Archive for April, 2008
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008
Ok, I found a new favorite! It Looks Good is a great site. Here’s what I like about it:
1. Hand drawn elements. This is always something I enjoy. I always like the way hand drawn elements look. I think they create an automatic ‘uniqueness’ for any site.
2. Unique Navigation Style. While it took me a couple of moments to find out how to navigate their site, I still like it. When I opened their site, I enjoyed the falling smiley faces. I knew something was up with the ‘dead faces’, but it took me a moment to realize that they were the navigation points.
3. It’s completely unconventional. Again, sites like this automatically rise to the top in my opinion.
There are some great elements of this site that are worthy of remembering. This one is a definite keeper!
Posted in Navigation/Menu | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 29th, 2008
I’m just wondering if any of our readers use this system for web development. If you do, please let us know what your experience with this product has been.
Here’s what their own website says about their system:
“Ruby on Rails is an open source framework that’s optimized for programmer happiness and sustainable productivity. It lets you write beautiful code by favoring convention over configuration.
Rails is a full-stack framework for developing database-backed web applications according to the Model-View-Control pattern. From the Ajax in the view, to the request and response in the controller, to the domain model wrapping the database, Rails gives you a pure-Ruby development environment. To go live, all you need to add is a database and a web server.”
Some of the sites produced using their system that I found are great looking and function well. I’m just wondering what other folks out there think about the system. If you have any experience using it, just let us know! Thanks!
Posted in Programming, Resources | No Comments »
Monday, April 28th, 2008
All Things Designed has twelve excellent, seamless textures available for FREE. As I’ve said before, FREE is fits into my budget very nicely. The only caveat attached to these textures is a request that you pass the link on to other people who may find them useful too.
Again, as Web Design Ideas finds sites like this one, we want to share them with you. We consider our site as a kind of ‘toolbox’ for Web Designers. Lots of ideas, lots of links to good resources and information. We hope you enjoy it!
Posted in Backgrounds/Patterns | 1 Comment »
Monday, April 28th, 2008
DaFont.com has some really good fonts available. Registration is free on their site too. Most of the fonts are free, some are restricted to personal use and other fonts as for a donation to the author of the font. The fonts are broken down into 9 major categories that contain about 60 sub-categories. So, when you’re hunting for a font that works well on a particular project, I’d suggest checking out DaFont.com’s site. While looking through their site briefly, I found quite a few that I liked and would use.
Posted in Fonts | 1 Comment »
Friday, April 25th, 2008
Need to refine your CSS skills? Are you looking for some cool tips and tricks for CS3, Acrobat, Illustrator or MS Office? If you are, then go check out the free video tutorials at Ten Ton Books! Geoff has put together some great, informative tutorials on all of the subjects listed above. Currently there are 8 free videos. I watched the first in a three part series on ‘Creatin’ CSS Layouts in Dreamweaver’ and it was great. I’d highly recommend them to anyone interested in refining their abilities in Dreamweaver.
Go check ‘em all out!
Posted in Resources | 3 Comments »
Thursday, April 24th, 2008
In part of Starbuck’s revitalization plan, they chose to “go back to their roots” and run with their original logo design. Along with a host of other marketing plans, the choice to change from their iconic green logo is receiving mixed reviews. This should serve as a wake up call to anyone considering a logo change for their business. One of the vital components to a successful business is brand recognition. While the decision to go back to an old design isn’t a complete change, it’s still risky.
Personally, I think it’s a bad decision for Starbucks. To me, it further emphasizes the fact that they are a company that’s unstable. Yes, they’re big. Yes, they have iconic status. Yes, they can probably make big changes without it being too adverse to their bottom line. But, I still think it’s a bad idea. If they really want to “restore” goodwill with their customers, I’d recommend the following:
Get rid of the automatic machines. Retrain their staff to perform as real baristas on real, quality espresso machines. “Just say no” to button pushers.
Everyone hates the tall, grande, venti verbiage. They always have. How about small, medium, and large?!
Spend more time and effort putting together a better roasted, fresher tasting coffee. Quit wasting time on more ‘clever’ marketing schemes. Stop acting so ‘corporate’ and become real, local coffeehouses again.
So, as you can see…for me, it takes much more than changing a logo to get me to darken the door of one of the numerous local, Starbucks near me.
What’s your opinion about Starbucks’ choice to change back to an older version of their logo? Do you see their decision as a positive or negative one? I’d be interested to know…
Posted in Logos | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008
Jacob Gube over at SixRevisions.com recently posted an an article with 7 excellent tools for evaluating the effectiveness of a website’s design. The tools he suggests are great for optimizing and analyzing a web pages layout. The thing that caught my eye about the article is that not only do these tools test the function of the content, they also review the ease of navigation, page loading, etc.
I’d encourage you to read Jacob’s entire article. While you may not use every one of the seven tools listed there, you may find one that meets a specific need for your web design services.
Posted in Layout/Design, Resources | 1 Comment »
Monday, April 21st, 2008
I read an article last night written by David Airey that discussed the importance of what your website conveys about you to your visitors. Quite honestly, I’ve been thinking about it all day. Valik and I are in the process of creating a new site for my writing and editing business. I want my website to convey three things about me: professional, honest, and friendly.
David also asked his readers to evaluate his website based on the three things he wants it to convey about himself. So far, he’s received a lot of feedback, both positive and negative (he has over 3500 subscribers). He has also offered to do the same for other folks too…offer his feedback about their sites.
So, once my site is up, you’ll be hearing from me again, haha. I want to see how well my website is accurately representing me. Now, I pose the question to you: How accurately is your website portraying you or your business?
Let’s be brave and forthright here! If you wish, please leave a comment here telling us what you want your website to be saying about you and we’ll take a look at it and evaluate its effectiveness. I think it will be a very useful exercise for everyone involved. I’d go first, but my site’s not done yet. However, I promise I’ll submit it!
Posted in Other | 1 Comment »
Sunday, April 20th, 2008
I’m not real familiar with Xara and I’m wondering how many people out there use it and like it. So, let me know if you would please. For those of you in the same boat as I am, here is what Xara has to say about itself:
“Xara Xtreme is quite simply the world’s fastest graphics software, with truly flexible illustration tools and revolutionary photo handling. It will form an integral part of your creative workflow, whether it’s vector drawings, DTP designs, photo compositions or Flash animations for your website.”
If you like it and use it…what do you find appealing about it and its functionality? As a designer, what is it about Xara that helps you in your work? Seriously, let me know your opinion on this program. I’m interested in it and before I dive into it, I’d like to get some feedback…positive and negative.
Thanks!
Posted in Resources | 1 Comment »
Saturday, April 19th, 2008
Recently, one of our readers took us up on the offer we display on our site (to have your site reviewed in our blog). So, without further adieu, here’s the scoop!
Geoff Blake has created a site called Ten Ton Books. We’re actually going to post a couple of articles based on the content of his site, because we like it and because we can, haha. The first thing I’d like to highlight from Ten Ton Books is Geoff’s article about Dreamweaver’s site management tools. His article hits upon ten great time saving ways to effectively use Dreamweaver. Check out the article…he’s got some great tips!
Within the next week, we’ll be discussing some of his video tutorials (after I’ve had a chance to sample them). Also, while you’re visiting his site, check out the layout because it’s cool. It has a comic book style to it which works very well. Good stuff Geoff! Thanks for reading our blog and submitting your site for us to review! We appreciate it!
Posted in Resources | 2 Comments »
