in the banner image. What’s a coder to do?
Read some of the books that I have and practice my skills in other ways. I’ll be finishing off the book I bought on typography today and probably re-starting the javascript book because I didn’t understand it the first time around (only made it about 35%). I’ve also started planning out a redesign of my family site. I’ve got the wireframe ready, but am stuck on what I want to do with graphics parts, besides we need to get a new family photo done so I can include that in the design as well.
Friday July 11 2008
Monday July 07 2008
Reading
I took the day off of coding - my pro site is basically done. All I need to do is write the copy of services (this is more difficult than coding) and get a little javascript magic working on the individual portfolio entries.
Today I picked up my business cards from the local print shop. I’m very satisfied with how they look. I also extensively cleaned the house - wife should be happy when she gets home from work. The books I ordered, Thinking with Type & Transcending CSS arrived and I started reading the typography book.
Still looking for a recommendation on a book about color theory and design.
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Monday Jul 7, 2008 at 05:17 PM
General |
| tags:
read this,
css,
typography |
Saturday July 05 2008
Progress on Biz Site
I’m waiting for feedback from my client before proceeding so I spent some time today reading Web ReDesign 2.0 and then working on my business/portfolio site. Everything is coming along smoothly with only a few minor hiccups.
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Saturday Jul 5, 2008 at 05:14 PM
General |
| tags:
general,
web redesign 2.0 |
Tuesday July 01 2008
No Coding Today
I’m not going to do any coding today. I’m still waiting to hear back from my graphic designer. Instead of working on the business site, I’m going to head to a coffee shop and continue reading Web ReDesign 2.0. I’m almost finished reading about phase one and already have so many different ideas about how to approach my next client and project. Clearly this book is a valuable resource for anyone involved in redesign either as a team or a free lancer.
Last night I also completed a preliminary design of my business card which received my wife’s approval. I’ve printed up a few copies and will distribute them to colleagues and friends - I’m heading to a coffee shop near where I teach.
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Tuesday Jul 1, 2008 at 10:25 AM
General |
| tags:
read this,
coffee,
web redesign 2.0 |
Monday June 30 2008
Business Site
I’ve sent a few emails off to my graphic designer in Edmonton about my client site, but due to a long weekend (Canada Day) and time changes I’m not expecting a speedy reply. I’m hoping though since I’ve reached the wall with my photoshop skill and can’t really proceed any further without the graphics for backgrounds etcetera.
I have been making good use of my time however. I completed a comp of the homepage for my web design site and got it coded into static html. Everything went very smooth and the html/css site looks exactly like the photoshop site. There’s still alot to do with that site including; setting up contact form, portfolio, services offered, testimonials, and more. Additionally I have to port it all to Expression Engine and upgrade my license from personal to commercial.
update
Part of the page is messed up in IE7 - don’t know about IE and lower, but can only assume it’s equal or worse. - strange, but without changing any code it now looks fine.
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Monday Jun 30, 2008 at 04:24 PM
General |
| tags:
photoshop,
internet explorer,
expressionengine |
Saturday June 28 2008
Time gone
My wife has to go into work all weekend - that means no progress on client site. Gotta watch the kids. This is unfortunate as last night I started making some good progress on my photoshop comp and have been inspired. Hopefully I can keep my ideas flowing on to pen and paper and then translate to photoshop later.
I also need to work on my latest newspaper column due Sunday night.
Monday June 23 2008
Tomorrow is the beginning
Tomorrow I start work on my first clients site. Today I was busy with paperwork for the end of the semester, but now I’m on vacation until September first and I can fully concentrate on web design.
Last night I wasn’t sure if my client was going to accept my quote. While thinking (worrying) I decided that I would create this blog to record my journey. When I got home this afternoon I had two free hours to get it done and then I had to pick up my kids - I managed to get a little work on the blog done between cooking and feeding them. In any case I think for about 3.5 hours of work, I did a pretty good job of getting a minimalist template up with no images other than buttons in the footer and an RSS icon.
There’s still a little work to be done - there’s some unsightly white space at the top of the page in FF (don’t know why), need to add the contact page and tidy up my code. Much of the code is cut and paste from other blogs and as such I’m pretty sure there’s some extraneous markup. All that of course will have to wait until I get my first client’s site taken care of.
Also on the to do list, mostly related to freelancing - get a business license, Merchant account with Visa, make business cards, set up a boilerplate contract. I have set up time tracking with Slim Timer to help me get better at estimating my time per project. - I’m sure I’ll find that I have under estimated the time required for this client. But with experience and time tracking I’ll get better at it.
I’m looking forward to the adventure
Big Priority
The big priority for this blog is to be able to post code without it being rendered or breaking the layout. I really want to have it display with horizontal scroll bars like the Expression Engine forums do when using code tags.
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Monday Jun 23, 2008 at 10:43 PM
General |
| tags:
free lancing,
this blog,
time tracking |
First Entry
This blog is going to record my journey into professional web design. Early this year (2008) I decided to prepare a career transition into web design. The first thing I did in this venture was to redesign my teaching blog. At this time there are a couple of small things that need work there, but surprisingly I’ve picked up my first client purely on the basis of that design.
I’m actually a little unprepared for a first client, but when one comes knocking it’s not a good idea to turn them away. My original plan was to redesign my family site (no link here), let’s learn korean, and the portfolio site for my new venture. I figured that by the end of that I would have solidified by knowledge of CSS and Xhtml and be ready to start looking for clients.
At that point I was going to start paying attention to the business side of things, like getting a business license, a Visa merchant account, business cards, contracts, payment schedules, hourly rates etcetera. However, I’ve had to start all that this past weekend.
I’ll be blogging about all aspects of my move into pro design - coding, client relations, taxes, business regulations and more.
The design for this blog is a really quick, clean and minimalist design. I don’t have time to do something fancy so I’m keeping it as simple as possible. I actually wanted to make a grayscale theme for EE core and release it to the community and I may end up using this as the basis for that.
A couple of things I want to do is figure out how to post code so that it has a horizontal scroll in order to not break the layout. I also need to add category lists to the sidebar and I’m going to invest in the tag module and set up tagging here.
Notice
I’ve been blogging regularly for four years and I learn well by writing about it. What I’m saying is that this blog is not going to end up with only a few entries and disappear. I’m good at blogging and this will help me transition into my chosen career so potential readers can expect to see entries for a long time to come.
