Friday, November 23, 2012

23 Tips on How to A/B Test Like a Badass


a-vs-b-test


Most marketers and they only have a basic understanding of the art of A/B testing. They haven’t quite figured out how to take it to the next level. By Search Engine Watch

Monday, October 22, 2012

A Field Guide To Mobile App Testing

 RunKeeper Date Bug
At the heart of testing is the capability to ask challenging and relevant questions. You are on your way to becoming a good tester if you combine investigative and questioning skills with knowledge of technology and products. By Smashing Mobile

6 Phases of the Web Site Design and Development Process


6 Phases of the Web Site Design and Development Process

There are numerous steps in the web site design and development process. From gathering initial information, to the creation of your web site, and finally to maintenance to keep your web site up to date and current. By iDesign Studios

Other tips

The S.M.A.R.T. User Experience Strategy

 Product detail page wireframe.

It’s not specific, directly measurable, actionable, relevant or trackable. Thus, it will create disagreement and disorganization, sending many projects into chaos. However, you can avoid this by using S.M.A.R.T. goal-setting criteria when defining user and business goals. By Smashing UX Design

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

5 Simple Tips for Designing Better iPhone Apps

 

Since it’s not possible for someone to judge ease-of-use (usability) or code-quality just by browsing the App Store, judging entirely based on design makes sense, and so apps with better design tend to be chosen more often when compared with competing apps. By Nathan Barry

25 Beautiful Examples of Pricing Tables


Pricing table example: Dropbox

When a web application or web service has several prices, they’ll often have a pricing page that displays the different plans or subscriptions you can get, typically laid out in a pricing table so that you can easily compare between the differences of each item. By Jacob Gube

25 Beautiful Responsive Web Design Examples for Inspiration


Responsive web design example: Earth Hour

Responsive web design is the practice of enhancing the experience of the user by adapting the web page layout to the device he or she is using when accessing the site. There are several ways to create a responsive web design, media queries being the standard technique. By Jacob Gube

How to Create Content Maps for Planning Your Website’s Content

Content mapping is a visual technique that will help you organize and understand the content of a website. It can be a simple and valuable part of your site’s overall content strategy. This short and simple guide should help you get started.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Helping Your Clients Build an Effective Mobile Strategy

Show Them the Money

It can be a challenge convincing clients to add new strategies to their existing Web presence. In a perfect world, a client would simply say, "You’re the expert. You know what’s best. Do whatever needs to be done to make it happen!" But, unfortunately, it just doesn’t work like that. By Six Revisions

30 Beautiful Dark Website Designs for Inspiration

Dark website design example: Michelle Carrillo

Using dark colors in your web design can create a look that’s edgy. This showcase features some excellent dark website designs for your inspiration. By Six Revisions

Native App vs. Mobile Web App: A Quick Comparison

Native App vs. Mobile Web App: A Quick Comparison

A light bulb goes off. You have the next great idea for a mobile app that you want to develop. It’ll change lives. It’ll make you millions. What’s the next step you need to take? By Six Revisions

Flow, Mastery and Ease-of-Use

Recently the web design community has been eating up the secrets of game design. The Gamification trend merely borrowed simple game mechanics, from badges to progress bars. By Boxes and Arrows

Monday, June 18, 2012

21 Beautiful Examples of Color Usage in Web Design


Colorful Websites

From colorful headers to images, textures and typography you will see a lot of different approaches to color usage in web design. By WDL

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

21 Beautiful Examples of Typography in Web Design

Inspiring Typography

Here are some examples of beautiful typography usage in web design. The examples here are where typography is the main focus, and examples where typography complements the design. By WDL

20 Inspiring Examples of Big Backgrounds in Web Design


Big Backgrounds in Web Design

One way to easily define the tone and mood of a website is to use a big background image. However, when doing this, you need to consider that big images often have a lot going on, so it’s important to take a minimal approach with other aspects of the design. By WDL

20 Fresh CSS3 Tutorials

Create the Illusion of Stacked Elements with CSS3 Pseudo-Elements

The design industry is probably one of the fastest changing and growing. Designers have to keep their eyes on everything, including new trends in visual design, as well as interaction technologies like jQuery, HTML5, and CSS3. Designers are using these technologies to express more creativity in design production and make user experience richer. By WDL

