Webdesigninformer.com

Jason Santa Maria Go to the source

I’m fresh back from New Zealand where I took part in FullCodePress , a knock down, drag out, web design competition to make a website for a charity in 24 hours. The competition was put on by the wonderful folks at Webstock and pitted teams from New Zealand , Australia , and the US against one another. Our teams were each paired with a charity, who was only revealed when the competition started. From there, each team took whatever assets the client brought along (all in various states of completion, or, uh, viability); copy, photos, and loads of information, to make a complete functioning website in a single day. … Read the rest here

Cameron Moll Go to the source

Apple Acquires Personal Mobile Assistant Siri : They’re not just acquiring an iPhone app, but all of the smarts behind its mega-aggregator connecting to services such as Rotten Tomatoes, Yelp, TaxiMagic, OpenTable, and so on—just about anything a user could ask for with a natural language query. Watch the demo and you’ll probably be as impressed as I am with not only the query data but the user experience, too. … Read the rest here

Cameron Moll Go to the source

Screw the Web : Faruk Ateş, adding fuel to the web vs. app debate: So screw the Web, for it is too limiting for us creators—be we designer or developer or content writer or otherwise—to build things that inspire and instill a sense of wonder in its audience. We should be thrilled by the iPad (and the new breed of similar devices soon to follow), because it offers us a chance to break free from our DOM-driven chains and CSS hackery and actually use a platform that’s designed from the ground up to deliver amazing user experiences. … Read the rest here

Cameron Moll Go to the source

The central theme of Mobile Web Design was carefully and thoughtfully built on the assumption that the browser will always provide the most consistent, reliable medium for users of web content, and the most open and sustainable platform for developers of the same—all thanks to HTML, CSS, and web standards. Additionally, I argued that “smart clients” (lightweight apps installed on a device whose content is primarily fed by and stored in the cloud) would and should remain secondary to providing the same experience in the browser, again for the reasons mentioned above. Since the release of iPhone and now with the release of iPad, I’ve gradually found myself questioning more and more the assumption I made. Apple has consistently proven that holistically controlling the entire user experience—inclusive of hardware to software and everything in between—has the potential to yield a more pleasant experience overall. Think of Mac OS + Mac, iPhone OS + iPhone, and now iPhone OS + iPad… Read the rest here

Cameron Moll Go to the source

Relink: MEX Manifesto Predicts “Multi-Platform” Experiences : With the iPad arriving at many U.S. households tomorrow, it’s an appropriate time to revisit something I posted in November 2009: Each year, MEX, the Mobile User Experience conference, publishes a manifesto to frame the content and discussion for the year’s conference. Traditionally these manifestos have focused on mobile devices, operators/carriers, and the like. However, this year’s manifesto speaks repeatedly of “multi-platform” experiences. … Read the rest here

SimpleBits Go to the source

This year will be a busy one in terms of speaking events. I’m currently crafting a brand new talk titled, “The CSS3 Experience”. It’ll focus on enriching the experience layer with advanced CSS and CSS3. Everyone can easily add enhancements to to their designs when focusing on the interactions and events that happen on the page. And by targeting the user experience with these new and evolving standards, you can start using these flexible techniques now, on any site, with less worry. Well damn, that sounded rather pitchy, didn’t it… Read the rest here

SimpleBits Go to the source

This year will be a busy one in terms of speaking events. I’m currently crafting a brand new talk titled, “The CSS3 Experience”. It’ll focus on enriching the experience layer with advanced CSS and CSS3. Everyone can easily add enhancements to to their designs when focusing on the interactions and events that happen on the page. And by targeting the user experience with these new and evolving standards, you can start using these flexible techniques now, on any site, with less worry… Read the rest here

Andy Budd Go to the source

The concept of ‘Pull Marketing’ is all the rage at the moment. In the age of the Mad Men, selling a new product was easy. You’d be handed a commodity product like toothpaste or washing powder and set about building a brand to set it apart from the competition. You would then buy advertising space on a small number of influential marketing channels and wait for the sales to roll in. … Read the rest here

Andy Budd Go to the source

I have an idea for a thing (1 million people) I tried to build a thing (50,000 people) I built a thing that works (10,000 people) I built a thing that people use (1,000) I built a thing that’s easy to use (50 people) I built a thing that people enjoy using (5 people) I built a thing that people love (1 person) … Read the rest here

Andy Budd Go to the source

I have an idea for a thing (1 million people) I tried to build a thing (50,000 people) I built a thing that works (10,000 people) I built a thing that people use (1,000) I built a thing that’s easy to use (50 people) I built a thing that people enjoy using (5 people) I built a thing that people love (1 person) … Read the rest here

