Issue 262July 01, 2008
Collaborate and Connect with Subversion
by Ryan Irelan
Subversion keeps everyone on your team involved in the project. if you have someone new it allows you to catch any misunderstandings, project issues, and coding mistakes before it’s time for them to deliver the work.
Getting Out of Binding Situations in JavaScript
by Christophe Porteneuve
Overall, binding in JavaScript is not a difficult concept, but it is far too often ignored or glossed over by JavaScripters, which leads to confusion.
Issue 261June 17, 2008
Faux Absolute Positioning
by Eric Sol
Another advantage of the technique is that it mitigates much of the fragility of floats. When the content of a floated box is wider than the box itself, it pushes the next box to the right (and by consequence, the box often drops down). With faux absolute positioning, the box to the right stays in place, no matter what.
Sketching in Code: the Magic of Prototyping
by David Verba
Proponents of Agile Development look askance at documentation because they want to stay focused on building the actual product. This attitude should translate to prototyping as well. Use the quickest and most lightweight method that gets you the results you’re after.
Issue 260June 03, 2008
Writing an Interface Style Guide
by Jina Bolton
The design style guide provides a reference in which developers can describe the way the interface is intended to look, and helps designers to be consistent as the interface is updated so that, in turn, the interface continues to feel consistent.
Saving the Spark: Developing Creative Ideas
by Mark Boulton
For most of us, ideas have to be squeezed out of us every day. To stand up to this challenge, you need to arm yourself with some good tools.
Issue 259May 20, 2008
The Cure for Content-Delay Syndrome
by Pepi Ronalds
It is perhaps the market forces driving web development projects that find us aligning ourselves with the lexicons of marketing and advertising rather than publishing. As a result, we have lots of “brand identity guidelines,” but not so many “style guides” (for content, at least). We have “strategists,” but no “commissioning editors,” and we more often “go live” than “publish.” Hence, we tend to first think “copywriter” when trying to get our content sorted, whereas very often an editor is the person we should be engaging.
Why Did You Hire Me?
by Keith LaFerriere
Money has a way of becoming an immediate barrier to your success. You need to address this and, to use gaudy corporate language, mitigate the risk. For freelancers, agency team members, and other hired guns, here are five tips. For full-time folks, slight variations apply.
Issue 258May 06, 2008
Zebra Striping: Does it Really Help?
by Jessica Enders
The user of a table would be looking for one or more data points. Therefore, if we set a task that uses a table, and zebra striping does make things easier, then we would expect to see improvements in accuracy and speed.
Community: From Little Things, Big Things Grow
by George Oates
Any community—online or off—must start slowly, and be nurtured. You cannot “just add community.” It must be cared for, and hosted; it takes time and people with great communication skills to set the tone and tend the conversation.
