Red Herring Chief Back in Action

After Red Herring sank into the dot-com morass last year, Tony Perkins considered resurrecting the magazine that helped establish him as a Silicon Valley sage.The new venture, AlwaysOn.

Go to AlwaysOn

Making Your Content Management System Work for You: An Interview with Jeffrey Veen

"I find that businesses don't treat their web site as a publication, especially those organizations developing standard content, such as product and service descriptions. Instead, they view their site as a software project -- a product that undergoes a development process and needs to be 'released'." (Christine Perfetti - User Interface 9 Conference)

Personas: Practice and Theory

Personas: Theory and Practice PDF logo

"Personas is an interaction design technique with considerable potential for software product development. Personas are more engaging than design based primarily on scenarios." Read this artice by John Pruitt and Jonathan Grudin - Microsoft Research.

A decade of good website design

The web looks very different today than it did 10 years ago.

Back in 1994, Yahoo had only just launched, most websites were text-based and Amazon, Google and eBay had yet to appear. Read Mark Ward's article of the BBC.

The Most Hated Advertising Techniques

Studies of how people react to online advertisements have identified several design techniques that impact the user experience very negatively.

Bridging the Gap Between User and Business Goals

The Web is slowly but surely growing up. For Web professionals it’s becoming more and more important to understand not only how various disciplines interact with and affect each other, but also the impact of business objectives on Web projects. D. Keith Robinson's article covers how to best deal with clients and stakeholders on getting a better handle on business objectives and how to meet goals.

Looking for a Xmas gift for that novice web designer?

I'm always interested in looking for books that offer help in web design. With Creating a Web Page with HTML, Elizabeth Castro puts together a simple guide to getting started with a web site. Look here.

Web Design Training and Certification

Are you wanting to get certified in the field of web design, Flash, or Web Project Management? Check out the HTML Writers Guide web site for various programs, classes/times.

Microsoft jumps onto the Blogging wagon

Microsoft now had jumped into the the world of Weblogs, with a new free service called Spaces. It requires users to create a Microsoft Password account.

So what's a blog?

A blog is a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space. A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links. Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world.

Your blog is whatever you want it to be. They come in all shapes and sizes, and there are no real rules.

In simple terms, a blog is a web site, where you write stuff on an ongoing basis. A blog is a web page that contains brief, discrete bits of information called posts. These posts are arranged in reverse-chronological order (the most recent posts come first), so your visitors can read what's new. Then they comment on it or link to it or email you. Or not.

Some additional information on blogs can be found here.

Want to start your own blog site?

Looking to start your own blog site? Here are some blog sites that offer ways to get you started:







desktop weblogging application for Mac OS X.

Companies that do blogging well

Here's a list of a few companies that do blogging well:

1- Google [of course].
2- Monster
3- Sun Microsystems [Jonathan Schwartz]
4- Java.blogs

EBay bid for blogger hits $1,500

Wright also writes the Ensight.org Weblog, concentrating on business and technology. He founded the blog and says he has sold it to an American company for $15,000! Read more about it here.

Case Study: Re-architecting PeopleSoft.com from the bottom up

Chiara Fox's article covers how in December 2001 PeopleSoft, a large enterprise software company, relaunched its public website, and customer and partner extranets, Customer Connection and Alliance Connection. It took 11 months and more than 60 people to redesign and build the information architecture and graphic identity, build the technical infrastructure, migrate and rewrite existing content for the new content management system, test it, and finally publish the new site live.

An introduction to personas and how to create them

Before embarking on any intranet or website design project,it is important to understand the needs of your users. Tina Calabria's article offers some great tips on what personas are and how they can help make your web site successful.

Hicksdesign web site

Check out Jon Hicks web site...the creator for the Firefox logo.

Usability...again

Here's a web site by Anitra Pavka. Interesting thoughts on Web standards, usability and accessibility. Oh, and she’s really nice too! Her home page is a Weblog of breaking Web accessibility news, articles, and upcoming events. Since accessibility is an integral part of usability, she also tiee in major usability resources and information. Check it out here.

