Getting started
After last week’s Web Starter Kit from Google, a nice intro came out showing how web technologies work together. On SitePoint we have a good look at the time element, and we also a comprehensive look at HTML5’s track element to add further detail to your videos.
Design a better experience
Web design news this week has included a guide to dealing with the visual-only icon problem, a look at how to design with dynamic content, and raised a question about the most underrated word in web design. Elsewhere the focus has been on designing for the reading experience, and a screencast arrived giving typography tips for responsive paragraphs.
Further your development
This week we have help on optimizing images, and good coverage of what every frontend developer should know about webpage rendering. Patkos Csaba takes us through how to attack complex methods and extracts the presentation layer. In terms of developing other softer skills there are good details about how to communicate effectively in IT projects.
Bring some life to your CSS
The CSS community has been focusing on graphics this week, with info about how to overprint colours to create cool print effects and using bounce.js to give your CSS animations life. Tamara gets lively this summer and releases some summer icons for us all to share.
More lessons are available too in a screencast about CSS’s adjacent sibling selector, and an exploration of the controversial fixed table layout.
Material on Google
It’s been a busy week this week for Google, we have the Google IO aftermath, and Android L has arrived, with a first look, a clip on how Google designed the new version, and reaction from top designers about Google’s new Material Design language.
Write better code and lose some weight
A Learnable video arrived this week on understanding variable scope & closures without losing your mind, and a free online version of the book Human JavaScript appeared recently, where the point is raised of the importance of keeping in mind other people who will be using your code. In light of that, here’s further info on why you should refactor your code, and 6 tips for writing better code.
A new version of jQuery UI has been released with custom select menu images and support for AMD and Bower. A jQuery conference video also arrived about how jQuery is now ideal for low bandwidth too.
Not needing libraries though has been the topic of the week. We took a deeper look at techniques that libraries use, to reveal the magic of JavaScript and explore how similar techniques can be used outside of those libraries too. A grid may not be needed either, so Sebastian looks at what can be done with the Kendo UI Core, and Wladimair makes a good case against using externally hosted JavaScript libraries
And lastly, in terms of learning JavaScript, an interesting approach has arrived because You are a Robot…. Will assistance with visualizing algorithms be of any help?
Paul WilkinsI'm a web developer living in Christchurch (thanks for all the quakes) where JavaScript is my forte. When off the computer I volunteer down at the local community centre, or enjoy playing tabletop games such as Carcassonne or Stone Age with friends.
