book learnin'
2007.07.26 15:16
As I delve into more and more dynamic programming, the first name that pops into mind as of late is, Ajax. Asynchronous javascript and XML seems to be one of the flavors of the month, but it is more so. It is the robust framework that has grown up over the past few years and evolved into the way to deliver dynamic content and an immersive web experience. Read More...
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Site analysis
2007.07.23 07:48
In order to reach the widest available market a web site must adhere to certain standards and accepted practices to truly be effective. Unlike traditional media, web sites are an interactive medium and require acknowledgment of the industries best practices. Normally when reviewing a site, there are several aspect of a site considered in our evaluations. The sum of all these parts helps to objectively assess the quality of a given site.
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Speech Bubbles
2007.07.16 08:05
Something fun, but mostly useless for commercial prospects, is Speech Bubble. Installing this into your browser allows you to add a speech bubble to any photo on the web and share it with your friends. There are some sites that will not work (i.e. Flash, larger sites like NY Times, etc.) but overall it is a fun diversion for you and your friends on a slow afternoon.
iPhone Dev Camp followup
2007.07.11 08:53
The follow-up to the barcamp for the iPhone was quite productive. There is a list of apps available at their site.
iDevelop 4 iPhone
2007.07.06 15:57
Apple has officially launched the iPhone developer's section to their site. It seems fairly light in offerings and logging into my developer account does not offer much more information. This weekend there is a Barcamp iPhone developer meeting in San Francisco; hopefully we will learn more about developing for the iPhone from there.
MooTools
2007.02.27 09:31
Mad4Milk has released MooTools: MooTools is a compact, modular, Object-Oriented javascript framework designed to make writing extensible and compatible code easier and faster. Essentially MooTools provides a creative solution to animating items on your webpage.
Gallery sites
2006.11.13 08:09
There seems to be an explosion of gallery sites, specifically sites geared to highlighting great work with web-standards. The mother of all these sites, in my mind, would be CSS Zen Garden; this site more than any other has showcased what good design can do when coupled with web standards.
Web Creme
CSS Mania
CSS Remix
CSSTux
Style Gala
Now I am all for promoting good work, but with the sheer number of these sites, the amount of duplication of efforts has begun to show itself. Some offer rankings, while others are just blind links to the site with nothing more than a screenshot of the site. There are, however, a couple of sites that stand out and provide more than a simple gallery of the latest and greatest. CSS Globe is hoping to add more to the conversation, as is CSS Beauty.
I think many of these sites will either have to begin offering more to their visitors, or they will lose their relevance to the design community. Providing examples of well-designed sites with no discussion on why they may be good or relevant is incomplete. As a design community, there must be a place to discuss the merits of good design and the cause + effect relationship it may have had on the project(s).
It is like grade school, where we were admonished to show our work, so we may gain some credit even if the final answer was wrong. Design is a speculative business and what I consider a fine design may not be universally held. Discussion of defined merits of a design and how it may or may not succeed in the marketplace is invaluable as we move the design community forward in the ether that is web 2.0.
Holy @$#*
2006.10.09 14:06
Google does it again. Their labs have opened up search for code. They have also opened up what could be sensitive information by indexing anything and everything with the appropriate extension. This could mean trouble for some who make their living by writing proprietary code for a living. It could also mean trouble for the rest of us, when that code incorporates sensitive information within the markup.
I am awed by Google and becoming more afraid of their power.
Firefox ho!
2006.10.02 11:16
I have used Safari and Firefox for ages, but the featureset for Firefox has finally made me convert to using it as my full-time browser. I had been reluctant to make the final leap since Firefox still does not address the very handy Services menu in OS X. I use this function extensively, especially while browsing to save snippets of interest, but that was finally outweighed by the enormous amount of features available from the Firefox community.
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Methodology explained - Part III Develop
2006.07.30 22:10
In a brief introduction to our approach to a project we have been going over some of the larger concepts in working towards a finished site. The third stage in our process is development. Once the finished concept is signed and approved by the client, we then move to actually build the site. During the development process, we move from designing the experience to creating the site. Read More...
Methodology explained - Part II design
2006.06.25 21:36
In the second phase, of a 5 phase process for developing any project, we start working on the design of the site. The design will incorporate much more than just how the site will ultimately look. The design refers to the structural integrity of the information architecture as well as the aesthetics of the visual design. In order to develop an appropriately immersive experience to solve my client’s problem we begin, as they say, at the beginning. Read More...
