Archive for September, 2011
Web Design Using Grids: Tools and Inspiration
Rochester OliveiraWhen I started this web designing thing all my work just didn't look "professional". It was pretty, nice colors, nice fonts, nice bevel/emboss effects...but something was annoying and I didn't know what. Then I found out. Grids are one of the smallest differences between good and great design. It is quite easy to find a way to realign aspects of the design that give it a completely different look. Of course we have also other spacing adjustments but when you put things inside grids everything tends to look much better. Today we'll find out together why they make such a difference, who is doing it right, and which tools you can use to have a better grid.
How the Web Industry is Changing STEM’s Perception
JamalIt's hard to take a look at the career path options of recent years and not clearly see which have had the most influence. The society we live in is in a rapidly progressing state, with a focus on technology as a means for that advancement. Because of this, it is those career choices that have shaped the world we live in and will continue to do so in the future. These influential careers can all be classified under the collective category of STEM. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, these being the subject matters that comprise STEM.
12 Best iPad Applications for Designers
Rachel ArandillaEveryone in the cyberworld knows the news about Steve Jobs having resigned as CEO of Apple. He will be missed, for he surely left a legacy, making Apple one of the best brands of the century. The iPad is one of the last innovations he introduced to the world. The iPad was initially met with much skepticism and mocking, but now there is no doubt that this is one of the best, most ingenius gadgets of the 21st century. It's handy and lightweight, thus it's so easy to carry around anywhere. This makes us, as designers, more efficient and maybe more creative with our work.
6 Secret Techniques You Can Use To Become A Great Headline Writer
Jenna ScaglioneBob Stone, one of the best known copywriters once said, “Your first 15 words count more than the 15,000 words that follow!” A great headline is similar to the trailer before the movie. It whets the appetite and gives the reader a taste of what is to come. The purpose of a headline is to compel the reader to continue on to the next step (read your copy). Ever glance over at the magazines strategically placed in front of you while you are waiting to check out at the supermarket? The first thing you will notice is the headline. Cosmopolitan, Star and many other worldwide magazines use headlines on their covers to lure consumers to buy their issues.
Guidelines to Building a Useful Coming Soon Page
Christian VasileWhen you plan on launching a website for your company or business, it is always a good idea to have a Coming Soon page as a teaser. Buying the domain two months in advance and investing some money in it pays off most of the time, because it gets the visitors interested and hooks them until the official release of the website. You can also get a database of potential clients from such a page, but I am getting a bit ahead of myself. Today we take a look at some tips for designing Coming Soon pages and how to actually make them effective and visually appealing, so that visitors will remember them over time and come back. In the end we will take a look at a showcase of good Coming Soon page examples.
40 Breathtaking Examples of Infrared Photography
Rean John UeharaThere are many types of art photography out there that show a new way of viewing things like infrared photography, micro and macro photography, lomography, light photography, and many others. In this article we will talk about infrared photography, a type of photography that captures the unseen beauty of nature made possible by technology.
Setup Surveys and Capture Data with Google Forms
Ryan TaftAre you looking to learn more about your website visitors? If so, Google has your back. Google Docs is an excellent free online tool that allows you to create forms (surveys) for the purpose of capturing data from your online community. Google Docs allows you to create very professional looking forms, with over 60 different themes to choose from. You can customize the questions you want to ask and the answer choices you want visitors to choose from. Once the form is setup you can easily embed the form in your website or e-mail it out to a list. Feedback is captured automatically and reports can be charted and graphed for accurate analysis. Sound good so far? Let's dig into how the process works.
Top 5 Ways to Increase Your Website’s Conversion Rate
A beautiful website with fantastic design and colorful displays is wonderful, but if you are not making a profit, your hard work will be in vain. How can you convert your website visitors into profits? There are many ways you can increase your conversions, but it’s important to know where to start. Before we discuss the top 5 ways to increase conversions, you must understand what action you want your visitors to take. Are you leading them to opt in to your list? Buy a product? Become a Facebook fan? The goal of website conversions is to lead your visitors to an intended action, so it’s important to know what that action is. Once you know, you can target your strategy to that end.
12 Useful WordPress Coding Snippets And Hacks
We all love WordPress. What makes more and more people fall in love with it is how easy it is to customize. With a few lines you get some cool customization with all those filters, actions and hooks. WordPress 3+ blewour minds with cool new features. But sometimes we need something quite different from the default. That's what we'll be talking about today. We'll see some useful functions and hacks to get even more from WordPress. So, let's Rock!
Six Solid Reasons Why You Should Use WordPress
Salman SaeedIf you think you know what WordPress is, and what is it used for, I still believe you need to give this article a read to get to know what WordPress is really capable of. Wikipedia defines WordPress as 'an open source blog tool and publishing platform powered by PHP and MySQL'. And indeed you are correct if you think that WordPress is one of those inexpensive and relatively easy ways to start a blog site, but WordPress has come a long way since it was only a 'Blogging Platform'. If you don't already know, there are two websites WordPress.com and WordPress.org which is because it has now reached a new mature level where it doesn't only support blogging (WordPress.com) but also can be used for other different website applications (WordPress.org).
