I recently posted a tweet that poked fun at the relationship between designers and the W3C (the organization that creates web standards like HTML and CSS).
Thinking Outside the Box
For decades we’ve meticulously sliced up images to create rounded corners, shadows, gradients, and ornate detail. The W3C added these features to the CSS standard and many web designers rejoiced as browser support followed, because it meant that we didn’t have to rely on images anymore. However, the recent flat design trend has made these celebrated features much less relevant. From Windows 8 to iOS 7, corners are becoming square, gradients are becoming flat, and drop shadows are being dropped completely. Any artistic field is like a pendulum swinging back and forth, so we’ll see a resurgence of these CSS tools someday soon (and they’ll be used in a whole new way), but the present is looking very flat indeed.
Thinking Outside the Box
For decades we’ve meticulously sliced up images to create rounded corners, shadows, gradients, and ornate detail. The W3C added these features to the CSS standard and many web designers rejoiced as browser support followed, because it meant that we didn’t have to rely on images anymore. However, the recent flat design trend has made these celebrated features much less relevant. From Windows 8 to iOS 7, corners are becoming square, gradients are becoming flat, and drop shadows are being dropped completely. Any artistic field is like a pendulum swinging back and forth, so we’ll see a resurgence of these CSS tools someday soon (and they’ll be used in a whole new way), but the present is looking very flat indeed.
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