designing css layouts for the flexible...
TRANSCRIPT
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Designing CSS Layouts for the Flexible Web
June 4, 2009UNC Webmasters meetingChapel Hill, NCZoe Mickley Gillenwater
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A little about me• Author of Flexible Web Design: Creating
Liquid and Elastic Layouts with CSS• Author of lynda.com video course Web
Accessibility Principles• Former Design Services Manager at UNC
Highway Safety Research Center• Member, Adobe Task Force of Web
Standards Project (WaSP)
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What is flexible design?• Overall width is not fixed number of pixels• Liquid (aka fluid)• Elastic• Hybrid
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Liquid
Width adapts to viewport
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Elastic
Width adapts to text size
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Hybrid
Mixture of fixed-width, liquid, and/or elastic for column widths
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Why bother?
Why not?Why choose fixed-width when web is flexible by default?
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Don’t swim upstream if you don’t have to
Image from flickr, “swimming upstream” by tempo
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Benefits of flexible layouts
Increased usability, readability and accessibility
Preserve design proportions
Take advantage of screen real estate
Increased typographic control
Less chance of horizontal scrollbars
Respect user preferences
ElasticLiquid
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Design differently from the start
• Not every comp can be turned into liquid or elastic layout
• Learn which design features aren’t “flexible-friendly” and how to change them so they are
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Goals of this presentation
Fixed-width designer:Make designs more adaptive to user preferences
Flexible designer:Know what to watch out for/plan for in comps to make construction easier, layout more robust
Non-designer:Identify problematic design elements to convince designer to change or tweak yourself
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Not just avoiding fixed widths
No fixed heights for anything containing text
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Width affects height
Liquid: Elastic:Change in viewport width
Text wraps differently
Change in number of lines of text
Change in height of block text sits in
Change in font size
Change in height of text characters
Change in height of block text sits in
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Avoid:
Irregular shapes defining a text area
#1
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Example:
The Lippincott, www.thelippincott.net (site currently down)
Irregular shapes defining a text area
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Example:
Mostly Lisa, www.mostlylisa.com (since redesigned)
Irregular shapes defining a text area
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Example:
Scrapbook Your Memories, http://scrapbookyourmemories.myshopify.com
Example:
Irregular shapes defining a text area
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Example:
Scrapbook Your Memories, http://scrapbookyourmemories.myshopify.com
Irregular shapes defining a text area
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Are we stuck with only straight rectangles?
Image from flickr, “Rectangle” by Ikhlasul Amal
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Solution: Tile irregular patternIrregular shapes defining a text area
Miracles in Africa, www.miraclesinafrica.org
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Solution: Tile irregular pattern
Simon Wiffen, www.simonwiffen.co.uk
Irregular shapes defining a text area
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Solution: Tile straight piece
Neurotic, Web Design page, http://en.neuroticweb.com/web-design
Irregular shapes defining a text area
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Avoid:
Text matched with images that can’t expand
#2
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Example:
etonDIGITAL, www.etondigital.com
Text matched with images that can’t expand
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Pick the right images
Image from flickr, “June 10, 2006: Picked!” by Matt McGee
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Solution: Masked images
Sesame Communications, www.sesamecommunications.com
Text matched with images that can’t expand
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Solution: Masked images
Usolab, www.usolab.com
Text matched with images that can’t expand
Use the proper CSS to ensure text has enough space to sit in
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Solution: Masked images
Anchoring the background image:div { padding: 20px 20px 100px 20px;
background: #fff url(image.jpg) no-repeat bottom left;}
Text matched with images that can’t expand
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Solution: Variable cropping
Erskine Corporation, www.erskinecorp.com (since redesigned)
Text matched with images that can’t expand
