Web Design (133 entries)
- Borders Magic Shelf: A Clever Take on the Home Page Promo Area
- November 24, 2008
| 3 Comments
- Borders 'magic shelf' enables web site visitors to browse a wide range of content in a familiar way within the confined space of a home page promotional area.
- Indicating Required Form Fields: A Recap
- October 21, 2008
| 15 Comments
- The results of my survey on how best to indicate that a form field is required.
- Are These Really Web Sites of the World's Best Brands?
- September 27, 2008
| 12 Comments
- Not all the world's best brands have web sites that match. Here's a tour through the sites that clearly didn't get the memo about that whole branding thing.
- Required Form Fields: Where Should the Asterisk Go?
- August 26, 2008
| 36 Comments
- Where should the asterisk that indicates required form fields go? To the left or to the right? Does it matter?
- Web Site Navigation Design Showcase
- August 24, 2008
| 15 Comments
- A collection of over 70 examples of great web site navigation design.
- Experiment in Making an Article Sidebar More Readable and Visually Appealing
- July 02, 2008
| 25 Comments
- An experiment in tweaking the HTML and CSS of an article sidebar to improve its readability and visual design.
- Login Form Showcase: 65+ Examples of Login Form Design
- June 23, 2008
| 16 Comments
- A showcase of more than 65 examples of web site login form design. Discover the best practices for login form layout, labeling and design.
- Footer Design Showcase: 75+ Creative Footer Designs
- May 12, 2008
| 21 Comments
- A collection of creative, engaging and useful web site footer designs to fire your imagination.
- Redesigning the TechCrunch Web Site Footer
- May 04, 2008
| 18 Comments
- The footer of the TechCrunch web site has neither an attractive design nor any useful content. Here's my attempt to improve both of these and make it a useful part of the site.
- Is It Fair To Criticize Bad Design?
- April 21, 2008
| 28 Comments
- It's hard to build a successful web site that meets both organizational and user goals. So is it fair to criticize design mistakes without knowing the reasoning behind these decisions?
- BBC News Site Redesign and User Feedback
- April 10, 2008
| 12 Comments
- Reaction to the BBC news web site redesign has been pretty harsh. What should a designer do about it?
- The Evolution of a Button
- February 27, 2008
| 8 Comments
- The 'Hidden Secrets of the Amazon Shopping Cart' explores the evolution of Amazon's add-to-cart button and how its design has changed over time.
- Home Page Carousel Showcase: 40+ Carousel Designs
- February 22, 2008
| 11 Comments
- A collection of over 40 home page carousel designs showing common themes and different approaches taken by designers.
- Calls-to-Action on Banners and Buttons
- February 07, 2008
| 6 Comments
- An article that examines what a call-to-action is and how to improve your implementation of them with graphical banners and buttons (with examples).
- Web Site Typography Makeover
- January 30, 2008
| 14 Comments
- A before and after example of how good typography can greatly enhance the presentation of a content-rich web page such as a magazine article.
- Examples of Typographic Style on Commercial Web Sites
- January 29, 2008
| 14 Comments
- Great web typography is key on content-rich, commercial web sites. Why is it then that so many of them get it wrong? Here are some examples of site getting it right.
- New Book: Web Design for ROI
- January 28, 2008
| 12 Comments
- Web design for ROI looks like a practical and useful book on designing and running your web site more like a business.
- Pricing Table Showcase: Design Patterns for Sign-Up Pages
- January 16, 2008
| 8 Comments
- A showcase of pricing tables on sign-up pages with best practice implications from their different implementations.
- The Worst Home Page of 2007?
- December 22, 2007
- GM's home page disregards many basic usability conventions in favor of looking pretty.
- Nielsen Norman Group Report on Accessibility Available for Free
- December 18, 2007
| 2 Comments
- The report outlines 75 best practices for the design of web sites and intranets, based on usability studies with people who use assistive technology.
- How to Objectively Measure Emotional Response to Your Web Site's Design
- December 12, 2007
- The Repertory Grid or bipolar emotional response test is a useful interview technique for soliciting user feedback in an objective way.
- Hacking Netflix's Navigation
- December 03, 2007
| 10 Comments
- One user's attempt at redesigning the primary navigation of the Netflix web site.
- Future-Proof Your Web Site Design by Planning Your CSS In Advance
- November 25, 2007
| 21 Comments
- Setting up your CSS in advance to support a wide range of page elements will help your site to maintain design cohesion over time.
