Web Design Weekly #52

July 20, 2012 - Jake Bresnehan

Headlines

Shoot to kill; CSS selector intent

Harry Roberts gives some very good reasons to be specific with you CSS selectors. Next time you write a line of CSS maybe it’s worth thinking carefully about why you want to target something and pick a more explicit and sensible selector; refine your selector intent. (csswizardry.com)

Tweak This!

Jeffrey Zeldman gives the low down on Tweaky. The new kid on the block. Love it or hate it…. I think we will be seeing a lot more of this kind of service popping up in the near future. (zeldman.com)

Typekit – New, improved embed code (typekit.com)

Chrome Web Lab launched! (chromeweblab.com)

Modernizr 2.6 is out! (modernizr.com)

Articles

Leave the default font-size alone

Building with em units in CSS brings benefits in flexibility to users and developers alike, but working with ems can be tedious for a number of reasons. Another great article from The Filament Group. (filamentgroup.com)

Luke Wroblewski on mobile first

In the last few years, Luke Wroblewski’s ‘mobile first’ philosophy of web design has radically changed the way many people go about building online experiences. Over on Net Magazine he explains why you should join the revolution and how your users will benefit (netmagazine.com)

The Web Developer Toolbox: Modernizr

Jeremie Patonnier gives a great overview of Modernizr. Even if you are a Modernizr power user, here are some nice tips. (hacks.mozilla.org)

Curtain reveal effect using CSS

Ryan Seddon recently redesigned his site and decided to share how he implemented the neat little curtain effect at the bottom. (thecssninja.com)

Return to the garden

Rick Monro is proposing we need a new garden for responsive web design. He believes that Mediaqueri.es is a great initial eye-opener for those unfamiliar with the idea of adaptive layouts, but we badly need something to give designers the opportunity to pool ideas and resources and begin raising the bar for Responsive Web Design. (rickmonro.com)

Adopting Pre-Made Design Patterns Doesn’t Help With The Toughest Parts (uie.com)

IE9 vs. Firefox 13 vs. Google Chrome 20 vs. Opera 12 vs. Safari 5.1 (favbrowser.com)

The Journey to WordPress 3.5 Begins (tutsplus.com)

Code Smell and Type on a Grid (smashingmagazine.com)

Moving on – line that is (christianheilmann.com)

Tools / Resources

The Shape of Design book (free & online)

Early this week Frank Chimero released a dedicated section so anyone can read ‘The Shape of Design’ online for free. Happy reading. (shapeofdesignbook.com)

The Truth About HTML5

This is the book for web designers, web developers, and front-end coders who want to get up to speed with HTML5 in 2012. (truthabouthtml5.com)