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womble -> RE: Opinion of Grid System (10/9/2009 17:55:54)
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I agree with Tailslide. I too have looked at the grid system, but to me it just seems too inflexible and as Tailslide said, too much like tables for my liking. On reflection, again, thinking about what Tailslide said, it does feel like it's a wireframe for programmers to hang their code on, and just feels as though the extra "unnecessary" code makes it "clumsy" somehow.
I have to admit I've not investigated the Golden Grid (only the 960 grid), but for me it all just feels too inflexible. As Tailslide said, the Zen Garden might be a good starting place,
I once read somewhere that the difference between a web design beginner and an experienced web designer is that an experienced web designer can look at a page and know (probably) how that page is built, without needing to see the code. Somewhere like Zen Garden, where you can see the basic code and then also see what it's possible to do with CSS with it, as Tailslide said, is a good place to start. With the knowledge of the CSS box model, you can divide a page up without being stuck rigidly to a grid.
As for teaching kids, I had some teaching experience some years ago (though with the primary school age-group). I was taught to teach using the "starting point" method - we'd find a "starting point" which could be an object or a book, a play, a song, something like that, and the whole of the term's activities would be based around that "starting point", whatever it was. Personally, the approach I'd take would be to get them to look at websites generally, perhaps on whatever their favourite subject is, or hobby etc. and think about the similarities and differences between them, and think about why they like the site/why they don't, then look at any kinds of "trends" they can notice in different types of sites. From there you could perhaps lead onto general design principles, and once they know some basic (X)HTML/CSS get them thinking about how they can use that knowledge to create the different types and styles of sites they started off looking at, including possibly CSS grids. That's the approach I'd take anyhow (the teaching college I went to was very "child centred" and we were encouraged to encourage the kids to take an active part in learning and reflecting on learning. Just my 2 cents worth.
One book I've found interesting recently has been the "Non designer's design book" by Robin Williams - it's got some really good ideas and advice about how to format text and stuff for a more visually appealing look - as the title suggests, graphic design for the non-designer. Might be worth checking out to get some ideas for ways to approach introducing introducing design to your kids "with little appreciation for design" [;)]
Back onto those grids by the way, I have to admit Tailslide, my last 3 sites, including my current one, has been fixed width [:o]. My current one is I guess what you'd call a magazine layout, but done just using a normal CSS layout. This site was actually the reason I was looking at CSS grids, but I just felt it was all too limiting.
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