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How to optimize our server to save energy and time. Optimized websites are better for the environment. Why? They are significantly faster, more usable, with content that’s optimized for SEO and user experience. This means that both computers and users spend less time waiting for the page to load. Back when I first was creating websites, back in 1995, the Internet was considerably simpler. People were using the web at that point, but it wasn't embedded in our lives like it is now. Today, The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector is estimated to have contributed around 2 to 2.5% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions according to the International Telecommunication Union. The web industry hasn’t been particularly proactive on this issue, but Benefit Corporations like Manoverboard are doing their best to raise awareness through blog posts like Creating a Responsible, Earth-Friendly Website.

This is a big issue. In this article, I'll cover how to optimize your server to save energy and time. Server optimization Conclusion.

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10 Web-based Sandbox Tools for Testing Your Code Snippets. One of the greatest benefits the Internet provides web developers is the ability to share and collaborate with other professionals. When you’ve hit a coding roadblock, you can reach out on your social networks to see if your friends can give you a hand. Why use a web-based sandbox tool instead of a testing server or a local web server stack like XAMMP or WAMP? Not having to set up and save HTML, CSS and JavaScript documents simply to test and debug small code snippets, being able to back up your code snippets remotely, and the capability of quickly linking to and showing off your work (which many of these tools can do) are the major reasons you’d want to use them. In this article, you’ll find some of the best free code sandboxing tools for testing, debugging and/or sharing your code.

Common Features Though each tool in the list has its own unique features that might make one of them more appealing than another, you’ll find these general features in most of them: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. jsdo.it 7. Cool Tools for Library Webmasters - Internet Library 2008 - <script type="text/javascript" src=" <script>if (typeof(window.attachCsiOnload) != 'undefined' && window.attachCsiOnlo. Cool Tools for Library Webmasters - Internet Library 2008 Frank and I were back with more free or inexpensive tools for webmasters and everyone who uses the web.

This time we emphasized backups (and more backup tools), security, some tools for usability and accessibility and design. We also included a list of some all time favourites at the end. The slides (from slideshare.net ( a cool tool) are included below along with the links to the sites. BONUS Tools 1. This extension was created by Kevin Freitas. Default link color highlight key: red - broken linksyellow - forwarded, forbidden linksgreen - good linksgray - skipped links* 2. 3. 4. Links to Tools in Talk Vi Thumb Ima Generate a color palette from an image.

Widgenie create graphs online as widgets and add the to your Free Sound Filesfreesound.org.

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Web Design Resources. 51 Form Element Resources and Tutorials Using CSS And Javascript. I featured many good looking contact forms some time ago – 91 Trendy Contact And Web Forms For Creative Inspiration, so you should know how looks good example. Now let’s take a look how to create outstanding and beautifully designed form elements from scratch ourselves. Things can get tricky even if you are experienced designer. It’s hard to attract visitors attention, but this article should help to stand out and create semantically correct, good looking and accessible web forms, checkboxes, radio buttons, buttons, fieldsets – everything you can think of when you are creating contact or login page!

1. This tutorial explains how to design a good form using a clean CSS design with only label and input tags to simulate an HTML table structure. View demo & source 2. Very well explained tutorial showing crucial points you should give attention to. View demo & source 3. View demo & source 4. View demo & source 5. View demo & source 6. View demo & source 7. View demo & source 8. View demo & source 9.

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Crowdsourcing. Replace GIF with PNG Images - portable network graphics images compress more efficiently than gifs. Summary: PNGs are designed to be a more efficient, flexible, and patent-free replacement for GIFs. By replacing your GIFs with PNGs you can speed up your web pages and save bandwidth. The Portable Network Graphics (PNG) format is designed to be a more efficient, flexible, and patent-free replacement for GIFs.

PNG is designed to store a single bitmapped image to display over computer networks (1). PNG was created in 1995 as a response to Unisys' enforcement of their patent on the LZW compression algorithm used in GIFs. PNG versus GIF Compression PNGs uses the deflate compression algorithm typically with a 32KB sliding window. Not surprisingly, images saved as PNGs are typically 10% to 30% smaller than GIFs, although in rare cases they can be larger (5,6). PNG Features PNG has a number of features that make it appealing to the medical and graphics industries. For web use, the PNG8 (8-bit) is the form of PNGs that designers use to replace GIFs.

Here are some of PNGs features: Further Reading. Articles > The PNG Gamma Dilemma | Trevor Morris Photographics. PNG (pronounced ping) is a remarkable image format that supports such features as: 16-bpc true color or grayscale, alpha channels, interlacing (progressive display), and lossless compression! In addition, the PNG format allows applications to embed gamma information to correct for variations in brightness (gamma) on different platforms.

