For those of you haven’t signed into your Gmail account yet, you might be surprised to see that Google has added theming to their popular minimalist webmail app. The new themes are sleek and quick to load, and I for one applaud the move towards allowing users a bit more freedom in customizing the look and feel of their inbox. In case you moved too quickly to close the message at the top telling you about the new themes, you can find the “themes” tab located in your Gmail settings.

When coding a new website, most of us begin by laying out the page and writing the CSS and generally working from what I consider to be the “outside” inwards. Once the layout is complete and we are happy with our design, we then begin to fill the various containers we created with the content. I recently came across an article by Aaron Gustafson on the topic of Understanding Progressive Enhancement. In this article Aaron brings up some good points about why designing this way might not be the best option.

What’s the Alternative?

Designing from the content out, and when you think about it this kinda makes some sense. People come to your website with one goal, to consume content. Whether your content is text, audio, or video it cannot be disputed that people are there for the content. With this in mind it seems only logical that content should be the foundation of your design, on which you will layer the decoration and interactivity. An easy way to visualize this is using a peanut M&M, where the content is represented by the peanut, the presentation is the chocolatte dip, and the client-side scripting is the hard candy shell.

Structure of a Website Using an M&M

Using this analogy an “inside out” approach to design would imply that we start with our content, the peanut, marked up with XHTML. Then coat this with some CSS, the chocolate. Finally, add on some hard candy goodness in the form of some Javascript interactivity.

The Peanut

The peanut represents content in it’s undecorated XHTML state. It is the cornerstone of your website and, in the case of search engine spiders and some mobile browsers, it might be the only part of your site that is accessible. Keeping this in mind it becomes apparent how important it is to have your markup describe to the highest detail the content that it contains.

Tasty in it’s own right, this little bit of spider/human food could be served up all by itself but it’s not all the snack it could be without a little help.

Chocolate Coating

If your browser supports it, CSS is the graphic chocolatty indulgence that turns plain content into dazzling web pages. Despite the apathy of search engine spiders to the “attractiveness” of a web page’s presentation, your human viewers are far more inclined to have a positive reaction to your website after it has been drizzled in chocolate.. erm.. CSS.

Hard Candy Shell

Finally we can wrap up our content and css in some Javascript to really provide a an interactive web experience. The Javascript, just like the candy shell, is not really necessary but it’s presence can really improve the user experience for those users having the browser setup that supports it. Your website should be able to function and appear “whole” even when the Javascript has been disabled, much as an M&M without the hard shell is still a delicious chocolate covered nut. Designing websites from the inside out aids greatly with achieving this, as it forces you to think about the content first and foremost.

Putting it Together

Putting it all together requires a relatively simple workflow, and the steps that follow are just one way of doing it.

1. Open up Textmate (or your favourite editor) and code up your index page using only your content and semantic XHTML. Be as descriptive as possible in your markup. Code as if there was no second step and this was it.
2. Save your file into your htdocs folder and fire up MAMP (Mac Apache MySQL PHP). Once Apache has finished starting go ahead and open up your page in your browser. At this point it should look mighty plain, but still readable and organized.
3. Open up CSSEdit and browse to the local html file we just wrote in TextMate. Get out your tongs and prepare to dip that plain webpage in some chocolate CSS goodness.  Once you are done with the chocolate you can head back over to TextMate and top it all off with some client-side scripting.

Original Content Credit to Aaron Gustafson

The election results are in and Revelstoke can look forward the leadership of mayor-elect David Raven and councilors:

1. Phil Welock
2. Peter Frew
3. Chris Johnston
4. Steve Bender
5. Tony Scarcella
6. Antoinette Halberstadt

I unfortunately cannot say that I played any part in electing (or not electing) any of these candidates since unforeseen circumstances prevented me from being in Revelstoke on election day. I had fully intended on voting, and had even made it out to the public debates but a last minute business trip to Calgary this past weekend spoiled those plans.

Either way, after attending the debates and reviewing the platforms of the various candidates I am overall positive about the outcome and looking forward to some fresh thinking and new ideas. The city of Revelstoke is at a very important moment in history. With the new resort experiencing financial difficulties, and the slow down of the world economy it is very important that this council tackle the tough issues and focus on sustainability and economic diversification.

It should be noted that all of the elected members are in favour of the proposed technology park, and hopefully will be in favour of other such developments which can only help to further diversify the economy and the community.

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 the guns of the world fell silent. It is every persons duty to remember those who sacrificed themselves for our way of life. I remember this video by Bryan Adams playing during the Remembrance Day ceremonies of my youth, and it always touched me. So please take a moment and watch the video, and remember those people, people who had as much to live for as your or I, who gave up all their tomorrows for our today.

Rev Software has been working with the Revelstoke Community Social Development Committee on a new website for past month and with their final approval the site has officially gone live.

The new website features up to date information on social services being provided in and around Revelstoke. The website uses the ModX CMS to enable the committee members to create, edit, and delete website content, and even goes so far as to allow the creation of new website pages, adding all the linkage and maintaining the template throughout.

One of the goals at the outset of the project was provide a website that could be maintained by members of the committee who might have limited computer knowledge. The solution provided by Rev Software provides a standards compliant XHTML and CSS web template where content can be created and edited through the MODX WYSIWYG editor without the need to understand code and without risk of breaking the CSS layout or website look and feel.

Rev Software has been commissioned by the Revelstoke Screen Smart association to design their new website and build their online presence. Just to give you a little background on the Screen Smart organization; Screen Smart is a Revelstoke community based initiative that encourages families to better manage the ways in which TV, computers, and the internet influence their lives. They hope the website will prove a valuable resource for people looking for information about managing screen time for themselves and their families, and I am happy to be a part of this project.

Living in a small town, and being a business owner myself I can really appreciate the efforts many people take to purchase local. I myself am willing to pay more, say up to 40% more in some cases, not just to support a local business but also for the convenience. But what do you call it when a local merchant is charging say, a 600% markup on a product which they are the only providor of?

Last week at my day job employer, there was concern that a recent computer failure had been caused by a power surge. This in turn brought about a discussion of upgrading many of the non protective “power bars” with proper surge protectors. After counting up the number of protectors needed we headed off to the local computer/electronics store to purchase some new surge protectors. Upon arrival I was shocked and horrified to see the exact same surge protector I had bought for my home (~$9.99 at Costco) priced at $69.99!!! How can they justify this? This was no mere small town markup, or “local premium”; this was price gouging comsumers who had no other choices. Having a total loss for words, we quietly purchased the one we absolutely needed, and have decided we will be heading out of town to purchase more.

Buying local vs shopping out of town

I am all for keeping local business local, but I believe that it is the businesses responsibility to maintain a relationship of trust with their clients. I need to trust that the business I am buying from is being honest and selling their products at a fair markup, fair being where they make a profit and I get value for my money. If a retailer gets too greedy this trust is broken and I feel no guilt in taking my hard earned money out of town, where I will no doubt pay less and get more.

I understand that it costs money to bring in merchandise and that many stores are not large enough to get significant supplier discounts, but a 600% markup? Please.