Let’s talk about text
Dan Kaufman on online text readability.
First, the more distinguishable each character is from another, the easier it is to read. This is why typefaces with serifs (the little lines on the end of letter strokes – Times, for example, is a serif typeface) are not as popular online as sans-serif typefaces (those without serifs) such as Arial. In print, serifs work well but on a computer screen simplicity (sans-serifs) is more important than elegance
The Return of Table-Based Layout (Well, Sort Of)
There has been some good articles recently on how display: table; (and its subsidiaries) can actually be extremely useful in modern web layout. Here is one of them at Freelancer Magazine. Essentially you can code using nice semantic divs and accomplish stuff like equal height columns without much work. This stuff is part of the CSS 2.1 spec and it won’t work in IE 6/7, but most good browsers support it.
CSS Browser Selector
Less than 1k JavaScript file which does some simple browser sniffing and applies a class to the <html> element. This enables you to write browser-specific CSS without any hacks at all. I’ve been saying forever that IDing the body is an awesome technique for all kinds of stuff.
Huffduffer Written in HTML 5
Jeremy Keith has a new project (described as ffffound for ssssound). I’m linking to it here because I find it interesting he wrote it in HTML 5. Kind of bold at the moment with all of zero browsers supporting it (it still renders fine… as it doesn’t use any of the new elements). View source and check out the DOCTYPE. Sooo clean. mmmm. He also uses the <audio< element which is pretty neat.
Script & Style
We’ve been humming right along on Script & Style finding and sharing links about web design and development. Your welcome to submit stuff and pick up the feed.
Ok, urm, I know it’s obvious but the fact that the “CSS Browser Selector” will only work if JS is enabled is a big concern. If we take IE6 for example, what benefits does this 1k JS solution have over a simple conditionally commented StyleSheet?
I hope we’ll see more of those HTML 5 pages, this could accelerate the adoption of the standard by browser vendors.
@James
We all agree that the real problems come from IE 5/6/7, which alreay offers the conditional stuff. It’s too dangerous in my opinion to rely on JS for styling.
@Antoine, you still support IE5?
@ James Yes, in some ways. For example, on my company website, I use transparent pngs for the background of some tags. I made a stylesheet for IE5 with background:inherit for the tags that were using it. Also, I tryied to keep the layout “not so bad”.
I do not try to make my website look the same in IE 5/6. All I try is make it presentable. I usually take less than 5 lines of CSS, adjusting some widths and other stuff.
One if the issues I’ve got nowadays with readability, is the line length. As I’ve read about it, I’ve figured that creating a total flexible (liquid) design with good readability is hard. Check out Max Design’s old post “Ideal line length for content” for more about the subject. Does anyone got any good live examples of 100% liquid layout with ideal line length?
Opera already supports it, and for some time already.
You site ate my link! :)
http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2008/03/html-5-suppor-1.html.