Notebook Entries on {category_name}
November 21, 2008
Mark Boulton’s Practical Guide to Designing for the Web •
If you put words on Web pages, this book goes on your wish list, period. Shipping in PDF in February 2009.
October 22, 2008
Multicolr Search Lab •
Idée’s Multicolr Search Lab (via Kottke) looks like another must-have tool for the designers arsenal. Pick up to ten colors, and you’ll get back a gallery of the most interesting Flickr photos that match.
Here’s a sample gallery that matches this site’s pallette. Addictive.
Javascript Will Save Us All •
Eric Meyer wakes up thinking about how rapidly improving JavaScript performance in browsers could allow designers to append hacks that improve CSS standards support in non-compliant browsers at runtime using JavaScript.
So instead of coding a box-model hack for Internet Explorer every time you style an element, a JavaScript library would inject the CSS work-around as the page loads. While this is probably too time consuming in today’s browsers, it’s becoming more realizable as Firefox and Webkit compete to improve their JavaScript interpreters by orders of magnitude.
Think about it: most of the browser development work these days seems to be going into JavaScript performance. Those engines are being overhauled and souped up and tuned and re-tuned to the point that performance is improving by orders of magnitude…So why not write JS to implement multiple background-image support in all browsers?
Just like that, you’ve used the browser’s JS to extend its CSS support. This approach advances standards support in browsers from the ground up, instead of waiting for the browser teams to do it for us.
This would be game-changing for standards-based designers. I hope it happens.
October 21, 2008
About Us Information On Websites •
Jakob Nielsen summarizes and cites best examples of the common elements of about us content on corporate websites: tagline, summary, fact sheet, detailed information.
October 10, 2008
IDEO Redesigns •
The farther you dig, the better it gets, and the whole thing runs on ExpressionEngine. IDEO’s website redesigned by Solspace.
October 8, 2008
Cabel Sasser on Wedding Design •
Pixel-perfect wedding invitations self-designed by Panic’s Cabel Sasser, beautifully letter-pressed and complete with matching website for RSVP’s.
October 3, 2008
2008 Web Design Trends •
A catalog of Web design trends gleaned from WebDesigner Wall’s Best Web Gallery. Top picks for 2008: vintage/retro, handwritten notes and paper clips, grunge, ink splatter, watercolor, collage and more.
September 15, 2008
Everymoment Now •
A fascinating website-as-info-graphic design currently focused on news coverage of the 2008 presidential election.
September 11, 2008
What Your Global Neighbors are Buying •
Geo-tree map illustrating worldwide consumer spending habits, from the New York Times interactive team.
Umbrella Today? •
Billed as “the simplest weather report ever,” this site is made for today’s deluge.
August 21, 2008
Wanderlust •
GOOD magazine unfolds an interactive map of “history’s greatest journeys from Magellan to Kerouac.”
August 12, 2008
Pattern Tap •
Great collection of searchable Web design patterns.
August 8, 2008
Smart Car, Smart Design •
Simple site design, engaging interactive features and a solid case for Smart Car ownership. I watched all the way through; too bad they’re sold only in the UK.
August 4, 2008
NYT: A Collection of Olympic Torches •
Another well-designed interactive feature from the New York Times covering the history of the Olympic torch.
July 29, 2008
The Survey for People who Make Websites 2008 •
A List Apart is has sounded the call for participation in the 2008 census of The Survey for People Who Make Websites.
What started as a quest to quantify the working conditions of the online design industry resulted in the first complete glimpse into what it means to be a working Web professional. This year’s survey looks to ferret out answers to some of the leftover questions and grow the body of knowledge about the profession for people who make Web sites.
So if you’ve ever scrutinized the alignment of one stubborn pixel or nit-picked the semantics of a page’s HTML source, take five minutes and help define what it means to be a Web designer.
July 8, 2008
On Content and Design •
Zeldman nails the relationship between content and design, in 14 words.
June 30, 2008
BBC Web Identity Guidelines •
Interesting collection of corporate Web identity guidelines to correspond with the redesign of the BBC Web site.
May 29, 2008
ExpressionEngine Screencasts from The Pragmatic Bookshelf •
New ExpressionEngine screencast videos from The Pragmatic Programmers, and affordable at $5 an episode (DRM-free). Likely a valuable resource for designers new to ExpressionEngine.
April 4, 2008
NYT: Mad Fold-Ins Past and Present •
Addictively intuitive Mad magazine fold-ins from 1960 to the present.
Another great online interactive feature from the New York Times.
January 11, 2008
HTML Entities •
Where to find how you make those fancy symbols in HTML, because I never remember
Styling Figures with Javascript •
Aaron Gustafson details instructions for styling figures consistently using javascript in issue 246 of A List Apart.
How to Disarm 10 Difficult Client Observations/Requests •
Clever and legitimate responses to classic, project-derailing client questions.
Free Website Mini-Icons •
A Saint Nicholas Day gift from Brand Spanking New.
April 13, 2007
Universal Leonardo •
Rich interactive site featuring the life and work of da Vinci
February 28, 2007
Mini Ajax •
Showcase of ready-to-use Ajax templates
May 2, 2006
Copywriting 101 •
Tips for writing copy for the Web, from Copyblogger
March 31, 2006
50 Reasons Why More People Aren’t Using Your Website •
Scott Heiferman hits the nail on the head 50 times.