July 26, 2010
by James Brocklehurst
4 Comments
Visitors to a site will at some point want to print out the information they see on screen. By using print-specific CSS, content can be reformatted for print in a form that is readable on paper and doesn’t contain items such as advertising or menus. Print stylesheets can take time to set up successfully however, and tend to get neglected when project deadlines loom.
July 7, 2010
by James Brocklehurst
26 Comments
This post is going to look at a quick way to turn a fresh install of WordPress 3.0 into a easy to use CMS for non-technical clients. It will utilise the new ‘Twenty Ten’ theme that already has some CMS leanings, the new custom menu feature, plus a couple of plug-ins that add some extra functionality.
May 25, 2010
by James Brocklehurst
26 Comments
Here is the second release of the Web Safe Font Cheat Sheet, which includes updated statistics, better printability and a quick reference for using Google’s new Font API and Directory.
May 14, 2010
by James Brocklehurst
24 Comments
Here’s a technique I created a while back that I have revisited and tidied up a bit. It results in a layout that stretches both horizontally and vertically to the browser viewport. It includes a vertical navigation bar where button heights also stretch. It works in FF, Safari, Chrome, Opera, and IE 6-8
May 4, 2010
by James Brocklehurst
6 Comments
To speed up my Photoshop to HTML workflow, I’ve recorded a Photoshop Action that allows me to select any combination of layers (which may contain layer styles, vector shapes, text layers or smart objects), and instantly turn these into a flattened document which is passed to the the save for web dialogue.
April 29, 2010
by James Brocklehurst
35 Comments
When first learning JQuery I was frustrated at the inability to animate a simple fade-in fade-out on images set using the CSS background-image property. Workarounds involving the appending and fading of additional HTML elements have been around for a while but prevent you from using web-text within these elements – no good for accessible or CMS editable menus.
April 18, 2010
by James Brocklehurst
0 comments
If you are using PNGs on your site straight from Photoshop, then this post may be of interest to you. The PNG image format offers some unique abilities for web designers, but there are pitfalls concerning compression, colour accuracy and browser compatibility. This article explains the issues, and presents some easy-to-implement solutions.
April 14, 2010
by James Brocklehurst
5 Comments
Commenter Aldrin asked in the previous post whether a simpler black and white version of the Cheat Sheet could be provided, so here we go!
April 11, 2010
by James Brocklehurst
54 Comments
In all the TypeKit and @font-face excitement, boring old web-safe fonts are getting overlooked. This article attempts to persuade you why you should give them a second chance, and provides you with the Web Safe Fonts Cheat Sheet!
March 18, 2010
by James Brocklehurst
0 comments
Having just completed the Town Guide for the tourist information centre in our home town of Ashburton, I thought I would explain a bit about how the front cover illustration was created. I think it’s particularly interesting because although it looks like it’s been created using traditional techniques, namely watercolour paints, it mostly uses digital processes and no real paint whatsoever!
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