This is a big deal. Lots of blood, sweat, tears, and awesomeness went into the latest project from Phil Coffman, Noah Stokes, and Trent Walton.

The material is just awesome, this is the stuff you and I want to read about. Also, not to be taken lightly: Rogie‘s got another screencast. Sorry to be so brief, but I need to get back to checking out the rest of the stuff.

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My initial impression of Frank’s Kickstarter project was extreme excitement. People went nuts on Twitter, many peers I follow began posting that they’ve backed the project and were equally enthralled. The design community seemed to be abuzz about the project as a whole. That is, until some didn’t.

By far the most elaborate response to the idea as a whole is an essay from Andy Rutledge titled Profit, Lies, Theft, and Idiocy in which he goes into great detail about why he feels Frank’s ideas, decisions, and actions are counter-productive to both economics and professionalism. I feel the need to be abundantly clear when I say that I’ve been learning from Andy for years. I’ve learned more from him in particular than I have from many of my peers and I have a great respect for what he produces. I’ve passed his name to just about everyone I’ve ever worked with, and referenced his articles many times. This, however, is the first time I’ve been on the other side of the fence.

I often take a lot of time to arrive at any sort of decision where a debate is involved. I read Andy’s article the day it was published and let things settle in since then. As time went on, I became more comfortable with my stance. My opinions here are completely personal, and not an attack on Andy’s article. As I said, I’ve respected Andy since before I became a professional, and I’ll continue to respect him. We may have a difference of opinion on this matter in particular, but it’s done nothing to change my opinion of him personally or professionally. My response is again, not directed to Andy’s article directly, but instead geared toward the situation as a whole. Here’s the way I see it:

Underlying “inspiration”

I think it’s a bit presumptuous to conclude that the major inspiration for a project (and campaign) such as this is primarily to profit. I realize that Frank said his original figure was to cover production costs, living costs, and other costs associated with writing a book. I believe he meant it. It’s not his fault that a community of over 1,200 people felt the same way and pushed him over the top two fold. He’ll be making profit now, but the product is also going to be that much better, right? Maybe. I think so.

I think that in this case, there’s more than profit as a goal. I’ve wanted to write a book for a long time now. I have no idea what I’d like the specific topic to be, but I know that writing a book would be a personal life achievement of mine that would have extreme personal value attached. While my ambition has me wanting to write a book, my financial obligations will not allow me to risk any sort of insecurity to take time away from my income-generating activities for the sake of fulfilling a dream I’ve got.

Here’s where my empathy for Frank’s project comes full circle. He’s doing what I hope to some day do. If that makes me a sellout, then I’m a sellout. I completely sympathize with the way Frank went about going forward with this book because although I have faith that a book I’ve written would be of interest to my peers, I can’t say for sure that enough people would be interested that sales would make up for the money (and income loss) it cost me to produce the book in its entirety. That’s a sticky situation in my opinion, and something I’ve gone over in my head on more than one occasion.

On the other hand, if I could gather up those that’d be interested in the book, and they told me they’re willing to contribute to the book itself, that would do nothing but facilitate me to actually go forward with it. The burden is then on me to produce something that meets everyone’s expectations.

It’s an investment

If you back a Kickstarter project, you’re an investor. If you don’t want to invest, stay away from Kickstarter. To me, it’s pretty much as cut-and-dried as that. Investment is not something to be taken lightly, regardless of how much you’re putting in. Taking Frank’s project into consideration, we’re looking at contributing anywhere from $5 to $3,000 or more. You can put in what you hope to get out of it.

I can equate Kickstarting a book (or anything for that matter) to the process of building a startup. You’ve got an idea, you think it’s a great idea. The world runs on money so you’re going to need some. You take your idea (and what you can show off) to investors, hoping that you’ll come up with a cash flow to make your idea a reality. Frank is doing the same thing in my opinion. Instead of going to investors that do nothing but contribute to a project in hopes of getting back more money, he went to his peers. He pitched his idea, he’s got his experience (his work, his writings, his keynotes) backing him, and he’s hoping for the best. I love it.

The materials presented in Frank’s Kickstarter project, combined with the (professional) bits I know about Frank convinced me that backing this project is something I want to do. I have a great interest in the end product and I’m convinced that I will enjoy what comes of it. Better yet, I’m happy to have made a minor contribution to something that has the potential of being a great thing.

Is it selfish?

Backing a project in this way is a selfless act by the contributors, but only partially. We’re still only doing it because we want something in return. It’s a completely optional participation opportunity that has the potential of having great impact on those involved, particularly the originator. I’m hearing mumblings of people feeling like they regret backing the project in the first place. Why?

What’s changed from the moment you backed the project until now? Is it because Frank’s goal was reached (in record time) and people kept contributing? Does it matter that he’s raised more than double what he hoped to get in the first place? Why?

I wonder: if Kickstarter hid the running count and merely posted whether or not the goal was reached, would people continue to be offended?

