Topics: Culture: State of the Web
I hate the interweb. I love the interweb. You got podcast in my webcast. You got webcast in my podcast. (44 articles)
Flash and Standards: The Cold War of the Web
by Dan Mall
Issue 302March 9, 2010
You’ve probably heard that Apple recently announced the iPad. The absence of Flash Player on the device seems to have awakened the HTML5 vs. Flash debate. Apparently, it’s the final nail in the coffin for Flash. Either that, or the HTML5 community is overhyping its still nascent markup language update. The arguments run wide, strong, and legitimate on both sides. Yet both sides might also be wrong. Designer/developer Dan Mall is equally adept at web standards and Flash; what matters, he says, isn't technology, but people.
The Survey, 2009
by ALA Staff
Issue 298December 15, 2009
For the third year in a row, good citizens of the web, we ask that you take a few minutes to tell us about your professional skills, educational background, career prospects, job benefits, and more.
Burnout
by Scott Boms
Issue 284May 26, 2009
Does every day feel like a bad day? Blurry boundaries between work and home, and the “always on” demands of the web can lead to depression and burnout. Learn the signs of burnout and how to maintain your bliss.
Filling Your Dance Card in Hard Economic Times
by Pepi Ronalds
Issue 278February 17, 2009
In space no one can hear you scream, and in a global economic meltdown, no industry—not even web design—is safe. But as a web designer, your skills and products are suited to ride out hard times, as long as you stay busy. Learn the seven steps to (relative) security in good times or bad: 1. Keep clients happy. 2. Know your goals. 3. Use your initiative wisely. 4. Communicate. 5. Put in a full day's work. 6. Do it right. 7. Find the love.
Findings from the Web Design Survey, 2008
by ALA Staff
Issue 281April 7, 2009
If we, the people who make websites, want the world to know who we are and what we do, it’s up to each of us to stand up and represent. This year, 30,055 of you did just that, taking time out of your busy work day to answer the detailed questions in the second A List Apart Survey. Find out what we learned about our profession and ourselves.
The Details That Matter
by Kevin Potts
Issue 277February 3, 2009
We no longer lay out pages with composing sticks and straight edges, and design is no longer a trade position requiring a lengthy apprenticeship, but an eye for details is every bit as important today as it was in the early days of graphic arts. Learn the habits of successful designers, who think critically as well as creatively, and who see the forest while never losing sight of the trees.
Brighter Horizons for Web Education
by Aarron Walter
Issue 276January 20, 2009
No industry can sustain itself if it doesn’t master the art of cultivating new talent—an art that requires close ties between practitioners and educators. Yet web design education consists mainly of introductory Flash classes and the occasional 90s-style HTML table layout tutorial. How drastic is the web design education gap, and what can be done to close it? Designer, developer, and web design educator Aarron Walter of The Web Standards Project surveys the state of the curricula.
Elevate Web Design at the University Level
by Leslie Jensen-Inman
Issue 276January 20, 2009
Web education is out of date and fragmented. There are good people working hard to change this, but because of the structure of higher education, it will take time. As part of a year-long journey to discover where we are in web education and where we need to go, Leslie Jensen-Inman interviewed 32 web design and development leaders. The consensus: technology moves too fast for college and university curricula to keep up. How, then, can educators create a sustainable foundation for the future?
This is How the Web Gets Regulated
by Joe Clark
Issue 272November 18, 2008
As in finance, so on the web: self-regulation has failed. Nearly ten years after specifications first required it, video captioning can barely be said to exist on the web. The big players, while swollen with self-congratulation, are technically incompetent, and nobody else is even trying. So what will it take to support the human and legal rights of hearing impaired web users? It just might take the law, says Joe Clark.
Working From Home: The Readers Respond
by Our Gentle Readers
Issue 270October 21, 2008
We asked. Our gentle readers answered. In A List Apart No. 263 we inquired how you walk the blurry line when you work from home. Here are your secrets—how to balance work and family, maintain energy and focus, get things done, and above all, how to remember the love.
Ten Years
by Jeffrey Zeldman
Issue 269October 7, 2008
When Google was little more than a napkin sketch and the first dot-com boom was not even a blip, we started a magazine for people who make websites. Celebrate A List Apart's first decade. Join Zeldman for a look back at the way we were—and why we were that way. Find out what we've done and who did it with us, peek into our process, and get a clue about what's next.
Understanding Progressive Enhancement
by Aaron Gustafson
Issue 269October 7, 2008
Steven Champeon turned web development upside down, and created an instant best practice of standards-based design, when he introduced the notion of designing for content and experience instead of browsers. In part one of a series, ALA’s Gustafson refreshes us on the principles of progressive enhancement. Upcoming installments will translate the philosophy into sophisticated, future-focused design and code.
