Spun » usability

Hype: A Worthy Flash Alternative?

admin — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 12:00:04 +0000

Hype, by developers Tumult, seems to have a rather appropriate title. There has been a great deal of talk about this web animation app since its release some months ago, and that can hardly be a surprise, given that it claims to allow the user to create “beautiful HTML5 web… read more

5 iPhone Twitter Apps that Do More Than Just Tweet

admin — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 01:59:15 +0000

Leo Widrich is the co-founder of Buffer, a new way to publish tweets and Facebook posts at better times for more impact. He writes more about social media tips and tools on the Buffer blog. Follow him on Twitter @LeoWid or subscribe to his Facebook updates.

When Twitter recently launched the… read more

Snapseed – The Awesome iOS Image Editor Comes to the Mac

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:00:13 +0000

A while ago I introduced Snapseed to the readers of iPhone.Appstorm and Apple honored the photo editing app with the App of Year 2011 award. For good reason: Snapseed took full leverage of the intuitive gestures on mobile devices and made editing a breeze.

Now Snapseed is available for the Mac… read more

Ten Things To Think About When Designing Your iPad App

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:03:02 +0000

Like most well-designed things, the magic of an iPad app comes from a union of usefulness, usability and meaning. Games aside, the app must be useful by solving a problem that people actually have through the right set of functionality at the right time. It must be easy to use… read more

Web designers, what to look for in a CMS

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:05:18 +0000

Source

Audio Hijack Pro: Take Control Of Your Mac’s Audio

admin — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 05:28:03 +0000

Rogue Amoeba’s Audio Hijack Pro is an application which promises to perform a seemingly simple function that’s actually more difficult to execute than one might imagine – to take complete control of your Mac audio card and capture any audio from any source, whether from applications like iTunes, Skype or… read more

The UX Research Plan That Stakeholders Love

admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:35:08 +0000

UX practitioners, both consultants and in house, sometimes conduct research. Be it usability testing or user research with a generative goal, research requires planning. To make sure product managers, developers, marketers and executives (let’s call them stakeholders) act on UX research results, planning must be crystal clear, collaborative, fast and… read more

7 mistakes developers make

admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:26:08 +0000

Source

Top Freelance Jobs from Job Board – Week 3, January

admin — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 19:40:42 +0000

Looking for a new client? The FreelanceSwitch job board is a great resource of freelance gigs and opportunities. These opportunities are in various fields, from development to writing to design, and come from a wide range of potential clients. The job board is hand-moderated by dedicated staff and volunteers… read more

Win $1,000 in PSD to HTML services!

admin — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:25:33 +0000

Source

25 Most Popular Mac OS X Apps for Web Designers

admin — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 10:20:50 +0000

The new Mac App Store on 10.7 Lion has greatly improved the usability of OS X. Now designers and developers have easy access to a whole collection of software from around the world. It’s also a fantastic system for Cocoa programmers to earn some extra cash on the side by… read more

Designing The Well-Tempered Web

admin — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 22:02:06 +0000

As technology evolves, so does the art and craft of Web design. New technology creates new challenges, which require new solutions. Often we’re working in uncharted territory, where the solutions demanded really are new. Other times, we’re faced with problems of a more universal nature, problems that have a history.

Given… read more

350+ Free Graphics: Vector Arrow Symbols and Shapes

admin — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:00:21 +0000

If you’re looking for arrow graphics, with various styles, such as flat silhouettes that curve, hand drawn elements, or sharp edged classic designs, then you’ve found a compilation worth downloading. We’ve collected an assortment of arrow symbols, shapes, and icons, all available for free download.

Grab a multitude of arrow vector… read more

Usability Design for Online Web Forms

admin — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:35:04 +0000

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Designers aren’t just creating pleasing graphics for the Internet anymore. As a web designer you need to consider other properties of user interaction and coding. UX design is possibly the most important topic to cover, and this is especially true designing web forms. All webmasters should… read more

It Works For “You”: A User-Centric Guideline To Product Pages

admin — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 23:34:40 +0000

Product pages for e-commerce websites are often rife with ambitious intentions: Recreate the brick-and-mortar shopping experience. Provide users with every last drop of product information. Build a brand persona. Establish a seamless checkout process.

As the “strong link in any conversion” (Richmond), product pages have so much potential. We can create… read more

The Real and Virtual Worlds Are Melting Together

admin — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 08:00:01 +0000

Arnab Sen is head of strategic planning at MRM, a global, top-five digital and direct agency in India. As a trained anthropologist, Arnab applies social science to develop working models that help decode and interpret cultures of consumption, categories and brands.

Social science studies increasingly suggest that the divide between the… read more

Ten Alternatives to WordPress as a Blogging CMS

admin — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:00:37 +0000

We all know that WordPress is an awesome Content Management System cum Blogging Platform. In fact, it is also the most popular blogging tool all over the internet. Name any other CMS – WordPress eats them all out for lunch!

However, as a web designer/developer/enthusiast, being knowledgeable about an extra CMS… read more

2011′s Biggest Winners and Losers in Ecommerce

admin — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 22:29:01 +0000

In-demand products, unparalleled site design and usability, competitive search engine marketing, continuous innovative, exciting holiday specials — these are just some of the variables that make up a successful ecommerce business.

On the other hand, some of the top pitfalls for Internet retailers include lousy service, uninventive products, confusing corporate messaging… read more

10 Important Web Usability Testing Tools

admin — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 09:05:19 +0000

10 Important Web Usability Testing Tools

How will Digital Change Small Business in 2012?

admin — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 05:37:05 +0000

Over the course of 2011, we witnessed social media and location-based services really take off for small businesses — the mom and pop shops of the world continued to get more digital and more mobile.

As this year wraps up, we look back at the technological advancements that small businesses have… read more

The Mac Browser War: Safari vs. the Competition

admin — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 04:00:53 +0000

When you purchased your Mac, you probably wanted the best web browser offered, whether it be Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari, or some other worthy candidate. After all, quality hardware should also contain quality software. There has been much controversy on what truly is the best browser available for a Mac…. read more

Christmas & New Year Special Giveaway: Prizes Worth Over $20,000

admin — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 20:34:15 +0000

The end of this year is almost coming and Christmas is already on our doorsteps. It’s never too late to hang your stockings, keep milk and cookies and wait for Santa to drop in at your home with lots of gifts and Christmas cheer. It’s time for Santa’s gifts, for… read more

Read Better With Readings

admin — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 06:00:52 +0000

There is little innovation happening in the online news reader space. I am so jealous at the awesome apps like Google Currents, Flipboard, Pulse, and more that push the envelop for reading on a tablet. After mercilessly slaughtering the usability of the Google Reader web app, Google came up with… read more

Is Drupal Good for Design? What do you think?

admin — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:15:14 +0000

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Drupal has a reputation for being strong in functionality and having a strong community, but weak when it comes to design. In deciding which cms to use, it is important to make the right decision, especially when considering design features. The following will cover how… read more

How to Make Your Website More Accessible

admin — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:51:19 +0000

Constant improvement is imperative to a world of progress, including the web world. Designing an effective website requires a lot of techniques, skills and testing. Testing determines the usability of the website, which ties into accessibility. Thus, one of the most important things to consider when creating a website is… read more

Web design predictions for 2012

admin — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:18:15 +0000

Source

Page Layers: Turn a Website Into a Layered Photoshop Document

admin — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:00:47 +0000

There is no shortage of screenshot apps for Macs. Whether you want something with a ton of functionality like LittleSnapper, something sweet and simple like Screeny or something free and fun like Skitch, Mac developers have you covered and have for years.

