{"database": "24ways", "table": "articles", "is_view": false, "human_description_en": "where author = \"Andy Clarke\", author_slug = \"andyclarke\" and topic = \"process\"", "rows": [[122, "A Message To You, Rudy - CSS Production Notes", "When more than one designer or developer work together on coding an XHTML/CSS template, there are several ways to make collaboration effective. Some prefer to comment their code, leaving a trail of bread-crumbs for their co-workers to follow. Others use accompanying files that contain their working notes or communicate via Basecamp.\n\nFor this year\u2019s 24ways I wanted to share a technique that I has been effective at Stuff and Nonsense; one that unfortunately did not make it into the final draft of Transcending CSS. This technique, CSS production notes, places your page production notes in one convenient place within an XHTML document and uses nothing more than meaningful markup and CSS.\n\nLet\u2019s start with the basics; a conversation between a group of people. In the absence of notes or conversation elements in XHTML you need to make an XHTML compound that will effectively add meaning to the conversation between designers and developers. As each person speaks, you have two elements right there to describe what has been said and who has spoken:

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This project will use XHTML1.0 Strict, CSS2.1 and all that malarkey.
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\n\nWith more than one person speaking, you need to establish a temporal order for the conversation. Once again, the element to do just that is already there in XHTML; the humble ordered list.\n\n
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This project will use XHTML1.0 Strict, CSS2.1 and all that malarkey.
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\n\nAdding a new note is as simple as adding a new item to list, and if you prefer to add more information to each note, such as the date or time that the note was written, go right ahead. Place your note list at the bottom of the source order of your document, right before the closing tag. One advantage of this approach over using conventional comments in your code is that all the notes are unobtrusive and are grouped together in one place, rather than being spread throughout your document.\n\nBasic CSS styling\n\nFor the first stage you are going to add some basic styling to the notes area, starting with the ordered list. For this design I am basing the look and feel on an instant messenger window.\n\n\n\nol#notes {\n\twidth : 300px; \n\theight : 320px; \n\tpadding : .5em 0; \n\tbackground : url(im.png) repeat; \n\tborder : 1px solid #333; \n\tborder-bottom-width : 2px; \n\t-moz-border-radius : 6px; /* Will not validate */\n\tcolor : #000; \n\toverflow : auto; \n}\nol#notes li { \n\tmargin : .5em; \n\tpadding : 10px 0 5px; \n\tbackground-color : #fff; \n\tborder : 1px solid #666; \n\t-moz-border-radius : 6px; /* Will not validate */ \n}\nol#notes blockquote { \n\tmargin : 0; \n\tpadding : 0; \n}\nol#notes p { \n\tmargin : 0 20px .75em;\n\tpadding : 0; \n}\nol#notes p.date { \n\tfont-size : 92%;\n\tcolor : #666; \n\ttext-transform : uppercase; \n}\n\nTake a gander at the first example.\n\nYou could stop right there, but without seeing who has left the note, there is little context. So next, extract the name of the commenter from the
\u2019s cite attribute and display it before each note by using generated content.\n\nol#notes blockquote:before { \n\tcontent : \" \"attr(cite)\" said: \"; \n\tmargin-left : 20px; \n\tfont-weight : bold; \n}\n\nFun with more detailed styling\n\nNow, with all of the information and basic styling in place, it\u2019s time to have some fun with some more detailed styling to spruce up your notes. Let\u2019s start by adding an icon for each person, once again based on their cite. First, all of the first paragraphs of a
\u2019s that includes a cite attribute are given common styles.\n\nol#notes blockquote[cite] p:first-child {\n\tmin-height : 34px;\n\tpadding-left : 40px; \n}\n\nFollowed by an individual background-image.\n\nol#notes blockquote[cite=\"Andy\"] p:first-child { \n\tbackground : url(malarkey.png) no-repeat 5px 5px; \n} \n\nIf you prefer a little more interactivity, add a :hover state to each
and perhaps highlight the most recent comment.\n\nol#notes blockquote:hover { \n\tbackground-color : #faf8eb; \n\tborder-top : 1px solid #fff; \n\tborder-bottom : 1px solid #333; \n}\nol#notes li:last-child blockquote { \n\tbackground-color : #f1efe2; \n}\n\n\n\nYou could also adjust the style for each comment based on the department that the person works in, for example:\n\n
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\nol#notes blockquote.designer { border-color : #600; }\n\nTake a look at the results of the second stage.\n\nShow and hide the notes using CSS positioning\n\nWith your notes now dressed in their finest, it is time to tuck them away above the top of your working XHTML/CSS prototype so that you can reveal them when you need them, no JavaScript required. Start by moving the ordered list of notes off the top of the viewport leaving only a few pixels in view. It is also a good idea to make them semi-transparent by using the opacity property for browsers that have implemented it.\n\nol#notes { \n\tposition : absolute; \n\topacity : .25;\n\tz-index : 2000; \n\ttop : -305px; \n\tleft : 20px; \n}\n\nYour last step is to add :hover and :focus dynamic pseudo-classes to reposition the list at the top of the viewport and restore full opacity to display them in their full glory when needed.\n\nol#notes:hover, ol#notes:focus {\n\ttop : 0; \n\topacity : 1; \n}\n\n\n\nNow it\u2019s time to sit back, pour yourself a long drink and bask in the glory of the final result. Your notes are all stored in one handy place at the bottom of your document rather than being spread around your code. When your templates are complete, simply dive straight to the bottom and pull out the notes.