50 Powerful Time-Savers For Web Designers - Smashing Magazine. 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.
And this is why we keep collecting them for Smashing Magazine’s readers. Whether you like lists or not: this one will probably help you find those little nuggets out there that will help you avoid headaches and stress. Below we present useful time-savers for web designers. Time-Savers For Web Designers Link try ruby! Dos and Don'ts of Website Design | Flash, Design, Vector, Photoshop, Adobe Tutorials | GraphicMania.net. Deal mania on GraphicMania! Check out our deals section for graphic designers and developers. The newest deal can be seen below! Value: €150 | Now: €15 | Discount: 90% 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. Before continuing reading this post did you already join our Twitter and subscribe to our RSS feed? On the other hand, it is also lucrative because Internet is a powerful medium through which a message can reach millions of people. Dos The below-mentioned aspects are vital to enhance the look and functionality of a website and it is important every designer follows them.
Maintain Consistency The website should have the same design through all its pages. Viewable Resolution Image by shutterstock Site Map Safe Colors and fonts Focus on the purpose Don’ts. How To Convince The Client That Your Design Is Perfect - Smashing Magazine. Web Designer Wall - Design Trends and Tutorials. Woork Up - A Fresh Charge of Creativity.
The Pro Designer — Just Awesome Design Information To Help Make. Dzinpress [Where Dzine World Live!] Pro Blog Design - How To Design a Better Blog. Dzine Blog | Design inspiration and Resources. Stop designing websites, start designing posters « Boagworld. Design: The estimated time to read this article is 4 minutes Sometimes I think I am deeply conflicted. On one side I am always going on about how print is not like the web and web designers need to stick to conventions.
On the other hand I feel inspired to be more creative in my work and take some risks. In one recent post I wrote: Too many websites look the same as their competition. How then can we be different and yet still ensure our websites are usable? Looking to the poster for inspiration One way to remain usable and yet be different, is to look for inspiration beyond the web. One example of this is printed posters. Posters have to be: Visually attractive in order to grab attention.Easy to take in at a glanceProvide more information to the more interested reader In other words they need to be… EngagingUsableScanableHave a clear information hierarchy Sound familiar?
Take a look at these posters below. Using poster design on the web Flourish Web Design Groovy Web Design Kitschen Sink Samsung. 7 of the Most Common Web Design Mistakes You Must Avoid - Inspec. 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.
Here are seven of the most common mistakes made in web design and why you need to avoid them at all costs in order to make sure you are on the right track to producing the best work you possibly can. 1. First of all, Flash is great when used well. The problem is that beyond this the disadvantages of using Flash far far outweighs the benefits in almost all cases. Sometimes you’ll see Flash being used for navigation when it just isn’t necessary at all. 2. 3. There are two types of poor images when it comes to web design. 4. 5. 6. 7. 5 Web Accessibility Improvement Tools.
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: Wave: Web Accessbility Evaluation Tool WAVE is a free web accessibility evaluation tool provided by WebAIM.
Image Analyzer This service examines all images found on a web page to check for any accessibility issues. Color Blindness Simulator Use this Colour Blindness Simulator to reveal how your images or websites may appear to users with a variety of colour blindness conditions. Improve Readability Readability is key to accessibility. Color Contrast User Testing Tools: It is always fun to try out new user testing tools. Blog Web Design. Helps you build good looking and functiona. CSS Techniques I Wish I Knew When I Started Designing Websites -
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. Ask any designer, and they’ll tell you that the majority of their code headaches are caused and ultimately solved by CSS. All designers at some point in their career go through the process of encountering a weird display issue, searching for a resolution, and discovering a trick, technique, or hack could have saved them hours of frustration—if they had only known when they started. We’ve put together a list of the most frustrating and time-consuming CSS headaches and, more importantly, their solutions (along with examples and further resources).
Resets & Browser Inconsistencies Not all browsers are created equal. The early stages of resets, designers dealt with differing margin and padding values, using a global reset: inputbuttonhr Resources for Resets Extras Floats & Clearing <! Face. 10 Best CSS Practices to Improve Your Code. 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. 1. Stay Organized Just like anything else, it pays to keep yourself organized. It will help you keep the cascading part of CSS in mind and sets your style sheet up to take advantage of style inheritance. Declare your most generic items first, then the not-so-generic and so on.
Use a structure that works best for you while keeping future edits and other developers in mind. Resets and overridesLinks and typeMain layoutSecondary layout structuresForm elementsMiscellaneous 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. How to Create an Organic Web Design (and Showcase) | Webdesigner. 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? What makes it successful? Let’s find out… What Makes an Organic Web Design?
Though the name suggests that some kind of ecological statement is being made, organic web design is more about bringing natural elements into a technological environment. In recent years, organic design has taken on an “essentialist” quality. Coding a Web Design for Speed and Quality. 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. We either must slice and code the designs ourselves, or turn away part of our profits to an outsourcing PSD to XHTML/CSS company or developer. Doing it Yourself vs. You’re just not at a strong financial point. 1. 2. An Introduction to Understanding and Implementing Web Usability. 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.
Only then can a web site be usable. That is what USABILITY is. Ok, that might be the worst description of web usability that you have ever read, but I am sure you get the point. The big question is ‘how do I make my website usable?’ The best way to make your web site accessible is to read as much on the subject as possible and that is where this post comes in. For this post, we have collected the best resources for learning about web usability; there are downloadable eBooks, online manuals, printable guidelines and useful checklists.
The Research-Based Web Design & Usability Guidelines were developed by the U.S. You might also like… Six Revisions - Web Development and Design Information. Woork Up - A Fresh Charge of Creativity. A List Apart. On Web Typography. 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. But where do we start? Article Continues Below Until now, using any typefaces beyond those installed with computer operating systems by default meant using images, Flash, or some other workaround.
This exposed the elephant in the type foundry: Type makers have largely refused to license their raw typefaces on webpages out of concerns about piracy. Brave new world#section1 We’ve been spoiled. The technical problems with web type also run deep. There’s a serious possibility that by gaining access to the world’s font libraries, we’re opening Pandora’s Box. Context and meaning#section2 Picky, picky#section3 The drop dead guide to choosing and pairing typefaces#section4. Designing Websites for Kids: Trends and Best Practices - Smashin. Advertisement 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.
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