Around the Office: jQuery Selectors, Email Blasts, and Retro Web Design

Setting up your own selectors is extremely easy with jQuery, as Daveed was reminded this week thanks to a post outlining 12 awesome examples of jQuery selector extensions. Selectors serve the important role of matching a set of elements in a document. And while building custom selectors beyond the ones included in jQuery isn’t an everyday necessity, it certainly comes in handy and can make for more elegant code.

Have you ever opened an email newsletter only to be disappointed or confused by its contents? Roberto found a helpful infographic explaining how to create a compelling call-to-action email blast using format, language, content, colour, and other crucial design elements.

David was impressed with some some inspired website designs that infuse vintage and retro styling. What makes this anachronistic approach to a truly modern medium appealing? Scotish developer Espen Brunborg recently wrote that  “[W]e’re most likely experiencing a reaction to the Web 2.0 aesthetic — a craving for textured surfaces and retro imagery, something tactile and natural-looking, as an antidote to the shiny impersonality of the past”. Whatever the reason, it’s exciting to see this aesthetic being adapted to the Web and reaching new audiences.