What happens when the people come?
Posted on Jun 26, 2008 08:17:13 AM
Every experienced web designer knows that web statistics are important. Okay, now quick, think of a time when you responded directly to changes in web traffic in a tangible, tactical way. I'm guessing that some of you out there may be able to provide a few examples. Maybe not, though. The most common use of web statistics has always been to justify the existence of a site: "see boss, people are using the site, we can't stop now..." Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Come, happens, people, What, whenIntroduction to Django: Helping Perfectionists With Deadlines
Posted on Jun 25, 2008 08:18:49 PM
Django is an open-source Web framework, written in Python, that allows you to easily and rapidly develop interactive, data-centric web applications. It came into being when two Web developers—Adrian Holovaty and Simon Willison—in Kansas, after moving their newspaper’s website from PHP to Python, found themselves repeatedly solving similar problems. They decided to extract the common functionality and released the resulting Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Deadlines, Django, Helping, Introduction, Perfectionists, withA-Z Indexes to Enhance Site Searching
Posted on Jun 11, 2008 09:46:51 PM
Facilitate searching, not just navigation
An important part of an information architect’s job is to make it easier for users of a Web site or intranet to find the information they want. Usually the focus is on site navigation—the site’s structural design, hierarchy, page titles and labels, menu design, site map, and so on.
Another way to address making information on a Web site easy to find is through search functionality. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Enhance, Indexes, Searching, SiteExcerpt: Pro JavaScript Design Patterns
Posted on Jun 2, 2008 06:23:48 PM
The Adapter Pattern
The adapter pattern allows you to adapt existing interfaces to classes that would otherwise be incompatible. Objects that use this pattern can also be called wrappers, since they wrap another object in a new interface. There are many situations where creating adapters can benefit both the programmers and the interface designers. Often when designing classes, some interfaces can’t be used with existing Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Design, Excerpt, JavaScript, PatternsRisky Business
Posted on May 16, 2008 02:23:26 PM
It’s risky out there
It sounds like a clich, but the world we live in is a risky place. To survive in this hostile environment, we’ve become very good at identifying and managing risk.
For everyday tasks, we don’t really think about risks on a conscious level. When we cross the street we quickly check both ways to avoid the risk of being run over. We’ve done this so many times that it has become habit.##3## Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Business, RiskyTo Dance the Dance of Freelance
Posted on Mar 16, 2008 12:20:27 PM
Thinking back on my transition to full-time freelance work brings a myriad of emotionally confusing scenarios to mind. I sometimes allow my brain to conduct a symphony of uneasy visions of the parts of my life that would be better had I remained under the full-time employ of The Man. There would be the certainty of my regular paycheck, and its amount. There would be a kind hand on the shoulder and a soft word in the ear from my bank. There Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Dance, FREElanceIntegrating CSS with Content Management Systems
Posted on Feb 26, 2008 09:20:49 PM
Building CSS editing features into our content management systems allows us to make style changes as easily as we make content changes. In the future, managing the design of a Web site at the tactical level will be as easy and efficient as managing content.
Managing presentation
Let’s assume we all run big, important Web sites that require content management systems for editing content. We go to our Web-based forms, edit the Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Content, Integrating, Management, Systems, withFour Ways to Bypass Inertia
Posted on Jan 9, 2008 01:13:45 PM
[Editor’s note: The article below is an abridged version of Chapter Three of “Hot-Wiring Your Creative Process”. Edited for length, the original version includes an interview with famed designer Stefan Sagmeister.]
“Mechanize something idiosyncratic.”–Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt
As you work the creative process, you’re bound to get stuck at various stages. When you come Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Bypass, Four, Inertia, WaysCreating a Web Page with HTML: Visual QuickProject Guide
Posted on Jan 7, 2008 08:33:52 PM
As an educator, I’m always interested to see what books are being published to get people started in Web design. With Creating a Web Page with HTML, Elizabeth Castro has put together a simple guide to getting started with publishing a site. With an easy-to-follow descriptive style, this guide is a great starting point for anyone interested in getting involved with Web publishing.
From the beginning, Castro lays out what you’re Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Creating, Guide, HTML, Page, QuickProject, Visual, withSite Planning, the Red-Headed Stepchild of the Web
Posted on Dec 22, 2007 04:09:37 AM
The Audience Is the End... What About the Beginning?
This month's issue of Digital Web drives home two points:
Keep it simple, stupid.It's the audience, stupid.
The point to this tutorial is not to reinforce these messages in the same style that you see in the rest of the issue. Had I wanted to do that, I could have written about UI design, white space, or "ommitting needless words."
Those are easy.
What hasn't Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Headed, Planning, Site, Stepchild