Web Design Archives
Color Coding On The Web -- Your Take
February 23, 2005
A casual discussion about color coding, branding and usability on the Web. Add your thoughts.Continue reading this entry...
Return of Design
November 03, 2004
Let’s start talking about the “design” part of Web design again.Continue reading this entry...
Practical Web Design Magazine?
October 26, 2004
A quick anecdote concerning how the world sees Web design.Continue reading this entry...
Web Design Class' Blog
October 14, 2004
The other day, via my referrer script, I stumbled across the class blog of Lois Breedlove and her Web design students. I thought, “what a great idea!” A collaborative blog for the class—awesome! I’ve since been following along and have…Continue reading this entry...
Free Blog Design
October 04, 2004
I’m giving away a free blog design. Complete with XHTML, related files and Photoshop templates. I’ll be giving this to the individual or group (no for-profit businesses please) who presents the best case as to why they deserve to have it.Continue reading this entry...
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Yahoo Redesigns With CSS
September 28, 2004
[via Digital Web] I think it’s pretty big news when a site like Yahoo! goes through a redesign. Especially when they’re moving towards Web standards. Both the homepage and My Yahoo! got the makeover. There aren’t huge changes for the…Continue reading this entry...
My Recipe For Web Design
September 27, 2004
Defining Web design with a fun little recipe analogy. Yummy.Continue reading this entry...
Dealing With Creative Conflict and Clients
September 15, 2004
Some tips and lessons learned on how to deal with creative conflict as it relates to clients and stakeholders.Continue reading this entry...
Aesthetics In Web Design -- Summary
September 13, 2004
A (lengthy) summary (ahem…rant) of the “aesthetics in Web design” experiment I conducted.Continue reading this entry...
Aesthetics In Web Design -- An Experiment
September 09, 2004
A small experiment in aesthetic preference as it relates to Web designs.Continue reading this entry...
Dealing With Creative Conflict Within a Team
August 24, 2004
From the trenches advice on how to deal with creative conflict within a team.Continue reading this entry...
Blog Design
August 18, 2004
It seems that many blogs share a similar layout and often it’s not seen as a good thing. If the layout works, original or not, it was probably the right way to go.Continue reading this entry...
Real World Web Design Revisited
August 17, 2004
A follow up to my first post on real world Web design in which I do a lot of backpedalling.Continue reading this entry...
Real World Web Design
August 17, 2004
What exactly do I mean when I talk about Web design in the real world? What makes a quality Web design in the real world. This post aims to answer those questions.Continue reading this entry...
The Big Web Design Details List
July 28, 2004
In response to my post on paying attention to detail I got a couple e-mails asking for some more detail on what I considered to be the details that go into a good Web design. I also talked to my…Continue reading this entry...
Maintaining a Relationship with Your Designs
July 26, 2004
If you take a look at almost any job description out there one of the things employers want is attention to detail. Why then are so many business and professional sites out there so sorely lacking in that very detail?…Continue reading this entry...
I'm Speaking at Web Visions 2004
July 14, 2004
Sorry it’s a bit late in the game to announce it here, but this Friday I’ll be speaking at Web Visions in Portland, OR. I found out a bit late and I’ve been scrambling to come up with a decent…Continue reading this entry...
Web Design Ghetto?
June 29, 2004
In doing a bit of research on job titles, in anticipation of making a change to mine, (as it doesn’t accurately describe what I do) I came across a very interesting article by Bob Baxley called Introducing Interaction Design. Now,…Continue reading this entry...
Poor Contingency Design Can Cost You
June 08, 2004
If you are designing or developing Web sites, especially if you use complicated functionality, lots of forms or heavy task-based interaction you need to get yourself up to speed with contingency design. What it contingency design? It’s design for when…Continue reading this entry...
The Risks Of Web Redesign
May 26, 2004
As many of you will know Dave Shea redesigned Mezzoblue to very mixed reviews. Aside from what I feel about the actual design (still undecided) I thought the feedback was very, very interesting. For one thing, It’s real a testament…Continue reading this entry...
