At least 10% of your visitors access your site over a mobile device. They deserve a good experience (and if you provide one, they’ll keep coming back).
Converting your multi-column layout to a single, linear flow is a good start. But mobile devices are not created equal, and their disparate handling of CSS is like 1998 all over again. Please your users and tame their devices with handheld style sheets, CSS media queries, and (where necessary) JavaScript or server-side techniques.
Semantics in HTML 5
The BBC’s dropping of hCalendar because of accessibility and usability concerns demonstrates that we have pushed the semantic capability of HTML far beyond what it can handle. The need to clearly and unambiguously add rich, meaningful semantics to markup is a driving goal of the HTML 5 project. Yet HTML 5 has two problems: it is not backward compatible because its semantic elements will not work in 75% of our browsers; and it is not forward compatible because its semantics are not extensible. If “making up new elements” isn’t the solution, what is?
More from A List Apart
Designers, (Re)define Success First
Learn how to engage stakeholders, focus on impactful objectives, and measure the results in this template for ethical design.
Breaking Out of the Box
What can we do with thirty pixels? Windows Controls Overlay frees us from 40 years of history telling us how apps should look.
How to Sell UX Research with Two Simple Questions
Seriously, do not ever design screens again without first answering these questions: what are the objects and how do they relate?
A Content Model Is Not a Design System
Why do so many content models still look more like design systems rather than reflecting structured data? Mike Wills takes us on a personal journey as he examines his own past experiences and invites us to conceive content models that articulate meaning and group related content together for use on any channel.
Design for Safety, An Excerpt
In this excerpt from Design for Safety, Eva PenzeyMoog discusses concrete ways you can incorporate safety awareness into your design processes.
Sustainable Web Design, An Excerpt
In this excerpt from Sustainable Web Design, Tom Greenwood provides clear guidance on how to track and address the carbon footprint of our websites.
Voice Content and Usability
In this excerpt from Voice Content and Usability, author Preston So talks about the messy, primordial nature of human speech and challenges with programming computers to deal with these complexities.
Designing for the Unexpected
As devices continue to diversify in dizzying ways, how can we make sure our work on the web stays as relevant as ever for the long haul? Cathy Dutton shares how practitioners must perfect designs both for the paradigms of the present and the twists of the future, come what may.
Asynchronous Design Critique: Getting Feedback
Receiving feedback can be a stressful experience: will an open-ended question attract helpful guidance or harsh criticism? Erin “Folletto“ Casali coaches us through a process to ensure that feedback always lands gracefully.
Asynchronous Design Critique: Giving Feedback
You’ve heard the term “constructive criticism” countless times but do you know how to deliver it? Part one of this series from Erin ‘Folletto’ Casali gives you a framework for it! Flex your feedback muscles and practice these skills to empower and inspire others without deflating or confusing them.
That’s Not My Burnout
If, like many folks during the pandemic, you’ve begun confusing burnout for achievement, Donna Bungard will show you how to recognize that you’re low on fuel and give you a map of rest stops where you can refill your tank.
Beware the Cut ‘n’ Paste Persona
Emanuela Cozzi and Lennart Overkamp show us a new take on user personas that can prove to be more effective and meaningful.
