Wendy Willard » Web Development

CG Textures

Wendy — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 00:27:03 +0000

Recently I found a stock photo site that has just blown me away by the sheer volume of high-quality, free photos available for download. CG Textures is a huge online repository of all sorts of textures and backgrounds. Need to make your background look like wood planks? No problem – there are hundreds available. Want to create a leather pattern? Seriously – there are a ton of those available too.

This site offers all the images royalty free and free of charge to people like game developers and graphic designers for personal or business use, provided you aren’t reselling the images. So if you are a designer seeking photographic background images and textures, don’t miss this site: www.cgtextures.com.

Here is the official description: CGTextures is quickly becoming the number-one choice for CG-artists throughout the industry. It has 50143 textures available for download free of charge, and is growing by the day. Top-quality textures and easy site navigation allow you to zero in on the right texture for the right job. Our textures have been used in such high-profile games as Assasins Creed, Quake Wars: Enemy Territory, Grand Theft Auto 4, and Killzone 2.

Adding Third-Party Content

Wendy — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 16:08:45 +0000

When you create web sites, you often need to integrate content from other sources. Suppose you wanted to load the current weather forecast into a page on your site. If your business isn’t weather, you’re probably not going to store a large database of weather-related information on your own web servers.

That’s OK, because plenty of other folks are willing to store that information for you. In fact, The Weather Channel allows you to add its forecasts to your site for free. After you register, weather.com provides you with a chunk of code to copy and paste into whichever page you want the forecast to display.

Here are tons of resources for adding this type of remote content to your site. Note, I haven’t used every product listed here, but have included this information to give you an idea just how much third-party content is available (tons!). I encourage you to do your own research as well so you can locate the most appropriate solution for your needs.

Applicant Tracking:
Bulletin Boards/Communities:
Calendars:
Daily Quotes/Jokes/Tips:
Directions/Maps:
Event Management:
- www.cvent.com
- www.acteva.com
Live Chat:
Reference and Search Tools:
- www.google.com/cse
Shopping Carts:
Stock Quotes:
Surveys:
Translation Tools:
- babelfish.yahoo.com
- translate.google.com
Weather:

Web Design Links

Wendy — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 15:19:06 +0000

This post includes a collection of links referenced in my web design books:

Stock Photography/Clip Art

Multimedia

Graphics Tools

Adobe (for Photoshop, Fireworks, etc.)
Microsoft’s Digital Image Tools
Corel (for Paint Shop Pro)
GIMP

General Inspiration

Color

Fonts

Audience Demographics

Content Management (CMS) Tools

HTML/CSS

Page Layout

Scripting

Project Management

Web Development Tools

Usability/Testing

Adobe BrowserLab
Usability.gov
User Interface Engineering
Human Factors International
uiAccess.com
Siteviewer (a free compatibility tool to check a page’s code against different HTML specifications
Browsercam (a tool to display your page is different browsers)
Litmus Testing Tool
Browsershots

Hosting

Google Sites (personal hosting)
Google’s Blogger (hosted blog)
WordPress (hosted blog)
Site5
DreamHost
BlueHost
Hostway

Professional Associations

Social Networking for Web Designer/Developers

FTP Tools

CoffeeCup Free FTP (Windows)
SmartFTP (Windows)
FTP Voyager (Windows)
WS_FTP (Windows)
YummyFTP (Mac)
Fetch (Mac)
VicomsoftFTP (Mac)
Transmit (Mac)

Search Engine Advertising

Updated Template and Host

Wendy — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 18:56:28 +0000

After almost ten years of hosting with Yahoo, I finally moved my files to site5.com. I had already been using them for several client sites, so it made sense to consolidate (plus I actually saved money in the process). I was pretty nervous about switching host companies because of the bad experiences I’ve had with this process in the past. But this time was totally different!

Whew.

While moving the site, I took advantage of the switch to try out a new template. I haven’t quite worked out all the kinks, and still have to add my portfolio, but so far I’m pleased with the results. You know that old statement about how the cobbler’s children never had new shoes? I think it’s the same for designers. It usually takes several years before I get around to updating my site, and this time was no exception.

In any case, enjoy!

Better HTML Forms Are Coming

Wendy — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 17:43:02 +0000

Check it out:

“HTML forms have been, to date, quite simplistic. We’ve had limited options: the text field, the checkbox, the radio button, the textarea and finally the select drop down. Any complex data like phone numbers, email addresses or dates had to be checked by JavaScript. (And you should always and I mean always do server-side validation of the data.)”

[Read the whole article by Jonathan Snook]

Learn from Google's Design Principles

Wendy — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:56:19 +0000

While doing some research on search engine optimization (SEO) for my web design book, I came across a page from Google’s User Experience team that discusses the organization’s design principles. Upon reading these principles, I felt compelled to share it with the world (or at least the three people who read my blog ).

