Web Do's & Don'ts

Write effective Loops

Siniša — Wed, 18 May 2011 22:30:13 +0000

Depending on the browser, the method used to write Loops can have a great effect on the performance of a site. Improper writing of loops can slow down pages with lots of queries and running a number of loops in parallel.

Don’t use empty image src

Siniša — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 18:18:20 +0000

An HTML image, either via tag or JavaScript Image object, that has its src set to an empty string can cause traffic spikes or user state corruption.

Ensure quick loading times

Bojan — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 09:28:26 +0000

Even though today’s internet connection speeds are great, ensuring quick loading times is as important as ever. Optimize your pages and don’t make your users wait for the website to load.

Compose to a vertical rhythm

Bojan — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 07:51:47 +0000

Composing to a vertical rhythm using font size, line height and margin or padding and take your web typography to a new level. Vertical rhythm will help your reader down the page and increase readability.

Don’t use all bold text in your content

Bojan — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 09:27:05 +0000

Never use all bold text in your content. All bold text is hard to read and the point of the emphasis is lost. To put emphasis on a certain part of the content, use the strong tag.

HTML5 for Web Designers Mini Review

Bojan — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 08:32:21 +0000

I recently read HTML5 for Web Designers by Jeremy Keith. Having spent not much time exploring HTML5 up to that point, I thought the book would be a good start.

The outside

With just 85 pages and a soft cover, the book was at first a slight disappointment, due to the fact I was not expecting such a thin book. The disappointment was short lived though, because a couple of hours into my train trip I was done and happily re-reading my favorite passages. The design of the book is very simple and very effective, as it makes the reader concentrate on its contents.

The inside

Once you start reading, you find the book is a joy to look at and read. You have to admire the excellent design, which in combination with a great paper quality guarantees a wonderful reading experience. But what makes it special is the way it was written–Jeremy Keith makes everything fun and super easy to understand. The author takes you on a quick trip from a brief history of markup to how you can use HTML5 today. I found myself nodding in acknowledgment several times and literally racing through pages. Simply put, this is one of those books that leaves you wanting more. After you are done, you just wish it had 50 extra pages.

Conclusion

I can recommend HTML5 for Web Designers to any of you who want to get familiar with HTML5. While it is not a book that will be your only resource on the topic, it will be a great introduction to a standard that is changing the World Wide Web. At $18 plus shipping it is not the cheapest book around, but worth it nevertheless. What I’d very much like to own is a PDF copy of the book, which is not (yet) available. This way, I would probably use it as a reference and not have to use Google instead.

Use the text-transform property to specify the case of letters

Bojan — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 09:58:46 +0000

As we know, writing in all-caps is a no-no. For all-caps text, you should use the text-transform property (unless you are actually SHOUTING), and the same property shod be applied if you want to use lowercase text. This means that in the content layer, you must use proper structure and semantics, and leave the styling for the presentation layer.

Use inline validation in web forms

Bojan — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 09:35:26 +0000

Use inline validation in forms to provide real-time feedback and enhance the usability. Not only will it make the web forms easier to use, but it will decrease the completion times and errors made and increase the success rate.

Don’t put non-ascii characters in URLs

Siniša — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:30:11 +0000

One thing that is rather common, especially on websites whose content is not in English, is URLs that contain unencoded characters such as space, å, ä, or ö. While this works most of the time it can cause problems.

Specify unique values for the accesskey attribute

Bojan — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 08:05:01 +0000

If you use accesskeys, make sure the value of the accesskey attribute is unique. If two or more elements share the same accesskey value, browsers will not interpret it consistently.