Interview with Chris Coyier

In this interview I wanted to speak with Chris Coyier about unicorns and rainbows. However, he convinced me that CSS was a much better topic. Chris is the coauthor of “Digging into WordPress” and creator of CSS Tricks. Chris is a world known CSS expert and HTML guru. He also works at Wufoo making web forms fun, easy and modern.

I hope you enjoy this interview and learn a few things in the process. I think Chris is one of the funnest people to meet and talk to so I know you will love this interview. I also would like to thank Chris for taking the time to do this interview and share his thought with us today.

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Treehouse has Launched

This week the new Think Vitamin Membership site launched as Treehouse. On the site you can now earn badges, discover hidden Easter eggs and have fun.

If you don’t know what Treehouse is I would give it a look. They teach web design, web development and iOS better than anyone I know. Signing up is super easy and cheap for what you get. Heck, there is a lot of learning you can do in just one month if you are tight on the dough.

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Ad Blockers, Browser Plugins and Imagination

On the topic of desktop browsers never use CSS class names or ID’s that smell bad to ad blockers in your HTML. The Firefox Ad Blocker is notorious for braking sites. This means names like: Ad or ads, Campaign, Sponsors, Partners, Endorsement, Ect.

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Optimizing large font files for @font-face

@font-face font optimization has been to my mind recently. Due to the CSS Off that Unmatched Style is hosting. Now you may be wondering what I mean by font optimizing for @font-face. In this I mean the reduction of the font file size. For example.

Lets say You have three fonts you need to import into a website. This is a lot of fonts. Normally you import one for headlines and in rare cases one for body text. But, we have three none-the-less.

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Library: Modernizr

Modernizr is an open-source JavaScript library that helps you build the next generation of HTML5 and CSS3-powered websites. It detects what features your browser supports instead of trying to tell you what browser version you have.

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Website: Formalize CSS

This tool is really nice if you get tired of making your HTML form elements look the same across browsers. Formalize CSS has been my tool of choice when building endless forms. You should check it out.

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CSS is The Binary of Web Design

Variables. They seem good but are not at the same time. Just read Bert Bos on CSS Variables. Basically, it is best to keep CSS at a “complied like” state. Plus, we have SASS now. SASS makes coding CSS a wonderful thing.

In fact there is much to learn from SASS.

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Drupal vs WordPress: The Epic Debate

I want to cover a debatable topic: WordPress vs Drupal. If you had to pick just one Open Source CMS for your next project would you know which one to use?

Before we begin I want to make it clear that this is a very brief comparison. Knowing which is better or worse is not the point. The point of this series is to point out the holes in both. So, during your next project you can pick the one that fits your needs.

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CSS background images don’t need alt text

This is one of those questions I had as a new web designer and developer, “do I need to add alt text to my background images to achieve accessibility?” The answer is plain. No!

The WCAG says, “When using the img element, specify a short text alternative with the alt attribute. Note. The value of this attribute is referred to as ‘alt text’.”

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Website: ProCSSor

Don’t hack at unformulated CSS send it to ProCSSor first. This tool is invaluable when dealing with uncommitted ungodly code. Turn those one liners into indented goodness; or, the opposite.

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