Kyle Fiedler » Articles

Getting back into the swing of things

Kyle — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 19:11:39 +0000

Getting back into the swing of things

It has been over five months since my last post here and I never wanted it to get like that. The longer it got for me the easier it was to neglect the site but I intend on getting back into the game and posting more regularly.

Excuses, excuses, excuses

Been busy

Yea I know, if I really wanted to I could have made the time. In my defense in the last few months I’ve started a business, got engaged, helped plan a wedding, got a new job, moved, helped my fiancee move in, watched my fiancee and my sister graduate college and more that I can’t think of right now.

Nothing to say

I’ve had nothing much to say. I didn’t think it would be that hard to keep a blog up to date but boy was I wrong. Writing and designing takes not just time but thought. Maybe I burnt myself out over December when I posted 4 posts over the month or maybe I was to busy with everything else that I didn’t have the time to really think about what I wanted to write about.

Its a hassle

Yes Wordpress has gotten in the way of posting. I thought that it would be an easy tool for me to use to blog the way that I wanted to, instead its become more work to work around the platform. This is not a knock on Wordpress, it has become a fully featured CMS but I just don’t want or use all of its features. Some just get in the way of the way that I post and my design and development process is hindered by it. It sucks that I dread opening up the admin of my blog. I either need to change my process or I need to change how I post. I’m leaning to the latter right now.

Keeping Curious

Kyle — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:00:02 +0000

Keeping Curious

As kids, we are inherently curious beings; we ask a lot of questions.

Almost all of them are directed at our parents, who know everything about everything and are never wrong. The questions range from being slightly impressive to being slightly annoying. Everything from what is the meaning of life to just “why.” Kids ask the same questions over again and ask questions that they already know the answers to, somehow either momentarily forgetting the answer or trying to test the vast knowledge of their parents. Kids yearn to grow and learn without a care for the shame it might bring.

Parents get bored, tired, or annoyed at the questions. They berate kids with things like “stop asking so many questions” or “curiosity killed the cat.” Parents end up killing this hunger for knowledge mostly because they don’t have the patience to deal with the barrage of questions.

Then this sad thing happens; we stop asking questions. Questions become embarrassing to ask and you feel judged to ask them. Then we become satisfied with the knowledge that we have, thinking its enough for the course we have set. After all it takes a certain amount of energy and courage to continue to ask questions. When that happens you lose the life in you; you give up.

“I am neither especially clever nor especially gifted. I am only very, very curious.” Albert Einstein

Hopefully that isn’t happening as much as I think it is. Hopefully we are still learning and maintaining a state of curiosity. Hopefully we just know where we can find the answers to the questions we are asking. Ask questions and don’t be afraid of the answers.

Keep hungry and keep curious.

Colophon: Titles set in the Gnuolane by Typodermic and implemented by Typekit. Special thanks to The Wombats for providing the sound track for design.

The spelling of “ove”

Kyle — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:27:19 +0000

The spelling of “ove”

I am horrible with words. Horrible. I have been since I can remember.

One of my worst and most embarrassing memories comes in the form of a second grade spelling quiz. The fact that I can still remember this might make it one of the reasons that I have such a fear and distaste for writing. We’ll leave that for my therapist. (Please note: I don’t actually have a therapist, yet.)

Anyway, there I was spelling away. I was doing great until one seemingly easy word. “Of” my teacher said. I sat there mulling over the word, something I had probably skipped over the night before thinking it would be all to easy.

I sounded it out like all good second graders will do and still nothing. It looked as if my teacher was about to move on to the next word so I quickly scratched down “ove.” Yes “ove.” To this very day I’m not really sure what was going through my mind. That was the only word I got wrong on the test. The ONLY one.

Maybe this was the life scarring action that scared me away from this writing thing. Who knows? What I do know is my struggles inevitably continued. I’ve found out from my mom that I just barely passed a New York State writing exam in eighth grade. In high school I was not much better. I coasted through my English classes the best I could. By the end of high school I had decided that I was just not meant for this type of communicating. I was to rely on my art talent and somehow communicate visually. In college I did just that, avoiding my greatest weakness. (Side note: for some unknown reason I got a solid A in College Writing. I’m still not sure what happened.)

