WebRTC and the bleeding edge.

Have any of you heard of WebRTC technology? anyone, anyone, (the sound of crickets ensues...) Of course you haven't basically no one has this stuff is the bleeding edge of web development, but fortunately for you dear reader I love the bleeding edge, I have a house there year round.

I see nothing wrong with this...

WebRTC is a technology that is currently being looked at by the W3C (the grand high poobah's of web standards) into becoming a standard with the goal of providing a web-based set of tools that any device can use to share audio, video and data in real time. It’s still very much in the early development stages, but WebRTC has the future potential to replace technologies like Skype, Flash and many hardcoded native apps with web-based alternatives that work on any device.

Web development language, and how to understand the technospeak of the Internet.

Whilst swimming these wide waters we call the internet, we come across various codewords, secret-speak, jargon if you will, that can make it feel like you stumbled into the halls of some clandestine coven of need-to-know code speakers, as opposed to a message board devoted to the glory of puppies. More relevantly; if you are building a website, or if you are having someone build you a website, the people developing or using your site will start speaking to you using these words and terms assuming a familiarity you just may not have. 

When he said azimuth, I thought we were talking about a demon.

Fear not intrepid reader of blogs for we have your salvation, what follows is a glossary of the most common web developer and user lingo. So for anyone who ever wondered what the heck a CAPTCHA™ is and why it matters, or what is CSS and why you should never use it in your email blasts, this handy guide shall steer you in the right direction so you will be able to effectively communicate and understand when building or using your and others websites.

Web Design Glossary

White Space in Design (and why it matters.)

White space is the blank space, the empty space, between your content. Many people think this empty space is just a opportunity waiting to be exploited, eagerly awaiting the chance to cram as much content as possible into what’s left.

 

This is not a land to be conquered.

If that is your thought process STOP, back away from the keyboard slowly. White space or "negative space" is actually a tool in the fundamentals of both print and web design and is as easily as important as the content it surrounds.  It’s the space we leave between all of your elements to give a layout elegance and clean form.

The Wild Wild Wonderful World of Tablets!

With more and more people using tablets as their primary window into the internet , it’s critical you understand how your site appears across those platforms, as your sites long-term success rides on this truth.  Responsive design can help your site maintain its look across the various platforms it will be seen on, which will give the end user a cohesive experience. 

This is critical because how users think of your site and how they interact with your content is largely defined by their experience. You can have the best content in the world, but if your end user cant see it or use it, none of that will matter, your sites visitors will dry up, and there will be much weeping and gnashing of teeth. That can further impact how they share you  on social networks and whether they recommend you to others.

Today, many sites sense if the visitor is on a mobile device or tablet will redirect to the mobile version of the site.  The trouble with this is, many of those sites sacrifice some content for a simpler interface.  This can kill your credibility with your audience. On the technical side, it can lead to duplicate URL issues over time, so you want to make sure you account for this when it comes time to redesign your site. So remember keep those sites simple and elegant, the sites purpose before everything else is to deliver your content effectively. Don't be afraid to jump into the world of tablet and mobile optomized web building, its the future and we are all on for the ride.

Web Safe Fonts

Whenever building a site especially your first site its very tempting to head over to your favorite font library and just go nuts. This is a exercise in futility though as almost 99% of those font cant display on the world wide web. Fear not intrepid young developer here is a list of the current fonts (many of them actually aesthetically pleasing) that are completely web safe.