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Tired of Talking About Web Fonts

And if you read the forums or follow any popular designers/developers (Zeldman, Cedarholm, Clarke, etc.,) they pretty much all agree = @font-face is gonna change the game. Once the CSS3 spec is broadly implemented, you can use whatever fonts you’d like in your webpage (provided they’re available, of course). And with Typekit, you don’t even have to wait - with the Trial library, you can embed fonts into your website for free. I tried it and wasn’t too impressed but that’s just me.

Sure, I see the appeal, but I’d rather use an extensive font stack than rely on a bit of JavaScript trickery. Granted, my website will never be known for its’ font selection, but that’s not my intention. Remember, it’s about the content, people. Fonts may deliver the content, but if you’ve got nothing worthwhile to say, it doesn’t matter how pretty the fonts are.

Posted by Jesse on 03/06 at 09:51 PM

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If at first you don’t suceed…

Yeah, I’ve decided to do a triathlon. The Great Illini Challenge in Mattoon, Illinois, on September 4, to be exact. I’m still deciding on the distance, though my wife is urging me to do the shorter, Olympic distance. We’ll see.

Of course, this is a departure from my regular post content. I’m not talking about web-related stuff, though it is related, if only indirectly. I’ve determined that I need to write often about things that interest me, even if it doesn’t concern web development. Trust me, since it’s my nine-to-five job, I’m surrounded by plenty of web development content, though it’s not my life. Hence, this post.

If I’m going to do a triathlon, I need a tri-bike. So I bid on and won a “new old stock” 2002 Cannondale Multisport 2000 on eBay for $610. Yeah, that’s a $2400 bike for $610, though it’s almost eight years later. This bike really is in new condition, albeit it has been sitting on the showroom floor for the last eight years (one wonders how much they were charging if it sat for that long). Anyway, one of the main reasons I bid on it was because online reviews of the model stated that the 2002 Ironman World Championship was won on this bike. Oh, the dreams…

Hence, the Internet. Without the research tools afforded by Google, I probably wouldn’t have bid on this bike, much less this fiercely.

But here I am. With a “Made-in-the-USA” handmade aluminum frame that’s eight years old, compliments of eBay. Full Shimano Ultegra 6500 drivetrain, with Dura-Ace shifters. And yeah, I swim three times a week in a pool. It’s a triathlon, after all.

Posted by Jesse on 03/04 at 02:45 AM

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CSS Zen Garden FAILS

Don’t get me wrong, you can still view the CSS Zen Garden. It’s just that the newest entries are over a year old, with nary a hope for more.

Why is this? Well, first off, IMHO, the CSS Zen Garden has run its course. It has served its’ purpose, and is no longer needed. Dave Shea started the CSS Zen Garden in order to demonstrate to designers what could be accomplished with CSS2. This mandate has largely been fulfilled. We’re onto CSS3 (which has a slow and steady adoption).

When I first started out, the CSS Zen Garden was included into the staple of web standards perfection, a body which demonstrated what could be accomplished with CSS alone. Nonetheless, with the advent of various JS libraries, CSS adoption by itself looks to be pretty uninspiring. Sure, CSS works when JS is disabled, but how many of you know users who browse the web with JS disabled? And use a sub-par browser, at that? I didn’t think so.

CSS Zen Garden, rest in peace.

Posted by Jesse on 01/19 at 03:42 AM

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Using Google’s Chrome browser (in OSX)

Yeah, you read that right.

I regularly choose to use Google’s Chrome browser on OSX (Snow Leopard) over Apple’s Safari browser for casual browsing.

Why? Well, it’s pretty darn fast. In fact, it’s extremely fast. And it’s minimalistic, though not detrimentally so. I know, it doesn’t have the dev tools that Safari has. But if I wanted dev tools, I’d use Firefox (and Firebug and the Web Developer Toolbar addon, right?). For casual browsing, I’m going with Google Chrome, and I think you should too.

It’s fast, minimalistic, and proficient. Thank you, Google.

(Yes, I own a T-Mobile G1 (Dream) phone that I recently rooted. )