(Latest release, v1.0 on 01/27/2012)
ImageScale scales and repositions images into the center of a container div using JavaScript. The plugin aims to reduce maintenance issues when dealing with a fixed content area that needs to handle multiple image sizes. While JavaScript image resizing isn’t always ideal, this plugin should do the trick when batch image processing is not an available option. Read the rest of this entry »
As a web designer for Journal Interactive I design dozens of ads a week in addition to working on larger projects. The below samples represent my favorites from the past two years. Read the rest of this entry »
On Tuesday, May 24th I went to the Chicago Hacks/Hackers meeting to brainstorm ideas for the Knight-Mozilla News Technology Partnership innovation challenge. After brief introductions and food in a conference room in the Chicago Tribune tower, we split into groups and embarked on 30 minutes of intense brainstorming. Our prompts were one of three topics:
My group tackled the third issue and came up with some really great ideas which I (hopefully adequately) presented after our time was up. Phillip Smith of Mozilla walked around taping everybody and then uploaded the videos. Well, here I am:
I attended the Milwaukee Web Design Meetup May event which featured Dale Sande of Getty Images talking about Object Oriented CSS and modular web design. It was really an incredible event for me as Dale’s history and current topics mirrored my own experiences and it was great to hear from someone else who thinks along the same lines that I do. OOCSS is something that I sort of figured out on my own as it was first starting to appear as a term, and it was great to hear it discussed as a fully-fledged concept. The CSS metalanguages Less and SASS tied perfectly into the OOCSS and modular concepts, and are definitely something I’m going to start using. Overall, it was one of the most informative 2 hours I’ve spent.
A few weeks before Thanksgiving I was brought on board a brain-storming team as the lead designer for the next big thing the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel was working on. The idea at the time was very nebulous, but the basic premise was completely overhauling JSOnline’s entertainment section and launching it as a new site. I was eager to work on the project, excited for the opportunity, and had no idea what I was in for. Read the rest of this entry »
Where did that term come from, “look and feel”? When has anybody felt a design? It’s become such a meaningless term now, a ubiquitous favorite from lowly advertising interns to corporate figureheads.
(Latest release, v2.0 on 10/07/2010)
Instant validation provides users with immediate form validation errors, correcting user input as soon as it’s entered rather than waiting for form submission. The appearance and position of the validation error messages are easily styled through CSS and plugin options. Currently available validation types include required fields, email addresses, phone numbers, zip codes, and numbers, but more will be added!
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Points of Interest is a jQuery plugin written to replace the once commonplace interactive maps implemented with Flash. Using one image and two unordered lists, the plugin creates over the image clickable areas which display overlay panels of detailed information. Read the rest of this entry »
First of all, when is the last time you’ve heard the internet referred to as the “information super-highway”? It’s really quite a dumb phrase, but it was at least somewhat accurate for a while. Recently though, I’ve noticed that the tool we once imagined would be a streamlined source of important international information has become a giant cluster of inane snippets and desperate attempts at grabbing attention. Read the rest of this entry »
Following up on last week’s post about things I never want to see online again, I’ve compiled a list of the 5 great new technologies which will help make those old atrocities obsolete forever. Read the rest of this entry »
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