Design Direction For Web Design
May 24, 2004
I think Art Direction is an underused practice on the Web, and I don’t think I’m the only one who sees this. A List Apart recently did a great piece about Art Direction on the Web. If you haven’t yet…Continue reading this entry...
Web Design Not Sexy Anymore?
May 17, 2004
I’m not sure this is a real news-flash, but this weekend I was talking to someone about my job when I realized that being a Web designer was no longer “sexy.” Back in the 90’s I’d relish the opportunity to…Continue reading this entry...
Web Designers On A Fence
May 11, 2004
This is a subject (and post) I’ve been holding onto for a bit now, and today seems to be a good day to get it published. I actually wrote most of this a week or so ago, and was holding…Continue reading this entry...
Sharing Web Design Influences
May 10, 2004
I feel like spreading a little love today, but before I do, I want to give you a small bit of background. There is a message here as well, but you might need to read between the lines a bit…Continue reading this entry...
Too Cool For The May 1st REBOOT
May 02, 2004
Heh. Well, not really. Too busy (not cool enough?) is more like it. The May 1st Reboot is, for those who don’t know, an “international relaunch of web sites by authors and creatives working within the field of Web Design.”…Continue reading this entry...
Font Size Widgets -- Your Take
April 27, 2004
One of the things that’s come up as a result of my images vs. text dilemma down at work, and the subsequent discussion here, has been the question of whether or not those nifty little font size tools are useful…Continue reading this entry...
Navigation -- Text vs. Images
April 26, 2004
This post is the result of a real world problem I’m facing today and it’s title comes from an actual Google search query I ran a few minutes ago. A search that turned up basically nothing of any use. Today…Continue reading this entry...
Selling Usability By Design
April 16, 2004
In the hopes of furthering the building of a bridge between “design” and “usability,” I thought I’d throw a concept out there. It may not be new, but hey, if not, I think we could all use a reminder. Design…Continue reading this entry...
Splash Pages Never Die!
April 08, 2004
It’s the year 2004 and Web site splash pages are alive and well. They still suck. I imagine most people still hate them. Yet they’re still here, haunting Web sites all over the Web. Why? I’ll leave you with the…Continue reading this entry...
Web Design is Web Design
April 02, 2004
That pesky word “design” is on my mind again today. I’ve come across some very good discussions about the subject of design and how we define Web design in relation to other design disciplines. For you perusal: Web Design is…Continue reading this entry...
Asterisk* 2004 Redesign Case Study
March 11, 2004
This is long overdue, but I’ve been extremely busy and haven’t had time to write it up. However, I like to keep my promises so here it is — The Asterisk* 2004 Redesign Case Study. You’ll excuse me (I hope)…Continue reading this entry...
My Recipe For Learning Web Design
March 03, 2004
My article, A Recipe For Learning Web Design, went up over at Digital Web today. Its main audience are people who want to break into a career in Web design and are curious about how to go about learning the…Continue reading this entry...
Semantics and The Word "Design"
March 03, 2004
Semantics. Not “semantics” as in XHTML structure, but rather “semantics” as in attaching preconceived meanings to words or phrases. I say “development and production” — you say “test and development” or whatever. Many people place different meanings on the terms…Continue reading this entry...
Page Length and Anchor Links -- Your Take
February 16, 2004
A common problem when working on the information architecture of a Web site is how, and when, to break up content into multiple pages and when not to. At some point, with almost every project, it seems like there is…Continue reading this entry...
Are Web Designers Becoming Obsolete?
February 04, 2004
Before you get your panties in a bunch, I don’t really think that, I’m just askin’. I do think it’s a valid question. As the Web evolves and new products, techniques and technologies emerge it seems like Web design as…Continue reading this entry...
Random Sites and Snap Judgments
January 19, 2004
You might have to bear with me on this one, I’m feeling a bit ornery today. I think my whole back problem is making me a bit stir-crazy. I’ve had two things on my mind this morning, which has only…Continue reading this entry...
