design philosophy

CSS3 Variables, Calculations, and Some Awesome New Units!

Disclaimer: Alright, don’t get too excited. This stuff isn’t backwards-compatible at all. However, there are fallback solutions and it’s pretty darn cool that it’s actually being spec’d.

Web designers were begging for CSS to add variables and calculations for years before SASS and LESS came along, giving us the ability to use these shiny new toys to our heart’s content. However, SASS and LESS output can sometimes bloat your CSS sheets and while it’s pretty fun to play with, it’s a pain to have to recompile your CSS after every change. Fortunately, the W3C has come in like the proverbial nanny and started giving them a spit shine to make them all fresh and new again. (more…)

Diving Into Responsive Design: Part 1

After reading through A List Apart’s article What I Learned About the Web in 2011 I decided I needed to make a second effort at getting into mobile web design. This article chronicles the epic struggle between myself and the perils of designing for a screen that fits in my hand.

Part 1 will discover the philosophy behind responsive design and how to apply these new bits of brain lightning to our current processes. My odyssey will continue in part 2 as I get into the technical side of using techniques like @media queries to create a responsive design. Hit the jump to read on.

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