2014

Cameron Moll brings the tenth 24 ways to a close with a look at the increasing need for common experiences across devices. Despite our differences, there are more things we share than divide us. Merry Christmas!

Andrew Clarke poses the question, that if we’re all telling prospective clients that we’re crafting and designing delightful, beautiful and remarkable digital experiences, what marks any of us out?

Geri Coady bends low the Christmas tree branches with bright and contrasting baubles. This isn’t some gaudy seasonal distraction, though. It’s responsible accessibility advice you can work with throughout the year.

Paul Lloyd perches his partridge in the CSS pear tree to discuss naming methodologies, ontologies and semantics. What’s in a name? That which we call a cherub by any other name would smell as sweet.

Dr. Leslie Jensen-Inman manages to turn something that makes most of us cringe – meetings – into learning experiences that benefit everyone in the room. The new year is the perfect time to make a lifelong resolution to always be learning.

Jina Anne lets the Christmas spirit of generosity and goodwill flow freely into open source projects in need of good design. It’s work free of charge, perhaps, but not for nothing.

Jeffrey Zeldman beckons us cosily closer to his warm websmith’s hearth to spin a winter’s tale of hope born of (user) experience. Regardless of job title or discipline, we’re all designers. It takes all the reindeers to pull the sleigh.

Sophie Dennis understands the necessity of planning carefully how and when website content will be produced – and who’s responsible. Content’s like Christmas: best not left to chance.

Sara Soueidan shows us three ways to create icon sprites using SVG: with HTML, CSS and, perhaps most powerfully, fragment identifiers. SVG has come on leaps and bounds this year – will you do the same in 2015?

Dave Collins reacquaints us with the benefits of SEO, cutting through the snake oil with the clove-scented satsuma zest of genuine techniques to help Google smartly bring your visitors calling. With luck, they won’t will be singing carols.

Rachel Nabors clears the snowy drift of delight from web animation to reveal the need for necessity and usefulness when we decide to animate web interactions. The box it comes in is as important as the gift.

Inayaili de León Persson guides us gently away from the bustle of the party season with some advice about introversion and how we can help ourselves and others be more understanding. Merry is all well and good, but peace is part and parcel of Christmas too.

Charlie Perrins wonders why agencies sometimes struggle to adopt agile web development processes, particularly in relation to business structures and working with clients. Could it be like celebrating the spirit of the season without overegging the Christmas pudding?

Shane Hudson weighs up online map design and finds it (or, rather, us) wanting. Instead of accepting Google Maps as the easy choice, get creative and customise your maps. For his delivery route, do you think Santa relies on defaults?

Sally Jenkinson asserts that responsive design isn’t just about displaying content on multiple devices – we can also respond to users’ contextual needs to enhance experiences. When the snow lies deep and crisp and even, you’re gonna need a bigger boot.

Jeremy Keith leads us gently back to the basics of progressive enhancement with a simple navigation example. Ask yourself: does Christmas need to look exactly the same in every browser? Nope. Well, as long as you’re reading 24 ways…

Josh Emerson extols the virtues of progressive enhancement by acknowledging the need for speed, in both website rendering and interaction. With a new year imminent, there never was a better time to look backwards and forwards.

Sibylle Weber finds ways to make our workflows more collaborative, and advocates more positively asserting the benefits of responsive design to the people who matter: colleagues and clients.

Carolyn Wood reminds us of what in recent years we’ve come to overlook, hunched as we are over laptop and tablet: our physical wellbeing. Sometimes, that tingle down your arm from shoulder to fingers isn’t Christmas magic.

Darren Beale explains how Vagrant can fit in to existing development workflows and bring many benefits to those of us maintaining multiple virtual development environments. Set and forget – a gift that keeps on giving.

Rachel Andrew shakes us out of our winter slumber to wake us up to better, safer and more productive processes using version control, Git repositories and deployment services. You just know that Santa uses a staging server before deploying that final list…

Jack Franklin introduces ECMAScript 6’s module system with some tools to help us start using this powerful new JavaScript functionality of tomorrow right now. Always good to be ahead of the game – sorted out your Christmas shopping yet?

Emma Jane Westby exercises her poetic sensibility to help us understand how Git commands can help us out of sticky situations. Quite soon you’ll turn that clatter on the roof into the prancing and pawing of each reindeer hoof.

Drew McLellan releases the eager huskies of 2014’s 24 ways into the glittering snowy landscape of the web, asking you and other experienced professionals what should be the basis of building websites now. Ten Christmases is a long time, and not just on the web.