http://www.liptrot.org/ en adam@liptrot.org Copyright 2007 2007-11-18T00:06:01+00:00 http://www.liptrot.org/journal/entries/css3-media-queries/ I was at the first event run by the amiable Keir and Glenn under the banner of Workshops for Web People in Leicester last week, featuring Andy Clarke‘s follow-on presentation for his Transcending CSS book. A well done to both the lads and Andy for putting on a great day and keeping everyone entertained and full of food and drink. Standards, Talks 2007-11-18T00:06:01+00:00 http://www.liptrot.org/journal/entries/gorilla-accessibility/ Cadbury’s have recently launched a new advertising campaign under the name Glass And A Half Full Productions. Whilst the advert itself is genius, it is the accompanying website which caught my eye. Not content with slapping together a basic site, they have gone the extra mile to ensure as many people as possible can get on board. As well as the standard Flash-powered content - note I say content, rather than site - they have a version running the video via Windows Media Player. This alone gives them props as Flash is a more responsive video player, but they have also added a video transcript - the first time I’ve seen it done on an advertising site. I’m no expert but the transcript seems very well executed, so I assume they recruited professionals to do the job. My only niggle would be that the link to the WMV player from the html version opens in a new window whilst the link from the Flash version remains in the parent, but this is small fish compared to the great steps they’ve taken for accessibililty on the rest of the site. The interesting thing is that the transcript actually adds something to the experience for folks who can actually see the video, so everyone benefits. Accessibility 2007-09-05T10:38:42+00:00 http://www.liptrot.org/journal/entries/mobile-web-design/ I’ve just finished reading Cameron Moll‘s latest book, Mobile Web Design, which is available as a 100-page PDF download for a mere $19. This is my first download of a purchased book and I’m pleasantly surprised by the format. The general thrust of the book is that the content should probably not be just your standard site (one of 4 possible options Cameron outlines), but rather a separate section or domain with content tailored to the user on the move (mobile referring to the user rather than the device). Contextualising what content people will want from your website via their phone is probably the most challenging part of mobile web design. It is quite possible that it is something which is not present on your primary domain, but this book gives you some good examples to help you get thinking in the right direction and using the phones unique abilities to full effect. This is not a technical reference, instead focusing on the greater picture, but Cameron gives plenty of links for additional reading, something which is important in what will possibly be many people’s first look at designing for mobile users. In all it was a great read, which I managed within a day, and anyone familiar with Cameron’s writing on his blog will feel right at home. Still not sure? The book site has a sample. Go download. Standards 2007-08-30T22:04:46+00:00 http://www.liptrot.org/journal/entries/web-teams-and-the-organisation/ Zeldman’s latest post, on the position of web teams in organisations, has such a resonance with me at the moment. Unfortunately from what he says it is a widespread occurence. In-house web development is often lumped in with either marketing or IT, both resulting from an ignorance of, or unwillingness to understand, what web developers actually do. General Web 2007-07-04T07:42:19+00:00 http://www.liptrot.org/journal/entries/ny-times-dictionary/ Whilst reading an article on the NY Times I came across their somewhat hidden dictionary feature. I’d double-clicked on a term I didn’t recognise, intending to do a right-click Google search, when a window popped up. I’d almost dismissed it before I realised it was a ‘feature’. Apparantly, this has caused some annoyance among those who idly click their mouse as they read, or highlight words as they go, even so far as the creation of counter-scripts and ad-blocking techniques. Plus I bet it confuses the heck out of new-to-the-web people for whom the NYTimes may be the first port-of-call. Whilst I do think it’s a neat feature, love the discoverability of it, and may be great for assisting understanding, perhaps there should be a toggle somewhere in the member centre (I had a look and could see one)? General Web, Usability 2007-06-28T11:23:22+00:00 http://www.liptrot.org/journal/entries/safari-on-windows/ One of the big announcements to come out of WWDC was the release of Safari for Windows. It’s still in beta but seems perfectly workable, although it is a bit frustrating that to open a new tab you have to remember a key combo or right-click whilst on every other browser it’s a double-click on the tab bar. I think I’ll definitely use it for a while on Windows as it seems to have some neat features, but whether it’ll replace Firefox (with its super-useful extensions) as my default is another thing. Apple, General Web 2007-06-11T21:12:17+00:00 http://www.liptrot.org/journal/entries/future-of-web-design-london-07/ I came away from FOWD with mixed feelings. One the one hand it was pretty different from what I had envisaged as a practical “design” focussed event (grids, typography etc), being more a mix of case studies of marketing/web firms projects (games and fashion sites), broad strokes of how to engage with your users and some more specific design threads about language and workflow. Overall, whilst very enjoyable it came across as a bit confused as to its aim, probably not helped by my internal assumptions tying to it last year’s Carson Summit. Despite that, all the presentations were engaging and well delivered and as always the organisation was flawless, so congrats to all involved. Even the sponsors contributions were more than the normal out-of-sight variety - Microsoft’s crash-out zone with bean-bags, XBox360s and live feed from the stage and Adobe’s provision of the after-event drinks. For me the highlights were: Talks 2007-04-23T10:23:58+00:00 http://www.liptrot.org/journal/entries/the-death-of-institutionalised-education/ By far the most interesting aspect of the recent Future of Web Design conference was the last thing to be said. The final panel was opened up to the floor and a question was put forward regarding the future of education in web design in face of the amazing pace of new developments in the field. Andy Clarke‘s reply was that if educational institutions cannot keep pace with developments then “perhaps we should see the death of institutionalised education” in web design. The spontaneous applause which this got from the floor indicates the understanding of how far behind schools, colleges and even some universities are when compared to best industry practice. I can’t help but agree, but I know it will never happen. Standards, Talks 2007-04-23T10:12:19+00:00 http://www.liptrot.org/journal/entries/highland-fling-07/ Thursday (5th April) was the first (hopefully annual) Highland Fling. It is really good to see an event in the top half of the country - even if it did mean a 5am start to get up there in time! Fortunately I was on the train with fellow Highland Fling-ers Gareth and Mark who prevented me from falling asleep and missing my stop. A short walk to the Symposium Hall in the Royal College of Surgeons gave us a quick glimpse of Edinburgh before the conference started. Talks 2007-04-07T15:36:13+00:00 http://www.liptrot.org/journal/entries/mona-lisa-in-ms-paint/ This is some pretty amazing stuff, I can only think the guy was using a tablet or similar. The core of it looks to be the framework he sets up at the start. General Web 2007-04-03T21:10:45+00:00