Web Standards 2008: Three Circles of Hell
by Molly E. Holzschlag
Issue 268September 23, 2008
Q. Why did the semantic web cross the road?
A. @#$% you.
Standards promised to keep the web from fragmenting. But as the web standards movement advances in several directions at once, and as communication between those seeking to advance the web grows fractious, are our standards losing their relevance, and their ability to foster an accessible, interoperable web for all?
Putting Our Hot Heads Together
by Carolyn Wood
Issue 265August 12, 2008
The web is a conversation, but not always a productive one. Web discussions too often degenerate into whines, jabs, sour grapes, and one-upmanship. How can we transform discussion forums and comment sections from shooting ranges into arenas of collaboration?
The Survey, 2008
by ALA Staff
Issue 264July 29, 2008
Calling all designers, developers, information architects, project managers, writers, editors, marketers, and everyone else who makes websites. It is time once again to pool our information so as to begin sketching a true picture of the way our profession is practiced worldwide.
Version Targeting: Threat or Menace?
by Jeffrey Zeldman
Issue 253February 19, 2008
Version targeting shakes our browser-agnostic faith. Its default behavior runs counter to our expectations, and seems wrong. Yet to offer true DOM support without bringing JScript-authored sites to their knees, version targeting must work the way Microsoft proposes, argues Jeffrey Zeldman.
The Rules of Digital Engagement
by Jonathan Follett
Issue 252February 5, 2008
Jonathan Follett takes another trip down the "the long hallway":http://www.alistapart.com/articles/longhallway, looking at ways to collaborate, communicate, and manage conflict in virtual space.
From Switches to Targets: A Standardista’s Journey
by Eric Meyer
Issue 251January 21, 2008
Grab your galoshes and walking stick and follow along with A List Apart's Eric Meyer as he considers the vices and virtues of version targeting as a standards toggle.
Understanding Web Design
by Jeffrey Zeldman
Issue 249November 20, 2007
We'll have better web design when we stop asking it to be something it's not, and start appreciating it for what it is. It's not print, not video, not a poster—and that's not a problem. Find out why cultural and business leaders misunderstand web design, and learn which other forms it most usefully resembles.
Findings From the Web Design Survey
by ALA Staff
Issue 247October 16, 2007
In April 2007, A List Apart and An Event Apart conducted a survey of people who make websites. Close to 33,000 web professionals answered the survey’s 37 questions, providing the first data ever collected on the business of web design and development as practiced in the U.S. and worldwide. Working with statisticians, we spent the next months crunching raw data into meaningful findings. Here we present what we have learned about our powerful yet little-studied profession.
Evangelizing Outside the Box: Web Standards and Large Companies
by Peter-Paul Koch
Issue 238May 29, 2007
Contrary to popular belief, designers and developers at many big companies use web standards in their work every day. They just don't talk about it. For standards awareness to reach the next level, they'll have to start talking, says PPK.
The Web Design Survey, 2007
by ALA Staff
Issue 236April 24, 2007
People who make websites have been at it for more than a dozen years, yet almost nothing is known, statistically, about our profession. Let's do something to change that. Presenting A List Apart's first annual Web Design Survey.
Valentines to the Web
by Our Gentle Readers
Issue 212February 14, 2006
You love it! You really love it. ALA's readers tell us who gets their candy hearts this year.
Valentine’s Day Massacre
by Our Gentle Readers
Issue 212February 14, 2006
From buzzword-happy marketers to snobby standards gurus, from AJAX to Zope, ALA's gentle readers tell us what they bloody well hate about the web.
Thinking Outside the Grid
by Molly E. Holzschlag
Issue 209December 19, 2005
CSS has broken the manacles that kept us chained to grid-based design...so why do so few sites deviate from the grid? Molly E. Holzschlag can tell us that the answer has something to do with airplanes, urban planning, and British cab drivers.
A Fairy, a Low-Fat Bagel, and a Sack of Hammers
by Nick Usborne
Issue 162November 7, 2003
Never underestimate the importance of words on the web.
The Long Hallway
by Jonathan Follett
Issue 236April 24, 2007
In the virtual conference room, no one can hear you scream. Social networking enables knowledge workers like us to build virtual companies with no office space and little overhead. But can we make them succeed? Follett dissects the skills required to create, manage, and grow the virtual firm.
