Design (6 articles)
Eight harsh truths for clients about web design
Every now and then we all have to deal with a client who has ‘interesting’ ideas for their web site. You know the type – the guy who wants an animated background, or the girl who insists on having all the text coloured light grey on a white background at 10 points. When it comes to web design, I’m a firm believer in the philosophy that the client is rarely if ever right....
Read full article | 12 comments , most recent by That Web Guy
Mobile web design: What I've learned
Just like designing for the desktop screen, designing for mobile devices comes with its own set of hurdles and considerations. Not all mobile browsers are created equal, and you'll need to be aware of their positive aspects and failures alike. Some mobile browsers allow you to zoom in and out of a page for easy access to links, some don't. Some allow you to change the aspect ratio and some don'...
Read full article | 2 comments , most recent by Harkiman
Demystifying Google's text-indent mystery
Once upon a .com boom time, back when search engines predominantly ranked sites based on keywords alone, there was a common practice in SEO carried out by every web designer and his dog - something called 'cloaking', a form of keyword spamming. This practice at the time was allegedly the Holy Grail of ranking highly in search engines, and usually consisted of spamming your page with keywords th...
Read full article | 8 comments , most recent by ScottFoley
Resetting your CSS and your sanity
Did you ever notice how browsers seems to have slightly different ideas on how certain HTML elements are displayed? If you're like me then you once lost the same amount of time it takes for breakfast cereal to go soggy before you figured out what was going on. The image below perfectly demonstrates the small inconsistencies between elements in different browsers, yet these are often more than e...
Read full article | 9 comments , most recent by Josiah
Why mention Dreamweaver on your CV?
In a recent article I made a throw-away comment regarding Dreamweaver and its (lack of) importance in web design. During the beta phase of this site one of the testers queried me on why I felt that way. Buckle up, because this might hurt some feelings. I don’t have a problem with Dreamweaver per se, and I still use it (although I’m constantly looking for a suitable alterative) bu...
Read full article | 16 comments , most recent by That Web Guy
How to win that web designer position
Hiring a new designer isn't always easy. No matter how specific I make the requirements in a job advertisement I still receive countless CVs from people who have several years LAMP development experience but none in front end design. What's that all about? Anyway, this article is intended to shed some light on what it's like to be at the other end of the table, scrutinising your every respons...
Read full article | 3 comments , most recent by That Web Guy