April User Group:: The mystery of CSS and Design

There was a time when programming and visual design lived on opposite sides of the brain, however, in today's web 2.0 environment, it's wishful thinking that coders and artists can exist in isolation. Although it's always good practice to separate business logic from presentation (can you say MVC) it is equally important (for your career) to at least become conversant in the elements of design and style… and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is the lingua franca to which you should aspire to speak. Neither fish nor fowl, CSS straddles the brain hemispheres to provide the tools of elegant design/web-apps while promoting the separation of presentation and business logic that we all strive for.

Is CSS a mystery to you? Do you find yourself editing your styles over and over just to get them to display correctly in IE and Firefox? Have you created a powerful application, and want it to look nice and clean? Do you want to take your knowledge of CSS and Design to the next level?

Join Michael Bourque, Director Parametric Technology Inc. (PTC), when he shows us how to make a powerful impact on end users by applying style and design through the construct of CSS. In this session you will learn:

• Basics of CSS
• Design & Layout
• Web Standards
• Usability Testing
• Tips & Tricks
• Rich Visual Behaviors

Michael will start by covering the basics and then move on to more advanced topics such as web standards, design & layout, and usability testing. He will explore the dramatic transformation that occurs when CSS is applied to non styled web apps. A non-exhaustive agenda might look like:

• CSS Basics
• History
• Block elements
• In-line elements
• Lists
• Layout
• Forms
• IE Box model
• Design
• Layout
• Forms
• Error Messages
• What are web standards
• Separating content from presentation
• Tools and Resources
• W3c
• Online tools
• CSS Zen Garden
• Firefox tools
• IE Tools
• Design
• Fluid or Fixed layouts
• Graphics
• JavaScript
• jQuery
• Mootools
• Prototype
• Techniques
• Rounded corners
• Background images
• Hacks
• Reset Styles
• Navigation and tabbed interfaces
• Light boxes
• Hints
• Usability testing
• Cheap easy usability testing
• Card Sorting
• Fuzzy identification
• Information Architecture
• Don’t Make me Think
• Do's & Don’ts
• Deprecated tags
• Embedded styles
• Tables for layout

BostonPHP works in conjunction with BostonPHP Meetup, usually meeting the first Wednesday of every month for structured presentation at a local university or business location, and then typically moves on to a nearby restaurant/bar/pub for more informal discussion .