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50 Web design tips to Speed Up Site
2008-05-06 08:32:00
There are all sorts of tips and tools included, from reducing the number of HTTP requests to compressing images and playing with caches. Here are six articles that I wrote on the topic some time ago (they were included on the list) :Speed Up Your Site : Optimize ImagesSpeed Up Your Site: Image FormatsSpeed Up Your Site: Optimize your CSSSpeed Up Your Site: Use a slash on your linksSpeed Up Your Site: Use the height and width tagsSpeed Up Your Site: Reduce the HTTP RequestsSource : 50 Tips to Speed Up Your Website
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Flash Design tutorials lessons for intermediate & advanced users
2008-03-17 13:08:00
Listed below are a few tutorials created with beginners in mind. They will help you learn the basics of how to use Flash :1. How to make a flash cartoon head animation2. Stick man animation3. How to make a scrolling background animation in Flash4. How to create and use motion tweens Adobe FlashIntermediate users are those animators who already understand the basics of using the toolbar. The following Flash tutorials are aimed at those intermediate users:1. How to make Flash navigation buttons2. How to make a smooth rotating circle3. How to make a ball bounce4. How to create Flash text animationsWhile our list of advanced Flash tutorials and lessons include:1. How to zoom in a Flash movie clip, then re-scale it2.How to use game sprites3. Action scripting for Flash car game4. How to make game animations using Sprites : demonstrates how to make them move etc.5. Using Flash to add animations to a video movie6. Create a volume sound slider7. How to make a Flash preloaderSource : Free Flas...
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15 CSS Properties You Probably Never Use
2008-01-30 13:48:00
Originally written by Matthew Inman (Oatmeal) After writing 5 HTML Elements You Probably Never Use (but perhaps should), I thought creating something similar for CSS was in order. These are all CSS level 2 properties but some of them don't work in all browsers, so make sure and test things out before putting them into use.1. clipclip: rect(5px, 40px, 45px, 5px) From iBloom Studios A good way to visualize the clip attribute is if you take a piece of paper with a rectangle cut out of it and place it on top of a photo (just like using a Photoshop layer mask). The area of the rectangular hole, allowing the layer behind it to show through, is what the clip property will specify.They've got a lengthy article all about clip and some examples of it in use.2. visibilityvisibility: (inherit | visible | hidden)From Macromedia For practical purposes, the difference between these two properties [visibility and display] is that when you hide information using the visibility property, t...
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Brief description of Web Accessibility
2007-12-26 05:29:00
What exactly is Web Accessibility ?Simply put, web accessibility is about making a site accessible to the largest range of people possible. For the majority of website owners, this is simply good business sense. After all, the more people you have using your site the better.Making a website accessible involves removing potential barriers to access and one of the best ways of doing this is to build sites to 'web standards'.Who does this affect ?People often think that web accessibility relates only to people with physical disabilities. Although they are often most affected by poorly designed sites, accessibility is a much wider issue and at a fundamental level, affects us all. * Blind, visually impaired and colour blind people are probably the most obvious group of individuals affected by accessibility issues. This group also makes up a very large percentage of web surfers * People with physical disabilities, such as those with impaired mobility * People surfing...
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Milestone’s Top 10 Website Programming Guidelines
2007-11-30 12:35:00
1. Use clean CSS (cascading style sheets) codes2. If websites are built on a dynamic platform, make sure that your Content Management System is search engine friendly3. Keep your codes clean by calling all java scripts and CSS using an include file4.Use keyword rich H1 TAGS5.Use ALT Tags for images to enable your site to be read by visitors with visual/hearing impairments and name all your images keyword rich6. Keep the download time low by reducing images on the site7. Float the content right at the top and make it easy for the crawler to index your page8. Make sure phone numbers and address are on every page as text9. Use Absolute Links, no relative links10. Check for browser compatibility so the site appears the same across all platformsSource : Top 10 Website Programming Guidelines

Great Design Requires Good Listening: Six Keys To Become An Empathic Design
2007-11-19 12:51:00
Design and usability expert Joshua Porter, looks at this very issue and at the traits required to become what one would call "an empathic designer".How To Be an Empathic Designer "A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.” - Douglas AdamsPart of being a web designer is trying to understand and make sense of how people are using your design. Therefore, being empathic, or having the ability to share and understand the feelings of another, is a valuable trait to have.The more empathic you are, the more you can understand how people are using your design, how they think and feel about it, and what you need to do to make it great.But How Do You Become Empathic ?What if you’re not naturally an empathic person ? Here are a few things I try to keep in mind when I feel like I’m getting too far away from the people I design for.1) Keep an Open MindIt is a great irony that the people who ...
