Articles Tagged with Design
- Raising the Bar with Adaptive Templates
- A recent project got me thinking about combining Super-Easy Blendy Backgrounds with CSS constants.
- Will Page Zoom Prove Relative Units Less Useful?
- With browser manufacturers beginning to default to page zoom, will relative units be phased out?
- Comparing Safari 3.1 and Firefox 3 Beta 4
- I took a week to give Safari 3.1 a fair shot for Web development, here are my results.
- Revisiting Progressive Enhancement in CSS
- John Resig recently posted a bit on progressive CSS enhancement, which got me thinking a bit more about a post I wrote some time ago.
- Improving Your Process: Client Communication
- Although I’ve tried to optimize communication patterns in as many ways as possible, I’ve found that (like Web design and development) experience is the best thing you can do. Use your experience to alter the way you do things to improve your communication process both internally as well as with clients. Effective communication leaves much more time to do what we love to do, create.
- Making and Breaking the Grid Book Review
- While I have no formal education in design (graphic or otherwise) I do have a strong interest. I try to read as much as I can in an effort to self-educate myself on the subject. The latest piece I’ve completed is Making and Breaking the Grid, A Graphic Design Layout Workshop by Timothy Samara.
- Working with Background PNGs and Internet Explorer 6
- Using PNG images as backgrounds can be very helpful and useful, but there are some things to keep in mind when working with Internet Explorer 6.
- Being a Starving Graphic Artist Sucks Book Review
- I think Being a Starving Graphic Artist Sucks by Jeremy Tuber is a fantastic resource for both new as well as seasoned graphic artists. There are many lessons taught which can really save you from having to learn them the hard way; which can be devastating to a new freelancer and his or her career.
- Designing Web Navigation Book Review
- The navigation design for a website is a big deal. I surf the Internet, and it seems to me that everyone would be quite a bit better off had more Web designers taken the time to read a book like this. Site navigation is the primary way readers are able to interact with information presented in a website. Therefore, a site navigation deserves to have some serious thought behind it. Designing Web Navigation by James Kalbach is an extensive resource on this very subject.
- An Interview with Jonathan Snook
- Recently, I was able to pull Jonathan Snook away from his many projects for a few minutes to have a quick chat.
- Improving Your Process: Sitemaps and Design Preparation
- I’ve found a new use for sitemaps. Even though they’re not sitemaps which are classic in the sense of the word, they have really helped our process on a number of projects, and the end product is better because of incorporation in the design phase.
- Improving Your Process: How Wireframes Can Help
- Using wireframes in Web design can really help to increase the quality of your work. They’ll also help quite a bit with client work as well.
- Future of Web Design NYC 2007 Recap
- A couple co-workers and I were able to attend the Future of Web Design 2007 in New York City. Here’s a bit of a recap of the day as a whole.
- Current Events: Accessibility Importance and Downloadable Fonts
- A recent legal settlement against Target legally requires the corporation to have an accessible website. This is great news! The latest nightly builds of WebKit now support the @font-face CSS rule; an interesting update to a very popular rendering engine.
- Mobile Web Design Book Review
- I would absolutely recommend this book to any Web developer who is currently building websites. The mobile Web will continue to grow and it is important that professionals have a grasp on the pros and cons of the environment. This book is one of the few which focuses specifically on this subject, and in my opinion will become a staple read.
- The Launch of Monday By Noon Version 3
- I don’t claim to be the Web’s gift to design, but I went ahead and pushed the latest version of the Monday By Noon site design; version 3. Personally, I think this new version is a step up from version 2, and a giant leap ahead from the launch version. You may think it’s a bit better, you might hate it. If you’d like to leave your opinion please feel free, I’ve always got an open ear.
- Designing the Obvious - Book Review
- Designing the Obvious can be put in same ring as the excellent resource Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug, Defensive Design for the Web by Matthew Linderman with Jason Fried, as well as Prioritizing Web Usability by Jakob Nielsen and Hoa Loranger.
