Opus Archives: Elsewhere: “Web Design” Archives
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Smashing Magazine has compiled a list of “12 Principles For Keeping Your Code Clean”. Sadly, this is the kind of stuff that I tend to geek out on: I’m a sucker for consistent indentation, though I don’t always practice it.
Smashing Magazine has put together a pretty comprehensive ExpressionEngine developer’s toolbox, with links to tutorials, resources, and recommended add-ons. There’s a lot of stuff here, including plenty that’s new to me.
Subvert Marketing, Inc. has put together a nice tutorial on building a banner ad management system with ExpressionEngine and Google Analytics.
Structure is a third-party module that claims to be a new way to build ExpressionEngine sites
. From the nGen blog:
It forgoes the current template_group/template setup and creates “static” and “listing” pages that are all editable through a tree sitemap view. Now, traditional page style content and multiple entry pages can live within the same area. Designers & developers, your clients & authors will rejoice.
I can’t wait to try this out; I’m working on a couple of sites for which this could very well be a godsend. Man, I love the EE community.
The website for jQuery—my favorite JavaScript library—has just been redesigned, and it looks really good: love the way that jQuery is actually used in subtle ways on the homepage. The homepage illustration is a little out of place considering how clean and minimal everything else is, but reading this blog entry, that looks to have been intentional. On a sidenote, dumping jQuery simply because you don’t like one element of the new redesign is just silly.
Update: Looks like a lot of folks didn’t like the new design—specifically the “rock star” image on the homepage—and so the jQuery team made some adjustments to the site. I understand the objections the folks raised, but the site does seem to be lacking some “personality” now. Ah well, you can’t please everyone, and this doesn’t change the fact that jQuery kicks all kinds of @$$.
Khoi Vinh discusses some thoughts concerning the impending ExpressionEngine-centric overhaul of his site. FWIW, the approach he outlines—condensing all of the different types of entries into a single “blog”—is very similar to what I’ve done on Opus. I’m a big fan of the approach’s simplicity and elegance, and using EE as the backend makes it very easy to do.
Lucky to be a Programmer (emphasis mine):
For the past few weeks I’ve been working with a fellow developer on a project that required an all-out programming effort. It’s done now, so we’re back to a regular schedule, but when people hear about the crazy hours they often say they’re sorry. They really shouldn’t be. I would never do this often, or for long periods, or without proper compensation if done for an employer, but the truth is that these programming blitzkriegs are some of my favorite periods in life. Under the right conditions, writing software is so intensely pleasurable it should be illegal…
...few things are better than spending time in a creative haze, consumed by ideas, watching your work come to life, going to bed eager to wake up quickly and go try things out. I am not suggesting that excessive hours are needed or even advisable; a sane schedule is a must except for occasional binges. The point is that programming is an intense creative pleasure, a perfect mixture of puzzles, writing, and craftsmanship.
I feel much the same way about web development. Via
Michael Boyink and Collective Idea will be offering an intensive, four day training session for ExpressionEngine this September in Michigan. Boyink has written a number of incredibly helpful tutorials and resources for EE, including the first EE book, so this should be really good.
Web designers should do their own HTML/CSS: If you’re a designer working with the web who still doesn’t do your own [HTML/CSS] implementation, I strongly recommend that you pick up the skills to do so.
I couldn’t agree more. If nothing else, it gives graphic designers a better idea of how to design to meet the unique constraints and limitations of the Web medium.
Ryan Irelan has just started a series of 20-30 minute screencasts that show you how to build a website using the ExpressionEngine CMS. The first two episodes, which give a preview and cover installing EE, are free. Each subsequent episode will cost you $5. More details on Ryan’s blog, and make sure you follow along in the forums.
Ryan Irelan presents some compelling arguments for making ExpressionEngine your next CMS of choice. However, if EE isn’t your cup of tea, Web Distortion looks at 13 free and open source CMS options, including Drupal, Mambo, and Typo3.
Garrett Murray has just released SimpleLog 1.1, the latest version of his ultra-minimal Ruby On Rails-powered weblog application. I especially like the admin interface, which looks nice and elegant especially when compared to the admin areas in Movable Type and WordPress.