rowid,title,contents,year,author,author_slug,published,url,topic 122,"A Message To You, Rudy - CSS Production Notes","When more than one designer or developer work together on coding an XHTML/CSS template, there are several ways to make collaboration effective. Some prefer to comment their code, leaving a trail of bread-crumbs for their co-workers to follow. Others use accompanying files that contain their working notes or communicate via Basecamp. For this year’s 24ways I wanted to share a technique that I has been effective at Stuff and Nonsense; one that unfortunately did not make it into the final draft of Transcending CSS. This technique, CSS production notes, places your page production notes in one convenient place within an XHTML document and uses nothing more than meaningful markup and CSS. Let’s start with the basics; a conversation between a group of people. In the absence of notes or conversation elements in XHTML you need to make an XHTML compound that will effectively add meaning to the conversation between designers and developers. As each person speaks, you have two elements right there to describe what has been said and who has spoken:
and its cite attribute.

This project will use XHTML1.0 Strict, CSS2.1 and all that malarkey.

With more than one person speaking, you need to establish a temporal order for the conversation. Once again, the element to do just that is already there in XHTML; the humble ordered list.

  1. This project will use XHTML1.0 Strict, CSS2.1 and all that malarkey.

  2. Those bits are simple and bulletproof.

Adding a new note is as simple as adding a new item to list, and if you prefer to add more information to each note, such as the date or time that the note was written, go right ahead. Place your note list at the bottom of the source order of your document, right before the closing tag. One advantage of this approach over using conventional comments in your code is that all the notes are unobtrusive and are grouped together in one place, rather than being spread throughout your document. Basic CSS styling For the first stage you are going to add some basic styling to the notes area, starting with the ordered list. For this design I am basing the look and feel on an instant messenger window. ol#notes { width : 300px; height : 320px; padding : .5em 0; background : url(im.png) repeat; border : 1px solid #333; border-bottom-width : 2px; -moz-border-radius : 6px; /* Will not validate */ color : #000; overflow : auto; } ol#notes li { margin : .5em; padding : 10px 0 5px; background-color : #fff; border : 1px solid #666; -moz-border-radius : 6px; /* Will not validate */ } ol#notes blockquote { margin : 0; padding : 0; } ol#notes p { margin : 0 20px .75em; padding : 0; } ol#notes p.date { font-size : 92%; color : #666; text-transform : uppercase; } Take a gander at the first example. You could stop right there, but without seeing who has left the note, there is little context. So next, extract the name of the commenter from the
’s cite attribute and display it before each note by using generated content. ol#notes blockquote:before { content : "" ""attr(cite)"" said: ""; margin-left : 20px; font-weight : bold; } Fun with more detailed styling Now, with all of the information and basic styling in place, it’s time to have some fun with some more detailed styling to spruce up your notes. Let’s start by adding an icon for each person, once again based on their cite. First, all of the first paragraphs of a
’s that includes a cite attribute are given common styles. ol#notes blockquote[cite] p:first-child { min-height : 34px; padding-left : 40px; } Followed by an individual background-image. ol#notes blockquote[cite=""Andy""] p:first-child { background : url(malarkey.png) no-repeat 5px 5px; } If you prefer a little more interactivity, add a :hover state to each
and perhaps highlight the most recent comment. ol#notes blockquote:hover { background-color : #faf8eb; border-top : 1px solid #fff; border-bottom : 1px solid #333; } ol#notes li:last-child blockquote { background-color : #f1efe2; } You could also adjust the style for each comment based on the department that the person works in, for example:

  • This project will use XHTML1.0 Strict, CSS2.1 and all that malarkey.

  • Those bits are simple and bulletproof.

