Archive for the ‘Web Development’ Category

Sky Mall Knows User Experience

On my latest flight back home from Hawaii, I found myself checking out the Sky Mall magazine, intrigued by some of their cool gifts and gadgets. After the flight was over, I made sure to visit their website later when I got home. And after browsing their site today, I must say I was really impressed with the overall user experience.

Skymall.com Home Page

The design of the site is nothing too fancy – just a clean, simple, easy-to-use user interface. Right off the bat, I noticed the site translated quite well from print to online. One of the things I attribute this too are the “infomercial style” product images that really catches your eye – which makes it easy to quickly identify items you find interesting. But besides the easy navigation and nice product images, the one thing I really liked was the ability to view their virtual catalog.

Sky Mall Virtual Catalog

The same catalog that was available on the plane was available through a nice integrated virtual setup that allowed you to browse pages, highlight and purchase items. This was surprisingly useful because the sky mall catalog is very nicely done and almost easier to browse versus clicking through the entire site. Having this feature made a huge impression on my experience as a user. The entire virtual catalog integration is definitely a great study for any e-commerce site that sell items both offline and online.

Comments

How To Slice Images Like a “Pro” in Adobe Fireworks

Comments

Website, Brochure Concept for a Client

I’ve began working with Alliant Event Services on redesigning their website and marketing material collateral. Alliant Event Services (AES) is a company that provides Audio/Video/Lighting/Computer solutions to businesses of all sizes. Working with their existing logo, the challenge is to try to hold on to as much brand equity as possible while giving the brand a facelift and a fresh overall look-n-feel. Below are some concept hi-fidelity mocks that I’ve created. Final work will be posted to my portfolio section once the project has been completed.

Website Concept

Alliant Event Services Website Concept

One-Sheet Brochure Concept

AES Brochure

Comments

HTML and CSS: Knowing the basics is good enough

I recently responded to an email from someone (fairly new to web design) about where to start in regards to what versions of XHTML and/or CSS should they learn. As you know, there’s HTML, then there’s XHTML, then there’s HTML4 and there’s HTML5, not to mention CSS1, CSS2 and CSS3. Heck, I don’t blame people for being confused. I’ve been in the game now for nearly 15 years and I’m confused at this stuff.

But here’s the thing, none of this stuff really matters. Because at the end of the day, I’ve never had a client of mine question me on what version of HTML I used to code their site, or I’ve never had a client or employer of mine question me on whether I used the latest techniques and version for CSS3. No one cares about this other than Web Design nerds and the people who write books on CSS and HTML.

My philosophy has always been to just keep it simple. If you learn basic HTML and basic CSS, then you’re 95.9% there. You would pretty much know everything you need to know to be successful at building websites (or coding them at least). And when time comes to learning XHTML, HTML4, HTML5, CSS1, CSS2 or CSS3, you’d be in a good position to learn the latest techniques very quickly.

In conclusion, don’t get confused with all the latest versions for HTML and CSS, just learn the basics and you’ll be fine. Knowing the basics is good enough. And one of the best resources for you to learn from is HTML Dog.

Happy coding!

~ Mike

Comments

Web Design Degree, Is It Neccessary?

Comments
« Older Entries