Agile Design Systems

Based on a series of interviews with Annie in 2003, this play was produced first by Goshen College as a runner-up for the International Peace Play Contest, and then in collabiration with New World Arts for my senior thesis production.

From building beautiful sites to maintaining complex design systems across applications, CSS is the web-language of design.

Don’t let the declarative syntax fool you – CSS is a powerful and dynamic programming language. It’s time to start moving style logic back into the language designed for it.

The display property has been in CSS from the beginning, handling everything from block and inline boxes to list-items and full layout systems like flexbox or grid. Now the display syntax is getting an upgrade to match it’s multiple uses.

I drop by the show to talk about Sass in 2019, design tokens, Oddbird, unused CSS, new CSS properties, and Dave & Chris’ explanation of revert.

There are a number of property & value combinations that can lead to CSS being inactive, and now Firefox will tell you why. Open the developer tools, and look for the greyed-out property with an info-box on hover.

CSS Grid has been available in most major browsers since early 2017, and it makes web layout more powerful than ever before. But complex-looking new syntax (line-names! grid-areas! minmax! fit-content! fr units!) and missing IE11 support can make it scary to many developers.

Depending who you ask, CSS is either awesome or broken. CSS is not a programming language, unless it is. CSS is too simple and entirely too difficult. CSS is weird –– not like other languages, and not like print design either – but trapped in a strange middle ground with unique rules and constraints.

I’ve often used initial and unset in my CSS – global keywords that can be applied to any property. The difference is small, but important: unset allows inheritance, while initial does not. But then Firefox implemented revert and I was confused – how is this one different from the others?!

Sass recently launched a new module system. The new syntax will replace @import with @use and @forward – a big step forward for making Sass partials more readable, performant, and safe.

CSS is the design language of the web – one of three core web languages – but it also seems to be the most contentious and often perplexing. It’s too easy and too hard, too fragile and too resilient. Love it or hate it, CSS is weird: not quite markup, not quite programming in the imperative sense, and nothing like the design programs we use for print. How did we get here?

Over the summer, I’ve been working with Mozilla to help create a new resource for web professionals – with a mix of videos, articles, demos, and open source tools. Today, we’re excited to launch the video channel!

A project-manager’s reflections on human-centered problem-solving, client communication, and user feedback in agile web development.

A fragmented memory of friendship – navigating fluid genders, relationships, and bodies that resist order, category, or completion. Inspired by Margaret Clap, and the many myths of Hermaphroditus.

Art installation featuring a mix of pieces from Riding SideSaddle*, PROPHETIA VETITUM MUNDI, Gods on the Lam, and elsewhere. I also put together an original diptych for this show.

We start by talking about design systems and design tooling – how they differ, and the problems they solve.

Pushing past the “variable” metaphor, CSS Custom Properties can provide new ways to balance context and isolation in our patterns and components.

Struggles in re-writing the narrative of my life

trans-femme 90’s-alt sad-girl rock

Teacup Gorilla inhabits the venues of Denver, CO with dark indie-rock soundscapes and evocative poetry – often compared to early Modest Mouse, Explosions in the Sky, or the Velvet Underground.

Steve Jenkins interviews me about the state of CSS, and what’s coming next for the language – from Intrinsic Design to Dynamic CSS.

live-filmed music video

From building beautiful sites to maintaining complex design systems across applications, CSS is the web-language of design.

live-filmed music video

I was invited to perform a Vagina Monologue, and ended up writing my own.

Thunder Nerds interview me before her talk at VueConf US 2019.

lively debates of the inconsequential

Erin talks about fainting from too much empathy before my surgery.

Explore the history of web layout with the creator of Susy – why grid systems exist, how they work, and practical tips to avoid using them.

an un-rehearsed play by Greg Wohead

The panel and the guest talk about grid systems, fonts, and more!

Script for My Body, My Gender rogue Vagina Monologue.

A family struggles to find humanity and normalcy in a world made uncertain and strange after the transformation and “othering” of one of their own. This physical theatre piece imagines what happens on the other side of the iconic door in Kafka’s Metamorphosis.

On Episode 18, the TalkScript team continues the live-ish at JSConfUS podcast series with guests Myles Borins, Tim Doherty, and Miriam Suzanne. Listen in!

The Journal of Mennonite Writing asked me to submit for their queer issue. I don’t identify as Mennonite, but I did grow up in the church, so I asked my friends what to write about. They suggested the common question: In a world without rigid gender roles, would anyone need to be trans?

