Page 23 of 33 (323 total articles)
  • December 12, 2007 in Mirificam Press News

    Help Build the Best Blog Search Engine for Web Designers... Bits O' BlogSearch

    After happening upon Rollyo.com last week, I was inspired to build a blog search engine for web designers. Rollyo is short for "roll your own" search engine. It's a simpler Yahoo powered version of Google's Custom Search. I knew as embarked on this mission that I wasn't the first to attempt it. But the wheel can always be made rounder without being reinvented.

  • December 10, 2007 in Web Design Culture

    Automated Mass Emails With a Nauseating Personal Touch

    We've all seen it before and we've all rolled our eyes. We get a suspicious looking letter in the mail--it could be junk or it might be real. We decide it's better to be safe than sorry so we rip open the envelope for a quick look. It's junk alright, but there at the top it reads, "You've been chosen, MATTHEW, to receive a special 0% introductory rate!" This tactic got old the minute we had the technology to do it. Is it really any better to do the same thing to our legitimate subscribers?

  • December 7, 2007 in Product Reviews

    Keyword Nortometer: A Free Online Optimization Tool With a New Perspective

    The Keyword Nortometer is a free online search engine optimization tool developed by Just Search. It takes the traditional keyword suggestion tool and gives it an exciting new twist. Instead of just suggesting possible variations on a keyword, the Nortometer retrieves words and phrases commonly used in top search results for a keyword. For example, when I type in "web design blog" the Nortometer will go to the top search engine results for that phrase and return other keywords and phrases appearing frequently in those websites. I've already found this information to be critical in understanding the relationship between phrases and the target audience. I had a few "ah ha" moments as I tested it out.

  • December 5, 2007 in Web Design Culture

    Browser Tricks: The Web Designer's Smoke and Mirrors

    I love that there is an air of mystery around the web designer. I imagine it feels a lot like being a magician pulling rabbits out of hats--only out of computers. I never know what will and won't impress, though, and my friends and clients are rarely impressed with the things that impress me. Changing the font across an entire website with a simple CSS modification often gets me little more than a nod. In my mind that's a pretty big rabbit. But there is one little trick that has never failed to conjure up the wows I like to hear. It's a Firefox extension called Tab Effect.

  • December 3, 2007 in Web Design Culture

    The Independent Web Designer in 2008 | 5 Make It or Break It Characteristics

    2007 is almost over. Time to start thinking about the future. If you've been designing web sites for more than five years or so, the tools and processes your are using today are completely different than the the ones you used when you started. Gone are the days of and tags, CSS and Javascript finally started working, and my nose goes up extra high when I hear the words "Front Page".

  • November 30, 2007 in Web Design Culture

    Digg Me! Oh, Please, Please, Please!

    Digg is a great concept. In my opinion, it has made the single greatest contribution to the awareness of the difference between traditional media and the web. Because of Digg, we are now able to comment and vote on just about everything. For these things, Digg, I thank you. You have made the task of spreading the good news of the web much easier. Now, all due credit having been given, I would like to point to a little mess Digg has created.

  • November 28, 2007 in Design Tips & Tutorials

    How Bad Pagination Ruined Blockbuster's Cool Web 2.0 Site

    Ah, pagination... we use it so often we forget it's even there. We glide gracefully from page to page taking every click for granted. That is, of course, until we are jolted back to reality by a site that has it all wrong. Bad pagination can make you do and say things you ordinarily wouldn't dream of. It's absolutely infuriating.

  • November 26, 2007 in Business & Process

    5 Reasons to Use "5 Reasons" in Your Blog Post Title

    By now it's no secret that advertising "five reasons why..."in a blog post title is an effective technique for enticing clickthroughs. Advice pointing to this tactic is rampant in the blogosphere and, I have to admit, I've used the technique myself a time or two (not counting this post). But the technique has transformed from a cool little trick to an all out internet phenomenon.

  • November 23, 2007 in Design Tips & Tutorials

    Simple Animation With CSS Is The Next Logical Step

    Webkit recently posted an article on their blog Surfin' Safari describing a new set of CSS functions currently in the works. The purpose of these new functions is to allow animation using simple CSS attributes. Vitamin's comment about the venture was "Now I don't know why you'd want to, but hey, you can". I couldn't disagree more.

  • November 21, 2007 in Web Design Worldview

    Effective Web Site Design: Understanding Unity and Diversity

    There have been thousands of books and articles written outlining, explaining, and defining the elements of a good web site design. Many usability experts even go so far as to dictate the acceptable size of various common web site elements down to the pixel. Everyone has their "fool-proof" checklist of parts that, when added together, should total up to a great web site design. Honestly, I'm glad it's not that simple. We're looking at web design like addition or subtraction when, in reality, it's more like poetry. The sum of the parts is not equal to the whole. With that in mind, I'll move on to the main point.

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