The Science of Web Art, Design and Development

Flavia and Rogerio are a very modern couple of friends and have recently engaged.

They turned to me because they wanted an for a dinner party that would officialize the engagement.

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I have just finished reading Transcending CSS by Andy Clarke, one of the best readings I had so far on Web-related matters.

The book does assume you know a good amount of CSS, not a single paragraph is spent explaining how selectors and rules work, so it is not suitable for beginners keen to wet their feet on the waters of CSS. Yet, as the most part of the book is not quite technical, it also doesn’t requires you to be a CSS wizard.

Transcending CSS, as the title properly says, is not about CSS, it is about going beyond, it is about Web Design, a term that is in everybody’s mouth, but not necessarily in a meaningful way. It is about getting to the end of the road and start paving where Web Design will follow in the future.

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It is often said that content is king, still, conscious people around insist that layout and design for you blog/site is essential.

In fact, I think this is no contradiction at all, no monarch can keep the throne without proper garment.

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I think most good web developers know how a bad browser Internet Explorer is.

Web development has an inherent difficulty because code you write is only an outline of what you want done, an intention. Is really up to the browser what is actually going to happen.

Some browsers don’t support some features and web developers should treat this with graceful degradation. Explorer is no exception.

One of the beauties of the web is that the user is in control. Browser choice and options are there to ensure that and sites should support that.

As a web publisher one want primarily to deliver information to public, not layout. The layout is support, meant to enhance the usability of the page. Not only for eye pleasure and reinforce brand indentity.
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I always heard people talking about abilities that are not just accessible to anyone. Apparently, design, like some other areas, demands something called talent, that you are born with or not.

Some people, like Roger Johansson claim not to have “talent” for web design. Roger is an expert in web standards, usability and accessibility and runs a very beautiful blog about these subjects.

Well, I have studied both architecture and computer science, so I think I have a good background of both areas.

Still, I am a little skeptic when it comes to talk about talent.

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When I switched from Blogger to Wordpress I had to deal with the problem of how to deal with the old pages.

Blogger style of archiving was static. That means that for every post you created, the Blogger system created a static HTML page.

Wordpress on the other side creates pages dynamically, meaning that there is no .html file whatsoever, the page is created on the fly whenever you request it. A change in the database automatically reflects on the page.

Now, the problem is, the address of the new pages doesn’t match the address of the old ones.

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Art is not design, and vice-versa. There are many intersecting points between both, but they have different purposes.

Art and design may often borrow elements one from each other, but ultimately, there are two separated things.

Design means usability, not ornamentation. However, ornamentation may be play a huge role on usability.

Art is an expression of the self. That is why art is so often developed by single individuals or, less often by a very small group, generally a duo. And that is why a lot of duos or groups break up very soon, and sometimes not without fights.

While the purpose of art is to draw the attention to itself, to make the viewer to forget the world for a while and concentrate on it, the purpose of design is just to sit there, without being noticed, while the viewer pays attention to something else.
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A fluid layout for a web page is one that adapts itself to the window size, an elastic layout is one that adapts itself to text size. When nothing of this happens, the layout is said to be fixed.

A layout that Fluid and Elastic is a step towards a future with high screen resolutions

One of my great ambitions for the Z’oC Layout was to have a layout that was both fluid and elastic layout, and this is just what I have done. I completely redesigned the layout to be fluid, elastic and more reader friendly.

A layout that is both fluid and elastic means that you are able to take advantage of all screen, whatever format and resolution your public may have and, additionally, means that you can increase the text size a lot without breaking the layout.
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It is curious how sometimes either you are so glad with your own learning path that you are terrified with the possibility that it have been different or else, you admire so much someone elese’s knowledge that you anguish yourself for experiences you hadn’t.

Like many other people, I had felt both those feelings before and I am sure I will again.

I think this is much the feeling on this post about digital photography and the learning oportunities being missed by the lack of obstacles, now overcame, of traditional photography (like film prices and a long developping process).

I migh identify myself with the feeling, but I do not share the mixed feelings about technology he describes, at least not from the creative point of view nor the learning experience.

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Paulo Gazela is a talented musician living in Campinas, Brazil. He sings, plays the harmonica and composes for several musical projects he runs, mostly on Blues.

He has a very rich experience playing with leading musicians like Brazil-wide famous Flavio Guimarães, harmonica player of Blues Etílicos and American harmonica player R.J. Mischo.

Also, Paulo Gazela happens to be an old friend if mine, and I was seriously honored when he chose me to rebuild his whole site from the scratch.

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