Redesigning a site can be a tricky process because you have to deal with the weight of expectation, the resistance of users to change, and the ever present spectre that you might be making a step backwards. In my experience the trick to a succesful redesign is to preserve the overall feel of a site and capture some of the hallmarks of the old design into the new one
By keeping that feel you ensure there is a continuity in the site and users still feel familiar with the new site. Preserving the feel of a site doesn't need to mean the new site needs to look the same however. There are a number of things that keep it related:
1. Most page elements - navigation, logo, pagination etc - are in the same locations. This is important because it prevents the user from getting lost or having to relearn the system.
2. The key page of the site, the Listings Page, is quite similar to the Old Listings Page. Listings are presented top down in rows, the image is on the left, details on the right.
3. The style of the design is not dissimilar. Although the designs look vastly different, both are mostly simple, flat monochromatic designs with a few sharp uses of red.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
20 Websites To Learn CSS
20 excellent websites to help you "grok" CSS. There’s a wide range of websites included – from blogs to directory-style lists and websites that focus on one particular topic related to CSS.
1. A List Apart CSS Topics
A List Apart, the premier site to read articles about web design and best practices, has a collection of articles on the topic of CSS dating back to 1999. Most articles are geared towards intermediate to advanced developers who put a strong emphasize on standards-compliant designs.
2. CSS Help Pile
CSS Help Pile is an aggregate of CSS resources, tips, and how-to’s. The site is well-organized and a wonderful resource for any level of expertise. There’s a category for beginners, browser bugs, and short reviews of CSS books.
3. CSS Basics
CSS Basics is formatted like a book with 18 chapters dedicated to educating readers about fundamental CSS concepts. The writing is clear and succinct - making it a great resource for those just starting out. All 18 chapters can be printed or downloaded in PDF format.
4. Holy CSS Zeldman!
Holy CSS Zeldman (not a site by Jeffrey Zeldman) is a useful collection of resources that link to standards-based CSS tutorials, tools, and layouts.
5. Eric Meyer: CSS
Here’s a collection of works by Eric Meyer (acclaimed web professional and author). Some resources you’ll find on this page are css/edge (Eric Meyers experiments on CSS) and CSS reference.
6. 456 Berea Street – CSS category
Roger Johansson’s 456 Berea Street has over 300 posts under the CSS category. Some posts talk choosing an image replacement method while others teach you CSS techniques.
7. /* Position Is Everything */
Those just getting their hands around authoring CSS code will quickly realize that a significant chunk of time (and frustration) stems from getting rid of browser bugs. Position Is Everything discusses known browser bugs and shares CSS methods that work across browsers. Here, you can read about the one true layout or learn what happens when you nest absolutely-positioned div’s.
8. HTML Dog CSS Tutorials
HTML Dog is a tutorial website dedicated to teaching XHTML and CSS best practices. There’s three CSS tutorial sections: Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced.
9. Learn CSS Positioning in Ten Steps
Positioning elements using CSS can be a tricky concept at first. If you’re having a hard time understanding the fundamentals of CSS positioning, check out this 10-step tutorial to get you positioning stuff in no time!
10. Andy Budd CSS/Web Standards Links
Andy Budd (directory of Clearleft, CSS guru, and author of one of my favorite books – CSS Mastery) has a set of CSS/web standards links to help you find reliable, useful information about CSS.
11. W3CSchools CSS Tutorial
W3CSchools has a CSS section that covers the very basics of CSS up to more advanced topics.
12. css Zen Garden
css Zen Garden is a showcase of the things you can do CSS. Most importantly, it highlights the concept of separating content from presentation. Using the same HTML file, designers submit external stylesheets to style the HTML file. I suggest using the Web Developer Tool to inspect how the layouts work and what styles affect certain elements of the page.
13. CSS at MaxDesign
At MaxDesign, you can find Russ Weakley’s brilliant set of CSS-related tutorials. Some things to expect here are: Listmatic – which shows you a variety of ways you can use CSS to style lists, and Floatutorial – which goes through the fundamentals of floating elements.
14. CSSeasy.com
CSSEasy.com’s slogan is "learn CSS the modern way". The site promotes learning by experience, with the idea that if you inspect the source code and see how things fit together as a whole, you’ll gain a better understanding of CSS. The Web Developer Tool will also come in handy on this website.
15. CSS-Discuss
CSS-Discuss is a community of CSS enthusiasts. The CSS-Discuss Wiki is a comprehensive collection of real-world usage of CSS.
16. Web Design from Scratch: CSS
Ben Hunt’s Web Design from Scratch has an excellent section on CSS that covers basic concepts about CSS. I highly recommend beginners start off with Introduction to CSS, a quick but very informative starting point to getting your hands dirty with CSS.
17.CSS-Tricks
CSS-Tricks is a blog dedicated to the topic of CSS. You’ll find helpful posts such as what CSS Sprites are (in a nut shell), techniques for image replacements, and even screencasts on topics like conditional stylesheets.
18.CSS on Delicious
The CSS tag on Delicious is a great way to find popular links that relate to CSS. It allows you to see what people are currently reading.
19. SitePoint CSS Reference
SitePoint has a CSS reference section that discusses introductory level CSS topics. You can get a crash course on general CSS syntax and nomenclature onto slightly more advanced topics such as CSS hacks and filters.