For the photographer buff

Browse around Adam Polselli's web site. Terrific use of photos and a very unique and appealing design. Go here.

Return of Design

Let’s start talking about the “design” part of Web design again. Read the article here.

Article courtesy of Asterisk.

The Internet is fun...again

Firefox has launched it's long awaited broswer version 1.0. Download it here and rediscover the web.

For the Flash enthusiast

If you're into Flash , and who isn't, check out Mike Downey's weblogs.

The many risks involved in Web development

Andy Budd explores the many risks involved in Web development and offers some excellent techniques to identify and manage risk for the benefit of Web designers and their clients. Read about it here.

Making Personas More Powerful: Details to Drive Strategic and Tactical Design

A persona is a user archetype you can use to help guide decisions about product features, navigation, interactions, and even visual design.

George Olsen dives deeper into personas and what their true intention should be.
Read more here.

Hillman Curtis

Now and then we'll call attention to those individuals that define the fine art of web design.

Hillman was named as one of the top ten designers by the IPPA, included in the “ten most wanted” by IDN magazine, and as one of the “Worlds best Flash designers” by Create Online.

Check out his web site here.

Got Usability? Talking with Jakob Nielsen

Chad Thornton conducts an interview with Jakob Nielsen, who is the usability guru who hardly needs an introduction. He’s brought usability to the attention of the general public, but within the user experience community he’s been criticized by those who say he emphasizes a puritanical view of utilitarianism that excludes other dimensions of user experience. Read the entire article here.

Site Diagrams: Mapping an Information Space

Jason Withrow article covers the topic of Understanding the structure of an information space for a website. He conveys it boils down to the following questions:

* What is the information structure?
* How do I visually represent that structure?
* What relationships exist among the web pages?
* How are those page relationships represented?

This article is courtesy of boxes and arrows.

12 Website Design Decisions

Dr. Ralph F. Wilson points out 12 decisions involved with developing a website.

Branding on the Internet

Helena Rubinstein, Managing Director and founder of the lab, a strategy company that focuses on branding and other related intangible issues. She is an expert on brand strategy and organisation and has had the privilege of working with many blue-chip companies such as Motorola, British Telecom, Gillette, McDonald's, Coca Cola and Shell to name but a few. In this article she covers branding on the Internet.
Article courtesy of

Web question of the day: What is dithering?

Full-color photographs may contain an almost infinite range of color values. Dithering is the most common means of reducing the color range of images down to the 256 (or fewer) colors seen in 8-bit GIF images.
Courtesy of

Target hits a bullseye

Exemplified by the bulls-eye logo, Target is an American retail brand that aims straight for consumers. According to its website, Target’s “department store roots” sets it apart from competing mass merchandisers. Article written by Vivian Manning-Schaffel.

Common E-Commerce WebObjects

Software Usability Research Laboratory (SURL) conducted a study to assess web objects that are common to most e-commerce websites. The objects examined were: 1) shopping cart button 2) login/register button, 3) help/service button, 4) account/order status button, 5) internal search engine, 6) "back to homepage" link and 7) grouping of links that go to individual merchandise items. Read it here.

The Need for Web Design Standards

Jakob Nielsen reflects on the need for there to be web design standards and why the concept of 'Web design' is a misnomer. Read about it here.

Microsoft B2B Site Case Study

In February 2004, Microsoft UK launched Advisor, an extranet targeted at business and technical decision makers in the mid-market. Alex Barnett offers information on what took place during this study.

Refresh that meta tag

Another article by Jennifer Kyrnin, offers tips on the good use of using meta tags to reload and redirect web pages. See it here.

Some additonal information on meta tags can be found here.

Effective Web Navigation

If people cannot navigate through your site, they will quickly leave. Thus, designing effective navigation on your Web site is crucial. Jennifer Kyrnin offers some insights on the topic of why effective navigation is so important for your web site. Check it here.

