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August 23rd, 2005

ALA 4.0: A Few Thoughts

by Joshua Porter  |   4 Comments  |  shortlink: http://bokardo.com/p/186

Alistapart, the venerable (hey, Mike Davidson used venerable, too) web design magazine started by Jeffrey Zeldman, has been updated to version 4.0.

A few thoughts as I peruse their design and new articles:

  • It’s beautiful. Just Pretty. This is a design that I would be really proud of. Jason Santa Maria takes a color pallete I love and adds little details like the black seal for a wonderful affect (update: JSM points out the old articles are grey. So now I *really* love the color pallete, as it gives a sense of home)
  • I wonder if changing the domain name will hurt traffic like it did for Keith Robinson (update: that was just temporary until the DNS propagated – great, if not intentional, advertising!)
  • Ruby on Rails, the platform underlying it all, is the cat’s meow
  • Comment feeds are now standard in WordPress installations. I’m in the process of adding them (along with other things) to my own hacked templates
  • We need more voices like those at Alistapart and Digital Web. Nothing is quite like sitting down to a new edition of those two publications
  • I really hope they start publishing on a regular schedule again
  • It looks like nobody’s figured out categories/tags yet. Here’s another shot at it
  • Jeffrey should write more. Just the tone he writes in is wonderful to read
  • Why is the layout left-aligned, and the comments paged?
  • Joe Clark is curmudgeon-like, and I mean that in a good way
  • Interesting use of “user science” as a top-level category
  • In Safari, when you roll over an article title that wraps, there is an interesting affect
  • What is the meaning of Semantician? :)
  • The bar is now higher
Check out my latest project: Make them Care!, a book on designing great sign-up experiences. Get reminded when it's published.

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Comments

1.  Marten Veldthuis 10:28am, Tue 23rd, 2005

They’re not changing domain name, this one is temporary so they can show off their new design even when the DNS hasn’t propagated everywhere.

2.  CM Harrington 11:41am, Tue 23rd, 2005

I too, really enjoy the new layout. That said, when I read Zeldman’s introduction to the new layout, I started to wonder if the ALA crew is drinking too much of their own kool-aid.

“The numerical bug that sits atop the logo and astride the nav bar makes each issue feel like an important limited edition.”

But it’s not a limited edition. This is the web. It will be in that space for all eternity, or until someone stops paying the bill.

“The design has a classic, almost scholarly feeling, although there is a hint of teasing play behind elements like the laurel wreath”

No doubt, the design is pretty, albeit a bit difficult to read, as the font is a bit too small (for me), and the main content column too wide (for me). That said, ALA has been about taking a practical approach to web standards and design –a “for the people” mentality. This design, in my opinion rather cleanly breaks that, and forms somewhat of an ivory tower. The wreath? It further enforces the ivy league elitist vibe.

“The magazine will be published on Tuesdays. Not every Tuesday – just when we have something fabulous to share.”

Well, this actually says nothing. It says “We’re going to come out with something new on Tuesdays… or not.” Um, ok. How is this different from the status quo? What seems to be happening in the whole web-standards arena is stasis. We in the field have covered all the topics, and there really isn’t that much else to say. This is why ALA’s articles have been going a bit down-hill as late –not due to bad writers, but rather, a sense of “been there, done that”. In the struggle to find something interesting, there have been articles that further divorce ALA from the original goal of providing practical, standards-based design information.

The reality of the situation is that web designers are stuck until IE7 is delivered, and we can learn about all sorts of new hacks and tweaks to get around their already-admitted un-compliance. Until then, we’re in a holding pattern.

3.  CM Harrington 11:42am, Tue 23rd, 2005

Hmm.. that’s annoying. My HTML quotes showed up in the Live preview, but got eaten in the post. That makes my above post rather difficult to read.

4.  Josh 12:09pm, Tue 23rd, 2005

CM, I added quotes to your comment. I think it’s clear that you were quoting from the site, now.