However, every screenshot app that I’ve ever used shares… read more

Amazon Sells 1 Million Kindle Products Each Week

admin — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 05:47:33 +0000

Amazon shoppers have purchased more than 1 million Kindle devices for the third week in a row, the company announced this week.

It’s no secret that the Kindle line has been wildly successful for Amazon, and its Kindle Fire tablet — which debuted just 11 weeks ago — is the company’s… read more

A Guide To Heuristic Website Reviews

admin — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 21:43:51 +0000

In this article, we’ll explore a scoring system for rating and comparing websites, we’ll visualize those ratings using infographics, and we’ll see what data and structure this method provides for reviewing websites.

How To Tell Whether A Website Is Junk

We are all reviewers. We review many websites every day without even… read more

Our 50 Favorite Web Developers Resources and Tools from 2011

admin — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:40:58 +0000

Advertise here with BSA

As a developer, anything that can save you just a little bit of time is well worth its weight in gold. If you agree with that statement, you will love this. What we have for you is our selection of the best, the most useful… read more

Kindle Fire Owners Love Their Tablet, Flaws and All

admin — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 07:39:26 +0000

Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet is no Apple iPad — and it seems that most Fire owners are quite okay with that.

In a recent open thread on Mashable regarding the product’s recent troubles, freshly minted Kindle Fire owners shared their stories — and mostly, love — for what could end… read more

The Smashing Deals Countdown For Christmas

admin — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 05:23:18 +0000

Christmas is near and the spirits are rising but why not speed it all up a bit? To make the days prior to Christmas much more exciting, we’ll provide you with something to look forward to each day for the next ten days. This year, we’d love to help you… read more

Barnes & Noble’s Nook Color Welcomes Netflix, Comics, More Apps

admin — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:01:05 +0000

Amazon’s Kindle Fire isn’t the only device gearing up for a major software update. Barnes & Noble announced plans on Monday to roll out a series of performance improvements and entertainment features for its Nook Color ereader, including a variety of apps such as Netflix and Flixter.

The Nook Color’s 1.4… read more

Amazon Promises Kindle Fire Software Updates in Two Weeks

admin — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:38:46 +0000

Amid criticism that the performance of Amazon’s new Kindle Fire tablet is less than stellar, the company is gearing up for a major update.

Amazon plans to improve the device’s software, from enhancing its touch navigation to giving users the ability to edit recent browsing activity, the company told The New… read more

Our favorite tweets of the week Dec 5-Dec 11, 2011

admin — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 15:20:57 +0000

Source

The Essential Basics of Usability Testing

admin — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 04:56:39 +0000

The Essential Basics of Usability Testing

How to Design the Best Navigation Bar for Your Website

admin — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 10:13:33 +0000

Daniel Alves is the design director for the small business web design division at the digital marketing and web design company 352 Media Group.

The navigation bar is the most important design element on a website. Not only does it guide your users to pages beyond the homepage, but it’s also… read more

Bug in Adobe Reader Could Endanger Your PC

admin — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 04:38:58 +0000

Describing a vulnerability in some of its reader software as “critical,” Adobe identified a flaw that could “potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system.”

We’re not just talking about your mom’s e-books. Adobe says hackers have used this flaw in targeted attacks against at least… read more

Clear Indications That It’s Time To Redesign

admin — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 21:09:06 +0000

Redesign. The word itself can send shudders down the spines of any Web designer and developer. For many designers and website owners, the imminent onslaught of endless review cycles, coupled with an infinite number of “stakeholders” and their inevitable “opinions,” would drive them to shave their heads with a cheese… read more

Effective User Research And Transforming The Minds Of Clients

admin — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 20:59:05 +0000

Ah, the love of a client. That is indeed what we all seek as professionals, is it not? If we lived in a utopia, then that’s all there would be. Openness. Honesty. Passion. Flowing in both directions, client to service provider and vice versa. We want our clients to be… read more

9 Ways to Improve Customer Communication on Your Website

admin — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 21:07:46 +0000

Daniel Alves is the design director for the small business web design division at the digital marketing and web design company, 352 Media Group.

If you’re like most business owners, getting leads online is the main reason you created a website in the first place. Sure, you may have a stellar… read more

Usability vs. Accessibility

admin — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 05:16:39 +0000

Usability vs. Accessibility

Content Strategy Within The Design Process

admin — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 20:59:48 +0000

The first thing to understand about content strategy is that no two people understand it the same way. It’s a relatively new — and extremely broad — discipline with no single definitive definition. A highly informative Knol on content strategy defines it as follows:

Content strategy is an emerging field of… read more

ESPN: A Mobile Example to Emulate

admin — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 20:49:31 +0000

When both my young niece and my not-so-young husband enthusiastically praised ESPN’s push notifications in the same week, I took notice. These are regular people — a teacher and an architect — not marketers or techies. I already knew from my son, a super fan, that of the myriad sports… read more

Usability: Does Your Web Page Cause The Viewer To Think?

admin — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:31:39 +0000

Usability: Does Your Web Page Cause The Viewer To Think?

10 New Google Analytics Features You Need to Start Using

admin — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:29:40 +0000

Rachael Gerson spearheads the Analytics division at SEER Interactive. Follow her on Twitter @rachaelgerson.

Over the past eight months, Google has steadily released one revolutionary new feature after another. On March 17, the company announced a new version of Google Analytics. Up until this point, users could decide whether they preferred… read more

The Perfect Paragraph

admin — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 21:53:24 +0000

In this article, I’d like to reacquaint you with the humble workhorse of communication that is the paragraph. Paragraphs are everywhere. In fact, at the high risk of stating the obvious, you are reading one now. Despite their ubiquity, we frequently neglect their presentation. This is a mistake. Here, we’ll… read more

How WordPress Took The CMS Crown From Drupal And Joomla

admin — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 21:47:13 +0000

Market Share

According to W3Techs, almost 55% of the 1 million most visited websites that are run on a content management system (CMS) are run on WordPress. WordPress is a darn fine CMS and is stable and easy to use, but so are Joomla and Drupal. So, why does WordPress have… read more

Our favorite tweets of the week Nov 21-Nov 27, 2011

admin — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 15:38:05 +0000

Source

Cross Cultural Usability in Web Design

admin — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 05:40:49 +0000

Cross Cultural Usability in Web Design

HTML5 Semantics

admin — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 22:43:54 +0000

Much of the excitement we’ve seen so far about HTML5 has been for the new APIs: local storage, application cache, Web workers, 2-D drawing and the like. But let’s not overlook that HTML5 brings us 30 new elements to mark up documents and applications, boosting the total number of elements… read more

Samsung Galaxy Nexus: the Best Android Phone We’ve Seen Yet

admin — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 07:19:12 +0000

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is the first smartphone with the latest Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) operating system. We have one in our hands, and it’s the best Android phone yet.