RSS Media Redux
2006.06.15 12:13
Really Simple Syndication is a means with which to broadcast feeds (alternatively call streams, webfeed, channels, etc.) to the general public. These feeds provide content, or brief summaries and associated metadata, to the end-user with links back to the full or expanded content. The end-user uses a reader or aggregator to subscribe to a feed as well as review the content.
There have been forms of syndication, but none ever achieved a fraction of the success that RSS has obtained thus far. With the variety of rich media (blogs, podcast, photocast, vodcast, etc.) that can now utilize an RSS feed, its popularity will only increase. Read More...
Methodology explained - Part I Define
2006.06.09 23:43
I have been working in this business for nearly twenty years, although my training stretches back to my early childhood, and I have worked in every form of visual communications during that time. Each medium has its own requirements and discipline, but within all of these business models, the common elements are quality work produced on time and in budget.
This is a business and we must ensure due diligence to solve our clients problems, increase their business and return a profit to our company (regardless of whether you own it or work for da' man).Any time you can streamline a process, or refine a workflow to enhance the quality of the work while increasing profitability ensures that you are a valuable member of a company. Read More...
This is a business and we must ensure due diligence to solve our clients problems, increase their business and return a profit to our company (regardless of whether you own it or work for da' man).Any time you can streamline a process, or refine a workflow to enhance the quality of the work while increasing profitability ensures that you are a valuable member of a company. Read More...
AS to outline your Flash movie…
2006.06.05 14:00
With so much to do during the day it is always best to streamline production to work more effectively. A lot of the Flash work I am called upon to develop is online marketing materials (read: banners). These pieces always have a definite set of parameters to run at the publisher's sites. One requirement is that all banner advertisements need an outline. I used to always create this within Flash, converting it to a symbol that I could cut and paste between files. Read More...
Webstandards links
2006.05.30 16:49
Here are some more links for some webstandard design & coding insight from some of the big brains online (these are all external links populating a new window):
A List Apart - explores the design, development, and meaning of web content, with a special focus on techniques and benefits of designing with web standards.
Eric Meyer - if you do not know this man's work or his site, do yourself a favor bookmark his site and grab his books. He is one of the reasons that web standards has gained such notoriety. His knowledge is extensive and his ability to illustrate complex ideas with simple tutorials is without peer.
Tantek Çelik - here is another great leader in the field of web standards and CSS. He has certainly forgotten more about this language than I have learned.
Kurafire Network - here is some real interesting use of compliant CSS/XHTML. Faruk is a talented designer and his reputation is growing in the field.
I will add some more links at a later time. If you have any inspirational designers who you find valuable to your work, please let me know.
A List Apart - explores the design, development, and meaning of web content, with a special focus on techniques and benefits of designing with web standards.
Eric Meyer - if you do not know this man's work or his site, do yourself a favor bookmark his site and grab his books. He is one of the reasons that web standards has gained such notoriety. His knowledge is extensive and his ability to illustrate complex ideas with simple tutorials is without peer.
Tantek Çelik - here is another great leader in the field of web standards and CSS. He has certainly forgotten more about this language than I have learned.
Kurafire Network - here is some real interesting use of compliant CSS/XHTML. Faruk is a talented designer and his reputation is growing in the field.
I will add some more links at a later time. If you have any inspirational designers who you find valuable to your work, please let me know.
Lightbox +
2006.05.30 16:41
Here is another great bit of code for showcasing imagery on your site. Lightbox (external link) offers a dynamic slideshow for your imagery with just a small bit of code from the prototype (external link) framework and the scriptaculous (external link) library. It works very well and provides an easy to implement and effective showcase for imagery without the overhead of Flash (not that I am bashing Flash since I work with it quite a bit).
Some folks have expanded the effect and there is a good bit of activity in the community (external link) for creating nice solutions using this method. When you need to implement something other than the standard Flash gallery, this may prove a valuable alternative.
Some folks have expanded the effect and there is a good bit of activity in the community (external link) for creating nice solutions using this method. When you need to implement something other than the standard Flash gallery, this may prove a valuable alternative.
moo.fx
2006.05.30 13:32
One of the cooler things I have recently run across. Moo.fx is an easy-to-use fast, compliant javascript effects library written with prototype.js. It provides an easy to use framework to create some nice effects to your site. There are some cool things that folks have done to extend the functionality of the code and this just further illustrates the entrepreneurial spirit of development.
Some CSS links
2006.05.30 09:48
I have been reworking some major projects and have somewhat neglected this site. In the process of working back to some measure of regularity I have found some interesting and inspirational links that others may find useful (links will open a new window):
…and of course the grand-daddy of them all
I will add some more items in the coming days.
…and of course the grand-daddy of them all
I will add some more items in the coming days.