Michael Lopp shares lessons on how to separate office politics from truth when leading a team, and Lyle Mullican explains how the key to faster, more empowering user experience may begin in better database design, in Issue No. 285 of A List Apart, for people who make websites.

Tags: A List Apart, alistapart, database, design, team, building, leading, michael lopp, lyle mullican, webdesign, webdevelopment, development

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In Issue No. 284 of A List Apart, for people who make websites:

Creating Intrinsic Ratios for Video

by THIERRY KOBLENTZ

Have you ever wanted to resize a video on the fly, scaling it as you would an image? Using intrinsic ratios for video and some padding property magic, you can. Thierry Koblentz shows us how.

Burnout

by SCOTT BOMS

Does every day feel like a bad day? Blurry boundaries between work and home, and the “always on” demands of the web can lead to depression and burnout. Learn the signs of burnout and how to maintain your bliss.

And don’t miss this issue’s Editor’s Choice:

The ALA Primer: A Guide for New Readers

by ERIN LYNCH

New to A List Apart? Welcome! ALA’s own Erin Lynch suggests a few good places to start reading. (Originally ran: September 12, 2006.)

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Filed under: A List Apart, Career, Design, HTML, Layout, User Experience, business, industry

Powazek plumbs the wisdom of community and Ritzenthaler takes the guesswork out of design in Issue No. 283 of A List Apart, for people who make websites.

The Wisdom of Community

by DEREK POWAZEK

The Wisdom of Crowds (WOC) theory does not mean that people are smart in groups — they’re not. Anyone who’s seen an angry mob knows it. But crowds, presented with the right challenge and the right interface, can be wise. When it works, the crowd is wiser, in fact, than any single participant.

Taking the Guesswork Out of Design

by DANIEL RITZENTHALER

Clients, like other humans, often fear what they don’t understand. Daniel Ritzenthaler explains how sound goal-setting, documentation, and communication strategies can bridge the gap between a designer’s intuition and a client’s need for proof.

Filed under: A List Apart, Community, Design

City of Puget Sound, Jimi Hendrix, and the space needle, here I come for An Event Apart Seattle 2009—two days of peace, love, design, code, and content.

Tags: seattle, aneventapart, webdesign, webstandards, design, conference, conferences, webdesign conference, webdesign conferences, standards, IA, UX, ericmeyer, jeffreyzeldman, zeldman, meyerweb

Filed under: A List Apart, An Event Apart, Appearances, CSS, Code, Community, Design, Education, HTML, Information architecture, Seattle, Web Design, Web Standards, better-know-a-speaker, cities, conferences, content, creativity, development, eric meyer, events, industry

In Issue No. 282 of A List Apart, For People Who Make Websites:

• Can we finally get real type on the web?
• Does beauty in design have a benefit besides aesthetic pleasure?

Real Fonts on the Web: An Interview with The Font Bureau’s David Berlow

by DAVID BERLOW, JEFFREY ZELDMAN

Is there life after Georgia? We ask David Berlow, co-founder of The Font Bureau, Inc, and the first TrueType type designer, how type designers and web designers can work together to resolve licensing and technology issues that stand between us and real fonts on the web.

In Defense of Eye Candy

by STEPHEN P. ANDERSON

Research proves attractive things work better. How we think cannot be separated from how we feel. The next time a boss, client, or co-worker scoffs at the notion that beauty is an important aspect of interface design, point their peepers here.

A List Apart explores the design, development, and meaning of web content, with a special focus on web standards and best practices.

Tags: alistapart, type, typography, realtype, truetype, CSS, beauty, design, aesthetics

Filed under: A List Apart, Advocacy, CSS, Design, Fonts, HTML, Happy Cog™, Ideas, Interviews, Layout, Publications, Publishing, Standards, State of the Web, Typography, UX, Usability, User Experience, Web Design, Web Standards, Working, XHTML, art direction, business, development, industry

The annual A List Apart survey for people who make websites is the only public source of data on the shifting salaries, titles, job skills, and work satisfactions of full- and part-time, staff and freelance web professionals.

This year’s survey findings, culled from answers provided by over 30,000 ALA readers, are now up for your pleasure on a specially designed website. We’ve sliced and diced the data, making sense of complex interrelationships, and displaying the results in miniature CSS masterworks by Mr Eric Meyer. (More about the CSS.)