A new era in the impressive story of Google‘s Android operating system has just begun with the release of the… read more

Fluidity Of Content And Design: Learning From Where The Wild Things Are

admin — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 22:10:52 +0000

Have you read Where the Wild Things Are? The storybook has fluidity of content and design figured out.

It goes that one night, protagonist Max “wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind or another.” He hammers nails into walls, pesters a small dog. Author Maurice Sendak doesn’t explain… read more

Kindle Fire: The Good, The Bad and The Indifferent [META REVIEW]

admin — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 07:18:25 +0000

Amazon’s Kindle Fire may have started shipping early, but the reviews are already rolling in. So far, everyone seems in agreement that $199 for a tablet is a remarkable feat. However, some are a little more enthusiastic about the device and its features than others.

Read on to see who… read more

The Data-Pixel Approach To Improving User Experience

admin — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 22:12:38 +0000

There are many ways to skin a redesign (I think that’s how the saying goes). On a philosophical level, I agree with those who advocate for realigning, not redesigning, but these are mere words when you’re staring a design problem in the face with no idea where to start. This… read more

Siri’s Sister Company Launches a Discovery Engine

admin — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 11:01:08 +0000

Trapit Activity Feed

Trapit now has an activity feed to surface the most recent content.

Click here to view this… read more

Organize Your Team With Orchestra

admin — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 20:00:41 +0000

It’s no secret that I’m somewhat of a productivity junkie, and I’m often looking for the latest and greatest way to keep track of my to-do’s and deadlines. In the more recent months of working with these apps, a particularly explosive niche that I’ve noticed has been web apps and… read more

4 Strategies for Working With Designers Without Killing Each Other

admin — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 23:35:07 +0000

Fourteen years ago, in my first job where my title was “Information Architect,” I clashed with a designer. We were working at a large advertising agency that was known for stunning design work. The art directors wielded a level of power at the agency that I have never seen anywhere… read more

5 Steps for a Successful QR Code Marketing Campaign

admin — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 06:37:14 +0000

Hamilton Chan is CEO and founder of Paperlinks, which provides the leading QR code infrastructure for businesses. Codes generated through Paperlinks app can be scanned by the free Paperlinks iPhone app or by any QR code reader on any smartphone platform.

While the debate rages on whether QR codes are a… read more

Hands On: Motorola Droid Razr Is Super-Thin, But Not Quite Super [PICS]

admin — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 03:15:09 +0000

The Motorola Droid Razr rolls out to the United States on Friday, bringing an unusually thin smartphone into the hands of Android aficionados. Let’s put it to the test.

Its claim to fame is its industrial design — the ultra-thin Motorola Droid Razr (Verizon, $299.99 with 2-year contract, $111.11 if you… read more

Redesigning The Country Selector

admin — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 21:54:32 +0000

The country selector. It’s there when you create an account for a new Web service, check out of an e-commerce store or sign up for a conference. The normal design? A drop-down list with all of the available countries.

However, when conducting a large session of user testing on check-out usability… read more

An Extensive Guide To Web Form Usability

admin — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 20:22:55 +0000

Contrary to what you may read, peppering your form with nice buttons, color and typography and plenty of jQuery plugins will not make it usable. Indeed, in doing so, you would be addressing (in an unstructured way) only one third of what constitutes form usability.

In this article, we’ll provide practical… read more

The Future Of CSS: Embracing The Machine

admin — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 19:47:40 +0000

Designers hold CSS close to their hearts. It’s just code, but it is also what makes our carefully crafted designs come to life. Thoughtful CSS is CSS that respects our designs, that is handcrafted with precision. The common conception among Web designers is that a good style sheet is created… read more

Usertesting.com Competition Winners Announced

admin — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 01:58:23 +0000

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On the 23rd of October we published the competition Three Usability Testing Packages ($741 Value) from UserTesting.com. The competition has ended and it is now time to announce the winners. Thanks to everybody for all the comments.

Here is a reminder of the Usability Testing Package… read more

The Only Thing This High-Tech Baby Monitor Doesn’t Do Is Change Diapers

admin — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 22:19:39 +0000

The Tech Innovators Series is supported by Lenovo. Lenovo does not just manufacture technology. They make Do machines — super-powered creation engines designed to help the people who do, do more, do better, do in brand new ways.

Baby monitors are more tech-savvy than ever. Did you know you could… read more

Navigation patterns for ten common types of websites

admin — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 15:20:49 +0000

Navigation is one of the most important aspects of any website. Without good navigation, a site becomes useless to visitors. They can’t find the information they need, and then seek out competing sites instead. It’s vital that your sites be easy to navigate if you want to be a successful… read more

Reviews Of Blog Designs In The Wild

admin — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 17:00:51 +0000

Like any designer, no website is without its merits and flaws. It is through critical analysis and thoughtful conversation that we grow as individuals. If we do not talk about our work and the work of others, then we will not grow as creatives.

We have evaluated each website in this… read more

5 Traits of a Successful Icon Designer

admin — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 19:07:50 +0000

What makes a successful icon designer? Is it their skills in digital rendering, the clever ideas they have or is it something else? The truth is, it’s managing to be many things at once and keeping a balance between communicating a concept and crafting great designs. Do you have what… read more

Theme Review: Garnish

admin — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 15:00:40 +0000

Finding a minimal WordPress theme that delivers a rich media experience can be challenging. You don’t want it to be so vanilla that it gets lost in the crowd, but it shouldn’t be so different that it causes usability issues or appears thrown together. I can’t tell you how many… read more

Yoink: Your OS X Lion Drag-And-Drop Aide

admin — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:00:57 +0000

As you may have gathered from my recent posts, I have yet to upgrade to Lion on my personal MacBook Pro. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have my ways of playing with the new operating system (and the apps and utilities that are released for it). And let me… read more

We have Three Usability Testing Packages ($741 Value) from UserTesting.com to Giveaway – Comment to Enter

admin — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 16:51:14 +0000

Advertise here with BSA

What would you test with inexpensive usability testing? UserTesting.com wants to hear the creative ways you’d use their service. You can leave a comment below with your idea, or for extra credit, you can tweet your ideas with @usertesting. We will review all entries (comments… read more

Best of the Week #193

admin — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 18:40:37 +0000

It’s time for our best news of this week. We have a lot of graphic and web design, a bit of architecture, ads, tech news, awesome reads and other crazy stuff! So take a look at the links we’ve selected for your inspiration and to keep you updated about what’s… read more

Get Feedback and Improve Your Website with BagelHint

admin — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 03:00:38 +0000

When building a website, it’s important to have a different set of eyes take a look and let you know if you’re on the right track, particularly because there are so many moving parts and so many doubts that can arise. Are the buttons on my site easy to find?… read more

The History of Social Media

admin — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 21:40:13 +0000

Social interaction is imperative in culture and in trade. In this world of fragile relationships and difficult dealings, accessible and feasible techniques are needed so that we can communicate easily with one another and participate in interactive conversations. Social media is the use of digital (and often mobile) technologies and… read more

Comprehensive Review Of Usability And User Experience Testing Tools

admin — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 20:13:39 +0000

Usability and user experience testing is vital to creating a successful website, and only more so if it’s an e-commerce website, a complex app or another website for which there’s a definite ROI. And running your own user tests to find out how users are interacting with your website and… read more

10 Killer Apps for Freelance Bloggers

admin — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 19:53:17 +0000

A freelance blogger is a jack-of-all-trades. This person has writing, design and coding skills, all used to create inspiring content. Besides, blogging requires a lot of responsibility, perseverance and diligence dealing with web media on a daily basis.

