Object Oriented Css

OBJECT ORIENTED CSS for high performance web applications and sites.

Nicole Sullivan Monday, February 16, 2009

Web Dev Philosophy • Work out of respect for the design. • Designers make our code as beautiful and

clever on the outside as it is on the inside.

• Respect the original design vision.

consistent design = clean code = fast site.

Monday, February 16, 2009

“JAVASCRIPT DOESN’T SUCK You’re just doing it wrong.” -- Doug Crockford

Monday, February 16, 2009

“JAVASCRIPT DOESN’T SUCK You’re just doing it wrong.” -- Doug Crockford

Monday, February 16, 2009

CSS

“JAVASCRIPT DOESN’T SUCK You’re just doing it wrong.” -- Doug Crockford

Monday, February 16, 2009

REQUIRE EXPERT ABILITY JUST TO GET STARTED. this is not a sign of maturity.

Monday, February 16, 2009

FILE SIZE JUST KEEPS GETTING BIGGER As the site evolves we continuously modify the CSS.

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CODE RE-USE IS ALMOST NONEXISTENT people don’t trust other developers code.

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CODE IS TOO FRAGILE. Even the cleanest code gets ruined by the first non-expert to touch it.

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WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MISTAKE TALENTED CODERS ARE MAKING? Writing really clever modules.

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THE SIZE OF THEIR CSS WILL INCREASE in a 1:1 relationship with the number of blocks, pages, and complexity of content.

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BUT, WE WANT A LOT! and sometimes those goals conflict.

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and sometimes those goals conflict.

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Modular - combinable , reusable, extensible. Light One to many relationship between CSS and potential layouts. Fast - Minimal HTTP requests & minimal size. Future-proof - maintainable, semantic, standards oriented, prepared for future-browsers, redesign compatible. Visually interesting and adaptable respectful of UED and mar keting constraints. Simplifies and speeds CSS development. Accessible SEO, Screen readers, etc. Monday, February 16, 2009

Modular - combinable , reusable, extensible. Light One to many relationship between CSS and potential layouts. Fast - Minimal HTTP requests & minimal size. Future-proof - maintainable, semantic, standards oriented, prepared for future-browsers, redesign compatible. Visually interesting and adaptable respectful of UED and mar keting constraints. Simplifies and speeds CSS development. Accessible SEO, Screen readers, etc. Monday, February 16, 2009

SOLUTION Object Oriented CSS

Monday, February 16, 2009

TWO MAIN PRINCIPLES 1. Separate Structure and Skin 2. Separate Container and Content

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10 BEST PRACTICES 1. Create a component library

6. Minimize selectors 7. Separate structure and skin

2. Use consistent semantic styles 3. Design modules to be transparent on the inside. 4. Be flexible. 5. Learn to love grids.

Monday, February 16, 2009

8. Separate container and content 9. Extend objects by applying multiple classes to an element 10. Use reset and fonts from YUI

9 PITFALLS 1. Location dependent styles. 2. Avoid specifying what tag a class applies. 3. Avoid IDs to style inside the main content areas. 4. Avoid drop shadows and rounded corners over irregular backgrounds.

Monday, February 16, 2009

5. Don’t sprite every image together (unless your has very few pages). 6. Avoid height alignment 7. Text as text, not as images. 8. Redundancy 9. Avoid premature optimization.

CREATE A COMPONENT LIBRARY of reusable “legos”

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Components are like legos Mix and match to create diverse and interesting pages.

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SEPARATE CONTAINER AND CONTENT break the dependency between the container module and the content objects it contains.

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Monday, February 16, 2009

Contour blocks

Background blocks

Content Objects -

headings, paragraphs, lists, headers, footers, buttons, etc. Capital of the Canterbury region and the largest city on the South Island (population just over 300,000) exudes a palpable air of gentility and a connectedness with the mother country. Read more...

X

X

1:n Monday, February 16, 2009

Build HTML from the component library. New pages should not generally require additional CSS

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SITE-WIDE LEGOS • Headings • Lists

(e.g. action list, external link list, product list, or feature list)

• Module • Grids • Buttons

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headers and footers

Heading Level 1

HEADINGS Getting the look and feel you want with the semantics you need.

