Space for a Name

Wait, Don’t Go!

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There is nothing wrong with your browser window. Do not attempt to adjust the stylesheet. We are controlling HTTP responses. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the font size. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune the color to #DDD. We will control the horizontal padding. We will control the vertical alignment. We can scroll the CSS sprite, make it flutter. We can change the drop shadow to a soft blur or sharpen it to crystal clarity. For the next few months, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and read. We repeat, there is nothing wrong with your browser window. You are about to participate in a great adventure. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner DOM to…the outer scripts.

I know what you’re thinking.

Damn, the page didn’t finish loading, let me refresh. Hmm, still not working. I wonder if…Oh, oh god no. There’s no stylesheet. No javascript. No images. What is this, 1994? He’s using Times New Roman!

That’s right ladies and gentleman. Shield your children’s eyes, for you’re looking at bare naked HTML. As a web designer/developer with 10 years experience, what possible reason could I have for publishing a website in its raw, unprocessed state?

Well, website development is an involved multi-step process. I don’t think it’s too unfair to liken it to the production of a motion picture. Take your favorite DVD, for instance (Apocalypse Now, The Matrix, White Chicks, whatever…I’m not here to judge). Most people pick it up for the finished product, the movie itself. However, film buffs, students of the art form, and people wondering if Angelina Jolie was digitally ‘enhanced’ in Tomb Raider pick it up for something else, the special materials. Documentaries, interviews, art galleries. Not only do they appreciate the finished product, they want to see just how it came together. What goes into building the city of Minas Tirith? How do you direct an animatronic velociraptor? What was it like working with Estelle Getty on the set of Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot? These documentaries provide an in depth analysis of just what it takes to create your favorite movie.

Likewise, most people are perfectly happy to visit a well-designed website and are wholly unconcerned about the process required to create it. But us? We see the whole, but we also see the sum of its parts. We’re all students of design. We’ve visited countless websites and wondered, “Man, how’d they make that menu? Is that a javascript framework? Why is that text so much easier to read than other sites?” The answers to these questions normally only come after digging through source code, searching for appropriate Photoshop tutorials, or plain old trial and error.

Not here.

Welcome to the first—I hope—real-time web design documentary. Over the coming months, I’ll be detailing every step of my design process for spaceforaname.com, and I hope you’ll take a bit of time out of your day to come along for the ride. What can you expect to find here?

• Research and discussion on every facet of website design and development. CSS, Javascript, programming languages, blogging software options, Photoshop. When I research a topic, I’ll post my findings. If I add a new graphic element to the site, I’ll link to tutorials for the effects and processes used to create it. When I choose a javascript framework, I’ll discuss why I chose it over competing alternatives.
• Community interaction. As soon as I get some form of commenting up and running, I’ll be looking to you for help as much as you’ll hopefully look to this site for tutorials, inspiration and research. I’ll probably even wind up putting some design decisions to a vote when designer’s block hits.
• An ever-evolving ’growing’ website. The benefit to doing this in real-time is that you get to watch the site grow as I develop it. I’ll also be keeping a daily screenshot gallery to archive the site’s evolution. There really is nothing quite like capturing your website’s first float on camera.

Hey, you’re still reading. Fantastic. Hopefully, that means I’ve managed to interest you, if only enough to come back and see what tomorrow brings. And if you’ve made it this far, you might be interested in my side project, GalleryView. My first jQuery plugin (Spoiler alert as to my choice of javascript framework? Perhaps.)

So, until next time, feel free to find me on Twitter or shoot me an email. Boy, I’ve got my work cut out for me.

2 Comments so far

1. Aaron  —  April 16, 2009 at 3:47 pm

   April 8th, 2009 5:11pm
   This is the first official post. Pay no attention to the date behind the curtain.

2. mir  —  April 30, 2009 at 3:20 pm

   respects to you !
   you definetly got my attention ! and for some reason.. i just like it like this :$

2 Responses to “Wait, Don’t Go!”