Archive

* html body {display: none;} … I haven’t figured out why some think this hack is discriminatingGeorg

position: relativity

Ever wonder why applying a position: relative to an element in Internet Explorer can fix bizarre rendering problems? The standing theory, which is also a highly technical one, is that sometimes you just need to remind IE that things need to flow in their natural order. As logical as that may sound, the problem really has to do with a little thing called hasLayout.

display: none inline-block

This is not a new cat, nor a new bag, for that matter. Web designers have long been plagued with the rendering inconsistencies offered up by Internet Explorer, such as the peek-a-boo bug. Each of us, individually and as a community, have mapped these inconsistencies out and made record of them in our own bag of CSS tricks. None-the-less, IE still proves to be the most loathsome part of the job for many.

Though IE7 has made some pleasing improvements over it’s predecessors, it’s still a pitch or seven away from being adequate. So, I was very excited when I found On Having Layout, an on going project focussed on understanding IE’s proprietary “Layout” property and how it is messing up our world.

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Delivering under tight deadlines is pretty much what you’re in for, if you’re a web designer. Knowing how to handle it, is what will make you a designer of the web. As many times as I’ve wanted to pull my hair out with unrealistic deadlines and “last minutes”, I also get my adrenaline fix out of it (not that I care to share this with clients ~ these are invisible pixels). I’m guessing, if you’re a web designer, you’re with me on this (don’t worry, you don’t have to admit it out loud).

Well, being as much a junkie as the next developer, I’m the first to to admit there is a limit. So here are some simple tips for how to manage your time so that the next time you get that “I needed it yesterday” call, you can calmly deliver in 3 days (seriously, nothing takes less than 3 days, whatever the task). When all is said and done, your 1 hour rush project is going to occupy you to some degree, over the next 3 days. Accept this. Plan for it. It will make your life less stressful.

That being said, a 3 day rush is almost unheard of. You’re probably looking at something that will take 2 or 3 weeks at least. So what can you do to help reduce the time you need to spend and squeeze this extra project into your schedule (and produce something that doesn’t suck)?

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Life under fire has been getting the best of me lately. If there’s one thing I learned doing web design, is that you have to be able to deliver your best under pressure. And more importantly, you have to know how and when to still make time for yourself. I wouldn’t think about complaining about too much work. It’s the best thing a designer could ever want. But when it comes down to it, sanity is more important. On top of that, if you work with the person you’re dating, it becomes all the more important. This is why I’m starting a series on keeping sane, in web design.

Oddly enough, one of the things that helps me is surfing the web. I know. Last thing most designers would want to spend their down time on. So, I’m starting things off with a few notable finds.

Clean CSS

Clean CSS is a powerful CSS optimizer. It works by taking your CSS code and making it cleaner and more concise. It works by automatically merging same CSS selectors and properties and returning clean, well-formatted code. It’s not a validator, but it works surprisingly well.

Typetester

The Typetester is an online application for comparison of the fonts for the screen. Its’ primary role is to make web designer’s life easier. They keep their database up-to-date. It’s a great little tool.

cl1p

Every wish you could Copy something on one computer and Paste it on another? cl1p allows you to do just that. Copy and paste from one computer to another. It’s a pretty simple concept and I love it.

what’s special about this number

This is for the geek in me. What’s special about numbers, is all about numbers. ‘Nough said.