Author: Jon

Catching Up on the Mobile Web

I know I’m not the first to say that the mobile Web is becoming more advanced all the time. There have been countless articles written on the subject of designing for the mobile web and many of them have some really innovative and exciting suggestions. What lies beneath all the great speculation is the fact that standards for the mobile Web is hardly existent. If you thought designing a cross compatible site for the desktop was a challenge, wait until you work with handhelds.

Posted: August 28, 2006

Don’t Make Me Think – Book Review

Aug 21, 2006 by Jonathan Christopher product ★★★★★ Usability is a subject, for one reason or another, that is often avoided by designers and developers. It is something that can’t be taught, or achieved by following a certain syntax, so many times it is looked at as an obstacle. In reality, it has a lot […]

Posted: August 21, 2006

Beginning to Style Your RSS Feed

If you’re anything like me, RSS has completely changed the way you browse the Web. It has become much easier to manage the abundance of content I want to read across the net; mostly due to RSS. No longer must I make my way down a list of bookmarks, hoping to find an update here and there.

Posted: August 14, 2006

Book Review: Sams JavaScript

If you haven’t ever come across any of the books in the Sams Teach Yourself <Insert Technology> in 24 Hours, the idea behind them is this: Each chapter can be read in one hour, and there are 24 chapters in the book. Therefore you can theoretically complete the book in a total of 24 hours. While some people may be misled into thinking that they’ll learn what they want in a day, it’s really just a clever gimmick — and for the most part, it works.

Posted: August 07, 2006

Calendar Semantics: Table or List

Many times, when a developer first begins to use proper HTML and CSS for markup and style, he or she has a tendency to disown tables and avoid their use at all cost. While thinking that way can allow a developer to discover many creative ways of using the newfound power of CSS, it can put someone at a severe disadvantage.

Posted: July 24, 2006

Introducing MBN DuoTone Headings

One thing that JavaScript is absolutely great for is enhancing the average browsing experience for your user. On the other hand, requiring the presence of JavaScript compatibility can be an utter disaster. In my opinion, JavaScript is great for visual or functional enhancements, but those features should not be necessary to make proper use of any particular document. If a user doesn’t arrive equipped with the ability to run JavaScript, they shouldn’t know they’re missing out on anything.

Posted: July 15, 2006

Creating a Useful Custom 404

Given this day and age of searching on the Web, it’s almost hard to find a legitimate 404 error page on any given site. It still happens from time to time, less likely from clicking a link provided by a search engine, and more likely clicking on internal links from within your own site. Some intelligent minds have come up with some really great and usable solutions for unwanted 404 errors.

Posted: July 10, 2006

Linux and Web Development Intro

I recently switched to using Linux full time from Windows and here’s my experience so far.

Posted: July 03, 2006

Knowing What’s !important

As it stands, an author’s style sheet declarations will have precedence over any styles defined within a user’s style sheet. To level the playing field, we find !important. Adding this keyword combination after any declaration in your style sheet (as a user) will give your style the power to overcome what has been defined by […]

Posted: June 26, 2006

Headings in the Right Direction

There are certain design elements that can make or break a project for me. One such element in my experience thus far has been headings. It may sound strange to many, but I think taking a worthwhile amount of time and devoting it to the proper implementation and styling of headings is a smart move […]

Posted: June 19, 2006