An issue for discussion here seems to stem in the expectation of the project, too. It seems as though some people are thinking “what if I’m not pleased with the book when it’s done?” To that I ask: why did you back it in the first place? I know I backed it because of Frank’s presentation and his background. If the book isn’t what I ‘expect’ then I made a poor investment and I’ll learn next time.

This is one of those cases

There are times when rules are broken and the results are extraordinary. Personally, I think this is one of those cases. Contrary to the recent opinions of some, I think Frank’s idea and execution was appropriate, and I’m really excited to read my copy of The Shape of Design. If you’re not an investor, I’d rest assured that you can check out the book when it comes out and make a purchase decision then.

I hate to beat a dead horse, but I’d like to reiterate one last time that I felt the need to write this article just as I felt the need to back Frank’s idea for a book. I believe in it.

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Tools and Workflows

We all love talking about the way we do things. Finding common ground within a workflow or over a chosen tool is an instant bond between two of us. It’s more often than not unspoken, but when it comes up that a complete stranger chose the same text editor as you (and stuck with it through years upon years of vaporware rumors) there’s a quick common ground for discussion. Beyond that, we like talking about how we do things because we like to share our successes as well as our failures. If at one point we had a major frustration, and through time and trial we were able to overcome it, it’s rare that the victory is boxed up and locked away for Me, Myself, and I. That is of course unless the victory quickly lead to a business plan with potential to transform itself into your retirement fund; completely understandable in that case. In the end though, even those ideas are revealed, albeit on a much more grand scale when compared to a blog post and a comment thread. We love talking shop. We’re also stubborn though, but in this case, I don’t think it’s such a bad thing.

Habits can be supremely productive

I catch myself telling those just getting into the industry that of course the tools don’t matter, the work does, and I fully stand behind that. I have noticed though, that once you’ve crossed the line and have some work under your belt, there is a very limited time during which significant decisions are made that can have a big effect on how you do things. After all, if it weren’t about the tools, each of us would be able to sit down at a different work station this morning and get to work in a completely new environment without issue. Imagine this:

• Photoshop user? Here’s Fireworks.
• At home in TextMate? This machine only has vim.
• Working on a logo today? Illustrator? We only have Inkscape.
• We’re not using ExpressionEngine this time around, we’re going with WordPress.
• As of today we’ll be moving from SVN to git, thanks.

Changing tools after deciding what works for you and becoming (extremely) comfortable with it is a big deal. With our tools comes a very specific workflow, something that makes or breaks our process. We’re either optimized or we’re bottlenecked, and it all comes down to the habits we execute as we work. There are definitely as many good habits as there are bad when it comes to Web design and development as far as I can see.

The other side though, it’s greener! I think…

I have a problem accepting that the tools I’ve chosen are the right ones. I know I can get the job done, but something in my head tells me that there’s a better way, a faster way, a more precise way. Am I the only one cursed with constantly thinking everyone else is doing it more quickly with higher quality and better deliverables? I often take the time to explore other tools at my disposal, usually the ones that others rant and rave about all the time. Ruby on Rails, ExpressionEngine, Photoshop, vim, emacs, git, Ubuntu, Basecamp, the list goes on for a long time. My big question though, is how we’re able to tell that the tool we’re using is the wrong one. Do we sit back and wait until our closest colleagues have made the jump and it takes an intervention for me to get on board? Should I be an early adopter in an effort to be ahead of the game once things change over en masse? What happens if I make this switch and the project ceases? Would I have been better off focusing on what works for me and trying to get better at it? The biggest question for me though is:

Does any of that really matter? Should I just be getting work done in the meantime?

Evaluation of potential tools is not something I take lightly. It takes a decent amount of time that I could otherwise be using familiar tools to get work done on my usual schedule. Is that time devoted to possibly unused knowledge a complete waste? Is it worth something to not have to wonder if Tool X is ‘better’ than Tool Y for me?

How can we be sure that the tools we’ve chosen allow us to refine and optimize for an extended amount of time? Theoretically we should be getting better at what we do with every project that gets completed. The great thing is, though, that very often our tools will update as we do. That is of course the author(s) of your chosen tool abandon the project leaving you out to dry.

It’s not about the tools, but then it is

I do stand behind my advice to new designers and developers. I don’t think a tool should influence the technologies or techniques you’re just becoming familiar with. It’s likely that whatever you sit down with first will be your tool of choice for a long time, and it will eventually take a whole lot of convincing to tell you otherwise. In the beginning, the big deal is making sure you’re understanding concepts and ideas. Without that understanding, your decision as to which tool to use has little to no merit beyond hearsay from some people you looked up to at the time.

When you’ve progressed to becoming more professional, you’ll be able to much better analyze your toolset, with actual experience and fact to back up your opinions. At that point, tools become an important choice. Or do they?

