Do yourself and your clients or employer a favor and read what he has to say about designing from the content out in this new environment. Agree or disagree, responsive web design is gaining momentum at breakneck pace.

However. Recently, the two most vocal proponents—the aforementioned Marcotte and the equally talented Mr. Jeremy Keith—have clarified the notion of responsive web design to remove any ambiguity about what it does not attempt to do. Specifically, responsive web design enables layouts capable of adapting to the viewport but offers precious little in the way of addressing issues of context and bandwidth.

And, moreover, they emphatically state that while responsive web design is a tool that often makes sense, that does not mean it is the only solution nor always the best solution. Marcotte:

Because maybe your site is better served by a separate mobile site than by a responsive approach. Or maybe the reverse is true: maybe a responsive approach is more appropriate. The moral here is that you should tailor the approach to the project, and put the polemic aside. Because nobody knows your project, your audience, better than you do.

Maybe I’ll write that post someday, the one that, channeling my inner Merlin, talks about solving the right web design problem at the right web design level. Until then, it’s comforting to see those with the largest soapboxes taking pains to disassociate responsive web design from magic.

So far, these apps have done remarkably well simulating the orderliness of traditional print layout through algorithmic means, but the effect is still regrettably superficial. In their automated layouts, they frequently give higher priority or larger placement to insubstantial or just plain inane content; meanwhile more newsworthy, more important or more relevant content is often relegated to awkwardly subordinate regions of the page.

Flipboard is nice, I guess, if eye candy¹ is what you’re looking for. I prefer relevancy.

1. If we’re willing to ignore frequent design faux pas as well.

Give it your best. Work hard. Be respectful. Show up on time. Be physically & mentally present. Anything less than your best is a waste of your time, mine, and that of your classmates.

I’d take a class taught by Frank Chimero.

Designing Your Signup Page.

If you offer me an invoicing solution and print “easy to use” everywhere on your site, it means nothing to me. Just like everyone thinks they have a good sense of humour, everyone thinks their software looks good and is easy to use.

The Future of Analytics Products.

Google Analytics and others like it were designed for a time when page views and visitors were all that mattered.

Most of our statistics at this point are useless with so much traffic coming from applications that don’t provided referrer [sic] information. I’d like to see someone work on that.

Witness: Full Stop 2.0.

With our maiden voyage to SXSW looming, we felt the timing was right for a redesign. Our revised site formally lifts the veil on a new identity that’s been hinted at in recent side projects: the roundel. A more mark-like extension of the “full stop/period” of our original identity, we’ve paired it with a weathered aesthetic and rotating vintage illustrations of Pittsburgh, our hometown. We’ve upgraded from Georgia to Minion Pro (Typekit, of course), and Futura Bold is now @font-face (from MyFonts) instead of sIFR. Still small, like us, just one page (plus a portfolio page for displaying not-yet-live or behind-a-login-wall projects), the new site allows us to showcase our completed websites and give side projects and upcoming work a bit more attention. We hope you like it.