Design & Interactive Experiences

Rachel Andrew has been writing CSS for over 20 years, and teaching people the things she has learned for almost as long. Since the early days of CSS, and certainly since “CSS for Layout” became a thing, we’ve been teaching CSS in pretty much the same way. Here is a block thing, here is an inline thing, this is the Box Model … and here is this weird jumping through hoops that makes a layout. It’s time for a change.

Open Sans, Open Sans, Open Sans – it’s everywhere! It’s the second most popular web font, it’s the new Arial. However, there is nothing wrong about Open Sans specifically, it’s just overused. Picking a typeface is an opportunity for your website, app or digital product to show personality, be memorable and stand out among its competition. And if you’re using Open Sans you’re missing out on all that good stuff.

CSS Grid revolutionizes how we create layouts on the web — but how exactly should we use it? When someone emails you a PDF, how do you know the best way to get started? Where should you use what code? How do you translate a static drawing into a dynamic layout? In the spirit of Smashing’s “no slides” rule, Jen Simmons will live code a design from start to finish (or however close to finish she gets before time's up). No net, no preparation. How does someone in the real world create a layout using the tools of Intrinsic Web Design?