Design Articles
My design blog covers many topics but there is a particular focus on web design and web development as these are some of my main interests. You will find plenty of information about my liquid layouts and useful CSS tricks that I've developed over the years. There are also a few posts on art, drawing and design with the occasional one on science or philosophy thrown in for good measure. I hope you enjoy them. - Matt =)
Converting special characters to HTML entities between code tags A PHP function I wrote to allow HTML snippets between code tags in any textarea. This would be very useful for blog admin pages.
The Holy Grail Liquid-Layout, No Quirks Mode A new version of my 3 column liquid layout that does not use quirks mode or IE conditional comments
Horizontally Centered Menus with no CSS hacks A simple cross-browser method of centering tabbed menus with pure CSS and no hacks.
'Split Page' 3 column CSS liquid-layout An unusual web page design that is the inverse of the Holy Grail liquid-layout.
Adobe Dreamweaver CSS rendering bug A courtesy warning for web designers using Dreamweaver with my liquid layouts
Converting a liquid-layout to fixed-width with CSS A simple CSS tutorial showing how to change between fixed-width and liquid-layouts with the use of a container div
A 'Liquid' List Apart A liquid layout would be much more accessible and user-friendly for the 'A List Apart' website, see my mockup.
Ultimate multi-column liquid layouts A new series of solid layouts that use pixel and em widths for columns. SEO friendly. No CSS hacks. Free for anyone to use.
Print out your own MacBook Air Can't afford a MacBook Air? Print out one for free!
How to post forms to clean, rewritten URLs without JavaScript A simple way to use clean rewritten URLs directly from posted forms without JavaScript
Carbon Neutral Christmas Lights Environmentally friendly Christmas lights that are fun and interactive
Animated Photoshop selection on a web page! Highlight areas of your website with animated select boxes just like you can do in PhotoShop
How to keep footers at the bottom of the page A simple method using valid CSS to keep your footer at the bottom of the screen on pages with little content.
Perfect multi-column CSS liquid layouts. iPhone compatible. The best website layouts. No CSS hacks. SEO friendly. No Images. No JavaScript. Cross-browser and iPhone compatible.
The art of sharpening pencils See all the popular styles and methods of sharpening pencils and learn a few tricks too.
Preventing a common security problem with login forms A potential security risk with login forms that all web designers should know about
Preventing a background image jump A simple remedy for a potentially annoying background image CSS quirk
Online Boggle dice shaker A simple Boggle dice shaker built with JavaScript
The Floating Boxes CSS Layout An alternative website design to the standard 'fixed width' or 'liquid layout' designs
How I drew my Bjork 'Alarm Call' picture This is a simple step-by-step tutorial describing some of the tricks I use in CorelDraw and Photoshop and also when scanning artwork.