position: absolute - Design resources and inspiration.

Hey everyone, just wanted to wish you happy holidays, in whatever you may be celebrating, be that Christmas, Hannukah, Winter Solstice, Kwanzaa, Xmas-denial or just plain consumerism. The last weeks have been very busy for me, working on my final exams, which is also why I’ve been neglecting position:absolute a bit, as you may have noticed. But fear not, as this is not a permanent situation, and we all know that 2007 will bring along many exciting developments in design and the web, plenty of new buzzwords and dozens of new designers waiting to be seen.

Have a safe and happy holiday, enjoy the free time and refresh your creative energy, and we’ll see you next year here on position: absolute!

Ten years ago, on 17 December 2006, W3C published the first standard for style on the Web: Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), level 1.

CSS Web designers have enjoyed fine-grain control of page appearance (fonts, colors, layout, margins, etc.) and easier page design and maintenance. CSS can also help make pages more adaptable to more users, including users with mobile devices and some users with disabilities.

To celebrate this tenth anniversary, W3C invites developers to propose their favorite CSS designs for the CSS10 Gallery.

Learn more about CSS from the CSS10 pages, the press release, and the CSS home page.

The makers of the Helvetica film, an upcoming full-length documentary about the ubiquitous Helvetica typeface (we reported: once and a second time), have finally added some movie clips to their site. The clips feature four interviews with known designers, among others design legends Wim Crouwel and Eric Spiekermann. A full trailer and screen dates will be posted “soon”. And so we wait some more…

Looking for a game to get your brain juices flowing and practice color mixing? Then Twinoo could be just the right thing for you. This high paced game is simple to play but requires quick thinking and a little understanding of the color wheel. Good fun for a little battle of the two brain hemispheres, but don’t play it too long or you’ll probably go nuts. Go nuts!

John Faulds of Tyssendesign has written up a comprehensive summary of CSS-based drop down menus. What makes this one stand out from regular link lists is that he provides all the pros and cons that come with each solution, so you can pick out what is best for your needs and know the limitations and the alternatives to each method from the start.

Just a few days ago, a friend asked me where to find a vector version of a certain country map. Hell, I’d love to know! It usually takes ages to come up with anything useful, and that usually isn’t free. Well, a little search on del.icio.us brought up this gem: planiglobe lets you generate vector maps completely to your needs. Zoom in to the place you need and click the download links. The system then generates downloadable PostScript and Adobe Illustrator files with your exact selection, completely vectorized, layered (.ai version) and editable. Good stuff.

Just finished writing my final exam, so let’s get back to business.

Reederei Zeppenfeld shows us how one can create a site that feels just like a flash site, but is based completely on AJAX. Really nice design and intuitive user interface. Unfortunately, the site completely breaks apart without JavaScript, but it is accessible in a text browser. Going by the URL, this is still a beta version created by quadrifolia.
(Thanks, draft.media)

Last year’s webdeveloper advent calender “24 Ways” (we reported) is at it again, offering even more ways to impress all your geek friends. One new tutorial per day, up until Christmas. You’ll find last year’s archive here.