Page 28 of 33 (323 total articles)
  • July 9, 2007 in Programming & IT

    jQuery: The Write Less, Do More, JavaScript Library

    jQuery: The Write Less, Do More, JavaScript Library -- Having a good ajax library to support your websites has become an important part of being in the web design business but libraries like the popular script.aculo.us require a lot of additional coding to produce something really useful. The jQuery library has a lot of the same cool animation functions but it also has a ton of prebuilt plugins that do the stuff you want. It could definitely be improved upon but in the future, it may be a one stop shop that will keep you from scouring the web for scripts.

  • July 8, 2007 in Web Design Culture

    Wired Magazine Takes a Cue From the Web

    Recently, Wired Magazine ran a promotion with Xerox in which they allowed subscribers to upload a photo that would then appear on the cover of a special personalized issue in July. Of course, I had to take advantage of the offer so as soon as I had a chance, I cropped a nice picture of my son covered in Spaghetti Os and uploaded it. We talk a lot about the web as the only future of information exchange but it will be a while before print is essentially out. In the meantime, there have been some pretty amazing developments in print technology that allow for some exciting new applications. Wired has taken the soul of MySpace (Personalization) and applied the same concept to a printed magazine.

  • July 6, 2007 in Business & Process

    Try Referring Clients to Your Competition

    I’d like to think that I live my life by the biblical concept that it’s better to give than receive; but when it comes to business that principle can be a hard one to swallow. For example, there is a local designer here in Midland that I send clients to from time to time when I’m too busy or a client’s budget isn’t enough to get the job done. He’s a lot cheaper than I am and he doesn’t do much programming but I know he’s reliable. I’ve never actually met him but this week, to my surprise he sent a client back my way that needed some web functionality that was beyond his skill. Fortunately, we still live in a society that responds to good will (at least in Texas we do. Yeehaw!)

  • June 30, 2007 in Web Design Culture

    Bumptop Desktop: What To Do When You Find Out You've Been Living in a Box

    To give credit where credit is due, I saw Bumptop on Cameron Moll�s blog. This is a great example of how we can become stuck in a one dimensional way of thinking when it comes to design. You�ve probably heard the story of the woman who cut off an inch around the edge of her pot roast before she cooked it because that�s the way her mother did it and her mother�s mother did it. When her grandmother is confronted with the question of why, she tells her granddaughter that she simply never had a pan big enough to fit the whole roast. When I saw the Bumptop demo I imagine I felt about the same as that woman did when she found out she was wasting good roast. In web design, as technology and bandwidth go up, we should always be looking for new ways to �fill the whole pan�. If you don�t, someone else will. Watch the Video

  • June 30, 2007 in Product Reviews

    If You Want Professional Online Video Content Try PodTech.net

    The chaos cloud that is YouTube and most other online video content providers can be very interesting… for a little while. But ultimately, on the viewing end of things, we enjoy well produced, well informed content. PodTech.net has a little more of that sparkle we expect from trusted content providers. It also speaks to a niche audience that wouldn’t have a chance for a spot even on a cable network with hundreds of channels. It’s worth checking out and if you make the web developer blog rounds on a regular basis, you will probably recognize a few names as you browse through the latest videos.

  • June 28, 2007 in Business & Process

    Blurring the Lines Between Life and Work

    Traditionally (or at least for the past 100 year or so) there has been a very clear distinction between home life and work life. I won’t get into all the cultural implications of that mindset but suffice it to say that I’m glad things are beginning to change. I am learning to view my work as a vocation rather than a career — something that my parent’s generation never had the joy of experiencing. For them, unfortunately, you were either a hard worker or a bum. Now, I admit that some separation of the facets of your life is important but I think you will find that the more you view them all as an extension of a single goal, the more fulfilling the whole process becomes. Here’s a photo of my father-in-law with our new daughter during one of my spur of the moment work/vacation trips in the middle of the week. I love my job!

  • June 25, 2007 in Design Inspiration

    Are Splash Pages Really the Devil?

    Well, one look at my home page (Liquid Design Media) and you probably already know how I feel about the question. But the issue is much more complex than that. The new web 2.0 generation of designers has told us to reject the splash page as an unnecessary barrier between the visitor and the information they want to see. I would agree with that assertion in most cases and, in fact, I very rarely use splash pages. However, there are some instances where I would highly recommend a splash page. Generally, the higher the art factor in the content of the site, the more appropriate a splash page is. I the case my web site, though, I feel like the splash page helps direct visitors more effectively to the content they are looking for. The point is that you shouldn�t let the latest trends dictate the direction you take on a site. Do what works best.

  • June 21, 2007 in Business & Process

    Website to Earth: "I am not a brochure!"

    Recently, I’ve been starting meetings with prospective clients a little differently. Right off the bat, I tell them not to think of their website as a brochure. For some reason this concept sparks a big "ohhhhh" moment for a lot of people who aren’t in the industry. A brochure is static, difficult to change, and updated once every few years. Sound familiar? More than once I’ve found myself lost in a maze of sentence fragments and nonsensical rambling trying to explain how the web has changed in the last couple of years. It’s a hard issue to convey concisely. Take it from me and don’t try to tackle it head on. Just say, “Your website is not a brochure and if you treat it like one, you won’t be getting the most out of it.” For most of the business owners you will run into, their website is the most effective and efficient tool they have to communicate with, track, and serve new and existing clients. Doesn’t sound like a brochure to me.

  • June 19, 2007 in Web Design Culture

    What To Do When a Friend or Charity Needs a WebSite and You Just Can't Say No

    If you�ve been in the web design business for very long you know how frequent requests for free work can be. Charities need websites, your friends are constantly coming up with ideas that need websites, relatives need a family reunion website, and the list goes on and on. I�ve found that the best way to deal with these kinds of requests is to decide in advance how many free projects you will work on per year and stick with that number no matter what. Otherwise, your business can easily get smothered by all the great causes. Also, don�t forget the myriad of free tools that can get your free loading clients up and running really fast with minimal effort. My personal preference is to use and feedburner.com to create a quick custom blog. With a few minor tweaks to one of blogger�s built-in templates and a little time configuring feedburner, I can have a pretty nice looking website with some very impressive features. Here is one that I am working on right now. It has taken me a total of three hours to get it where it is. Not too bad!

  • June 14, 2007 in Web Design Culture

    Midessa Mashup - An Experiment in the Power of Stealing Stuff

    I’ve been talking a lot recently about different tools that can be used to mashup various types of content. A few weeks ago I decided to try a little experiment based on some of these mashup concepts I’ve been going on and on about. I set out to build a central news site for two closely situated cities in my area. The catch is that the site had to rely 100% on other people’s content and code. It wasn’t as easy as it sounds. There were a lot of times when I was dying to break my own rule and jump in there and start writing PHP code. I didn’t, though, and the ad free mashup result is at MidessaMashup.com. I designed the site as much for other developers as for the communities that the site represents so there are tips and explanations scattered throughout the site. Enjoy!

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