21 Fantastic Examples of Sliders in Web Design

Image Sliders in Web Design

Sliders are an excellent way to organize and highlight important content on a site. They can also be used to display a good amount of content within a limited amount of screen real estate. By WDL

Setting the Bottom Line for your Web Projects

Ruler, measure and design tools - featured image

Working as a freelance web designer you’ll find yourself naturally jumping from project-to-project. This quick pace comes with the lifestyle and requires some serious dedication. You cannot get lost in the royalties of extra touch-ups and recoloring textures. By WDL

Data Monday: Mobile Web Shopping

Though few people dispute the growth of mobile computing, many remain unconvinced about mobile e-commerce. By LukeW

Roundup of single page websites



One of the recent developments on the web has been the rise in the use of one page websites by everyone from web designers to large companies to promote their product, app or portfolio. By Webdesigner Depot

A (not so) jilted English professor’s guide to creative web design

Responsive design has some definite buzz of late, and with good reason. It promises to simplify the increasingly complex task of adapting websites for the countless new devices multiplying by the minute. By Webdesigner Depot

How to speed up your website

Site speed is one of the most important things about creating web content, and web applications.
In fact, it has been noted by various analysts at Google that people don’t often sit through the first 30 seconds of a video, much less the first 15, so it would be wise of you to get the content of your site loaded as fast as you can so that people can make a judgement and agree to either use it or not. By Webdesigner Depot

Posting a price list on your web site: does it work or fail?

Most people misunderstand the concept of a price list for creative services. By Webdesigner Depot

What’s new for designers



Check out jQuery plugins, grid tools, CSS tools, WordPress resources, productivity and business tools, responsive design resources, and some really great new fonts. Many of the resources below are free or very low cost, and are sure to be useful to a lot of designers and developers out there. By Webdesigner Depot

Creativity-based Research: The Process of Co-Designing with Users

Codesigning software

The practice of co-design allows users to become an active part of the creative development of a product by interacting directly with design and research teams. By UX Magazine

Interaction Design In The Cloud

Interaction designers create wireframes in tools such as Adobe Illustrator, OmniGraffle and Microsoft Visio. Originally, these wireframes were primitive shapes drawn to represent various UI elements. Many of us cannot imagine life without them. By Smashing UX Design

Mobile Device Lab, Browsers and Animated GIFs

Short article covering browsers and animated gifs. By Smashing Mgazine

The Importance of Strategic Micro Copy: An iTunes Case Study

iTunes Fail

Poorly devised, unhelpful content is wasteful. It potentially wastes the time of users and can also have financial implications for the company responsible for it, in this case Apple. By Contentini

Web Content Strategy: Sites vs Apps


Website content should be easy to read. Your eyes should easily scan through the text and end the article with little effort or eyestrain. By Contentini

5 Reasons Why Metaphors Can Improve the User Experience

5 Reasons Why Metaphors Can Improve the User Experience

There are many ways to experience the world around us. Especially offline, we can make use of our different senses to collect information, interpret our environment and make judgments. By Six Revisions

Ultra Sleek Accordion Slider: Free PSD Template

Ultra Sleek Accordion Slider: Free PSD Template


This exclusive freebie on Six Revisions, brought to you by www.bestpsdfreebies.com, is a design mockup of an accordion slider that can be used to display content. By Six Revisions

Hillman Curtis


Hillman passed away at home on April 18th at 6:03 pm in the presence of his loving wife, two children, his sister, sister in law and brother in law. He was 51 years old and died after a long and fiercely fought battle with colon cancer. Hillman deeply loved his work, all of it -- film directing, graphic design, all aspects of new media -- and he especially loved his talented mentors, friends and students in these fields. His favorite topic was inspiration and he made sure to surround himself with it and find it in everything -- his colleagues, his family, New York City, art, film and all of you. He loved you all and took energy from those with whom he corresponded, exchanged ideas and with his fans. Sweet Prince Hill, true gentleman, good dad and passionate artist, Rest in Peace.