There are plenty of tools that facilitate blogging and allow freelancers… read more

How Super Strong Glass Keeps Your Smartphone Screen From Breaking

admin — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:55:33 +0000

So many consumer electronics have touchscreens these days, and we tend to… read more

Construct a Framework for a Cross-Cultural Design

admin — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 17:37:03 +0000

Nowadays Graphic Designers work globally in many different Countries. The designer should visually communicate symbols and colors. These elements are part of our social everyday life and come together with a various range of meanings which are different for each culture.This makes obvious how much the study of the cross-cultural… read more

7 Photoshop tips for designing clean and modern websites

admin — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 15:15:45 +0000

Clean, elegant, and beautiful web design is often a matter of personal perspective. I look at hundreds of websites every week, and several of them stand out to me, but not all of them are necessarily effective.

Too often designers boil a concept down too far, producing a final design that… read more

Top Freelance Jobs from Job Board – Week 2, October

admin — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 20:00:30 +0000

Usability Testing Tips and Tools (Elsewhere on the Web)

admin — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 07:06:08 +0000

Usability Testing Tips and Tools (Elsewhere on the Web)

16 Pixels: For Body Copy. Anything Less Is A Costly Mistake

admin — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 16:06:22 +0000

16 Pixels
For Body Copy. Anything Less Is
A Costly Mistake

I know what you’re thinking. “Did he just say 16 pixels? For body copy? Obnoxiously big! 12 pixels is ideal for most websites.”

I’d like to persuade you otherwise.

As usability expert Oliver Reichenstein says in “The 100% Easy-2-Read Standard”:

[16 pixels]… read more

30 e-commerce sites worth seeing

admin — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 15:15:57 +0000

In this day and age, if you are not selling your product online or at least making it available online, you are missing out on a ton of money. Unfortunately, the makers of these sites are most interested in making a dollar rather than making sense (did you catch the… read more

What Do You Think is the Ultimate Browser Feature?

admin — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 16:00:19 +0000

The web plays such a large role in our modern lives, even for those of us not working in one of the many industries which are based there. Be we users, web workers or both, internet browsers are a major part of how that experience all goes down. For designers… read more

3 More Reasons to Attend the Mashable Media Summit

admin — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 00:22:30 +0000

The second annual Mashable Media Summit will bring to life the biggest changes occurring in media. Held on Nov. 4 at the TimesCenter in New York City, the one-day conference will examine how technology is transforming journalism, advertising and media business models.

Industry professionals who have recently joined our dynamic… read more

Quick Look: NimbleSchedule

admin — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 23:00:51 +0000

Quick Look posts are paid submissions offering only a brief overview of an app. Vote in the polls below if you think this app is worth an in-depth AppStorm review!

In this Quick Look, we’re highlighting NimbleSchedule. The developer describes NimbleSchedule as an intuitive, web-based scheduling and labor management solution which… read more

The Whys And The Hows Of Textures In Web Design

admin — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 19:57:32 +0000

Texture is becoming integral to design. It’s gone beyond being a trend — it’s now a simple and effective way to add depth to a website. Wielding the power of texture is a great responsibility. It increases the effectiveness of websites and is a quality tool in the arsenal of designers. It… read more

62 New Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed

admin — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 04:44:11 +0000

This week seemed to go by fast, am I wrong? You barely had time to finish last week’s roundup — it was a doozy with 61 stories — before our newest list rolled out this week.

Not to worry! Mashable has organized all of our features into manageable categories so you… read more

22 Essential Tools for Testing Your Website’s Usability

admin — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 00:10:25 +0000

The Web Design Usability Series is supported by join.me, an easy way to instantly share your screen with anyone. join.me lets you collaborate on-the-fly, put your heads together super-fast and even just show off.

A site’s ease of use, or its usability, is an integral part of its success, especially with… read more

Build a Killer Online Portfolio in 9 Easy Steps

admin — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:00:01 +0000

Note: A few times a month we revisit some of our reader’s favorite posts from throughout the history of FreelanceSwitch. This article by Skellie was first published December 13th, 2007, yet is just as relevant and full of useful information today.

Every freelancer should have an online portfolio. You’ve… read more

WordPress Essentials: How To Create A WordPress Plugin

admin — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 17:16:19 +0000

WordPress plugins are PHP scripts that alter your website. The changes could be anything from the simplest tweak in the header to a more drastic makeover (such as changing how log-ins work, triggering emails to be sent, and much more).

Whereas themes modify the look of your website, plugins change how… read more

Conversation Techniques For Designers

admin — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 19:29:45 +0000

Designers are visually literate creatures. We use visuals to express our ideas, whether by building wireframes, sketching interfaces or pushing pixels. As a result, the majority of knowledge captured when we design a product is some form of “corporate memory”: a combination of assets and documentation. This creation of visual… read more

Web Design & Development Podcasts

admin — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 16:00:55 +0000

Not long ago we had a post that discussed the role that podcasts have been playing in the design field. After which we were asked for a post that focused on more web design and development related podcasts for our readers. Something of a proverbial playlist of shows that are… read more

Breaking the Norm: Unusual and Creative Web Layouts

admin — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 14:21:19 +0000

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Web design does not have to be limited to a typical grid structured layout. It sometimes feels like we are locked in an endless cycle of header, content, sidebar and footer. That is it. It would be great if we could to tear away from convention… read more

Content Prototyping In Responsive Web Design

admin — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 20:49:32 +0000

You might be interested in further articles and resources related to this article.

Michelangelo once said,

The best of artists has no conception that the marble alone does not contain within itself.

Translate this to the world of Web design and you might say,

No matter how great a designer you are, you’re only… read more

Life Stream: All Of Your Social Media Networks In One Place

admin — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 12:00:53 +0000

These days, it sometimes feels like I sign up for a new social network every single week. So many people I know work on a daily basis with Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Tumblr, Flickr, LinkedIn, Foursquare, YouTube…the list goes on. Often, managing those networks is as big of a task as… read more

10 Excellent User Interface Designs to Learn From

admin — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 20:30:50 +0000

Over the last few weeks, we’ve gathered together some great resources and information on constructing amazing user… read more

Improving The Online Shopping Experience, Part 2: Guiding Customers Through The Buying Process

admin — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 20:04:00 +0000

Part 1 of “Improving the Online Shopping Experience” focused on the upper part of the purchase funnel and on ways to get customers to your website and to find your products. Today, we move down the funnel, looking at ways to enable customers to make the decision to buy and… read more

Before & After Redesigns of Popular Design Blogs

admin — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 15:06:04 +0000

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There’s a lot to be learned by looking at before and after shots of a website’s redesign. You get to see what the designer or design team has learned about design since the last rendition, where they’ve identified problems and areas of the design that could… read more

5 Tips for Improving Product Photos & Video on Your Ecommerce Site

admin — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 09:03:20 +0000

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

In product-focused small businesses, photography plays a vital role in both sales and marketing. The products or services that a site posts to its site must not… read more

8 Tech Tools for Better Business Management

admin — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 07:27:03 +0000

Scott Gerber is a serial entrepreneur, internationally syndicated columnist and TV host, and the founder of the Young Entrepreneur Council. He is also an active angel investor and author of the book Never Get a “Real” Job.

