All articles filed under “Web”
Creating the Path Button Effect with CSS3 and jQuery
I'm really big fan of the recent 2.0 release of social app Path. I think the design is impeccable and the little touches put it head and shoulders above competing apps like Facebook's. Concensus seems to show that one of everyone's favorite features seem to be the button interactions for adding a "moment". I set out to quickly recreate this effect with CSS3 and jQuery.
The How and The Why
I can't remember where, but I recall reading a quote that said good designers can explain how they solved a problem but great designers will explain why. I'm not so egotistical as to call myself a great designer, but I'd like to give a little insight into how and why I designed this site.
Wrangling Twitter Lists
One cool feature of Twitter that seems pretty underutilized by most people I ask are lists. With the advent of the awesome Tweetbot and its ability to switch quickly between my Timeline view and list views, I’ve made it a point to clean up and organize my lists and take the opportunity to trim down my followers a bit.
Should Your Business Be Using Social Media?
In this news-on-demand world we live in, signing up for every major social media service out there seems like a quick, easy, and free way to connect with your audience. But just having these accounts versus actually engaging your users could mean the difference between a tremendous influx of new business or struggling to maintain just a few followers or fans.
Realign Step 2: Finding a Voice
Now that I know my visitors and their capabilities, it’s time to dive into what they come to my site to see and then begin to build my messaging and branding around that.
Realign Step 1: Finding the Audience
As promised, here is the first of a multi-part series that goes through the process of realigning my site not only to better address my target audience, but to also tackle issues that I’ve noticed or had to work around since the initial launch (over a year and a half ago). These principals could be applied to any type of site you work on, albeit corporate, personal, or otherwise. I hope the method and information you find here proves useful.
I’m Sorry, Dear Readers
I’ve been caught up in a bunch of projects and just haven’t had the time I’d like to dedicate to blogging for any length of time. Fear not, though, as I have some big design-related writing plans coming up.
Mac Web Development on the Cheap
As you (hopefully) know, I’m a web developer by trade. Whenever possible, I try to take time to help other aspiring designers and developers get their feet wet when they make the switch to Macs. There’s a refreshing amount of excellent software for Mac that will allow you to dive headlong into web development with a minimal investment on your part. Here’s a list of what I consider the essential software that you can get for free or inexpensively, as well as a few paid alternatives.
HTML5 Video: First YouTube, Now Vimeo
After getting a lot of (offline) comments and questions about my foray in HTML5 video, it seems like the rest of the online world is also making tremendous leaps away from Flash and towards this slick new method of serving files.
HTML5 Video: Cooking With Fire
I recently had the good fortune of working on a small project that lent itself to some experimentation with newer technologies. The goal was to create a simple landing page with some light graphics, pictures, and a video. I had the option to let it live inside the existing ecosphere of the site (using PHP to include site-wide JS and CSS) or opt for a leaner, more agile output. I took the latter route as it was something I’ve done a lot of reading on and eventually wanted to do with my site for either screencasts, general portfolio work, or both. I dove headlong into HTML 5 and was pleasantly surprised by the results. I now present you with the process, the pitfalls, and other considerations.