Modernism to the CSS layouts: What is it all about?

“What distinguishes modern art from the art of other ages is criticism.”

And, everything is subjected to modifications. Modernity is a qualitative, not a chronological category.  And, this is what we tend to take the basis of this post wherein CSS has never failed to amaze us with the flexibility it accompanies.

The unexceptional functionality that the CSS comes with, force us to enlist a few—

1. CSS  prevents the hassle where the footers float halfway. The CSS technique makes it possible that the footer is stuck to its current location no matter how little or large the variations are.

2. CSS stacked bar graphs widens the scope of data visualisation. Now, we need not to depend on the Flash applications and some programming languages to be able to attain even a simple data chart.

3. An empty tag in the heading, and applying the background image, and you can actually avail your PNG image with a gradient effect, purely on the basis of CSS.

4. The CSS has an accordion effect that works when the user makes an interaction with the element. It can be done either by clicking or just mousing over it. The accordion then, expands outshining the elements of interest and at the same time, and suppressing the rest.

CSS based image maps, pure CSS animated progress bar, cross browser transparent columns, dashboard like effect, CSS parallax effect, gradient text effect, and the list goes endless.

It is often like,”CSS designs are so boring. They’re too boxy.”

What is your take on this?

According to me it totally depends on the creativity and the experimentation that you put into your work and come out with a stupendous art piece. And it would be actually not appropriate to focus on the modern trends that suit CSS layouts, but the other way round. The focus is on the underlying concepts that you need to be aware of, to be able to come up with the unique layouts.

“A person without imagination is like a teabag without hot water.”

And, of course, there is no denying to the fact that everything need to have a solid base.

“Art is not life, nor a reproduction of life, but a representation carried out within the specific terms, conversions and limitations of the particular art used…”

Therefore, we have tried and incorporated the following modern approaches to effective CSS layouts—

1.A balanced approach: Progressive Enhancement:

There is no doubt that the scope of the Internet is growing exponentially, and so are the demands of the millions of users to be able to get hold of the maximum information they can.Think of a situation wherein you are given the maximum as per your requirements and the style, but then, providing them the accessibility to make it compatible according to the future needs based on their and the new capabilities? Its somewhat more like “ Prepare once, present anywhere.” Would not it be almost close to a perfect?

Yes, of course! And, to be able to target a large mass of audience in this wide array of the web browsers, this is what progressive enhancement is all about. It is actually a strategical methodology, which has flared its wings, and gives web developers the opportunity to be able to give their 100 percent in building the website and giving opportunity to the create a balance at the users end as well. Not leaving anyone behind and providing a platform for the certain user-agents that can handle pages with appropriate markup for content and adding advanced styling (and perhaps scripting) so that it do not look the same everywhere. And the idea wherein you do not want your web designs to look same or even slightly different in every browser is not new. Progressive enhancement is a step towards the same.

It focuses on the need to create a solid base that would lead to more robust pages, that is fully functional in every page. Even the users are satisfied and contended to find that the web page is accessible and clear even on the old and outdated browsers, and mobiles. You can actually imagine the result in updated and new browsers.

Therefore, why not say a goodbye to all the past strategies, and its actually time to make way for incorporating the modern approach to the existing and the new ones.

2.Adaptation:

Have you ever wondered how your page is visible even on a netbook, wide screen monitors and that too on the mobile devices as well. As we have stressed on the fact that the modern approach to the to the CSS layouts is to be able to fit-in all shapes and sizes, if we put it in a layman term. The more you give a comprehensive thought about the same, the better you are able to come up with a wonderful adaptable web page.

Browser compatibility, the platforms on which the design able to work, taking in consideration the devices that the people tend to make use of, the screen resolution— the minimum and the maximum width, the font size, colours— taking in mind if the combination and the choice work for the colour blinds as well. This is actually not enough. There is still more to it, which need to be kept in mind while working on a CSS layout.

3.Bifurcated into Modules:

Gone are the days when modern websites were just the replica and the collection of still pages. Recycling and reuse are the bases of bifurcating, actually breaking down into the chunks to be able to work on the individual pages so that they can be reused independently. Separate your CSS web page into multiple sheets using CMS’, frameworks, layout grids and other tools to come up with a modular page of your own.

It gives you the freedom to reuse and share the modular web page chunks for the content management systems, user-generated content and RSS aggregation as well. Except the benefit to provide you with the individual function, and open up to multiple uses, it offers the following advantages:

Reduced file size leads to a few verbose lines of code. Prevents the reinvention part and reduce the time to test in different browsers. A consistency is maintained in the design because the design pertains its consistency. Easier maintenance and the flexible approach is what this approach equips you with.

4.Efficiency is what all modernists follow:

Qualitative and the quantitative approach: who does not prioritise it? Wherein, time is the biggest constraint and then, it actually becomes quite apparent to be able to save time, at the same time producing high quality work.

Efficiency on the part of the designers, as well as the servers and the browsers is what all it takes. It is also important to be able to consider the speed and the performance of your web page. The loading time is what you need to consider because it can prove to be the biggest turn off when you talk about the first impression.

Writing clean and shorthand, and an efficient syntax are as important as ever for improving upon the performance.

Last but not the least, typography the major attraction, and now people are actually sick and tired of those old style custom fonts.

“Typography needs to be audible. Typography needs to be felt. Typography needs to be experienced.”

And, if we talk generally, experience, creativity and embedded skill have always served as the crust of web designers and as a result, websites. They are the visual representation, to be able to impart a long-lasting impact of the information you tend to provide. And, CSS layouts give you the opportunity to come up with the most unique typefaces ever.

Last but not the least, “Do not strive to be a modern artist: it’s the one thing unfortunately you can’t help being.”

The main point is that there is a need to follow the approaches or in other words, the characteristic features of the approach one needs to keep in mind. And, then, obviously an artist is open up with the options to flare the wings of his/her creativity.

Author Info

Mark Wilston is a Content Writer and marketing professional working with PixelCrayons, a reputed Custom web design & development company India offering offshore cms, ecommerce and mobile apps development services. For more information about PixelCrayons, visit at http://www.pixelcrayons.com/.

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