If you haven’t stopped by Dustin Curtis’s network of tech bloggers, do so asap. Dustin is rounding up a great set of talent (e.g. Federico Viticci, Christina Warren.) The minimal design is optimized for reading and casual browsing. In addition, the clean visuals and lack of ads give it an upscale feel; it’s almost like browsing a minimalist Monocle online.
Javascript based graphing libraries have been done before, but I’ve rarely seen graphing code this clean, straightforward or well documented. Worth a look.
Writer Luke Wroblewski:
Through fluid grids and media query adjustments, responsive design enables Web page layouts to adapt to a variety of screen sizes. As more designers embrace this technique, we’re not only seeing a lot of innovation but the emergence of clear patterns as well. I cataloged what seem to be the most popular of these patterns for adaptable multi-device layouts.
I had the privilege of seeing Luke speak live at An Event Apart last year; he’s a very smart, articulate guy. Considering the higher volume of work I’m doing recently that emphasize responsive, mobile-friendly design, Luke’s patterns will come in handy.
Designer Oliver Reichenstein on the redesign of Information Architects:
In the course of simplifying the site, we connected reading time to the scrollbar.
When you scroll down, "Reading Time x Minutes" turns into "Remaining x Minutes" At the end of the page it says "Thank you" and offers the choice to go to Home or to the Blog Article Overview.In order to not disturb the continuity of reading the reading time counter stays hidden if you scroll less than 1 1/2 pages.
This is exactly the kind of obsession the web industry needs. Not for every job or every site, granted, but you need an outlier to change the game.
Great idea by developer David Kaneda. Totally should come in handy during my cross browser testing phases.
Web development is constantly evolving, rewarding those that learn and adapt; developers that cling to older methods do so at their own risk. Yet the industry’s heavy workload and tight deadlines place many in a paradoxical situation: Due to their proven and familiar status, older techniques and programs often stay at the forefront of a developer’s workflow.
So how does a web developer learn and evolve while still making their deadlines? Having been in the industry for nine years, recently shifting into a position where I’ll be mentoring junior developers more often, I’ve been reflecting on that question a lot.
Scanning through the rather gorgeous Gdgt redesign this week, I was impressed with its change in typography. The site uses Proxima Nova for its paragraph text, almost uniformly well above 12px, making reading comments and reactions on the site?s many gadgets easier to browse through. A bump in size also opens more opportunities for sizing variety within a single page, ranging from smaller 10px text for secondary sidebar information to large 16px text reserved for primary questions and notices. Overall, the typographic changes should deliver better usability and most likely generate far higher traffic.
Gdgt?s typographic change illustrates an important web design lesson: To improve the impact and readability of a text or information heavy web site, experiment with increasing the body text slightly. Try to move up from the common 10 to 12 pixel range to something larger, like 14 or 16px. It?s a practice many well designed sites are latching onto, especially in light of higher resolution displays and custom web fonts.
Claude Monet, Haystacks (Effect of Snow and Sun), 1891
courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art
Color can be one of the most important creative decisions made in any web design. Whether it’s in the setting of a more sedate and controlled corporate branding, or wild and vibrant smaller sites, a shrewd and unique color palette can set apart great sites from the merely good. In this article, I examine how the masterworks of fine art can give us the inspiration behind a killer color combination.