Writing more better

I’ve since realized that life is not like high school and college. I won’t be able to do the things that I want to do without knowing how to communicate in the English language.

The idea behind starting this blog in the very first place was to try to write more often and thus get better at writing. Lets face it, there might be some improvement overall but its not close to where I would like it to be. I still make embarrassing mistakes on posts and frequently have to go back and fix errors.

Not any more. No more excuses. I’m going to tackle the problem head on.

On a similar note: If you have any books, blogs, or other material that could help me in my valiant quest it would be much appreciated.

Also: I told myself that I would never ever design a post that didn’t have a web safe or otherwise easily readable font. I guess rules are meant to be broken. The x-height for FF Duper Web Pro made it OK as body text and the large size for the design helps too. Apologies to any of those that had a hard time reading or think this was a bad choice.

Colophon: Post set in the loverly FF Duper Web Pro by FontFont and implemented by Typekit. Special thanks to Tokyo Police Club for providing the sound track for design.

Hey speedy, slow yourself down: A cautionary tale of mystery, intrigue and stupidity.

Kyle — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:38:44 +0000

Hey speedy,
slow yourself down:

A cautionary tale of mystery, intrigue and stupidity.

I’ve been designing in turbo mode for too long. Yes turbo mode.

You see in college they seemed to forget to tell me that in the real world you need to track your time on projects. What’s worse is they didn’t tell me that this is the basis for how I would get paid.

In a natural progression, I sped up my work flow to accommodate for low budgets and high return. I got faster and faster and faster. I got rewarded for this speed so I went even faster and it has caught up to me.

The vast past of fast excuses (say that 5 times fast)

I can sit here and say that this all stems from the client but that would be letting myself off way too easy. I have had the tendency to not say no since I started freelancing. Accepting all time lines, all budgets, and all projects. This inevitably lead to several damaging problems.

I became overwhelmed and I didn’t even know it.

I had too many projects and not enough time in the day to do them. Because of all of the projects that I had going on at once, none of them got my full attention. I was lacking focus that I needed.

The timing was all wrong.

Through out all of this, I had to learn how to time myself while designing which is not a very easy task. I was able to figure out an easy way but it wasn’t right for me. The system I had in place made me feel paranoid, rushed and a bit queasy. It only enhanced the need to rush though the design process.

Harmful effects

I foolishly dug myself a deeper and deeper hole. I was harming my designs, my growth and my frail design ego. The designs that I was producing lacked any kind of quality. The time for fine details that can take a design to the next level had vanished in favor of speed. Several silly mistakes, especially spelling errors which I am predisposed to make, kept slipping out in production.

I was doing work for people that wanted a fast and cheap solution rather than a higher quality solution. They didn’t really value the design I was doing. The projects that I was getting wasn’t anything I could put in my portfolio and they weren’t the type of projects I wanted to be doing.

Righting the ship

During this soul crushing process, I believed everything was alright. The light finally turned on and I saw what was happening and let me tell you it was not fun getting hit with a ton of bricks.

I needed to set a new pace. I need to balance the quality with the quantity. I need to say NO to projects, time lines and budgets. I need to pay attention to the details and prevent stupid mistakes.

In the last few months, I have been able to create a better balance. I have peeled back the amount of work I am doing at one time. I have, at the very least, doubled the amount of time I would give for an estimate. The projects that I have been working on are more interesting and more enjoyable. I feel like I am producing better quality work for clients that value what I do.

Of course its not all honkey-dorey. I know what I was doing wrong, I know where I would like to be and what I want to work on. I still have more head way to make but its a good start.

Colophon:

Titles set in the loverly Deva Ideal by DizajnDesign and implemented by Typekit. Special thanks to Radiohead for providing the sound track for design.

Disclaimer:

Parts of the story could be embellished for dramatic effect.

Good things come to those who wait.

