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. (29 articles)
Version Targeting: Threat or Menace?
by Jeffrey Zeldman
Issue 253February 19, 2008
Real DOM support is a game changer. Enabled by default, it would bring many sites to their knees. That would break the web, and not in quotes. Providing IE8’s greater compliance on an opt-in basis is the only way to get everyone over the scripting hump.
The Rules of Digital Engagement
by Jonathan Follett
Issue 252February 05, 2008
We are, as William Gibson puts it in his novel Pattern Recognition, “post-geographic”—operating beyond physical boundaries.
From Switches to Targets: A Standardista's Journey
by Eric Meyer
Issue 251January 21, 2008
We say forward-compatible development is the mark of a professional because that’s what the profession demands. With the advent of version targeting, that need may simply evaporate, rendered not wrong but moot.
Understanding Web Design
by Jeffrey Zeldman
Issue 249November 20, 2007
Web design, like a typeface, is an environment for someone else’s expression. Stick around and I’ll tell you which site design is like Helvetica.
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. The results represent the first data ever collected on the business of web design and development as practiced in the U.S. and worldwide.
Evangelizing Outside the Box: Web Standards and Large Companies
by Peter-Paul Koch
Issue 238May 29, 2007
The strategy of the standards movement needs an additional component aimed at convincing large web companies to become more open in their standards support.
The Long Hallway
by Jonathan Follett
Issue 236April 24, 2007
If a virtual design firm is to be successful, it must develop an adaptive culture that fosters and strengthens connections between far-flung collaborators.
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. Take the survey and change all that.
Valentines to the Web
by Our Gentle Readers
Issue 212February 14, 2006
We asked ALA’s readers (and a few invited experts) what they love today about that repository of our mutual affection, the web.
Valentine's Day Massacre
by Our Gentle Readers
Issue 212February 14, 2006
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
“There is a new kid on the block, and her name is ‘I’ve never designed with a table in my career.’”
A Fairy, a Low-Fat Bagel, and a Sack of Hammers
by Nick Usborne
Issue 162November 07, 2003
Never underestimate the importance of words on the web.
Why Don’t You Code for Netscape?
by Jeffrey Zeldman
Issue 129December 07, 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 01, 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 Ryan Holsten, Michael Krisher, Brandon Oelling
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.
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?
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.
Sympathy for the Plug-in
by Peter Balogh
Issue 67June 09, 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 05, 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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