Web Design
July 26th, 2010 by Matt Haff
I read through “HTML5 For Web Designers” this past week, if 85 pages isn’t short enough for you then this post should help shed a little light on HTML5.
A little history fun with tongue in cheek…
In the beginning was HTML 2.0 there was no HTML 1 and it wasn’t that good… W3C saw that it wasn’t good so they created HTML 4.01… It was better but it didn’t serve the W3C well so they created XHTML 1.0 which was the same as HTML 4.01 but it followed the rules. Jump forward about 10 years and XHTML 1.0 is getting left behind and the W3C are upgrading HTML 4.01 to a much needed HTML5.
Change that you can look forward to OLD vs. NEW
No more lengthy doctype!
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict //EN” “http://www.w3c.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd”>
<!DOCTYPE html>
No longer have to include what type of file you’re referring to.
<script type=”text/javascript” src=”file.js”></script>
<script src=”file.js”></script>
<link rel=”stylesheet” type=”text/css” href=”file.css”>
<link rel=”stylesheet” href=”file.css”>
Want to embed a media file? Very new stuff with this, I suggest getting the book to learn more!
<audio src=”file.mp3″></audio>
<video src=”file.mp4″></video>
Old elements redefined and some altogether new
- small – now has the semantic value for legalese, or terms and conditions
- b – no longer conveys extra importance, instead use strong
- i – no longer conveys extra importance or emphasis, instead use em
- cite – now means “the title of a work”
- canvas – new element for creating dynamic images (wanna know more, get the book)
- mark – no added importance only shows that it’s currently of interest
- time – can be used for dates, times, or combines both
- section – used for grouping together thematically-related content
- header – a container for a group of introductory or navigational aids
- footer – should contain information about its containing element, such as copyrights
- aside – chunk of content that you consider separate from the main content
- article – self-contained related content, such as a blog post
- nav – intended for major navigation information
Web Forms, SEO and Internet Explorer
A lot has been done with Web Forms, I won’t get too much into detail but just imagine not having to use javascript to make your forms work correctly!
The outlining algorithm of HTML documents is changing… blockquote, fieldset, and td elements are all immune to the new algorithm. For all you developers out there still using tables to create a web layout… this would be a good reason to stop, it means that your code flooded with <td> is worthless to anyone that wants some kind of SEO capability.
Ofcourse this is a very brief overview of this book, I recommend getting it and reading through all of the in depth uses for the new code. Just remember, it will be a few years before HTML5 is widely used, in Internet Explorer’s case it probably won’t be used until 10 years from now…
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Blogging
July 21st, 2010 by Matt Haff
Pulling some great advice that I got from John Saddington in a post last October, I’ve decided it’s time to really make this a good blog worth your time.
4 Ingredients for a Good Blog
- Have a schedule
- Less about passion & more about discipline
- Have goals
- Team effort
So here it is, I’m going to start off with some easy goals and re-evaluate them next year…
For a schedule, I will be posting once a week on Monday’s.
While I will continue to have passion about what I discuss I will be using this as a tool to help others with their online ministry and overall marketing, social media, web design, etc. It’s NOT about passion but you do NEED passion if you want to make a difference.
My goal is simple, if I can help just one person advance their knowledge and skills then it’s worth it!
The ingredient that I’m missing right now… team effort. I don’t have a team that works with me but if you’re interested in blogging for free about anything having to do with online ministry then email me.
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Web Design
July 19th, 2010 by Matt Haff
Featuritis – an infectious desire for MORE, afflicts everyone from the CEO to the programmer. The ability to subtract features is the rare gift of the true communicator, while the tendency to add features comes naturally. Have you ever heard the saying “You can be really good at one thing, or you can be okay at many things”? Think about that for a minute… The sites that have succeeded are the ones that focus on ONE thing. Flickr – upload/share photos, YouTube – upload/share videos, Twitter – share quick thoughts.
Remember all those cliches, less is more, simpler is better, clean is mean…well maybe not that last one. If you want to have everything and the kitchen sink on your website, then go for it! Just don’t expect everyone and their momma to come and marvel at it’s beauty. [smile]
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Web Design
July 18th, 2010 by Matt Haff
I just redesigned my blog with my own custom wordpress theme, designed by my good buddy Mack Kitchel! Some new things you might notice if you’ve been here more than once…
Comment Bubble ↑
I’d love to hear what you think about the new design, so in order to leave a comment, click the comment bubble in the top right corner of each post.
Sponsor/Ad Space →
As of now it’s all just free ad space for people that I really like, but maybe someday I’ll get some money off them. Let me know if you want to be part of my sidebar decoration!
Social Networking Buttons →
These are the different ways to connect with me besides this blog. Oh, and the big orange button? That’s a way for you to subscribe to this blog if it seems like something of interest to you.
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12Stone Church, Web Design
July 14th, 2010 by Matt Haff
Turfismo is behind-the-screen politicking that transforms the home page into a patchwork of tiny fiefdoms. You can see this on any website that has more than one person calling the shots… Every individual ministry or person is battling a fight to the death over getting as much space on the home page as possible for their cause. This is just another case of having the right motive but not the right method. Before you fall into the grasp of this free-for-all take a deep breath and use your experience (or others) to tell you what the home page should really look like.
Keep in mind that the home page is mainly for visitors.. people that already go to your church are willing to dig a little deeper. If it doesn’t relate to the majority of people then it doesn’t belong on the home page.
At 12Stone.com we keep a good balance of about 6 different messages on the home page through the use of a graphic slider. I would still like to simplify it further but for now this is where we are at. Three of the graphics are always present – Current Series, Campus Locations, and Children’s Ministry. The other three graphics are up for grabs by whichever ministry has something big that relates to the entire campus.
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