[Five Simple Steps] - Hardboiled Web Design - [A.Clarke].

411 Pages·2010·56.67 MB·English

1
HARDBOILED
WEB DESIGN
BY ANDY CLARKE
ii Hardboiled Web Design
iii
Hardboiled Web Design
by Andy Clarke
Published in 2010 by Five Simple Steps
Studio Two, The Coach House
Stanwell Road
Penarth
CF64 3EU
United Kingdom
On the web: www.fivesimplesteps.com
and: www.hardboiledwebdesign.com
Please send errors to [email protected]
Publisher: Five Simple Steps
Development Editor: Chris Mills
Tech Editor: Tim Van Damme
Copy Editor: Owen Gregory
Production Editor: Emma Boulton
Production Manager: Sarah Morris
Design & Art Direction: Nick Boulton, Andy Clarke, Alex Morris, Mark Boulton
Front cover illustration: Kevin Cornell
Part opening illustrations: Elliot Jay Stocks
Copyright © 2010 Andy Clarke
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and
retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
ISBN: 978-1-907828-01-0
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library.
iv Hardboiled Web Design
For Alex
v
“I looked at Berin and laughed. He turned his head and stared right
into the muzzle of his own gun. The killer’s face was a vile mask of
hatred. Berin had his mouth open, screaming with all the furies of the
gods dethroned, but my laugh was even louder. He was still screaming
when I pulled the trigger.”
— My Gun is Quick, Mickey Spillane, 1950
vi Hardboiled Web Design
Acknowledgements
To Emma, Nick and Mark Boulton and everyone at Mark Boulton Design and
Five Simple Steps, for helping to make this book everything I imagined it
would be.
To editor Chris Mills and technical editor Tim Van Damme for daring to take
a ride inside my head, their editing skills and the years of experience they
brought to the process.
To copy editor Owen Gregory, for being Lewis to my Morse.
To Kevin Cornell and Elliot Jay Stocks, for their cover and inside illustrations.
To Geri Coady, for my author photo and illustrations.
To Simon Collison and Jeffrey Zeldman, for their preface and foreword and for
being the best friends an old man could have.
To John Allsopp, Maxine Sherrin and everyone involved in the Web Directions
series of conferences, and to Eric Meyer, Jeffrey Zeldman (again) and everyone
involved in An Event Apart, for the platform to present my ideas at the best
web design conferences in the world.
To Faruk Ates and Paul Irish, for developing Modernizr, and to Keith Clark, for
the Selectivizr JavaScript library. Both make hardboiled web design possible.
To Authentic Jobs, Scott Boms, Sam Brown, Clearleft, Dan Cederholm,
Simon Collison (again), David Desandro, Luke Dorny, Jon Hicks, Jeremy Keith,
nclud, Reagan Ray, Dave Rupert, Jeremy Swinnen, Cedric Vandendriessche,
Tim Van Damme and Trent Walton, for the work we’ll be ‘investigating’ later
in this book.
To the clients of Stuff and Nonsense, for agreeing to delay their projects
and being OK with me ignoring their calls and e-mails while I concentrated
on writing.
Finally, but most importantly, to my family, because all that really matters
is them. About the editor
vii
About the Author
Andy Clarke has been called many things since
he started designing for the web over ten years
ago. His ego likes words like “ambassador for
CSS”, “industry prophet” and “inspiring”, but
he’s most proud that Jeffrey Zeldman once called
him a “bastard”.
He runs Stuff and Nonsense 1, a small web
design company that specialises in designing
highly usable and attractive websites. You’ll
see examples from some of his designs later in
this book. Andy’s a renowned public speaker
and presents at web design conferences
worldwide. He teaches web design techniques
and technologies through his own workshop
masterclasses, For A Beautiful Web 2 and is the
author of Transcending CSS: The Fine Art of Web
Design 3 (New Riders 2006).
He writes a popular blog, And All That
Malarkey 4, mostly about the web, and tweets
as @malarkey.
1 http://stuffandnonsense.co.uk
2 http://forabeautifulweb.com
3 http://transcendingcss.com
4 http://stuffandnonsense.co.uk/blog
viii Hardboiled Web Design
About the Editor
Chris Mills is a mighty metal warrior who works for Opera (the Viking
web browser), evangelising open web technologies such as CSS3 and
HTML5 and heading up Opera’s education activities. Chris publishes
design and development articles on Dev Opera1, and is the creator of the
Opera Web Standards Curriculum2. Chris is also co-author of InterACT with
Web Standards: A Holistic Approach to Web Design.3, speaks regularly at
web conferences and universities, and is a core member of the Open Web
Education Alliance4, a grassroots organisation that aims to develop a global
standard for web design and development education. He tweets as
@chrisdavidmills.
About the Technical Editor
Tim Van Damme is a freelance interface designer at Made by Elephant5. Not
afraid to push limits, friend of all things living, blabbermouth, honest chap,
passionate about the web, always in the mood for a chat, blogger at Maxvoltar6,
boyfriend of Gwenny, Belgian and Twitter addict @maxvoltar.
1 http://dev.opera.com
2 http://opera.com/wsc
3 http://interactwithwebstandards.com
4 http://openwebeducation.org
5 http://madebyelephant.com
6 http://maxvoltar.com
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x Hardboiled Web Design
Foreword
Not every CSS design wizard still lives in his mum’s basement and cries
himself to sleep each night wearing a soiled Tron T-shirt. For there’s also Andy
Clarke: dapper, charismatic, and perpetually brimming with ideas, insights
and enthusiasm for the design of great experiences and the experience of
great design.
The man is a walking epiphany‚ a King Midas of CSS-powered creativity.
And the book you’re now browsing may be his greatest gold classic yet.
For here you’ll learn why, when and how to use HTML5 and CSS3 in your
daily work. Daily as in every day. Daily as in right now, today.
Every web designer should possess this book, but be warned, it is not for
the timid. If you tremble at the thought of your web layout boasting rounded
corners in one browser but not another; if the mere notion of even trying a CSS
drop-shadow fills you with a sinner’s remorse, Hardboiled Web Design is so not
for you. Leave now. No judgements. Return to your safe, soft-boiled life. Okay,
maybe that was a judgement.
But if you’re among the restless, enlightened and daring few who embrace
the future of web design, and know that we can’t get there by clinging to the
past, brother slash sister, has Andy got a book for you.
Jeffrey Zeldman
August 2010