Richard Strucke

There is something beautiful about that title. Something that sings in your ear. Maybe it’s a bit of magic you had never thought possible, or maybe, just maybe, it’s something come true which you had wished for your whole professional life, that is, if you are a web designer from the 90′s.

While listening to 5by5′s Big Web Show I ran across the site for the interviewee, Andy Rutledge, which lead to a post about Big Brand 1080px Design and going wider than the current 960px web design layout craze. Somewhere in the post I came across the w3schools browser stats and that’s where it slapped me in the face..

“Today, most computers are using a screen resolution of 1024×768 pixels or higher”.

Initially you might say, “big whoop, I’ve been using a 1024 or higher resolution for years”.. Agreeingly, so have I. And yes, we’ll always need to be mindful of other/smaller devices (mobile, tablet, etc) viewing our webpages — not only computers. The difference now is more than 90% of ALL users are using a 1024 or higher resolution as well, and that’s great news. We can finally, and now confidently, shake that 1024px layout monkey off of our back.

The trend of increasing monitor sizes and resolutions will continue to grow, and if you listen closely, every once in a while you will hear a muffled cheer at each milestone. First it was the initial hurdle of 800px wide, and now the even larger 1024px wide resolution. Known or not to the outside world, this is indeed and once again an exciting time for web designers.

I’m forever on the hunt for trade tools that make a job easier, faster, and more interesting. In my quest for better browser dev tools I’ve come across a few great Safari extensions. Here’s the short list, a few choice add-ons to evolve Safari into a better web development weapon. (more…)

Since the release of Internet Explorer 6 in August of 2001, web designers and developers world wide had been petitioning Microsoft to update the application to better handle web standards. You could even make a case that IE6 had been de facto contributor to popularize the turn-of-the-century web standards revolution. A fight that continues today with recent incarnations of Internet Explorer; the most widely used web browser to not fully support some of the most basic web standards.

Let the party begin March 1st. Google plans to drop Google Docs and Google Sites support for IE6, as well as Google’s own Chrome 3, along with Firefox 2, and Safari 2 — can I get an amen?! It’s my opinion this will be the final blow to spur our less inspired friends, colleagues, and grandmothers to upgrade to a modern web browser, and finally release my fellow web design brethren from IE cross-site support slavery.

For more info, be sure to read up on Google’s latest move at the Official Google Enterprise Blog.

To sum up all the wisdom inside Microsoft, they have announced that Outlook 2010 will use the Word HTML rendering engine. Essentially, throwing web standards under the bus, mocking accessibility, and making HTML email render worse than it did in 2000!

In some respects, the news is almost laughable. But once that giggle wares off, and reality sets in, you realize a large majority of users are going to be stuck with an email application that renders HTML worse than it did a decade ago. That’s right, Microsoft is moving backward in time when it comes to application development.

[F]or the next 5 years your email designs will need tables for layout, have no support for CSS like float and position, no background images and lots more. Want proof? Here’s the same email in Outlook 2000 & 2010.

Why would anyone use such a ridiculous email application, you ask?
To be frank, most working users don’t have a choice. But we all do have a place to speak out and let Microsoft  hear our request to make a change!

Today marks the official release of Mozilla’s latest release of Firefox, now at version 3.5 in all assorted flavors.

A few of my favorite additions

Support for Open Video and Audio. “3.5 delivers the first native integration of audio and video directly into the browser.” Which mean’s less need for plug-ins and more support for HTML5. Woohoo!

As with Safari, FF 3.5 also enabled (now by default) support for color correction for tagged images. So the images you shoot and / or whip up in Photoshop and post, if tagged with an ICC profile and saved as jpg or png, can be color corrected by FF 3.5. Now all I need is that new monitor and calibration software I’ve been eyeing up.

With the release of 3.5 new web technologies are also being pushed into existence, such as: downloadable fonts, CSS media queries, new transformations and properties, JavaScript query selectors, HTML5 local storage and offline application storage, <canvas> text, and SVG transforms.

Life might be grand one day if other browsers catch up. None-the-less, hoorah for the Mozilla team (and others) for pushing us all in the right direction!

If you havn’t already, download Safari from Apple, its worth a spin. Be warned however, Safari 4 is still a beta and should be treated like one. Lucky for us, Apple was kind enough to include an easy undo by packing an uninstaller into the beta download. (more…)