- Book on User-Centered Web Design Available Online for Free
- November 20, 2007
| 2 Comments
- Access by Design book on designing web sites with a goal of universal usability is available online for free.
- Flash Video Player Design Showcase
- November 18, 2007
| 8 Comments
- A collection of 50+ examples of the best designed Flash video players.
- 10 Reasons Why Your Web Site Sucks
- October 21, 2007
| 9 Comments
- A list of 10 common issues that make web sites hard to use and frustrate users (with a couple extra thrown in).
- Designers: Beware the Lure of Stylized Text
- October 11, 2007
| 12 Comments
- Be careful about making your content appear too stylized otherwise your readers may ignore it.
- Headings and Hierarchy: is More Than One H1 a Crowd?
- September 28, 2007
| 14 Comments
- How do you organize your headings? Should you use one H1 or can you use several? Is skipping heading levels as bad as it sounds?
- Design Patterns: 50 Registration / Sign Up Forms
- September 12, 2007
| 5 Comments
- A showcase of sign-up forms which combine functionality and usability with pleasing visual design.
- How to Design an Effective Sales Page
- August 25, 2007
| 7 Comments
- The Inspyder Insite product page is a great example of an effective sales page.
- Is Your Font Stylesheet Vista Ready?
- August 09, 2007
| 16 Comments
- Add Calibri into your font declaration and make your typography more elegant.
- 10 Things You May Not Know About the Web Developer Toolbar
- July 11, 2007
| 29 Comments
- The Web Developer Toolbar is an essential tool for web developers. Here are some of its less well-known but still useful features.
- Farewell 'Home', We Hardly Knew You
- June 10, 2007
| 14 Comments
- The 'Home' link is becoming less used in web site navigation. Why is that?
- How to Conduct a Design Review with Stakeholders
- June 07, 2007
- Tips and techniques on how to conduct effective stakeholder design reviews.
- Top 15 Smashing Magazine Articles
- May 24, 2007
| 2 Comments
- The most popular articles from Smashing Magazine -- a great online source for web design resources, techniques and tools.
- Create Resizable Images With CSS
- May 12, 2007
| 10 Comments
- How to use CSS to create images that resize along with the text on a web page.
- Be Careful About Using Social Media to Redesign Your Web Site
- May 01, 2007
| 4 Comments
- The advent of social media does not mean that traditional user-centered design practices should be ignored.
- Another Day, Another Design Failure
- April 27, 2007
| 7 Comments
- John McCain's presidential candidacy web site gets an extreme makeover.
- Is Your Web Site POSH?
- April 26, 2007
- POSH is a new acronym to describe semantic HTML. Spread the word!
- The Web Design Survey, 2007
- April 24, 2007
| 5 Comments
- Take the 2007 Web Design Survey and learn more about the industry in which you work.
- Pull-quote Design Showcase
- April 08, 2007
| 5 Comments
- Add emphasis and liven up your content with pull quotes. A selection of designs to inspire you!
- 10 Best Practices For Displaying Tag Clouds
- March 12, 2007
| 6 Comments
- A list of best practices for displaying tag clouds on a web site.
- Using Icons for Web Site Navigation — a Waste of Time?
- February 14, 2007
| 31 Comments
- Most icons used in web site navigation provide no meaning to the user and serve only to clutter up the interface.
- New Web Site Launched: Feedback Appreciated
- February 06, 2007
| 8 Comments
- Seattle Children's Hospital has marked the occasion of its 100th birthday by creating an online timeline of the major events over its first 100 years.
- Would You Visit These US States Based on Their Web Sites?
- January 16, 2007
| 45 Comments
- A comparison of the tourism web sites of the 50 US states. Which ones work and which ones don't/
- BBC News on Accessibility
- November 29, 2006
| 5 Comments
- Short video from the BBC News about how accessibility issues affect visually and motor impaired web users.
- Novel Twist on Web Design Portfolio Pages
- November 13, 2006
| 4 Comments
- Adding 'info icons' to web design portfolio pages is a novel way to highlight various elements of each design.
- Report: The Designer's Guide to Web Applications
- November 13, 2006
- UIE has published a report about designing web applications with a free first chapter.
- Report Details Most Commonly Used Browser Sizes
- November 01, 2006
| 3 Comments
- Report on actual browser window sizes is useful in determining how wide to design web sites.
- Fly Out Menus: Can They Drop Up as Well as Drop Down?
