OBJECT ORIENTED CSSfor high performance web applications and sites.

Nicole SullivanMonday, February 16, 2009

Web Dev Philosophy

• Work out of respect for the design.

• Designers make our code as beautiful and clever on the outside as it is on the inside.

• Respect the original design vision. consistent design = clean code = fast site.

Monday, February 16, 2009

“JAVASCRIPT DOESN’T SUCKYou’re just doing it wrong.” -- Doug Crockford

Monday, February 16, 2009

“JAVASCRIPT DOESN’T SUCKYou’re just doing it wrong.” -- Doug Crockford

Monday, February 16, 2009

“JAVASCRIPT DOESN’T SUCKYou’re just doing it wrong.” -- Doug Crockford

CSS

Monday, February 16, 2009

REQUIRE EXPERT ABILITY JUST TO GET STARTED.

this is not a sign of maturity.

Monday, February 16, 2009

FILE SIZE JUST KEEPS GETTING BIGGER

As the site evolves we continuously modify the CSS.

Monday, February 16, 2009

CODE RE-USE IS ALMOST NONEXISTENT

people don’t trust other developers code.

Monday, February 16, 2009

CODE IS TOO FRAGILE.Even the cleanest code gets ruined by the first non-expert to

touch it.

Monday, February 16, 2009

WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MISTAKE

TALENTED CODERS ARE MAKING?

Writing really clever modules.

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THE SIZE OF THEIR CSS WILL INCREASE

in a 1:1 relationship with the number of blocks, pages, and complexity of content.

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BUT, WE WANT A LOT!and sometimes those goals conflict.

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and sometimes those goals conflict.

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Modu l a r - comb i n ab l e , reusable, extensible. Light - One to many relationship between CSS and potential layouts. Fast - Minimal HTTP requests & minimal size . Future-proof - maintainable, semantic, standards oriented, prepared for future-browsers, redesign compatible. Visually interesting and adaptable - re spec t fu l o f UED and m a r k e t i n g c o n s t r a i n t s . Simplifies and speeds CSS development. Accessible - SEO, Screen readers, etc.Monday, February 16, 2009

Modu l a r - comb i n ab l e , reusable, extensible. Light - One to many relationship between CSS and potential layouts. Fast - Minimal HTTP requests & minimal size . Future-proof - maintainable, semantic, standards oriented, prepared for future-browsers, redesign compatible. Visually interesting and adaptable - re spec t fu l o f UED and m a r k e t i n g c o n s t r a i n t s . Simplifies and speeds CSS development. Accessible - SEO, Screen readers, etc.Monday, February 16, 2009

SOLUTIONObject Oriented CSS

Monday, February 16, 2009

TWO MAIN PRINCIPLES1. Separate Structure and Skin

2. Separate Container and Content

Monday, February 16, 2009

10 BEST PRACTICES1. Create a component

library

2. Use consistent semantic styles

3. Design modules to be transparent on the inside.

4. Be flexible.

5. Learn to love grids.

6. Minimize selectors

7. Separate structure and skin

8. Separate container and content

9. Extend objects by applying multiple classes to an element

10.Use reset and fonts from YUI

Monday, February 16, 2009

9 PITFALLS1. Location dependent styles.

2. Avoid specifying what tag a class applies.

3. Avoid IDs to style inside the main content areas.

4. Avoid drop shadows and rounded corners over irregular backgrounds.

5. Don’t sprite every image together (unless your has very few pages).

6. Avoid height alignment

7. Text as text, not as images.

8. Redundancy

9. Avoid premature optimization.

Monday, February 16, 2009

CREATE A COMPONENT LIBRARYof reusable “legos”

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Components are like legos

Mix and match to create diverse and interesting pages.

Monday, February 16, 2009

SEPARATE CONTAINER AND

CONTENTbreak the dependency between the container module

and the content objects it contains.

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Contour blocks Background blocks Content Objects - headings, paragraphs, lists, headers,

footers, buttons, etc.

1:n

Capital of the Canterbury region and the largest city on the South Island (population just over 300,000) exudes a palpable air of gentility and a connectedness with the mother country. Read more...

X X

Monday, February 16, 2009

Build HTML from the component library.

New pages should not generally require additional CSS

Monday, February 16, 2009

SITE-WIDE LEGOS• Headings

• Lists (e.g. action list, external link list, product list, or feature list)

• Module headers and footers

• Grids

• Buttons

Monday, February 16, 2009

HEADINGSGetting the look and feel you want with the semantics you

need.

Heading Level 1Heading Level 2

Heading Level 3

Heading Level 4

Heading Level 5

Heading Level 6

Monday, February 16, 2009

LISTSShould be available to all

modules on the page.

Default List List Item 2List Item 3

‣ Toggle List‣ List Item 2‣ List Item 3

❖ Action List ❖ List Item 2❖ List Item 3

Monday, February 16, 2009

MEDIAExtending objects, a simple

example.