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The thought behind it

There was a time where I nearly obsessed over this subject. I was just getting into client work and I was like a sponge when it came specifically to presenting comps to clients. As it stood, the process revolved around showing the client a ‘first round’ comp. It was a home page a designer had been focusing on some time and there was always a bit of holding our breath when it came to the client’s initial reaction. More often than not it was a very positive experience and the client gave the go ahead on interior pages. I’d speak with the designer at that point a number of times because it was usually a “Phew! Now what…” kind of moment where we’d sit and brainstorm where to go next.

The first few times I was involved with the process was exciting, it was my first professional opinion and I was eager to learn from those around me with infinite more knowledge. At the same time though, I couldn’t help but think that there was something awry with having a “Now what?” moment after designs had been client approved.

As time went on I thought more and more about the subject, I thought about the bigger picture of designing websites and began to theorize about consistency as well as detail in the design of a website. While the home page is usually thought of as the first (and possibly last) page anybody will ever see, I feel strongly that there should be a correlation between every page throughout the site. At that point in time, the sites I was working on didn’t have a level of cohesiveness I was truly happy with. Interior pages were an afterthought and at times it showed.

It made sense though, why the designers would begin with the home page. It’s the most fun to work with. You have the most creative liberty when it comes to the home page and with that you have the most elaborate design elements. It made sense from a self-satisfactory angle, but I couldn’t help but think about the interior pages. While the home page is probably the most trafficked page of your site, there is a good chance that it’s one of many entry pages.

If you’re doing things right, lots of visitors will be arriving via search engine results page. Unless they know of your company and are searching for your website, they’re probably searching for something in particular and your company happens to specialize in that area. With an interior page being the entry for an already engaged visitor, I’d conclude that it’s important for a lot of thought put into it. Sure it’s hopeful that the visitor will then move on to the home page and continue from there, but that’s not to say that the home page can’t be equally as impressive when navigating there second.

If a visitor hasn’t bounced away and decides to head to your home page to find out more about you, the experience of the interior page has prepped the stage for an unveiling of the home page, there’s still plenty Wow® to dish out. I quickly realized that it’s important to think about and design every page of a website, but further I began to realize that starting with the interior page will afford you the focus of the more generic elements, giving them the subtle attention they deserve to be impressive in their own right.

The same goes for development

These ideas quickly transferred over to my development process. I was brought on as a developer and that was my prime responsibility. I couldn’t help but be enamored with the design aspect, however. The same faults I saw in designing the home page first instantly clicked with the issue I have with developing the home page first. Home pages are (usually) the most intricate page; they’re going to have the most unique elements by far and with that comes unique markup and style.

I constantly analyze how efficiently I’m writing my style and over time have corrected a number of bad habits I picked up over time. I’m completely self taught in every aspect of development so of course I picked up some really nasty habits along the way, one of which was copying and pasting. When I first began teaching myself CSS I was a legendary Copy-and-Paster; everything is there for the taking and I used it. That’s not staying I would improperly use the work of others, but instead work from it in an effort to get my job done. With that came immense style bloat and way too many !important declarations. It didn’t take long for me to realize that something was very wrong.

One of the best features of CSS, to me, is the reusability factor. If you have a plan for your CSS from the starting line, you’re amazed at how adaptable it can be. Tie that in with an object-oriented state of mind and your CSS will always be all that it can be.

When you start marking up and styling the most generic page of a site, the structure, classes, ids, and selectors are very likely to be reusable a number of times throughout the project. They’re setting the groundwork for all of the detail layers that need to be added with each unique page.

It all comes to a head when you’re building out the home page, though. You’ll have the most unique markup and style combination of any page on the site, but the benefit comes with having to do the least amount of thinking and the most amount of specificity to get the job done. You’ll rarely find yourself backtracking because the foundation you laid will be that much stronger.

This change in thinking wasn’t all that apparent to me in the beginning. I realized that nothing clicked because there isn’t a single point in time where you realize the mistake(s) you’re making. Instead it’s a viral problem that lasts the entire span of the project and adds bloat or instability bit by bit. You (more often than not) will make a change either by being a bit more specific or using an !important declaration and move on; you’re on a budget after all. At the end, the job may be done, but you could have done it better. The stylesheet could be a percentage of what it is, your classes and ids could be that much more useful (and sparse) and your overall document structure could be more sound.

From the inside out

Building websites is a craft; it’s a craft that can be optimized in many ways, with the benefits being amazingly apparent. Do you design/develop from the inside out? Why or why not? Do you find yourself limited creatively when designing a generic copy page first, only arriving at the (more fun) home page last? If so, do the pros outweigh the cons? Have you never felt yourself limited after setting the ball in motion with the home page and having to strip things away to arrive at the lowest common denominator that is a copy-heavy page?

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When it comes to personal projects, I often wait for serious inspiration to strike, as I find it much more likely to actually end up with a finished product. As such was the case with the latest version of Monday By Noon.