As someone who utilizes tech and software every day to run, communicate and oversee… read more

15+ Inspirational Examples of Website Redesign

admin — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 18:25:33 +0000

One of the best ways to survey the evolution of Web design over a number of years is to compare different versions of websites. In other words, by comparing redesigned websites to their earlier incarnations, we become informed about new technologies, design trends and other things that emerged in the… read more

Instagram 2.0 Launches: A Faster App With Live Filters & Hi-Res Photos

admin — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 01:46:41 +0000

Instagram version 2.0 arrives in the App Store Tuesday, giving the app’s 9 million users live filters, instant tilt-shift, high-resolution photos and a much speedier experience.

“This is the biggest change since the day we launched,” CEO and co-founder Kevin Systrom tells Mashable.

“It represents a complete overhaul of the heart… read more

Posterous Spaces: Your New Online Private Space

admin — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 03:00:36 +0000

Competition in the online app universe is totally different the real world. Many of the popular Internet destinations and services are virtual monopolies without any real competitor in sight. A few examples to this case are Google, Facebook, Twitter, Dropbox, Evernote, and more.

Similarly in the microblogging vertical there were two competitors… read more

Introducing The Smashing WordPress Section

admin — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 21:24:32 +0000

In recent years, it seems WordPress has been growing at an exponential rate. It’s also become a much better piece of software, almost becoming a transparent experience to the user, who can set up a beautiful, fully functional site or CMS in minutes. There are many user-focused sites that will… read more

8 Current Technologies That Will Shape Our Future

admin — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 20:17:26 +0000

Rick Chin is the director of product innovation at SolidWorks, where he develops new products and researches how technology will make us smarter, simplify daily tasks and seamlessly fit into our everyday lives.

In 20 years our technology will reach a level of personalization that will enhance every moment of our… read more

41 New Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed

admin — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 03:16:45 +0000

The features roundup is back and kickin’ more than ever. Tune in as we neatly package all of the past week’s features coverage, analysis and trending topics that span the digital realm.

So, what’s breaking these days? For starters, we got a peek at an early beta of Windows 8, and… read more

9 Essential Resources for User Interface Designers

admin — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 00:07:48 +0000

Designing a great user interface can be a challenge, even for the most seasoned designer. Countless factors… read more

Speakers From Google, Facebook, Reuters, AllThingsD & Gilt Groupe Sign On to Mashable Media Summit

admin — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 22:00:59 +0000

We’re excited to announce new speakers for the Mashable Media Summit on Nov. 4, 2011, at The TimesCenter in New York City.

Speakers from Google, Facebook, AllThingsD, Reuters, Gilt Groupe and Chartbeat will join us on stage to discuss how their organizations are seizing the opportunities that are being created… read more

How Virgin Galactic Plans to Open Space Travel to the Masses

admin — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 20:45:52 +0000

In the 50 years since the Russians sent the first man into… read more

Improving The Online Shopping Experience, Part 1: Getting Customers To Your Products

admin — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 20:07:00 +0000

Amazon turned sweet sixteen this year, and, by extension, so did online shopping as we know it. As online shopping has grown over the past 16 years, so have user needs and expectations related to the online shopping experience. Setting up shop online is easy, but creating an experience that… read more

45+ Free Lessons In Graphic Design Theory

admin — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 16:00:09 +0000

Considering how many designers are self-taught, either in whole or in part, the importance of a solid foundation in graphic design theory is often overlooked. New designers often want to jump right into creating websites, rather than learning the basics of why some designs work and some don’t. But they’re… read more

The Ultimate Usability Roundup: 60 Great Posts

admin — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 03:20:59 +0000

The Ultimate Usability Roundup: 60 Great Posts

Windows 8 Tablet: First Impressions [PICS]

admin — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 00:48:46 +0000

Microsoft has designed Windows 8 to be an operating system to work on almost any device, whether it’s a tablet, laptop or desktop. But can Microsoft really design an OS that is just as functional with a touchscreen as it is with a keyboard and mouse?

The next-generation OS has everything… read more

Create Your Own Question & Answer Site with Answerbase

admin — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 05:00:36 +0000

People sure do ask a lot of questions. When you’re trying to make a large purchase, or find a new tool for your needs, chances are you’ll come up with a ton of questions you want to ask. Since a lot of purchasing of products and services is happening online,… read more

The S.M.A.R.T. User Experience Strategy

admin — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 20:18:42 +0000

I was a competitive road cyclist for four years. My bikes were good, but my race results were much less impressive. Instead of medals and trophies, all I had to show for it were shaved legs and a farmer’s tan.

Regardless, on the road to becoming a competitive athlete, I followed… read more

10 Apps That Started Life on iOS

admin — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 12:00:45 +0000

This year, with the launch of Lion, Apple has been all about “Back to the Mac” – Taking great features from iOS, and porting them over to OS X. For the most part, this has been fairly successful. For this reason, it makes sense that many iOS developers would… read more

Upcoming Web Design and Development Conferences in 2011-12

admin — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 19:03:10 +0000

We spend a lot of time learning and thinking about the designs we see online, yet what we miss quite often are practical insights into the design process and workflow of our colleagues. This is why conferences are great for our industry. We meet people who think very much like… read more

A Practical Wireframe Primer

admin — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 09:38:14 +0000

In the current design atmosphere , I hear the term wireframe being thrown around a lot more than it used to be. Over the last few years, wireframing is a process that has endured a lot of misunderstanding and has been become much more widely known as a software and… read more

The Science Behind A/B Testing

admin — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 18:27:05 +0000

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If you own a business, there’s always concern that your marketing efforts aren’t reaching their full potential. Of course, great design will sell but having strategies and formulas in place to make sure your hard work is paying off it well worth the time. One of… read more

To Five Smashing Years… And A Free Anniversary eBook Treat!

admin — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 16:16:28 +0000

When we started Smashing Magazine, we didn’t expect anything. We didn’t have a grand master plan for a successful online magazine for designers and developers. We created something that we found useful and that we thought others would find useful, too. We did not lose focus, we relied on instinct… read more

How Design Affect Our Usability In Modern Life

admin — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 04:00:59 +0000

How Design Affect Our Usability In Modern Life

5 Tips For Getting The Most Out Of Google+

admin — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 20:04:19 +0000

Are you a DPS reader on Google+?

I am! Be sure to add me to one of your circles (add Darren too here)! I started a thread to gather up all the readers from DPS and put them into one big circle so I can share stuff here and there just… read more

15 Free WordPress Themes with a Responsive Layout

admin — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 14:33:15 +0000

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The most popular topic of discussion at the moment, amongst web designers anyway, is undoubtedly responsive web design. This is in response to the popularity, over the past couple of years, of visitors opting to use a mobile device of some sort (Android, iPhone, iPad..) to… read more

NotifyMe: Your To Do List In The Cloud

admin — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 12:00:54 +0000

Almost all of our favorite to-do list apps these days have cloud components, either in the form of a free or pay-to-use browser-access service, or Mac/iOS apps that sync over the air with a pay-per-year plan (not to mention the future implications of iCloud). But what about a free-to-use system… read more

7 Factors to Consider When Redesigning Your Website

admin — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 19:13:25 +0000

There are very few, if any, websites on the Internet that don’t undergo at least a minor… read more

Surviving Design Blog Saturation : Is The Future in the Niche?

admin — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 16:00:32 +0000

One of the topics that the design blogging community touches on from time to time, concerns the saturation levels of the blogosphere with regards to design blogs. There are so many design centric blogs filling the landscape that the chances of capturing enough of the available audience out there so… read more

10+ WordPress comment management plugins

admin — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 15:52:54 +0000

We’ve covered advanced commenting systems for WordPress before, but what about those bloggers who want to use the stock WordPress commenting system?