    • ol#notes blockquote.designer { border-color : #600; } Take a look at the results of the second stage. Show and hide the notes using CSS positioning With your notes now dressed in their finest, it is time to tuck them away above the top of your working XHTML/CSS prototype so that you can reveal them when you need them, no JavaScript required. Start by moving the ordered list of notes off the top of the viewport leaving only a few pixels in view. It is also a good idea to make them semi-transparent by using the opacity property for browsers that have implemented it. ol#notes { position : absolute; opacity : .25; z-index : 2000; top : -305px; left : 20px; } Your last step is to add :hover and :focus dynamic pseudo-classes to reposition the list at the top of the viewport and restore full opacity to display them in their full glory when needed. ol#notes:hover, ol#notes:focus { top : 0; opacity : 1; } Now it’s time to sit back, pour yourself a long drink and bask in the glory of the final result. Your notes are all stored in one handy place at the bottom of your document rather than being spread around your code. When your templates are complete, simply dive straight to the bottom and pull out the notes. A Message To You, Rudy Thank-you to everybody for making this a really great year for web standards. Have a wonderful holiday season. Buy Andy Clarke’s book Transcending CSS from Amazon.com",2006,Andy Clarke,andyclarke,2006-12-15T00:00:00+00:00,https://24ways.org/2006/css-production-notes/,process 237,Circles of Confusion,"Long before I worked on the web, I specialised in training photographers how to use large format, 5×4″ and 10×8″ view cameras – film cameras with swing and tilt movements, bellows and upside down, back to front images viewed on dim, ground glass screens. It’s been fifteen years since I clicked a shutter on a view camera, but some things have stayed with me from those years. In photography, even the best lenses don’t focus light onto a point (infinitely small in size) but onto ‘spots’ or circles in the ‘film/image plane’. These circles of light have dimensions, despite being microscopically small. They’re known as ‘circles of confusion’. As circles of light become larger, the more unsharp parts of a photograph appear. On the flip side, when circles are smaller, an image looks sharper and more in focus. This is the basis for photographic depth of field and with that comes the knowledge that no photograph can be perfectly focused, never truly sharp. Instead, photographs can only be ‘acceptably unsharp’. Acceptable unsharpness is now a concept that’s relevant to the work we make for the web, because often – unless we compromise – websites cannot look or be experienced exactly the same across browsers, devices or platforms. Accepting that fact, and learning to look upon these natural differences as creative opportunities instead of imperfections, can be tough. Deciding which aspects of a design must remain consistent and, therefore, possibly require more time, effort or compromises can be tougher. Circles of confusion can help us, our bosses and our customers make better, more informed decisions. Acceptable unsharpness Many clients still demand that every aspect of a design should be ‘sharp’ – that every user must see rounded boxes, gradients and shadows – without regard for the implications. I believe that this stems largely from the fact that they have previously been shown designs – and asked for sign-off – using static images. It’s also true that in the past, organisations have invested heavily in style guides which, while maybe still useful in offline media, have a strictness that often fails to allow for the flexibility that we need to create experiences that are appropriate to a user’s browser or device capabilities. We live in an era where web browsers and devices have wide-ranging capabilities, and websites can rarely look or be experienced exactly the same across them. Is a particular typeface vital to a user’s experience of a brand? How important are gradients or shadows? Are rounded corners really that necessary? These decisions determine how ‘sharp’ an element should be across browsers with different capabilities and, therefore, how much time, effort or extra code and images we devote to achieving consistency between them. To help our clients make those decisions, we can use circles of confusion. Circles of confusion Using circles of confusion involves plotting aspects of a visual design into a series of concentric circles, starting at the centre with elements that demand the most consistency. Then, work outwards, placing elements in order of their priority so that they become progressively ‘softer’, more defocused as they’re plotted into outer rings. If layout and typography must remain consistent, place them in the centre circle as they’re aspects of a design that must remain ‘sharp’. When gradients are important – but not vital – to a user’s experience of a brand, plot them close to, but not in the centre. This makes everyone aware that to achieve consistency, you’ll need to carve out extra images for browsers that don’t support CSS gradients. If achieving rounded corners or shadows in all browsers isn’t important, place them into outer circles, allowing you to save time by not creating images or employing JavaScript workarounds. I’ve found plotting aspects of a visual design into circles of confusion is a useful technique when explaining the natural differences between browsers to clients. It sets more realistic expectations and creates an environment for more meaningful discussions about progressive and emerging technologies. Best of all, it enables everyone to make better and more informed decisions about design implementation priorities. Involving clients allows the implications of the decisions they make more transparent. For me, this has sometimes meant shifting deadlines or it has allowed me to more easily justify an increase in fees. Most important of all, circles of confusion have helped the people that I work with move beyond yesterday’s one-size-fits-all thinking about visual design, towards accepting the rich diversity of today’s web.",2010,Andy Clarke,andyclarke,2010-12-23T00:00:00+00:00,https://24ways.org/2010/circles-of-confusion/,process