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The percentage of all web usage that comes from smartphones and other mobile devices is growing, and it won’t be long before mobile internet users overtake desktop and laptop users in terms of web traffic. So it’s a cardinal sin to ignore mobile users when you’re developing a website. One of the most important things [...]
There is one persistent problem with CSS; it doesn’t support variables. Each time you specify a color, for a block of text, or an image border, you have to repeat the hex code. When you want to change the color, you have to do so everywhere. Of course there’s the ‘replace all’ option in your [...]
Going viral is the holy grail of advertising these days. Mom and Pop run businesses can become global names overnight with the right hashtag, video or promo. When Metro Trains — the metropolitan rail network for Melbourne, Australia — wanted to raise awareness of the inherent dangers surrounding railways they turned to advertising agency McCann [...]
The way that we that we navigate our websites is extremely important. The reason being that the user experience and the way in which they interact with the website makes or breaks the usability of the website. If someone cannot get around on your site, then it’s useless. If someone can get around and is [...]
Tooltips are a great way to show your user more information by simply hovering over an image or text. They can be used, for example, to provide captions for images, or longer descriptions for links, or any useful information which would improve the user experience of your site, without intruding on the design. Today I’m [...]
As strange as this may sound for some, not every designer is a good logo designer. I’ve met many highly talented designers who are terrible at designing logos. Actually, some of the best designers I know are so aware of that, that they even prefer to not take on this type of project. The process [...]
Mark Zuckerberg opened up recently about HTML5 and the difficulties that Facebook has faced in developing mobile apps. In a quote heard round the world, Zuckerberg called HTML5 “one of the biggest strategic mistakes we made.” Those are pretty strong words from the CEO of the most influential company in the mobile market today. Facebook [...]
W.C. Fields famously said ‘Never work with children or animals’ and there are numerous blooper reels around to show just how difficult it can be to work with kids. It can be just as difficult to produce work for kids: they are a very tough audience, and pretty unforgiving if you get it wrong. Adults [...]
When creating website designs, it’s almost impossible to leave out icons. They help visualize pieces of copy and are absolutely necessary in a detailed and consistent website. Icons create a heightened user-experience and are typically included in all websites. What I dislike most about icons is the time it takes to make them. Yes, there [...]
Creative thinking is an integral part of design and all art-related professions. Hyper-creative people appear to conceive of brilliant ideas as easily as magicians pull rabbits from hats, but the truth is that we all meet with creative blocks. Usually, lack of creativity or originality isn’t the problem?—?if it was, we wouldn’t have chosen these [...]
Every week we tweet a lot of interesting stuff highlighting great content that we find on the web that can be of interest to web designers. The best way to keep track of our tweets is simply to follow us on Twitter, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of [...]
Every week we feature a set of comics created exclusively for WDD. The content revolves around web design, blogging and funny situations that we encounter in our daily lives as designers. These great cartoons are created by Jerry King, an award-winning cartoonist who’s one of the most published, prolific and versatile cartoonists in the world [...]
We’re all sold on WordPress, it’s a great solution for anybody who needs to easily manage their site’s content in a user interface that even the least tech-savvy staff members are comfortable with. But WordPress comes with a price: customizing a WordPress site to do what you need it to, simply isn’t as easy as [...]
For many startup businesses out there, the idea of funding or angel investment is a mere pipe dream. ‘Bootstrapping’ is a much more realistic way for many new businesses to build their online presence and customer base – but that doesn’t mean that everything has to be a struggle. No money doesn’t have to mean no hope [...]
On December 3rd a closed-door meeting will take place in Dubai. In attendance will be members of the United Nation’s International Telecommunications Union. On the agenda will be a proposal, tabled by Russia, for sweeping changes to how the internet operates. The proposed measure is to add ‘IP-based networks’ to the existing International Telecommunications Regulations, [...]
I earned my BFA in ’98. Learned to layout feature pages and create infographics for the local daily paper. I earned a Photoshop ACE in ’03. My most recent full-time contract was pure mock-up design work. Yet for the last year and a half I have debugged code 40–50 hours a week. I read about code, I [...]
It’s hard to believe, but it’s true: our sister-site MightyDeals.com is 2 years old. Hard to believe, because it’s only been 2 years since probably the best resource on the net for deals on plugins, clip art, apps and all sort of goodies at huge discounts from some of the web’s finest resources. The list of [...]
There is no need to ask why anybody would want to write a plugin for WordPress. It’s one of the primary features that makes WordPress so flexible and a good fit for a wide range of projects. In the first part of our series we created the base for a WordPress plugin recognisible by the core. Then, in [...]
