The Banality of the Radical

As more Web designers begin transforming their sites from the tables-fonttags-single-pixel-gifs concoctions to stripped-down CSS chic, more observers are asking the questions: if the promise of CSS and standards was liberation from the tyranny of warring browser lords, why do all the CSS designs look the same? If this is the radical shift that will allow the Web to realize its potential, why does it appear so dull? Implicit in these questions is an increasing consensus that, in the words of Chris Casciano, 'Your CSS Bores Me'.

Kaminski, Chuck. Western Civilization (2004). Design>Web Design>CSS

Five Questions to Ask Your Web Development Team

As a client or manager responsible for a web development project you don't need to know anything about how a standards based web site is created. However you do need to know that your project is addressing these five important issues.

Allsopp, John. Western Civilization (2005). Articles>Web Design>Project Management>Standards

HTML, XHTML, Semantics and the Future of the Web

Clarifies exactly what XHTML is, explains why you need to be learning about it from today, and steps through the process of transitioning to the standards based way of marking up for the web, and beyond.

Allsopp, John. Western Civilization (2005). Articles>Web Design>Information Design>XHTML

Plus ça Change...

Westciv's John Allsopp sees a potentially bleak future for the dream that was web standards. Microsoft have overwhelming dominence of the browser playing field, despite brave efforts by Opera and Mozilla. They also have no intention to upgrade IE 6 until the release of Longhorn in 2006. So what is the point in innovating with new and exciting features in CSS and xhtml when no browser will support them? The only source of hope is that the gap left by Microsoft's development road map leaves room for a brave or foolish player to step in.

Allsopp, John. Western Civilization (2004). Articles>Web Design>Standards

Podcasting: The Devastating Lows, the Dizzying Highs, the Creeeeeeeamy Middles

I'm going to introduce podcasting via talking about its history, and work through what a podcast actually is. Then I'll talk about our experience podcasting WE05, both from a practical and a business point of view. The overarching theme of this presentation will be podcasting from the broadcaster's point of view. For info about podcasting from the listener's point of view, check this page here.

Sherrin, Maxine. Western Civilization (2005). (Afrikaans) Articles>Web Design>History>Podcasting

The State of the Art in Australian Web Development

Takes a good hard look at just exactly how major Australian sites are developed, and how well (or otherwise) they adhere to best practices.

Allsopp, John. Western Civilization (2005). Articles>Web Design>Regional>Australia

Style Master CSS Tutorial

This tutorial teaches CSS using both hand-coding and Style Master for Windows. You can also follow it using instructions for Style Master for Mac OS X. By working through the exercises you will learn all about CSS for text styling and page appearance including layout, and create a stylish looking page like this. If you want to learn CSS by hand-coding alone, simply work through all the exercises and code examples and skip all the specially styled Style Master instructions.

Western Civilization (2005). Design>Web Design>Software>CSS