Kyle — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 04:38:24 +0000

Good things come to those who wait.

Waiting, it seems, is one of the hardest things for us humans to do. It probably has something to do with our natural instincts. I’ve found several accounts proving that designers and developers of web stuff tend to be even more impatient. I’m sure it stems from being in a constant flux of new information, new technology, and most important new gadgets. Our patience runs thin quite quick. Need I bring up IE? The waiting never seems as bad at the end as it did during the waiting.

Well I’m asking for a bit of patience this month from you. I didn’t plan very well and got caught up in a few other projects and neglected the blog. If you’re patient enough to wait till next month I plan on posting a few articles and I hope to balance my time a little bit better.

This apology is as much for you (any readers I might have) as it is for me. There is a reason I set monthly deadlines for the blog. So if you hold up for a few more days you will (hopefully) be rewarded.

Podcommuting

Kyle — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:49:36 +0000

Podcommuting

It all starts with the commute…

Everyday, I have the joy of commuting through the heart of Boston to work. While I have grown used to seeing red break lights in-front of me, I still cringe at the idea of traffic.

For a while I struggled with occupying my mind during the trip. It didn’t really take long for me to get tired of listening to my music and I have always despised the radio. I needed a way to keep my mind off the drive and thinking about shiny things.

My boss at the time made a suggestion to listen to podcasts. He even claimed that they even had podcasts for designers. I figured it was worth a try. I did a quick search for some web and design podcasts with little expectations.

I now listen to over 20 podcasts on my ride to and from work. They vary from design and development, sports, news and more. They allows me to be somewhat productive and they keep my mind entertained while sitting in traffic. What follows are the best of the best and even a few extras. I’d suggest you download each and every one.

Rookie Designer

Rookie Designer was my very first so it has a special place in my heart. When I started listening to it I was fresh out of college and still looking to learn and grow as a designer. It was the perfect fit for me at the time and it ended up being a great resource for me. It is directed at new/young designers or designers looking to be recharged.

Host: Adam Hay
Running time: 1 hour
Frequency: Monthly

Typeradio

A great podcasts for type enthusiasts. It is relatively new to my library of podcasts, so its been great fun going back and listening to their archive. Typeradio consists solely of interviews of some of the more well known type designers and typographers from all over the world. Each interview gives a brief look into the way that the designer works and lives. I especially love their first 30 questions and hearing the different answers.

Hosts: Donald Beekman and Liza Enebeis
Running time: 15-30 min
Frequency: Random

Freelance Radio

Freelance radio is what it says it is, a podcast for, about and by freelancers. The hosts talk about range of topics from how to deal with clients, a good freelance work-flow, accounting and legal advice and much more. This podcast has helped me out immensely on how to deal with clients and what precautions I should have in place when doing freelance work.

Hosts: John Brougher, Dickie Adams, Kristen Fischer and Von Glitschka
Running time: 1 hour
Frequency: Monthly

Read Between the Leading

Aaron Heth and Matt McInerney, two students from SCAD give interviews and insight into contemporary issues in design. They have had some really great interviews including Armin Vit, Jason Santa Maria, and Aaron Drapin. The podcasts are done so well you forget that its two students putting on the show.

Hosts: Aaron Heth and Matt McInerney
Running time: 1 hour
Frequency: Monthly-ish

BoagWorld

With a bit of ‘waffle’ and a bit of information, BoagWorld is both entertaining and educational. Paul Boag and Marcus Lillington of Headscape cover everything from web design basics, accessibility, and sales and client relationship issues. It has opened the door for me into the web design world and I owe much of my web knowledge to the podcast.

Hosts: Paul Boag and Marcus Lillington
Running time: 1 hour
Frequency: Weekly

UIE Brain Sparks

Interviews, seminar follow-ups, and conference recordings all from one source. UIE gives very useful information on usability and user experience. The new Userability podcasts with Jared Spool and Robert Hoekman, Jr. are short but usually packed with information. Not only are the new podcasts information packed but the archives are full of it. If you are a web designer you NEED to be listening to this podcast.