Inspiration

Over the past few months, I’ve had a strong calling to redesign the site, as I felt it was no longer a representation of where I’m at with Web design and development. It wasn’t until recently that I was able to better define exactly what it was I felt inaccurate about the then current version of MBN. When I originally pushed the design, I was really in to minimalism for the purpose of concentration. I wanted readers to be able to truly focus on the article at hand, the conversation that followed, and that was it.

I felt the old design catered to that, but it began to wear on me. When viewing the site, I no longer saw the minimal elegance I originally shot for, I saw sterility. The design remained clean, organized, and structured, but to me it had moved beyond that to an extent. The minimal design was pushed roughly 18 months ago, and I think that’s quite a shelf life given a designers inherent need to change things on a very consistent basis. I accepted the challenge of redesigning in 2010.

As I mentioned, the redesign came to exist much out of the blue. As I sat down one evening to take care of some overflow work, I had a simple urge to start sketching a few wireframes for MBN. I wanted this design to be different, to get back to the roots of the first design to ever grace Monday By Noon. Four years later, I would definitely not call it graceful, but it did something I really liked; it promoted exploration.

The conversations in response to some of the articles I’ve written in the past enrich the overall message in such a way that isn’t otherwise possible. I know many writers prefer to omit the entire comment exchange, but I can’t imagine MBN without it. I truly value the response of the readers, and it’s great to have a targeted conversation on a specific issue every week. I wanted to make it a point to push comments and commenting where applicable as much as possible.

As I was sketching, inspiration came flooding in. I thought about the applications I use every day, and what they all have in common; sidebars. Sidebars in application design are nearly essential. There is always a combination of information and interaction that’s valuable no matter what you’re doing or what you’re looking at. It’s the hub of the UI that facilitates easy access to anything and everything, and it’s always in eyesight. I wanted something like that.

It then came down to figuring out what’s truly essential for a website like Monday By Noon. First things first is the brand. Brand was super important, so it went without question that was to be included. I want to try and push MBN to be the best it can be in 2010, and that means trying to attract new readers, so I planned on sticking with the quick blurb describing the purpose of the site as well. It’s quick and easy to digest, and can simply reinforce MBN to veteran readers.

With the minimalist design, I received some positive feedback about the ‘personal favorite articles’ section on the home page. Some people felt it was nice to know which pieces I’ve enjoyed most, and I thought that would be something nice to include in this redesign, but in a different way somehow.

I also find it easier to become hooked to a website when the people behind it aren’t obscured too much. Personally, I really like seeing a photo of an author, just to get that much more sense of who they are. That was a must. Also, since Twitter isn’t going anywhere fast, I wanted to include something referring to @jchristopher for new readers as well. Last, and definitely not least: search is a must. With my list in place I started sketching.

From the first quarter page sketch I was already pumped on the new design and I knew I was going to like the direction this was heading. To be honest I didn’t even make it to a full page wireframe sketch before hopping into Fireworks and playing around.

I skipped back and forth between Fireworks and sketching quite a bit that first night, and nearly lost enthusiasm just as quickly as it had come on. It wasn’t the first time something like that had happened, but a good nights sleep helped to clear my head and the next evening things really began to snowball.

Process

I’m hooked on 960.gs. Long time readers may be wondering what the heck I’m talking about since many people feel that I hate CSS frameworks. That never was (and never will be) the case, I simply have a specific stance on using a CSS framework, and 960 really caters to that for me. The grid set the stage for the design, and I chose to use the latest variation from Nathan, a 24 column grid. Things quickly began to take shape and I was really pleased with the structure of everything during the initial stages. The only problem was, I was drawing a blank on a color scheme.

If there’s one thing that’s remain constant about Monday By Noon’s brand, it’s the red. Since the first version launched, I’ve based the entire MBN brand on #960000, and I used that as a platform. Until now, the designs have been a mix of red, black, grays, and white, but I wanted something different this time. I’ve been a sucker for tan since forever, and thought “What better time than now?” So I went for it. I poked around until finally settling on a blend of two tan/brown combinations that I felt suited the look and feel I was going for.

I’ll be the first to admit that the previous MBN designs lacked a bit of character. The most recent (minimal) design had a bit of style, but that was one of the focal points I chose for this round. Not too long ago Hoefler & Frere-Jones released Tungsten and the design community went nuts. Me too. In fact I became nearly obsessed with the type. To me it simply comes across as an authoritative, strong, and intriguing. I wanted to use it. With the design community in such a frenzy I nearly put it out of sight out of mind in hopes of remaining as unique as possible, but I couldn’t resist.

After playing with the type I knew that Tungsten was going to become integral in portraying the look and feel I was going for. This redesign also brings something new to the table that MBN has never seen; article copy set in a serif. With Tungsten being the sans-serif it is, a serif, in my opinion, complements it really well. A serif helps Tungsten to become that much more elegantly tough, without a modern feeling many other sans-serif typefaces bring with them.

