Black Slate Media

Is this even necessary? Here we are, in the year 2008. The Web Standards Project has been around for ten years. Internet Explorer now seems to be releasing updates faster than a Comet Halley’s orbital period. Things are moving along quite nicely. However, CSS/XTHML is still a new concept to a lot of people.

It is strange to me that a lot of designers and developers have yet to adopt web standards as a legit practice. Many of us have realized it’s potential through great projects, such as the CSS Zen Garden, and the hard work of many many other bloggers and developers. But still, there are others that view CSS as a fringe movement or just simply haven’t take the time to learn it (or maybe had nightmare attempts at winging it). Though I feel it’s more likely the latter, this is necessary.

Reading blogs, books, or whatever it takes to keep current is, in my opinion, a major part of your job. But I can sympathize with those who have fallen behind. Some may suggest this is all pure laziness, there are in actuality plenty of other factors. We all have a lives, families, or other responsibilities at home. Maybe there is no time due to workload, or an imbalance of projects and proper staffing, or unrealistic deadlines. It is simply irrational to suggest that we devote all of our work time to tasks and all of our off-hours to work-related personal development. We’d burn out faster than Jennifer Love-Hewitt’s musical career. Everything moves so fast these days, it is hard to keep up. Writing that off as laziness is overly simplistic.

At work, we have recently begun sharing our areas of expertise. Some are teaching flash, some are teaching ColdFusion, and I am teaching web standards. In the end, everyone should end up with a basic skillset in each area and be able to provide assistance should it be needed. Not only that, but I think we will also have new respect for each other’s roles and abilities and how we contribute to the greater good.

My slides begin with an explanation of web standards and the various CSS Selectors. Feel free to check out the first lesson. I didn’t see the need to bother with any design elements. These introductory slides serve the strict purpose of showing how the selectors work, and nothing more. If you’re a seasoned pro, skip it. My next lessons will include typography, layouts, and best practices. Maybe more.