Fri, 16 Aug 2002
WebWord: Curt Cloninger on HTMinimalism
WebWord.com says:
Let's Not Make It Look Like Microsoft.com! (Web Builder Conference) -- "In his upcoming Web Builder 2002 presentation, "Fresh Styles for Web Designers: Putting Eye Candy to Work," Web designer Curt Cloninger will make a strong case for why you shouldn't choose blandness in the name of usability and how you can transcend the choice."
In the interview, Curt Cloninger refers to a style that I advocate as HTMinimalism:
The style I call HTMinimalism, for example, puts more emphasis on CSS-controlled fonts, and not a lot of GIF text but regular HTML text. If you're coding to standards, the theory is that regardless of what device [is on the client side, the page] will degrade gracefully. But it doesn't mean that on your optimum browser it will look the same as on a PDA. You can make it look really good in IE or Netscape 6 but still have it show on your PDA. HTMinimalism is a style you can use for a newspaper site. Most blogs are HTMinimalist. Someone coming in on a handheld device is not an excuse to abandon aesthetics for people that are coming in on a browser, and the good news is that you don't have to. You don't have to dumb it down because the technology allows [the page] to degrade gracefully.
Cool. Now I know what to call it. I only wish I could go to this conference to hear Curt speak.
Posted at: 07:55 | permalink
