CSS From the Ground Up

We've been doing a lot of layouts in CSS recently ... which is simultaneously good and bad. Good, because CSS is an incredibly powerful mechanism for doing layouts and managing site-wide style. Bad, because CSS is incredibly temperamental and special care needs to be taken as you develop sites in CSS to make allowances for different browsers.

Recently, I did a demonstration on how to build a site in cross-browser compatible CSS starting with a simple Photoshop mockup. My workspace relies heavily on the OS X feature Spaces, the Firefox Web Developer extension and Parallels, but the mantra is the same across all platforms:

Test your work in different browsers early and test your work in different browsers often.

CSS From the Ground Up (.mov file, 452 MB, 1024x768)

Shameless Plug: Function Web Design Free Icon Set

We've been using the Function Web Design icon setfor some of our internal facing web applications. I have never been at a loss for iconography when I turn to their series of 128 well-designed PNGs. Thanks, Function Web Design.

Google Analytics: Follow-Up

Our team has finished the changes to the way that Google Analytics reports site statistics. When you log in to Google Analytics now, you will see new sub-profiles underneath the profile "http://colum.edu UA-534393-20".

There should be a new sub-profile that corresponds to each profile you previously used. The new sub-profiles are where you should go for current statistics.

All users still have access to their old profiles, which provide statistics for dates before we changed our reporting method.

Google Analytics Changes

Many people have emailed us requesting access to Google Analytics so that they can view the metrics associated with their portion of our site. As a department, we couldn't be happier that people are taking an interest in objectively reviewing the metrics for their site. Unfortunately, the way that access to Analytics was granted in the past isn't very sustainable on our end.

Our New CMS / How Columbia Will Proceed

After demoing dozens of content management systems and showing 4 of their finalists to our CMS users, Columbia College Chicago has selected Hannon Hill's Cascade Server.

The Web Development department is now in the process of installing the software, transitioning the content from Serena and training all of our CMS users on the use of Cascade Server. Many people have been asking about our timeline in this process and we would like to clarify how we are going to proceed.