Check out the more colorful, animated visualization of browser support for the latest HTML5 and CSS3 features based on data from When can I use… Inspired by a General Dynamics postcard and an infographic on America’s wealthiest religions, this single-serving site is quite literally a rainbow that’s painting optimism for the future of web standards.
Each ray represents a feature, and the different bands of color represent the leading browsers, IE6 excluded (finally). More under the hood details here, praising the virtues of Sass and Photoshop-less, in-browser design. Kudos to Paul Irish (again!) and Divya Manian.
Here’s an interesting sneak peek of Adobe’s project called “Rome”, shown at the MAX 2009 conference. It’s an application written in ActionScript that combines the features of Photoshop, Flash, Fireworks, Dreamweaver, and lets you work with different content types. It runs on Air, meaning it’s cross-platform and even works inside the browser.
I certainly like the idea of a mashup app of Adobe’s most indispensable tools and perhaps this is the real sort of integration people have been looking for in the Creative Suite. It’s quite smart too: the interface is not as cluttered as other Adobe programs, and the contextual palettes appear according to the currently selected object.
That it can run inside a web browser is also another golden feature; I wonder what Aviary thinks of it. If Photoshop.com isn’t enough for you, this will certainly be more than enough.
My only question is performance. Small widgets created in Adobe Air work fine (TweetDeck, for example), but can a full-blown app work better than native code? Should Adobe be building programs like this on Air? Some of the bigger questions when dealing with Flash-based apps and its cousins.
When we’re not spending time debating on the right way to code websites—CSS, tables, and all—we’re probably stressing over the details that go into the design process itself.
It’s never a one size fits all solution when we’re faced with these issues, but I feel like we’re in this exciting transition in the web design industry where it’s better than ever to reevaluate methods and try throwing curveballs.
Drop Photoshop; mockup in markup
HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are more powerful than ever, and designers such as Meagan Fisher and Andy Clarke want us to present live mockups of in the browser instead of in Photoshop. The reasons and advantages are compelling:
- In design, content should always come first—and starting with the markup lets us do that.
- Photoshop does not render type the same way browsers do.
- “Ignorance is bliss”: what your client sees in his own browser is what he gets. No misleading expectations rendered in the static images are created.
Of course you’ll still have to break out Photoshop to create graphical details, but prototyping kits and frameworks should speed things up too. Also, the overall idea is to manage your client’s expectations and move towards a live, realistic mockup instead of a static one.
Show only one mockup
Should the number of design proposals really vary from one client to another? Andy Rutledge is firm on his belief that it should always be one, and the logic is simple:
…if the designer is sufficiently competent there is almost always one best solution to the design challenge.
Dig deeper and you will find that the bottom line is to “keep a tighter reign on the creative process”. Avoid being at the mercy of your client and putting on a “dog and pony show” just to prove you deserve to be hired. You’re the expert.
If you can’t uphold a one-mockup-only policy, be ready to draw the line when they ask for a hybrid of your two or three designs. Or ask for a pay raise.
Ready, set, pitch
I’m just scratching the surface of the design discussions that are already out there, but as both the year and the decade end and 2010 comes rolling in, it’s time to shake things up!
After the wildly successful first run, I’m delighted that Coudal is gearing up for another season of Layer Tennis, which are live creative matches using Creative Suite software. Heard of Photoshop tennis? It’s a more riveting version of that, since matches will use more than just PSD layers and will play with motion and sound!
The rules: two players—renowned designers like Shaun, Veerle, Jason—must build on each other’s “volley” for no more than 15 minutes. A coin toss by the referee to determine who goes first, which serves as the creative teaser for the weekly matches. And while waiting in between plays, we’ve got witty commentary from the likes of Gruber and Kottke. After 10 rounds, a winner is decided upon by voting in the forums.
Truly a star-studded yet downright geeky spectacle. Every single aspect of Layer Tennis is hilarious, and the attention to detail is just admirable. The icing on the cake? They actually have Adobe as sponsor, again. And why not, since you’d expect them to use PS and Flash anyhow.
Do you have your season pass yet? Don’t forget to subscribe, follow, and fan.
We’re not sure when Adobe Creative Suite 4 will actually arrive, but now that beta releases, reviews, and even rumors are starting to clog the internet pipelines, we’re starting to get a clearer picture of what the programs will be like.
Try it
Adobe has just announced that the newest versions of several Creative Suite titles, namely, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and Soundbooth, can now be downloaded for a test run.
There’s a catch. If you’re not currently using the CS3 versions of Dreamweaver and Fireworks, the trial period for these programs will end within 48 hours. Otherwise you can request serial numbers to use them during Adobe’s prerelease period.
As for Soundbooth, the same rules apply except that you can use the serial number of any CS3 product. That is, “including but limited to Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, etc.”
If you’re curious about what these CS4 versions have in store but don’t or can’t try them for yourself, CNET has a brief rundown of new features. For example, Fireworks “finally resembles those of other applications in the Creative Suite” and “features compatibility with Adobe’s AIR, Flash, and Flex Builder as well as HTML”.
Here are more in-depth reviews of the three programs:
Widgetize it
John Nack says that CS4 applications will be extended with “lightweight, cross-platform, network-aware widgets…via SWF panels (palettes) created in Adobe Flash or Flex.”
It seems inevitable to employ widgets in this day and age, whether you’re a desktop app or a web app. And Flash is really taking center stage in Adobe’s pursuits.
Abuse it
Nack also shoots down rumors that the next Photoshop will be released this October 1st, and that it’s not really called “CS4″. But since the CS4 moniker is already plastered all over place, we might as well shrug our shoulders on that one.
But the rest of TG Daily’s report on GPU acceleration support for CS4 programs seems real enough. Clearly, Adobe is continuously looking for ways to harness hardware power and push the capabilities of its graphics programs, regardless of rumors.
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