I've seen some very interesting experimentation with illustrating with CSS3 which reminds me of the good old days of ASCII art. It's fun and interesting and takes an incredible amount of time and attention to detail. It's not practical, but it's fun. I've seen it on some production sites, even. To me, this is as bad as designing with Tables. Don't do it!

Illustrating with CSS3 is certainly creative, and a fun way to push the limits of what CSS3 can accomplish. It starts with creating sometimes dozens and dozens of divs and spans, creating any number of rounded corners, rotating the divs/spans, adding drop shadows, and presto! Scalable image that can't be seen on Internet Explorer. Here are some interesting examples: http://ping.fm/5coll http://ping.fm/ouEPW http://ping.fm/UGMwn… Read more »

I first heard about Cornify just today. Apparently, they won SXSW 2010 People’s Choice Award. I had no idea what I was in for when I decided to take a look-see. My eyeballs started to bleed from all the Comic Sans and pink everywhere, but I decided I need to have a look, before I passed judgment.

So, I went through the cornify wizard and cornified my young hapless son (the one who's too young to complain about it). Here's what I got:… Read more »

Drupal is awesome. I've been a big fan for a couple years, now, and I'm convinced that there's nothing it can't do. It's biggest problem, however, has been the learning curve. With the latest version of Drupal 7 out on the horizon, I think we finally have a WordPress-killer, since getting a website design up and running is now just as easy as the famed blogging platform. Don't get me wrong, WordPress is great, but it has a very narrow use-case. I think with Drupal 7, we'll see many more web designers venturing into what was once Programmerland to create stunning, beautiful and versatile websites.… Read more »

User testing is often seen by business owners as an extra luxury to craft the perfect website, and unfortunately not seen as necessary to create a good website. It can be expensive, and add a lot of time to a project. User testing, though, is an invaluable tool which is often vital to the success of the web site or application. Without it, you never really know if your website was designed properly - you never know if it accomplishes what it needs to.

There's no reason basic testing can't be done for cheap. With Amazon Mechanical Turk, any website design can at least go through some form or user testing for less than $10! Spending as much $50 or $100 will enable you to go through a few iterations, and get results from dozens of testers.… Read more »

I see a lot of big names in the web business saying the future of the web is, "Content."  There has been a popular conversation about Lorem Ipsum Killing Web Design. These two thoughts are connected in that they all say, "Content is King." That the purpose of the web is to support the content and the web will grow and grow with new types of content. The whole web will be a big, huge content fest! I think they're valid observations, but I disagree completely.… Read more »

Tell me if this sounds familiar: "Hi! Can you tell me how much a website costs? [red flag #1] I'm looking for something really basic." [red flag #2] From there, it will only get worse. The client then starts to spout features and functionality that are anything but basic. Clearly, they have a different definition. As a designer, you get a queasy feeling in your stomach, because you know the project will balloon, there will be constant veering off track, the time line will go out the window, you'll be underpaid, and the client will be upset every time you try to say that the new "basic" feature they request half way through the project will cost them a little bit more.… Read more »

I understand. Really, I do. You're afraid I'll take advantage of you. You're afraid if you tell me your budget for your web venture, I will give you a quote which is really worth less than the number you gave me. You're afraid I'll cheat you. Or, you want to compare my quote with other designers' and want to see who will give the best price. I understand your reluctance to tell me sensitive business information. But, please; tell me your budget! I need to know! Let me tell you why.… Read more »

There are so many web design blogs with content geared towards designers. They contain website design tutorials about CSS, Photoshop, PHP, and the like. (I have tutorials on my own website, too.) But if web designers are using their website to look for new work, shouldn't their site content - blog included - be focused on their prospective clients? Shouldn't their articles be about topics businesses would want to read?… Read more »

If you're a small business owner, you scrutinize every dollar that leaves your bank account and make sure that you will have a strong return on that investment. With credit still in the dumps and margins low, you can't afford to throw away money - as if you could have just two years ago. Now that you need a website, you cringe every time you get a quote or proposal. And you do not want to risk quality or wasting money (no matter how little) by working with an overseas design chop-shop. So, what can you do to save money on your website design costs?… Read more »

If you've been doing design for a while, you probably tend to fall into a recognizable pattern. Clients generally don't like taking creative risks and usually demand a pretty average-looking design. So, ever the Customer Pleaser, you continually churn out the designs your clients expect; the solutions they want to see. While this may be a good business move, it will inevitably hold you back from making new discoveries or tapping into new markets. It will hold you back from opening new doors. Designers need to constantly learn more and grow in order to remain competitive and successful.… Read more »