There are many factors to consider when you organize the content of your site. How do you make sense of it? Here are the steps I take to help me through the process.
When you make websites for a living, there are many times when you repeat something from a previous project. You need to add code to increase PHP memory limit in the htaccess file, set up the initial framework for your CSS file, or add your Made-By logo code to the footer of a website. The list goes on and on. Sometimes you find yourself whispering the shampoo bottle mantra, "rinse and repeat."
Every time I start a new project, I find myself struggling to choose between using Photoshop or Fireworks. They're both great, but I'm thinking of calling Fireworks my preferred choice for all web design, and here's why.
A QR code is a two-dimensional representation of a specific piece of information like a web URL, phone number, or email address. An individual with the appropriate device and software (like a smartphone and app) can scan a QR code and view special offers, join a mailing list, learn more about a company or product, watch a video, or just about anything else you can imagine.
I have been as guilty as anyone in talking about the fold — the invisible (shall I push and say "imaginary"?) line where scrolling begins. I even think about the fold when I design a web site. Why am I thinking of a concept that came from the newspaper industry? Perhaps I spent too much time on my school's newspaper staff!
If you are a graphic designer or Drupal themer, you don't need to be stuck using Arial on your website; you can easily use a great typeface from one of several providers and implement them using a Drupal module called @font-your-face.
I recently talked about tearing down the wall of words. In that post, we talked about ways to reduce your content; this week, I want to talk about ways to improve the readability of your web page when it needs to be long. Let's talk about things you can do to make the user experience a better one.
You have a message to share, a product to sell, a service to offer — but it may be all for nothing if your website doesn't have focus. When we design a website, we are always looking to focus our client's message so that the message can be heard over the "noise" of our culture.
My favorite type of data in the world of user interface design/user experience is Eye Tracking. An Eye Tracking study tells us where people look. It can tell us the order that information is scanned and it can display a heat map to show where a sample of web visitors looked on your web page. Eye Tracking can be used for web content, print media, product packaging and anything else where you want to measure what is being seen.
The image to the right shows the difference in search behavior from 2005 to 2008. The data shows that people have learned to scan Google and not read every item.
