Here is a quick summary for those of you who don’t want to read the whole article:

1. Always use strict doctype and standards-compliant HTML/CSS
2. Always use a reset at the start of your css
3. Use -moz-opacity:0.99 on text elements to clean up rendering in Firefox, and text-shadow: #000 0 0 0 in Safari
4. Never resize images in the CSS or HTML
5. Check font rendering in every browser. Don’t use Lucida
6. Size text as a % in the body, and as em’s throughout
7. All layout divs that are floated should include display:inline and overflow:hidden
8. Containers should have overflow:auto and trigger hasLayout via a width or height
9. Don’t use any fancy CSS3 selectors
10. Don’t use transparent PNG’s unless you have loaded the alpha

But you should go ahead and read the whole article (via WebAppers.com).

We had a slow winter around here at SSDD Web Design. Other aspects of life captured our attention (family, friends, significant others, illness, travel, etc.). But the sun is shining and things are picking up.

Currently we’re working on our first ZenCart installation for a (the) local leather store, a shopping cart system for their wholesale business. Once complete we will proceed with setting up another ZenCart installation for their retail business. ZenCart is quite feature-rich and it’s been a bit of a learning curve but we’re currently loading products and should be launching soon.

In the meantime, over on the newly minted NETTUTS web site they’ve posted a nice roundup of the best of the web for April. There were some great web design and development resources posted on blogs last month, and NETTUTS is shaping up to be a “keeper” for the RSS reader.

25 Ways To Improve Your Site Today

Text/Whitespace: There’s a big trap that often people fall into. Whitespace. How many times have you heard “we need to fill that space and cram the text in a bit more” ? More text in a single area isn’t a good thing. It can make it harder and less enjoyable to read the content. It you had a shop would you cram as many products in as possible? No. You’d let them have space so they get noticed. Do the same with your text.

…and it’s a plugin for Firefox: Firebug. I’ve been catching the buzz all over the design blog feeds I read daily, and I have been using it to develop this site, but I didn’t decide to link to it until I saw the developer’s screencast. I’ve barely been scratching the surface of its functionality.

It looks like 24 ways is getting ready for another yuletide season, with 24 web design tips published once per day from December 1st through December 24th.