This post is for my Spring 2008 “Web Site Design” students.
I couldn’t let a Wednesday pass without taking up your evening for a brief while. Tough love, I know. But it’s why you pay me the big bucks.
We’re halfway done, and finished with the code portion of our course. Well, not really finished—you have two projects to go, and I’m almost certain the last two exams will test your markup mettle.
Still, it’s not all tag soup. We’ll now begin to focus on the “rest” of web design: look and feel, usability, making servers your willing slaves. Before we launch into the second half, I leave you now with some coding tips to help you throughout the remainder of the semester and well into your careers…
- Those “Clean Coding Guidelines” I gave you? Stick to them. Trust me on this one. The industry thanks you in advance.
- Bellbottoms. Leisure suits.
<font>tags. All deprecated. - You will get CSS positioning, in time. Same way you get to Carnegie Hall.
- Those JavaScript frameworks sure are tempting (JQuery’s my poison du jour). Fair warning: you won’t get very far until you actually learn JavaScript. The foray into AJAX makes things even trickier, but not having to rely on Flash all the time is well worth it. Did I mention I teach “Advanced Web” as well?
- Don’t Repeat Yourself. Less is more. Keep it simple, stupid. If you can name that tune in 100 lines of code, then try to whistle it in 50. Keyword: optimization.
- Speaking of which, don’t let those snake oil salesmen in on our dirty little secrets. We can do our own SEO for free. But shhh…you didn’t hear it from me.
- WYSIWYG editors are for sissies. ‘Nuff said.
As I previously stated, the rest of the semester will be spent on the right side of the brain. To prepare for our discussions on graphics and visual design, I recommend reading “On Creativity” and “Design is in the Details” from the recent issue of A List Apart, one of the better web design zines online.
Many of you asked how to color elements using CSS. We’ll finally unravel the mystery of hex values when we return; for now, please enjoy this brief addendum to my awe-inspiring, Pulitzer-worthy PowerPoint series.
Oh, and remember that Sitepoint reference on CSS I gave you? They just launched one on (X)HTML, which includes a page on web color. Enjoy.
Finally, I’ll be sampling some fine Czech pilseners straight from the source next week, so I’ll keep you posted on how we’ll conduct class sans yours truly. Until then, enjoy what’s left of your spring break here in the tropical paradise that is Michigan.
Enjoy the pilseners - I’ll be quaffing California wines (I guess I mean sipping - quaffing is what Snoopy does with root beers) while you’re admiring the Czech crystal. I’m actually taking my homework to California with me to work on in between the beer runs, but I expect to find time to enjoy my grandson and help my kids getting there new home squared away. See you on April 2 (I’ll be flying back from a technical paper that I’m presenting at Kansas State University that day, but I should be back in Detroit in plenty of time to make class that night).