Design Treats

• I posted to designmeltdown.com

  Icons in navigation menus

  http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/designmeltdown/uecD/~3/svlENYrN7hE/

  This is a nice twist to the standard menu and navigation collection. These sites all make use of icons in their navigation in one way or another. http://spyrestudios.com/20-great-examples-of-icons-in-navigation-design/

  

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  August 20 2010, 5:30am | Comments »

• I posted to smashingmagazine.com

  100 Free High Quality WordPress Themes: 2010 Edition

  http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SmashingMagazine/~3/qYXX1BXayrM/

    It’s hard to believe that a year has passed since our last WordPress theme collection, but there you have it — the time has come again. Once a year we feature the most useful and interesting WordPress-themes that we are collecting over months and present them in a nice quick overview. The collections from 2007, 2008 and last year are still useful, but some of the themes are outdated or updated now.Looking back over these previous theme articles, you can clearly see how and why WordPress has rapidly matured into the CMS powerhouse it is today. With all of the features that have been added and improvements made with every new WordPress version and with its ever-increasing popularity among the design and development community, the quality of free themes is evident. Developers are continually pushing WordPress’ boundaries, giving us today’s outstanding free theme collection.Today, we present a fresh collection of useful WordPress themes. Please notice that some themes are a bit older, but they are included because we haven’t featured them last time. This round-up picks up where we left off last year: most themes below were released between June 2009 and August 2010. We’ve also split this collection into the following categories: gallery and portfolio themes, themes for bloggers, e-Commerce WordPress themes, clean themes, magazine-style themes, minimal themes, mobile themes; pre-launch themes; and finally “Themes That Take WordPress Beyond.” [By the way, did you know we have a free Email Newsletter? Subscribe now and get fresh short tips and tricks in your inbox!]Gallery And Portfolio ThemesCumulus (Free version) (demo)Cumulus is a very clean and calm portfolio theme. It contains a large block for featured projects and images and a nifty blog posts navigation in the sidebar.Imbalance (demo)Free wordpress theme in modern-minimalist style. Imbalance is a very user friendly, jQuery powered theme which looks really well under any browser and OS. Perfectly fits for your blog, online magazine or portfolio websites. It is optimized for high-loads, contains WordPress 3.0 menu support, Twitter widget, jQuery-based gallery and WP Post Thumbnails support.Shaken and Stirred Theme (demo)This theme is perfect for you if you’re in need of a gallery/portfolio website or if you just want a website with a unique grid layout that not many websites have taken full advantage of yet. “Shaken Grid” uses the jQuery Masonry plugin which “arranges elements vertically then horizontally according to a grid.” The result is a gap-less layout even if you have varying post heights.AutoFocus+ (demo)The theme is designed on an 800px, 8 column grid layout that truly allows your images to shine. The theme boasts a sharp typographic approach with a 22px baseline grid, and a Garamond/Helvetica (Times/Arial for you PC users) font stack that’s much easier to read.Fotofolio Landscape (demo)A nice dark WordPress theme with sidebar navigation and jQuery-powered lightbox for images. A good choice for photographers who want to feature their works in an online portfolio.FolioGrid (demo)This theme contains a fluid grid-based layout, jQuery-based transitions and automatically resizing thumbnails. Also, you can choose between various page tamplates, and the theme has a widget-enabled area, too.Mansion (demo)Mansion is a free photoblogger’s theme for WordPress. It features a flexible-width thumbnail grid for both images and photo journal entries. Mansion is perfect for those who want to primarily showcase their photographs and occasionally write blog posts.PhotoView (demo)PhotoView was designed for displaying photos and videos in a simple and clean manner. The theme has an integrated lightbox. Also, a PSD file is included for easy customization.SimpleFolio (demo)SimpleFolio is a portfolio theme that includes a blog and a very extensive option page that allows you to exclude all your portfolio items from the blog page. It also includes a front page slider. It has 2 different widget areas and threaded comments, and also supports paged comments and has 2 different page templates for advanced usage. The control of images is done from the post page.Smashing Multimedia (demo)This theme was designed especially for podcasters, photographers and users who can now easily embed videos and images, rate them and showcase them in their own WordPress-based blog. It has a parent theme and an easily customizable child theme. This WordPress Theme comes with layered PSD source files, a visual help guide and is fully localized ready for you to translate it into your target language.Fullscreen Photo and Multimedia (demo)Fullscreen is a free one-column photography and multimedia theme for WordPress that can be used for portfolios, photoblogs, videoblogs, and virtually anything else where you want your content to be front and center. It provides visual artists a unique way of presenting their latest work online using a minimalist side-scrolling homepage.Brave Zeenat (demo)A clean Portfolio Theme ideal for photographers, artists and designers to showcase their portfolios.Monokrome (demo)This grid-based theme is widget ready and has a Twitter stream and Flickr integration. The column width adapts to the width of the images and the width of the browser viewport.Portfolio WPESP Theme (live demo)Portfolio – WPESP Theme is a “minimalist” Theme based on the idea of portfolio created by DAILYWP. The Theme is a starting point in the creation of portfolios, using WordPress as CMS.Selecta (demo, WordPress 3.0+ compatible)Selecta’s rounded edges and bold, modern color palettes make for a fresh theme that’s best suited to blogs where video will be the main focus. The wider-than-usual frames around thumbnails and videos bring to mind the retro-cool of Polaroid photographs and old home movies.Work-a-holic (demo)Work-a-holic is a free two and three column WordPress theme that focuses mainly on showcasing portfolios for artists, web designers, photographers and illustrators.BlueBubble WordPress Theme (demo)The theme is clean and simple, contains a theme options page, uses post image thumbnail plugin, has 2 widget ready sidebars and uses jQuery/PHP-based contact form with easy customization. Requires WordPress 2.9+.WordPress Themes For BloggersLap of Luxury (demo)This theme uses gold in the logo, and white and black are used as the main colors. The 2-col theme contains a sidebar on the right that allows for a large square ad up top, and splitting into 2 columns below that. Comes fully widgetized. A special feature of this theme is the logo changer.Katana (demo)This theme has a simple layout based on anime or game niche. Theme will be suitable for blogs of such niches. Theme has features like featured post section, post thumbnails, banner ads, adsense, twitter widgets etc. Theme uses custom fonts for various titles. It has an intuitive theme option page which lets you configure the theme.Koi Theme (demo)Koi is a simplified version of N.Design Studio’s theme (2009 redesign). Key features: multi-level dropdown menus, social media buttons, threaded & paged comments, and sidebar widget plus three footer widgets. This theme includes an option page to manage dropdown menus, favicon, footer tracking code, and social media buttons. Requires WordPress 2.9+.Bueno Bueno is a clean, minimalistic design which sophistication in both its typography and structure. It uses a grid-based design, has integrated banner ad management, widgetized sidebar and 7 different color schemes. Also, the theme is packaged wth a .po file for easy theme integration.Notepad Theme (demo)The theme is inspired by the iPhone’s Notes.app. This new theme is widget compatible with threaded comments, social media buttons, and multi-level dropdown menus. It has been tested on WordPress 2.9 with Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and IE7+. It also includes some nice CSS3 enhancement such as rounded corners and drop shadow.Strukture (demo)Peacekeeper (demo)The Seven Five (demo)A minimalist blogger/social theme including several customization and layout options.Simplo (demo)Galaxy (demo)The Galaxy WordPress theme is a two column theme that supports banner ads and the WP-PageNavi plugin. Perfect theme for personal blogs.Aparatus (demo)Zexee (demo)Cyangant Elegant (demo)Obscure (demo)A dark magazine wordpress theme suitable for any site nitche and best fit for community-based sites.MonkeyPr (demo)Designpile (demo)Obscorp (demo)The Side Blog Theme (demo)A free blogging theme with all sorts of customization and content management options.E-Commerce WordPress Themese-Commerce Theme: Kelontong (demo)The theme has a simple layout, clean, professional look, is integrated with WP e-commerce and features a slideshow for products.Dangdoot (e-commerce theme: free version) (demo)Dangdoot is a free e-commerce theme for WordPress and requires the e-Commerce plug-in.AppCloud (e-commerce theme: free version) (demo)AppCloud is another free e-commerce theme for WordPress. (It too requires the e-Commerce plug-in).Clean WordPress ThemesBlissful Blog (demo)The Ideal WebsiteThe Ideal Website is designed to fit Fibonacci’s Golden Section – otherwise known as the divine proportions. These measurements are said to be the most pleasing to the eye, and have been widely used for everything from judging beauty of a face, to the design of bank notes.Un.complicated Theme (demo)The layout is minimalist, clean, and organized into three 320px columns. This theme, are built on Starkers and implements the The Golden Grid. here is a wigetized sidebar, which looks like a regular three column row. I have also integrated twitter within the theme, using javascript. All the user has to do is find this line in the index.php page.Voidy (demo)Voidy is the perfect theme for your great blog. It is clean, clear and beautiful. It is minimalistic two-cloumn theme with the widgets all arranged in the right sidebar. Voidy was designed to make your content stand out and make everything else get out of the way.Clear (demo)Clear is the perfect theme for great authors. It is clean, clear and beautiful. It is minimalistic one-cloumn theme with the widgets all arranged at the bottom. Clear was designed to make your content stand out and make everything else get out of the way.Delicate (demo)Boldy (demo)A free theme that includes support for WordPress 3.0 Menu Management, has in-built slideshows, jQuery-based forms and live form validation as well as a widget for Twitter.Smooth (demo)Inuit Types (starter edition) (demo)Titan Theme (free edition) (demo)YouAre Theme (demo)Simple Organization (demo)Neutra (demo)Neutra is a simple and elegant theme for WordPress. Grid-based with focus on simplicity and typography.The Erudite (demo)A theme for writers who want readers, not visitors, traffic, click-throughs, CPMs or what-have-you. Carefully crafted typography and generous use of whitespace lets your writing shine. Version 2 includes a dark theme option.Magazine-Style ThemesThe ColumnistThe Columnist WordPress theme is inspired by traditional newspaper layouts and the grid structures and typography techniques they employ. It has WordPress thumbnail support, widget support, CSS3 column structure, jQuery animations, custom fields for images and featured latest post area.The Structure Theme (demo)The Structure Theme is a free WordPress theme with a modern minimalist design. There are 4 themes included with the Structure Theme download; a white theme, black theme, two column blog and a single column blog design. The theme was created with a simple and clean aesthetic meant to easily adopt the style of the content added to the site. The Structure Theme is also designed with customization in mind. Meaning, with a little work, the theme can be completely personalized to suit your brand.Aurelius (demo)Tanzaku (demo)The WhatsUp (demo)WPCount (demo)Maimpok (demo)Malleable (demo)Furvious (demo)A nice theme coming with 5 color styles, powerful admin framework and featured posts area.Newspress (demo)Minimal WordPress ThemesModernistReptileWP-Notes (demo)Clear (demo)Satoshi (demo)Ulap Theme (demo)ManifestThe goal with Manifest was to create a clean and streamlined theme that focused on the content and not the distractions. It utilizes a single column, 500 pixel wide layout. No sidebars. No widgets.Miniml Press Theme (demo)Functionalism (demo)LifeStreaming White (demo)Un.complicated (demo)Vostok (demo)Vostok is for those who don’t want attention to be distracted from content. Colors and typography have been carefully chosen to achieve maximum legibility with minimum eye fatigue. Also, code has been written with extreme care for web standards and accessibility.Mini (demo)Mobile Themes For WordPressWordPress Mobile Pack (demo)WordPress Mobile PackThe WordPress Mobile Pack includes the following: a mobile switcher to select themes based on the type of user visiting your website; a selection of mobile themes; extra widgets; device adaptation; and a mobile administration panel to allow users to edit the website or write posts while out and about.WordPress Mobile ThemeThis is a minimalist theme that can be used to target mobile users. The theme works with any mobile phone of any resolution. And with its light weight, it also drastically reduces loading times.MöbiusMöbius is compatible with iPhone (and iPod Touch), Android, BlackBerry, Windows, Palm Pre and Symbian touchscreen mobile phones.News Press MobileThe News Press theme is a simple and elegant solution for creating an iPhone-friendly news, blog or other text-centric WordPress website. It comes complete with all the standard WordPress blog features: search, log-in, categories, tags, archives, photos and more.Carrington MobileCarrington Mobile is an elegant mobile theme that supports advanced touchscreen browsers (iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Pre) and that is also backwards-compatible with older mobile devices.Pre-Launch WordPress ThemesBEBACKWP (demo)Ice Breaker (demo)Ready2Launch! (demo)WP BlueprintThemes That Take WordPress BeyondGuruQ (demo)GuruQ is a basic theme designed to be used for Q&A websites. Visitors post questions to the guru, and the guru answers via the WordPress admin screen.P2 (Like Twitter in a Box)P2 is a theme for WordPress that transforms a mild-mannered blog into a super-blog, with features like inline comments on the home page, a posting form right on the home page, inline editing of posts and comments, real-time updates (to display new posts and comments without reloading) and much more.Driftwood Contact Manager (demo)Driftwood is a contact manager theme built for WordPress. This easy-to-use theme gives you an effortless way to track interaction with your clients and contacts.Aggregator (demo)Aggregator is a theme that aggregates feeds of any kind in one place and in an attractive format.GTD (private theme for teams to collaborate)MiniCard (demo)The MiniCard theme supports hCard and vCard microformats, it supports a ton of social networks, it can accommodate some portfolio items (optional), and it does much more, all from the dedicated theme configuration page.LiveTwit (demo)WordPress Theme ToolsElastic Theme EditorThe awesome Elastic is a visual theme editor and engine for WordPress. It takes a completely innovative approach to theme development. To get an idea of what it can do, check out this video:Divine (Convert PSD to WordPress) Divine is a Photoshop plug-in that allows you to assign WordPress roles to your main elements (e.g. #footer, #header, etc.). The plug-in then prepares all the files you need. Once you set up FTP access, the tool uploads the theme automatically to your server. Look at this video for insight into how Divine works:WordPress Debug ThemeThe WordPress Debug theme allows you to check early on for any possible issues you might have with your WordPress installation. It is quite simple for now, doing only a few things, but it does them very effectively.Starter And Blank WordPress ThemesStarkers HTML5 WordPress Theme KitStarkers is a bare bones WordPress theme created to act as a starting point for the theme designer… Free of all style, presentational elements, and non-semantic markup, Starkers is the perfect ‘blank slate’ for your projects, as it’s a stripped-back version of the ‘Default’ theme that ships with WordPressWP-ConstructorWordPress Constructor is a many-in-one theme. It contains 6 sidebar variations and three layouts (and you can create new is easy). You can configure colors and fonts. The theme also has post thumbnails (WordPress 2.9+) and navigation menu customization options (WordPress 3.0+).Buddymatic Theme FrameworkBuddymatic is a highly extensible theme framework for WordPress and WordPress MU blogs, including BuddyPress-enabled home and member blogs.ET Starter Theme for WordPressThe ET starter theme lets you easily choose between a one-, two- and three-column layout. It supports the WP-PageNavi, Twitter Tools and Contact Form 7 plug-ins and also includes a built-in jQuery drop-down menu.WordPress Skeleton ThemeThe feature-rich WordPress Skeleton Theme has been developed to speed up and streamline your WordPress development. One of its outstanding out-of-the-box features is CSS support for the iPhone and iPad (both portrait and landscape); simply edit the iPhone.css and iPad.css files.Paintbox CMS (demo)Paintbox CMS is a grid-based CMS theme layered on my actual theme-canvas Paintbox. It comes with a smooth 960 grid layout plus some creative jQuery effects for content loading.BLANKBlank is a theme with all the functionality of a typical WordPress theme but almost none of the styling. The idea is that using this as your base theme is far easier than using one that is already styled.(al)© Paul Andrew for Smashing Magazine, 2010. | Permalink | Post a comment | Add to del.icio.us | Digg this | Stumble on StumbleUpon! | Tweet it! | Submit to Reddit | Forum Smashing Magazine Post tags: themes, wordpress

  

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  August 19 2010, 7:14am | Comments »

• I posted to smashingmagazine.com

  The Web Design Community Offers Advice To Beginners

  http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SmashingMagazine/~3/ePdCqRgIHug/