Iconic

The other part of the inspiration flood was Iconic. Iconic is a free icon set designed and produced by a good friend of mine, P.J. Onori, a.k.a. @somerandomdude. From the second I laid eyes on the icon set I knew it was for me. I wasn’t quite sure where it was going to fit, but the mood set by the type combination I chose for this version of MBN simply called for Iconic in a really strong way.

P.J. has made waves with Iconic, and the set couldn’t have arrived at a better time.

What’s New

Along with the design updates, I wanted to really take advantage of what WordPress has adapted since the last redesign. I’ve been meaning to incorporate threaded comments forever and a day, as I think it really facilitates a conversation as opposed to a generic comment thread. To put it simply, I’m glad I won’t have to be typing @replies to comments anymore!

The other novelty I wanted to include was something I find myself using on Wikipedia all the time: a random article link. While I don’t expect it to be one of the most popular features ever included on MBN, I do think it may help both new and long time readers alike at some point.

What’s Left

I’m far from done with this redesign. In fact I’ve already got a few new ideas coming to fruition in the background already. For example, I struggled a bit with the Archive and ended up shelving the work I had done with it in favor of something as simple as possible. There’s both a benefit and a drawback to publishing once a week, and that’s publishing once a week. I’m determined to design an effective way to browse the archives no matter what mindset you may be in.

I also plan on going back to each and every old post and optimizing the content for the new design. It’s definitely the worst part of any redesign, but I’ve got some things I’d like to do to future-proof against having to do much of that maintenance when the next redesign comes about.

Happy 4th Birthday, MBN

As it turns out, Monday By Noon turns four years old in just 3 days, so the redesign coming to be so quickly worked out nicely as a decent birthday gift if I may say so myself.

I’ve had a blast writing weekly throughout the past four years, and can’t wait until I’m writing a similar article on the 8th anniversary. I hope you all enjoy the changes around here, I hope it’s a great beginning to a great 2010 for MBN!

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I’m having an honest-to-goodness back and forth with myself on this issue because I sympathize with two opposing sides to the same issue. I’ve thought about it so much that I’m not sure it’s as much of an issue I’m making it out to be, but would definitely love to have a targeted conversation about it.

I’d like to review the four rules I’d more than love to use without a second thought on every project I work on for the rest of my life, and explain the issues I’ve come up with (so far) regarding each.

Before (and after) I get to the list, however, I’d like to make my stance on CSS3 clear. I love the fact that it directly helps us as designers make a project go that much more smoothly. It helps us reduce the time we take to engineer the front end, allowing us to spend more time designing. I understand that if people are not able to, or choose not to upgrade their browser, it’s something they’ll have to deal with as the Web continues to mature and grow. It makes perfect sense that the faster we all adopt these “bleeding edge” technologies, it puts that much more pressure on the browser makers to implement things properly.

There’s an element of realism, however, that I feel sometimes takes a back seat to the wonderful things CSS3 (and HTML5) are currently offering us.

Border radius

By far the most popular design treatment you’ll find on the Web is rounded corners. I’d be willing to bet that there are more (completely different) ways to achieve rounded corners on the Web than any other design treatment, if such a statistic existed. The creativeness that has gone into the dozens of ways to best round the corners of a div blows my mind. The point here, though, is that it shouldn’t be such a pain to accomplish. With such a popular and generally accepted design treatment, there should be an easier way. Many designers have taken comfort (and a sigh of relief) through border-radius.

As a quick review, border-radius will automatically provide rounded corners on the referenced element. You have independent control over each corner, giving you a wide range of possibilities when adjusting your borders.

Being able to round the corners of a design element using a quick CSS3 rule is inspirational as it stands on it’s own. Combine that with my arguably favorite ability for border-radius to easily round the corners of images as well as elements with background-images and I’m head over heels.

Taking a step back and examining it, I don’t see a tremendously huge problem with using border-radius today on a production website. I’m not able to take advantage of it on client work, however, because no matter how hard I try to convince a client that visitors with less capable browsers won’t know any different, they’re still going to see a less elegant design. And that’s something I completely agree with.

I am not yet comfortable with putting a client site out there that degrades to the point, although completely accessible and usable, it looks unfinished and utilitarian.

Text shadow

The rise of OS X Leopard brought us the wildly popular text inlay effect achieved through a clever drop-shadow treatment to text. Tons of tutorials cropped up rather quickly with instructions to replicate the effect, and it’s something we see fairly consistently in new designs from both big names and small. We can all understand why, it’s a nice looking, elegant treatment that can improve things both aesthetically as well as improve readability when used properly.

Moreover, text-shadow can help on many levels when it comes to readability, and that’s one of the major reasons I’d like to start using it consistently today. It’s something that can be implemented on a very subtle level, and at the same time return some really excellent results without many people noticing.

