The Survival Kit is a theme and Sass/Compass framework that greatly aids in designing in the browser. We'll cover how it makes use of and extends Sass and Compass, and how it can guide you in making responsive, bulletproof, web native designs.

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notes:

Survival Kit home page

thecodingdesigner.com

Survival Kit project page and installation instructions

github.com/canarymason/Survival-Kit

Included Javascript Libraries

github.com/canarymason/Survival-Kit/tree/master/templates/project/sources

Blog

thesassway.com

Podcast

thecodingdesigner.com/tutorials

Sass and Compass projects

sass-lang.com
compass-style.org
sassymothereffingtextshadow.com
github.com/scottkellum/modular-scale
github.com/scottkellum/color-schemer
thesassway.com/projects

Books

hardboiledwebdesign.com

Content Out

www.markboulton.co.uk/journal/comments/a-richer-canvas

Mobile First

www.abookapart.com/products/mobile-first

Responsive Web Design

www.abookapart.com/products/responsive-web-design
mediaqueri.es
bostonglobe.com
barackobama.com

Living Style Guides

24ways.org/2011/front-end-style-guides
patternprimer.adactio.com
oli.jp/2011/style-guide
www.bbc.co.uk/gel

There is a better way.

I’ve been known to harp on and on about this “Design in the Browser” thing. It’s “hard boiled”, “agile”, “faster”, and “better”. Well, yeah it’s all those things. For a few years now I’ve been designing Really Nice Websites© without ever showing a client a static page mockup. I show clients mockups that behave like web pages because they are web pages, and they seem to like that. I’d like to talk a little more about why I think this is a nice idea.

We have the tools to create, present, and get sign off on design without resorting to creating an endless series of static images that are at best an approximation of the site we’ll eventually build.

Sort of.

The tools are simple tools like HTML, CSS, and browsers. And in many ways that’s great, and simple tools are often the best tools. But where’s our tool box? What ties all this together? Can we establish systems that we can carry from project to project?

I’m building one.

It’s called The Coding Designer’s Survival Kit, and that’s what I’d like to talk about. It’s not new software, but rather a system for using all the simple tools we have at our disposal in a way that’s efficient, systematic, and let’s us more easily be creative using a nerdy tools like a text editor. Kind of like one of those fancy knives with the scissors and the corkscrew. Or a utility belt.

About me

I’ve talked about Designing in the browser many times, as well as extensively about Sass and Compass, most recently at DrupalCon Chicago, Drupal Camp Denver, Design for Drupal Boston, Capital Camp (DC), and Drupaldelphia. I have contributed to many Sass projects, as well as Sass itself. The Coding Designer’s Survival Kit is a Sass and Compass framework, and I produce a companion video podcast that teaches people about how they can use these tools creatively. I also blog regularly at The Sass Way.

Links:

• The Coding Designer
• Survival Kit Theme
• The Sass Way
• Sassy Text Shadow
• Sassy Modular Scale