Craig Mod Nails It With Bibliotype
It's also worth noting that there is now a generation of designer for whom working with HTML and CSS is more intuitive and quicker for design iterations than using specialized software like InDesign. This is the generation of designers that will be most capable of bringing the best of print aesthetics to the web with nuance, balance, and mastery of implementation.
That's writer, designer, developer and publisher Craig Mod writing in the current issue of A List Apart in his piece, A Simpler Page.
On this blog and on my Twitter feed I've been adamant about how important I think it is for today's web designer to not only know HTML and CSS, but to master it.
But the main point of Craig's article is not to talk about designers needing to know their way around front-end development — that's taken as a given — it's about his release of Bibliotype, a "a (very) simple HTML, CSS and JS based library for rapid prototyping long-form typography and reading on tablets."
I personally couldn't be more excited for this release myself and I owe a big thanks to Craig for releasing this under the MIT license, meaning anyone can use it for whatever purpose they like.
Since the iPad's release and the flood of magazines trying to take advantage of the format, I've been chewing on some thoughts regarding how publications should embrace this medium for some time now. There have been a number of well-thought-out pieces on the topic that probably could explain my situation better than I can. But that's beside the point.
Tools such as Bibliotype, are part of a new wave of instruments that allow us as designers to intelligently present publications to the widest variety of users. It's a thrilling time to be a part of this medium, and I hope to continue to push it along as it grows.
So go check out Bibliotype and start contributing to this fascinating project. I sure as hell know I will be.