More On Opinion In Web Design
January 12, 2004
Today I had a chance to read the Whitespace critique of Zeldman’s redesign. As the one who started the original discussion that lead to Scrivs delving into the realm of design critiques I really wanted to comment on the critique,…Continue reading this entry...
Opinion in Web Design
January 08, 2004
Everyone’s a critic. Including me. I got to thinking today how much opinion has an effect on design. It’s pretty huge. Every day our decisions as designers are influenced by opinion. Our own, our clients, some jerkoff with your email…Continue reading this entry...
Blog Searching -- Your Take
December 21, 2003
I recently received a question in my Asterisk FAQs section about placement of the search box on my site. This is something I’ve actually put quite a bit of thought into. It’s pretty far down the page and I don’t…Continue reading this entry...
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Web Design - The Ultimate Balancing Act?
December 10, 2003
If you’ve read Asterisk* for any length of time chances are you’ve heard me philosophize about Web design in some way or other. I’ve pointed out that Web design isn’t the same as graphic design, that Web design has no…Continue reading this entry...
Bad Design Decisions
December 02, 2003
We’ve all made them. Some have been poorer than others. Some are easily remedied and some are a nightmare to back out of. They’re bad design decisions and there’s always a story behind them. If I share one with you…Continue reading this entry...
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Web Design Example - Whistler Digs
November 17, 2003
Over the last few weeks I’ve been looking for a vacation rental house in Whistler. I’ve taken a fairly usual (I think) tact of searching for a good rental online and quickly discovered that most of the sites out there,…Continue reading this entry...
Design Back In Time
November 12, 2003
So I’ve been working on a few freelance and side projects and actually doing some design work for a change. It’s been quite a bit of “build, enhance and maintain” down at the day job. Anyway I’ve also been archiving…Continue reading this entry...
Fixed Width vs. Liquid Layout - Your Take
November 11, 2003
Which is better - a fixed width layout or a liquid layout? I’ve heard many arguments for both sides of this issue over the years and it seems to be there are many cases in favor (and against) for each….Continue reading this entry...
ReUSEIT! Contest Entries
November 04, 2003
The deadline has passed and we’re in the process of judging the entries to the ReUESIT! contest. All of the entries are in and have been posted for your enjoyment. There are a few really good designs, some great ideas…Continue reading this entry...
Flash For The Future
October 27, 2003
I’ve got a really busy week ahead so I’ll keep this short. I’ve launched a new resource site for Flash designers and developers. It’s still in beta and needs a bit of work, but I’m posting there so I thought…Continue reading this entry...
ReUSEIT Contest Deadline Approaching
October 21, 2003
There’s just ten days left to submit your redesign of Jakob Nielsen’s USEIT. For those of you who don’t already know, the ReUSEIT contest is: to borrow a quote from the W3Remix contest, “a design challenge for coders, and a…Continue reading this entry...
Web Design Under The Public Eye
October 16, 2003
Dave offers up some more thoughts and details on the wonderful work he’s done for the Mozilla.org site. Reading this got me to thinking about the pressure some designers put on themselves by sharing their work and details about it…Continue reading this entry...
Gorilla Web Tips - Supplemental Navigation
October 13, 2003
So I’ve published another Gorilla Web Tip. This time I quickly cover a few different types of supplemental navigation. I’ve taken my observations on the use of some common types of alternate navigation, both as a user and a developer,…Continue reading this entry...
Designing For AOL - Your Take
October 06, 2003
Recently I’ve had a few of my designs looked at by AOL users and they’ve been found slightly wanting. To be honest, I’ve been pretty remiss when it comes to the AOL browser. In fact, I know very little about…Continue reading this entry...
Flash For The Future Logo Contest
September 18, 2003
It all begins with an idea. Flash For The Future, an “in work” community based site featuring resources and examples of usable, audience appropriate, accessible and forward-thinking Flash, is looking for an identity…or rather, a logo. The contest is an…Continue reading this entry...
What's Your Take on Breadcrumb Trails?
