PROFILEThe front-end designer explains
how CSS Grid gives us the chance
to bring the spirit of print design
back to the web
DAN DAVIES
In these efficient days of UX-driven
minimalism, websites and apps are
a lot easier for the average consumer to
use. But have we lost something along
the way? For most web designers of a
certain age, the answer is an unqualified
‘yes’. Get them talking over a drink or
two and you’ll soon hear them lamenting
the decline of visual inventiveness in web
design and waxing nostalgic about the
more experimental and print-influenced
approaches of earlier times.
But rather than complaining, Dan
Davies, a web designer and front-end
developer from North Wales, actually
decided to do something about it.
Supported by fellow North Walian and
designer, author and speaker Andy
Clarke, Davies launched Print to CSS
(https://www.dan-davies.co.uk/print-to-
css), a side project in which he recreates
some of the print layouts he’s seen and
liked online using CSS Grid. We caught
up with him to find out more.Could you briefly introduce yourself to
anyone who doesn’t know you?
I’m Dan, a web designer and front-end
developer from North Wales, currently
working in Manchester for an ecommerce
agency called Space48. I’ve been in web
design for nearly 20 years, starting out
with Dreamweaver and layers through to
tables, floating divs and now CSS Grid and
Flexbox. I’m as grumpy as people make
me out to be and, although I say I hate
people, I care about my teammates.SHOWCASE
SurĽoh