Just came across this list of 35 best practices for speeding up page loads. Some of these recommendations are common sense, but several are new to me: choose <link> over @import, host static components on a separate domain, put scripts at the bottom of the page, etc.
Worth a bookmark.
“This is a visualization of the network packets of a YouTube video, slowed down 12 times. You can clearly see the handshake, some odd client/server negotiation, and the full ramp-up.”
Packet Flight: RickRoll @ 12X from Carlos Bueno on Vimeo.
PIE stands for Progressive Internet Explorer. It is an IE attached behavior which, when applied to an element, allows IE to recognize and display a number of CSS3 properties.
HTC file that enables CSS3 styles in IE6-8. Could save a lot of headaches.
Library of “user interfaces that have been designed to trick users into doing things they wouldn’t otherwise have done.” If you’ve spent any time on the web, each of these will be familiar.
In order for your images (and text) to maintain their “real” size all you need to do is add in a meta tag (below) to your site’s head section.
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0">Effectively this is telling Safari (these meta tags are Apple specific) to set the scale to 1, in other words render everything at the original/native size.
Via Think Vitamin
Validates your site’s HTML, CSS, RSS, etc. from one URL.
Craig Hockenberry on the lure of native iPhone apps:
With such great tools available and talented developers that know how to exploit them, the iPhone should be overflowing with web applications, right? Actually, the opposite is true: there are over 100,000 titles on iTunes and only a handful of popular applications have been created with web standards.
He suggests most iPhone apps begin as cross platform, web standards-based apps. But…
Eventually, you’ll encounter situations that can’t be solved with web standards. Maybe it’s something like feature requests from users who want to upload photos or access their list of contacts. Some users will explicitly ask for an iPhone app because so many of their other favorite sites have customized solutions.
There can also be internal pressures from your own designers and developers. They’ll find that navigation and data management are more difficult as the scope of the application increases. When you start to feel like you’re reinventing the wheel, sometimes it’s best just to use the wheel that Apple’s already built.
The jQuery project is really excited to announce the work that we’ve been doing to bring jQuery to mobile devices. Not only is the core jQuery library being improved to work across all of the major mobile platforms, but we’re also working to release a complete, unified, mobile UI framework.
…The mobile web is desperately in need of a framework that is capable of working across all browsers, allowing developers to build truly mobile web sites. We’re doing all we can to ensure that jQuery Mobile fills that need.
Nice. Love the jQuery.
Via Daring Fireball
CSS reset, suggested site structure and a rudimentary HTML5 template all in one package. Nice way to get started with HTML5 and CSS3 development. Includes Modernizr.js, templates for @font-face and CSS media queries, etc. Looks super handy.
Unfortunately, some people have started experimenting with CSS as a “design tool” and it suddenly hit upon a large audience, and seemingly overnight it has become a trend. So what’s the problem with people exploring techniques like these? Actually, a couple things.
Faruk Ateş argues pure CSS Icons and the like are cool technology demos but they’re really not appropriate for production purposes: too difficult to maintain and not semantic.
Via Think Vitamin
Amber Weinberg wonders why she’s not getting requests for brochure sites (5 static pages and a blog) anymore:
I think the market is changing. Clients are becoming more and more informed about web design and development. They now know that Internet Explorer stinks and we shouldn’t hold sites back because of it. They know we now have 26″ monitors, iPads, iPhones and Androids to make sites work in.
So with these devices come variety. No longer is a simple 5 page brochure site enough. It needs to be mobile friendly, progressively enhanced, semantic and accessible.
I think there’s a nugget of truth there.
Cool Tools and Toys for Web Developers — tools for analyzing CSS properties on existing sites, reviewing DOM structure and building various CSS3 effects.
CSS3 Generator — quickly generate cross-browser rules for various CSS3 styles. Very handy.
Not exactly new, but beautiful nonetheless. I miss the Grandaddy.
Derek Powazek on building iPad apps:
The iPad is an intimate experience for a user. The direct touch input removes a layer of abstraction, and that’s a really big deal. In this way, it was like going back to design for print – when you push it with your finger, it moves! – but it’s utterly unlike print in every other way imaginable. Point is, the direct interface really does mean reevaluating every assumption when it comes to interactive design.
Two Times articles for your Instapaper:
The Web Means the End of Forgetting
It’s often said that we live in a permissive era, one with infinite second chances. But the truth is that for a great many people, the permanent memory bank of the Web increasingly means there are no second chances — no opportunities to escape a scarlet letter in your digital past. Now the worst thing you’ve done is often the first thing everyone knows about you.
Malwebolence — The World of Web Trolling
Does free speech tend to move toward the truth or away from it? When does it evolve into a better collective understanding? When does it collapse into the Babel of trolling, the pointless and eristic game of talking the other guy into crying “uncle”? Is the effort to control what’s said always a form of censorship, or might certain rules be compatible with our notions of free speech?
One promising answer comes from the computer scientist Jon Postel, now known as “god of the Internet” for the influence he exercised over the emerging network. In 1981, he formulated what’s known as Postel’s Law: “Be conservative in what you do; be liberal in what you accept from others.” Originally intended to foster “interoperability,” the ability of multiple computer systems to understand one another, Postel’s Law is now recognized as having wider applications. To build a robust global network with no central authority, engineers were encouraged to write code that could “speak” as clearly as possible yet “listen” to the widest possible range of other speakers, including those who do not conform perfectly to the rules of the road. The human equivalent of this robustness is a combination of eloquence and tolerance — the spirit of good conversation. Trolls embody the opposite principle. They are liberal in what they do and conservative in what they construe as acceptable behavior from others. You, the troll says, are not worthy of my understanding; I, therefore, will do everything I can to confound you.
Covers recommended layouts, working with iPhone 4’s retina display, optimizing for speed, etc. Bookmark this.
What comes next may sound biased to some readers, yet I simply can’t help it – it’s the reality of the situation. The vast majority of the free fonts out there are – to put it mildly – of inferior quality. And although a very small percentage is fit for professional use, statistics tell us you’ll more likely stumble upon – to put it mildly again – less successful creations.
Overview of what makes a quality font. Very informative.
Collection of awful stock photos. Made me laugh.
Via Kottke
FYI…
Note to self: must look into rejiggering this site to take advantage of CSS media queries. Would love to be able to deliver mobile/iPad optimized layouts via CSS. New designs from SimpleBits and Hicksdesign are really inspiring.