Building the Business Game Plan By Meryl K. Evans Process: either you love it or you hate it. Rarely do you find that in-the-middle-of-the-road when it comes to process in web design. One-size-fits-all? Some say yes and others say no. ISO9001, CMM (Capability Maturity Model), RUP (Rational Unified Process), and SPICE (Software Process Improvement and Capability dEtermination) are too big and cost too … Read more
Christopher Schmitt Contributing Writer Birthplace: Tallahassee, FL USA “Home of the 2000 Presidential Election” Employer: MindComet Title/Role: Sr. Design Technologist Personal Website/Portfolio: http://www.christopher.org/ Memorable Quotes: “Know thine audience.” Articles: Digital Web: Content as Navigation Tool Digital Web: Measuring User Experience WebReview: Then, Now, Next: 5 Perspectives on the Web Development Industry WebReview: Broadband for Today and Tomorrow A List … Read more
“This article will be 750 words long exactly, or you can have your money back.” Several months ago, I went into great detail about the process that I went through to design and develop a website for a client that I had at the time. I talked about planning, design, development and implementation issues. I … Read more
What’s happening? A new look at Web pages By Miraz Jordan Web designers have been involved with the Internet for a long time, at least in Internet years. We begin to take the users for granted and expect them to know all the tricks of surfing Web pages. I work with many 40+-year-olds who have just … Read more
Building an Online Community: Just Add Water By Matt Haughey I’m frequently asked how MetaFilter came to be, what the secret is, and what I’ve learned in the process of building it. I didn’t have a tidy plan or set path when I started, I watched several big communities grow from nothing and prosper and I took … Read more
con·tent (kOn-tent) 1. n. The subject matter of a written work, such as a book or magazine. Often used in the plural. The substantive or meaningful part: “The brain is hungry not for method but for content, especially content which contains generalizations that are powerful, precise, and explicit” (Frederick Turner). 2. (kon-tEnt) adj. Desiring no more than what one has; … Read more
Derek Powazek explains the power of community By Nick Finck Digital Web: Derek, first I would like to thank you for taking the time to answer our questions for this interview. As always it is a pleasure to “hear” a storyteller like yourself tell his story. For our readers, could you tell us about your background and how you … Read more
Keep it simple, stupid! By Pär Almqvist The Dalai Lama once said that simplicity is the key to happiness in the modern world. This philosophy can be adapted into the realm of web design and digital interface design. The expressions “Keep it simple, stupid”, “Kill your darlings” and “Less is more” all pinpoint the fact that … Read more
The Document Object Model: an Introduction By Peter-Paul Koch In recent months much has been said about the Javascript DOM, the Document Object Model. It was rumored that Netscape 6 has a new one and that it’s really important to know how to use it. Nonetheless, some people are a bit hazy about what a DOM … Read more
In the web world, we talk about simplicity all the time. The fact of the matter is that people don’t want to be confused by the Web. Why is that so important to remember? Simply put, many of us on the Web come from print backgrounds. One of the most important things to remember when coming … Read more
Converting a Page to CSS By J. David Eisenberg A result of the Web Standards Project‘s Browser Upgrade Initiative many developers are revising their Web Sites, switching to XHMTL notation and applying Cascading Style Sheets with the goal of separating content from presentation. While assisting Jeffrey Zeldman with testing for this initiative, I attempted to convert a page from Yahoo! … Read more
As it’s done in previous versions, Adobe has added quite a few features to the latest version of Illustrator that have been on my wishlist for some time. Inevitably, it seems that these always come with the price of new quirks that upset my working routine. Also, note that this review was delayed so I could wait … Read more
Visual Architecture: The Rule of Three By Carole Guevin Overview: Visual architecture is applied to the new media design context and defined as the use of a particular method of building visual information and balancing communication between images and words. Visual architecture is to be distinguished from the way that Occidental languages train our eyes to … Read more
Designing for Search Engines and Stars By Shirley E. Kaiser, M.A. Introduction Great search engine placement doesn’t require you to sacrifice an appealing design. While “content is king” for high search engine rankings as well as overall site popularity, your imagination and creativity with designs can still reach for the stars. Design around your content, not … Read more
Flash Usability By Meryl K. Evans Before you roll your eyes at the thought of reading about Flash, think about the possibilities of it putting money into your bank account. Let’s put our negative thoughts and artistic principles aside and consider how many people out there think Flash is awesome.. If you don’t want to do … Read more
How to Write Effective Mailing List Email. By Matthew Haughey With every passing day, increasing numbers of people are becoming web designers. One of the main forums for communication among web designers, both beginners and experts alike, is the mailing list. Most mailing lists generate a substantial stream of useful, information-laden email, and the good ones … Read more
New This Month Columns: Wide Open: The redesign of Economist.com Published on 11-19-2002 Columns: IAnything Goes: Information Architecture is not Usability Published on 11-19-2002 Interviews: An interview with Dr. Jakob Nielsen, usability expert Published on 11-13-2002 Features: Accountability of Accessibility and Usability Published on 11-05-2002 New Last Month Book Reviews: The Elements of the User Experience Published on 10-29-2002 Columns: … Read more
Preparing for standard-compliant browsers, Part 1 By Makiko ItohWhy You Should Care Standards-compliance has been an issue for web building community for some time and in the last months has really come to the fore. Chances are that if you are reading this article, you are involved in web site production on some level and … Read more