Google Chrome

A little over a year ago, when Google announced the launch of a new Web “Browser” I had to scratch my head and ask why? The market already had several excellent options, including Firefox, Safari, and Opera to name just a few. So what would Google get out of putting effort into their own, especially one as anemic as Chrome appeared to be, with few of the bells and whistles of the others? The Answer was obvious almost immediately to me. This was no browser. This was a stealth OS.

Well, it turns out I was right. Although it was announced for a few months, Google made it official yesterday, launching the new Google Chrome OS.

Tags: Future, Web Development by jason
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Q: Which global reset for CSS should I use?

The short answer is the simplest one possible.

The slightly longer answer is that you should reset some styles, but do so with a good reason.

The long answer is that the exact CSS reset you choose will depend on the needs of your design. I like to keep my own reset simple, relying on adding styles to specific tags as needed. However there are several styles that are inconsistent or (in my opinion) poorly set in most browsers that need to be corrected.

The argument for redefining important CSS properties (generally to none or 0) are straight forward:

• Reduces bad styles: Undoes some of the questionable and downright annoying styles added by browser manufacturers as well as the styles that simply do not work. One that comes springs to mind is using an outline to highlight items that are in focus such as form fields. While highlighting is useful for keyboard navigation, you should design this yourself.
• Eliminates design by default: Sets a level playing field from which to begin a design. Rather than allowing the browser manufacturers dictate how your pages look, you are now in control.
• Browser style consistency: Ensures values across all browser types and versions are the same. Since browsers vary their default style values slightly, a good reset will allow your designs to appear with greater consistency, regardless of how your visitor is viewing it.

There are also several counter arguments to be made against a global reset, although I find their logic to be mostly flawed…

Read the Rest on Peachpit.com »

Tags: CSS, Web Development by jason
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A little present to brighten up your dull Monday morning. I’ve created a new desktop wall paper listing the 62 cross-OS Web safe fonts, based on my list of Web-safe fonts. These are the fonts that are most likely to be on both Mac and Windows computers, making them prime candidates for incorporating into your Web designs. And you can now have them all at your fingertips.

To use, just find the font(s) that best suites your needs, add them to your font family list in your CSS:

font-family: "Franklin Gothic Book", helvetica, arial, sans-serif;

and sit back and watch the typographic yumminess. if the person viewing your site has that font installed (which is likely but not guaranteed) their browser will use it. Otherwise, the design falls back to the other fonts in the list.

I’ve created the desktop for a variety of monitor resolution, so choose the one that best fits yours:

• SiS-Desktop_1280×800
• SiS-Desktop_1280×1024
• SiS-Desktop_1400×1050
• SiS-Desktop_1440×900
• SiS-Desktop_1600×1200
• SiS-Desktop_1680×1050
• SiS-Desktop_2048×1536

If you find the list useful, please make sure and spread the word.

Tags: CSS, Typography, Web Design, Web Development by jason
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Over in my other blog, JasonSpeaking, I’ve posted an analysis of the news from Google that Google Chrome OS is in Beta, with a final version to be released sometime (they say mid) next year.

From a Web design standpoint, the news of Google Chrome OS is of little interest and of great interest.

Because Google Chrome uses the Webkit rendering engine—the same rendering engine that Apple Safari uses—it means that there is little difference between designing for Safari or designing for Chrome. There have been a few inconsistencies between the browsers—depending on the build of Webkit they deploy in their live browser—but, for the most part, these differences are cosmetic. We can safely assume that this will continue to be true for Google Chrome OS

However, Google chrome OS could be a game changer in the arena of operating systems, and we may well see more applications that are currently run on the desktop migrate to the Web. As the Web becomes increasingly a place where we interact with each other and information (rather than just consuming it) Web designers are going to have to work more and more in the real of User Interface design. After all, Google Chrome will take care of the chrome.

Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Tags: Future, Web Design, Web Development by jason
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Webdesigner Depot just published my first article written for them, all about the ongoing struggle between designers and developers for the heart of the Web. In the article, entitled “5 Pet Peeves Designers Have With Developers (and How to Avoid Them)“, I  wanted to air some of the gripes I constantly hear from those who visualize the Web against those who build the Web and suggest some ideas for how to resolve them.

A little taste from the article:

Peeve #2: “The colors are all wrong!”

You don’t choose colors arbitrarily, but developers seem to think that “close is close enough.”

Issue
I don’t know whether this is true of all developers, but I once worked with a developer who was red-green color-blind (he was a huge fan of our content manager, who sent all of her emails in pink text on a lime-green background). However, being color-blind didn’t stop him from being a kick-ass developer.

Solution
If you want the colors to be right, then spell out all of the color values on the page. Don’t rely on your developer to eyeball the color values or to sample the colors in Photoshop.

You also need to consider that the problem may not be with the developer but with you. Colors look different on a Mac and in CMYK (if you happen to accidentally enable that color space). Make sure that your document color mode and proofs are set to generic RGB by default.

Tags: Excerpt, Web Design, Web Development by jason
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