Clagnut Go to the source

Tickets for the UK ’s premier user experience conference are now on sale . The great thing about putting together a conference like UX London is that, as a user experience consultancy ourselves, Clearleft gets to set up exactly the conference that we would want to go to. And yet again I’m massively excited about who we’ve lined-up for 2010: Bill Moggridge, Scott McCloud, Peter Morville, Liz Danzico, Josh Porter, Kristina Halvorson, Whitney Hess and Jesse James Garrett to name but a few. Details of the workshops are still being finalised, but you can expect to learn more about running Agile UX teams, using comics as design tools, understanding patterns for discovery, designing to influence behaviour, using metrics effectively, applying psychology to interaction design and loads more. UX London is designed to be the conference we at Clearleft want to go to, and that’s probably why it was so successful last year… Read the rest here

Andy Budd Go to the source

I recently received a wireframe from a potential client outlining their plans for a new homepage, which in itself was pretty impressive. It showed that the client had knowledge of the industry as well as a good understanding about the importance of planning. To produce this wireframe our prospective client had used a relatively new tool called Balsamiq, which aims to capture the sketchy nature of hand drawn wireframes with the utility of a GUI application. On the surface this seems like a really good idea and it obviously allowed the client to produce something relatively quickly with little or no prior experience. As such, I think a tool like Balsamiq does have a place in the non-professional market… Read the rest here

Andy Budd Go to the source

A lot of companies make money by driving traffic to their sites through marketing or SEO campaigns in the hope that some of their visitors will turn into customers. This makes sense when attention is plentiful and online marketing is cheap. However as marketing costs rise and attention becomes increasingly scarce, companies need to look outside of the traditional marketing funnel. Rather than simply increasing traffic, companies need to start focussing on conversions. … Read the rest here

Andy Budd Go to the source

A lot of companies make money by driving traffic to their sites through marketing or SEO campaigns in the hope that some of their visitors will turn into customers. This makes sense when attention is plentiful and online marketing is cheap. However as marketing costs rise and attention becomes increasingly scarce, companies need to look outside of the traditional marketing funnel. Rather than simply increasing traffic, companies need to start focussing on conversions. … Read the rest here

Andy Budd Go to the source

The traditional approach to product development involves coming up with new idea and then driving as many people towards that product as possible, in the hope that some of them will want it. As such we adopt the language of marketing, and talk about marketing funnels and conversion rates. If our marketing department has done a good job they will have created a campaign that not only generates traffic, but creates a previously unrecognised need. Tired? Need a break? Why not have a KitKat? … Read the rest here

Andy Budd Go to the source

Despite being 2009, one of the biggest complaints I hear from people when describing their online activities is how difficult websites are to use. People get amazingly frustrated when they’re trying to do something seemingly simple and the website continuously gets in the way. It’s almost as though the people designing or commissioning the website haven’t used it themselves. For most consumers this idea seems incredible, but sadly it’s largely still the case. … Read the rest here

Cameron Moll Go to the source

I’m super pleased giddy, really, to announce Veer — the place for elements of creativity — as Authentic Jobs’ newest partner. Veer Ideas , which was launched several months ago as the hub for creative professionals to connect, share, and explore within Veer, now includes a Jobs section powered by Authentic Jobs . I’ve known a few of the talented individuals at Veer almost as far back as the launch of Veer.com, and there has been plenty of cross-linking between the two of us since then. This latest development is a huge leap forward in our relationship, and it’s a textbook example of pushing an API to its limits to create a great, off-site user experience. As a reminder, use promo code MOLL31 and receive 30% off the purchase price of a full-time or freelance listing through October 31. … Read the rest here

Digital Web Go to the source

Day two kicks off with Aaron giving thanks to sponsors. Aaron then asks the audience about the sessions that occurred yesterday and what they found interesting and if there could be sessions today to expand on that. Audience is talking about things they learned from yesterday. Topics include Dutch libraries, Creative Commons, privacy on the web, EULA s, Denim, financial banking, etc. Rachel comes up to introduce Tamara Adlin. Tamara takes the stage. … Read the rest here

Cameron Moll Go to the source

Q: I am a course developer for a university. I am interested in attending An Event Apart and need to justify to my supervisor why this conference would be really great for me and the university. I have explained that the learning more about standards-based HTML, CSS and accessibility are a must as an employee of a state university, and that some of the best creative minds in the world will be speaking at the conference. However, my boss would like to know how this conference would benefit me and my department in terms of creating instructional websites. I was hoping you might be able to add deeper insight to my case? … Read the rest here

Snook Go to the source

It’s interesting to note that many web developers go through a similar process over the course of their careers. One of those rights of passage is the building of a particular application type. Cutting your teeth on building a larger scale application (at least, larger than a contact form that emails somebody and larger than hacking up an install of WordPress) seems to inevitably involve developing a custom application, either as a personal project or as some client deliverable. Most importantly, I believe that a tried and true web developer should go through this process to understand the pain points of developing larger applications. There are three different types of applications that are certainly great excercises: The forum The blogging engine The content management system Each of these often has a number of concerns that are always pertinent — such as user experience design and workflow, authentication, spam handling, email management and certainly database design. The Forum Over the years, I’ve built a few forums. … Read the rest here