After participating in a lengthy Twitter discussion with John O’Nolan (twitter @JohnONolan), it has been agreed that JavaScript is “standard.”

So fellow web designers, after a long discussion I put it to you that JS is now “standard” and should be supported like CSS, not like Flash. – @JohnONolan

I wrote a previous article about discontinuing support for Internet Explorer 6, and I think a discussion about JavaScript is in the same category.

The big question asked is why would you need to develop a site that works without JavaScript?

In short, you wouldn’t. It simply does not make sense with the current online environment. Take a look below for a few examples why.

1. Facebook uses it

The most used social networking site and currently one of the most elite sites on the web, nearly everyone uses Facebook. Try to load Facebook after disabling JavaScript in your browser and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

If Facebook relies so heavily on JavaScript and a huge percentage of internet users are on Facebook, does it really make sense for your site to require proper usability without JavaScript?

2. Everyone has it

Ok, I’m sure you will all jump at the opportunity to yell and scream because not 100% of people have JavaScript enabled, so I’ll backtrack a little and say that at least 95% of people have it.

My argument for this is the same as that for supporting IE6. If a user is browsing the web in IE6, or in this case browsing with JavaScript disabled, he/she is not my target market.

3. What is next?

If JavaScript is on par with CSS, as John mentions above, what is next? Do you think Flash will soon gain universal support? Should it?

Right now, Flash is the only way to accurately know exactly what the user is seeing. It does not matter what browser they are in, what fonts they have installed or even what OS they use, Flash is Flash.

As long as their Flash is up to date!

Can’t forget that key point. What are your thoughts on JavaScript and Flash in the future of the web?

Do Holidays Bring Paydays… For Freelancers?

Freelances constantly face the realization that work is not easy to come by. Many live paycheck to paycheck, barely scraping by, while others soar to new heights as their own boss. With the holidays right around the corner, are freelancers wishing they had an office job?

The Christmas bonus (or ‘Holiday bonus’ for all of the politically correct people out there) is something freelancers very rarely find in their mailboxes every holiday season. A thank you from clients here and there, maybe even a few free samples of a product, but not that ever-desired bonus check.

Is it worth it?

Freelancers, do you sometimes wish that you had that office job, even if it’s for the mere fact that you may receive a bonus check?

I find it hard to be objective as I am relatively new to the freelance community, meanwhile working at a small agency throughout my completion of school. My situation gives me the best of both worlds. Not to say I’m going to get a huge bonus check for Christmas, but I do get find some great perks arise that I would not see if I was my own boss.

Design Coding – Rap

South Park – Mac vs. PC

Font Fight – CollegeHumor

How NOT to use PowerPoint

Graphic Designer Baby

Bonus – Your Business Card is Crap

The CBC documentary, The End (click to watch), discusses how the traditional media of radio, television and print are coming to an end. Despite what many people like to think and argue, print media is going to be around for as long as any of us will be alive. With that said, I will focus this article on the issues surrounding radio and television.

Radio

Traditional radio has been declining in popularity rapidly over the last decade. The CBC documentary, The End, outlines the numerous alternatives to radio as a reason for this steady decline. Podcasts, satellite radio, internet radio and easily accessible downloadable music all contribute to the younger generations moving away from radio. The documentary points out (without any statistical analysis of course) that teenagers just do not own radios anymore. I for one, do – that being said, it is also an iPod docking system. The only time I use my radio is for my alarm, which I’m sure is the same story for many others out there.

Say goodbye to radio kids.

Radio no longer has the listener base to attract advertisers, and therefore will not be able to continue being self-sufficient. Inevitably, radio will lose its funding and gradually fade out of existence. Maybe an online system will take its place, but what is more likely is that the alternatives mentioned above will become the main sources of music.

Television

I will keep this argument short as little evidence or argument is actually needed. Similar to print media, television will be around for a very long time. Television is not merely a source of entertainment. Television is a social convention around which many generations have grown up. Countless families will eat dinner in front of the TV, while others leave it on for background noise. In each situation, television is not being used as a media source but a social lubricant.

TV will continue to be the family hearth.