Scalable Vector Graphics: an Overview

SVGs are ideal if you require a scalable diagram such as a chart or logo which can be altered or animated using JavaScript DOM methods. By Sitepoint

What do you need to know about HTML5 video

HTML5 keeps on stunning the Internet community with revolutionary web features. One of the key HTML5 enhancements is the advanced video support. By Sitepoint

Friday, May 11, 2012

23 Must-Read Tutorials for Advanced HTML5/CSS3 Coders

If you already have a solid grasp on building websites, you may not know where to move next. There are so many topics held under the umbrella of HTML5/CSS3. It’s not possible to learn them all in one sitting! But tons of design blogs these days are writing tutorials geared towards advanced web developers. By Dezineblog

34 Inspiring Agency Websites



Some well designed agency websites. By Dzineblog

40 HTML5 Powered Websites



Some amazing websites using HTML5. By Dzineblog

31 Creative User Interface Designs for .org Websites



There are many different organizations which are constantly striving to help the world become a nicer place to live. The Internet is one medium of communication which cannot be ignored in the 21st century. By Dzineblog

34 Top Blogs for Learning Web & Graphics Design



Blogs are the greatest news medium adapted for this new century. With premiere software such as WordPress literally anybody can sit down at their computer as a news reporter to the world. Particularly the topics of web design and Photoshop graphics have become very popular amongst the younger crowd. By Dzineblog

25 Google Chrome Extensions for Web & Graphics Designers



There’s no questioning the popularity of Google. What started as a search engine for the WWW has transformed into an enormous conglomerate media company which has truly changed the way we live. Google Chrome is alternatively a fast-growing browser which trumps Firefox in many regards. By Dzineblog

31 Beautiful Fashion Websites



Here are some beautifully designed fashion related websites for your inspiration. By Dzineblog

Guide to Building Semantic Web Forms

iPhone wireframe featured image shot

In the web design industry there are many different rulebooks you can follow. Most notably the World Wide Web Consortium is renowned for creating these standard rules of the road. Web browsers do not always conform to these standards, thus you have many of the hacks seen today(such as Internet Explorer). By Dzineblog

28 Functional Examples of Web Design Pagination



When sitting down to construct a web layout there are certain elements you must pay attention to. Your header design, logo, and navigation links are just a few to consider. But many web designers don’t spend as much time on pagination effects. By Dzineblog

Design Tips for iPhone App Website Layouts

The process of designing a landing page is much different than a standard website. You have to plan ahead for your audience and understand what they’ll be looking for. These ideas hold true in any market and certainly within iPhone/iPad app displays. By Dzineblog

34 Inspiring Music Related Websites

 

Here are 34 inspiring music websites to check out. By Dzineblog

Checking Form Validation Fields with jQuery

There are dozens of misconceptions around what you can build with jQuery. The library is extensible enough that you can target a whole range of HTML elements and perform some very complex data checks. By Dzineblog

Important Features for Ramping Up your Web Presence

featured image twitter social cookies

Any company can benefit from an improved marketing strategy on the Internet. There are so many outlets for connecting with customers from all around the world that it’s almost impossible to lose traction. But you need to be savvy at understanding trends and how users interact with social networking websites. By Dzineblog
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35 Beautiful iPhone/iPad App Websites



Here are some beautiful iPhone/iPad application websites. By Dzineblog

Wednesday, May 09, 2012

Create a Dark Portfolio Web Design in Photoshop

In this web design tutorial, you'll learn how to create a dark web layout in Photoshop. By Design Instruct

30 Clean Website Designs for Inspiration

Clean website design example: zync

Clean web designs — characterized by being aesthetically simple and clutter-free — has become a website design style staple. In this showcase, you’ll find 30 beautiful examples of clean web designs that we hope will surely inspire you. By Design Instruct

30 Excellent Textured Website Designs for Inspiration

Textured website design example: Nike Vision

Applying textures in your design can be an effective way to give it an added bit of intricacy and detail. If you’re thinking of using textures in your website layouts, we hope that these beautiful examples of textured web designs will inspire you. By Design Instruct

