I recently did a redesign of my web design business site. Early in the process I visited the portfolio sites of a lot of other web designers. It was very inspiring to see so many different approaches to displaying examples of one’s work. I did notice one trend that was a little disturbing. Happily the majority of sites did not go down this path, but I saw it more than I expected.
Sometimes the simplest items end up making the best blog posts. Lately I’ve really started to enjoy giving a mouse-over effect to each row in a table. (This could be in part because I frequently include links in my tables.) This practice certainly can’t replace the techniques that a web designer uses to make tables legible when the mouse pointer is off on some other part of the screen, but I think of it as a nice little extra.
In a previous post I discussed getting customer feedback throughout the development process. In my opinion, the most important aspect of this is creating a mock up of what the fully functional site will look like before you do any HTML or CSS work. (I believe in the print world, this is called a comp.)
To most designers (be they graphic, web, fine arts, or other) the skill I’m describing comes naturally. You look at someone else’s work and instantly imagine what you would have done differently. If that thought is fleeting, then you are missing an opportunity to improve your design chops. Stop for a few minutes and really dwell on the changes you would make. Why do you think your ideas are better?
I came across a good article yesterday with the title, The business case for Web standards-based development. I like the break down at the end of the article of all the benefits that come with designing a standards compliant web site.
It got me thinking about the clients I’ve had in the last year. Most of them don’t really know or care that I did my best to adhere to standards when designing their sites, and I think that’s probably typical of most of the clients of freelance designers. In truth that’s probably my fault. I’ve always made the assumption that the advantages of standardization really only apply to larger sites with high profiles and lots of traffic. As I look at this list, though, many of them hold just as much appeal for the “little guy”.
I always get excited when Andy Rutledge posts a “redux”. He looks at a poorly designed site from a recognizable company that should have someone on staff who knows better. He outlines a few of the problems and then creates an example of how he would design the site better. This time around he takes on CarMax.com.
I think we can all admit that the few choices CSS gives you for bullet shapes in unordered lists are pretty pedestrian. I’ve done designs where neither disc, circle, nor square was appropriate for the look-and-feel of the site. I know I’m supposed to be able to substitute an image with the list-style-image property. To be honest, I’ve never had much luck getting that particular property to work correctly. Maybe I just never spent much time on it because it’s so easy to just manipulate the background of my list items and get exactly what I’m seeking.
Unless you’re reading this on your RSS feed, you might be scratching your head and wondering where you are. This is still the blog where I discuss the best practices I’ve discovered (and am still discovering) as an independent web designer and programmer. It looks a little different because I’m using a new WordPress theme. I intend to release this theme for public use, but I wanted to give it at least a few weeks in a live environment to shake any bugs out.
You may be wondering about the giant Buddha in the corner. Originally I began this design intending to use it as an entry for the CSS Zen Garden, an arena in which the Buddha would seem very appropriate (even if a bit overdone). Somewhere along the way, I decided that I wanted to create something that could be seen by a wider demographic than just the professional designers that frequent the garden. I decided on a WordPress theme.
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