About
About CSSquirrel
CSSquirrel is a comic and blog that explores the absurdity that exists in the world of web design. From the HTML5 authoring process to Yahoo’s repeated axing of websites, from the pain of supporting legacy browsers to the annoyance of vendor-specific fan boys, the Squirrel is there to poke fun and occasionally say something smart-sounding in the process.
The home of Kyle Weems on the web, CSSquirrel was conceived of during a snowy week in February as he attended Web Directions North. It was there that he first met many of his personal web heroes, starting with a workshop ran by none other than British superstar Andy Clarke. After drawing a messy sketch of Andy surrounded by hearts (pictured on the right) in his session notes, lightning struck in Kyle’s brain. Following a couple of failed attempts at squids and skunks, the first sketch of what became the Squirrel came into being. Four and a half months later, the first comic finally saw the light of day… along with Andy’s underpants. It’s pretty much gone downhill since.
About Kyle Weems
Robbed of the title ‘firstborn’ by the birth of his brother a mere nineteen minutes earlier, Kyle Weems had to rely on cheap laughs to get through school when his plans of being ‘heroic’ were brought low by the realization in the first grade that his voice was too high-pitched to be properly recorded for his role of Robin Hood (in the play of the same name).
Although his voice has suitably deepened since (watch out ladies), he’s maintained that his failure to be taken seriously by his peers was intentional. After his bid to take over the world stalled from inadequate funding (the same issue that also tanked his participation in a cable station startup), and his various pizza-related stints failed to convince him that his future was in food preparation, Kyle begged his way into the world of web design via Mindfly, a Bellingham, WA, design studio.
After learning tables were bad, bad things, Kyle has embraced the worlds of CSS and web standards, and has proceeded to make an annoyance of himself by spouting off his opinions on the subject. In addition to his posts at CSSquirrel, Kyle frequently contributes to Mindfly’s web design blog.
Professionally…
Kyle is an Interactive Designer & Humorist at Mindfly Web Design Studio, where he feverishly tries to get JavaScript and CSS to do things that’d make your mother blush and grandmother reach for a shotgun.
Press And Other Cool Things
May 2011 – Web Directions Unplugged: I was honored to be invited to participate in this mobile-oriented web design conference as the Cartoonist in Residence, where I feverishly produced thirteen comics capturing the wisdom and insanity of its speakers.
May 2010 – Unmatchedstyle Interview: I’m pinned down and asked about my thoughts and inspiration for design, and accidentally let slip my love of Enya for the public record.
January 2010 – SitePoint Podcast #44 “HTML5 is a (Beautiful) Mess”: I joined Kevin Yank of SitePoint, Bruce Lawson of Opera and SitePoint author Ian Lloyd in a discussion on HTML5′s recent messy politics, and whether that was negatively impacting the standard.
December 2009 – Refresh Bellingham Presentation: I spoke at Refresh Bellingham in a presentation entitled “The Ghosts of Web Standards Present: CSS, HTML5 and Mobile”.
August 2009 – An Event Apart Interview: I had the pleasure of being interviewed by the awesome Eric Meyer over at An Event Apart. It was a lot of fun.