How do you add sound your web page?

The web site 'Tips, Tricks, How-To, and Beyond' shows you how the process to follow if you want to add sound to your web site. Check it out here.

Understanding of user behavior in an interactive service.

Jakob Nielsen shares his thoughts regarding the idelogies of Web Design. He boils it down to three words: mastery, mystery, and misery.

The Designer and User...it's a partnership

Author Sarah Horton, covers the finer points of the web designer and user forming a partnership. Read about it here.


Sarah Horton

Using Wireframes

There are various methods by which to walk one through the user experience. There are use-case scenarios and navigation maps. A third way is called wireframes.

Wireframes are black and white sketches or drawings that illustrate what the user will see on the respective site. The name wireframe derives from from the fact that the drawings are only an outline sketch as to what he web pages will look like. Think of wireframes as bein analogous to storyboards. Wireframes is a quick way to help in deisgn layout, evaluate and describe the various ways your web site could look like.

Here's some additional information regarding the use of wireframes.
Another example to read.

How good does your web site look...on paper?

The best way to improve the effectiveness of your company's web site is to let your site's users lend you a hand (quite literally) through the process of paper prototyping. Look here for tips on how to approach this idea.

What is contingency design?

Here's some great information from the folks at 37signals regarding 'contingency design.' So what does this mean? Think about how to maximize online profitability by helping people when things go wrong. Read more about it here.

Information courtesy of

What the heck is a favicon?

Favicon is short for "Favorites Icon". The name is derived from the bookmark list for Microsoft Internet Explorer which is called Favorites/Favourites list. I'm sure you seen those small little icons that appear within your browser window ahead of the site url name. So how does one create one? Find out here.

Designing with Front Page?

Check out Micorsoft's web site on FrontPage. It offers various tips, training and demos regarding FrontPage. Check it here.

sbi.razorfish shares its thoughts

sbi.razorfish shares in it's white papers, called SBI Perspectives, their insights on topics related to their services and client projects. SBI Perspectives examine current technologies or approaches, share best practices, and explore emerging trends. Their white papers are based on analyst and industry research, as well as on-the-ground experience with our clients. Check it out here.

The Anatomy of an Icon

“How do you create an icon?”. Here's some helpful steps on how to go about creating one.

Courtesy of Simple Bits

Web Interface practices

Take a look at examples of some popular web sites, like Blogger, Wired News,etc.; and how they transformed their respective web sites. Read about it here.

Info courtesy of

90% of All Usability Testing is Useless!?

Ninety percent of all usability testing performed on Web sites is useless. This is not to say that it doesn’t have a significant role to play in user experience design. Lane Becker explains here.

ROI Is Not a Silver Bullet: Five Actionable Steps for Valuing User Experience Design

For years now, the “ROI of User Experience” has been sought as a means to justify larger corporate investments in web design. Scott Hirsh discussses how design managers can use valuation methodology to better increase their visibility and position themselves as a strategic corporate resource. Read about it here.

The Nine Pillars of Successful Web Teams

Jesse James Garrett provides insightful tips on what it takes to build a successful web team.

Six Tips for Improving Your Design Documentation

If you are a designer or product planner, you probably create documents of some kind to capture your design decisions and solutions.Here are a few of them.

Practical Applications: Visio or HTML for Wireframes

Clients become engaged when they can interact with HTML wireframes. Clients not only enjoy the process more, but they also get a better contextual understanding of the features than with paper prototypes. Some insight to the use of Visio or HTML for building wireframes.

Read how Frog Design helped Sun's web site shine

Sun Microsystems came to frog design with a challenging proposition: redesign 40,000 pages of sun.com in mere months. Frog exceeded all expectations, to the delight of the client and industry analysts alike. Read about it here.