Host: Jared Spool
Produced by: Brian Christiansen
Running time: 15 min – 1 hour
Frequency: Random

Sitepoint

The latest on web and technology related news and events and now interviews every other week too. The regular postcast features a panel of hosts from all over the web giving insight into the latest news on the web. They cover everything from new Google technology, Wordpress updates, and the latest gadget releases. Recently they’ve started doing interviews with some of the best the web has to offer every other week.

Host: Stephan Segraves, Patrick O’Keefe, Brad Williams, and Kevin Yank
Running time: 1 hour
Frequency: Weekly

CreativeXpert

CreativeXpert is chock-full of design and web interviews and opinions but they are not your ordinary interviews. Alan Houser and Eric E. Anderson put a spin on each interviews that let their personality and the personality of the person they are interviewing shine through. Each episode is witty and comical, great for a design geek like me. Also, the production and music is great and you’ve got to wait till the end of the show for their outtakes.

Hosts: Alan Houser and Eric E. Anderson
Running time: 1 hour
Frequency: Bi-monthly

ESPN: Baseball Today

During the spring, summer and fall I can’t miss a day of baseball. Baseball Today and the Fantasy Focus Baseball podcast give me my fix on my ride back home. Eric Karabell and Peter Pascarelli give a great overview into the previous days baseball, standings and what baseball is slated for the next day. If you are a baseball fan this podcast is a must.

Hosts: Eric Karabell and Peter Pascarelli
Running time: 30 min
Frequency: Daily (During baseball season)

ESPN: Fantasy Focus Baseball

The title is a bit deceiving, if you think you are going to get 30 minutes of great insight to how to play fantasy baseball and the updates on the best players you’ll be disappointed. Matthew Berry and Nate Ravitz give some good advice but mostly rant on about their personal lives, the ESPN softball team and bash Podvader (their producer). Listening to this podcast was good enough to get me 5th place in a 10 team league.

Host: Matthew Berry and Nate Ravitz
Running time: 30 min
Frequency: Daily (During baseball season)

The Bugle

The best for last. The Bugle is a newscast presented by comedians John Oliver (from the Daily show) and Andy Zaltzman. The weekly podcast is about half real events and news and half compete bullshit or close to it. They actively make fun of politicians, entertainers, sports stars and the mainstream media. This podcast will have me bursting out laughing for all of its 45 minuets. Its particularly for those of you that love penis jokes, hotties from history and audio cryptic crosswords. This is defiantly one to subscribe to if you enjoy fun.

Host: John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman
Running time: 45 min
Frequency: Weekly

Please feed the animals: Share your favorite podcasts below and I’ll be sure to check them out

Colophon: Titles are set in Bebas Regular designed by Flat-it. Special thanks to Bob Dylan for providing the sound track for design.

How I go about choosing typefaces for the web

Kyle — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:10:35 +0000

How I go about choosing typefaces for the web

A short introduction

Typography on the web was one of the hardest things for me to grasp. There is a ton of control that I had to let go of that I was used to having in print. Things like ligatures, glyphs, kerning, even choosing an exact typeface, need to be thrown out the door. The limited choices and lack of total control isn’t a free pass on typography though, you can still create some beautiful designs with what you are given.

The game changer could be @font-face. It will hopefully let us open up our type libraries to the web but that is hinging on some copyright issues. As of right now, there are several ways to display your type within the copyright. Its my suggestion that you experiment with all your options and pick the tool/hack that works best for each project.

Made for print

It doesn’t help our cause that a majority of typefaces were designed for printed material which affects how it looks on screen. Much like putting truck tires on a compact car, putting a print typeface on the web might work fine, but look sourly out of place. Of course this is not a rule, some print faces can still look incredible on screen, you just need to test each out. Print designers will print out and test different typefaces on different pieces of paper with different kinds of inc. I like to test out each face and how it works not only on screen but how it works with the rest of the design on the site. You should also check to see what the typeface was originally designed for and what its past uses have been. Wikipedia has been invaluable to me for this and the newly launched Typedia might be an even better resource.

