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Sunday, 22 August 2010 08:00

Written by Thom Henderson

What does the future of web design look like?

Well it looks to be simpler and yet more complicated than before. The future of web design is still in the design ratification stage and after the first ideas and projects began on HTML5 in 2004 we are still a very long way away from agreeing on the standards that will be used with it when the time comes. The future is great and with our extensive use of HTML combined with other programming languages we can be assured that we will be coding less and creating more. Simplify and do more with less is the technological way of progression. It's easier to work with lots of small things, instead of lots of big things. Smarter users as well are forging the way ahead to make things easier and more attractive with less code to complicate things.

HTML 5 is a new web structure blending fancy API's, CSS and Javascript. These three languages will give the singular HTML language extensive functionality for the future of web development. More adaptable ways to make graphics and text means less images and faster load times. Better optimizations, more easily understood code, better tracking and a profound user experience. We can see why it is taking so long to develop. Many of the functions are working today, but until there are some standardisations we will be forever complaining about browser compatibility. I know that is the worst part of what we do. If browser compatibility wasn't an issue, wouldn't we be using the same browser?

But we are making steps and taking strides in this industry, it is never stagnant and I have browsed about and been very happy to find the Modernizer. This is a javascript library of many libraries that will detect the incoming users actual scripts. There are quite a few examples of this on the web, one of which you can find here Browser Detecting Script. This gives you a chance to have the latest and greatest api's and scripts running on your page for your surfers and you can create other landing elements for the people that are yet to upgrade.

This cool tool allows for 'if-statements' in your CSS. Imagine the availability of cool features like border-radius, for a user surfing with a compatible browser. Well, that is why the Modernizr works so well.

Modernizr adds classes to the <html> element which allow you to target specific browser functionality in your stylesheet. You don't actually need to write any Javascript to use it, just refer the class to a browser and you are already on your way. Modernizr uses feature detection to test the current browser against upcoming features like rgba(), border-radius, CSS Transitions and more. These are currently being implemented across browsers and with Modernizr you can start using them right now, with an easy way to control the fallbacks for browsers that don't yet support them.

Additionally, Modernizr creates a self-titled global JavaScript object which contains properties for each feature; if a browser supports it, the property will evaluate true and if not, it will be false. Lastly, Modernizr also adds support for styling and printing HTML5 elements. This cleans up the code quite a lot adding a more user friendly and semantic approach to elements such as <section>, <header> and <dialog> without having to worry about them not working in Internet Explorer.

What Modernizr can't do

Modernizr does not add missing functionality to browsers; instead, it detects native availability of features and offers you a way to maintain a fine level of control over your site regardless of a browser's capabilities. So if the users browser is capable, then great, if not, the css takes over and displays the site according to more normal specifications.

The Modernizer is only to help with the transition from HTML4 to HTML5. To get developers used to working with the new common scripts and functions before the standards chage. But that is what the rest of us are waiting for. That or for Internet Explorer to aid in the standardisation and stop slowing down the development of html, php and css.

Last modified on Wednesday, 25 August 2010 06:22

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