Horizontal Navigation Menus: Trends, Patterns, and Best Practices - Smashing Magazine Advertisement The horizontal navigation menu has become a mainstay in Web design. It is safe to say that nowadays most websites use some form of horizontal navigation to facilitate content browsing. The dominance of horizontal navigation over vertical (i.e. down a sidebar) is obviously due to the design and content limitations of the latter. Notably, CNN discovered those limitations1 before switching from vertical to horizontal a few years back. There are, however, many styles of horizontal navigation in modern Web design. In this article, we will focus on a variety of techniques and best practices to improve the usability of horizontal navigation bars, and we will note less effective styles. Use Familiar Names For Links Let’s start off with a usability tip that applies to any navigation bar. Impulse Development2 Because of the nature of the Web, users get frustrated if they cannot immediately find the content they are looking for, even if the delay is momentary. Primary links (e.g. Xero8
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The Definitive Guide to Using Negative Margins - Smashing Magazine Advertisement Since the recommendation of CSS2 back in 1998, the use of tables has slowly faded into the background and into the history books. Because of this, CSS layouts have since then been synonymous with coding elegance. Out of all the CSS concepts designers have ever used, an award probably needs to be given to the use of Negative Margins as being the most least talked about method of positioning. 1. We all use margins in our CSS, but when it comes to negative margins, our relationship somehow manages to take a turn for the worse. A negative margin looks like this: Negative margins are usually applied in small doses but as you’ll see later on, it’s capable of so much more. They are extremely valid CSSI’m not kidding on this one. 2. Negative margins are very powerful when used correctly. Negative Margins on Static Elements A static element is an element with no float applied. Negative Margins on Floated Elements Consider this as our actual markup: 3. Overlap for added emphasis 4. 5. 6.
The Mystery Of CSS Sprites: Techniques, Tools And Tutorials - Smashing Magazine Advertisement CSS Sprites are not new. In fact, they are a rather well-established technique and have managed to become common practice in Web development. What Are CSS Sprites? The term “sprite” (similar to “spirit,” “goblin,” or “elf”) has its origins in computer graphics, in which it described a graphic object blended with a 2-D or 3-D scene through graphics hardware. Sprites were displayed over a static or dynamic background image, and the positioning of the sprite was controlled simply by the hardware controllers. The Pokemon Sprite Sheet, consisting of over 1000 graphic objects. Time passed, and at the beginning of the 2000s, when progressive Web designers started to seek alternatives to JavaScript-based rollover menus (with onMouseOver and onMouseOut effects), sprites saw a renaissance in Web development. In 2004, Dave Shea suggested a simple CSS-based approach to CSS sprites based on the practice established by those legendary video games. Where Are CSS Sprites Used?
Questions to ask clients before designing their website As with any project you start, gathering essential information upfront is not only beneficial to a successful deliverable but will also save you and your client plenty of headaches throughout the process and pave the way to a lasting and trusting relationship. The more information you have equals the smoother the project goes — which in turn sets the tone for a good designer/client relationship. Some of the questions below can be applied to more then just website design so I broke them down into sections for better functionality for your clients. Company-related questions Do you currently have a website? Project-related questions Technical skill level of your client base. Additional questions Do you need to be able to update the website on your own? As with my logo questionnaire, I also like to leave my clients with a field or extra room at the end where they can provide additional details and comments.
13 Ways to Challenge Yourself in Your Career as a Web Designer A career in web design or development requires a constant effort to improve and to stay on top of new technologies and changes within the industry. No matter how much you improve or how many new things you learn there is always something else out there that can make you better at your work and improve your career. Fortunately, most designers and developers receive challenges on a daily basis in the normal course of their work, especially those who work for a variety of different clients. However, there are times when a designer should focus on learning and improvement outside of these normal activities. Perhaps no project has come up that will provide an opportunity to hone skills in a particular area, or maybe you have something specific in mind that deserves extra attention. In this article we will look at some of the ways that you can challenge yourself as a designer. Some of the most beneficial things that I have done in my career have also been the most uncomfortable. 1. 2. 3. 4.
Discussion Overview Okay, I have some bad news. Brace yourself… I have closed the boagworld forum. I know, if you are viewing this page then you were probably a fan of the forum and so this might be a little disappointing. However, I do have good reasons: The forum was a lot of work to maintain, due to insane amounts of spam.Only a fraction of my followers ever used it.It was exasperating a problem I had with fractured conversations happening across the forum, twitter, Facebook and comments.There are loads of better web design forums out there and my own contribution felt like a slightly pointless addition. But do not despair! This new section allows you to post questions via Twitter (using the hash tag #helpbw) and users can monitor that hash tag and respond to questions. In addition, I will pick some questions and either post an answer on the blog myself or encourage another boagworld reader to do so. Visit the Q&A section now
CSS3 Dropdown Menu While I was coding the Notepad theme, I’ve learned some new CSS3 features and now I would like to share it with you. View the demo to see a Mac-like multi-level dropdown menu that I’ve created using border-radius, box-shadow, and text-shadow. It renders perfect on Firefox, Safari and Chrome. View Demo CSS3 Dropdown Preview The image below shows how the menu will look if CSS3 is not supported. One Gradient Image is Used A white-transparent image is used to achieve the gradient effect. The instensitiy of the gradient can be changed by shifting the background image up or down. CSS Code I’m not going to explain the CSS line by line. Update Apr 13 2010: Pure CSS Dropdown (No Image Used) The following demo used CSS gradient and IE gradient filter instead of the gradient image.
50 Brilliant CSS3/JavaScript Coding Techniques - Smashing Magazi Advertisement CSS3 is coming. Although the browser support of CSS 3 is still very limited, many designers across the globe experiment with new powerful features of the language, using graceful degradation for users with older browsers and using the new possibilites of CSS3 for users with modern browsers. In this post we present 50 useful and powerful CSS3/jQuery-techniques that can strongly improve user experience, improve designer’s workflow and replace dirty old workarounds that we used in Internet Explorer 6 & Co. Visual Effects and Layout Techniques With CSS3 CSS3 Analogue ClockAnalogue clock created using webkit transition and transform CSS. Use CSS3 to Create a Dynamic Stack of Index CardsWe will create a dynamic stack of index cards solely with HTML and CSS3 and use such CSS3 features as transform and transition (for the dynamic effects) and @font-face, box-shadow and border-radius (for the styling). Navigation Menus With CSS 3 CSS 3 Transitions and Animations CSS3 Galleries