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Automate Your Design Process with These 13 Tools and Tips
2007-11-02 09:15:00
These tools and tips will show you how to quicken your workflow when designing or editing a website. Quicker Text Editing Use search and replace so you don’t have to manually open up all those files anymore! Let these programs do that for you. TurboSR Search And ReplaceThis free utility allows you to search through text, .html and xml files and replace text. It works on multiple files too, no need to open each one.ReplaceEmReplaceEm is a search and replace utility that supports multiple files. The best part about this one is that it can use regular expressions.Search And ReplaceAnother lightweight and fast text replacement utility. This one allows you to search through and entire folder and choose only certain extensions (html, dll, etc). Requires the .net framework.TexRep 2.0TexRep is another text replacement tool, but this one allows you to make copies of the original while replacing text. Handy for when you want to change something but change you mind back. Put Your Photoshop T...
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Colour contrast checking tools to improve the accessibility of your design
2007-10-16 12:01:00
If text does not have sufficient contrast compared to its background, people will have problems. People with color blindness or other visual impairments as well as people browsing the Web under less than ideal circumstances (bad monitor, window reflections, sunlight hitting the screen) may not be able to read the text, at least not without difficulty.With that background out of the way, on to the actual color contrast checking tools. Some tools are Web based, while others are standalone applications or browser extensions that you run locally on your computer.The list:Colour Contrast Check: The tool gives you immediate feedback by showing what the chosen colour combination looks like and whether it passes the test. Colour Contrast Analyser: You will need to enter the values for foreground and background colours into a form and submit it, after which the results are displayed. Colour Contrast Visualizer: Using a slightly different approach, Tom Hooper’s color Contrast Visualizer hel...
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8 Web Design Tactics to Help You When You're Stuck
2007-10-03 11:54:00
Originally written by Matthew Inman (Oatmeal) Web design can be incredibly frustrating. You'd think that with the infinite possibilities of what-goes-where it'd be pretty easy to land a design that works, yet somehow we've all been stuck before: working hour after hour on a design that refuses to look right. Throwing away pixels like they're going out of style. These 8 tactics are what I use to get out of that sticky spot Design from the inside out A lot of designers start off a design by focusing on the header. Often times what's inside the page is what makes it look good; the header is supplementary. Try leaving the header alone for a while and working on some elements in the body, you'll be surprised at how much easier it is to design a page once you've got a solid body going. Sketch somethingMy whiteboard is my salvation. Pencil and paper works too. I read an article years ago by a designer who would draw dozens of little 2x3" mockups in his spiral notebook bef...
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Gorgeous Website Footers
2007-09-25 08:45:00
Originally written by Matthew Inman (Oatmeal) Footers usually repeat the primary navigation and contain anything that is considered "the fine print," such as copyright information and a privacy policy. With the rising popularity of standards based design, they also have become the home for xhtml and css compliance badges.Below is a list of 19 sites I gathered from around the web who have footers that caught my eye.Source: Put Your Best Foot Forward: 19 Gorgeous Website Footers

Essential steps to planning your website
2007-09-17 08:26:00
Thinking about investing in a new website, or a re-design for your current one? Not sure where to start? Use the following points as your roadmap to make sure you stay on track.Goals It may sound obvious, but the first step before selecting a designer is to lay out your website’s goals. You can use your list in your discussions with possible designers, and then refer back to it throughout the design process to keep you focused. After the website is complete, you can look back at your goals to gauge the success of the project.Some questions to ask yourself when developing your goals:➢ What do you want your website to accomplish?➢ Who is your audience? ➢ What is the purpose of your website? Will it provide information, advertise, sell your products, or entertain?A clear vision of your site is essential when you bring your idea to your website developer.StructureConsider what you want your website to look like and how it will be organized. A well planned and stru...