Most web pros can’t make it through a week without falling back on some else’s work: you may be a great programmer, but can you illustrate? You may be a great icon designer, but do you understand type? We don’t all have a studio of colleagues to pass work off to. Some of us have [...]
Landing Pages are used for many different things. Some of us have products to sell. Many of us have apps to sell. Some of us just want to let the world know about our products or services. Landing Pages are extremely important when done correctly they can increase your business and increase your brand. [...]
Landing Pages are used for many different things. Some of us have products to sell. Many of us have apps to sell. Some of us just want to let the world know about our products or services. Landing Pages are extremely important when done correctly they can increase your business and increase your brand. [...]
With the explosive expansion in the use of tablet computers and smartphones for web searches, why are so many SEO experts unable to look beyond desktop development? Is it because developers do not feel the need to duplicate their efforts, or does the answer lie in the clients’ and employers’ unwillingness to swallow the extra [...]
This post examines an important part of the design process that, for some reason or other, is often omitted from community conversations. Its aim is to get the design community talking about the ‘whys’ — including why they are important. One advantage the design industry has going for it is its helpful, giving community, and [...]
Every week we tweet a lot of interesting stuff highlighting great content that we find on the web that can be of interest to web designers. The best way to keep track of our tweets is simply to follow us on Twitter, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of [...]
Every week we feature a set of comics created exclusively for WDD. The content revolves around web design, blogging and funny situations that we encounter in our daily lives as designers. These great cartoons are created by Jerry King, an award-winning cartoonist who’s one of the most published, prolific and versatile cartoonists in the world [...]
We’ve all been in the situation: sat opposite a client, having delivered your best ‘gimme a job’ pitch. You’ve walked them through your folio, you’ve explained your client centered approach, you’ve even hinted at the strategies you think will effectively position them in their market. But they still don’t look convinced. The client takes a [...]
When I start telling people about the importance of a favicon to their overall online branding strategy, they usually say the same thing: “Aren’t you taking this branding thing a little bit too far?” My answer usually goes: “Not if you’re serious about your own branding efforts!” It’s true, favicons are very little things, probably [...]
Ah, Ruby on Rails. The champion of the startup hustle, and the side project. That in essence describes a lot of why I think people enjoy the community as a whole, because they all appreciate those two facts. It surely has done a lot for the startup world, and for developer communities alike. It is very [...]
Our lives, particularly within the urban environment, are governed by light; half natural, half artificial. Light is enticing; promising excitement, safety, community. Light is also the most basic medium for all visual artists, the waves without which we couldn’t experience their work. Whilst sculpture, film and even some aspects of painting can be experienced without [...]
Issues of cross-browser compatibility, screen resolution and inconsistent HTML and CSS code are things of the past in mobile development. Developers who are still grappling with these issues are far behind the times and need to learn a few new tricks. Mobile developers today are widening the scope of their expertise; they are not only [...]
Doing business in the age of social media and online communities is not the same as it was some 20 plus years ago. It’s not enough to just have a great product or good customer service, you need great customer service and this could mean going back to the old ways. Today I’m going to [...]
…now it looks as if it’s here to stay. Having been introduced as part of the Windows 8 operating system launch last month, Internet Explorer has just been released for Windows 7. Rapid uptake is expected; IE9 is a very good browser, its popularity halted the decline of the brand that had been under siege [...]
Clients are an important part of any business. But when it comes to web design, clients are everything! Whether it is an individually run enterprise or an establishment owned by several stakeholders; acquiring new clients and retaining old ones is an essential aspect for maintaining your web design business. With increasing competition on the Internet, it [...]
Nothing is more important than readability when it comes to the text on your website. Absolutely nothing. If you can’t read the words, then what good are you doing? Who is getting your message? Just as important as the words themselves is the design of the text – from fonts, to hyphenation, to how it [...]
Born in London, England in the early 1950s, Alan Meeks began his career as a trainee artist, typographer and typeface designer in 1970. He joined Letraset as senior designer and studio manager in 1975, where he was responsible for artistic output, including 40 of his own typefaces. Together with Type Director Colin Brignall, Meeks is [...]
Building stuff for the web is fun. Want to know what isn’t? Waiting on a client to give you content so that you can launch their bloody website. Before I founded my startup, I worked as a freelancer and built websites for all kinds of clients. I often found that my entire process would fall [...]
If you run your website on WordPress, chances are you use at least a handful of plugins. That’s what’s so great about a CMS like WP: rather than some huge bloated system with every feature under the sun, the use of plugins lets you add just the functionality you need, without taxing your site’s resources [...]
It will come as no surprise to anyone, that slow buffering of a video is highly likely to see viewers give up, and go and do something less boring instead. Think about all the hours you’ve wasted staring at a progress bar. A few seconds here, a few seconds there, you’ve probably lost months of [...]