    At one time or another, we are all newbies. That’s right: you can deny it all you want, but not one of us got into this game with a full deck stacked in our favor. We entered as newbies, born fresh after the start screen loaded. However, unlike in a game, we are not immediately launched into a tutorial level to learn the ropes in this new world — what to avoid, how to progress, etc. And if we feel overwhelmed by our newbie status, we may not be able to find our way to the tutorials and guides that the community has put together to help us sort all of this out. So, feeling very alone in all this is easy.Jumping in a new passion can be difficult and time-consuming at first. The support of the community can be extremely helpful in overcoming the learning curve and helping to find the right route for your career and your professional skills. Image credit.But this is the great thing about being part of the online development community — that you are never truly alone. Your experience may be unique in its details, but it’s not generally, which is great because the community is very open to sharing its experiences and offering guidance to help newbies navigate the twists and turns we are sure to face as we continue down the developer’s path. In most cases, all you have to do to get some helpful advice is to venture into the social media neighborhoods and ask the community at large. At times, the answers just pour in.That is what we found when we went out on Twitter and on Facebook recently to poll our followers and fans. We asked “What is the single best tip from your experience that you would give to newbie developers?” This article is the result of all of the amazing responses we have received. Before we go any further, we would like to thank those who took the time to answer our query and who offered so much great advice to all the newbies out there in the development arena. As usual, the advice also serves as a nice refresher to all those seasoned veterans who have been in the game for a while.[By the way, did you know we have a free Email Newsletter? Subscribe now and get fresh short tips and tricks in your inbox!]Never Stop LearningThis answer, which we received repeatedly, is by far one of the best pieces of advice for newbies in the development field: never stop learning. This truly is one to keep in mind as you tread through this new world, because working in a field as dynamic and fluid as development, you can quickly fall behind if you do not actively strive to stay ahead of the curve. Without somewhat of a dedicated effort on your part, your progress could stall, and your skills and work could stagnate.Once again, the online community and so many others have your back in this respect. So many wonderful books, blogs and other accessible resources are teeming with knowledge, just waiting to be absorbed and passed on. So, read. Implement and practice what you have learned. As noted in the replies below, trial and error is a fantastic method of self-teaching. You might even go so far as to schedule some kind of weekly assignment for yourself, to always keep your skill set growing.Start with examples and muddle around with them. Change every line of code to see what it does. Then learn why those things work.Be a sponge. Don’t let pride get in the way of learning from others.Never stop learning.Read. Oh god, read so many books on the subject that force you to practice things over and over again.Learn how to learn for yourself.Never think you’ve learned it all.Don’t pretend you know all. Blogs and forums are your best teacher.Read the docs. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Test. Learn.Don’t copy and paste. Learn.Always have a project on the go. It makes sure you keep learning.Learn by putting as much as possible into practice.Always learn more. You should never be 100% content, and always strive to constantly improve your skills.Never stop developing their skills.Take Criticism Constructively… No matter how it is given. This is another important piece of advice that is both vital to learn and extremely difficult for some to do — especially because the anonymity of the Internet seems to give so many license to forget one half of the constructive criticism coin; they instead berate and belittle through their comments and their assessments of the developer’s talent. But no matter how harshly they come at you, find a way to distill the essence of their statements to see if you can gain anything from them. If they have no merit, let them go.One thing to always remember, as pointed out in the advice below: never take criticism of your work personally — especially given that in this field we are never supposed to stop learning. We should always welcome feedback from others in the community that helps us improve. It is simply a means of keeping our skills sharp. Inviting open criticism allows others to help open our eyes to new approaches and even problems we are entrenched in. Also, thinking of it as feedback and not as “criticism” might soften the blow for you. After all, who doesn’t love feedback.Be open to feedback as everything changes.Learn to love criticism.Test in every browser/OS config you can. And don’t take criticism of your work personally.Be PatientHere is another major tip to hold onto: be patient. If you can master this one, then you will have saved yourself many sleepless nights and hair-pulling-induced headaches along your journey to greatness as a developer. Remember that these skills do not develop overnight, no matter how much we wish they would. This journey is just that, a journey — not a direct flight to the final destination. Getting to where you want to be will take time.Take your time. Don’t rush through the learning process too quickly, or you will likely burn out and get frustrated. Take the slow route, making sure you completely grasp one area before moving on to the next. If you hurry, chances are something important will slip past you. And as you work with others in the community, be patient with those both behind and ahead of you on the learning curve.Have patience… a lot of patience. And if you have to get IE6 to work, start a pot of tea or something to calm yourself. :PHave patience: with yourself, others and especially the code. :)Take all the time you need to learn the basics. They are fundamental.Prepare for frustration.No matter how stupid what your client just said was, think before you reply.Comment Your CodeAnother pearl we found in the plethora of replies is a wonderful coder’s mantra (or at least it should be): comment your code. Comments are a powerful aid to new developers for many reasons, the main one being that learning through repetition is a fantastic way to make information stick. If you constantly comment on why you used a particular bit of code or how another bit works, then each time you return to it, you will be further cementing it in your brain.Also, comments can provide just as much benefit to others who will be interacting with your code. Remember, it is not always about you. Comments are a way for others to learn from your work, just as you have learned from the code of those who came before you (if in fact they did think to leave comments). If you work with other developers on a project, this is an easy way to keep each other informed on why someone coded their part the way they did. It demonstrates professionalism, too, so keep up the comments.Thoroughly comment your code! It will help infinitely in the long run.Always use detailed comments. At some point, someone else will look at your code. Do them a favor and comment like mad.When commenting: describe why not just how.Be A Helpful Member Of The CommunityThis next bit of advice ranks quite high for many developers, not just because of its obvious benefits but because of the reward one feels from doing it: be a helpful member of the development community. It could prove to be an invaluable asset in your arsenal, not only because the lines of communication that you open will create great learning opportunities, but because you are building lasting relationships that you can call upon later when you find yourself in need of assistance.Those of us who have gradually moved through the ranks have especially relied on these resourceful posts and helpful guidance to make the most of our skills and code. We should really stay active in the community and give back when and where we can. Paying it forward for all of those who have paved the way for us is not only an obligation; we really should want to help this community of ours thrive and grow. Reaching out through social media outlets, blogs, forums and more can really improve one’s skill set and viability.Get involved in the design and Web community as quickly as possible.Peer code reviews!Set aside time to help other developers. It could be in online forums. It really helps you reflect on what you know and don’t know.Learn The BusinessLearn all aspects of the business side of the industry, especially if you are freelancing. We got a few responses about this. And it makes sense. If you want any kind of sustainability in your career, then having a solid grasp of the business side of things is important.Knowing how the business operates and what clients generally expect will prepare you well for a freelance career… and will also keep you from being taken advantage of. If you learn the general pay scale and expectations of players in the field (including those of clients and other developers), then you’ll be well prepared to set your own rates and expectations. It also teaches you how to handle paperwork, which can be cumbersome and potentially overwhelming if you are unfamiliar with this side of the business.You can only make so much money coding. Learn the business.Quadruple your hourly estimate.Make a careful and detailed estimate. Now triple it. You’re probably close to the truth.Your estimates will suck for a long time, so be as conservative as you can, and offer discounts on overage.IE6 is a bitch!Choose your clients wisely. Bad clients end up costing you time and money.If You Don’t Love It, Leave ItSome other words of wisdom that were passed along can be summed up like this: if you don’t love it, then this is not the right work for you. Developing is more than a job; it is a career — beyond that, even a way of life. Coding changes the way you see and interact with the world around you. It challenges you every day with something new to conquer or sort out. The hours seem to keep piling up, and your brain becomes harder and harder to switch off, continuing to solve problems long after you have bidden it to rest.This holds especially true for freelancer developers. As a freelancer, you are so much more than the person behind the code: you are the person behind it all. This is where your love of code comes into play ten-fold. Passion goes a long way in development. True passion for what you do comes only from loving it. You can’t fake it, either. A lack of passion not only will reflect in your work but will impede your progress.If it is just a job for you and you do not look forward to breaking nights, find another job.Love what you do, and remember those who taught you.Make Time For YourselfAnother bit of advice to keep you sane as you grow is to make time for yourself. The best way to do this is to keep some sort of side project going. There are many reasons to do this, your sanity being the main one. Staring at code for hours on end takes its toll, especially if your code is failing and a solution escapes you. One way to fight off this madness is to have something to work on that lets you unplug.A side project gives you an outlet to recharge and sustain your interest in the field you have devoted yourself to. Make no mistake: this is a time-consuming career path, and without a side project to keep you engaged, you will quickly burn out. The work that once enthralled you will lose its appeal, and the passion that got you to where you are will fade. A side project also ensures that you constantly learn. You can choose projects that challenge you in ways that you don’t find in work for clients.Keep sane with a side project of your own.Work on a real project every day, even just a personal one.Believe In And Be YourselfAnother powerful bit of advice offered by the collective that we polled was to always believe in and be yourself. Given people’s tendency to aim for the throat when “critiquing,” these words of wisdom are especially potent. Allowing negative words and disparaging character assessments to lower your opinion of yourself and your abilities will deflate your momentum.Always be true to your personal voice. Don’t compromise it while finding your way. You want to carve out a truly individual path, and that includes your voice, too. So, don’t try to imitate others who have found success. As noted below, never try to be someone else, because that never works the way you hope. Being inspired by others is fine, but don’t lose your identity and voice in the process.Believe in your qualities. Never try to be somebody else. Life is too short for that.Don’t quit! Hang on! Everything will work out fine.A Few More Words Of WisdomBelow are other responses that we couldn’t just leave hanging in the Twitterverse:Try everything yourself before asking someone else (trial and error to the max).Find your niche and focus on it until you are an expert.You could probably code it well, but there is a fair chance that there is a time-saving jQuery solution.Think of the visitor who is trying to find out something. They need to understand what’s going on, not just be impressed.Some bridges just have to be burned.Web developer? Practice sleeping less.Don’t scoff at new ways of doing things because you don’t initially get them, nor should you embrace them without honest evaluation.Stay informed about the direction of the Web. There’s a lot to learn, and along the way you’ll pick up skills.Google before you ask.RTFM!Use source control. After that, comment your code.Never write anything but standards-compliant code: faster, more reliable, and you won’t have to fix it when new browsers come out.Regression test.Do not fall in love with the code you write.Put functionality first. Beauty comes in second place.Don’t be cocky.Focus on one subject at a time. Start with CSS.“Stay hungry, stay foolish.”Learn to write and format your own code cleanly and in as few characters as possible.Run away from clients with red flags.Take the most pride in your team’s code, not your own. Don’t complain when people edit your code. Enjoy how it improves.All the stuff you say about all the old code you read, someone will say about your code in 10 years. So, knock it off. :)Stay organized. It’s the key to success.It’s never a hardware problem.Logical, step-by-step thinking will solve any problem you encounter. No doubt about it.Find a good IDE (like Aptana).Appreciate the design in front of you, and design in general.You don’t fully understand something until you can explain it succinctly to someone else. So, learn → do → teach.Other Resources and Related PostsBelow are a few more articles and resources to help the newb start off on the right foot, armed and ready. If you have some time, we recommend checking them out.The ALA Primer: A Guide for New ReadersThe ALA Primer Part Two: Resources For BeginnersWhat Is The Last Thing You Do Before You Launch A Website?Dealing With Clients Who Refuse To PayHow To Identify and Deal With Different Types Of ClientsHow To Successfully Educate Your Clients On Web Development(al)© Robert Bowen for Smashing Magazine, 2010. | Permalink | Post a comment | Add to del.icio.us | Digg this | Stumble on StumbleUpon! | Tweet it! | Submit to Reddit | Forum Smashing Magazine Post tags: advice, community, newbies