Not everyone wants to manage a third-party comment system. And those are the users who will find the comment plugins below really useful.

Below are eleven plugins that can handle… read more

Designing Global Applications For Children

admin — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 14:28:05 +0000

The entire process of designing digital applications comes with many challenges and decisions. For the majority of projects, you will be designing in somewhat familiar territory. But what happens when you have to design something to be used by hundreds of children around the world? How do you accommodate your… read more

Freelance Help, 100+ Tips on Creating an Effective Online Portfolio

admin — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 20:00:52 +0000

Online portfolios are one of a freelancer’s greatest marketing tools. You can reference it in your business cards, promotional campaigns, email signatures, and clients can find you on their own through search engines – generating you new business.

Your portfolio is the face of your business and needs to communicate… read more

Mashable Media Summit 2011: Tickets Now On Sale

admin — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 22:12:46 +0000

The second annual Mashable Media Summit is set for November 4, 2011 at The TimesCenter in New York City. This year’s Summit will bring together thought leaders and influencers from across the industry to discuss how media organizations, journalism professionals and advertisers are seizing the opportunities created by digital innovation.

You’ll… read more

The Future of Mobile Marketing with Smartphones

admin — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 16:00:49 +0000

As the technology for mobile devices grows, so does the opportunity for development. Many companies are not creating their own apps, but instead utilizing HTML5, Javascript and CSS3 to aid in the creation of web apps and mobile websites. Reducing the initial investment, companies can get the most out of… read more

Our favorite tweets of the week Aug 22-Aug 28, 2011

admin — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 15:13:04 +0000

Every week we tweet a lot of interesting stuff highlighting great content that we find on the web that can be of interest to web designers.

The best way to keep track of our tweets is simply to follow us on Twitter, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick… read more

Ultimate Guide to Business Cards: Infographics and Other Resources

admin — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 21:30:30 +0000

We were about to scrape the title off but didn’t. It’s much of a claim on our end, but after a year of blogging about business cards, we’ve decided to try writing such article. Anyway, we trust that you’ll help us make this post more comprehensive by commenting… read more

5 Industries That Steve Jobs Helped Change Forever

admin — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 23:32:42 +0000

For the second time since its inception in 1976, Steve Jobs has stepped down as CEO of Apple Inc. According to Jobs, the day has come when he can no longer fulfill his duties. He passed the reigns to Tim Cook while staying on as Chairman of the Board and… read more

App design versus web design: what designers can teach each other

admin — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 15:56:52 +0000

We often look at application design and website design as two different, if related, fields.

The lines blur a bit with web apps (which are technically both apps and websites), but we still tend to try to compartmentalize them. Even designers who work on both kinds of designs often view them… read more

45+ Handy CSS3 Tools, Tutorials and Resources

admin — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 18:57:35 +0000

CSS or Cascading Style Sheet is a special style sheet language used to create website layouts and styles. It has been extensively used by web developers all around the world and has proved its worth in the field of web development.

Recently CSS3 comes with some magnificent new features that support… read more

Showcase of Italian Web Design Pt.2

admin — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 16:00:52 +0000

Last week we had a showcase of Italian web design from a member of the Italian web design community. This week we have a showcase from a different perspective. This week, we have a showcase and look at Italian web design from a designer outside of that community. Complete with… read more

10 Ways to Make Your Design Portfolio More Appealing to Employers

admin — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 21:35:54 +0000

Dan Dao is a Reporter at Fueled, an iPhone & Android app development agency based in New York City, where he writes about the tech industry. You can follow him on Twitter @da0_o and read the blog on Fueled.

Employers who hire designers are often not designers themselves. That reality can… read more

5 Proven UX Strategies

admin — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 20:25:20 +0000

Whether dealing with large corporations, game developers, small businesses or a sole proprietor, most business goals tend to amount to the same needs. User experience is an area that touches almost every single business problem. While every project comes with its own unique situations, there are a few tried-and-true user… read more

From Monitor To Mobile: Optimizing Email Newsletters With CSS

admin — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 19:45:50 +0000

HTML email has a reputation for being a particularly tough design medium. So tough, in fact, that many designers regard coding and testing even the simplest email design to be almost as bad as fixing display quirks in Internet Explorer 6, and only slightly better than a tooth extraction. So,… read more

Responsive web design has created opportunities across the board

admin — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 17:07:14 +0000

From time to time, an industry experiences fundamental changes that radically alter it. Along with this comes an explosion of opportunity: opportunity for individuals to stand out, for new products to emerge and for entrenched companies to be replaced. Now is such a time in the web community.

For as long… read more

Creative, Unsolicited Redesigns of Popular Web Sites (6 Examples)

admin — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 13:16:07 +0000

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Nothing gets the creative juices flowing quite like redesigning a popular, well-known site. Reimagining how a site, app or brand identity would look can help to show the product in a different light, and can help get you thinking about why certain design decisions are made…. read more

New UI Patterns in App Design: A Blessing or a Curse?

admin — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 08:00:08 +0000

Software design has made some interesting strides lately. It’s possible that we’re beginning to see Apple’s role in setting UI standards give way to the innovation of third party developers.

Unfortunately, this shift makes for a much more complicated scenario for developers and designers. Tempers rise, fingers are pointed and… read more

4 Traits of Better Business Software

admin — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 23:21:07 +0000

David Williams is VP of technology at Coupa, which provides cloud spend management solutions for customers like Salesforce.com, Rent-A-Center, Amazon and SUBWAY. You can follow David on Twitter @metakube and on the company blog, Coupa Cabana.

Your company just on-boarded another software product that promises to make work better, faster and… read more

45 jQuery Plugins And Tutorials To Enhance Your Forms

admin — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 21:57:11 +0000

Creating awesome and appealing forms for your website has now become easy, thanks to jQuery plugins. Here we are sharing with you a collection of some extremely useful plugins and tutorials to help you create beautiful and awesome web forms.

Web forms are the crucial element for any website as website… read more

Introducing Smashing UX Design: Changing The Conversation

admin — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 19:49:22 +0000

In the Web industry, a lot of exciting knowledge and diverse opinions are shared daily. They are delivered in fragments across hundreds of blogs, feeds, Twitter accounts and apps. In addition, the number of topics seems to multiply daily. We are building and designing for moving targets. Technology is constantly… read more

Showcase of Italian Web Design Pt.1

admin — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 16:00:19 +0000

It all started in the middle 90s. The Internet in Italy was slowly coming out from its early age when it was somehow still synonymous with cyber-culture. World Wide Web was becoming larger known and young dudes with 14k remote modem connections were spending their nights updating rudimentary personal pages… read more

MobileRSS: Getting Back to Basics

admin — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 12:00:36 +0000

It seems like there’s been an influx of RSS reader reviews here on AppStorm recently. With great new (and sometimes novel) readers like Pulp or Reeder, we can’t help but get excited about them. However, every now and then an RSS app comes out that doesn’t dabble with novel formats… read more

Our favorite tweets of the week Aug 8-Aug 14, 2011

admin — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 15:54:19 +0000

Every week we tweet a lot of interesting stuff highlighting great content that we find on the web that can be of interest to web designers.