- October 18, 2006
| 2 Comments
- The Weather Channel's web site takes an unusual approach to fly out menus with navigation that scrolls up rather than down.
- CSS Rounded Corners 'Roundup'
- October 11, 2006
| 82 Comments
- A collection of techniques for creating boxes and layouts with rounded corners using CSS.
- Crazy Egg Review: A New Way to Do Web Analytics
- September 25, 2006
| 9 Comments
- Crazy Egg is a new twist on web analytics that enables you to very easily test how a web page is working and interpret the results.
- New Brown University Home Page: Breaking Too Many Rules?
- September 18, 2006
| 4 Comments
- The new Brown University home page is interesting and unconventional, but breaks some core usability rules.
- More Useful Firefox Extensions for Web Designers
- September 11, 2006
- Some more useful Firefox extensions for web designers and developers.
- Practice What You Preach When Selling Usability Products
- August 31, 2006
| 3 Comments
- If you are in the business of selling usability products and services your own web site should be as easy to use as possible.
- Experiments With and Thoughts About Tag Clouds
- August 29, 2006
| 4 Comments
- Thoughts about the use of tag clouds to provide navigation for content that defies navigation.
- Pantone Fall 2006 Color Scheme
- August 17, 2006
| 1 Comment
- Pantone's fall colors for 2006 make for a rich and warm color scheme.
- Calendar and Date Picker Design Showcase
- August 03, 2006
| 7 Comments
- A gallery of well-designed online calendars and date pickers. Get your inspiration here!
- New Conclusions in Usability Testing
- July 27, 2006
- Recent studies on usability testing have challenged some long-held beliefs as to how tests should be conducted.
- The Challenges of Presenting Information Using Images
- July 21, 2006
| 2 Comments
- When using images to present information It's important not to make them overly complex as you risk overloading the viewer with too much data.
- Using a Background Image Grid to Lay Out Your Web Site
- July 16, 2006
| 43 Comments
- How to use a background image of a grid to lay out your web site more precisely.
- How to Calculate When to Add Jump Links to the Top of a Web Page
- June 29, 2006
| 8 Comments
- Use this calculation to determine when to add within-page links to the top of a web page.
- Typography for Headlines
- June 27, 2006
| 40 Comments
- A selection of web site article headlines that have interesting and creative typography.
- Questionable Design Decisions Seen Around the Web
- June 16, 2006
| 14 Comments
- A round-up of sites that have made some questionable web design and usability decsions.
- Online Map Design: Which Way to Zoom In?
- June 11, 2006
| 11 Comments
- Thoughts on the design of zoom sliders on map sites. Should zoom in go at the top or bottom?
- Comparison of Services to Create Online Polls
- June 05, 2006
| 12 Comments
- A review of several of the leading services to create online polls.
- Review of Quimble: Service to Create Online Polls
- May 25, 2006
| 8 Comments
- Review of Quimble online poll creation service, including thoughts about the design and usability of its polls.
- Validate Your Web Site and More With One Tool
- May 20, 2006
| 4 Comments
- Total Validator combines web page validation, broken link checking and browser compatibility checking into a single tool
- Children's Museum Web Site is Not Very Usable
- May 18, 2006
| 4 Comments
- Thoughts about issues I had using Phoenix Children's Museum's web site.
- Inline CSS Tabs with Rounded Corners
- May 03, 2006
| 4 Comments
- Inline tabs enable you to show a lot of content in a small space. Here's how to create them with rounded corners using CSS and JavaScript.
- Blog Comment Form Design Showcase
- April 24, 2006
| 15 Comments
- A collection of blog comment forms showcasing interesting and creative design.
- Clear or Cloudy: 20 Weather Forecast InfoGraphics Compared
- April 14, 2006
| 7 Comments
- A review of 20 web site weather forecast infographics.
- How to Show Whether Form Fields are Required
- April 08, 2006
- Good practices to follow in order to indicate whether a form field is required or optional.
- Blog Comment Design Showcase
- April 06, 2006
| 36 Comments
- A showcase of blog comments that have outstanding designs. Get your dose of inspiration here!
- The Dilemma of Using Images on Web Sites
- April 02, 2006
| 6 Comments
- My thoughts about the best way to use images as web content and the dilemma designers face in trying to use them appropriately.
- Aardvark Firefox Extension Available for FF1.5
- March 28, 2006
| 4 Comments
- The Aardvark Firefox extension is an essential tool for web developers. It now works with FF1.5.
