Michael M. Grant's Viral Notebook

HTML5 is giving web designers and developers new capabilities that were things of fantasy with previous versions of HTML. Web pages will now be more semantic with the use of structure specific tags. Visual elements like rounded corners are now built in, and so is the ability to create drag and drop interactivity. Even though HTML5 is not fully supported in major browsers, there are those that are pushing forward and experimenting with its new features. In an effort to encourage you to do the same and to prepare you for the future, we've rounded up 15 useful HTML5 tutorials and cheat sheets.

A grid at its barest is nothing more than a series of intersecting horizontal and vertical lines spaced at regular intervals, but its innate propensity for creating order out of chaos makes it one of the most powerful tools at a designer's disposal. If you want to reap their benefits of grids on your next project but are unsure of the specifics, this article is for you.

Ever wondered how a particular effect was achieved in a web design, and, after zooming in several clicks, you found that the author added several subtle shadows, borders, gradients, etc? In the past, this was achieved simply by slicing out an image, and setting it as a background of some element. Luckily, with CSS3, we can be afforded much more flexibility. Now, while the code for such a simple effect might be a bit tedious, it's well worth it, and that's what we'll review in today's written and video quick tip!

In this walkthrough we'll go through the process of converting the design concept from PSD document right through to completed HTML and CSS mockup, complete with clean and valid code, a few touches of CSS3 and some quick fixes to help out old IE6.

Readability is a simple tool that makes reading on the Web more enjoyable by removing the clutter around what you're reading. Follow the steps below to install Readability in your Web browser.

Winners of the 2009 Brandon Hall Excellence in Learning Technology Awards

If you already host your own site, you could easily put together an easy-to-use project management system using WordPress.

In today's post, I want to walk through how I built the graphics in the course. They're easy to do. And once you have the techniques down, you can surely use that overhead office look in other elearning courses. It's definitely a great way to create an immersive elearning experience.

In 2001, I published "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants," a two-part article that explained these terms as a way of understanding the deep differences between the young people of today and many of their elders (Prensky 2001a, 2001b). Although many have found the terms useful, as we move further into the 21st century when all will have grown up in the era of digital technology, the distinction between digital natives and digital immigrants will become less relevant. Clearly, as we work to create and improve the future, we need to imagine a new set of distinctions. I suggest we think in terms of digital wisdom.

An oldie-but-goodie post from entrepreneur Guy Kawasaki directly addresses the kind of problems the military has with complex PowerPoint decks-boring read-throughs stuffed with too much on-screen text. His parameters for preventing audience paralysis is dubbed the 10/20/30 rule.

Olympic data to use with project based learning or authentic learning opportunities.

Registration for PB Wiki presenter pack.

Examples of open source college textbooks.

Videos via TED about teaching and learning.

A description of the Ignite method for presentations

The ignite method for presentations.

Compare course management systems

Links to two ebooks here: one is for online teaching and learning and one is for advising dissertations.

Windows Mac Linux Firefox Free design tool Palette Grabber grabs all the colors used in the basic design of a