Heading Level 2 Heading Level 3 Heading Level 4 Heading Level 5 Heading Level 6

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Default List List Item 2 List Item 3

LISTS Should be available to all modules on the page.

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❖ Action List ❖ List Item 2 ❖ List Item 3

‣ ‣ ‣

Toggle List List Item 2 List Item 3

MEDIA Extending objects, a simple example.

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Monday, February 16, 2009

SEPARATE STRUCTURE AND SKIN abstract the structure of the block from the skin which is being applied.

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block inner hd

BLOCK class can be extended by adding additional classes to the block element.

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bd

ft

Reusing elements makes them performance “freebies”

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Legos first Design individual pages only once all the legos have been defined.

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Pitfalls What not to do.

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Avoid redundancy Monday, February 16, 2009

Nearly identical modules Headings 3 and 5 are too similar.

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Rule of thumb: If two modules look too similar to include on the same page, they are too similar to include together in a site, choose one!

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USE CONSISTENT SEMANTIC STYLES

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A

Heading should not become a in another part of the page.

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Heading

Consistency Writing more rules to overwrite the crazy rules from before. e.g. Heading should behave predictably in any module.

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How about an example? Yahoo! Personal Finance

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2+ different tab styles. Could they use the same images?

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3 contour components are too similar. Chose one.

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Changes in module width, background color, or background image are an excellent example of module reuse. Monday, February 16, 2009

Mix and match Container and content objects to achieve high performance design.

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DESIGN MODULES TO BE TRANSPARENT on the inside.

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Making it look fab Requires careful choice of pixels.

Bonus: Consider PNG8 for progressive enhancement

http://alistapart.com/articles/mountaintop/ Monday, February 16, 2009

Pitfalls Variable or gradient backgrounds.

Monday, February 16, 2009

NEVER SPECIFY ELEMENT Do:

.myClass {...}

Don’t:

div.myClass {...}

Exception: Extending a class to work on several elements. e.g..error{} which, by default, applies to a P.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Extend the error class to apply to strong or div elements specify the specific tag in the rule that declares only the values that are different than the default value.

BE FLEXIBLE. Extensible height and width.

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• Grids control width • Content controls height

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LEARN TO LOVE GRIDS.

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MARK-UP AND CSS become predictable

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UML TO DESCRIBE both HTML and CSS

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TEACHING OO CSS To designers and engineers

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A NATURAL PROGRESSION from simple to more complex tasks.

Monday, February 16, 2009

CSS WISH LIST So, maybe CSS isn’t perfect.

Monday, February 16, 2009

CSS WISH LIST So, maybe CSS isn’t perfect.

1. Extending objects - possible to make “sale module” inherit from “module”. .module{} .saleModule{extends: module;}

Monday, February 16, 2009

CSS WISH LIST So, maybe CSS isn’t perfect.

2. Or, class-order should impact the cascade.

Monday, February 16, 2009

CSS WISH LIST So, maybe CSS isn’t perfect.

saleMod 3. Proximity should impact the cascade. Nested modules, first one last in the CSS. .protectiveGear{...} .saleMod{...}

protectiveGear Monday, February 16, 2009

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PHOTO CREDITS •

“You Crack Me Up” by http://flickr.com/photos/nickwheeleroz/2474196275/in/photostream/

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“red lego” by http://flickr.com/photos/niznoz/5753993/

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“Pablo’s cubism period began at three” by http://flickr.com/photos/wwworks/2475349116/in/ set-72157608035966422/

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“Kuwait water tower” by http://flickr.com/photos/asam/327911794/

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idigit_teddy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/design_inspiration/238542495/

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lucianvenutian: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lucianvenutian/1142630637/

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Gimli_36: http://www.flickr.com/photos/navillot/1878124531/

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NathanFromDeVryEET: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thatguyfromcchs08/2300190277/

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Stabilo Boss: http://flickr.com/photos/stabilo-boss/101793494/in/set-72057594060779001/

Monday, February 16, 2009

Let’s keep talking... http://stubbornella.org [email protected] “stubbornella” on the web... twitter, dopplr, slideshare, everywhere...

Monday, February 16, 2009