Enhance Usability by Highlighting Search Terms

Brian Suda and Matt Riggott talk about methods by which to enhance usability on your web site. Go here.

WEB STYLE GUIDE, 2nd edition

In 160 pages of expert instruction, authors Patrick J. Lynch and Sarah Horton put the essence of the Yale University Center for Advanced Instructional Media's wonderful online site design guide into traditional print.

The book begins the presentation of its helpful and forward-looking advice with a discussion of the overall process of defining the objectives and users of your Web site, as well as the goals you will use to measure your progress. The authors then use time-tested, traditional print concepts to clearly illustrate how to make your site interface welcoming and efficient. High-quality illustrations show how to design for overall style and professional appeal. The sections on typography and editorial style set this manual apart from many Web style guides with attention to the fine details that separate the good sites from the great.

Take a look here.

The Usability Methods Toolbox

Welcome to the Usability Methods Toolbox! James Hom has attempted to compile information about almost all of the methods and techniques (well, ok, a lot of them) used in usability evaluation. I hope you find helpful information here, or at least a pointer to additional information that will help you find what you need.

Design and Layout

Within the Design and Layout area you'll find a wide range of annotated links to web design tutorials, tips, and resources, usability, cross-platform and cross-browser issues, information architecture, creativity, and more.

Brand Value and the User Expereience

In “Brand Value and the User Experience,” Kelly Goto defines four guiding principles that should be a part of any usability or user experience specialist's toolkit. Read more.

Inspiration from Lynda

Lynda Weinman is one of today's web experts on design, visual communication and motion graphics. Here is a link to one of her pages that reflects on pages that inspre her.

Tips, Tricks, How-To, and Beyond

This site was created to help you design "a better web page". Tips offered here cover how to build a table, what is a style sheet and how to use it, to how to make your web page fit in any screen resolution. Check it out here.

Back to the Future

Ever wonder how som eweb sites have transformed over the years? Go here to WaybackMachine and see for yourself.

Brand Value and theUser Experience

In “Brand Value and the User Experience,” Kelly Goto defines four guiding principles that should be a part of any usability or user experience specialist's toolkit.

Designing for Scalability by Jeff Lash

All Web sites will scale over time. No site will remain the same as it was when first launched—nor should it. Jeff Lash talks about this subject here.

Planning a usable website: A three-step guide: April/2004

A website is like an information flow, with you as the provider and your site visitors as the receivers of the information. If you don't plan your website with this in mind right from the start, you could find yourself with a brand new website that solves all your immediate needs... but not those of your site visitors. Here's a high level three step guide.

Ten Questions for Molly Holzschlag

An author, instructor, and Web designer, Molly Holzschlag has authored over 30 books related to Web design and development. She's been coined "one of the greatest digerati" and deemed one of the Top 25 Most Influential Women on the Web.In this artices she answers 10 questions regarding web standards, IE [Internet Explorer], and her passion for the web.


Visit Molly Holzschlag's web site here.

CSS from the Ground Up

A very good introduction tutorial on Cascading Style Sheets by Joe Gillespie.

Why Switch to XHTML?

Lee Underwood offers his insights as to why you might want to consider XHTML.

The End-All Guide to Small-Screen Web-Dev

Nothing is more fun than seeing your Web page nestled nicely into a teeny tiny handheld screen; and nothing is more excruciatingly horrendous than trying to figure out how to get it there. Heidi Pollock offers a helping hand.

Inspirational web site

From time to time, WebTopia will point to a web site that is inspirational in design, layout, content, and overall presentation. Today we point you to Future Systems.This is a company that deals wth architectural and design practice producing highly original work.

Checking Your Site for Cross-Browser Compatibility

How to Check Your Website with Multiple Browsers on a Single Machine (Cross-Browser Compatibility Checking)
by Christopher Heng.

Meta Tags

There are a lot of meta tags to use, and while they all serve some purpose, simply adding all of them to your site doesn't improve your search engine placement. Instead, having a lot of extraneous tags can slow down your page loading, and some search engines might penalize you for "spamdexing".