  

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  August 18 2010, 6:27am | Comments »

• I posted to smashingmagazine.com

  Color Stream: a Free iPhone App For Web Designers

  http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SmashingMagazine/~3/Xs6s3W-oV8o/

    Today we are glad to release Color Stream, a free iPhone App, created by Sahil Lavingia (@slavingia on Twitter) and released for Smashing Magazine and its readers. Color stream lets you create and store color palettes that are either created from scratch or generated from a photo, or even generated automatically using a built-in color schemer. The color schemer supports analogous, monochromatic, triadic and further color schemes. As usual, this iPhone app is released for free.The tool automatically generates a combination of colors from a picture either selected from your device’s photo library or from your device’s camera (if it has one). You can save multiple color palettes, name them and rate them for quick and easy access. You can also save any one of your palettes to your photo library (and have the option to make it your wallpaper), send it via e-mail (with included hexcodes and sample html) as well as browse Flickr for appropriate color-related pictures. So if you want to use it as a color scheme generator, you don’t even need to be online!Download the iPhone app for free!download the iPhone app from App Store (for free)Screenshots Motivation behind the designHere are some insights from the developer:Color Stream was built to fill a gap in my life; on transit from one place to the next there was no tool to continue my design workflow. This app allowed me to constantly be working on my designs no matter where I was, without excuse. And in the past months, it’s helped thousands of other designers with their own lives and clients.Being focused at designers, I knew the app had to be extremely polished and well designed. Not just pretty, but functional and fast too. I think I succeeded. The basic movement and flow of the application isn’t too far off of Apple’s default applications, but I have created my own navigational elements where I though they improved on the experience (like the custom stars to rate a palette).I include many tips on how to customize your own iPhone apps to help new developers like I once was as part of another project I did, One Week App.— SahilThank you, Sahil. We appreciate your work and your good intentions!© Vitaly Friedman for Smashing Magazine, 2010. | Permalink | Post a comment | Add to del.icio.us | Digg this | Stumble on StumbleUpon! | Tweet it! | Submit to Reddit | Forum Smashing Magazine Post tags: app, color, iphone

  

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  August 17 2010, 2:35pm | Comments »

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  Recession Survival Tips For Online Businesses