Truth be told, unless the absence of text-shadow will morph type into something more difficult to read, I think using it is just fine on a client production site.

Multiple background images

If there are any two opportunities CSS3 brings that I would most like to use, it’s border-radius and multiple background images. I can’t begin to fathom the number of divs I could have saved over the past year alone.

CSS3 gives us the ability to layer multiple background images on a single element which can build upon any existing background properties. It’s useful on so many levels, I can’t begin to explain how excited I’ll be when it becomes standard practice to use.

Unfortunately, this is a property I only use on a select few personal projects simply because the degraded result produced is far too different to deem acceptable in my opinion. That is of course unless you’re simply adding just another layer of very subtle refinement. While some intentional results can be put in place with a clever combination of cascading background properties, in my opinion (at this stage) your time is better spent accomplishing your goal the “old fashioned” way.

Pseudo selectors

Pseudo selectors rock. It’s great that they’re so old, many have been implemented in modern browsers, but you can’t become too comfortable with them quite yet. Of anything CSS3 has to offer, pseudo selectors are something I use on nearly every project.

When it comes to pseudo-selectors, I still think of them as a method of progressive enhancement. The way I use them, the selectors provide that extra level of detail to a design that brings it to the next level. Using that approach, I think using pseudo-selectors is absolutely acceptable, and I’d even go so far as to fully recommend that they be used to tighten up the front end on any project. The changes they provide will definitely not be missed by viewers with non-supporting browsers unless you’re so aggressive with implementation, the render is drastically altered by their absence.

While I do tend to use pseudo-selectors, I find myself only relying on a few for the fine details I’m looking to apply.

When it comes to clients

Again, just to reiterate my stance here; these observations should be taken with a grain of salt. I’m only looking at the big picture, not taking into account the nearly endless variables and circumstances that come with every project that graces our monitors.

The biggest hill to climb by far, in my opinion, is getting the blessing of your client to go ahead with this more aggressive approach. After all, we were hired to produce a certain caliber of work. Unless your client is extremely Web savvy, and is somehow opinionated on the topic of how limited we are when it comes to CSS, their main concern will be that the investment they’re making with you will reach the widest audience possible.

The latest argument to skirt this issue is to simply present your comps after you’ve already began front end development. That is to say, some designers feel that presentation of a static comp is no longer applicable directly as a result of wanting to use progressive features such as CSS3. The idea behind it is this: if your client is using a substandard browser, the production site will look exactly like the approved comps simply because they’re using the same underpowered browser the whole time. Meanwhile, visitors with modern browsers will be graced with the much more pleasant version. As the client upgrades their browser, they’ll be elated that this new browser made their website look that much better! Although I’ve never tried that approach, I can’t quite stand behind it.

In my experience, clients are extremely detail oriented. They’re going to ask for more should they see the design in IE6, even if you took the time to beautifully degrade. At that point you have two choices; you can revert to the old school, or you can trek down the path of explaining CSS3 and why they need to trust you on this one. All the while eating those hours.

As I mentioned, this is something I’ve been going back and forth with for some time now, and I think having a conversation on the subject using realistic circumstances and case studies would be superb. What’s your stance on the issue, specifically when dealing with clients and not your personal projects? Do you think CSS3 is simply ready for prime time given the many repercussions involved? At what point will it be acceptable to implement CSS3 and not have to focus on fallbacks and graceful degradation?

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Book giveaway!

Zoe’s publisher, New Riders was generous enough to donate two copies of Flexible Web Design for giveaway, so I’m going to do just that!

If you’re interested in reading Flexible Web Design, just leave a comment below and I’ll choose two winners at random. Winners will need to have a US or Canada based mailing address. Entries will be accepted until Sunday, December 13 11:59pm EST at which time two winners will be randomly chosen.

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I sincerely doubt that you’ve come across a fellow [Web] designer who talks about his job as though it only pays the bills. I find that extremely endearing about our industry. We’re all here by choice, and apart from unavoidable frustrations found in everything, we love what we do.

People in our industry are often overly inspired to a fault, resulting in becoming burnt out. The trouble lies with inspiration. We’re often so inspired in the daily goings on, we’ll become burnt out before knowing it. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been super excited to work on a project, only to be itching to work on anything else by the time a push to launch comes about. It’s not because the project became less interesting, not because the client bipolar’d himself on to my “Ugh” list, but because I put everything I’ve got into it for weeks on end and it eventually runs out, no matter how devoted you are.

Retain your inspiration

I’ve thought a lot about my inspiration lately. I can’t say for sure that I’ve got any solid, noteworthy results for myself, but I can say that both SuggestRSS and jchristopher.me are a direct result. I’d like to chat a bit about how I’ve approached things lately, in hopes that it strikes a chord somewhere.

When I speak about inspiration here, I won’t be focusing on design inspiration per se, I mean the inspiration to have fun with your work and enjoy it. That is to say, I won’t touch on having design block on a current project and give a list of the Top 10 Sites and Galleries I Use for Inspiration. In fact, that note right there brings up my first suggestion.

