Improving your site: Tips
12/1/2008I was thinking.. yes, yes I was! I have given 26 reviews on Rev.iew.me at the time of writing this and I realized that I use a lot of cool sites as a reference to help people improve their coding or CSS. I thought that perhaps I could make a short little general-audience review type thing, so if you are a viewer but you are too frightened to join Rev.iew.me (A lot of people have been whining about it on their blogs, I see it you people! I just don’t comment) you can read some of my little tips here to help you out before you submit your site for a review or whatever it is you are improving for. 
I absolutely want someone to correct me if this information is not valid, do not think it will piss me off. I am trying to help others but I don’t like giving out wrong information.
Converting to Em from Px
The Why: Basically, when you tell the font size on your page to be 10px, it is going to be set at 10px no matter what. While this may seem like a good idea, think about this: If someone has eyesight problems, they are not going to be able to read your tiny text. Even if you set it at a reasonable size, some people still may need to increase the size.
When you set it with a px amount, you tell it to always remain that size. Thus, people who cannot read your text will not be able to increase it. Generally the next option would be to click the little red ‘x’ in the corner up there. Now, you do not want that, I know it! To accommodate your users is to increase your hits but most important your recurring hits.
The How: I found a really cool converter on a site that I recommend. All you have to do is enter the number you have set for your px and it will show you the equivalent in em. For instance, my example of 10px = 0.63em. Use this Em Calculator.
Also: The same works for percentages. These will also allow the user to increase the size. If you need it, I found a really cool conversion table. It shows the equivalents of Em, Px, Pt and %. Way cool!
CSS Shorthand
The Why: This really does wonders for everyone, honestly. It works well for you because it takes less time to write/edit your CSS because it is shorter and it also decreases the entire size of the CSS document, making it easy to spot errors but most importantly it speeds up your load time for your visitors! This is how the visitors benefit, of course, but who else? The reviewers. If I am trying to help someone spot errors or find a particular something in the CSS, the last thing I want to do is wade through unnecessary gobs of CSS.
The How: It is rather simple, really. If you want to learn, please see Jem’s Shortening CSS Codes Tutorial. If you need help with the sections that she hasn’t gotten around to adding yet, see this CSS Shorthand Guide.
Also: A lovely gal by the name of Catherine actually mentioned this, and it’s amazing! To compress your CSS even more (mine is all shorthand yet it found places to compress!) use Clean CSS.
Spelling and Grammatical Errors
The Why: Well, come on now! Do you really want to look like an idiot (forgive the expression, I am not purposefully calling anyone an idiot! 
) on a site that is supposed to represent YOU? No way!! A lot of people complain because they don’t have uber-awesome browser add-ons that will check their spelling while typing. No excuses! Grammar can be excused to an extent, but not anymore!
The How: Why not try using this Online Spelling, Grammar and Thesaurus Checker! HA! No more excuses for poor grammar!
Okay, that’s all for now. There are, of course, the concerns of X/HTML and CSS validation but in order to get that far, you should work on the small things first. In the event that you are ready to validate your site, please visit my lovely friend Jem at her site, Tutorialtastic. Any questions, just comment!
I must admit, I am lazy sometimes when it comes to CSS shortening. I do however run everything through cleancss.com to make sure it is shortened and tidy, even if I missed it in my own fixing.
Thank you for the tips. I will be using the EM Calculator in the near future!
Every time someone uses a run-on sentence, a kitten dies.
LMAO I have to admit from time to time I have the running sentence syndrome. Actually, I think its basically the only thing I actually “run” with.
Anywas, the EM converter sounds like a cool idea. I think I might give that a try soon.
I do however run everything through cleancss.com to make sure it is shortened and tidy, even if I missed it in my own fixing.
Oh, Catherine.. I might just add that to my mini-article! 
If you don’t mind, of course.
Hello Mimi! I sent you my reply just a few.. seconds ago
Sadly, my site is not yet ready to be thoroughly scrutinized by people
Great tips! I hope people find them useful.
That’s really useful, Mimi Thanks for the compilation.
Mimi this is a great resource! I never even knew about the em thing. I’m one of the ‘viewers’ you mentioned, so this will help a lot. Thank you for posting it. Do you plan on writing more things like this in the future?
Thank you so much for the cleancss link. I find all of your points so true! I’ve always used em because of the same reasons! This is the first time I’ve ever been to this site, I’m loving it! I’m definitely going to check back for more!
Thanks for the tips, they were very helpful! 
I’ve seen other people use em instead of px and I always wondered why they did that…. I’ll edit my CSS later. 
Spelling is my number one pet peeve. I’m a bit lazy about shortening my CSS, but I’ll probably end up doing it soon.
… instead of PX or EM, one can also use PT. Its equivalence from PX doesn’t need to be calculated and PT adjusts to the screen resolution. :>
Thanks for letting me know! I’ve fix it up!
(Anyway I have to re-type this comment three times because I forgot to enter the captcha code haha)
Some great tips here! I will use em calculator when my new layout is up, and English isn’t my mother tongue so you can find a lot of grammatical errors in my site. Haha
Hi, Mimi! You were in my blog to contact me about something. I think I can communicate with you. I’m curious about what is so important! 
If you want, send me an e-mail! 
Kisses!
The Em Calculator saved my life. Any time I’m doing layouts, that is always open. I never tried it with other things that you can possibly use em for, but I think I’ll try it.
I’m a stickler for spelling and grammar. A few small errors here and there are okay, but when there are long-ass run-on sentences…
Every time someone uses a run-on sentence, a kitten dies.