When I was in grade school, from the time I stepped off the bus in the afternoon ’til sunset, my neighborhood was my entire world, and the possibilities were limitless.
trentwalton.comI believe my work counts most when I’m looking for new trails and feel brave enough to blaze them. I know that the minute I dismiss new discoveries or ideas because the way forward isn’t clear is when I’ve lost my sense of wonder for web design. I hope like hell that never happens.
Estimated reading time: 3 min
One of my favorite documentaries is Jiro Dreams of Sushi, which tells the story of 85 year-old sushi master, Jiro Ono, who has spent his life honing his craft at a 10-seat restaurant in a Japanese subway station.
trentwalton.comNow that we have thousands of options whose quality varies greatly, I realize just how important it is to support type designers, enabling the creation of more, high-quality fonts and therefore better websites. The type designer’s role is instrumental to the success of our work.
Estimated reading time: 2 min
Unitasking
trentwalton.comI have a big monitor that sits on a big desk, which is littered with stacks of paper the same way my iMac is littered with stacks of apps. I see corners of windows everywhere, peeking out and siphoning shreds of attention away from the task at hand. This need to navigate from one app to the next has facilitated my evolution into a multitasking machine. Not since the arcade edition of Street Fighter II have I mastered so many gestures and key commands.
Estimated reading time: 5 min
Where to Start
trentwalton.comWhether it’s determining if a design might paint you into a corner when things begin to scale or how best to code a new feature out, getting help saves time and money. Don’t be afraid to reach out to teams with specialized experience, whether in the form of production work or introductory consulting.
Estimated reading time: 5 min
Reorganization
trentwalton.comBecause the things we build rarely take one shape these days, it’s key to keep in mind that our processes and teams probably shouldn’t either. The time of neatly organized process charts and workflows is behind us. Building for the web has become a journey with infinite potential for forks and bumps in the road.
Estimated reading time: 3 min
Flexible Foundations
trentwalton.comI should be focused on making things truly scalable by thinking twice before I used pixel values in my CSS. Perhaps that’s what RWD really should be defined as in the end—sites built on a fully-flexible foundation enhanced by media queries.
Estimated reading time: 3 min
In Flux
trentwalton.comSo, how will the retina change the shape of the web, and do we need to rush to update everything we’ve ever built? Of course not, part of building for the web is accepting that everything is in a constant state of flux—there isn’t enough time and money in the world to “fix” the internet every time a company releases a new technology.
Estimated reading time: 4 min
Matthias Mees recommended this story.
Flexible Foundations
trentwalton.comThen I’d slap myself and point out that flexible grids and flexible images are great, but ultimately I should be focused on making things truly scalable by thinking twice before I used pixel values in my CSS.
Estimated reading time: 3 min
Manuel Seemann recommended this story.
Fully-Fluid Type
trentwalton.comThe first is using media queries to adjust the width of a container, whether for the entire site or just a column of text. For example, I might start with a site container width of 98% for single column mobile narrow views, then gradually bump it down to 80% for full-width large screen views. Media query breakpoints and percentage amounts are, of course, dependent on the content and typefaces involved.
Estimated reading time: 6 min
simonnickel recommended this story.
Launch-Ready
trentwalton.comThis week Microsoft began rolling out its new responsive homepage—one that Paravel helped design & build.
Estimated reading time: 4 min
mashrab recommended this story.