Choosing a Font for the Body

Choose a typeface with a high x-height and it will usually be an easy read. The extra space and counters within the larger x-height makes it easier to view and read groups of letters. Look for typeface’s that have been built for screen use Verdanna and Georgia are a bit over used but rightfully so. They both scale down well and are an easy read on screen. There are several typefaces that have been traditionally used for printed body copy, like Palantino, and will show pretty well on screen.

Take into account how well the font you choose reads at the size you have implemented. I would suggest keeping the body at least 14px or larger for any long body of copy. Wilson Miner does a good job explaining why you should go big on your body copy in his post Relative Readability. Depending on the user base, I also check out how the font renders in Windows. Windows generally renders type a lot worse than a Mac, so its important to see the differences and adjust accordingly. Make sure your line height isn’t too large or small. I generally keep mine around 1.5 but Ill change it to add or take away the weight of the text on the page.

Choosing a Display Font

Your display/title/header font should bring style and a certain uniqueness to the page. The display typeface play an important role in giving the reader an indication of what kind of information they are about to read. Make sure the chosen font leads in the reader but doesn’t take away from the content you are trying to design.

The line height for titles can vary with the font you choose. By shortening the line height you will give the title more weight and importance. Be careful though if the line height is any less than 1em the ascenders and descenders could collide.

By setting the tracking (letter-spacing) in titles you can add legibility and style to the font. Titles set in all caps and type set in reverse should have some extra tracking so it is easier for readers to make out the letters. Titles set in upper/lower can get negative tracking to add to the weight that the header carries.

Pairing typefaces

This can sometimes be a little tricky and bit of a problem. An easy way to get around it is a serif and san-serif pairing. This works because of the obvious contrast in styles. If you can get away with using one typeface with varying weights and sizes to differentiate your content, it will be even easier. A good ground rule make sure that the two font styles are distinct.

I usually start with the display face and find a body font that I can pair it with. I try to contrast weights, styles, and the typefaces classification. The body should tend to blend behind the style and strength in the header.

Be sure to look at other sites and printed material that you like and see what pairings that they are using. The more pairings you see the more you should realize which ones are working and which are not.

Mess with stacks

Even with @font-face, the best way to deploy your chosen font is through CSS stacks. There are a few standard stacks which all get pretty boring after a while but I like to mess with mine a little bit, especially with the display font.

I had the chance to see Richard Rutter present Facing up to Fonts’ at the Head Conference. He encouraged getting more creative with font stacks, using non-standard fonts in non-standard stacks. Ever since I have not been afraid to really drill down to the exact font I want to use.

The best resource I have found for font stacks is an article written by Nathan Ford at Unit Interactive called Better CSS Font Stacks I will usually start with one of Unit’s stacks and work in some other magic. If I see a font or pairing that I really like while browsing other sites, I’ll peek at the code and stash away the stack in a Google doc for later abuse.

When building a stack, I usually will put on next to each other test them in Illustrator, Photoshop or right in the browser. Just to make sure that there are few discrepancies between the fonts in the stack. If you feel really crafty, don’t be afraid to mix in serif with san-serif. I have never done it but I have wanted to try it out. I also will test the stack in the design by taking the front few typefaces off one at a time. This gives me an idea of what other potential visitors will be seeing if they don’t have the ideal font.

Colophon

The title for this article is set in Report by Typodermic and implemented with TypeKit

Let me know

I would love to hear how you choose a font and how you implement it and what your thoughts are on parts of my process. Post your favorite font stacks in the comments too.

In memory of my Grandparents’ couch

Kyle — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 16:20:39 +0000

In memory of my Grandparents’ couch

Last weekend I visited my parents back home in New York, which is when I got the sad news. My Dad was planning on taking apart my favorite couch on Sunday. The couch was a sleek dark blue (not really dark any more) with a classy 70’s? pattern. It had been broken in through and through and when you hit the cushion, dust came out. For all its down falls, it holds a very special place in my heart and I planned on putting it in my basement once I was able to afford my own house.