It seems that everyone is on the logo change bandwagon. Why are so many companies choosing now to change logos that are no older than their teenage customers? Take the CBS (a major U.S. commercial broadcasting television network) “eye” logo, that has remained unchanged since it was designed in 1951. The Eye device was conceived [...]
The November edition of what’s new for web designers and developers includes new web and Mac apps, JavaScript and jQuery tools, productivity tools, UI testing tools, CSS and HTML frameworks, app building tools, wireframing tools, color scheme creators, and some really great new fonts. Many of the resources below are free or very low cost, [...]
Every week we tweet a lot of interesting stuff highlighting great content that we find on the web that can be of interest to web designers. The best way to keep track of our tweets is simply to follow us on Twitter, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of [...]
Every week we feature a set of comics created exclusively for WDD. The content revolves around web design, blogging and funny situations that we encounter in our daily lives as designers. These great cartoons are created by Jerry King, an award-winning cartoonist who’s one of the most published, prolific and versatile cartoonists in the world [...]
It is a commonly held view that the minimalist approach to design is what lifted Google, in the early days of the web, above the arguably better search results of engines such as Alta Vista. The famous white page with the centered search box is iconic, but the subsequent pages, where Google delivers results have [...]
In August 2011 7.12% of all website hits worldwide came from a handheld mobile device. By August 2012, that figure had risen to 11.78%. We can literally watch as tablets and smartphones become our default choice for connecting to the internet. People have long gotten used to the web as an essential part of their [...]
Oh Photoshop, what wonders you perform: creative freedom second to none, the bitmap tool of choice for most digital artists. The best part of 2 weeks salary, for the average American, to purchase; and countless hours to master; Photoshop is the de facto standard for all professional image manipulation. But there’s a darker side to Photoshop; [...]
Being in love is great. It’s often a crazy journey where you find out much about your partner and especially yourself. The beginnings of a relationship may be the most exciting, but once that’s all done, it’s time to take the big step; it’s time to get married! Marriage is often looked at as such [...]
There has been much cross-over between web development and application development in recent years. The biggest trend being the increase in web-based applications. Whilst many would argue that it’s the rise of the cloud, and of faster internet connections, that have made this possible; it’s actually the rise of the mobile web that has made [...]
Today I’m going to show you some interesting ways to make money as a web professional. Before I do, let’s clarify something: the best way to make money as a web designer is to develop a portfolio of clients. However, as a professional in this saturated industry, you know as well as I do that [...]
In the U.S. election day is finally here. People across the country are heading out to vote, with many U.S. citizens resident abroad having already cast their ballots. Polls emerging in the U.S. suggest the race is tight in key states, but are increasingly confident that President Obama will win by a narrow margin. Speculation [...]
As a design professional, you are familiar with (and possibly contributing to) the increased use of circles in all elements of design. From home décor items such as round-framed mirrors and prints to hand tools at the hardware store, circles are everywhere. Circles have even rolled their way into our websites, appearing in headers, menus and [...]
A long time ago, on a website not that far away, you’d be welcomed by a web page that didn’t have much on it. It maybe had a logo or picture and a button or link telling you to ‘enter’ the site you just visited. If you were really neat, you maybe had a (then [...]
Every week we tweet a lot of interesting stuff highlighting great content that we find on the web that can be of interest to web designers. The best way to keep track of our tweets is simply to follow us on Twitter, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of [...]
Every week we feature a set of comics created exclusively for WDD. The content revolves around web design, blogging and funny situations that we encounter in our daily lives as designers. These great cartoons are created by Jerry King, an award-winning cartoonist who’s one of the most published, prolific and versatile cartoonists in the world [...]
The way people access information online is evolving. Google reports that by next year (2013) more than half of website visits will come from mobile devices rather than desktops or laptops. Not only is the medium of accessing the web changing, the needs of most mobile users going online with their smartphone or handheld device is [...]
If you’re looking to set up a website there are a multitude of options. With no budget or time restrictions the choice is clear: design a bespoke site from the ground up. However, in the real world that’s often not a possibility. Sometimes we need to turn to an off-the-peg solution. Striking.ly is a new [...]
Since the advent of the world wide web, people have been using it to bear witness to the events around them, some trivial, others world-shattering. While Hurricane Sandy was making its way up the Eastern sea board, Chris Ackermann and Peter Ng threw together instacane.com a feed of Instagram photos documenting the storm and now, its aftermath. The resulting collection [...]
If you’ve been involved in today’s conversations about what’s best as far as style goes for websites, and nearly everything else design related, then you know that designers are falling in love or already have with minimalism. I’m not here to tell those designers that they’re wrong, because they’re not. Minimalist designs are awesome and [...]