As far as possible, we try to use a standard process for our web projects. Although it can seem like overkill for smaller projects, one thing I’ve discovered is that when it comes to building web sites for large organizations, there really are no shortcuts. Read More
Web Design
Free Web Site Templates
*Update:* “Pretty as a Picture”:http://www.sixshootermedia.com/free-templates/ has a smaller collection of templates, most (all?) of which are available on the two larger sites below. Means you don’t have to search through the crap to find the good stuff though.
Recently, I came across “Open Source Web Design”:http://www.oswd.org/ and “Open Web Design”:http://www.openwebdesign.org/ – two sites that showcase web site templates that are completely free for commercial or non-commercial use.
Web Page Upload Checklist
There are a lot of little things to remember when you’re making a web page live. It’s all too easy to overlook some of them. That’s why my web team uses an uploading checklist to ensure that we don’t have to remember what to do each time – we just follow through the steps instead.
Read More10 Tips to Improve the Comment Section of Your Blog
For many blog posts, the comments section – where the discussion occurs – is as important as the post itself. This is where the original idea or technique gets tested, refined and extended, questions are answered, and other options to it are presented.
Consequently, it’s worth taking the time to make your comments section as user-friendly and as attractive as the rest of your site. Here are some tips to bring the design of your comments section up a notch or two: Read More
Best Web Design Picks of 2005
A little late to the party, I suppose, but here are my top picks for 2005 on a variety of web design-related subjects.
Read MoreDownload Free Icons from IconBuffet
IconBuffet’s new ‘Delivery’ service offers you a free download of a sample set of icons each month.
Read MoreMouse Hover: More Useful Than You Thought
Bill Scott delves into the humble mouse-over in his post “Musings on Mouse Hover”:http://looksgoodworkswell.blogspot.com/2005/11/musings-on-mouse-hover.html. In it he identifies three main uses for mouse-over effects:
11 Principles of Great Web Sites for Consultants
Michael W. McLaughlin, the coauthor of Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants, has written a good overview article on “key factors to consider when building web sites for consultants”:http://www.highrankings.com/issue153.htm#guest.
A lot of the points are equally applicable to web site design in general, but together he does provide a good arsenal of talking points if you’re ever doing a bid for a consultancy firm.
Web Site Usability Book Review: “Don’t Make Me Think”
Usability guru Steve Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability (now in its 2nd edition) is one of the best books on web usability that I’ve read. Why? Because it’s short, easy to read and covers all the essentials really well.
Read More11 Reasons to Include Prototyping in Your Web Development Process
In “The promised land of prototyping: Realizing the full potential of prototyping”:http://www.guuui.com/issues/04_05.php Henrik Olsen provides 11 very good reasons as to why you should include prototyping as an intregal part of your web development methodology.