- Improving Your Process: 9 Ways to Improve Yourself
- Offering a short list of ways I feel can help you become a better designer/developer. In the spirit of the Improving Your Process theme as well as 9rules, I present: 9 Ways to Improve Yourself as a Web Designer/Developer. This list strays from the technical side of things and sticks to a more generalized overview of your process as a whole.
- Textpattern Solutions Book Review
- As an introduction to Textpattern, Textpattern Solutions by Kevin Potts, Robert Sable, and Nathan Smith with Mary Fredborg & Cody Lindley is a fantastic way to learn how to use Textpattern. I’m very glad I was able to use this book as a guide. The language used is very easy to read, and the book was well thought out and detailed.
- Improving Your Process: Web Branding Style Guide
- Branding is a very involved process that can really make or break a company image. A strong brand can help propel a client to the next level, while a brand that is lacking will hold it back from reaching full potential. A brand guide for the Web can be very helpful with the continuity of your design.
- The Principles of Beautiful Web Design Book Review
- I think The Principles of Beautiful Web Design by Jason Beaird is a great book to read for those who wish to start off on the right foot when it comes to Web design. It’s also a good read for designers who would like to research improving their current methods by reading a book written by someone who has excelled in the medium.
- Improving Your Process: Site Planning Guides
- Sometimes improving your process not only helps yourself, it can benefit your clients as well. Using your time more effectively allows a client to receive more time and effort from you focused on enhancing the project as opposed to spending time resolving miscommunication. Site planning guides are a good way to use direct client input to help steer your project.
- Improving Your Process: CSS Techniques Part 1
- This group of tips revolves around some CSS techniques I find myself using constantly. I’m sure you’ve heard of some, if not all, but hopefully something comes across as new and possibly helpful. This list consists of just a few ideas I keep in mind while developing, and there are more to come in future articles.
- My Development and Design Process
- Inspired by a post put together from Jonathan Snook, here’s a look into my development process.
- Admiration for Typography on the Web
- It’s been said that Web design is 95% typography, and I can definitely agree with that. Many times a site design could be improved extensively with a quick change of a font-family. Keeping that in mind, how does one decide on a good looking font-family for their design? First and foremost, if you’re primarily […]
- The Best Browser Extensions for Web Development
- The Web Developer Extension and Firebug extension have proved to be most valuable to me when developing for the Web. Here’s an account of the features I find myself using every day in hopes that I can pass some information along to those who may not make use of these features.
- Prioritizing Web Usability: Book Review
- Prioritizing Web Usability by Jakob Nielsen and Hoa Loranger is a really valuable resource for anyone in the business of Web. The statistical data backing up the entire book really gets their message across and I definitely recommend this book.
- My Latest Take on Image Replacement
- The new design got me thinking about image replacement techniques and I think I’ve come up with a good technique for solving the problem of readers with images disabled and CSS enabled.
- It Was Time For A Change, So I Did
- It was time for a redesign and reorganization so after a solid weekend of work, I proudly present Monday By Noon Version 2.
- Defensive Design for the Web Review
- Oct 16, 2006 by Jonathan Christopher product ★★★★ Personally, I’m a big fan of the thought process behind Bulletproof Web Design. The idea of creating a design that can withstand virtually any change — within reason — seems great to me. Beyond making your site design bulletproof, you can also do quite a bit […]
- Taking Hold of your Submit Button
- Coming up with a good method for marking up forms can be one of the more difficult things as a designer/developer. They have a tendency of looking awkward and ugly and can be the low point of any project you’re working on. There have been countless articles written and techniques developed with the […]
- Linux and Web Development Part 2
- It has been over two months since my last writeup about using Linux for Web development. I thought now would be a good time to revisit that subject and write a bit about my findings after using the new operating system for a little while.
- Linux and Web Development Intro
- There’s a good chance you’ve heard of Linux. Recently there has been a whole lot of buzz going around the Internet about a particular distribution of Linux dubbed Ubuntu. I recently switched to using Linux full time from Windows and here’s my experience so far.
- Headings in the Right Direction
- There are certain design elements that can make or break a project for me. One such element in my experience thus far has been headings. It may sound strange to many, but I think taking a worthwhile amount of time and devoting it to the proper implementation and styling of headings is a […]