An overly used reference to the TV as the family hearth will hold true for many years to come. Whether or not we continue to use it in the way we do now, it will remain at the center of nearly every living room in the Western world.

Social media can make or break a brand, a lesson Maytag learned the hard way.

Home appliance giant, Maytag, is facing some tough times ahead after Heather Armstrong (a.k.a. Dooce), number 26 on Forbes’ list of Most Influential Women in Media, had a less than satisfying experience.

You do not want to get on the wrong side of a woman with over 1 million twitter followers.

Maytag gave Heather the run-around after her brand new washing machine broke, take a look below to see her comments.

Will Maytag learn from this experience and possibly offer a public apology? Would that be enough? At this point it is the best option, and quite possibly the only option. Over at T3, Kate Donaho offers these final words:

However Dooce and Maytag settle the issue of the broken $1300 washing machine, it’s yet another cautionary tale for brands that a meaningful social media presence is an essential element of public relations.

Other companies have felt the wrath of social media. These examples will hopefully be yet another warning of how influential social media can be.

Fabio Sasso has become one of my online idols over the last year and a bit, mostly because of his fantastic website, Abduzeedo. The site offers countless tutorials based in Photoshop, Illustrator, Pixelmator and more, along with a ton of inspiration. That’s where this post comes in.

Sites of the Week is by far my favorite place to find inspiration on current web trends. You should all check it out, and yes, it is updated weekly.

Endless articles and blog posts are coming out with tutorials and references for HTML5 and CSS3, but when will these actually become the standard?

When will CSS3 be a practical way of styling a website?

The argument over designing for Internet Explorer 6 is still underway while we’re already moving on to IE9, so why worry about these new markup languages already? Even IE7 will not be compatible with CSS3, so I ask again, why bother using it? It is impossible to assume people will go right to the current IE8 or other modern browsers.

Don’t get me wrong, HTML5 and CSS3 will be a great new tool for designers and users alike. I don’t think it should be made such a big deal when it is so far from being the industry standard. CSS3.info is also asking if CSS3 is over-baked, and sure makes some good points. Make sure you read a few of the comments left there as well.

Maybe it’s 2 years, 5 years, or even 10 years before HTML5 and CSS3, but it will be the future of web design, and for good reason.

Please don’t take the title of this article sarcastically.

.net Magazine, a monthly internet magazine based out of the UK, recently issued an apology for some obscene words used in one of its advertisements. You can view the apology here.

I commend .net for its prompt action taken in response to some of the outcries that echoed through various social networking sites.

For any fellow writers and bloggers out there I want you to take a second and appreciate this. .net could have left the incident alone and hoped for the buzz to go down, but instead offered a public apology. This makes the magazine much more reputable and deserving of continued reading.

Well done .net!

Can colour be owned?

In one word, yes. If you have ever taken a look at a colour swatch book you will know there are seemingly endless amounts of options, but those options are quickly becoming limited. For example:

The colour magenta is fully owned by T-mobile. Is this for real? Yes. Deutsche Telekom, parent company to T-mobile, has the full rights to the colour and has taken legal action against a book-on-demand publisher, and the above logo, engadget mobile for the use of it.

What’s Next?

Think about some of the great brands of the world. Think about the colours associated with them. What happens if all of these colours get trademarked? Forget about coming up with new ideas, how are designers supposed to come up with new colours? Their hands will be tied in almost everything they do.

Copyrighting colour is as futile as the copyrighting of a celebrity’s names.

I’ll leave you with a quote from an article on Six Revisions.com (be sure to check out the Six Revisions for a more in-depth analysis on color in design):

Marketing research has found 80% of visual information is related to color. It’s not just a green, a red, a blue, or a magenta. It’s “Starbucks Green”, “Coke Red”, “Gap Blue”, and “T-Mobile Magenta.”

Sprye Studios has complied a list of 50 great websites based on some creative CSS layouts that have been submitted to the CSS Awards this year.

Be sure to check out the great collection, maybe you’ll be inspired enough to whip up a design and submit it to the CSS Awards for your chance to get noticed.