Yesterday, I shared an article about my impending surgery, and a request for help – both social and financial – as I go through this. I was embarrassed to ask, and not sure what to expect, but your response has been swift and overwhelming. I can’t thank you enough, but I’ll keep trying.

lively debates of the inconsequential

Denver Health has started offering vaginoplasty in addition to their other trans medical services. While I’ve been on the waitlist for various surgeons around the country, Denver Health called me this week to give me a date: September 10, less than two months away.

An LGBT concert of writers and composers by the Playground Ensemble, with three works by LGBT authors and the composers.

A queer adaptation of the classic novel

We are not here to flatter egotism, or prop up humbug; we are merely telling the [queer] story. We value what is good in the book; but we believe in the existence of other, and more vivid kinds of goodness.

lively debates of the inconsequential

Style Guides & Pattern Libraries are great tools for documenting the relationships between code and design, but beautiful docs are only half the battle.

“I don’t have many guy friends, but my guitarist is one. Parting, I lean in for the cheek-kiss but he plants a good one right on my lips.”

Inspired by Robin Rendle, I demonstrate some of my early experiments combining CSS Grids and custom properties to create dynamic layouts and data-visualizations.

At the family vacation in Moab, everyone is doing their best. It’s not enough, and my day is peppered with the wrong name and pronouns. I hide in my room through dinner so they won’t see me crying.

“I’ve seen myself in the mirror. I find me… disorienting. What do they see that I don’t? Why aren’t they laughing at me?”

“Mother finds me at her wardrobe, in her pumps and pearls. What are you doing? Being a mommy. Are you, then? She clips on the earrings (they pinch!), reaches for her lipstick.”

Viewport units have been around for several years now, with near-perfect support in the major browsers, but I keep finding new and exciting ways to use them. I thought it would be fun to review the basics, and then round-up some of my favorite use-cases.

by Christopher David Rosales

I wasn’t born in the wrong body. I was born, a body. Without my body, I don’t exist.

lively debates of the inconsequential

It feels like CSS Grid has been coming for a long time now, but it just now seems to be reaching a point where folks are talking more and more about it and that it’s becoming something we should learning.

official music video by Gio Toninelo

It’s been a month since our country pseudo-elected a bigoted blow-hard for president. I’m heading to DC to protest his inauguration in January, visit friends, and go on a mixed-media resistance tour…

My friend Maureen Maloney asked to document my reaction to the 2016 election, as part of the America Heard film series. Working with Dana Forsberg and Katie Cook, we put together this short documentary — talking about trans rights, and completing one step of my legal name change. Thanks to Teacup Gorilla and Erin Rollman for joining in the fun!

The Denver Quarterly vol 51 no 2 features side-by-side excerpts from Riding SideSaddle*, and Buntport’s adaptation: 10 Myths on the Proper Application of Beauty Products.

I’m still reeling from this year of insults,  a traumatizing campaign turned traumatic election. I’m not sad about a contest lost, but what those results mean for real people around me. 2016 is over, but 2017 is going to be even harder.

There’s a lot of language that gets thrown around, but much of it comes loaded with over-simplified baggage and misconceptions. Here are a few that have been on my mind – from gender identity to biological sex, transition, passing, and visibility.

A stage adaptation of my novel, Riding SideSaddle*, created with Buntport Theater and Teacup Gorilla.

It’s been a month since our country pseudo-elected a bigoted blow-hard for president. I’m heading to DC to protest his inauguration in January, visit friends, and go on a mixed-media resistance tour…

No matter what acronym drives your selectors (BEM, OOCSS, SMACSS, ETC), loops can help keep your patterns more readable and maintainable, baking them directly into your code. We’ll take a look at what loops can do, and how to use them in the major CSS preprocessors.

Miriam Suzanne creates experimental experiences with her band and her fellow developers.

Chris Coyier interviews Miriam when she joins the CSS Tricks team as a Staff Writer. We talk about gettting started in the industry, name confusion, fouding OddBird, building Susy, and more.

In this episode of the Versioning Show, Tim and David are joined by Miriam Suzanne, best known for Susy, a responsive layout toolkit for Sass. They discuss going from being a lurker to finding your voice, the importance of writing about what you’re learning, stumbling into fame, approaching new projects, and unit testing in Sass.

The writing and comedy of Jordan Wieleba

Maps are a powerful data type in Sass — perfect for managing color and scale palettes, framework configuration, data storage, and more.

There are some questions that come up again and again if you are trans. A few of those questions are terrible, but most of them are well-intentioned. I’m lucky to have a supportive community around me, so I thought I’d write down my most common answers to help ease your stress about getting it right, and ease my stress about answering the same questions over and over.

a site-specific performance in the Utah desert

Award-winning stage adaptation of Riding SideSaddle*, weaving myth with everyday ritual

Using Sass, you can write your stylesheets in a more concise, dynamic, and readable way, and cut down many of the repetitive tasks that come with writing vanilla CSS. This book provides a thorough introduction to Sass for the beginner.

