designm.ag - Archives (mai 2014)
Back just a few years ago it was required for web developers use JavaScript/jQuery to perform animated effects in-browser. CSS3 has dramatic
It seems like it was only yesterday that the only way of getting commercial images to use in design, advertising, or blogging was to enlist the services of a professional photographer. The problem with that picture was the huge toll it took on everyone’s budget. Stock photo agencies saved the day by introducing an affordable and expedite alternative, and today I know lots of people who created accounts with more than one stock merchant. As for me, I have a favorite: YAY Images, which I sometimes refer to as Spotify for images. Every time you enter a keyword, the results page has advanced filters that cut your search short. If you look to the right, you’ll notice a visual search option. With that, you can just drag-and-drop any image – whether it comes from your own folders, from this website, or from the wide expanse of the Internet – and the search engine shows you items from the database that resemble it.
WordPress themes have evolved a lot in the last years and from simple theme that served only one purpose to multipurpose themes that solve a lot of problems a website owner could have. In this all too competitive market of WordPress themes, if you are in the position of choosing one theme over another, you are facing a difficult task because there are a lot of possibilities. However, not all themes are the same. Some offer more features than other, focusing on functionality and style, making sure that the websites customized with them offer the best visual style and user experience to their visitors. A theme like the ones I’ve been talking about so far is Theme X, a responsive and amazingly customizable WordPress theme.
Storytelling is a medium we all find throughout day-to-day life. Sharing experiences from your trip to Cancún is a form of storytelling. In fact, much of life can be seen as the raw material for great storytelling. We like stories because they demonstrate ideas in new ways that we might have never thought about.
I feel that the rules of storytelling can be applied to digital interfaces and web design. The precepts of good storytelling are universal across all genres. You must understand how to capture interest and bring people along for the ride. Web design is more fluid because it's not an archetypal story - but the general structure is the same. In this post I want to look at various similarities between good storytelling and good web design.
Modern CSS trends have blown up so quickly that it can be difficult to keep up with all the new stuff. Online projects which most surprise me involve pure CSS designs for layouts, animations, and icons. There is still plenty of use for icon sprite sheets in the right context. But why not try out modern trends for the users who have upgraded from legacy browsers?
This gallery includes fifty examples of my favorite CSS-based icon designs. Some are animated while others are static interface pieces. These range from general purpose icon sets to character designs created purely within HTML/CSS code. The latter doesn't have much practical use but it's definitely a way of showing off your skillset.
Iconex Flat Icons
High standard solutions have always been a common thing at ElegantThemes.com. With more than 200 thousand satisfied customers so far and a long history in this field it is the best source for top quality themes. These products have delighted the WordPress community and other media users as well. If you are looking for a […]
If they could choose, web designers would rather focus on the aesthetics. As well as looking gorgeous, the end result should be compatible across browsers, fast loading and user friendly. It is for this reason that it is a good idea to convert photo shop mockups of designs via a trusted PSD to HTML service, […]
You're about to graduate. Or maybe next year will be your last year of school.
After graduation, you have your career all planned out. There'll be no traditional 9-to-5 grind for you. Your future is in freelancing... or so you think.
I have one question for you. If you plan to become a freelance web designer after graduation, are you really ready?
You may think you are ready to begin freelancing right out of school, but chances are that you're not.
Fortunately, there are some steps to take to prepare yourself for freelance web design even before you graduate. In fact, the earlier you start preparing yourself for freelancing, the better.
So, if you've still got another year of school, be glad. That gives you some extra time to get yourself ready for freelancing.
However, if you're graduating this year, don't panic. There are still some steps you can take to get ready for freelancing.
In this post, I list over ten ways that students can prepare themselves for a future in freelance web design before they finish school.
If you like this post, you may also like Freelancers, Use this 22-Point Checklist to Find Out How Professional You Are.
If you're a web or graphics designer then you should know about that oh-so-adorable design suite Adobe Photoshop. Folks who have been using the software for years can vouch that it's quite difficult to master. There are so many techniques for creating UI elements, website layouts, icons, and other digital graphics. It's crucial that you learn how to organize these assets into a complete, unified design.
In this article I'd like to cover methods of organizing PSD files in Photoshop. Whether you're a one-man team or working in a large studio setting, it always helps to stay organized. These tips may appear like common-sense ideas but so many designers overlook this systematic and detailed approach.
It takes a lot of attention to details and impeccable organizing skills to work as a web designer or as a web developer, because any piece of information that is wrongly applied can lead to catastrophic consequences. Whether you start from a brand new idea or work on an existing product, it’s very important for every component of the project to be out in the open and perfectly understood by all who partake in it. Think of when you develop an iPhone app. Every time a client issues a task for the development team, it usually comes in the shape of an idea, followed by the specification of what that app should do. At this point, the app is all schemes, descriptions, and in the best case scenario – flowcharts (Nota pt. Bogdan: /logical schemes). On first glance, it seems like a pleasant little story about how everything ought to work. Actually developing the app in this stage is quite difficult, impossible even, because there is no visual feedback: where does each component belong in the app? How’s the workflow within the app? What happens or what changes in the app when specific commands are entered by the user? You see, it’s just as if a builder was trying to raise a house without a blueprint. The result would be chaotic.
Larger navigation menus will typically include separate dropdown lists to appear on hover. But for some websites it can be necessary to expand this dropdown across the entire page. Designers might call this a "mega navigation" for its influence over the whole menu.
In this tutorial I want to demonstrate a method of creating one unified mega navigation menu. There are many different techniques you can use to achieve a similar effect. I'll be using jQuery to embed sub-navigation content into a dropdown mega nav box. Take a look at my live demo to see the final design.
In this day and age, one thing that every business professional complains about is time. Time is of the essence, and markets are flooding with many time management apps and software. Now, of course different apps are suited for different people, and are intended for different purposes. But if you are a freelancer and are looking for an app to help speed up your work, then we have a recommendation for you. You should try out Motiv. Motiv’s aim is to provide services for freelancers and people who run small businesses within the creative industries. Writers, designers, coders, programmers, search engine optimizers and marketers can all benefit from a system that has been well crafted to match their needs.
Some of the important features of the website are as follows:
Dashboard After you register for an account and log in into Motiv, you will be greeted by a dashboard that gives you a list of all the details you need at a glance. You can see the status of your most recent invoices, or you can easily jump on to create a proposal or contract.