September 08, 2003
So y’all ready for another “What’s Your Take?” Our last, What’s Your Take on Launching New Windows brought up some really good discussion. Feel free to check that out and add your take. I’ll post a summary shortly. This time…Continue reading this entry...
Progressive Enhancement - Part One
August 19, 2003
It’s been a few days since I redesigned, rebuilt and relaunched and so far so good. As the feedback has been coming in via comments and e-mail I’ve been trying to take what I’m hearing and start making plans for…Continue reading this entry...
ReUSEIT Contest
August 15, 2003
Are you like me? Have you ever been to Jakob Nielsen’s UseIt.com and thought, “Geez, for a usability guru, this site is pretty unusable?” Or, maybe you just thought it was plain boring. Either way, nows your chance to give…Continue reading this entry...
Dave Shea on CSS Image Replacement
August 06, 2003
Could this article be more timely? This week Digital Web is very proud to bring you In Defense of Fahrner Image Replacement by Dave Shea. From Digital Web: This article is a must read for any designer who wants to…Continue reading this entry...
Perfect Web Design - A Myth
August 04, 2003
In my opinion, there is no such thing as a perfect Web design, and often projects can be severely undermined by striving to hard to achieve perfection. Good goals, a solid plan and realistic expectations are what breeds successful Web…Continue reading this entry...
Learning Web Design
July 23, 2003
This one goes out to graphic design schools everywhere. It’s time to either get it right, or seperate traditional graphic design from Web design for good and all. Lately I’ve had the unique opportunity to work on several freelance projects…Continue reading this entry...
2Advanced Too Much?
July 17, 2003
I just saw the new 2Advanced site. From a motion design and entertainment perspective I thought it was pretty cool, nothing too original and way, way too slow to load, but cool. They have some nice interactive elements and features,…Continue reading this entry...
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Adaptive Path Redesign
July 09, 2003
I’ve got to give major props (once again) to Doug Bowman on his redesign of the Adaptive Path site. It’s got a fresh and well thought-out design, worthy of much envy on it’s own merits, AND it’s build with all…Continue reading this entry...
How To Work With A Designer
June 29, 2003
From Daniel Will-Harris, a very good article about how to (and not to) work with a designer. There are lots of truths, lots of good tips and lots both non-designers and designers can learn and benefit from. Via Digital Web…Continue reading this entry...
AIGA L.A. Redesign
June 11, 2003
Speak Up has a fairly candid discussion about AIGA L.A.’s newly redesigned site going on. Frankly I think the site a trainwreck and a good example of how not to add visual style to a Web site. And that’s just…Continue reading this entry...
Design of Inner Pages vs. Homepages
June 04, 2003
Today over at Digital Web, Jeff Lash (yes that Jeff Lash) comes strong with an article entitled How did you get here? Designing for visitors who don’t enter through the home page. I think many folks would be surprised about…Continue reading this entry...
Bowman's Process
June 02, 2003
Last week I talked about Doug Bowman’s entry to the CSS Zen Garden. Well this week he’s given us a glimpse into his design process, with Golden Mean being used as an example. I found his process very interesting and…Continue reading this entry...
New Chopping Block
May 29, 2003
If there ever was a site that could be described as “feel good” it would be The Chopping Block’s. You know, “Oranges… Oranges… Oranges and Graphic Design!” If you don’t know you should go check this out. Well it looks…Continue reading this entry...
Bowman in The CSS Zen Garden
May 29, 2003
Douglas Bowman has submitted a very, very nice design to the CSS Zen Garden called Golden Mean*. Over at his site he talks a bit about the challenges in putting together the design as well as his process. With my…Continue reading this entry...
Information Design From Dirk Knemeyer
May 21, 2003
In the latest installment of Digital Web, Dirk Knemeyer brings us The Information Design approach to Web development, a great piece about “making information as effective as possible.” A very good, very informative read from a great guy with quite…Continue reading this entry...
Story Of An Intranet Redesign -- Update
May 14, 2003
It’s been a few months since we launched our newly redesigned Intranet down at the hospital. So far it’s been an unqualified success. We met out goals and for the most part everyone involved is happy and things are running…Continue reading this entry...
