I think designers and developers alike are realizing using HTML TABLE for "some" layout is a smart thing to do after all. Some wise usage of TABLE based layout is popping up everywhere recently including Google Apps. Below is a Firebug screen capture of parts of Google Calendar where it uses TABLE for layout.
I totally agree. The "no TABLE no matter what the cost" approach is a silly fad and a movement advocated by early css developers who were overly enthusiastic with their fascination with the new-found technique. I see where they're coming from , too. If you were coming from the early days of web development with sketchy browser css support, using tables to workaround layout issues can get pretty messy and a maintenance nightmare. So a proper browser support of CSS was indeed a breath of fresh air and freedom. But shunning TABLE no matter what the cost subjects yourself to complicated rows of DIVs and floats which in essence works against the simple and maintainable approach. Using TABLE for layout makes sense if used properly. Although not captured in the example, content inside the table is organized nicely using <div>and lists <li>. Organizing content this way yields to much more predictable behavior across platform and browsers.
I would not recommend this TABLE + CSS hybrid method for blogs or any sites that are at the mercy of search engines or readers. But for applications or widgets it makes perfect sense and will make your life as a UI designer/developer a whole lot easier. As with any tool, you just have to be smart about when, where and how much to use.
Yes, I've waited long enough. It's about time I got a DSLR. I have ran out of excuses not to get one. I can no longer justify sticking with 35mm or cutting corners with point-and-shoot when a job at hand demands more creativity. While full-frame digitals are still way more than what I wanted spend, most of the decent prosumer/proAm DSLRs' prices have come down to a reasonable level. Objectively speaking, even the entry level DSLRs on the market today are exceptional value considering what they're capable of.
However, I decided to skip the entry level pool and move up (just very slightly) to a proAm DSLR. Only because I enjoy what I do, have pride in my work and think that I'm good at what I do. To make the long story short, it came down to Canon 50D and Nikon D90. The Canon 50D is generally considered to belong in a slightly higher level however, the price point and the capabilities were very similar to the Nikon D90.
I have had 35mm film SLRs from all sorts of brands including Pentax, Olympus, and Canon but I have never owned a Nikon. I've always had a soft spot for Nikons but have never got around to having one. And since I'm not a professional photographer by trade whose collection of expensive lenses dictate brand loyalty, I decided to go with the Nikon. But the decision wasn't totally on a whim. The fact that the Nikon D90 has larger sensor without the extraneous pixel count was a big plus for me since I enjoy low-light and night shooting. Although the Canon 50d felt better in the hands and I really liked the position of the shutter release button, the Nikon had little details that I thought would be more useful to me. The menu system and the access to settings on the Nikon was much quicker to manipulate which is a plus in situations where you just don't have enough time to fiddle with setting. All I need now is a Manfrotto tripod and a nice backpack.
I had quite a few people ask me how they can hide a layer in Flash without actually deleting that layer. The little "X" below the eye icon hides a layer from view while you're working on a file but doesn't hide that layer from a published movie. What if you don't want certain layers to be published in a movie but yet do not want to delete them in case you want it back? Many beginners simply delete the layer, test movie, and then undo the deletion if they want the layer back. While this works, it's not very elegant nor efficient especially when you're dealing with multiple layers. Not to mention relying on undo is very risky in Flash.
This is where the "Guide" layer comes in. The Guide feature is originally intended to hold a path on which an object should move. Since you wouldn't want the guide to show in a movie, Flash hides any layer designated as a guide. Since you can designate any layer as a Guide layer, this in turn works perfectly in case you want to hide a layer from a published movie temporarily. Just turn the guide on to hide and turn it back off if you want to include it back in the movie! Simple and elegant.
No one is an island. All graphic/web designers need to be inspired from other designers every now and then. Here is a nice collection of newish design trends that some might call 'web 2.0' like look and feel.
She uses sand on a lightbox. Not only she draws but the drawings transition into sequence of scenes which tell a story which in itself is in sync with the music throughout the entire thing. Absolutely amazing!
