LessFussDesign blog

Archive for the ‘Web design’ Category

28 Jul 2009

BBC Glow

When Alan Partridge asks Tony Hayers what he thinks of regional detective dramas Shoestring, Taggart, Spender, Bergerac and Morse, and Tony Hayers says “There’s too many of them”, Alan replies “That’s one way of looking at it. Another way of looking at it is, ‘People like them, let’s make some more of them’”. The BBC has a similar attitude when it comes to javascript libraries, it seems. A few weeks ago they released Glow [external link] under the Apache license, giving us all a chance to spread some of the magic dust that goes into the BBC site over our own creations. But far from being another framework for wow-effects, Glow has the edge in two important areas: cross-browser support and accessibility. Continue reading »

1 comment
03 Jun 2009

Universal Internet Explorer 6 CSS – putting a plaster on the Achilles heel

I’ve been taking a look at Andy Clarke’s new solution to the old Internet Explorer 6 problem – using one universal CSS file for all sites [external link] (with ‘a little branding here, or a touch of customization there’) – and I’ve decided I don’t really like it. I don’t like it because it serves web designers and developers, rather than the right people – clients and users. And because I think it will promote laziness when it comes to testing sites in IE6, which – like it or not – will most likely be around for a while yet. Continue reading »

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30 May 2009

Projects update

Given the last site in my portfolio was from November last year and it’s now almost summer, I’m thinking it looks like I’ve either a) called it a day or b) got no work to be getting on with. Rather than putting up a tumbleweed animation on the homepage, here’s a quick update on what I’m working on instead. Continue reading »

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09 Apr 2009

Naked

No, not me you’ll be disappointed glad to hear, but this blog – it’s the fourth CSS Naked Day [external link] today, the annual event from the Gok Wan of web standards, Dustin Diaz [external link]. I’m de-robing this blog for the first time to show my support, and to demonstrate that while far from pretty, the site should still at least be usable.

Continue reading »

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07 Apr 2009

Mock ups the old fashioned way

For a recent project I was asked to come up with some (very) rough design ideas for a site where the client wanted a ‘grungy’ look. Because the client was only after some rough layout ideas and nothing polished, I put aside Photoshop and for the first time in years took to paper, pencil crayon and felt tips. I’d forgotten how enjoyable – and liberating – working with the old traditional media is. But if hand drawing isn’t your thing, but you like the sketched-style wireframes for presenting layout ideas, there’s plenty of good – and reasonably priced – software packages out there. Continue reading »

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