Why Don’t You Code for Netscape?
by Jeffrey Zeldman
Issue 129December 7, 2001
Long considered the Holy Grail of web design, “backward compatibility” has its place; but at this point in web development history, shouldn’t we be more concerned about forward compatibility? ALA makes the case for authoring to web standards instead of browser quirks.
Information vs. Experience
by Emmanuel King Turner
Issue 125October 26, 2001
The conflict between presentation and structure reveals two views of the web. Which one’s winning?
The Devil His Due: What Online Porn Portends
by Bob Jacobson
Issue 112June 1, 2001
It’s a dirty job, but someone’s gotta do it: Jacobson studies “adult” sites to see what they can tell us about the future of web content. His predictions are not pretty.
Beyond Usability and Design: The Narrative Web
by Mark Bernstein
Issue 106April 20, 2001
Crafting a narrative web: To succeed profoundly, Bernstein says, websites must go beyond usability and design, deeply engaging readers by turning their journeys through the site into rich, memorable, narrative experiences.
The Declination of Independence
by Brandon Oelling, Michael Krisher, Ryan Holsten
Issue 102March 23, 2001
Three web designers discuss trendiness and innovation in design, and list 15 sites that made a difference in the year 2000.
How to be Soopa Famous
by wk lang
Issue 101March 16, 2001
Become a famous web designer. Or ... just look like one.
To Hell With Bad Browsers
by Jeffrey Zeldman
Issue 99February 16, 2001
In a year or two, all sites will be designed with standards that separate structure from presentation (or they will be built with Flash 7). We can watch our skills grow obsolete, or start learning standards-based techniques. In fact, since the latest versions of IE, Navigator, and Opera already support many web standards, if we are willing to let go of the notion that backward compatibility is a virtue, we can stop making excuses and start using these standards now. At ALA, beginning with Issue No. 99, we've done just that. Join us.
The Web is Like Canada
by Joe Clark
Issue 84October 10, 2000
Those who "get" the web create it. Those who do not get the web are put in charge. Joe Clark presents a vision for defending our web against their worst ideas.
Indie Exposure: It’s All About You
by Julia Hayden
Issue 82September 29, 2000
Reports of the death of online content have been greatly exaggerated. Julia Hayden finds that independent content production is alive and well.
Dr. Strangeglobe: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love The W3C.
by Erika Meyer
Issue 76August 11, 2000
Can the mysterious Dr Strangeglobe save the WWWorld from a conspiracy to contaminate our precious liquid layouts? Erika Meyer takes a non-standard look at the W3C in this charming yet educational spoof of the Kubrick classic.
Fame Fatale
by Rich Robinson
Issue 72July 14, 2000
When did weblogs stop filtering the web and begin cluttering it instead? Rich Robinson on digital glut and creative solutions.
Why Are You Here?
by Scott Jason Cohen
Issue 72July 14, 2000
Whether we’re designing experimental sites or keeping an online diary, we go to the web in search of meaning. Will we find it? Or will we build it ourselves?
Sympathy for the Plug-in
by Peter Balogh
Issue 67June 9, 2000
If Flash is indeed a cancer on the Web, how come so many artists (and viewers) adore it? The much-maligned multimedia plug-in bites back, with help from Flash artist Peter Balogh.
Digiglut.com
by Bob Jacobson
Issue 62May 5, 2000
There is just too much stuff out there. Web surfing has turned to web surfeit, as web users and independent content site authors are buried alive in a sea of ever-more-useless crap. Bob Jacobson sifts through the wreckage.
Time to Close the Web?
by Alan Herrell
Issue 61April 28, 2000
Focusing on presentation at the expense of content, and invasive money-making schemes at the expense of everything else, designers must take some of the blame for the trashing of the web. Herrell wonders if it’s time to call it a day and close up shop.
Why IE5/Mac Matters
by Jeffrey Zeldman
Issue 57March 31, 2000
It complies with two key web standards. And leaves out two others. It's IE5 Macintosh Edition, the first browser on any platform to truly support HTML 4 and CSS-1. Its accessibility enhancements put the user in charge, and its clever new features solve long-standing cross-platform and usability problems. All this ... but still no XML or DOM. Zeldman explains what IE5/Mac means to the web.
Why Gecko Matters: What Netscape’s Upcoming Browser Will Mean to the Web
by Jeffrey Zeldman
Issue 56March 24, 2000
Netscape is about to unleash its new browser, built around the Gecko rendering engine. Theoretically the first completely standards-compliant web browser, Gecko enters a world where most people use IE5 (which is not completely standards-compliant). Is Netscape’s effort too little, too late? Or is it the beginning of a new and better way to create websites? Zeldman articulates The Web Standards Project’s position and explains what Netscape’s browser will mean to the web.
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