Quick Guide on Website Assessment and Evaluation

A full site assessment and evaluation uses multi-evaluators and incorporates two testing procedures:

1. A site assessment survey to provide an overview of initial impressions of the site.

2. A modified version of the heuristic evaluation procedure, originally developed by Jakob Nielsen, to identify and rate the severity of core usability problems.

Outline of the evaluation process used by Web Usability.

In Defense of Scope Creep

Hal Helms covers the term 'scope creep'. It's the term we use in projects that identifies what happens when the porch light goes on in the customers head, thus discovering what they really want.

Art Direction and the Web

Stephen Hay's article is to introduce readers to the principles and techniques of the art director — which relate closely to web design — and show how these can influence the overall effect of a website.

Tackling Usability Gotchas in Large-scale Site Redesigns

Jeffrey Zeldman's article discusses how he addressed usability problems when working on the ALA 3.0 redesign.

Ten Questions for Dan Cederholm

Dan Cederholm is an award-winning web designer and author living in Salem, Massachusetts. As principal of SimpleBits, Dan's design and development consulting firm, he brings years of experience in designing and building sites with web standards. Dan is well known for his redesigns of Fast Company and Inc.com using standards-compliant methods, while pushing the limits of CSS.

Looking for stock photos?

From time to time, WebTopia will call attention to sites that provide services that you might want to utilize towards building your web site. Today we look at istockphoto.com. iStockphoto is a premier royalty-free stock photography community, where designers can search and download over 85,000 images, starting at just $0.50 each. It's an international community of photographers and administrators work tirelessly to bring over 1,000 new images each week!

Keep It Simple regarding web design

Keep It Simple is just what it says, a call to keep web design and web development as simple as possible. In this series of columns, Peter-Paul Koch [Columnist & Contributing Writer for Digital Web] will explore the reasons why some people think simple sites are boring sites and will explain how to find simple solutions for seemingly complex problems.

IDEO: Redesigning internet presence

Here's a short article on how IDEO, a top design company, took steps to recreate their web site.

Dreamweaver lovers

For those who favor Dreamweaver in building their web site, you can find Web templates that are created by experienced and highly talented web designers. Lynda - design web templates provide users with original design layouts that standout from the ordinary.

Running short on time?

If you're in a hurry and just don't have the time to design and build your web template to display your information, check out TemplateMonster. This site provides Website templates that are pre-made and that can be easily customized to reflect your company's branding. Website templates are available in Photoshop and HTML format. Pay per one template to get rarest design. Compatible with FrontPage, DreamWeaver, GoLive, and other software.

Web Page Design...for designers

Web Page Design For Designers, offers a good primer for the basic techniques and principles involved in designing and building Web pages.The site offers tips covering typography, navigation, Dynamic CSS animation and more.

Tips, Tricks, How-To, and Beyond

An intuitive web site to help you design "a better web page". Below you will find the answers for most of your web design problems.

Site Redesign Tutorial

Suddenly that first-generation site just ain't up to snuff - it's time for a redesign. Web Monkey offers it's insights to redesigning a web site.

Web Standards Project

The Web Standards Project is a grassroots coalition fighting for standards that ensure simple, affordable access to web technologies for all.

Frog Design: Study in extensible design systems

Hire.com, a leader in "talent" acquisition and management, asked frog to help them visually redesign and structurally combine three products, two that had been acquired recently and which supported redundant functionality.

Jakob Nielsen: Color of Visited Links

At Jakob Nielsen's web site, useit.com, is an article explaining how people get lost and move in circles when websites use the same link color for visited and new destinations.

Zelman.com

If you're looking for a great book to read about what utilizing clean web standards can do for your web site, please read Jeffrey Zeldman's Designing With Web Standards

Taking your web site to the next level

Great article found at Digital Web regarding steps dealing with renovating one's web site.