The idea behind the project:

There are 32 places in America named Berlin and the objective is to collect true stories about these Berlins in the form of video, text and images. The idea is to create a space for collaborative storytelling, in which participants can share their stories as well as contribute perspective to the stories of others. If all goes well the plan is to pick the 12 most interesting stories and make an episodic feature film!

The Brains

Gabriel & Pati (www.ks12.net) have worked really hard to spread the word, not only locally here in Berlin Germany, but also to as many people as possible in the Berlins throughout the United States. The site and idea for the project, along with their passion and drive are something that is a true inspiration to watch and be involved with.

The Braun

I also had the chance to work with two great developers that did their best to teach me more about programming and how each bit of the site worked while I styled the bits with CSS. A huge amount of props go out to Tom Hartnell (www.thomashartnell.com/) & Gavin Norman (www.stillstream.co.uk) who both whipped the site into submission and are doing things with code that are truly amazing.

I am thrilled that the beta site is up and running and ready for participants to start submitting their stories. I can’t wait to see what gets submitted and I can only imagine how awesome the film will be. It is a really creative idea and one I strongly believe will be a success!

If you haven’t checked it out yet, get over to www.postcardsfromberlin.com to learn more about the project and how to participate! Also make sure to check out this little easter egg, it’s a great little creative bit that we all agreed had to be on the site.

Of course, my expectations were proceeded and I wasn’t let down!

First off, if you have read any of my past reviews, you will know that I don’t like to give away the full details of any of the books I have read. I think this ruins it for anyone who hasn’t read the book yet. So with that said here are a few of my thoughts on Handcrafted CSS

One Word: Craftsmanship…

The book jumps right into and continues where Dan left off in his previous book Bulletproof Web Design. It has the same type of writing style, where Dan will explain a problem and then give multiple examples of a solution. I really enjoy this approach and it makes the book a joy to read and also gives a bit of insight into how a very talented web designer tackles problems on a daily basis.

Dan does a really awesome job of explaining different scenarios and all the different things that should be taken into account when designing websites while also keeping flexibility in mind. He also refers to being a web craftsman and how its the small details that turn good design into great design.

Progressive Enrichment

This term refers to things we can do to enrich our designs for users who are using the most up to date versions of a browser. With CSS3 on the horizon, Dan goes into detail on a plethora of techniques that can be used today! Now as a true craftsman, he also shows how to create a backup plan for older browsers which helps to ensure the design still works for users who’s browser may not be the latest available.

A lot of really cool techniques are touched on throughout the book. Some I was already aware of but some were new and provided a great introduction to what’s going to be available in CSS3.

Video Edition

There are couple different versions of the book available. I purchased the video edition which comes with a DVD of 10 awesome guidelines. Filmed at Simplebits Studios, Dan goes into detail and shows a wide variety of examples based on these guidelines. The DVD is well worth the few additional bucks in my opinion.

Final Thoughts

Overall I am very impressed and pleased with Handcrafted CSS. My expectations were surpassed and this should have been no surprise! I would highly recommend this book to everyone involved in web design. It will teach you the zen like ways of constructing sites like Mr. Cederholm. (I mean just view source on any of the guys work… it is zen like!!)

Oh no, I almost left out one thing that I really wanted to mention…

Chapter 6

The book also contains a chapter by the equally talented Ethan Marcotte (Chapter 6.). I don’t want to spoil it for anyone but I read this chapter multiple times as to get my head around the entire process. Ethan goes into detail on using fluid grid layouts and I was totally impressed. His process blew my mind and this was one a hell of an addition to the book.

So if you are searching for a great web design book to read, head over and grab a copy of Handcrafted CSS – you won’t be disappointed!

While most of the updates this time are mainly visual, I have a few ideas in the works to help clean up my site even more. Stay tuned for a few more tweaks and updates that I will be adding as time permits.

A huge thanks to Chris for giving me the boost I needed to work on my personal site. I tend to neglect my site because of client work but after getting feedback and suggestions (some of which were very eye opening) I figured I better do something about it.

I hope my changes help out the overall visual appeal of the site, but drop me a comment and let me know what you think and if I am headed in the right direction. This site is always under construction so it would be awesome to hear what others think.

Also make sure to check out Chris’ site and follow him on twitter, or else!

So with that said, I wanted to share a few of my thoughts on how my experience with leaving Photoshop at bay and only working with a text editor has worked out.

I began the project with a set of mockups that were delivered along with a deadline that was going to be a tough one to pull off. Right away I knew that it was time to fall back and try out some advice I read in a recent article that recommended dropping the use of a graphics program and jumping right into the code to help save time.

Now usually I would put together a visual concept and deliver that to the developers that are working on the project. This would normally happen before I would actually begin coding out the HTML and CSS. This time though I was being so pressed for something to see in such a short time frame that I decided to jump straight into the HTML/CSS and to use jQuery in order to give examples of interaction on any given page.

jQuery has been a life saver and I am now a huge fan! I have to say that even though I am not yet fully comfortable with JavaScript the framework has been a joy to work with. While using jQuery I have been able to demonstrate interactions on pages that would have taken much more time with graphic concepts.

With only a very basic understanding of JavaScript I have been able to get a grip on jQuery and in a very short amount of time. I have also been able to keep my HTML and CSS very clean by first creating the document and styling and only using jQuery to show examples of user interaction.

I doubt that I would move to something like this on a full time basis but this time around it has been a great experience and if it fits the project, I would highly recommend it. I also read, watched, or heard (can’t remember which) a statement made by Jeremy Keith (JavaScript Hero) where he said that it’s always better to understand the underlining technology (JavaScript in this case) than to only rely on frameworks. Although he does go on to say that if doing prototypes you should use whatever get the job done.

This statement really made a lot of sense to me and is the reason why I will be spending more and more time to learn the fundamentals of JavaScript but I have to say with quick prototypes jQuery is hard to beat.

Big ups to the jQuery team and if you haven’t checked it out yet, there’s no time like the present.

Of course there is still quite a bit to be done but I just couldn’t wait any longer to get the site up. It’s such an improvement over previous versions of my website and includes a lot of new features, capabilities, and general information. Keep on reading for more details and a bit on what’s to come.

Old vs. New

So as you can see the design is a drastic overhaul and there is a lot more information available. The old version was a one page introduction and was used just for informational purposes. The new site now includes a blog, a few samples of previous work and as time permits a few more additions will be added.

I hope you enjoy the new pixelflips site and feel free to subscribe to the RSS feed to keep up to date and notified of future posts. I am going to try and post as often as possible and already have a few ideas I would like to share.

Also, feel free to drop me a comment below if you have something to share. I am always open to input and would love to hear what you think of the new site.