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Being a web designer is not easy. Not only do we need to have a good understanding about visual design, typography, information architecture, psychology and a plethora of other disciplines; in our work, we need to take care of so many details, so that our job becomes more and more time-consuming, requiring dozens of tools, attention span and an effective workflow for beautiful, timely and functional results. And this is where small time-savers become handy. Be it a handy checklist, batch installer, dummy image generator or converter from Excel spreadsheet to HTML — all these things can save us a couple of minutes every day, making our work easier and more efficient.
Website design is a competitive as well as a lucrative field due to many reasons. It is competitive because of the numerous website designers present around the world. Internet has changed the way businesses operate and it is no longer confined to local companies or designers. Any person who has the talent and skill can get a website design project, irrespective of his or her geographical location. This has opened up the world and has intensified competition.
As designers who deal with clients, we all have to face one situation, no matter how difficult and uncomfortable, and that is guiding the client to accept that your design is perfect. Now, you already have the project, so this is not a matter of convincing them to pick you for the job. This is about getting them to see that your design satisfies their requirements and contains everything they want. We all have to take on this role of virtual tour guide and lead them through the project’s twists and turns, ensuring that the best interests of the client and website are served. We have to be the lighthouse, guiding the clients to shore. ( Image credit ) In the end, the final decision falls to the client, but there are times — and most of us have experienced them — when the client’s lack of expertise in the field affect the quality of the design.
Design : The estimated time to read this article is 4 minutes Sometimes I think I am deeply conflicted.
7th December, 2009 Tom Kenny Articles As a web designer, it is difficult for me to use the web without analysing almost every page I see. Web design is my passion so I can’t avoid it. It’s one of the best ways to learn what has been done well so when I see poor use of design on the web and think about the average user, it annoys me to notice that some aspects of websites, or even complete sites, are poorly designed.
Over the past few weeks we’ve been showcasing some amazing articles, tools, and videos in our Resources section. Our twitter followers have gotten a taste of these resources and have let us know they are really enjoying them! Today I would like to share some tools with you that focus on accessibility, a very important sector of user experience. Improve Accessibility Here are some tools you may find useful increase accessibility, a constant battle that UX designers have to face:
Dec 18 2009 By Tim Wright and TJ Kelly CSS is the best thing to happen to the web since Tim Berners-Lee. It’s simple, powerful, and easy to use. But even with all its simplicity, it hides some important capabilities.
It’s really easy to find yourself wondering how your CSS got to be such a mess. Sometimes it’s the result of sloppy coding from the start, sometimes it’s because of multiple hacks and changes over time. Whatever the cause, it doesn’t have to be that way. Writing clean, super-manageable CSS is simple when you start off on the right foot and make your code easier to maintain and edit later on. Here are 11 tips for speeding up the process, writing CSS that is slimmer, faster and less likely to give you a headache.
Organic design is commonly applied to products such as chairs, electronic equipment, books and home décor. Following the same principles, organic web design has recently emerged as a trend. Professional designers and companies have taken a more natural approach to creating their websites, logos and packaging, leaving behind the overtly technological sheen of the early 2000s. Yes, fellow designers, it is safe to say that the new age of organic design for websites and corporate logos has taken effect. Whether overt or subtle, whether scanned elements or graphics that mimic nature, organic web design has taken on many forms. But what constitutes organic design?
The beauty of being a web designer is creating a detailed, creative, and original web design in Photoshop , without having to (for the most part) think about how it will be coded . During the design phase, it’s all about the look , and either the coding can be taken care of later, or be outsourced to a developer. Either way, not thinking about the development usability or functionality is a great way for a designer to not feel limited in the design process. This is a great way of thinking, and can lead to the best designs. However, once it does need to be coded, we as designers are in a tricky spot. In this article, you’ll find a few simple tips that can help designers learn basic XHTML/CSS conversion efficiently for a quick-loading website that is accurate to the original PSD.
The main reason web sites are built is so that they are functional to be USED. It’s a simple as that. They are tools, references and resources, nothing more. And as web designers, we need to always remember that. Designing a web site needs to be about the user and only for the user and every possible need of said user has to have been foreseen and catered for.
There are many books and articles on typography, but considerably few explore typeface selection and pairing. With the floodgates poised to open and the promise of many typefaces being freed up for use on websites, choosing the right face to complement a website’s design will need to become another notch in the designer’s belt.
How would you like to design a beautiful, colorful, stimulating website that is captivating, memorable and allows you to let your creative juices flow without the need to worry too much about conventional usability and best practices? In today’s Web design market, it’s rare that such a project would present itself — unless you were asked to design a website for children! Websites designed for children have been largely overlooked in Web design articles and roundups, but there are many beautiful and interesting design elements and layouts presented on children’s websites that are worthy of discussion and analysis. There are also a number of best practices that are exclusive to Web design for children’s sites — practices that should usually not be attempted on a typical website. This article will showcase a number of popular commercial websites targeted towards children with an analysis of trends, elements and techniques used to help keep children interested and stimulated.