In Issue No. 272 of A List Apart, for people who make websites: This is How the Web Gets Regulated by JOE CLARK As in finance, so on the web: self-regulation has failed. Nearly ten years after specifications first required it, video captioning can barely be said to exist on the web. The ...

A proposal for a fonts working group is under discussion at the W3C. The minutes of a small meeting held on Thursday 23 October include a condensed, corrected transcription of a discussion between Sampo Kaasila (Bitstream), Mike Champion (Microsoft), John Daggett (Mozilla), Håkon Wium Lie (Opera), Liam Quin (W3C), Bert ...

Neville Brody, Wim Crouwel, Adrian Frutiger, Eric Gill, Erik Spiekermann, and Hermann Zapf are among the creators of postage stamps by type designers on display at Kat Ran Press. [tags]design, typography, postagestamps[/tags]

It's astounding how many web designers forget to specify a background color on their site. They'll spend months iterating wireframes and design comps; write CSS hacks for browsers predating this century; test their work on everything from Blackberries to old Macs running System 7; and of course they'll validate their ...

The fundamental things apply in Issue no. 271 of A List Apart, for people who make websites. Erin Kissane tells how non-writers (i.e. the people who write most of the stuff on the web) can make every word count in "Writing Content that Works for a Living." And Aaron Gustafson ...

In Twitter, Flickr, Facebook Make Blogs Look So 2004, Wired, which ceased to be relevant in 1999, says you shouldn't write a blog because, um, Calacanis and Scoble. Uh, wait, the problem is that some comments are not thoughtful. And I guess you can't turn off comments in blogging software ...

I'm home watching a sick kid and waiting for Time Warner Cable to come make a third attempt to install a cable modem. If you're good at math, that means Time Warner Cable, the market leader in my city, has twice failed to install the correct cable modem in my ...

So it turns out I'll be speaking about web design this Saturday at the sold-out AIGA Gain Conference. Yes, that conference. [tags]AIGA, GAIN, events, speaking, design, business, conference[/tags]

We bought our apartment in December 2007, securing it with what might have been the last mortgage ever issued in the U.S. The apartment was completely renovated, from its dark wood floors to its schmancy new super-quiet dishwasher. Over the summer, the formerly super-quiet dishwasher began to emit a high-decibel grinding ...

In Issue No. 270 of A List Apart, for people who make websites: Progressive Enhancement with CSS by AARON GUSTAFSON Organize multiple style sheets to simplify the creation of environmentally appropriate visual experiences. Support older browsers while keeping your CSS hack-free. Use generated content to provide visual enhancements, and seize the power of ...

We call ourselves web designers, but sometimes we are more than that. Sometimes we get to participate, in however small a way, in something much larger and more important than ourselves. Started in 1990 by four members of ACT UP, Housing Works helps people who are homeless and have HIV ...

During the last couple of months, dozens of Vimeo members created videos to inspire the next American president to take action on climate change. Here are the 16 finalists; winners will be announced Tuesday. [tags]climate change, environment, global warming, carbon footprint, brighter planet, video, competition, contest[/tags]

In Issue No. 269, master the basics of progressive enhancement and look back in orange at the first ten years of A List Apart. Understanding Progressive Enhancement by AARON GUSTAFSON Steven Champeon turned web development upside down, and created an instant best practice of standards-based design, when he introduced the notion of designing ...

An Event Apart Chicago, the final AEA event of 2008, has sold out. If you’ve already secured a seat for this remarkable two-day web design conference, we look forward to seeing you October 13–14 at the Sheraton Towers Chicago—along with Andy Clarke, Sarah Nelson, Robert Hoekman Jr., Jason Fried, Cameron ...

Q. Why did the semantic web cross the road? A. @#$% you! Issue No. 268 of A List Apart fine-tunes the mechanics of progressive enhancement and rethinks the assumptions of standards-based design: Web Standards 2008: Three Circles of Hell by MOLLY E. HOLZSCHLAG Standards promised to keep the web from fragmenting. But as the web ...

A List Apart, for people who make websites, is slowly changing course. For most of its decade of publication, ALA has been the leading journal of standards-based web design. Initially a lonely voice in the desert, we taught CSS layout before browsers correctly supported it, and helped The WaSP persuade ...

It is illegal to make false claims in a TV or radio commercial unless you are running for political office. If you're selling toothpaste, your claims must be vetted by legal and medical professionals. But not if you're selling a candidate. If you're selling a candidate, not only can you lie about ...

Dear AIGA: I am a member in good standing and was honored to be part of the AIGA site redesign. I received your email about the AIGA Business and Design Conference and am impressed with the speakers at the main show, as well as the 20/20 presenters. You have chosen brilliant talents ...

On September 11, 2002, I found myself in a place as strange as Vegas. I was there to speak at a web conference. They must have gotten a good deal on the rooms, it being the first anniversary of the attacks. "They're holding a conference on September 11th?" I had ...

In Issue No. 267 of A LIST APART, For People Who make Websites... Look at it Another Way by INDI YOUNG Before you can solve a user’s problems, you must see them as that user sees them. Once you understand what drives people’s behavior, not only do new ideas flow freely, but the ...