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Rubbish web design
2007-09-04 08:14:00
Websites don’t have to be at the cutting edge of design to be good, but if it’s colours clash, has lots of irritating animations and is so badly laid out it makes it unreadable you will find it here in the rubbish design section.1. www.scrap-your-car.co.uk We love the blinking dials and the creative use of a dash board... 2. www.pinkcyan.co.uk If you wanted a website desiging would you ask these guys ? 3. www.british-athletics.co.uk This a classic example of making a website before thinking about how it should look. 4. www.plexos.com What is this website about? It appear to have no stucture or meaning. 5. www.learnerdriving.com What can you say about the design of this website ? 6. www.wlhg.co.uk We wonder if the person who designed this website sat back and thought to them selves "You know what you have done a good job" Source : Rubbish web design
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Tutorial on Customizing Ready made Templates
2007-08-27 09:10:00
Get a clear idea of how you can customize ready-made website templates to suit your area of business and your individual tastes and preferences by following the guidelines given below Before you start, some important points to be noted : Some tips if you cannot find the template under the specific category you desire. You don't need to necessarily search for a template under a specific category that relates to your business. You can choose any template where you like the layout and get it customized to suit your business. . Navigation links, pictures and colors can easily be changed. . If you have pictures relating to your web site, you can easily customize any template of your choice from any category. . Ready -made website templates can be completely changed to give a unique special design to your website. Now, let’s begin the tutorial Add Your Logo Add your logo to the site. Take a look at this example; we added the logo to SusanFrostConsulting.com...
More About: Tutorial , Templates , Made

Website Design resources
2007-08-17 12:34:00
The folks at web design from scratch have recently posted a list of their 10 favorite web site designs. The sites make up good sources of inspiration. I particularly like the IconBuffet. For about $300 you can get a great set of icons that will make your application stand out.Another source to consider is the icons we added to the 2007 templates.
More About: Design , Website , Resources

More about how to put video on your web site
2007-08-10 11:30:00
If you want to put videos on your web site, what video format is the best choice? How to convert videos to this format? And how to put videos on Web using your own site not other video hosting service site like YouTube? This small how-to-do-it-step-by-step guide is going to help you with these questions.Read it at How to convert video to Flash video and put video on your site
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How to Put Video on your Website: The Basics
2007-07-24 13:36:00
Video is an extremely powerful medium. If you use eye-catching videos on your website chances are you will capture your website visitor's interest. Moreover, if you put video on your webpages, search engines will love you and will push your website in the top pages of their search results.There are a lot of ways to implement videos on your website. Let's discuss some basic issues in this article.You have two options (from the website visitor's perspective) when you want to put video on your website. Either let the visitor wait for the download of the entire video file and then view it, or use streaming techniques to immediately start playing the video file when the page loads. Streaming video becomes more and more popular every day.Many web designers or webmasters think that the process of creating a video, editing it and uploading it to the website is a pain. The truth is that it does take time to do it, but it's not that complicated.What you should pay attention to, is the ban...
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The Web 2.0 Effect: The Characteristics of a web2.0 website
2007-07-09 12:59:00
The term web2.0 was originally presented by O'Reilly Media (A well known media company publishing books and websites on various computer technology topics). It's a term that refers to a new generation of websites (social networking websites, wiki-based websites etc). These websites take advantage of web application technologies and give web users the ability to collaborate and share their experiences, views, opinions and interests while they surf the web.The web2.0 is a revolutionary phenomenon. Let's talk about the most basic characteristics of the websites using the web2.0 concept:- A web2.0 website should be completely interactive and dynamic with a friendly user-interface based on the latest web2.0 technologies like AJAX.- Web2.0 websites should deliver web based applications to Internet users and allowing them to make use of these applications through a web browser.- A web2.0 website should implement social networking capabilities allowing users to interact with each other a...
