Design vs Technique

I’m kind of stuck with this new design for a site that I’ve been avoiding working on because I am stuck. But I really have to move forward with the project so first I must get over myself.
I want to give the site a fresh modern look yet I want it to be readable and most importantly:understandable. I also don’t want to shock anyone who was used to the old site’s layout, mainly the owner of the site.

So I went in search of inspiration and found this article

Something’s Missing in Webdesign

by Khoi Vinh.
I didn’t know it but Vinh is the design director of NYtimes.com(whoa).
I was more inspired by a comment left by Jeff Croft who talked about being annoyed by CSS “gurus” who wiffle endlessly Continue reading Design vs Technique

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Ahhh, back to mediocrity! Though mediocrity would be a step up from where the old blog lies. I saw my little PR icon had gone from 5 to 0 so I checked it out and I am indeed a zero in Google’s eyes. Back to normal!

The wily float. One day I will master you.

Laugh at me if you want but I am not ashamed to say that floating multiple divs inside containing divs or wrappers to you purists, sometimes still throws me.

Some other CSS stuff:

I really try to avoid using hacks because I keep reading on how they will all be depreciated sooner or later. I believe them even if I don’t know who they are.
I do reset my margins and padding with the * {margin:0;padding:0;)
that old chestnut. But as far as voice family this and inherit that I am dubious.
I rely on the margin:0 auto a lot to center boxes…is that wrong?
I don’t often use position:absolute or relative. Oh, but I used to.
I like to use blocks of color rather than background images.

I like big font sizes.
I like white space.
I set body font with the old 62.5%/1.5 em . I find it makes font-size easier to control farther down in the style sheet. Also, the cool kids do it.
Line-height is important.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with using fixed width. It’s so friendly.
I compulsively validate my html. The larger the document the harder it is to make sure every tag is closed and correctly nested. Why just now I found I’d put in a li without a ul or a closing < /ul >, the horror.
If I can’t see a particular div or whatever I give it a garish background color of #ff3399 and size it up another 100 pixels or so. You’ll always be able to find a massive pink box.
I try to use shorthand but sometimes I have to be verbose first then trim it down. I’m not sure why.
If the design is for a site that is going to be read I try to make it a readable page. Call me crazy.
I will never use a bad photo. You should never need to use bad photos when digital cameras are less than 150 dollars and programs like Photofiltre and Gimp are free.
Everything I know I learned from Googling.