A List Apart

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A List Apart
Web address www.alistapart.com
Slogan "For people who make websites"[1]
Type of site
Webzine (Electronic periodical publication)[1]
Registration None
Available in English, Arabic
Created by Jeffrey Zeldman
Launched
  • 1997 (as a mailing list)[2]
  • 1998 (as a webzine)[3]
Alexa rank
8,692 (April 2014)[4]

A List Apart Magazine (ISSN 1534-0295)[1] explores the design, development, and meaning of web content,[2] with a special focus on web standards and best practices.[3]

History

“A List Apart” began in 1997 as a mailing list for web designers[2] published and curated by Jeffrey Zeldman and Brian Platz.[1]

Founder's notes, by Jeffrey Zeldman:

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"In 1997, web developer Brian M. Platz and I started the A List Apart mailing list because we found the web design mailing lists that were already out there to be too contentious, too careerist, or too scattershot. There was too much noise, too little signal. We figured, if we created something we liked better, maybe other people would like it too. Within months, 16,000 designers, developers, and content specialists had joined our list." "Editing was the key. Many members submitted comments and topics each day; we dumped the dross, published the gold, often selecting pieces for their thematic relevance to one another. Through editorial cultivation, we rapidly grew an intelligent and insightful community."[5]

Zeldman transitioned A List Apart’s community and content from mailing list to a web magazine in 1998.[3]

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"David Siegel’s now-defunct High Five advocated graphic design; Wired’s Webmonkey taught JavaScript and other technologies. Both magazines were great, both subject areas vital. But to me they were parts of a larger whole, incorporating writing, structure, community, and other bits nobody had quite put together. Then, too, no web design zine of the time seemed to grasp or value web standards the way I and my peeps at The Web Standards Project did."[5]

The web site has had three major visual designs. The original, designed by Jeffrey Zeldman, featured custom club-flyer style graphics that accompanied each article — an unusual feature in the early days of the web. The first major redesign, by Jason Santa Maria in 2005, featured a softer color palate, and featured CSS-based templates by Eric Meyer and introduced the inclusion of custom illustrations by Kevin Cornell. The most recent update to the site, launched in January 2013, features a black-and-white design scheme by Mike PIck. It continues to prominently feature Kevin Cornell's illustrations, but takes a "content first" approach to design by reducing the presence of almost all brand and design elements in favor of article content.

A List Apart: The Web Design Survey

Every year since 2007, A List Apart has surveyed the web design and development community and presented its findings in a series of reports. These reports claim to be the “first true picture” of the profession of web design as it is practiced worldwide. Topics covered include salary; title; educational background and its effect on salary, job satisfaction, and title; workplace discrimination by gender, age, and ethnicity; and more. Tens of thousands of respondents around the globe participate each year. The magazine provides anonymized raw data with each findings report so that readers may crunch their own numbers, verify A List Apart's findings, or conduct their own investigations.

  • Findings from the 2007 survey (PDF): link
  • Findings from the 2007 survey: link
  • Findings from the 2008 survey: link
  • Findings from the 2009 survey: link
  • Findings from the 2010 survey: link
  • Findings from the 2011 survey: link

International editions

An official Arabic edition of A List Apart[6] was launched on January 18, 2010. Arabic A List Apart is an authorized A List Apart publication and was the first international edition of A List Apart.

Since then, an Italian version[7] has launched as well.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Gomez-Palacio, Bryony; Vit Armin (2009). Graphic Design, Referenced: A Visual Guide to the Language, Applications and History of Graphic Design. Rockport Publishers, Inc. Page 114. Accessed May 2, 2012. ISBN 9781592534470
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Gardner Susannah; Birley, Shane (2012). Blogging For Dummies. Wiley Publishing Co. Page 363. Accessed May 2, 2012. ISBN 9780470230176
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Zeldman, Jeffrey; Marcotte, Ethan (2010). Designing With Web Standards. New Riders. Pages 53-56. Accessed May 2, 2012. ISBN 9780321616951
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External links