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<!-- media --><div class="media media_ext"> <img class="fixedMedia" src="myImg.png" /> <div class="text"> ... </div></div>

Monday, February 16, 2009

SEPARATE STRUCTURE AND

SKINabstract the structure of the block from the skin which

is being applied.

Monday, February 16, 2009

BLOCKclass can be extended by

adding additional classes to the block element.

hd

bd

ft

block

inner

Monday, February 16, 2009

Reusing elements makes them

performance “freebies”

Monday, February 16, 2009

Legos firstDesign individual pages only once all the legos have

been defined.

Monday, February 16, 2009

PitfallsWhat not to do.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Avoid redundancyMonday, February 16, 2009

Nearly identical modules

Headings 3 and 5 are too similar.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Rule of thumb: If two modules look too similar to include on the same page, they are too similar to include together in a site, choose one!

Monday, February 16, 2009

USE CONSISTENT SEMANTIC STYLES

Monday, February 16, 2009

A Heading should not become a Heading in another part of the page.

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ConsistencyWriting more rules to overwrite

the crazy rules from before.

e.g. Heading should behave predictably in any module.

Monday, February 16, 2009

How about an example?

Yahoo! Personal Finance

Monday, February 16, 2009

2+ different tab styles. Could they use the same images?

Monday, February 16, 2009

3 contour components are too similar. Chose one.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Changes in module width, background color, or background image are an excellent example of module reuse.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Mix and matchContainer and content objects to achieve high

performance design.

Monday, February 16, 2009

DESIGN MODULES TO BE TRANSPARENT

on the inside.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Making it look fab

Requires careful choice of pixels.

Bonus: Consider PNG8 for progressive enhancement

http://alistapart.com/articles/mountaintop/

Monday, February 16, 2009

PitfallsVariable or gradient

backgrounds.

Monday, February 16, 2009

NEVER SPECIFY ELEMENT

Exception: Extending a class to work on several elements.

e.g..error{} which, by default, applies to a P.

Extend the error class to apply to strong or div elements specify the specific tag in the rule that declares only the values that are different than the default value.

.myClass {...}

div.myClass {...}

Do:

Don’t:

Monday, February 16, 2009

BE FLEXIBLE.Extensible height and width.

Monday, February 16, 2009

• Grids control width

• Content controls height

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LEARN TO LOVE GRIDS.

Monday, February 16, 2009

MARK-UP AND CSS become predictable

Monday, February 16, 2009

UML TO DESCRIBEboth HTML and CSS

Monday, February 16, 2009

TEACHING OO CSSTo designers and engineers

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A NATURAL PROGRESSIONfrom simple to more complex tasks.

Monday, February 16, 2009

CSS WISH LISTSo, maybe CSS isn’t perfect.

Monday, February 16, 2009

CSS WISH LIST

1. Extending objects - possible to make “sale module” inherit from “module”.

.module{}

.saleModule{extends: module;}

So, maybe CSS isn’t perfect.

Monday, February 16, 2009

CSS WISH LIST

2. Or, class-order should impact the cascade.

<div class=“module saleMod ducati”> ... </div>

So, maybe CSS isn’t perfect.

Monday, February 16, 2009

CSS WISH LIST

3. Proximity should impact the cascade. Nested modules, first one last in the CSS.

.protectiveGear{...}

.saleMod{...}

So, maybe CSS isn’t perfect.

saleMod

Ducati Superbike 848The 848 is Ducati's most impressive middleweight Superbike ever. Its exceptional lightweight and legendary Ducati chassis set-up combined with the smooth and thrilling torque delivery of the L-Twin Desmo provide the ideal way to enter the world of Ducati Superbikes.

Ducati Superbike 848The 848 is Ducati's most impressive middleweight Superbike ever. Its exceptional lightweight and legendary Ducati chassis set-up combined with the smooth and thrilling torque delivery of the L-Twin Desmo.

Arai RX7 Corsair Full Face Helmet - Haga Fire and IceThe 848 is Ducati's most impressive middleweight Superbike ever.

protectiveGear

Monday, February 16, 2009

• “You Crack Me Up” by http://flickr.com/photos/nickwheeleroz/2474196275/in/photostream/

• “red lego” by http://flickr.com/photos/niznoz/5753993/

• “Pablo’s cubism period began at three” by http://flickr.com/photos/wwworks/2475349116/in/set-72157608035966422/

• “Kuwait water tower” by http://flickr.com/photos/asam/327911794/

• idigit_teddy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/design_inspiration/238542495/

• lucianvenutian: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lucianvenutian/1142630637/

• Gimli_36: http://www.flickr.com/photos/navillot/1878124531/

• NathanFromDeVryEET: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thatguyfromcchs08/2300190277/

• Stabilo Boss: http://flickr.com/photos/stabilo-boss/101793494/in/set-72057594060779001/

PHOTO CREDITS

Monday, February 16, 2009

http://stubbornella.orgnicole@stubbornella.org

“stubbornella” on the web... twitter, dopplr, slideshare, everywhere...

Let’s keep talking...

Monday, February 16, 2009