Jeffrey Zeldman's Blog, page 95

Earliest Web Doc is HTML5

"Links and Anchors," the very first document published on the web, is almost valid HTML5.

Hat tip: Jeremy Keith.

P.S. Got yours yet?

The Big Web Show Episode 15: Social Media, Social Capital

Tara Hunt, social media entrepreneur, author of The Whuffie Factor, cofounder of Citizen Agency, and one of Fast Company's "women in tech—nine thought leaders who are changing our ideas about technology" is our guest on today's episode of The Big Web Show, co-hosted as always by Dan Benjamin, and taped in front of a live internet audience.

The Big Web Show ("Everything Web That Matters") is taped live in front of an internet audience every Thursday at 1:00 PM ET on

A List Apart 311: Say No to Clients and Kick Ass

Something remarkable awaits you in Issue No. 311 of A List Apart for people who make websites. Two wonderfully readable articles tackle the thorny subject of client relationships, providing practices, insights, and tips which, when taken to heart, will help designers, UXers, and (frankly) clients do their jobs better:

One of the toughest parts of the client/designer relationship is that nobody likes to be told "no"—especially not the client who is paying you. But to do your...

HTML5 Fuzzies

Yesterday, in response to something Tantek Çelik said here, Jeff Croft wrote a thoughtfully provocative piece arguing that informed web designers should encourage—or at least not worry about—the widespread misuse of the term "HTML5″ as a buzzword covering everything from CSS3 and web fonts to excitement about the new Webkit-powered mobile platforms:

…I think there's actually a very good reason why we should, in fact, embrace the term "HTML5" as an overarching buzzword for this...

HTML5 Test

How well does your browser support HTML5? Find out by visiting html5test.com, created by Niels Leenheer with thanks to Henri Sivonen and his HTML5 parser tests. Hat tip: Ralph Resnik.

Best chart ever

xkcd: University Website.

10K Apart – inspire the web!

Just launched and just wonderful! The 10K Apart contest ("Inspire the web with just 10K") presented by MIX Online and An Event Apart hearkens back to Stewart Butterfield's 5k Contest of yesteryear while anticipating the HTML5-powered web of tomorrow … and encouraging us to design that web today.

We want beauty. We want utility. We want excitement. And we want it all under 10K:

SIZE — Total file size, including images, scripts & markup, can't be over 10K.STANDARDS — We encourage...

Design Apps for Fun and Profit

Josh Williams, founder of Gowalla, is our guest at 1:00 PM ET today, July 29, in Episode 14 of The Big Web Show. Whether you're a social media user/creator, an entrepreneur, an application developer, an iconist or illustrator, a freelancer with big dreams, an API wizard, a devotee of marketing 2.0, a web designer, a Gowalla fan, or what, you won't want to miss this episode.

The Big Web Show is taped in front of a live internet audience, and you can be part of it. Join co-host D...

Minneapolis Remembered

The show's over but the photos linger on. An Event Apart Minneapolis was two days of nonstop brilliance and inspiration. In an environment more than one attendee likened to a "TED of web design," a dozen of the most exciting speakers and visionaries in our industry explained why this moment in web design is like no other.

If you were there, relive the memories; if you couldn't attend, steal a glance at some of what you missed: An Event Apart Minneapolis: the photo pool at...

The puzzle of Japanese web design

With respect to clarity, simplicity, and boldness of line, the Japanese have been a thousand years ahead of us in fine art and graphic design. Our best painters learned minimalism, cartooning, and much else from the Japanese during the "Orientalism" period of the late 19th century. Before that, western fine art was judged in part on its complexity and detail. And our posters and advertisements! Don't ask.

Even the way the Japanese design chopsticks reveals this genius for...