This is great news for graphic designers who want their images to look good regardless of where they're viewed; but ironically, it's also one of the obstacles preventing more universal adoption of the PNG format for the Web. The problem arises from the fact that browsers have traditionally treated the RGB values specified in CSS (and HTML), GIF and JPEG as identical (numerically and colorimetrically). With PNG, however, the stored gamma information is used to "correct" the RGB values prior to displaying the image, which means that they won't match other design elements when viewed in certain browsers. Fortunately, there are workarounds. Conclusions. Smush.it™ 5 Simple Ways to Improve Web Typography. Type is one of the most-used elements of the web.

Think about it. Unless you are YouTube or Flickr, chances are your site visitors are coming for your text content – not the fancy packaging that surrounds it. So why are web designers still treating text like a secondary element? Good typography brings order to the page and increases legibility. It allows people to process information faster. A more scannable, readable site means happy visitors. Happy visitors return often, buy products, leave comments, and share the site with friends. I could blather on forever about how far typography has come on the web, and how far yet it has to go. But plenty has been said about what web type can’t do. 1. Stupid, but true: No two browsers use the same presentation defaults.

Two I recommend: Yahoo’s CSS Reset Stylesheet Eric Meyer’s CSS Reset Stylesheet 2. Measure refers to the length of a single line of type. Additionally, your leading should increase with the length of your Measure. 3. 4. Responsive Web Design: What It Is and How To Use It - Smashing Magazine. Advertisement Almost every new client these days wants a mobile version of their website. It’s practically essential after all: one design for the BlackBerry, another for the iPhone, the iPad, netbook, Kindle — and all screen resolutions must be compatible, too. In the next five years, we’ll likely need to design for a number of additional inventions. When will the madness stop? In the field of Web design and development, we’re quickly getting to the point of being unable to keep up with the endless new resolutions and devices. Responsive Web design is the approach that suggests that design and development should respond to the user’s behavior and environment based on screen size, platform and orientation.

The Concept Of Responsive Web Design Ethan Marcotte wrote an introductory article about the approach, “Responsive Web Design,” for A List Apart. Transplant this discipline onto Web design, and we have a similar yet whole new idea. Adjusting Screen Resolution Flexible Images Media Queries. Responsive Web Design. The English architect Christopher Wren once quipped that his chosen field “aims for Eternity,” and there’s something appealing about that formula: Unlike the web, which often feels like aiming for next week, architecture is a discipline very much defined by its permanence.

Article Continues Below A building’s foundation defines its footprint, which defines its frame, which shapes the facade. Each phase of the architectural process is more immutable, more unchanging than the last. Creative decisions quite literally shape a physical space, defining the way in which people move through its confines for decades or even centuries. Working on the web, however, is a wholly different matter. But the landscape is shifting, perhaps more quickly than we might like. In recent years, I’ve been meeting with more companies that request “an iPhone website” as part of their project. A flexible foundation#section1 Let’s consider an example design. Becoming responsive#section2 responsive architecture . Fixed vs. Fluid vs. Elastic Layout: What’s The Right One For You? - Smashing Magazine.

Advertisement The problem has boggled the minds of Web designers for years: fixed, fluid, elastic or a hybrid layout design? Each option has its benefits and disadvantages. But the final decision depends so much on usability that it is not one to be made lightly. So, with all the confusion, is there a right decision? By considering a few factors and properly setting up the final design, you can end up with a successful layout design that reaps all the benefits. This article discusses the pros and cons of each type of layout. Also consider our previous articles: Flexible Layouts: Challenge For The Future1, which discusses the challenges of flexible layouts for the future.Applying Divine Proportion To Your Web Designs2, which explains the process of applying divine proportion to fixed layouts, but concludes with applying the Rule of Thirds to fluid layouts. Why all the debate? 1. Fixed Website Layouts The image above shows the general outline of a fixed-width website layout. 2.

Pros Cons 3. 4. Cognitive Disabilities. Something to Think About... The concept of cognitive disabilities is extremely broad, and not always well-defined. In loose terms, a person with a cognitive disability has greater difficulty with one or more types of mental tasks than the average person. There are too many types of cognitive disabilities to list here, but we will cover some of the major categories. Most cognitive disabilities have some sort of basis in the biology or physiology of the individual. The connection between a person's biology and mental processes is most obvious in the case of traumatic brain injury and genetic disorders, but even the more subtle cognitive disabilities often have a basis in the structure or chemistry of the brain. A person with profound cognitive disabilities will need assistance with nearly every aspect of daily living. Functional vs. There are at least two ways to classify cognitive disabilities: by functional disability or by clinical disability.

Memory Problem-solving Attention.