The folks at Google have come up with a “words to live by” list for web designers everywhere – not just those employed by Google. Here are the top ten principles. Read the details at Google’s site.

Focus on people – their lives, their work, their dreams… above all, a well-designed product is useful in daily life.
Every millisecond counts… unnecessary clicks, typing, steps, and other actions are eliminated.
Simplicity is powerful… think twice before sacrificing simplicity in pursuit of a less important feature.
Engage beginners and attract experts… the best designs appear quite simple on the surface but include powerful features that are easily accessible to those users who want them.
Dare to innovate… it is the element of imagination that transforms designs from ho-hum to delightful.
Design for the world… design products that are contextually relevant and available through the medium and methods that make sense to users. [Amen!]
Plan for today’s and tomorrow’s business… if a profitable design doesn’t please users, it’s time to go back to the drawing board.
Delight the eye without distracting the mind… a positive first impression makes users comfortable, assures them that the product is reliable and professional, and encourages people to make the product their own.”
Be worthy of people’s trust… make sure the interface is efficient and professional, actions are easily reversed, ads are clearly identified, terminology is consistent, and users are never unhappily surprised.
Add a human touch… text and design elements should be friendly, quirky, and smart – not boring, close-minded, or arrogant.

Search Engine Underdogs

Wendy — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:01:58 +0000

I’m usually a fan of the underdog. Chris Daughtry was one (he didn’t WIN American Idol, or really come that close, but look at him now). And what about poor Tom (the cat) of the Tom and Jerry duo? Of course, one of the most famous underdogs was David, who beat the giant Goliath with his slingshot. And anyone who knows me even a little bit knows I am a die-hard Apple fan. But here’s one case where I am not: search engines.

I did use AltaVista for a long time after many others came on the scene. I guess I felt a bit loyal to the first major search engine. But after Google went big-time, I abandoned the AV ship for good.

Over the past decade, many search engines have come (and gone). Remember Excite? OK, it still exists, but no one really uses it (sorry if any Excite lovers are reading this). But only one has dug in its heals and garnered 84.5% of the market share.

Sometimes clients ask about the benefits of advertising on any other search engine, and I usually say this: what benefits? When one company has 84.5% of the search engine market share, you can usually get a pretty good return on your investment by putting your money in that “basket.”

Yes, I realize that I’m telling you to ignore 15.5% of the market. It might be harder to ignore that portion if there was one other search engine with a larger percentage. But, given that the 15.5% is broken up into several other smaller portions, it just doesn’t make sense to focus energies there… at least not until you’ve “wrapped up” the 84.5% portion.

I’m certainly still rooting for a few of the underdogs (such as Bing), just not putting my money with them… yet.

Is "Above the Fold" a Myth in Web Design?

Wendy — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:57:23 +0000

I recently came across some interesting comments about what designers commonly refer to as “the page fold.” In the print world, this concept originated with folded newspapers. The theory is that any content displayed “above the fold” on the top page would be the key to someone buying the paper and continuing to read. Without something to hook readers in that section, you risk them not picking up the paper at all.

That concept has carried over into web design, with designers and content developers pushing the content most likely to hook readers into the area immediately visible without scrolling. Is that unwarranted?

A design agency in the UK thinks so. But I’m not entirely convinced. For example, I just read about Facebook’s new redesign. Based on customer feedback, they are moving the birthday list “above the fold.” In other words, customers don’t like having to scroll to see who’s celebrating a birthday. Or, more likely, they are missing birthdays because the information is not immediately visible when the page loads. (Confession time: I admit to the later.)

So here’s what I think: users will scroll for information they deem scroll-worthy. However, they might get lazy and forget sometimes, so just in case you might want to put the really-good stuff in the top part of the page (you know, the place otherwise referred to as “above the fold”)…

HTML: A Beginner's Guide (v4) now shipping!

Wendy — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:07:25 +0000

The fourth edition of my first book is now shipping. I wrote the first edition 10 years ago, during my oldest daughter’s first year of life. I can’t believe it has been that long! In many ways it feels like yesterday, but I digress

The new edition has been updated to address the latest version of Internet Explorer, as well as the upcoming HTML5. In addition, it has a brand new chapter on creating HTML for email. (Which, by the way, I was really excited to include!)

As always, I look forward to helping you learn to create your own web pages. Keep the valuable feedback coming, as that is what helps me make each edition better.

Download the project files for the fourth edition.
Now, I move on to my next project, which is a long-awaited update to my Web Design book. Happy coding!

Some Vintage Inspiration

Wendy — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 12:35:15 +0000

I’ve been thinking about redesigning my site (it’s about time), but like the old adage about the cobbler’s kids wearing old shoes, my site often takes a back seat (particularly when I’m busy). While I am quite busy these days, I have been feeling a strong desire to let out my interest in “vintage grunge” design. I’m not sure when or how that will play out, but in the meantime, I thought you might enjoy this collection of vintage design on the web for inspiration…

Click this preview to see the entire list: