12 Lessons for Those Afraid of CSS and Standards
Here’s a great primer for developers who are interested in writing compliant css and html:
…the best thing you can do is give yourself a clean slate. Throw out your assumptions and expectations. For that matter, throw out everyone’s assumptions and expectations. Roll up your sleeves and learn something new. When it comes to layout and production, resolve to remove “but”? and “should”? from your professional vocabulary for a while. Replace them with “how”? and “why”? and commit to meeting your project objectives.
- Everything you know is wrong… sort of…
- It’s not going to look exactly the same everywhere unless you’re willing to face some grief… and possibly not even then
- You will be forced to choose between the ideal and the practicable
- Perfection is not when there’s nothing to add, but when there’s nothing to take away
- Some sites are steaming heaps of edge cases
- Longer lead times are inevitable
- Coherent and sensible source order is the best of Good Things
- Descendant selectors are the beginning and end of genuinely powerful CSS rules
- In the real world, stylesheet hacks will get your project across the finish line
- Working around rendering bugs is like playing Whack-a-Mole
- When you’re drowning in CSS layout problems, make sure of the width and height of the water, float without putting up a struggle, and get clear of the problems
- Background images will make the difference between the plain and the tastefully embellished
