Pop Art Blog

WebVisions is a Portland-based web conference that I’ve attended twice before . Sadly, due to a crisis at the office, I was only able to attend the first day of sessions this year, which means I missed Andy Baio’s presentation on internet memes and Jeffrey Veen’s keynote . What I did see was good, but not great. In a nutshell, I think that WebVisions is a B-grade conference that’s trying desperately to become an A-grade one. It has moments of greatness, and manages to attract... Read More...

When we first moved into our new building, Dave wrote "Door-Close button in elevator does nothing" on the maintenance list, and the handyman replied "Button functions as intended" or something along those lines. Well, turns out they're BOTH right. I was reading an article that Kottke linked to about elevators, and there was a little bit in there about how the door close buttons don't do anything in modern elevators! "In most elevators, at least in any built or installed... Read More...

Hooray! The feedback from the web development community convinced the IE development team to change their minds about the default setting for version targeting in IE8 (as I discussed in a previous post ). “In light of the Interoperability Principles, as well as feedback from the community, we’re choosing differently. Now, IE8 will show pages requesting ‘Standards’ mode in IE8’s Standards mode. Developers who want their pages shown using IE8’s ‘IE7 Standards mode’ will... Read More...

Previously on Web Developer Controversies: Aaron Gustafson from the Internet Explorer development team announced that IE8 will use a META tag to kick the engine into standards mode by targeting a specific browser version, something that was previously done by using a valid DOCTYPE. A lot of people, including Jeremy Keith, think this is a bad idea. Here are some of the more interesting points that have been raised in the discussion so far. “If IE8 acts like IE8 by default, then IE8 might break... Read More...

The most successful e-business implementations excel, not just by being great in one area, but by being good in all areas and great in some areas . Critical E-Business Success Factors Clear business vision and measurable goals A marketing plan that drives your campaigns and programs Scalable and diversified advertising channels A technology framework that is secure, reliable, extensible and agile Brand growth, management and evolution Customer support Alignment of enterprise activities with vision... Read More...

In 1998, Jeffrey Zeldman co-founded the Web Standards Project to fight for better support of web standards from the browser manufacturers and web developers. It was a success, if for no other reason than it provided a flag to rally behind. This year, the Email Standards Project was founded to rally support for web standards in email clients. The Email Standards Project is about working with email client developers and the design community to improve web standards support and accessibility in email... Read More...

"The experienced web designer, like the talented newspaper art director, accepts that many projects she works on will have headers and columns and footers. Her job is not to whine about emerging commonalities but to use them to create pages that are distinctive, natural, brand-appropriate, subtly memorable, and quietly but unmistakably engaging." -- Jeffrey Zeldman, Understanding Web Design Read More...

"I’d rather answer a few dumb questions than put up with a few dumb assumptions." -- Aaron Cannon , in reply to a question about whether he tires of people asking him about his blindness Read More...

Steve Sandstrom likes "verbena" scented things. Steve Sandstrom also enjoys the smell of his wife's neck. Steve Sandstrom is married. Steve Sandstrom became a vegan 8 months ago. Steve Sandstrom likes marionberry pie. Steve Sandstrom has a child who was conceived accidentally. Steve Sandstrom is fond of people who are fond of large belt buckles. Steve Sandstrom deserves his PAF lifetime achievement award. Read More...

I was clearing out my bookmarks recently, and noticed that I had a pretty large collection of web development and CSS-related bookmarks that I never refer to any more, but might be useful to people who are just getting started with CSS. So with that in mind, here’s a collection of links, and I hope it helps you out! Browser Testing You’ll probably be spending a lot of time testing your designs in different browsers. The old-school way to do this is to physically install every browser you might have... Read More...