Using Photo Backgrounds in Web Design: 30 Examples

Photo background web design example: The Great Discontent

Using large photos as a web page background is a popular technique that can result in a design that’s vivid and memorable. By Design Instruct

30 Beautiful Gray Web Designs for Inspiration

Gray website design example: think moto

Gray is such a versatile color. Lighter shades of gray can be used to make a web design look elegant, clean and professional. Darker shades of gray can make a web design look bold and edgy. In this showcase, you’ll see 30 beautiful websites that use gray as a principle color. By Design Instruct

The Content Strategist as Digital Curator

The term “curate” is the interactive world’s new buzzword. By A List Apart

Say no to Faux Bold

Faux-bold Diplomata
Browsers can do terrible things to type. If text is styled as bold or italic and the typeface family does not include a bold or italic font, browsers will compensate by trying to create bold and italic styles themselves. By A List Apart

Applying Macrotypography For A More Readable Web Page


Any application of typography can be divided into two arenas: micro  and macro. Understanding the difference between the two is especially useful when crafting a reading experience, because it allows the designer to know when to focus on legibility and when to focus on readability. By Smashing Magazine

Removing Stumbling Blocks In Mobile Forms

Phone number example

There are several factors that can be considered to be stumbling blocks throughout the journey of filling out a form. By Smashing UX Design

How To Build A Real-Time Commenting System

The Web has become increasingly interactive over the years. This trend is set to continue with the next generation of applications driven by the real-time Web. Adding real-time functionality to an application can result in a more interactive and engaging user experience. By Smashing Code

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Get rid of the line between design and development

Designer and developer Bastian Allgeier says designers should learn how to code to become creatively independent and calls for an end to the strict separation between both skillsets. By .Net Magazine

Nielsen responds to mobile criticism

Nielsen responds to mobile criticism

The usability pro answers critics who have described his recent mobile recommendations as "backward". By .Net Magazine

Nielsen is wrong on mobile

Designer, developer and mobile maven Josh Clark tells us that rather than stripping down, we should be asking how we can do more with the mobile experience. By .Net Magazine

The 10 principles of mobile interface design

 A sample of the various keyboards available on iOS

Based on his workshops, mobile consultant Jonathan Stark compiles the top principles of mobile interface design and explains how to take your mobile app from concept to completed design. By .Net Magazine

Hillman Curtis, a Pioneer in Web Design, Dies at 51

 

Hillman Curtis, a former rock musician who became a prominent first-generation Web designer and a visionary figure in the Internet’s evolution from a predominantly text-based medium to the multimedia platform it is today, died on Wednesday at his home in Brooklyn. He was 51. By New York Times

50 fantastic tools for responsive web design



To get started with building a responsive site, having a strong toolkit can make a world of difference. Here Denise Jacobs and Peter Gasston round up 50 great tools to aid the process of making your sites responsive. By .Net Magazine

Ethan Marcotte answers your responsive web design questions

 Ethan Marcotte answers your questions on responsive web design

Ethan Marcotte, author of A Book Apart's Responsive Web Design and the man who coined and kickstarted the whole concept, takes on your questions and covers responsive advertising, images and more. By .Net Magazine

15 fabulous responsive sites for your inspiration


Antony and Jerome Ribot present 15 of the best responsive sites featured in our mag's Gallery over the last six months. By .Net Magazine

The next chapter of responsive web design

Responsive web design has been a hot topic for the last couple of years. And why not? The ingredients of a flexible grid, flexible images and media queries are a powerful recipe to help us serve websites to screens of varying sizes. By .Net Magazine

Five responsive web design pitfalls to avoid

Five responsive web design pitfalls to avoid

There are number of nasty traps to avoid when making your site responsive. Brad Frost of R/GA reveals five of the biggest ones and how to sidestep them. By .Net Magazine

Build a responsive site in a week: going further (part 5)

 The device testing lab used during the development of the BBC News mobile site

Although responsive web design can help us craft compelling adaptive experiences, it’s no silver bullet; this approach won’t automatically deliver websites that can cater for every conceivable device and use case – but it’s a start. By .Net Magazine