The best way to keep track of our tweets is simply to follow us on Twitter, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick… read more

How To Build A Better Web Application For Your Business

admin — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 19:55:14 +0000

Are you fed up with hearing about yet another Silicon Valley Web application built with fairy dust and funded by magic pixies? If so, this post is for you. Most of us will never get to work on a Web application that is funded by venture capital and for which… read more

Websites Shouldn’t Look The Same Across Different Browsers…Here Is Why

admin — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 16:00:47 +0000

Not long ago, on our sister site Smashing, we had a post discussing the communities adoption of HTML5 and CSS3 before they have become standards, and during that dialog we stumbled across another point that needed a bit more diving into. It was proposed that client’s expectations are somewhat unrealistic… read more

Techniques For Gracefully Degrading Media Queries

admin — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 18:27:18 +0000

Media queries are the third pillar in Ethan Marcotte’s implementation of responsive design. Without media queries, fluid layouts would struggle to adapt to the array of screen sizes on the hundreds of devices out there. Fluid layouts can appear cramped and unreadable on small mobile devices and too large and… read more

Essential Help & FAQ Usability Tips

admin — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 14:31:40 +0000

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A FAQ – frequently asked questions – should be an important part of your website or service. They speed up the help for your users by not waiting for a response from support, and thus save time by not having to repeatedly answer the same questions…. read more

Bumpin Social Bar And Shoutbox Adds Social Interactivity To Your Site

admin — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 21:26:59 +0000

Gone are those days when you would just publish a blog post and wait for readers or visitors to hop over it. This is the age of social media where content is discovered, shared and distributed through “people” who love reading your content and are pleased enough to recommend your… read more

How Many Pages Does A Website Need?

admin — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 18:23:19 +0000

Designers and clients frequently ask this question before designing or ordering a new website. Is there a “right” answer to it? No.

The number of Web pages that a particular website needs directly depends on the type of website, its application and also its potential user base. For example, personal websites… read more

Showcase of Web Design In Argentina Pt.2

admin — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 16:00:30 +0000

Last week we brought you the first installment of an inspiring look at the state of the web design industry in the country of Argentina. This week we cap off the look with more insightful interviews, site showcases, recommendations and more. Let’s dive right in.

Excerpt from Part One

The design industry… read more

Our favorite tweets of the week Aug 1-Aug 7, 2011

admin — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 15:56:07 +0000

Source

Web Usability: Getting Ahead of the Game

admin — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 09:20:59 +0000

Web Usability: Getting Ahead of the Game

Strengthening behavioral cues in UX web design with Gestalt principles

admin — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 17:23:23 +0000

Source

Showcase of Web Design In Argentina Pt.1

admin — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 16:00:11 +0000

Argentina is a melting pot of races and cultures, and its people have developed a complex identity. Tango, political passion and soccer are just some of the features of this South American country’s make-up.

Argentina is an important cultural center, with a plethora of museums and art galleries where the European… read more

Examples And Tips For Using Illustrator’s Warp Tools

admin — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 17:51:28 +0000

Adobe Illustrator is one very useful program for creating vector artwork. The tools and features available in Illustrator make it easy to create digital illustrations, whether from scratch or by tracing a photograph.

But this is not all Illustrator can do. Businesses can create impressive graphs using Illustrator’s Graph tools. Marketers… read more

Web design inspiration from modern art history

admin — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 17:31:59 +0000

Source

Freebie: Professional E-Commerce Icons Set (20 Icons)

admin — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:29:10 +0000

Today, we are glad to release a set of 20 high quality E-commerce Icons in 64×64px, available in .png-format. This set was designed by Web Icons Set with the purpose to be used in e-commerce websites and has been exclusively released for Smashing Magazine and its readers. The set includes… read more

Freelance Web Development: 9 Tips for Better Project Management

admin — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 08:37:20 +0000

The Web Development Series is supported by Rackspace, the better way to do hosting. Learn more about Rackspace’s hosting solutions here.

Taking on a large project can be both exciting and intimidating, particularly if you’re a solo developer. Big builds can be a lot of fun and serve as great learning… read more

What Web Designers Can Learn From Video Games

admin — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 19:33:51 +0000

Games are becoming more Web-like, and the Web is becoming more game-like. If you need proof of this, you have only to look at Yahoo Answers. Random questions are posed, the top answer is chosen, and credibility points are given to the winner. It’s a ranking system that accumulates and… read more

40 Useful CSS Tutorials, Techniques And Resources

admin — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 22:01:30 +0000

We have previously posted many articles on CSS tutorials and resources you can learn CSS from. Today, again we come up with yet another great list of 40 CSS tutorials, techniques and resources that you will enjoy exploring. Every developer knows very well how important it is to learn and… read more

Google+ Chrome Extensions: 5 More Handy Tools

admin — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 05:17:51 +0000

Already using Google+? Follow Mashable’s Pete Cashmore for the latest about the platform’s new features, tips and tricks as well as social media and technology updates.

When we brought you our initial list of five useful Chrome extensions for Google+, we asked which tools you, the Mashable reader, were finding valuable… read more

Showcase of Web Design in Iceland

admin — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 16:00:34 +0000

By Jóhanna Símonardóttir and Margrét Dóra Ragnarsdóttir.

An island isolated right by the Arctic circle doesn’t seem a likely arena for vivid Web design, but that is indeed the case with Iceland. Iceland is an exemplary Web market because no other country has higher Internet penetration: a whooping 92%! The good… read more

Web Usability: Top 5 Tips For Your Website

admin — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 10:00:00 +0000

The idea behind most websites are to deliver information, products or services to an end user. But what happens when that end user has difficulty in finding that information, those products or services? They leave the website and turn else where for their needs. Not only does usability help people… read more

8 Things Newbie Web Designers Should Know About SEO

admin — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 15:13:09 +0000

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Even the most SEO obsessed web site owners still want a site that looks good. Design aesthetics play a huge role in the success or failure of any site. Elements of design can impact conversions, credibility, and engagement. But some designs can also limit a web… read more

OS X Lion Downloads Top 1 Million in 24 Hours

admin — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 04:50:12 +0000

Mac OS X Lion has been downloaded more than one million times in its first day of release. Lion is the first Mac OS X release to be available exclusively through the Mac App Store.

According to Apple, OS X Lion is selling faster than any other OS release in Apple’s… read more

Web design inspiration from the history of art

admin — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 17:24:52 +0000

Source

How To Sell Your Designs Without The Sales Pitch

admin — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 16:00:53 +0000

Let’s face it: sales make the world go round. But as a Web designer, you’re concerned more with fonts, color, hierarchy and images than with the sales process. Some believe that designs sell themselves; while this may be true for a few designers, it is certainly not the case for most.

