css master class: part 1
DESCRIPTION
This is the first in a series of CSS classes I'm putting together for my department.TRANSCRIPT
Who am I?
I am an Interaction Designer.
In my job, I am responsible for concepting, visual (and graphic) design, high-level system design, rapid prototyping, and front-end development
Monday, July 29, 13
Mobile Apps Site Redesign
Monday, July 29, 13
IT Strategy Blog
Monday, July 29, 13
Tweet of the Union
Monday, July 29, 13
MyBodyTheMachine (personal)
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What we won’t cover
• CSS Animations, Media Queries, and Responsive Design
• CSS Preprocessors like SASS, SCSS, LESS
• Helping you solve [some CSS problem] with [some code library]
• 100% all knowledge you’ll ever need for CSS
• Graphic/Visual Design
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What we will cover
• The benefits of clean, semantic markup
• Simplicity!
• Writing clean, semantic CSS
• Basics of selectors, cascading styles, and specificity
• Designing intentionally for a dynamic world
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Part 1CSS as a descriptive practice
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What words can we use to describe the structure of this button?
Example 1 : A (not-so) simple button
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What words can we use to describe the visual style of this button?
Example 1 : A (not-so) simple button
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This is how ext.js describes this button in code! Gross!
Example 1 : A (not-so) simple button
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And this is only a fraction of the CSS used! Bad! No!
Example 1 : A (not-so) simple button
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What words can we use to describe the structure of this dialog?
Example 2 : A verbose dialog
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What words can we use to describe the visual style of this dialog?
Example 2 : A verbose dialog
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Well this is how jQuery UI describes it in code.. WHY!
Example 2 : A verbose dialog
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And this is just a portion of the CSS required! AHH!
Example 2 : A verbose dialog
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Rule #1
KEEP IT SIMPLE and SEMANTIC
CSS is only as good as your markup.
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This is simple, readable, and all we really need.
Example 3 : A simple button
<button class=”home”>Home</button>
http://codepen.io/chrisgonzalez/pen/JedvwMonday, July 29, 13
This is also simple and readable, and all we need.
Example 3 : A simple button
button.home { border-radius: 8px; border: 0px; padding: 15px; font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.2em; background: #369; color: #ffffff; }
http://codepen.io/chrisgonzalez/pen/JedvwMonday, July 29, 13
HTML : Use semantic tags!
<header><nav> <section> <aside> <article><footer>
Using semantic tags will make your code machine readable, human readable, and easier to style!
HTML5 is not new! These tags are supported back to IE6
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HTML : Less is more!
Instead of modifying these 2043 style rules for a new button, try...
xMonday, July 29, 13
HTML : Less is more!
Modifying 1 or 2 rules. Better? :)
<button class=”home”>Home</button>
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Rule #2CSS MASTERY IS
KNOWING THE BASICS, AND USING THEM WELL.
All the fancy *CSS3* stuff like animations and transitions are built to use the basics in new and
exciting ways. No basics? No fancy!
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CSS is used to visually describe your document.
You can describe things generally, or specifically.
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CSS Basics: Cascading!
If we say it like a human, we can describe:
ALL buttons:
button { }
The buttons in the navigation:
nav button { }
That specific “save” button in that one dialog:
div.ThatOneDialog button.save { }
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CSS Basics: Cascading!
All three of those style definitions will be applied in order of specificity (1st) and line number (2nd):
button { } - most general, applies to ALL buttons
nav button { } - kinda specific, inherits styles from above
.ThatOneDialog button.save { } - very specific, inherits first button style
Monday, July 29, 13
CSS Selectors: Explain it to me in Star Wars
http://www.stuffandnonsense.co.uk/archives/css_specificity_wars.htmlMonday, July 29, 13
Rule #3
START GENERAL AND WORK TOWARDS SPECIFIC
Starting with general style rules will help you get moving quickly and more easily identify elements that
do need specific styles.
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CSS Selectors: Specificity
Be specific with purpose
#button.button.ui-dialog-button.thisisabutton { } - Bad!
#dialog footer button.close { } - OK! This is better :)
But do we need all that specificity? Probably not!
button.close { } - Very nice, also: reusable
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CSS Selectors: Be intentional!
Be intentional with selectors.
element {} .class {}#idelement[attribute=”value”]element:first-childelement:nth-child(2n+1)element:beforeelement:after
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Example 4: A dialog with two states
<div class="dialog"> <header> <h3 class="title">This is a dialog</h3> <button class="close">(x)</button> </header>
This dialog is pretty awesome. I made it myself and it only took like 10 minutes. Additionally, it's really easy to edit and restyle!
</div>
http://codepen.io/chrisgonzalez/pen/spCGy
Part 1: Markup
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Example 4: A dialog with two states
.dialog{ position:relative; width:50%; margin:10% auto; background:#ffffff; padding:20px; border-radius:10px; box-shadow:0px 0px ... ;}
.dialog header{ position:relative; margin-bottom:10px;}
.dialog header h3 { padding:0; margin:0;}
.dialog header .close { position:absolute; top:0; right:0;}
http://codepen.io/chrisgonzalez/pen/spCGy
Part 2: CSS
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Example 4: A dialog with two states
http://codepen.io/chrisgonzalez/pen/spCGy
Preview!
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Example 4: A dialog with two states
.dialog{ position:relative; width:50%; margin:10% auto; background:#ffffff; padding:20px; border-radius:10px; box-shadow:0px 0px ... ;
opacity:0; z-index:-1;}
.dialog header{ position:relative; margin-bottom:10px;}
.dialog.active { opacity:1; z-index:1;}
.dialog header h3 { padding:0; margin:0;}
.dialog header .close { position:absolute; top:0; right:0;}
http://codepen.io/chrisgonzalez/pen/aLEdB
Part 3: Adding default and active statesPart 3: Adding default and active states
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Example 4: A dialog with two states
.dialog{ ...... (same as before) opacity:0;
z-index:-1; transition:opacity .5s, z-index 0s linear .5s;}
.dialog.active { opacity:1; z-index:1; transition:opacity .5s;}
http://codepen.io/chrisgonzalez/pen/jaImd
Part 3: Adding transitions
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CSS Detective: Dev Tools are your friend :)
Inspect your HTML
See how the CSS is applied!
Debug w/ linenumbers!
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CSS Detective: Do a library background check
IS IT SIMPLE and SEMANTIC?Inspect the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
IS IT EASY TO UNDERSTAND?Is it well documented? A good library is easy to customize and extend.
IS IT THE RIGHT TOOL FOR YOU?Does it use HTML, CSS, JavaScript appropriately? Or does it apply visual styles 100% in JS, clutter your DOM, and provide an incomprehensible set of CSS rules?
Monday, July 29, 13