\n\nA Message To You, Rudy\n\nThank-you to everybody for making this a really great year for web standards. Have a wonderful holiday season.\n\nBuy Andy Clarke\u2019s book Transcending CSS from Amazon.com", "2006", "Andy Clarke", "andyclarke", "2006-12-15T00:00:00+00:00", "https://24ways.org/2006/css-production-notes/", "process"], [237, "Circles of Confusion", "Long before I worked on the web, I specialised in training photographers how to use large format, 5\u00d74\u2033 and 10\u00d78\u2033 view cameras \u2013 film cameras with swing and tilt movements, bellows and upside down, back to front images viewed on dim, ground glass screens. It\u2019s been fifteen years since I clicked a shutter on a view camera, but some things have stayed with me from those years.\n\nIn photography, even the best lenses don\u2019t focus light onto a point (infinitely small in size) but onto \u2018spots\u2019 or circles in the \u2018film/image plane\u2019. These circles of light have dimensions, despite being microscopically small. They\u2019re known as \u2018circles of confusion\u2019.\n\nAs circles of light become larger, the more unsharp parts of a photograph appear. On the flip side, when circles are smaller, an image looks sharper and more in focus. This is the basis for photographic depth of field and with that comes the knowledge that no photograph can be perfectly focused, never truly sharp. Instead, photographs can only be \u2018acceptably unsharp\u2019. \n\nAcceptable unsharpness is now a concept that\u2019s relevant to the work we make for the web, because often \u2013 unless we compromise \u2013 websites cannot look or be experienced exactly the same across browsers, devices or platforms. Accepting that fact, and learning to look upon these natural differences as creative opportunities instead of imperfections, can be tough. Deciding which aspects of a design must remain consistent and, therefore, possibly require more time, effort or compromises can be tougher. Circles of confusion can help us, our bosses and our customers make better, more informed decisions.\n\nAcceptable unsharpness\n\nMany clients still demand that every aspect of a design should be \u2018sharp\u2019 \u2013 that every user must see rounded boxes, gradients and shadows \u2013 without regard for the implications. I believe that this stems largely from the fact that they have previously been shown designs \u2013 and asked for sign-off \u2013 using static images.\n\nIt\u2019s also true that in the past, organisations have invested heavily in style guides which, while maybe still useful in offline media, have a strictness that often fails to allow for the flexibility that we need to create experiences that are appropriate to a user\u2019s browser or device capabilities.\n\nWe live in an era where web browsers and devices have wide-ranging capabilities, and websites can rarely look or be experienced exactly the same across them. Is a particular typeface vital to a user\u2019s experience of a brand? How important are gradients or shadows? Are rounded corners really that necessary? These decisions determine how \u2018sharp\u2019 an element should be across browsers with different capabilities and, therefore, how much time, effort or extra code and images we devote to achieving consistency between them. To help our clients make those decisions, we can use circles of confusion.\n\nCircles of confusion\n\nUsing circles of confusion involves plotting aspects of a visual design into a series of concentric circles, starting at the centre with elements that demand the most consistency. Then, work outwards, placing elements in order of their priority so that they become progressively \u2018softer\u2019, more defocused as they\u2019re plotted into outer rings.\n\nIf layout and typography must remain consistent, place them in the centre circle as they\u2019re aspects of a design that must remain \u2018sharp\u2019.\n\nWhen gradients are important \u2013 but not vital \u2013 to a user\u2019s experience of a brand, plot them close to, but not in the centre. This makes everyone aware that to achieve consistency, you\u2019ll need to carve out extra images for browsers that don\u2019t support CSS gradients.\n\nIf achieving rounded corners or shadows in all browsers isn\u2019t important, place them into outer circles, allowing you to save time by not creating images or employing JavaScript workarounds.\n\nI\u2019ve found plotting aspects of a visual design into circles of confusion is a useful technique when explaining the natural differences between browsers to clients. It sets more realistic expectations and creates an environment for more meaningful discussions about progressive and emerging technologies. Best of all, it enables everyone to make better and more informed decisions about design implementation priorities.\n\nInvolving clients allows the implications of the decisions they make more transparent. For me, this has sometimes meant shifting deadlines or it has allowed me to more easily justify an increase in fees. Most important of all, circles of confusion have helped the people that I work with move beyond yesterday\u2019s one-size-fits-all thinking about visual design, towards accepting the rich diversity of today\u2019s web.", "2010", "Andy Clarke", "andyclarke", "2010-12-23T00:00:00+00:00", "https://24ways.org/2010/circles-of-confusion/", "process"]], "truncated": false, "table_rows_count": 336, "filtered_table_rows_count": 2, "expanded_columns": [], "expandable_columns": [], "columns": ["rowid", "title", "contents", "year", "author", "author_slug", "published", "url", "topic"], "primary_keys": [], "units": {}, "query": {"sql": "select rowid, * from articles where \"author\" = :p0 and \"author_slug\" = :p1 and \"topic\" = :p2 order by rowid limit 101", "params": {"p0": "Andy Clarke", "p1": "andyclarke", "p2": "process"}}, "facet_results": {}, "suggested_facets": [], "next": null, "next_url": null, "query_ms": 13.612747192382812}