- Ideas for Color Schemes
- March 14, 2006
| 17 Comments
- If you're stuck for a color scheme idea for your web site, the major paint manufacturers might just have what you're looking for.
- How to Create a Block Hover Effect for a List of Links
- March 08, 2006
| 32 Comments
- How to create a block hover effect for items within a list of links
- How to Write a Web Site Creative Brief
- February 26, 2006
| 6 Comments
- Writing a clear, well-structured creative brief will get your web project off to a good start and keep it on track. Here's how. Includes examples.
- How to Create a Standardized Web Site Development Workflow
- February 20, 2006
| 26 Comments
- An example of a standard web development methodology. Using a standardized workflow makes it quicker to develop web sites, reduces errors and ensures they meet organizational goals and user needs.
- Improved Unobtrusive Javascript Image Rollovers
- February 16, 2006
| 12 Comments
- Use this script to create image rollovers without hard-coding any Javascript into your HTML. Easy to implement and maintain!
- Free Web Site Templates
- February 13, 2006
| 9 Comments
- A huge collection of free web site templates.
- Web Page Upload Checklist
- February 07, 2006
| 5 Comments
- Use this upload checklist to make sure that your web pages are error free before you make them live.
- Are Focus Groups Worth the Effort?
- January 22, 2006
- Focus groups have been used for decades but are less useful for determining the desires of users than is traditionally believed.
- The Hidden Cost of Free Stock Photos
- January 20, 2006
| 7 Comments
- Free stock photo sites have a hidden cost - the time it takes to find a photo
- 10 Tips to Improve the Comment Section of Your Blog
- January 18, 2006
| 10 Comments
- Ten ways you can improve the usability and look of your blog's comments section.
- How to Style an A to Z Index with CSS
- January 16, 2006
| 5 Comments
- How to style an A to Z index using a list and CSS.
- iWeb is the New FrontPage
- January 12, 2006
- Apparently iWeb produces terrible HTML code. Oh dear.
- Wonderful Collection of License-Free Fonts
- January 06, 2006
- A great collection of license-free fonts.
- Best Web Design Picks of 2005
- January 03, 2006
- My top web design picks for 2005.
- 10 Reasons to Use Web Standards
- December 06, 2005
- Ten good reasons to use web standards when you build web sites.
- Download Free Icons from IconBuffet
- December 03, 2005
| 10 Comments
- IconBuffet offers a free download of a set of icons each month.
- Don't Make Me Think: Read Chapter on Accessibility Online
- November 28, 2005
- Chapter 11 of "Don't Make Me Think" - on accessibility - is available to read online. Don't miss it!
- Mouse Hover: More Useful Than You Thought
- November 14, 2005
- Bill Scott delves into the various uses for the mouse hover.
- 11 Principles of Great Web Sites for Consultants
- November 10, 2005
- A collection of tips and best practices for building web sites for consultants.
- Web Site Usability Book Review: "Don't Make Me Think"
- October 19, 2005
| 2 Comments
- Review of Steve Krug's book on web site usability, "Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability".
- 11 Reasons to Include Prototyping in Your Web Development Process
- October 13, 2005
- 11 reasons why building prototypes will make your web development process more efficient and effective.
- Where Are the Standards Developers?
- September 05, 2005
| 6 Comments
- The lack of web designers knowledgeable in web standards provokes a lively discussion over at Asterisk.
- Design In-Flight Now Available Online
- August 19, 2005
- The excellent design magazine design in-flight is now available in an online format.
- Test Your Web Site For Speed, Accessibility and More For Free
- August 02, 2005
| 2 Comments
- A review of the free web site testing service offered by IndependentTesters.org
- Create Online Graphs With Flash
- July 28, 2005
- A review of Fusion Charts - a product for creating online graphs using Flash.
- Specialty Stock Photo Sites
- June 13, 2005
- Tired of looking through the same old mega-stock photo sites for that special image? Try some of these niche sites for something a little more off the beaten track.
- No News is Better Than Old News
- March 23, 2005
| 2 Comments
- If you're going to have 'News' on your web site, you'd better make sure that you keep it current.
- Sneak Peak: Asterisk Redesign
- March 03, 2005
| 2 Comments
- JavaScript Centered Pop-Up Window Script
- January 09, 2005
| 4 Comments
- Use this JavaScript to easily create a very customizable centered pop-up window.