Tag Archives: CSS

I Have Made my Choice!

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In the world of UI or Front End Engineering you have so many different camps.  The standards based camp (HTML, JS, CSS), and the Flash camp.  I have been using these technologies for so long that I just can’t see ditching any one of them for another.

HTML was my first love, it’s what got me into software development back in 1995.  HTML was my gateway drug.  By 1999 I was into JavaScript and then I got into the heavier stuff.  By 2001 I was a full blown Flash junkie, that still had an HTML habit.

As time went on I drifted between the standards world and the Flash world.  I never felt like I was cheating on one technology with another, well until everyone started freaking out.

You see 2010 was the year of the irrational UI layer freakout.  It happened just a few years after the initial RIA wave hit, but boy did it create some headaches.  The 2010 UI Freak Out pitted HTML5 (now just HTML) against Flash, and it was done in an agressive tone.  The whole thing stunk of rhetoric and propaganda from self serving companies and uneducated developers.

Well now it seems to be over, and I could not be happier with my choice.  You see, I chose “All of the Above!”  That’s right, I am not giving up my Flex and Flash, and I will not be embarrassed that I can write CSS, HTML, and JavaScript six ways to Sunday.  And if I feel like using Air I will.  I am going to use the right tool for the job. You are not going to make me feel lesser because I didn’t chose your side.  In the words of Howard Beale : “Things have got to change. But first, you’ve gotta get mad!… You’ve got to say, ‘I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!’”

I chose “All of the Above!”

PS – when you meet someone who puts down something and won’t listen to reason or see value in something, walk away.

UIandtheRest Labs Site

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Okay, so I like to play around with lots of different technologies.  But how can I share my work and get feedback from people?  Hmmm… I know, I will create the obligatory “Labs” section for my site!

The labs section of my blog is just a space that I can put up and test different things that I am working on for my own interest.  With that in mind I am going to put three warnings out there:

    1. The Labs home page is BORING! – I would rather spend time trying out things and making cool little mini apps than making a pretty landing page.
    2. HTML/CSS/JavaScript based items in the lab target WebKit.  I like to play with mobile, and do things quickly.  If something is compelling enough I will make it work in all browsers. But for now its WebKit (e.g. Safari and Chrome).
    3. Free at your own risk! – You can use whatever you find in the labs, but it is at your own risk.  Don’t come to me if some CSS3 transformation and HTML5 canvas tags crash your browser.  Well, you could but I might not be home :-)

Right now I have some HTML5 demos, CSS art stuff, and random things…

So here it is: http://labs.uiandtherest.com/

JSMag CSS Corner – CSS Magic Bus Article

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I just got word that my CSS Magic Bus article in JSMag will be out this week.  To read the article you will have to grab a copy of the December issue of JSMag, but here is a link to  view the actual bus and code. (VIEW with a WebKit browser, Safari or Chrome). And here is the coupon code to get that JSMag for free! yc5eh4w

The entire picture was created using only CSS and HTML.  No JavaScript and no images were used to create this image.  I hope to publish some of the article in the upcoming months.

For the articles I tend to focus on the WebKit browser.  The reasoning is so that I don’t fill the article up with code and work arounds for all the browsers. This is pretty much standard for all of my labs stuff.  I like to look at it all on my iPad.