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    In a recession, companies go one of two ways: either they become the cautious cat, adopting a wait-and-see attitude, spending carefully on their marketing and less overall, cutting back, or they become the ferocious lion, bold, taking advantage of their competitors’ caution to seize opportunities in the tough market.Whatever your approach, remember that Web marketing is a great investment during a recession. Online marketing, though a short-term endeavor, is quick to set up, measurable and, as a result, easily optimizable. It can be infinitely better than a lock-in marketing strategy or partnership, especially in a poor economic climate.Here are three Recession “R”s, to help your business take advantage of online marketing in this challenging time. Rework, Revisit, Reach Out: let’s take a closer look at survival tips and strategies for online marketing.Illustration by Simon Newton[Offtopic: by the way, did you know that we are publishing a Smashing eBook Series? The brand new eBook #3 is Mastering Photoshop For Web Design, written by our Photoshop-expert Thomas Giannattasio.]ReworkApart from the occasional spring clean, no one really enjoys housekeeping because it feels like hard work. However, a spring clean or review of your website could reveal some hidden strengths and allow you to address some simple yet fundamental drawbacks.ContentLook through your content and really read it. Read every word and punctuation mark. Read it aloud if that will make you read every word. As you do that, see whether the content engages you and is still informative, accurate and relevant. New laws, products or models may have come out since your core content was published. You may find hidden corners to edit or update. Most importantly, remove inaccurate legal or medical information. Don’t forget your privacy policy and the terms and conditions, too.Duplicating content is often hotly debated, particularly because Google strongly advises against it. If you discover that you have duplicate content, check which is the busiest or has the best URL (for purposes of search engine optimization, of course). Remove the other page, replacing it with a 301 redirect to the main page. If your website lives on more than one domain, ensure that the other domains all point to one main one, so that Google doesn’t regard it as two duplicate websites. Read up on official Google advice.You may find that it’s time to archive some content. You’ll be able to see from page views if a piece from your archive is popular. It might be worth updating the story, linking prominently from this older article to the new one.If the majority of your content is text, consider diversifying your media. You may regard text as king because of search engine indexing, but don’t obsess over what search engines see on your website; they are secondary to your users. For instance, you could upload videos to video-sharing websites. Although links on such pages are often set to nofollow, preventing them from improving your ranking, video platforms do give you an opportunity to push content to another networks and reach audiences beyond your website.Podcasting is another medium that might appeal to users, especially if you can interview experts or respected names in your industry. You could even make your podcasts available through iTunes. Podcasting can be incredibly simple to do, particularly with services such as Audioboo. Audioboo’s mobile and Web podcasting platform allows you to create a podcast literally anywhere.Useful PDF downloads — such as the first chapter of a book you’re selling or a helpful guide — are enticing as freebies. Why not consider a tip sheet, such as this Photoshop Keyboard Shortcuts Cheat Sheet PDF. By adding your company branding or a small ad to the download, you ensure that each time someone refers to the sheet, they are exposed to your brand.A useful way to diversify content is to translate it. Identify your target languages by studying your website’s visitor statistics and sales data. Consider which countries you commonly do business with and the ones you seek to do business with. Also, consider the cost of maintaining the multi-lingual content simultaneously with your primary language content. While you’re at it, consider translating meta content, too, for a unified approach to optimizing translated content.LinksKeeping on top of broken links, whether due to typos or deletion of content, is time-consuming. However, several link-checking software programs are available, such as Xenu or Link Checker Firefox Extension which can use multi-threading to check your website. Xenu produces a handy report for you to deal with broken links.While dealing with broken links, check that your 404 (“Page cannot be found”) and 500 (“Server error”) pages are helpful and informative and not just the default pages. If you are able to set up error notification emails or reports, they can help you identify issues quickly, before someone sends you an irate email or a broken shopping cart loses several days’ worth of customers. Be aware that your website could generate a lot of errors — and therefore a lot of automated emails — so use email filtering. If you plan to use an automatic link checker, suspend the error reporting emails until you’re done.This may seem obvious, but you need to pay attention to link quality and avoid “Click here” links like the plague. Favor more relevant and informative links for both your visitors and search engines; for instance, “Washmax 200″ or “Full Washmax range.” If you can link key phrases, all the better. Avoid using images for links, but if you need to do it, use informative alt and title tags. If you use images to preserve fonts in navigation, look into @font-face font embedding solutions or font-replacement solutions such as Cufón.Meta DataWith your content all updated, now’s a good time to reindex with Google and other major search engines. Review your meta and header set-up. Ideally, you should have individual descriptions and title tags for as many pages as possible, tags that accurately reflect the content. On a large website or in a CMS, this can be tricky, so consider preparing a standard set as a fallback, with the option to override it on individual pages.Put key phrases and phrases related to your target market in titles and descriptions. Sign up for Google Webmaster Tools, and link it to your website with the validation tag or file. The tools will help you submit site maps and view crawl errors, keyword density and popular search queries for which your website was a result. Pairing it with Google Analytics is even handier; it shows you the following outcomes: keywords people used to reach your website, as well as “impressions” (i.e. results for which your website appeared but that did not necessarily lead to visits). To keep track of Yahoo, there is Site Explorer, and for Bing, Webmaster Central.Common QueriesLook at phone and email queries from current and potential customers to identify common questions and issues. Why are people asking these questions? Is it because they cannot find the information on your website? Is it there but not easy to find or not clear enough? Could you improve how information is displayed on the website to reduce the number of queries, thus saving you money and time? Maybe you need to revise the wording in your navigation menu?On-Site SearchIn a similar vein, look at recurring searches on your website. Is there a trend? Are people searching for a particular product, billing info, contact info? How can you reduce these searches and bring the most popular products within easy reach of your consumers? Google estimates that, on average, 40% of visitors navigate websites by performing on-site searches.For instance, UK retailer Next focused on its search functionality and identified terms that had high average exit rates. One term was “boys socks,” which returned results that were not particularly helpful, leading a lot of people to leave, assuming there were few or no socks available. By improving search relevancy, Next decreased the reduction rate by 19%. If this were duplicated across all the other on-site searches, it would result in a 4.14% increase in online revenue. (Read more about the case study.)PresentationA website easily shows its age, and its presentation influences customer behavior. People will judge a book by its cover. Make clear what you want visitors to do: whether to buy a product, sign up for a service, etc. Make it logical. Learn to appreciate enormous call-to-action button.If you’ve had the same style for a while, consider employing some of these tips and tricks, for reassessing your presentation; they require only your time, no expensive tools. Small tweaks, such as changing the typography to improve readability and breaking up blocks of text, can make dramatic improvements.SpeedSlow websites discourage visitors, and they have a variety of causes and solutions. The YSlow toolbar, developed by Yahoo to integrate with Firebug on Firefox, is handy for analyzing websites and suggesting improvements. The handiest feature is often the Smush.it image compressor, found in YSlow’s Tools tab. The tool compresses all images on a page, displays a list of its changes and gives you the option to replace these with the larger versions on your server. Alternatively, you might prefer PNGGauntlet, which is an offline tool that we found outdid Smush.it on occasions. Of course, you might find that using sprites for interfaces and navigation cuts down loading time quite a lot, too.Speed is now officially a factor in Google’s search algorithm and will affect your ranking in results. Google stated in April:While site speed is a new signal, it doesn’t carry as much weight as the relevance of a page. Currently, fewer than 1% of search queries are affected by the site speed signal in our implementation and the signal for site speed only applies for visitors searching in English on Google.com at this point.Even though speed weighs lightly with Google, it still weighs heavily with usability and customer service, and it will prepare you for when Google increases its weight.RevisitDon’t reinvent the wheel. Look back at marketing that has worked well for you in the past and recycle it. How often have you seen a television ad reappear a year or two later with an updated voice-over? It’s still effective. Why totally re-do it?Keep Customers HappyIn a recession, keeping current customers happy is critical and is far easier than gaining the trust of new ones. Word of mouth is gold, so give customers something to talk people, whether it be your fantastic service, your speedy turnaround and rapid response or your use of them as a super case study on your website.Share your success with clients, and encourage them to share their successes with you, especially ones related to your service or product. Ask permission to use quotes for testimonials. Give customers an incentive to recommend you, whether in the form of a discount on their next order, a special online coupon or something else. Track the coupons to measure their effectiveness, and tweak them to improve results.Use Relationship Marketing StrategiesRelationship marketing focuses on customer retention and satisfaction, rather than sales transactions. Adopting relationship marketing means that you recognize the long-term value of customer relationships. It is comparable to defensive-and-offensive marketing, according to Claes Fornell and Birger Wernerfelt.Offensive marketing is about obtaining new customers, increasing customer purchasing frequency and liberating dissatisfied customers from the competition. Defensive marketing, on the other hand, is about reducing and managing dissatisfaction, reducing customer turnover and increasing customer loyalty. This tactic was used by the UK ISP Plusnet in January 2010, when it encouraged its own customers to lure Tiscali customers who were unhappy about the brand’s demise and the impending increase in broadband prices by parent company TalkTalk.Businesses commonly adopt two strategies when trying to increase customer loyalty. The first, increasing customer satisfaction, can be done just by listening more actively to your customers. The second is meant to erect switching barriers.Switching barriers are hoops your customers have to jump through to leave your services. Exit fees, search costs, learning costs, installation and start-up costs are all switching barriers, as is breach of contract (i.e. terminating a contract early). Although barriers will retain customers who couldn’t be bothered, it is a rather aggressive approach.Customer loyalty is important, as Frederick Reichheld notes (PDF):Good long-standing customers are worth so much that in some industries, reducing customer defections by as little as five points from, say, 15% to 10% per year can double profits.Reichheld agrees with earlier research by Buchanan and Gilles (1990) that long-term committed customers are of high value. Long-term customers are less inclined to switch, and they deliver stable sales volume, even in a recession. They are less price sensitive and might naturally promote you by word of mouth. Loyal long-term customers are more likely to invest in supplemental products and are overall less expensive to serve. They are already familiar with your processes and are therefore consistent in their communications and demands relative to new clients.Gain Trust of Skeptical CustomersCustomers are becoming wiser about where they spend their money, especially in a recession. Skeptical customers will almost certainly increase in numbers, unless you are an essential service. Selling to this class of customer requires that you look carefully at the impression you give to them.Ensure your company sends the right signals to clients. Note the impression you want to give — whether it is professional, secure, intelligent — and then look critically at the signals you send out. Consider your company name, your logo, the way you greet people over the phone, even the music people hear while on hold. Examine your catalogues, order forms, bulk mail, signage, email (both day-to-day and broadcasts), company car or fleet, uniforms, sales presentations. Even down to the way your office looks and smells.You might decide that your company signals entirely match the impression you’re aiming for. Perhaps you designed your own logo and website and produced your own advertising material. But even if you’re a designer and run a promotional company by trade, being objective about your own creative work is incredibly difficult. Consult others to tell you critically and honestly how they perceive your company. A professional image is key to survival.If you’re not keen to make these kinds of changes, consider smaller yet significant changes. Avoid hyped-up marketing copy that your defensive customers might perceive as scammy. Be clear in your communication; include relevant and favorable statistics about your business and products. Proudly display your clientele on your website (with their permission, of course), and ask your best clients for testimonials. Improve your testimonials further by including photos and recognizable sources. If your company or product is accredited in some way, display the accreditation on your website and in your marketing material. Reassure skeptical customers: give them genuine reasons to trust you.Be positive about your company and what it provides. Consider why you have skeptical customers. Eliminate the risk. If you can offer a 100% money-back guarantee without too many restrictions, that might be what you need to sway the fence-sitters. Otherwise, offer a free sample, demo or consultation. Showing how something benefits the customer is far