In the beginning

Before my Grandma passed away, I spent several nights sleeping on the pull out couch on my over night visits. My grandma always made the couch seem better than it was. She made the couch, and the room the couch was in, mine every time that I stayed over. Ever since then I felt I had part ownership of the couch.

Down to the basement

After my Grandma passed and my Grandpa moved in with my family, I was lucky to claim the couch for myself. I lugged it into my parents basement, where it would eventually meet its demise. The basement became, what I like to call, my batcave, a haven away from school, my family (mostly my parents) and at times real life. I slowly grew up in the basement from being a preteen to, what I think is adult hood, and this couch was here every step of the way. In that time, the couch held several sleepless nights of video games with best friends, make out sessions (and more) with girlfriends and several other memorable moments. During the summers while I was in college, the basement eventually became my bedroom and the couch became my bed.

After college

Eventually, I would move out and reluctantly leave my couch in the basement. My new apartment was on the third floor and it would have been too much of a pain to lug up from New York. I am sure the poor thing felt abandoned, even though I had hopes of once reuniting with it. Alas, it has seen its last summer of duty.

In honor of the couch I would like to offer you its elegant 70’s ish pattern to you for free. Feel free to grab the .gif and use it on what ever your heart desires. It would be really nice for you to send me an email at kyle at kylefiedler dot com if you decide to use it. If your really needy I can give you a vector file for the pattern too if you email me and say pretty please.

R.I.P. Grandparent’s couch

FOWD

Kyle — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 15:23:51 +0000

What you’re thinking:

“Why does Kyle want to go to this conference?”

The Answer:

Because hes never been to a real web conference*
Because he wants to meet web people infinitely smarter and more talented than he
Because he thinks the line up is awesome†
Because hes a web designer and he thinks about the future**
Because he also wants to learn about the future (ex. will we still use )
Because he doesn’t think his company will be able to pay for it and he cant afford it
Because he wants a good excuse to go into NYC

Kyle really wants to go to FOWD NYC

Kyle is trying to win “a free seat to the show”. Wish him luck. Please.

Speakers at FOWD:
Dan Rubin
Dan Cederholm
Daniel Burka
Derek Featherstone
Douglas Bowman
Elliot Jay Stocks
Jason Santa Maria
Joshua Davis
Kristina Halvorson
Kyle Sollenberger
Liz Danzico
Mike Kus
Molly Holzschlag
Steve Smith
(Hint: They are
all awesome)

†See speaker list in pink you ninny or go to the speaker page

**He thinks mostly about how to defend himself during the impending robot/alien/dinosaur attack (Might be just one, might be all three. We’ll have to wait to find out.) but accationaly what the future holds for web design

*Full disclosure Kyle has been to a Flash Confrence and an Email Confrence but those arn’t cool like real web conferences like FOWD

the bling bling needed for the lucky free ticket

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Answering the Call

Kyle — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:58:38 +0000

Jason Santa Maria called for more art direction on the web and I intend to answer.

Answering the Call

About a year ago, Jason Santa Maria saw a trend for major publications that were creating beautiful layouts in their print editions and then just dumping their content online. In the past, this may have been relatively acceptable but with the emergence of standards and good support of CSS across the majority of browsers designers are now capable of transforming their web content into beautiful layouts. With the growing popularity of blogs and CMS systems this seems even further from a possibility, right? Besides what publication has the time and budget to create a new layout for each article, especially when articles may be time sensitive?

The Winds of Change

Jason managed to manipulate his CMS tool of choice, Expression Engine, with the help of some friends to create a flexible grid and be able to design each article he wrote. Every time he has a new post, I am compelled to jump out of my lowly RSS reader and not only read but see his article. Each one is always impressive, inspiring and well worth the trip outside the confines of Google Reader. Each unique design helps tell the story while adding new meaning to the article.

