kuler, from Adobe Labs “helps you explore, create and share color themes for your web pages, design projects and other creative work.” You can use the app on-line or download themes to be imported into CS2 applications. This looks like a very useful too and a promising distraction!
web design
SilverSpider DNA
SilverSpider DNA from Web2DNA
Apocalyptic Dreaming DNA from Web2DNA
WEB2DNA converts the underlying HTML of a site into “DNA art”. Pretty damned cool me thinks! Including CSS in the output would be a neat addition.
Automatic pullquotes with JavaScript and CSS
Automatic pullquotes with JavaScript and CSS provides “a way to add pullquotes without having to duplicate text in the markup“.
Raising the CSS B.R.A.T.
CSS B.R.A.T. is a great idea, but one that should be seriously thought about before implemented. For those Web folks responsible for supporting intranets, having to wrangle many editors, this is a great tool, but it should be avoided for anything that faces the public. The implementation could inflict much more harm on the presentation and usability of the site in ways far worse than the non-standard markup.
I like to implement styles that override WYSIWYG markup on sites that provide others to include HTML, and I highly recommend that others do the same. For example, Webby folks should ensure the font tag is styled to match the site’s standard font (font family, size, weight…) with !important to ensure it overrules the deprecated tag and its attributes. Other tags can be covered as well including crowd favorites like blink and layer.
As Marco rightly noted “The process of educating editors on the benefits of a standards-based design can be tough enough to do, especially when working with various levels of HTML knowledge. This method is meant to show, educate, and be passed on to other editors for an exponential improvement on the state of web documents. ” It’s also important to think about this as an opportunity to learn which tools your internal clients need. They may have valid reasons for attempting to modify the standard presentation. B.R.A.T. provides a great incentive for editors to contact you, so make sure you capitalize on it! A few well built classes will do wonders for proper implementation down the road and perhaps encourage those clients to give you cookies.
Veerle's CSS List
Veerle provides an amazing list of CSS resources. Link found via the ever-useful SimpleBits.
Screens around town
37signals has set up a flickr stream showing screenshots of various UIs, most of which are Web-related (tag: screensaroundtown). There are some nice components in there, though some of the shots don’t seem to fit the group, like the install window for Adium.
I like the concept for its simplicity of purpose and implementation – it’s a refreshing break from the large sites that gather cool designs from around the Web.
Found via JD on EP.