Riding SideSaddle* has gone vertical – all 250 cards displayed in a gallery show.

A stage adaptation of my novel, Riding SideSaddle*, created with Buntport Theater and Teacup Gorilla.

Design systems streamline development, communication, and consistency – but often rely on dedicated teams and extended budgets. We wanted a tool that helps create and maintain living style guides & pattern libraries in an agile process, and on a budget. Herman helps you keep your development process simple – and your UX consistent – as you iterate on patterns and scale over time.

This interview serves as a follow up to my performance of The Obsolete Book in a Post-Obsolete World as Represented by a Post-Obsolete Book About Dance at the Media Archeology Lab.

Riding SideSaddle* has gone vertical – all 250 cards displayed in a gallery show.

a case-study in building and sharing open-source Sass

Teacup Gorilla’s debut album

An interview with the insightful Ryo Yamaguchi at Michigan Quarterly Review.

A fragmented memory of friendship – navigating fluid genders, relationships, and bodies that resist order, category, or completion. Inspired by Margaret Clap, and the many myths of Hermaphroditus.

Susy is a lightweight grid-layout engine for Sass, designed to simplify and clarify responsive grid layouts without ever getting in your way. Originally released in 2009, Susy has become one of the most popular layout frameworks on the web.

Design systems must be meaningful to both humans and machines Accoutrement provides Sass design-token management that improves readability and consistency, while encouraging automation. These tools integrate with Herman, the OddBird pattern-library generator.

Story panels for PROPHETIA VETITUM MUNDI (available as prints)

An archival rhizome ecology in ten parts, and a reflection on the obsolescence of obsolescence – documented on the cloud, and open-sourced as a defense against post-post-obsolescence.

an introduction to the Susy layout toolkit

Rachel’s powerful vocals combine her Appalachian roots with a hard-rocking force. Mixed with the indie, post-rock-inspired experimentations of the band, they create a layered sound that aims for the gut and head.

An artist residency at the Media Archeology Lab, working on development of The Post-Obsolete Book.

True is a full-featured unit-testing library for Sass. The core functionality is written in pure SassScript, so it can be used anywhere Sass is compiled. Advanced features are available with our test-runner integration and Mocha.

Part 7 of Fuck the Muse

Part 6 of Fuck the Muse

Part 5 of Fuck the Muse

by James Belflower

Part 4 of Fuck the Muse

Part 3 of Fuck the Muse

Part 2 of Fuck the Muse

a series of articles on creative process

interview with Richard Wall of the Boulder Writers’ Workshop

the art of Jason Nelson

An archival rhizome ecology in ten parts, and a reflection on the obsolescence of obsolescence – documented on the cloud, and open-sourced as a defense against post-post-obsolescence.

I studied these things

A novel about new love, moving apart, and what comes next. A love story, and an after-love story – told wiith poetry and pictures.

Rachel’s powerful vocals combine her Appalachian roots with a hard-rocking force. Mixed with the indie, post-rock-inspired experimentations of the band, they create a layered sound that aims for the gut and head.

A modern, theatrical interpretation of the Catholic Mass – created by Grapefruit Lab and Teacup Gorilla.

Combining the sacrifice, transcendence, blood, and circumstance of the Catholic Mass with history, live music, science, dance, literature, and pop culture to find a wholly modern communion experience. What we have left is our selves, broken and battered, but surviving together.

Founded in 1995, The LIDA Project is a meta-media art collective dedicated to experimental live performance.

multimedia performance & theater ensemble

Susy is a lightweight grid-layout engine for Sass, designed to simplify and clarify responsive grid layouts without ever getting in your way. Originally released in 2009, Susy has become one of the most popular layout frameworks on the web.

Countdown to Zero is a political theatre collective established in 2007 by Brian Freeland & Julie Rada. The collective has committed to a series of 10 theatrical works (10 counting down to zero) at which time the collective will disband.

Founded in 1995, The LIDA Project is a meta-media art collective dedicated to experimental live performance.

Countdown to Zero is a political theatre collective established in 2007 by Brian Freeland & Julie Rada. The collective has committed to a series of 10 theatrical works (10 counting down to zero) at which time the collective will disband.

blues-inflected bright/dark music

Founded in 1998 as New World Players, we produced original & alternative ensemble theater for over a decade – along with an art gallery and event space.

Reflections of a Mennonite holocaust survivor after the war

I studied these things

I studied theater, writing, and visual art at Goshen College – but never took those 2 final classes required for graduation.

Founded in 1998 as New World Players, we produced original & alternative ensemble theater for over a decade – along with an art gallery and event space.