CSS Zen Garden
May 12, 2003
I’ve been wanting to post about Dave Shea’s exciting new project, the CSS Zen Garden, for a few days now, I just haven’t had the time. Part of the reason is I’ve not been at the computer much in the…Continue reading this entry...
Cingular Wireless Redesign
April 21, 2003
Cingular Wireless has gone to an XHTML based and mostly tabless design. At first glance, it looks pretty nice, although takes a really long time to load. It’s always interesting when a big commercial site goes all forward thinking on…Continue reading this entry...
800 x 600
April 18, 2003
Julie Albertson wrote a little ditty about the reasons why it’s a good idea to design for a screen resolution of 800 x 600. Obviously this depends on the type of site we are talking about, Julie I think is…Continue reading this entry...
WThRemix Winners Announced
April 17, 2003
Well, it’s official, the grand prize goes to Radu Darvas. It’s well deserved, and my favorite as well. Take a gander at the rest of the winners….Continue reading this entry...
PGA.com Redesign
April 09, 2003
Talk about timely! Todd Dominey today announced the newly redesigned PGA.com project he’s been working on. The site looks great, and is yet another example of transitional Web design. Todd doesn’t go into great detail about the project but does…Continue reading this entry...
Transitional Web Thoughts
April 08, 2003
Well, I’m back from Disneyland and back on the beat. I came across a few interesting views on Web standards and forward compatibility. The first is from Peter-Paul Koch over at Evolt, and the second is a post (and reply…Continue reading this entry...
Macromedia Beta 1 Report.
March 18, 2003
For the last few days I’ve been going through, and mulling over Macromedia’s Beta 1 progress report. If you are a Web developer, designer, etc. and haven’t read it, I suggest you do. It’s really good stuff. I was very…Continue reading this entry...
Vibe Art Installations.
March 12, 2003
Pontiac selected 5 award winning designers to create a series of multimedia pieces based on the Pontiac Vibe. The work is cool and the idea of using multimedia design to promote branding here is an interesting one. Via k10k….Continue reading this entry...
Macromedia Redesign
March 05, 2003
Macromedia has a new site. Looks good. I’m not 100% in love with the “look” of the site, not sure why, but I do like some of the new features and the general function of the site. Which is a…Continue reading this entry...
More on ESPN's redesign.
February 19, 2003
Along with the ESPN homepage redesign they’ve also made available (although a bit hard to find) the nice and simple ESPN lite. It seems to be a mainly CSS driven and mostly tableless design that lets you filter out all…Continue reading this entry...
ESPN Motion.
February 18, 2003
ESPN has redesigned their homepage and added a new feature titled “ESPN Motion” which calls itself “Half Television, Half Internet.” So far I like it. It’s very Flash heavy, but I think they’ve done a really nice job of integrating…Continue reading this entry...
The Golden Mean.
January 31, 2003
The design of my first ever portfolio site, done back in 1996 with FutureSplash (remember that?), was based on the Golden Mean — a mathematical equation that is also called the Golden Rule or Golden Ratio. I’ve looked to it for inspiration ever…Continue reading this entry...
Hren Design.
January 29, 2003
My old pal Mike Hren, who is probably still bitter I whupped ass in his Fantasy Football league this year, recently launched his portfolio site. It’s very slick - with lots of nice, clean, well paced Flash goodness and some…Continue reading this entry...
Design by Instinct.
January 28, 2003
While we’re on her book, I’ll point you to a great post from Christina about designing with your “gut”. I can’t agree with her more, that is why I suggest that designers and developers make an effort to get involved…Continue reading this entry...
Bowman on lists.
January 23, 2003
Doug Bowman posted an internal dialogue about HTML lists. I found this to be an interesting read — he asks some good questions here. For my part, I’m not keen on using lists for structured, site wide navigation, but that…Continue reading this entry...
Asterisk* redesign in progress.