better than telling them. A video demonstration might be a useful addition to your website if you cannot reach clients in person easily.Re-Engage Former CustomersTesco.com is the online home of Britain’s leading food retail group, Tesco. Tesco is also a recognized supermarket in many other countries across Europe, Asia and the US. Tesco has a sophisticated system for monitoring customers who are registered on the online store but have purchased for a while. Its “commitment-based segmentation,” or “loyalty ladder,” monitors the types of actions a customer performs, which in turn trigger different types of communication from Tesco, such as follow-up emails or personalized alerts.Tesco categorizes customers based on the date of their last purchase and the frequency and value of their purchases, slotting them into one of six categories:Logged in,Cautionary,Developing,Established,Dedicated,Logged out.The system then uses automated messaging to encourage purchases, employing anything from surveys to gift vouchers to monthly e-newsletters. The system helps Tesco entice former customers and identify how to retain more customers.Email Marketing Sixty-seven percent of those surveyed by cScape and Econsultancy during their 4th Annual Online Customer Engagement survey in April 2010 said that email newsletters resulted in a tangible improvement to their organization’s online customer engagement.Email marketing can be used to follow up on actions such as purchases or registrations in shops or on websites. Tesco, as noted, heavily uses a variety of automated email marketing to keep in touch with customers. Emails are often triggered by customer actions. For example, Ticketmaster follows up the day after an event, inviting customers to post a review of the event on its website, thus enriching its event listings and prompting a return visit to its website — and possible repeat purchases.Marketing by email does come with the legal responsibilities to keep your data clean and to respect the wishes of those who want to unsubscribe. Complaints against email marketers can lead to companies getting blacklisted, and then you’ll end up in the junk folder, making the time you spent on email marketing worthless.Coordinate Offline and Online EffortsIf your business is not solely online, be sure to coordinate your marketing efforts. Use vanity URLs to track offline-to-online movement. For example, an advertisement by Dell on television might invite viewers to visit dell.co.uk/tv for offers relating to the ad they just saw. Online ads might show another URL, one not only that Dell tracks, but that takes visitors straight to the advertised product, rather than the home page. Of course, some visitors will go to the home page first anyway, so be sure they can find your offer from there, too.If you issue vouchers on paper, why not tag them with online-only voucher codes to encourage them to move their purchasing online or to try out your Web services? Marketing and tracking is far easier online than in stores, which typically have a variety of non-integrated systems.Save money on paper mail by offering email. Banks and utilities, such as BT, are increasingly encouraging their customers to go paper-free, in consideration of the environment, sometimes by offering small incentives. Your customers gain the advantage of being able to access all of their paperwork online at any time, without fear of losing it.Keep Your Friends Close and Your Competitors CloserThis may seem like the last thing you would want to do, but teaming up with competitors and other businesses could really help your business pull through the recession. The phrase “a rising tide floats all boats” applies here, so see if you can team up with other businesses to stimulate the marketplace in your area and industry. Don’t rip a stressed market to pieces; be bold, and propose fair play with competitors. The town’s big enough for the two of you — or at least it has to be when the pickings are slim.You probably study your closest competitors regularly. Using that knowledge, identify a competitor with a similar target market to yours but different products or services. Approach the company for a joint venture: you would share the same market but not directly compete on products. By joining forces to run an event or campaign, you really reach out to your audience.Look at what you have and what you need. Do your competitors have what you need. Is there some way to combine efforts to benefit both? For instance, a company selling t-shirts might join forces with a competitor that has an extensive database of emails. The t-shirts would be promoted to that market, and the database owners would receive a finder’s fee for subsequent sales. Both companies benefit from the collaboration.Team up with similar providers to run fairs or other events to draw customers in. The combined advertising power of two companies is far more likely to attract many more customers than the power of just one. While you may sell similar products, you will reach a broader customer base and can split the cost of the event.Attend events in your industry, and make a special effort to network, especially with event speakers. Collect cards, and distribute yours to everyone you meet; and follow-up afterwards, either by email or on a social network. Build on that first impression, and ensure that your time at the event doesn’t go to waste.If you are a freelancer, combine forces with other freelancers who have different skills. You might be able to outsource that illustration you’ve been struggling with, or find someone to code your new client’s e-commerce website while you worry about the design. By offering more services, you become more attractive to customers.Sometimes you receive requests from companies or individuals that you just can’t fill, whether because you’re too busy or don’t have the requisite skills or just sense a potential personality clash. Refer them to one of your competitors — after agreeing with the competitor on how to handle this sort of request. Keep a tab on who you refer, and follow up with the competitor. The customer will take this as a thoughtful recommendation and will respect you more for being so helpful. Arrange this in advance for times when clients call all at once.Of course, the company you keep says much about you. Keep your friends close and your competitors closer. By associating with the industry’s brightest and best, you raise yourself, and you might learn a thing or two in the process.Reach OutOne in every eleven minutes spent online globally in December 2008 was spent on either social networks or blogs, and that rate has very likely increased since. That’s a big portion of your customers’ time. Forty-four percent of those polled by cScape and Econsultancy in the aforementioned survey said that joining a social network made a tangible improvement to their organization’s online customer engagement. That 44% might include your biggest competitor?Look Before You LeapIf you already have a personal profile on a social network, do a little research on who is talking about your company, and see whether your competitors are established there. Using your personal account for business purposes is probably not appropriate. Posts about your family and friends probably wouldn’t serve your professional image, and your friends and family won’t want to see details about your company in their feed. The exception to this is the professional network LinkedIn, which was built especially for business networking. You could also create a customized Facebook business page, so take a fresh look at establishing a presence there.Extend Communication ChannelsEmail and telephone reliable methods of communicating with clients, but many companies find the need to embrace alternative media, such as Twitter, often in response to customers venting or praising them there. By monitoring the discussion, customer service managers can pick out frustrated clients before they publicly embarrass the company. For example, BT has @btcare on Twitter; during the Paddington Exchange outage, which knocked out Internet service in parts of England at the end of March, BT offered assistance to those who tweeted about it. Being a mobile social network, which many people turn to during an outage, Twitter was particularly handy. Twitter offers specific advice to businesses that want to join the discussion.ShareabilitySocial networking is all about sharing, whether it’s news, photos or links. If a visitor finds your website useful or amusing, they will share it with friends. See how easy it is to share your website on Facebook and Twitter. More than 25 billion pieces of content (links, news stories, blog posts, etc.) are shared every month by Facebook users alone.Consider whether those social network icons that clutter the bottom of blog posts are something you would like to implement for your own content. Some argue that if you do include social networking buttons, you should not dictate which social networks visitors can share on; but with the hundreds of networks and bookmarking websites in existence, being selective is practical. And you can use third-party tools such as AddThis and ShareThis. They also track sharing activity on your website.Sometimes it pays to keep things perfectly simple, especially considering what happened when ReadWriteWeb appeared above Facebook on Google for the search term “facebook,” leading to endless comments from confused visitors who blindly clicked the top result, confusing one website for the other.Stay RegularRegular updates will keep visitors returning to your website and also allow you to syndicate your content. Twitter has many tools to help you automatically post news in RSS (“Twitterfeed“). Some of these tools allow you to automate posts beside your responses to customers. Regular news might even catch the attention of Google News, raising your website’s profile in Google’s search results.Of course, regular doesn’t mean boring. Keep your updates lively — and provocative, when appropriate. Consider how your favorite news source maintains your attention. Consider a recurring feature, such as a weekly or monthly interview with an employee or industry expert.Run a competition: Twitter followers respond well to retweet competitions, whereby a company offers a prize to someone who retweets one of their updates. This could lead to potentially exponential link-sharing across the network, which, though short-lived, could have great long-term effects. @GirlguidingUk ran a daily hunt called “Tweet and seek,” in which participants had to find information on the Girlguiding UK website to win. This not only gave followers a fun and competitive way to interact with the organization, but also encouraged them to visit new sections of the website.Targeted AdsYou may be familiar with Google AdWords and AdSense, which allows you to tailer your ads to search results and page content, but social network ad platforms like Facebook allow for far more targeted ads. Through Facebook alone, you can reach more than 400 million active users, of which 50% log in every day. Each of these users lists their location and other information such as interests, gender and age. These can all be used to finely target advertising to them, and without having to spend a particularly big budget. Companies with a presence on Facebook are given ads with additional functionality.Advice for the Wider CommunityNot everyone will turn to a social network to talk about your company or to seek help. Well-established forums and websites allow members to get support from each other on all manner of topics. Sometimes a good search can bring up some surprises. We found members of an angling forum discussing a client of ours that offers food powder; they were considering approaching the client to use one of their food powders for carp fishing bait. Quite an unusual type of customer for the company! Locate popular and well-respected forums in your industry, and use them to reach out to potential customers and reviewers of your services.Alternatively, there is the more general Yahoo Answers, which awards points to people who respond well to questions from users, giving them an opportunity to become a respected category guru. Yahoo Answers often appear high in Google search results, and the only price for responding however much you like is your time.Publish Content ElsewhereIf your company publishes regular press releases or news, ensure that they include the most relevant links to your website. Publishing content elsewhere is an excellent way to build “backlinks” to your website.Make your releases informative and useful. Only publish when you have something worthwhile to say or for others to talk about. Company staff running marathons, events that you are holding, new appointments or awards you have won, these are all suitable pieces of news to release, though you may have to be selective with your audience.Alternatively, write informative articles about your industry for external publications, or consider guest blogging. Offer yourself for interviewing.Take Time to Talk About OthersDon’t exclusively discuss yourself or your company on social networks or in media releases. Leave space to comment on releases from other companies, including your competitors. Don’t view this as a chance to push your company name; rather, actively contribute to the discussion. Blog and write about other companies, particularly suppliers and colleagues that you respect. Congratulate them on their successes, give credit where due and quote them. Most of all, thank them for their hard work and assistance.More Ways to ShareRetail shops may find that partnering with a discount code website is useful, and not only because clever customers Google for discount codes before purchasing. An increasing number of consumers are signing up for regular notifications from these websites, too. Customers who might not have known about or considered you will be far more inclined to visit, knowing they have an exclusive offer code to save money.Hotels are not the only types of businesses that would benefit from review websites. A search for any company might bring up content both good or bad. At least on websites such as TripAdvisor, hoteliers can control their listing by enhancing it, responding to negative comments, being responsible and gaining the respect of reviewers.ConclusionAny changes you make could affect visitor behavior and website statistics, so be confident about interpreting the results. Making changes does no good unless you can measure the results. Be sure not to obsess and micro-analyze, because sometimes improvements take a little while to show. Seeing a page rocket up the rankings is great, but establishing backlinks and improving a website’s overall ranking can take months.If you use Google Analytics, try Conversion University for helpful free lessons on getting the best out of your stats.The most important things to identify are:Where are visitors coming from? (Not just country of origin.)Where is the bounce rate high? (Is a link responsible?)Why is the bounce rate high? What were people expecting to find?How to set up conversions or funnels for actions such as filling in a contact form and checking out.This article has covered a range of strategies for strengthening and sustaining your online presence during the economic downturn. How your business survives the recession is up to you alone and your approach. Decide whether you’re the cautious cat or the ferocious lion, taking advantage to seize opportunities in a tough market.(al)© Kate Davies for Smashing Magazine, 2010. | Permalink | Post a comment | Add to del.icio.us | Digg this | Stumble on StumbleUpon! | Tweet it! | Submit to Reddit | Forum Smashing Magazine Post tags:

  

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  August 17 2010, 7:31am | Comments »

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  The World Of Signage Photo Contest: Join In and Win a Digital SLR Camera!

  http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SmashingMagazine/~3/X2NQvh5gkao/

    This one’s easy: take a shot, send us the image and win a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS digital SLR camera. Typography and icons are everywhere: they surround us, guide us, help us find the right path every day. As Web designers and graphic artists, we can learn from observing the type and public signage around us. How do designers of those graphics combine type, visual design and pictograms? How do they guide us through our day? More importantly, how do they design their graphics to meaningfully serve their purpose in particular settings?That’s what we want to find out with this photo contest. We encourage you to go out with your camera, shoot nice typography or public signage, and send the photo (or photos) to us (see details below). And the best part: everyone can participate.[By the way, did you know we have a free Email Newsletter? Subscribe now and get fresh short tips and tricks in your inbox!]What Are We Looking For?We are looking for original, manually shot photographs of typography and public signage. The most obvious elements that come to mind are street signs, building facades, highway markers and road signs, as well as wayfinding graphics (i.e. directional signage) in public venues such as stadiums, malls, museums, cinemas, theaters and cafés. Bus stop signs, underground signs, park signs, metro signage, hospital room signs, conference, hotel and office signs, emergency and exit signs and signs in shops and stores would work, too. Look around, pay attention and have a camera ready. That’s really all you need! At Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, numbers in each terminal’s letter indicate the walking time. Simple yet beautiful. (Image credit.)It would be nice to see signage in a variety of languages and in globally diverse locations. We’re hoping to find similarities that communicate visually across cultures. Please feel free to submit unusual and humorous signs as well! Check out examples of what we’re looking for to get your creative juices flowing. “This Is How You Find ↓.” A wayfinding sign in IKEA in Sweden. (Image credit.)Contest DetailsSo what do you need to participate? And what are the rules?Curious About the Prize?The camera below can be yours. One participant in this contest will win this best-selling digital SLR camera, the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS (EOS 1000D), with a 10.1 megapixel CMOS sensor, high-precision 7-point wide-area autofocus sensor, and an Image Stabilizer-equipped EF-S 18–55mm f/3.5–5.6 IS Lens. The winner will be chosen randomly from among all accepted submissions.SpecificationsFormat: JPGAll photos should have a width of at least 700 pixels.The total file size of your submission should not exceed 15 MB.Each participant can send at most three photos.Submission GuidelinesPlease download the starter kit first.The starter kit folder contains a plain-text file, details.txt. Please edit it by adding details about your submission.Please name your photos meaningfully, and don’t use empty spaces or special characters.Please add your photo (or photos) to the folder. Do not include any advertisements.With your images in the folder, archive the folder as a ZIP file. The file should have a clear name (e.g. shining-airport-signage.zip).Please send your submission to contest {at} smashingmagazine {dot} com.Please note: submissions will be processed automatically. Please make sure your submission follows the requirements above, otherwise it will not be processed.Copyright, Labels, WatermarksEmbedding copyright information, a watermark or URL in a photo will spoil it; please avoid adding anything that isn’t a part of the image itself. Participants should own the copyright of any photos they send. You can specify the license under which you want your image(s) to be released using the starter kit. Photos should not be already available elsewhere on the Web.Deadline and AnnouncementSend us your photos by 27 August 2010. The winner will be announced a few days after. We will present all interesting photos here on Smashing Magazine, including the names and URLs of the participants chosen, of course. If we get enough submissions, we will sort and categorize the photos in the article.ExamplesThis contest is all about creativity, so get out your camera and start shooting. Good signage doesn’t necessarily have to be “clean.” On the contrary, some beautiful and original examples can be found where nobody bothers to look. Just be curious, and take a closer look around you. You may want to look at these articles for ideas: Vintage and Retro Typography Showcase and Showcase Of Beautiful Vintage and Retro Signage.Good luck, and get creative, folks!(al)© Vitaly Friedman for Smashing Magazine, 2010. | Permalink | Post a comment | Add to del.icio.us | Digg this | Stumble on StumbleUpon! | Tweet it! | Submit to Reddit | Forum Smashing Magazine Post tags: contest, photography

