07/2008 Article Archive

  • July 29, 2008 in Design Tips & Tutorials

    Indestructible Website: How to Build an EM Based Layout that Won't Break

    The EM is a measurement just like PX or PT. One EM is equal to the pixel measurement of the current font size. So, for example, 1em on a web page with a font size of 16px equals 16px. The direct relationship between font size and EM allows us to build layouts that scale along with the font size. This means that a visitor with a browser font size set to "large" will see a perfectly scaled version the layout rather than a skinny layout with really big letters.

  • July 25, 2008 in Friday Blog Clips

    5 for Friday | The Week's Best Blogs (7/25/08 Edition)

    Wow! If you're looking for Illustrator resources, this is your lucky week. There were so many good resource lists and tutorial for Illustrator that I had to fill at list three of my five slots with them. Also, on a side not, I'd like to congratulate Steven Snell on the launch of his new design blog DesginM.ag. If it's anything like his other two blogs, you can expect to see links here on 5 for Friday in the near future.

    • 2 Comments
    • 1243 Views
  • July 22, 2008 in Design Tips & Tutorials

    Pushing the Limits (Part 3): Building a Semantic Four-column CSS Layout

    In part two of the Pushing the Limits series, we looked at some simple techniques for building a four-column CSS layout. Unfortunately, the divide and conquer method we explored (although quick and easy) leaves something to be desired in the area of semantic markup. Now, we'll consider another solution that uses a little Javascript to make up for the shortcomings of CSS.

    • 23 Comments
    • 13513 Views
  • July 18, 2008 in Friday Blog Clips

    5 for Friday | The Week's Best Blogs (7/18/08 Edition)

    This has been an interesting week on Mirificam Press. I especially enjoyed the reader comments and questions I received this week on and off the actual blog. The topic of vocation seems to be one that hits home with a lot of web designers. Moving on to the topic of links, Devlounge posted a great introductory tutorial to the PHP library cURL. In case, you've never used it or are new to PHP, cURL allows you to transfer data to and from outside servers on the server side. Devlounge uses the example of pulling an RSS feed down from Digg.

    • 1 Comments
    • 1223 Views
  • July 16, 2008 in Web Design Worldview

    Glorious Web Designer: Talkin' 'Bout My Vocation

    What's the most important job in the world? This question sounds like something a curious young child would ask his parents. Fireman... Policeman... Doctor... I don't know little Johnny; what do you want to be when you grow up? It seems silly to those of us who have grown up and chosen a vocational route—something we rarely think about. But it is typically the simplest and most basic questions whose answers carry the weightiest consequences. Closer consideration reveals that this question is actually utterly profound, and answering one way or another can dramatically affect the way you live your life. It is one of the most basic teleological inquiries and digs deep into the heart of human purpose. Is web designer the most important job in the world? If not—if it's just an unnecessary peripheral, then why am I not dedicating my life in some way to a vocation of real importance?

  • July 14, 2008 in Design Tips & Tutorials

    Pushing the Limits (Part 2): A Simple Four Column CSS Layout with a Little Divitis

    CSS works very well for designing one and two column layouts. It's shaky but workable on three-column layouts. But if you want a four column layout, you have to get downright creative. This article presents an easy, straightforward method for designing a four-column CSS powered layout without deviating too far from the semantic model. Granted, Jeffrey Zeldman would accuse me of a slight case of divitis but at least this method doesn't revert to tables or improper use of unordered lists.

    • 107 Comments
    • 24690 Views
  • July 11, 2008 in Friday Blog Clips

    5 for Friday | The Week's Best Blogs (7/11/08 Edition)

    I wanted to start this week's 5 for Friday by saying how pleased I have been at the comments on the article Truth Claims and the Future of Web Design. I think both agreers and objectors have kept the conversation amiable and intelligent, which is more that I can say for a lot forums on similar topics.There were a lot of great resource lists out there this week. I included four in this week's 5 for Friday but I could have filled all five slots if I wanted to. But I figured that wouldn't be very much variety, so I included Devlounge's incredible photo gallery tutorial. Also, the list of cheat sheets by Six Revisions is one you should definitely bookmark. Anyway, here they are.

    • 3 Comments
    • 1217 Views
  • July 9, 2008 in Web Design Worldview

    Truth Claims and the Future of Web Design

    "What is truth?" Pontius Pilate asked this question almost 2000 years ago. At the time, he had no inkling of the infamy which was to follow these words through the millennia. He asked the question as a jaded cynic—he had no interest in knowing the truth. In fact, his question is of a rhetorical nature, implying simply that there is no truth. And yet, in asking this question he hit the very crux of the human condition. Our view of truth is the Rosetta Stone for how we interpret life, relationships, ethics, vocation, and even design. It's the foundation of our worldview. Without a firm grasp on the popular views of truth we encounter, we will find ourselves in situations where our speech is lost in translation. Remember, when we talk about truth here, we are talking about the whole ball of wax. We're asking, What is reality? What is right and what is wrong? What really happened in history? What is real? The question extends out to every area of existence and has enormous implications for the future of our work in web design. In order to clear the haze, we'll start by looking at some popular views of truth and then we'll move on to the historical Christian view of truth and why it conforms to reality as no other view does.

  • July 7, 2008 in Design Tips & Tutorials

    Pushing the Limits (Part 1): The Perfectly Semantic Three Column CSS Layout

    Building a three or four column layout on the web without the help of a table can be a difficult task. The CSS3 spec proposes a perfectly tailored solution; but, unfortunately, CSS3 support is spotty at best even in modern browsers. We're stuck with CSS2 until that changes, so we might as well make the best of it. There are a number of ways to overcome the lack of multi-column support in CSS and none of them is very pretty. The three-column layout is the easiest to achieve without stepping outside the semantic boundaries, so we'll start there. Then in the next few articles we'll move on to the rarely explored waters of four-column+ CSS layouts.

    • 18 Comments
    • 18548 Views
  • July 4, 2008 in Friday Blog Clips

    5 for Friday | The Week's Best Blogs (7/4/08 Edition)

    Happy Independence Day to all you American readers. I'll be spending my day with my family eating hot dogs and relaxing. To everyone else, I guess it's just another Friday. The link selection this week is deep and diverse, and I recommend reading every single article. But if you only have time for one, you need to check out A List Apart's tutorial on Faux absolute positioning. Faux absolute positioning is another method for building multi-column layouts in CSS.

    • 2 Comments
    • 1231 Views
  • July 2, 2008 in Web Design Worldview

    Analyzing Web Design Through the Christian Worldview Lens

    Is there really a Christian way to analyze design? Can non-religious works of creativity still be considered Christian? What makes a design good or bad? If you're a Christian designer and you haven't considered these questions, you probably aren't analyzing design from a Christian worldview. More importantly, you're probably consenting to a broken worldview without realizing it. It's imperative that we understand the answers to these questions and apply historical Christian principles consistently and relentlessly to our design critiques. We do our creator a disservice when we allow ourselves to be ignorant of the unique and realistic view he has provided for us.