CSS technique, but requires designing with right type of images
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Solution: Variable cropping
Background image:div {
width: 50%;min-height: 100px;background: url(image.jpg) no-repeat;}
<div></div>
Foreground image:div {
width: 50%;min-height: 100px;overflow: hidden;}
<div><img src="image.jpg" width="500" height="100" alt="text"></div>
Text matched with images that can’t expand
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Solution: Variable croppingCan stitch together multiple to make longer
Dartmouth College, www.dartmouth.edu
Text matched with images that can’t expand
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Solution: Blend into background
Air Adventure Australia, www.airadventure.com.au
Text matched with images that can’t expand
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Solution: Blend into background
Defacto, www.defacto-cms.com
Text matched with images that can’t expand
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Solution: Scalable images
Castello di Bolgheri, www.castellodibolgheri.eu
Text matched with images that can’t expand
CSS technique, but requires designing with right type of images
![Page 35: Designing CSS Layouts for the Flexible Webwebmasters.unc.edu/files/2007/09/unc_designing-flexible.pdf · A little about me • Author of Flexible Web Design: Creating Liquid and Elastic](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042417/5f32644f95941e333d634598/html5/thumbnails/35.jpg)
Solution: Scalable images
Liquid image:img {
width: 50%;}
<img src="image.jpg" alt="text">
Elastic image:img {
width: 20em;}
<img src="image.jpg" alt="text">
Text matched with images that can’t expand
![Page 36: Designing CSS Layouts for the Flexible Webwebmasters.unc.edu/files/2007/09/unc_designing-flexible.pdf · A little about me • Author of Flexible Web Design: Creating Liquid and Elastic](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042417/5f32644f95941e333d634598/html5/thumbnails/36.jpg)
Avoid:
Fixed-width, full-width content
#3
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Example:
Roseville Health & Wellness Center, Personal Training page, www.rosevillehwc.com/personalTraining.php
Fixed-width, full-width content
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Example:
Roseville Health & Wellness Center, www.rosevillehwc.com
Fixed-width, full-width content
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Solution: Non-full-width images
Todd Silver Design, www.toddsilverdesign.net
Fixed-width, full-width content
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Solution: Composite images
Ronin Snowboards, www.roninsnowboards.com (since redesigned)
Fixed-width, full-width content
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Solution: Composite images<div id="outer">
<div id="inner">...</div>
</div>
#outer { background: url(leftimage.png) no-repeat bottom left; }#inner { background: url(rightimage.png) no-repeat bottom right; }
Text matched with images that can’t expand
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Solution: Scrollbars for large content
Bokardo, http://bokardo.com
Fixed-width, full-width content
CSS technique using overflow property
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Solution: Scrollbars for large contentdiv {
overflow: auto;}
<div><img src="image.jpg" alt="text" width="600" height="400"></div>
Fixed-width, full-width content
![Page 44: Designing CSS Layouts for the Flexible Webwebmasters.unc.edu/files/2007/09/unc_designing-flexible.pdf · A little about me • Author of Flexible Web Design: Creating Liquid and Elastic](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042417/5f32644f95941e333d634598/html5/thumbnails/44.jpg)
Summary of what to avoid:• Irregular shapes defining a text area• Text matched with images that can’t
expand• Fixed-width, full-width content
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What’s wrong with this picture?
![Page 46: Designing CSS Layouts for the Flexible Webwebmasters.unc.edu/files/2007/09/unc_designing-flexible.pdf · A little about me • Author of Flexible Web Design: Creating Liquid and Elastic](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042417/5f32644f95941e333d634598/html5/thumbnails/46.jpg)
A more flexible-friendly version
![Page 47: Designing CSS Layouts for the Flexible Webwebmasters.unc.edu/files/2007/09/unc_designing-flexible.pdf · A little about me • Author of Flexible Web Design: Creating Liquid and Elastic](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042417/5f32644f95941e333d634598/html5/thumbnails/47.jpg)
How it might look narrower
![Page 48: Designing CSS Layouts for the Flexible Webwebmasters.unc.edu/files/2007/09/unc_designing-flexible.pdf · A little about me • Author of Flexible Web Design: Creating Liquid and Elastic](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042417/5f32644f95941e333d634598/html5/thumbnails/48.jpg)
Learn moreTutorials:www.zomigi.com/blog/
foreground-images-that-scale-with-the-layouthiding-and-revealing-portions-of-imagescreating-sliding-composite-images
Flexible design inspiration:www.zomigi.com/blog/inspiration-for-flexible-web-designBook:www.flexiblewebbook.com