CSS Reboot Day

Do you know that it is a community event for web professionals? May 1, 2006 at 18:00 GMT Starters from around the world will simultaneously launch their web standards-based redesigns, bringing in traffic, interest, and a little respect for their sites. There are no arbitrary prizes or winners, just great exposure and knowledge that we've all been involved in something great.

History of CSS Reboot Day

The initial inspiration for CSS Reboot came first from the May 1 Reboot, an idea and event originally conceived by James Widegren in 2000, now directed by Paul A. Szypula. The May 1st reboot was a great event that CSS Reboot had in abundance, but back in 2005, I couldn't help but notice that a lot of the design was Flash-oriented. Since designers focused on web standards often don't design in Flash - I included - I thought an alternate event might be a good idea.

The response to this idea has been overwhelmingly positive and so many people have suggested that I put it on my own website, I just can't say no. So on March 6, 2005 CSS Reboot was officially born. I finished it in about 5 hours before my wife and I went away for her Spring break - so while it left a little to be desired in the design department, it got the job done.

Design bloggers from all over the world started linking to the site and in just three days it had over 100 signups. Then more than 200… 300… to the end more than 400 people signed up to pursue the goal of redesigning their website with CSS and web standards. Designers from nearly 40 different countries participated.

How to celebrate CSS Reboot Day

• Clean up what's left of you

Every spring, people go out into their lawn or garage and start rummaging through things. They throw what they don't need and keep what they want. They started tilling the lawn, trimming the weeds, pruning the rose bushes and washing the sidewalks (or is it only my father-in-law who washes the sidewalks?! ;)) you know when it's spring cleaning season when the lawn mowers come in? Pickup trucks carrying trash cans begin to line up at the county landfill.

• Create opportunities for new features

One thing that I've always liked about blogging is the technical side of things. I like the code and make it do things it wasn't intended to do by clever use of plugins or add-ons. WordPress has a ton of plugins (150 points to someone who can help me translate ‘a gallon of plugin’ into units of measure!). Reboot provides an opportunity to check out what features you're using and how you can use new and different features on your blog.

• Maintain the reader's interest

If there are two things I've learned in my professional life, it's that 1) change is inevitable and 2) people hate change. Some websites are the exception to this rule. Most people (and I say most out of doubt that I have no way to prove it one way or another), seem to like changes in design and layout because most layout changes seem to as evolutionary - meaning they get better and more user-friendly - over time. Reboot is a push to refresh the user experience, put a new face on your work and, in general, break the monotony that tends to persist after a while.