I'm not in love with Twitter myself yet but I do believe it can turn out to be a useful medium depending on how you choose to use it. Some anti Twitter like this one, at first glance, seem to have a point but you quickly realize the person really doesn't know how to use Twitter - at least not in a way that would've been beneficial.
Many people are quick to dismiss Twitter as total waste of time (I was one of them). But anything can be a waste of time if used without any discretion or purpose. Watching television, reading magazines, reading books or going to movies can all be a waste of time if we're not being selective. If you're tired of seeing tweets about someone's eating habits, you can choose not to follow them just like you would change the channel or turn off your TV set if you're not interested. You don't have to sit there and absorb all the random tweets. Of course, if you are mindlessly following bunch of people you don't know, you are going to see lots of porn links, scams, and ads. But that's the consequence of your actions not the design fault of Twitter.
I don't follow too many people but I do find helpful articles and links related to my craft through those few that I do follow. Just be smart about what information you'd like to gain through the medium. Although, I'm not too crazy about the up-to-the-minute updates and information. As far as I'm concerned, nothing is that urgent. If something is that urgent, there are more effective communication mediums out there for urgent stuff. For any other casual information exchange, Twitter does the job.
I'd like to single out yet another skill-set a web designer must be aware of. It's Wordpress. The enormous popularity of the Wordpress platform along with blogging and simple content management has transformed the way we build lightweight websites. It's unlikely that a large scale site or application would be built entirely of Wordpress but we see it being used in blog sections of popular websites such as The New York Times.
WordPress has become so popular, that in some circles, a web designer is known as someone who customizes and designs for WordPress. Contrary to popular belief, however, working with Wordpress does not free web designers from the need to learn and gain knowledge of other existing web technologies. Wordpress is like a well prepared blank canvass that a designer or a developer must enhance upon. Wordpress only frees us from reinventing the wheel, but as far as improving and spicing up the wheel, we can all get creative and sky is the limit.
Oh yeah. He just created art as he saw fit. If Picasso thought blue should be the color, blue it was. No one questions why. If he decides a woman's right eye should be twice as large as her left, that's okay too. When he thought a nostril of a goat would be a good match for the woman's face, people went crazy throwing hundreds of millions of dollars at the painting.
I'd guess that Picasso rarely had to deal with usability, commercial feasibility, cultural compatibility, revisions, or approvals from fifteen different people at fifteen different times. Those things are what lowly graphic designers like us worry about. Because um..., we're not Picasso. =)
For some of us that have been writing HTML since the 90s, it's easy to lay back and say "it won't get any better than this" as far as front-end development and client-side technologies are concerned. We have seen first-hand how the craft has improved over the years from the primitive HTML tags, faulty browsers, and lack of community to the modern compliant browsers, convenience of stylesheets, and the ultra cool javascript libraries and frameworks not to mention support from hundreds of active developer communities. So it's easy to think this is the pinnacle for our tools of the trade.
But let's think for a minute about those who began their career as web developers just a few short years ago. Everything that we old schoolers have come to appreciate and find fascinating are taken for granted by web dev/design newbies. To them, the technology is nothing new. It could have existed since the stone age for all they know. No one thinks about the origins of things in the web profession. And just like how we were distressed and annoyed with the limitation of the technologies of the time in the 90s, the newbies are going through the same phase. They aren't satisfied with what they're given. They complain about the limitations of the CSS. They complain about the browsers not being perfect. We (veterans) complain too but not with as much vengeance. The newbies' frustrations are compounded by the lack of initial appreciation which make it much stronger.
But you know what? That is a great thing. Because from that mentality, and from that very cycle that web professionals go through, comes new great ideas and continuous improvements. If it weren't for all our frustrations and dissatisfaction, we might have not had the tools that we use today. It's important that you complain. It's important to want more. It's important to think that nothing is an end product and everything is a beginning.