Look in new places

There’s plenty of inspiration flooding the Web at any given time. Whether it’s a design article from the people you look up to, or something you randomly stumbled upon, it’s almost trivial to find a new article that gets you thinking about Web design in a slightly different way.

That’s all well and good, but lately I’ve started to get inspiration from different sources, and it’s downright addictive. If you’ve got creative interests outside of Web design, focus on them and keep the Web out of it.

I’ve been devoting a lot more time to studying photography over the past year or so. I’ve been studying not only the art of shooting a photo, but the science behind it as well. On top of that I’ve made an active effort to talk to other photographers (Kevin and P.J.) specifically about photography and photography only, without the conversation turning to the Web, with both being designers themselves. Not only because they know more than me and that’s one of the best ways I like to learn, but also because it inspires me to go out and take more photos, to try to better what skill I have.

Another place I’ve been gathering inspiration is Xbox. That’s right, Xbox! There is some really slick design work in video games, tie that in with the experience of playing and your creative can go into overdrive. If you follow me on Twitter you’ll already know that I’m a huge fan of DiRT 2. Not only is the game itself (rally racing) wicked fun, everything right down to the menus look great. On top of that, Codemasters integrated the soundtrack in a really neat way that gets you excited to race. The menus in that game, for one reason or another (and hard as it is to see) actually had a bit of an effect on the design of jchristopher.me.

The final outlet I’d like to touch on is super generic and probably obvious, but the other place I’ve been gathering much of my inspiration is away from the computer. As a result of an entire series of circumstances in my personal life, work and design took a huge back seat for nearly two months. There were events both good and bad that helped provide an entirely new perspective on things for me personally, and that became inspirational over time. I think what I mean to say is that one of the most inspirational things you can do is get out and live life, as cliché as that sounds. People, circumstances, situations, and surroundings can be tremendously inspirational in the strangest of ways. The point to the anecdote, though, is that I found inspiration through prevention. Not living and breathing Web design helped me to enjoy it more once things settled down and got back on track.

Outside unconventional outlets for inspiration, there are some that remain more tied to the industry itself.

Actively ignore the junk, because there’s lots

Quit looking at “CSS” design galleries. Seriously. Take other designs for what they’re worth, but unless you want to get away with blending in and at the same time do nothing for your personal growth, peruse them in your free time, not to jump start your creative. I do feel there can be inspiration gathered from these sites, but little more than checking out what trends and novelties have filtered through the entire spectrum of Web designers.

Along those lines: push the linkbait, “Top 13″, design trend, monetary-inspired articles as far away as possible. Those pieces exist for little more than click-through percentage boosts and hitting the front page of Digg. What good is that to you? There’s a very fine line between information and linkbait, and it’s very important that you’re critical of everything you read. In my opinion, there’s quite a bit of junk out there, all backed by a lot of “leading” design sources. That’s not the place to find inspiration.

As closure to this section, one of the most important things to do is surround yourself with the proper people all the while doing what you can to remove yourself from The Others. I mean in person, not virtually. I’m also not speaking about strictly other Web designers either, I mean in general. People are extremely influential, and it doesn’t take much for the Human Factor to completely throw you off. I don’t mean to suggest playing favorites, being outwardly rude, or anything along those lines. I just mean to say that the people around you directly effect you, no matter how focused or introverted you may be.

If you’re surrounded by those with an equal interest and investment in Web design, you won’t be able to help yourself from becoming inspired. Not only are you provided valuable insight, you’re provided a new angle, which is super important.

Don’t sweat the small stuff

Stress and anxiety are by far the quickest inspiration killers for me. Do what you can to let as much slide off your back as possible, especially if you’re in a position where there’s a lot going on outside design work itself. If you’re a freelancer, this may not apply as much, but if you work within a company of people, it’s probably a different story.

I’m not saying stop caring. I’m not saying that at all. What I am saying is that everything is not an emergency, don’t make rash decisions on the spot because you’ve got a lot on your plate.

When working within a company there’s not only the general day-to-day activity going on, but there’s also company strategy, client issues, deadlines, concurrent projects, and email to deal with. Even if your company is well structured and you’re low in the ranks, things will absolutely come up at some point, no matter how big the company is.

Inspiration can be delicate, so be nice

I think the big Take Home lesson I’ve learned throughout the past few months is that my inspiration can be fragile; it doesn’t take a whole lot to throw everything off track for the day. There are things, however, that can be done to ensure that inspiration-destroying bits of life can be pushed the wayside until it’s appropriate to handle. There’s nothing wrong with that; hop in low gear and ride it out.