This year’s findings paint a clearer picture of the distinctions between full-time and freelance web professionals: how you work, what you earn, and what you love about the job. Interestingly, too, despite the brutality of a global recession that was already in full swing when we offered the survey, most respondents revealed a surprisingly high level of job security, satisfaction, and confidence in the future.

See for yourself. Read the findings.

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Tags: alistapart, aneventapart, webdesignsurvey, survey, forpeoplewhomakewebsites, surveyfindings, findings, meyerweb, css, jobskills, titles, webdesign, webdesigners, webdevelopment, webdevelopers, IA, UX, editors, writers, webmasters

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Filed under: A List Apart, Advocacy, An Event Apart, Design, Survey, Working, business, jobs, work

The complete schedule for An Event Apart Boston is now online for your reading pleasure.

Join Eric Meyer and your humble host with truly special guest speakers Jason Santa Maria, Jeremy Keith, Joshua Porter, Whitney Hess, Dan Cederholm, Daniel Mall, Derek Featherstone, Aarron Walter, Scott Thomas, Heather Champ, Andy Clarke, and GoodBarry’s Brett Welch for two days of design, code, and content.

An intensely educational two-day conference for passionate practitioners of standards-based web design, An Event Apart brings together thirteen of the leading minds in web design for two days of non-stop inspiration and enlightenment. If you care about code as well as content, usability as well as design, this is the one you’ve been waiting for.

Educational discounts and group rates are available, and everyone saves $100 during the early bird registration period.

Tags: aneventapart, AEA, webdesign, conference, webstandards

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Filed under: A List Apart, Accessibility, Advocacy, An Event Apart, Appearances, CSS, Design, Web Design, Web Standards, Zeldman, art direction, creativity, development, events, experience

In Issue No. 279 of A List Apart, for people who make websites: Liquefy your grids and socialize your web apps.

Fluid Grids

by ETHAN MARCOTTE

How awesome would it be if you could combine the aesthetic rigor and clarity of fixed-width, grid-based layouts with the device- and screen size independence and user-focused flexibility of fluid layouts? Completely awesome, that’s how awesome. And with a little cunning and a tad of easy math, ALA’s Ethan Marcotte gets it done. We smell a trend in the offing.

The Elements of Social Architecture

by CHRISTINA WODTKE

While our designs can never control people, they can encourage good behavior and discourage bad. In this excerpt from Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web 2nd Edition, Christina Wodtke tells us how to make products that delight people and change their lives by remembering the social in social architecture.

Tags: christinawodtke, ethanmarcotte, grids, gridbaseddesign, design, socialnetworking, webapps, alistapart

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In Issue No. 278 of A List Apart, For People Who Make Websites:

In Defense of Readers

by MANDY BROWN

As web designers, we concern ourselves with how users move from page to page, but forget the needs of those whose purpose is to be still. Learn the design techniques that create a mental space for reading. Use typographic signals to help users shift from looking to reading, from skimming along to concentrating. Limit distractions; pay attention to the details that make text readable; and consider chronology by providing transitions for each of the three phases of the online reading experience.

Filling Your Dance Card in Hard Economic Times

by PEPI RONALDS

In space no one can hear you scream, and in a global economic meltdown, no industry—not even web design—is safe. But as a web designer, your skills and products are suited to ride out hard times, as long as you stay busy. Learn the seven steps to (relative) security in good times or bad: 1. Keep clients happy. 2. Know your goals. 3. Use your initiative wisely. 4. Communicate. 5. Put in a full day’s work. 6. Do it right. 7. Find the love.

Tags: mandibrown, pepironalds, design, readers, designforreaders, business, webbusiness, stayinbusiness, recession, tips

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In Issue No. 277 of A LIST APART, for people who make websites: Hallvord R. M. Steen and Chris Mills share the lowdown on Advanced Debugging with JavaScript, and Kevin Potts reveals the secrets of successful designers who keep their eye on The Details That Matter.

P.S. You can now follow A List Apart on Twitter.

Tags: alistapart, design, debugging, debugger, chrismills, hallvordsteen, kevinpotts

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