“We’ve made so many advancements in how we publish content that we haven’t looked back to what it is we’re actually creating. Many of us see the clear separation between things like print design and web design, but I’ve really been questioning the reality of why things are this way.”Jason Santa Maria

Of course there are some down sides to this. I have already mentioned the time it would take and the budget that would be needed to design each article. There is also the extra download time of CSS files and font files associated with each design. with download speeds not slowing down any time soon this is more of a moral problem. I would imagine most publication companies would have to redevelop their CMS so that it has the flexibility to allow for the designs, which would not be cheep or easy.

The anti-decline?

We are seeing publication readership head toward the web more and more and the physical publication subscriptions decrease. The need to differentiate between blogs both professional and amateur, news sites, and publications will increase. Most current newspaper sites and magazine sites have the same basic grid based layout, each blending into the next.

I believe the budget for design will slowly transition over to web design and creating richer experiences online instead of a dumping ground for content. For main article designs will help captivate audiences keeping short attention spans and gaining recognition. This would be an ample opportunity to get better ad revenue and all the other good stuff that comes with retaining an audience.

There should be a limit to the articles that get a unique design, but the magazine or newspapers feature should benefit from a fresh coat of paint. Time sensitive articles can be put into a framework that is already in place and secondary articles might not need a unique design. To the New York Times’ credit they have started to do this with some of their articles, I would just like to see them get a little more adventurous.

As it applies to me

Much like Jason, I have designed and built this site so that I could basically change everything for a single post. Yes, I mean everything. I realized that I was redesigning my web site every few months because I was learning more and getting bored with the way my site looked. I wanted a place to experiment with new web technology and break the rules of the web (see “My First Art Set”) and quell the thirst for total redesign.

Unlike Jason, I am implementing a six column grid, compared to his five, and customized the 960gs framework to suit my needs. The HTML is ‘class-ified’ so I can easily add CSS hooks without any added markup. Of course I don’t hold the same company that Jason does to help me out with a custom EE blog. Luckily I can use the Wordpress art director plug in, released sometime after Jason’s first post. It enables me to add in custom CSS for each page into the header and any jQuery or Cufón fonts I wish to load in. All of the color on my site is set in RGBa so it can easily take the tone of the color or image behind it (this trick I stole from Wilson Miner who has an incredibly beautiful site).

With all that rambling comes some disclaimers. I have still not decided what I’m going to do with IE support. With all of my experimentation there are going to obviously be bugs and issues and problems and headaches with IE. Other than that I hope most browsers will be able to render this acceptably. Let me know if there are any problems/bugs and I will do my best to fix them.

Lastly, if you want some more on the subject have a listen to the “Not the same old story” panel at SXSWi 2009 and you can watch Jason’s “SVA DOT DOT DOT” lecture.

Update: Apparently I cant count, Jason’s blog uses an 8 column grid and the customization comes from a CSS system. My apologies Jason.

Kyle Fiedler » Articles

Getting back into the swing of things

Getting back into the swing of things

Excuses, excuses, excuses

Been busy

Nothing to say

Its a hassle

Keeping Curious

Keeping Curious

Keep hungry and keep curious.

The spelling of “ove”

The spelling of “ove”

Writing more better

Hey speedy, slow yourself down: A cautionary tale of mystery, intrigue and stupidity.

Hey speedy, slow yourself down:

A cautionary tale of mystery, intrigue and stupidity.

The vast past of fast excuses (say that 5 times fast)

Harmful effects

Righting the ship

Good things come to those who wait.

Good things come to those who wait.

Podcommuting

Podcommuting

It all starts with the commute…

How I go about choosing typefaces for the web

How I go about choosing typefaces for the web

A short introduction

Made for print

Choosing a Font for the Body

Choosing a Display Font

Pairing typefaces

Mess with stacks

Further readings

Colophon

Let me know

In memory of my Grandparents’ couch

In memory of my Grandparents’ couch

In the beginning

Down to the basement

After college

R.I.P. Grandparent’s couch

FOWD

What you’re thinking:

The Answer:

Kyle really wants to go to FOWD NYC

Answering the Call

Answering the Call

The Winds of Change

The anti-decline?

As it applies to me

Hey speedy,
slow yourself down: