If you’re a Web developer, you’ve probably read various methods for filling the need for a scriptable CSS style sheet. Most are a variation on a theme, here I present my preferred method, that is unlike others I’ve read (and it does some pretty cool stuff too). I’ve been using the core of my scriptable CSS system for six months now, and I have found it invaluable to the way I work.

The core need of a CSS scripting system is the need for a color substitution system that would streamline color selection for the web sites I’m working on. Most of the other scriptable CSS systems do exactly that, so we’re not breaking new ground here. Since many of the sites I work on are high bandwidth, heavy usage sites, I need to minimize the server hit as much as possible. Reducing external files, and limiting the calls to the database and PHP are the name of the game here. My tertiary concern is to make the editing of my scripting system as easy and transparent as possible.

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Any developer who has worked on a job for a corporate client of any reasonable size, has probably had to wade through some documentation as it pertains to the final presentation of their project. Companies want to make sure that whatever you do for them matches everything else, it’s vital to their livelihood that their image doesn’t get diluted by designers and developers trying to push the envelope.

Although it can be frustrating and annoying, it also gives a designer/developer the freedom to avoid getting mired in the details of the interface (even though many of us love designing interfaces). Taking a page from the corporate world (no pun intended), establishing a set of rules can make a developer’s life easier.

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Lately I’ve been working for a unique client that understands the importance of accessibility, but they view it as a black and white issue. It’s not entirely their fault, but that’s a rant for another day. The core problem is that they equate accessibility to making a site usable by people using a screen reader. If only real accessibility were that easy.

Making a web site accessible for those who can’t see pixels on the screen is important, but for every blind person using a computer, there are (probably) dozens more that we also need to think about, the gray area. These are the people who may have difficulty reading the average well-designed web site. Accessibility for these people is as important as accessibility for the sightless.

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Advertising agencies, PR firms and graphic artists are talented people with creative ideas. They are knowledgeable in their field, and produce quality work, however they are not web designers*.

The problem

The core of the issue is the reinforcement of bad habits. They think they know how to design a web site, because they’ve done it (they think successfully) a dozen times before. The typical top-down flow doesn’t allow for these bad habits to change. At the bottom of the work flow is the web designer that is saddled with a poor layout that must be implemented as outlined (because it’s been approved by the client).

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