Whether… read more

Seven Guidelines For Designing High-Performance Mobile User Experiences

admin — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 18:21:41 +0000

A positive first impression is essential to relationships. People look for trust and integrity, and they expect subsequent encounters to reflect and reinforce their first impression. The same principles apply to brands and their products. Design plays an important role in building lasting relationships with end users and, thus, in… read more

Global Web Design Trends: South America

admin — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 16:00:47 +0000

We live in a global world that has an overflow of information. The Internet has given us access to very different cultures and allowed us to share much more information than ever before. But do different regions have their own specific Web design trends?

Design usually has to do with creating… read more

Orbit and Reveal: jQuery Plug-Ins For Image Sliders and Modal Windows

admin — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 23:08:48 +0000

A visitor comes to your website all giddy to learn more about your product, when suddenly a snazzy slideshow loads with some snap. Impressed, they go to register and are greeted by a most elegant modal window. At this point they are finally overjoyed by the velociraptor that suddenly charges… read more

Our favorite tweets of the week Jul 11-Jul 17, 2011

admin — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 17:21:28 +0000

Source

Email Newsletters Worth Subscribing To

admin — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 20:03:46 +0000

Staying on top of the most recent developments in your craft takes time, especially when you have to scan websites daily for articles and news worthy of your attention. Quality newsletters do the job for you. Just check your email inbox every couple of days to find a condensed and… read more

Learning To Use The :before And :after Pseudo-Elements In CSS

admin — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 18:05:13 +0000

If you’ve been keeping tabs on various Web design blogs, you’ve probably noticed that the :before and :after pseudo-elements have been getting quite a bit of attention in the front-end development scene — and for good reason. In particular, the experiments of one blogger — namely, London-based developer Nicolas Gallagher — have given pseudo-elements quite… read more

Useful Resources for Learning to Build Mac Apps

admin — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 08:00:20 +0000

If you’re a regular Mac.AppStorm visitor, then you probably love apps as much as we do. You might even have some ideas floating around in your head for an app that you’d like to build whether for your own purposes or to strike it rich on the Mac App Store.

The… read more

10 Apps for More Efficient Tweeting

admin — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 20:00:54 +0000

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As Twitter continues to grow at an incredible pace each day, the importance of the platform grows with it. Developing a strong social media presence and growing your network of followers demands being active on Twitter. Fortunately, there exist many tools out there that assist us… read more

20 New Tools for for Easier CSS Development

admin — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 14:01:19 +0000

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There are many tools built to help with CSS, and improved ones are constantly being created. The fresh tools we have for you in this article will greatly improve your work-flow, whether that be by solving validation or debugging snags, or taking care of many of… read more

Plex: Your Media Library, Turbocharged

admin — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 12:00:31 +0000

Despite Apple’s near-domination of the digital media world with iTunes, Macs have never really had a stand-out solution for watching video – iTunes supports approximately 0 codecs, Front Row is pretty cumbersome, and standalone video players like QuickTime or VLC require far too much rooting around in my movies folders… read more

Using Typography to Your Advantage

admin — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 14:01:14 +0000

Advertise here with BSA

Whenever people are communicating, there is the apparent message of the words being spoken and the underlying message coming from non-verbal cues. In a conversation, non verbals can be eye-contact, posture or tone of voice. These significant little details are a vital part of the overall… read more

Ditch the Spiral Notebook with CourseNotes

admin — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 12:00:33 +0000

Apple products have long been hailed as great tools for education. It hasn’t been too long since I was a student myself, and even since then some of my favorite Mac software has been apps aimed at students. Because developers see the market for this, students have access to great… read more

Inside Google’s User Experience Lab: An Interview With Google’s Marcin Wichary

admin — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 18:51:07 +0000

Marcin Wichary’s fascination with the relationship between humans and machines began at an early age. As a boy in Poland, he was mesmerized by the interaction between arcade patrons and the video games they played. Years later, Marcin would help shape the way that millions of computer users interact with… read more

Effective Home Page Design: Essential Tips and Examples

admin — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 17:26:28 +0000

Home page, say it official entry point of the website, is one the most important pages in every website, if don’t be most important and its efficiency directly affects website in all. Some designers overlook its significant role in the website’s success or don’t take advantage of its potentiality to… read more

Best Practices For Designing Websites For Kids

admin — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 19:47:58 +0000

Designing websites and related media for kids presents plenty of opportunities for Web designers. Openings are available at many businesses and schools, as well as through parents and kids themselves, giving designers many ways to find work on electronic and print projects that appeal to kids. The types of work… read more

20 Fantastic pseudo-Flash websites

admin — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 17:54:17 +0000

Source

Thanks to Our Weekly Sponsor: Jumsoft Money

admin — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 08:00:50 +0000

We’d like to take a moment to say a big thank you to this week’s sponsor, Jumsoft Money

Jumsoft, a developer of high-quality applications for Mac OS X, has completely overhauled its most popular product, the finance and budgeting application Money. It provides small businesses and home users with a simple… read more

Design Uniqueness and Usability

admin — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 22:50:39 +0000

Design Uniqueness and Usability

Can You Win these Usability Battles?

admin — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 23:50:39 +0000

Can You Win these Usability Battles?

Future Design: Could This Be the Perfect Multitool? [VIDEO]

admin — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 00:38:45 +0000

The age-old screwdriver has met its match with this design concept called Coral Tools. The multicolored multi-tools look like tripods, but each leg is actually a cover that conceals a flat head screwdriver, a Phillips-head screwdriver, a nail-steadying device to hold a nail while you hammer it… read more

Swackett: Your Visual Weather Report

admin — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 12:00:41 +0000

It seems like there is a sector of Mac software that can bring out the hidden enthusiast in any of us. There are media player apps, productivity apps, finance apps, and even apps to organize and catalog all of your real-world belongings. Sometimes, however, the most interesting apps are the… read more

Tumblr iPhone App 2.0 Makes Managing Blogs Easier

admin — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 03:41:24 +0000

Tumblr is out with version 2.0 of its iPhone app, and it has completely overhauled the interface, making it much easier to post from multiple blogs.

Tumblr announced the update via its blog, stating that the app “has been recoded, rewired, and rethought from the ground up to… read more

Five Copywriting Errors That Can Ruin A Company’s Website

admin — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 18:42:42 +0000

No matter how brilliant a website’s design, no matter how elegant its navigation, sooner or later visitors will decide whether to take action because of something they read. In the end, the effectiveness with which a website converts visitors hinges on words. If a new website is going to hit… read more

Google+: First Impressions

admin — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 23:43:43 +0000

Google has just unveiled Google+, its ambitious answer to Facebook. It turns all of Google into one giant social network, thanks to a core group of social products and a new navigation bar that integrates sharing into every single Google product.

I spent much of Monday testing Google+’s… read more

Useful Ideas And Guidelines For Good Web Form Design

admin — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 19:37:23 +0000

The input form is an essential element of almost any website or application these days. Input is a core method of interaction, and in many cases it represents the hard conversion point between success and failure. With the amount time and effort we put into bringing users to our sign-up… read more

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Page Layers: Turn a Website Into a Layered Photoshop Document

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10 New Google Analytics Features You Need to Start Using

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