Web Standards Blog Archive
Posted December 28, 2009 at 9:15 PM in Web Standards, Work | Comments Off
My latest article for Peachpit is on one of my favorite topics: web site optimization and improving page load times. This article is a review of the basics, which I hope will be helpful to those of you wondering where to start with optimization.
As a next step, you may be interested in my 2008 presentation from WebVisions: Optimize Your Site in Seven Easy Steps. This repeats a few tips but also provides some additional steps to improve page load times.
These resources just scratch the surface of the topic, but they’re important fundamentals. If you want to optimize your site, you need to do it at every step — in your code, with the use of graphics and other assets, at the server. Building a site and trying to retrofit for optimization may help, but it doesn’t pack the same punch. (The same thing holds true for accessibility. And, like accessibility, creating an optimized site isn’t terribly difficult when planned for from the start!)
If you have any questions about Easy Steps to Improve Page Load Times, please ask and I’ll answer in another article or post!
Posted December 11, 2009 at 8:41 AM in Industry Events, Web Standards | Comments Off
If you’re planning which conferences you’ll attend next year, be sure to look in to In Control Orlando, a Web Design Workshop Conference, being held February 22-23 in Orlando, Florida!
I presented at In Control Cincinnati this year and thought it was great. As a presenter, having only 60 minutes to relay your information and message can cause you to rush — but the workshop format lengthens each talk to an hour and 45 minutes so there’s plenty of time for taking it easy, giving demos, and answering questions. I think that makes for a much better experience for attendees, too — no more furious note-taking without ideas sinking in!
As for the presenters, you’ll be learning from some industry leaders: Jared Spool, Ethan Marcotte, Kelly Goto, Stephanie Sullivan, and Christopher Schmitt. (Nope, sorry, I won’t be there… and I’m kinda jealous, because I’d really like to see these folks speak!)
Interested? Want to get $50 off the registration price? Use this discount code: INCKIMB
Posted December 8, 2009 at 10:16 AM in Web Standards, Work | Comments Off
With a flurry of new browsers hitting users’ computers and mobile devices this year, everyone involved with the Web has had to scramble to ensure that their sites are compatible with the latest and greatest. This has left many Web professionals and business teams wondering, “What browsers should my site support?” Kimberly Blessing helps you answer that question.
Read my article at Peachpit and let me know what you think! And stay tuned for my next article on optimization…
Posted September 25, 2009 at 8:35 AM in Just Sayin, Meeeeeeee, Web Standards, Work | Comments Off
Most mornings, I hit the Starbucks near work for a double tall non-fat no-whip cinnamon dolce latte. Yes, it’s a mouthful to say. And apparently it’s a really tough drink to get right… at least for the morning crew at this particular Starbucks. Despite seeing the same crew regularly, I almost always have to correct them on some aspect of my drink that they’ve screwed up (espresso shots sat too long, wrong milk, wrong size drink, scorched milk, etc.). When I do point something out, rather than get an apology, I’m usually given some excuse as to why it’s not right. I’m starting to suspect that either they’re making my drink wrong on purpose or they just don’t care about their craft — but in either case, they send a clear signal: a job’s a job, and they don’t care about theirs all that much.
Web developers can’t have this attitude. We absolutely must care about our craft and continually ensure that our work is demonstrative of best practices (both industry and our own signature practices). Sloppy execution of our work leads to cross-browser problems, inaccessible features, confusing user interactions, and time lost refactoring code in the future. We don’t get to give excuses to our customers — if it doesn’t work, end users don’t use the site, and clients don’t pay. Messy code shows that we don’t care about leaving something our fellow developers can learn from, and it demonstrates that we don’t care to take the time get our code right.
I shudder to think about the kind of code the baristas at the local Starbucks would write, were they developers. If only they could be more like so many of the awesome developers/craftspeople I know… then I’d be happily caffeinated each morning. And if fewer developers wrote code the way those baristas make drinks? Well, the Web might just explode from all that awesomeness.
Posted September 20, 2009 at 5:17 PM in Web Standards | Comments Off
Cross-posted from The Circle of Standards:
Since the practice of setting and managing standards is as much a management concern as it is a technical concern, I spend time reading a number of business blogs. The HBR Voices blog is full of important management insights.
A recent blog post, How Are You Defying “Best Practice”?, was particularly insightful. Although the article was referring to business and management best practices, it just as easily could have been about design and code best practices.
The only difference is that, while the business world has well-documented and well-established best practices (most commonly taught in MBA programs worldwide), the Web design and development world doesn’t yet have that common set of agreed-upon best practices. What one designer or developer considers a best practice may be contrary to what another one believes.
This leads me to the question of how do you define what is an industry best practice? And, how do you defy those best practices, if at all?
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Hi, my name is Kimberly Blessing. I'm a computer scientist, Web developer, standards evangelist, feminist, and geek. This is where I write about life, the Web, technology, women's issues, and whatever else comes to mind.