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9 Important Tips for a fast loading web site
2007-06-29 13:32:00
It is important to have a reasonably fast loading web site so that viewers are not made to wait for a long time and to accommodate users on slow internet connections. Search engine algorithms also do take into consideration your load time. Follow these tips while designing and developing your site: 1. Optimize your HTML code: Make sure that your site doesn't have any unwanted tags and that it is optimized. 2. Effective Table designing: Design using nested tables instead of using cell merges and splits. Use separate tables where ever possible. Not designing for 100% height is better as if you use just one outer table, the web page is displayed only after the table is loaded fully. If many outer tables are present [you can have different tables for the header, content, footer, etc.] the page displays the content of each table as soon as its elements are loaded. 3. Maximize content area: This not only reduces load time, it enhances the readability of your site. 4. Minimize use of grap...
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Top Ten Absolutely Free Websites for Downloading Cool Fonts
2007-06-20 09:37:00
The following list of websites is the best compilation of sites on the web where you can download many different fonts totally free. Also, there are a variety of different types of fonts and styles you can download from the following sites so start searching today. Keep in mind that these sites are not listed in any particular order.#1 www.1001freefonts.com/links.htmGreat site because it ranks other font websites in order of popularity as well as having more than 1,000 different fonts to download for free. This website is certainly a great resource if you need a lot of fonts and don’t want to pay for them!#2 www.acidfonts.comThis is also a great website if you simply want to visit one site and download fonts without having to search multiple websites. At acidfonts.com you will be able to download a variety of different fonts for your PC and even convert the fonts over to your Mac if you want. This website will certainly provide you with the fonts you need for your website and busi...
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Use Of Graphic Design To Increase Website Useability
2007-06-02 07:36:00
There can be no argument about the importance of design in attracting Internet users to a particular web site. No one would bother to explore the contents of a site if it does not contain eye-catching graphics that can please the visual sense of the users. With so many kinds of web sites existing online, it is extremely challenging to attract users and keep them interested in the site. But a web site developer does not simply apply graphics freely on a site. Graphic s should be used in the correct manner, or else, users might get turned off because the graphics featured just overwhelmed or confused them. While it is true that attractive design is important for reasons that need not be explained, the choice of design must be carefully considered against the fulfilling the needs of users. When done successfully, it could be safely said that the web site has achieved its goals. Graphics used in the Internet is inextricably linked to multimedia. Multimedia is a combination of graphics, t...
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Avoid These Web Site Design And Writing No-Nos
2007-05-23 14:36:00
Is your website doomed before it even gets off the ground? A badly-designed website can turn off potential customers before they even think about buying your product. Here are some website design mistakes that you should avoid.1. Don't load your web site with a lot of high techclutter. As a rule, avoid using fancy animation or scriptcode unless it is absolutely necessary.. Those things only serve to distract from your sales message.2. A website that loads slowly is just about the mostannoying thing on the Internet. Don't use large graphicsor anything else that dramatically increases your site'sload time.3. Don't make the mistake that everyone will totallyunderstand your web site message. Use descriptive words and examples to get your point across.4. Don't write your strongest point or benefit only once.You should repeat it at least 3 times because some peoplemay miss it.5. Don't push all your words together on your web site.People like to skim; use plenty of headings and subhe...
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11 Web Design Tips
2007-05-01 12:46:00
Before you start design on a website step back a minute – or two. Think about what a website is REALLY supposed to do for the client as well as the visitor. In its simplest form, a website is there to facilitate a transaction of information between it and the visitor. With this in mind, here are some tips for designing useful web sites:1. Font Free for All: Keep the number of font families you use on a page to a minimum. Using many different fonts on a page communicates a sense of disorganization. Use different fonts only to assist in organizing the page in a clear manner; however you can usually achieve this by changing font sizes and font weight.2. Put it on my tab: Check your forms to be sure the tab key proceeds to the next expected (and logical) field on a form. For example, if your form is collecting address information and you are on the city field the next tab should go to state, not the 2nd address line field.3. Dump the landing page: In this day and age that extra click ...
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