The Web has always been a weird, borderless, flexible medium. In the last couple of years, we’ve started to realize that designing for this medium is fundamentally different from the design work we’ve done previously. People keep saying that the Web has changed. But has it really? Let’s take a look at all of the things that have actually changed.
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Content knowledge isn’t just about ditching lorem ipsum in a couple of comps. When you take the time to understand the content that already exists, not only will you be able to ensure that it’s supported in the new design, but you’ll actually make the entire design stronger because you’ll have realistic scenarios to design with and for. Today, we’re going to make existing content work for you, not against you.
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How can we maintain hierarchy as elements on the screen are resized and reflowed? Trent Walton first called attention to the issue with his post “Content Choreography,” which showed how visual hierarchy gets lost when columns are dropped below one another. You need to think about how you’ll want to rearrange blocks of content as your design moves from single to multiple columns.
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What can we do to make our email more engaging? People are exceedingly good at ignoring emails. Even Gmail and Hotmail are helping us ignore them by providing smart inboxes that sort incoming messages. However we’ll happily read messages from families, friends or complete strangers. Why? Because these emails are full of personality.
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How can we, as Web designers, be equally well-versed in selling our clients on the value in supporting mobile devices every day, as being something in which they need to invest precious budget dollars? In this article, Mark Reeves will tell us a few things to take into account!
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A persistent primary navigation bar shows top-level pages, allowing users to move between sections. However, there is one class of website for which this traditional form of navigation falls short. It is what Paul Boag refers to as a “mega-site”.
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In this article, Greg Nudelman provides a detailed walk-through of the design and code and provides a downloadable mini-app so that you can try out C-Swipe to see whether it’s right for your app. There are 3,997 different Android devices. Your navigation should work with all of them! C-Swipe can help.
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The most important metric when considering a mobile Web strategy and weighing responsive Web design against a separate mobile website, is how functional the website is for the user. We know that websites need to always evolve, and that it takes time to implement changes and new features. if you look at those factors in total, responsive Web design has to win out.
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Do you own a website? Do you want to be number one on Google? Whatever you do, don’t spend money on aggressive search engine optimization (SEO). I know that sounds like an extreme position to take. However, a lot of website owners see search engine optimization as the answer to their search ranking woes, when things are considerably more complex.
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Designers can do plenty of things to counteract the technical appearance of the Web. In this article, Sabina Idler discusses different aspects of freehand drawing and writing in Web design and how they can enhance the user experience of your website.
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