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WordPress has had security breaches in the past, and there will be more in the future. That’s just the way it is. Attempting to classify any piece of software as completely void of security holes is a lost cause, and no software should be held to that standard. It’s up to the end user to take it upon himself to analyze the software and make an educated decision to use it. While it doesn’t remove responsibility completely, to WordPress’ credit, this most recent issue took hold only on outdated versions of WordPress. If you have been keeping your WordPress install(s) up to date, you were already covered when the incident first became widespread.

To me, the issue here lies with end users. WordPress is an extremely popular content platform. Millions of users happily publish their content to the world using the system, and that’s the extent to which they know about it. If I had to venture a guess, I would speculate that the majority of WordPress users have never actually installed the system, or are even aware if their version is the most current. Therein lies the problem, but that problem is in no way limited to WordPress itself. That is an issue with any piece of self-hosted software; there is an issue of responsibility on the owner himself.

There’s always a tradeoff

A larger segment of backlash directed toward WordPress revolves around the fact that it’s self hosted, that most of the end users wouldn’t know how to upgrade or even that it were possible. That’s not WordPress’ fault. That’s the fault of either the site owner, or the Web firm who set up his website. Someone needs to retain the responsibility of maintaining the install, it can’t be left to rust. If you’re handing over the keys to a client, you need to make him aware of the ramifications of your decision to use a self-hosted application. You’ll need to explain that the software will need to be maintained and kept up to date, if for nothing else, to avoid security issues. That puts the pressure on him. The other option is to make sure your client WordPress installs are kept up to date. That puts the pressure on you. One way or another, that decision needs to be made along with the original analysis regarding whether or not WordPress will effectively facilitate the project.

I use WordPress for the majority of my work. I know WordPress inside and out, I love the system, and I love the community. I know and expect there to be issues from time to time, and I take the time to make sure my WordPress installs are kept up to date. Not to toot a horn or anything, but I’ve never had a security issue with WordPress, and if that’s simply from keeping my installs up to date in reasonable intervals, I believe that’s a tribute to the WordPress team and community.

I realize that I’m running a risk by self-hosting my platform of choice, but there is no way I’ll ever return to a hosted solution simply because there are too many hoops to jump through. I prefer to hit the ground running, know what I’m doing, and get the job done in the fastest (most custom) way possible. Hosted solutions simply aren’t my choice solution, and as far as I can tell, it’s going to be some time before that’s the case (if ever). That’s a super opinionated statement, but I feel it’s important to convey that I do keep up to date on hosted solutions and consider each in comparison to WordPress as updates are rolled out.

Don’t be lazy

It’s tough to hear the integrity of WordPress be put in question because of lazy admins. To me, that’s what it comes down to after all. I’ve heard excuses left and right about why people don’t upgrade, right down to it being too time consuming, but it all comes down to laziness. The WordPress team has made the upgrade process a literal “click of a button” in the past year. It doesn’t get much easier than that. If your theme might break with a plugin upgrade or an upgrade to WordPress itself, write better themes. Your code should revolve around the fact that WordPress (and her plugins) are going to update, and it’s going to happen often. To moan about maintenance work is just a lazy excuse in my opinion.

I understand that there are other systems out there that don’t demand such care-taking, but I’m the type of person that wouldn’t simply let a version of software sit simply because I don’t take the few minutes to perform some maintenance. I would wonder why anyone would take such a stance to be honest with you, at least anyone in this industry for that matter. Why would you want to knowingly settle down with an expired piece of software?

Taking it for what it is

We know the issue of ‘Windows syndrome’. Crackers will spend most of their time and effort on the most popular system; you get the most bang for your buck. Not only is the software everywhere you look, it’s maintained by an exorbitant number of under qualified people. Unfortunately, WordPress fits quite snug in this classification, and that’s a major reason you’re seeing security issues get so much attention.

On top of that, WordPress is open source. Crackers have been given potential security issues arranged beautifully on a silver platter. More often than not, that works for the benefit of the community, and security issues are squashed before so much as a photon of light can provide exposure. In the eyes of security, this could be looked at as a con in comparison to a hosted solution. Without direct access to source code, malicious intent is much more difficult to bring to fruition. That’s why you aren’t seeing these security announcements from other self-hosted or hosted solutions, the access and desire just isn’t there.

I’m not trying to make excuses

Of course I would prefer to not read these security bulletins about WordPress, but I take the responsibility associated with my decision to use WordPress and this comes with the territory. If you’re a WordPress user, just make sure you understand that this is part of the job, and if it’s not something you’re interested in, you should start examining other solutions. If you’re not a WordPress user, take the experience for what it’s worth, and give your application of choice another rundown solidifying your decision to use it.

I’m also not trying to start a flame war here, it’s just disconcerting to hear the instant dogging of a system that many of the nay-sayers aren’t even using. I suppose that’s the way of the Internet and will always be the case, I just hope that many people take the high ground and realize this, like everything else, is both a learning experience as well as a reminder.

Remain educated. Don’t take software for granted. Make sure your scheduled backup systems are in place, make sure your software is up to date, and don’t be a lazy Web designer.

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