1. CSS Specificity

    Or: What the hell?! Why is that CSS selector overriding this one?

    Josh and I were talking about it the other day and I’ve run into it before, too.

    Example:

    I’ve got a div with the id ‘sidebar’ and I want the background to be blue. I can’t change some CSS that’s being called in another file so I have to override it.

    Existing CSS:

    div#sidebar { background: red; }

    New CSS:

    #sidebar { background: blue; }

    The background will be red even those the later style tells it to be blue. Specifying a specific element adds more “weight” to the importance and thus out weighs the other style.

    The following articles sum it up best.

    Pure numbers: http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS2/cascade.html#specificity

    If you like poker: http://iamacamera.org/default.aspx?id=95

    If you like Star Wars: http://www.stuffandnonsense.co.uk/archives/css_specificity_wars.html (also http://www.stuffandnonsense.co.uk/archives/images/specificitywars-05v2.jpg)

  2. The Photoshop Etiquette Manifesto for Web Designers

    http://photoshopetiquette.com/

    I’m still relatively new to web design so when I come across articles like this I find them informative. I’m sure most of these techniques are second nature to most of you. On the other hand I think some of these techniques discussed here might be unfamiliar, or at the very least debatable to any experienced designer. I also thought the design of the actual site was pretty clever although I’ve seen similar ideas for other sites.

  3. The video above shows Internet Explorer 9 out performing Chrome (yea, I said IE actually outperforming something). According to reviews done by IE9 beta testers over the last few months IE9 is actually great browser, especially when it comes to HTML5 CSS3. Having a solid Microsoft browser out there is an important step forward in this new era in web design. Our anticipation of developments like this validate our efforts to stay ahead of the industry when it comes to using HTML5/CSS3.

    I believe it’s release prompted this next development: There was a “surprise” release of Firefox 4 yesterday: http://www.macrumors.com/2011/03/22/mozilla-releases-firefox-4-with-speed-enhancements-and-new-look/ Josh and I have been using FF4 today and have had no problems with it, Firebug, 1password, and the web developer plugins all seem to working fine if you’re considering the upgrade yourself.

  4. Degrees of Seperation

    Students at Harvard made a system that finds the shortest connections for players in the NBA https://www.hcs.harvard.edu/pallas/ and here’s more on how they did it http://www.harvardsportsanalysis.wordpress.com/2011/03/04/six-degrees-of-nba-separation/ .

  5. Spritebox.net →

    I’m a huge fan of using sprites in CSS. The shear efficiency of it is enough to make a Borg squeal with delight. Spritebox.net is a great GUI for auto-generating CSS for your sprite.

  6. MTA BusTime

    So the MTA (Manhattan Transit Authority for those of you not from NYC) has started a pilot program for tracking their buses in real time. Currently they only have it set up for one line in Brooklyn, which seems like an interesting choice for normally such a Manhattan-centric city. Big question is how it’ll function when they have a dozen or two bus lines available.

    http://bustime.mta.info/

  7. Pretty good practical application of an HTML5 solution.

  8. Health Infographic Video

    Saw this video about the health and wealth of 200 countries over 200 year. Thought it was really well done.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbkSRLYSojo&feature=player_embedded

  9. This Damn Industry

    Personally, I found this article inspiring.

    To those of you who have five or more years of experience: knowing what you know about about the steep, never-ending learning curve, would you be willing to start all over?

    Read the whole thing http://net.tutsplus.com/articles/general/this-damn-industry/

  10. Google Human Body Browser →