  

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  August 16 2010, 8:43am | Comments »

• I posted to designmeltdown.com

  Mega drop down menus

  http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/designmeltdown/uecD/~3/ngwQr6LxHzU/

  I know this is a category that probably gets to much coverage…but all the same here is another fine collection of sites with really really big drop down menus. http://www.themeflash.com/38-great-examples-mega-drop-down-menus-in-web-design/

  

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  • Drop Down Menus

  August 16 2010, 5:30am | Comments »

• I posted to smashingmagazine.com

  25 Useful Videos and Presentations for Designers

  http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SmashingMagazine/~3/525PSQRhyro/

    With the huge number of design-related conferences and events around the world, the Web gives those of us who cannot attend them a great opportunity to listen and benefit from their great and talented speakers. To aid in this, here we present some of the best videos, interviews and presentations about design and related topics.Using Design to Make Ideas NewSpeaker: Milton Glaser Legendary graphic designer Milton Glaser dives deep into a new painting inspired by Piero della Francesca. From there, he muses on what makes a convincing poster, by breaking down an idea and making it new.Designing for ObamaSpeaker: Steven Heller Steven Heller speaks at AIGA Philly on the outpouring of posters for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. Heller also compares today’s political graphics to the campaign posters of the last generation and explores the relationship between democracy and design.Paula Scher Gets SeriousSpeaker: Paula Scher Paula Scher looks back on her life in design (she’s done album covers, books, the Citibank logo and much more) and pinpoints the moment when she started really having fun. Watch out for gorgeous designs and images from her legendary career.An Interview With Debbie MillmanSpeaker: Debbie Millman AIGA President Debbie Millman talks at AIGA Philly about the need for designers to embrace technology and how the AIGA can adapt to changes in the field through an active membership.David Carson on Design and DiscoverySpeaker: David Carson Great design is a never-ending journey of discovery, on which it helps to pack a healthy sense of humor. Sociologist and surfer-turned-designer David Carson walks through a gorgeous (and often quite funny) slide deck of his work and found images.Designing the Obama CampaignSpeaker: Scott Thomas As the design director for Obama’s 2008 campaign, Scott Thomas led a now-historic political campaign, in which branding, design and the Web played a truly pivotal role. Likening the experience to “building an airplane in flight,” Scott talks about the creative individual’s need for triage, the crucial role of incremental improvements and the importance of returning to the hand and keeping things simple.Three Ways Good Design Makes You HappySpeaker: Don Norman Design critic Don Norman turns his incisive eye to beauty, fun, pleasure and emotion, as he looks at design that makes people happy. He identifies the three emotional cues that a well-designed product must hit to succeed.Designs to Save NewspapersSpeaker: Jacek Utko Jacek Utko is an extraordinary Polish newspaper designer whose redesigns for papers in Eastern Europe not only win awards but increase circulation by up to 100%. Can good design save newspaper? It just might.Typographic HierarchySpeaker: Tony Pritchard Typographic hierarchy is about analyzing textual information and prioritizing based on meaning. The designer determines the order in which the user views information through basic typographic techniques such as size, weight and position of type.Urging Designers to Think BigSpeaker: Tim Brown Tim Brown says that the design industry is preoccupied with creating nifty, fashionable objects, even as pressing questions like clean water access show it has a bigger role to play. He calls for a shift to local, collaborative, participatory “design thinking.”How to Make a FontSpeaker: Chank Diesel Watch a font come to life before you very eyes! Filmed on location at alphabetician Chank Diesel’s font-making workshop at Clockwork Active Media Systems in Minneapolis.How Art Shapes CultureSpeaker: Thelma Golden Thelma Golden, curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem, walks us through three recent shows that explore how art examines and redefines culture. The “post-black” artists she works with are using their art to instigate a new dialogue on race, culture and the meaning of art itself.An Interview With Erik SpiekermannSpeaker: Erik Spiekermann An interview with professor and typography designer Erik Spiekermann about his opinion of typefaces such as Helvetica and Arial.Happy DesignSpeaker: Stefan Sagmeister Graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister takes the audience on a whimsical journey through moments in his life that made him happy and notes how many of these moments had to do with good design.Interview With Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias FrereSpeaker: Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere Hoefler and Frere-Jones are American typeface designers. Here is a clip of them talking about everyone’s favorite font in the documentary Helvetica.John Maeda on His Journey in DesignSpeaker: John Maeda Designer John Maeda talks about his path from a Seattle tofu factory to the Rhode Island School of Design, of which he became president in 2008. Maeda, a tireless experimenter and witty observer, explores the crucial moment when design met computers.Two Minutes With Robin NicholasSpeaker: Robin Nicholas Robin Nicholas, creator of Arial, discusses his creative inspirations, favorite typefaces and the evolution of fonts.The True Face of Leonardo Da VinciSpeaker: Siegfried Woldhek Mona Lisa is one of the best-known faces on the planet. But would you recognize an image of Leonardo da Vinci? Illustrator Siegfried Woldhek uses some thoughtful image-analysis techniques to find what he believes is the true face of Leonardo.Five Secrets from 86 NotebooksSpeaker: Michael Bierut Renowned graphic designer Michael Bierut claims that he’s not creative. Instead, he likens his job to that of a doctor who tends to patients: “the sicker, the better.” Digging into the 86 notebooks he’s kept over his career, Bierut walks us through five projects, from conception to execution, extracting a handful of simple lessons (e.g. the problem contains the solution; don’t avoid the obvious) that lie at the foundation of brilliant design.Thinking Deep on DesignSpeaker: Philippe Starck With no pretty slides to show, designer Philippe Starck spends 18 minutes reaching to the very root of the question “Why design?” Listen carefully for the perfect mantra for all of us, genius or not.Two Minutes With Nadine ChahineSpeaker: Nadine Chahine Nadine Chahine, a font designer and Arabic specialist at Monotype Imaging, discusses her creative inspirations, favorite typefaces and the evolution of fonts.Treating Design as ArtSpeaker: Paola Antonelli Paola Antonelli, design curator at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, wants to spread her appreciation of design in all shapes and forms around the world.Practice Makes Pixel PerfectSpeaker: Ryan Sims Ryan Sims speaks about how to understand talent and how to become a great designer.Intricate Beauty by DesignSpeaker: Marian Bantjes In graphic design, Marian Bantjes says, throwing your individuality into a project is considered heresy. She explains how she built her career doing just that, bringing her signature delicate illustrations to store fronts, valentines and even genetic diagrams.Designing for the TabletSpeaker: Marian Bantjes Books, magazines, televisions. We hear these words and understand well what shape their content will take. But tablet? Digital magazine? How does the size of the object frame the user experience? How does it affect the object’s portability and accessibility? How will our experience with these devices compare with that of more “full-figured” media? Do we need to consider grid, typography and behavior differently? Hear four perspectives on how telling stories in new spaces creates new experiences.[Offtopic: by the way, did you know that there is a Smashing eBook Series? Book #2 is Successful Freelancing for Web Designers, 260 pages for just $9,90.]Other ResourcesVideos about design at the TED ConferenceVideos about design at the 99 Percent ConferenceVideos about design on VimeoAdobe Design Center: Video WorkshopSeven Must-See Web Design Videos and PresentationsAdobe Photoshop Video Tutorials: Best Of20 Beautiful Video Motion PiecesSeven Must-See Web Design Videos and Presentations(al)© Otba Mushaweh for Smashing Magazine, 2010. | Permalink | Post a comment | Add to del.icio.us | Digg this | Stumble on StumbleUpon! | Tweet it! | Submit to Reddit | Forum Smashing Magazine Post tags:

  

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  August 14 2010, 11:40am | Comments »

• I posted to designmeltdown.com

  Photographic backgrounds

  http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/designmeltdown/uecD/~3/KDyRj27MjLo/

  One of my favorite styles (when well done of course) is the use of large beautiful photographs as a background. It’s a style that appears easy, but ultimately requires a great deal of fines and attention to contrast and balance to make it work. Enjoy the nice samples: http://acrisdesign.com/2010/07/showcase-of-websites-with-large-photo-background/

  

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  August 13 2010, 5:30am | Comments »

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