The Highly Extensible CSS Interface Series

Cameron Moll introducd “The Highly Extensible CSS Interface”, a four-part series of how-to’s and savvy conversation. The phrase “highly extensible” is in reference to designing and coding interfaces that are flexible enough to adapt in ways the designer or developer may not foresee when handing off coded templates, while still retaining the overall aesthetic integrity of the layout.

Part One: The Foundation
This first article will briefly discuss the importance of producing visually rich interfaces with semantic, accessible, and portable markup underneath.

Part Two: CSS Selectors & jQuery
This article will present examples that demonstrate how to take advantage of the now-supported CSS2 and CSS3 properties previously ignored by Internet Explorer, such as min/max-width, child and adjacent sibling selectors, and others. Also take a look at jQuery, a lightweight scripting library for enhancing UI elements.

Part Three: Adding Ajax Interactivity
The third article will lightly cover Ajax implementation and its role within the interface. Demonstration of a few ways to leverage Ajax judiciously.

Part Four: Testing for Extensibility
Lastly, the final article will look back at the chunks of code presented in the three previous articles to assess how they combine to produce a completed interface. A series of “extensibility tests” such as translation, text resizing and browser width resizing, the addition of new content, and so forth.

The final article also provides the full demo, as well as a bookmarkable site that gives you quick access to all resources mentioned throughout the series.

Source: The Highly Extensible CSS Interface