Web Standards Archives
Bulletproof CSS Hacks
September 10, 2005 | 
16 Comments
I just started Bulletproof Web Design by Dan Cederholm.
I needed a bit of a CSS refresher and it’s pretty good so far. But it’s also disappointing. Not in the fact that it’s incomplete, or that Dan’s techniques or writing are off the mark. All of that seems great so far. It’s clearly written and easy to follow. And the techniques are solid.
No. It’s disappointing because the whole first chapter is about how to hack your CSS to make sure IE handles font sizing correctly. I mean, that really sucks when you stop to think about it. A whole chapter devoted to hacks. Worthy hacks, and hacks you should know, but still hacks.
I’d forgotten how little we’ve progressed in that regard. In general, I don’t think to much about IE anymore. Which is probably not a good thing, but it just seems to slip my mind until someone reminds me or shows me one of my pages is broken in IE. Still, even then I usually drag my feet fixing it.
Ah well, thanks to Dan for reminding me and refreshing my memory with easy solutions.
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Web Standards Are Your Responsibility
September 06, 2005 | 38 Comments
Last week my post Standards Geeks Hard To Come By raised some good discussion. One of the threads I found particularly interesting is the age old tale of how many developers, for a host of reasons, cannot use Web standards in their day job.
At the risk of pissing some people off, I’m going to call bullshit on this one. This goes out to professional Web designers and developers everywhere: Web standards are your responsibility, even though you might not know it.
I know, probably better than many, how much of a challenge Web standards can be to implement on a day-to-day basis. I’ve expressed my angst towards standards and validation in particular many, many times, but when all is said and done the only way I’ve been able to use standards on my paying projects is because I pushed long and hard for them and probably spent many an extra hour of my own time making sure Web standards were a part of my projects.
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Standards Geeks Hard To Come By?
September 01, 2005 | 80 Comments
I’ve got a question for all the Web standards folks out there. Do you all have jobs?
The reason why I ask is because I know quite a few folks who are having a real tough time finding people to fill some pretty sweet Web design and development positions. And it seems like any time in the last year or so I’ve known of someone looking for some help with standards based stuff (CSS in the main) they’ve had a devil of a time finding it.
What’s the deal? Is it just a Seattle thing? Are all those developers and designers from a few years back employed now? (If so, that’s fantastic.) I’m just really curious as to why it seems so hard for people to find good, qualified and passionate Web geeks. Both designers and coders.
For now I’m blaming Seattle’s proximity to Microsoft, but…you’d think even they’d be looking for people who know what’s up. Any ideas?
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Recent (Mostly Standards-Based) Work
June 17, 2005 | 12 Comments
It’s funny, I remember a time, not that long ago, when any business Web site that even looked towards Web standards was called out and praised for being a forward thinker. Now it seems all I see is high design and personal sites. Standards have been replaced with style.
It’s good. People are actually getting it and it’s not just the standards geeks. We recently had a client who asked specifically for standards (and CSS and XHTML specifically) for their site. That was a first I hope to see become a trend.
Now if only all those developers who are resistant to change would get on board…ah well. In any-case, I’ve not really talked about the work going on at my new job so I thought I’d take a minute and share some of the work we’ve done recently.
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Web Standards Blindness
April 22, 2005 | 43 Comments
It’s been quite awhile since I’ve talked about Web standards. I think part of the reason is because most of the people who read this site already know most of what I’d have to say. As some of you may know, I’ve been trying to get my writings out to a wider audience. A while back I published a SEO piece targeted towards marketers and I’ve also written a few Web standards and best practices articles geared towards decision-makers.
You can only take a message so far by preaching to the choir!
Which brings me to the point of this post. There are some thriving Web professional communities online. If you are reading this chances are you belong to one of them. You read blogs, you practice life-long learning, have a passion for the Web and do your best to keep up with the jones’.
However, my guess is that when it comes to Web professionals, you’re part of a minority.
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