January 18, 2003
So I’m working on a redesign of Asterisk* and eventually this whole site. For this perticular part of the site it might be a bit of an un-design. I want to do something a bit different. In anycase, if you…Continue reading this entry...
Another new design.
January 17, 2003
Mena Trott has redesigned Dollarshort.org. It’s nice, but truth be told, I think I liked the old one a bit better. Still it’s the content that counts and Mena’s is top notch….Continue reading this entry...
Take a Butchers at A Few New Designs.
January 16, 2003
In the last few days I’ve noticed a new face on a few good sites out there. So as Christian would say, “Take a butchers at ‘em.” Dive into Mark is in the process of a public redesign, ala Zeldman….Continue reading this entry...
Typographic correctness.
November 19, 2002
In an effort to enhance the design and readability of Asterisk* I’ve installed “SmartyPants” from Daring Fireball — a great site BTW — my ASCII text should be made all pretty on the fly now. Killer….Continue reading this entry...
To the eXtreme
November 15, 2002
eXtreme Design - an idea from [stop] design - an interesting prospect. If you are famailiar with eXtreme Programming you’ll get this a bit. We did some of that at one of my previous gigs and it worked very well….Continue reading this entry...
Browsers are still stupid.
November 14, 2002
I added a search “feature” to Asterisk* today. It works pretty well. It looks pretty funny. In just about all browsers. I got it looking ok in IE 6 for PC first. Not perfect, but ok. It had too much…Continue reading this entry...
More on the Web design rant.
October 18, 2002
In my inbox this morning I came across two things that dovetail into the rant I posted yesterday. Not that they support and conflict with my views - they just carry a similar theme. In regards to content and the…Continue reading this entry...
Web design thoughts.
October 17, 2002
Go read Beauty is Only Screen Deep by Sarah Horton. It’s ok, this will be here when you get back - it’s a good read, and she makes some solid points. I realized, after reading that, that I don’t “get”…Continue reading this entry...
k10k does PNG and CSS
October 02, 2002
Check it out. Guess it’s not just me that’s frustrated by k10k’s slow load. Nice to see they are working on that! Snatched from Zeldman….Continue reading this entry...
I don't know jack about typography.
October 01, 2002
Found a nice site in snowsuit.net. He has a couple posts that I’d love to comment on or link to, but it seems that functionality is missing. Oh well, it’s a very nice site anyway. His latest post talks about…Continue reading this entry...
Halfproject - Yum.
September 30, 2002
Halfproject is back with a sweet, fun new look - lots of great new illustration and some Flash magic as well. Not that I’d expect any less….Continue reading this entry...
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Fonts and the Golden Mean.
September 20, 2002
Found a couple of nice things over at xBlog today. (Well, to be honest there were more than a couple, but I’m only going to talk about two - you can peep the rest yourself.) The fist was a link…Continue reading this entry...
"Design Dictator" from usabilitymustdie.
September 18, 2002
I think I can agree with, and relate with this - Why you only need to design with One Person. It’s a bit tongue-in-cheek, but there are some really, really good points there. I’ve found myself saying the same thing…Continue reading this entry...
Lessons learned from 7-Eleven?
September 18, 2002
Boxes and Arrows has published the first in a series of articles that relate Web design to the design of retail shops. It’s very interesting, if some what long, and has some fairly zany ideas. One of these is the…Continue reading this entry...
PSYOP.
September 16, 2002
I’m really digging the work of PSYOP - if you’ve ever seen the Lugz commercial with the flying graffiti arrow you’ll know what I’m talking about, or maybe you’ve seen what they did for Starbucks. Their work sports some really…Continue reading this entry...
For The Love of Design
September 03, 2002
The new scene360 is up, full of great stuff. Read For the Love of Design — it’s really inspiring to see what all these amazing creators and designers have to say about their sites and the time it takes to…Continue reading this entry...
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Sacrilege!
August 23, 2002
Over the past few years k10k has been one of my favorite sites, and my design portal of choice. I always find something ispiring, useful, funny or just plain neat-o there, but I’ve gotten to the point where it’s almost…