The week in links 22/02/10
Change of format this week, instead of having a long list of links that might not be entirely useful, so I thought I’d raise the bar and have fewer links with a bit more about why I reckon you should give them a read. Very much inspired by Chris Spooners “This week’s favourites” I decided that a impersonal list of links wasn’t helping anyone. I’m not going to set a minimum or a maximum, whatever feels right, some weeks will be great for posts, other might only have a few, or even none at all. So I present to you this week’s “week in links”.
The myth of DPI
Well it’s a bit difficult to wrap your head around the idea of pixels and dots per inch and how they transition to the screen, well I find it a bit confusing anyway, I’ll admit I’ve gone in Photoshop and reduced the DPI to 72 ‘just in case’ but this article on Web designer depot helps clear things up amicably.
You can use CSS3 right now
I love the new functions in CSS3, I use the columns property on the rest of my website and although it doesn’t degrade very gracefully (long lists don’t look that nice) it makes things so much easier for me, and it’s not like long lists aren’t usable. Rounded corners are equally useful. So this article from Design informer (a new member of the Smashing Network) helps you use it right now.
This handy check list shows you what browser support what.
A new global visual language for the BBC's digital services
A fascinating insight into the design process behind the in progress redesign of all BBC websites, it’s amazing to see how much depth there is to creating a unified approach across hundreds of individual services. The BBC internet blog goes into plenty of detail.
Why Flash doesn't suck
Pixelbourne puts forward a good case why we shouldn’t be waving goodbye to Flash just yet, from reasons such as Porn sites and games to why perhaps people hate it so; “as with any powerful tool in world, Flash can be used for good and…evil”. Sadly when Flash is put in the hands of an amateur the results are painful.
Web designers who can't code
I feel this is an entirely valid point, learning how to code (well HTML and CSS, and not much beyond that) was hugely beneficial to my web designs, I realised what I could do and what I couldn’t. It was also nice to read that other people design in the browser, I thought that was just me not being good at planning it all out beforehand.
What is a 21st century career?
It seems a pretty terrifying way of looking at things; your 9-to-5 is a job, your career is the sum of all your professional endeavours and you need to keep it healthy, work hard and expand your skills to keep up-to-date with the rapidly changing times.