Author: Yelena Shabrova

Why Subtle Typographic Choices Make All The Difference

Carolyn Knight and Jessica Glaser look at the reasons why subtle typographic changes can create considerable effect, referring to linguistic and semiotic examples, as well as design case studies, to get to grips with why subtle changes can make all the difference.

Why Subtle Typographic Choices Make All The Difference

Complete List of Default WordPress Files

When cleaning up hacked sites and testing .htaccess tricks, it’s nice to have a list of WordPress directory and file names for checking patterns and finding strings directly via Search/Find. Especially when working remotely, having a complete list of WordPress files available online can help expedite the attack-recovery process.

Jeff Starr shares the list of WordPress files which is more complete than the one found in the Codex. Files for WordPress version 3.3.2 are grouped by directory and are preceded by the list of directories themselves. A very convenient, well organized reference for any WordPress site owner.

Applying Macrotypography For A More Readable Web Page

Any application of typography can be divided into two arenas: micro and macro. Understanding the difference between the two is especially useful when crafting a reading experience, because it allows the designer to know when to focus on legibility and when to focus on readability.

This article by Nathan Ford focuses mostly on a few simple macrotypographic techniques — with a dash of micro — and on how to combine them all to build a more harmonious, adaptable and, most importantly, readable Web page.

How To Choose The Right Face For A Beautiful Body

What is it that makes a typeface into a text font, instead of a font for larger sizes? The answer differs slightly, depending on whether one aims for print or Web-based environments.

Nevertheless, there are certain features that most good text faces have in common. Familiarity with these helps to select the right fonts for a given project. This article by Dan Reynolds presents a few criteria to help the process along.

Why We Shouldn’t Make Separate Mobile Websites

Bruce Lawson gives a great explanation for what I feel is true:

“The vital point is that you never know better than your users what content they want.”

Absolutely! I’s one web no matter which device a user got, it’s not the designers or developer’s job to decide which version of a web site that user gets. Akin to taking control over one’s browser, serving a separate site to a mobile user does not sound right. I can see removing embellishments like extra graphics, slideshows, and so on, but to remove or alter content and features because the site owner “feels” it’s not important on a smartphone (or a feature phone for that matter) is a whole different matter.

Bruce also discusses real life constraints that make a separate mobile web site a necessity and inevitable downsides of this setup like inability to reliably sniff mobile browsers, leaving mobile users with incomplete experience if they never access the web with a desktop, and in the end cites The W3C Mobile Web best practices:

“One Web means making, as far as is reasonable, the same information and services available to users irrespective of the device they are using. However, it does not mean that exactly the same information is available in exactly the same representation across all devices. The context of mobile use, device capability variations, bandwidth issues and mobile network capabilities all affect the representation. Furthermore, some services and information are more suitable for and targeted at particular user contexts.”

At best, it means richer experience for more sophisticated devices that have less bandwidth constraints, not revamping a desktop web site to suit some theory of what’s better for the mobile web.