20. CSSDog
CSSDog has a section for both beginners and more advanced developers. Aside from CSS lessons, their CSS Reference section - which lists quick guides and color references - are very helpful.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Great Website Design Development Resources
Free Font Downloads
Free Fonts and Other Resources: Web Page Publicity
Huge Collection of Free Fonts: Da Font
Nice Selection of Free Fonts: Urban Fonts
Fonts and Other Freebies: Simply The Best Fonts
1001 Free Fonts for Download: 1001 Free Fonts
Over 9000 Free Fonts: Creamundo
A Small List of Free Fonts: Best Free Fonts
Paid Font Sites
A Large Selection of Fonts for Purchase: My Fonts
Quality Fonts for Purchase: Veer
Information and Fonts for Purchase: Fonts
Font Resources and Sales: Font Haus
Stock Photos and Vectors
The Best Stock Photo and Vector Website: iStockphoto
Quality Photos for Purchase: Shutterstock
Stock Photos and Other Pay Downloads: Veer
Quality, Affordable Vectors for Purchase: Vector Stock
Stock Photos With a Great Selection: Jupiter Images
Stock Photos and Photography Network: Stock Vault
Quality Stock Photos: Corbis
Free Photos and Vectors
Submit Vectors or Download Others for Free: Open Source Vector Art
Tons of Great Free Vectors and Photos: Deviant Art
59 Pages of Free Vector Art: Free Vectors
Large Gallery of Free Vectors: Vecteezy
Quality Vector Downloads: Vector 4 Free
Neat Collection of Free Photos From Around the World: Free Stock Photos
Great Collection of Free Vectors and Resources: You The Designer
Great Free Stock Photos: Free Foto
A List of Free Downloads: Bittbox
700 Free Stock Photos: Free Picture Click
Website Templates
A Few High Quality Wordpress Themes: Evan Eckard
Over 2000 Free Web Templates: OSWD
A Small Selection of Nice Templates: Open Source Templates
A Large List of Free Templates: Free CSS Templates
Nice Wordpress Templates for Download: Free CSS Templates
A Combination of Free and Pay Templates: Free Templates Online
Affordable, Quality Templates: Templamatic
Free Blog Templates: Blogging Themes
CSS Galleries
The Best Sites on the Web: CSS Remix
A Frequently Updated Gallery of Sites: CSS Mania
An Organized List of Nice Sites: Most Inspired
CSS Gallery of Quality Sites: CSS Design Yorkshire
A Selection of Only Nature Based Sites: CSS Nature
A Selective List of Well Designed Sites: Web Creme
High Quality CSS Showcase: CSS Tux
Nice CSS Websites: The Designed Tree
A CSS Collection Organized by Category: CSS Elite
Inspiration
A Great Site About Everything Type: I Love Typography
An Incredible Illustrator: Burst of Beaden
A Great Designer and Illustrator: Fully Illustrated
Customizable List of Design Resources: Cork Dump
The Society of Graphic Designers of Canada: GDC
Freelance Advice Blog and Resources: Freelance Switch
Amazing Collection of Logos: Logopond
Stunning Desktop Wallpapers: Desktopography
A Graphic Design Magazine: Computer Arts
Tutorials
The Best Photoshop Tutorials: PSD Tuts
A Talented Photoshop Designer: Abduzeedo
Photoshop Tutorials and Web Design Resources: Web Design Library
Tutorials for Photoshop, Illustrator and More: Tutorial Vault
A Few Neat Illustrator and Photoshop Tutorials: Design Spice
Great Photoshop Tutorials and Downloads: PS Wish
Tutorials for Every Computer Program: Tutorialing
Free Photoshop Downloads
A Couple Free Patterns for Download: Design Spice
Free Photoshop Brushes: Design Fruit
Free Photoshop Actions: Visual Blast
Tons of Free Photoshop Brushes: Brusheezy
A Few Nice Free Photoshop Brushes: Obsidian Dawn
Great Grunge Brushes and Others: Photoshop Brushes
Free Background Patterns for Photoshop: Free BG
Over 150 Free Background Patterns: Squidfingers
Design Blogs
A Frequently Updated Design Blog: Veerle’s Blog
A Design Magazine and Blog: Smashing Magazine
A European Design Blog: Design In Europe
A Unique Nerdy Blog: Design You Trust
The Personal Blog of a Graphic Designer: Larissa Meek
A German Design Blog: David Hellmann
The Blog of a Canadian Geek/Model: Mostly Lisa
A Graphic Design Blog: Bittbox
A Blog About Freelance Graphic Design Advice: Freelance Switch
A Design Blog Full of Resources: You The Designer
A Popular Design Blog: Fazai 38
Colour Palettes
A Flash Site of User Generated Colour Palettes: Adobe Kuler
Using Colours From Photos: Colr
Colours, Palettes and Patterns: COLOURlovers
A Colour Palette Generated From Your Images: Color Palette Generator
See The Results of Your Palette on a Website: Color Spire
Create and Email Colour Palettes: Color Blender
Tips and Tricks
Vector Do’s and Dont’s: iStockphoto
The Web Design Polish: PSD Tuts
Promote Your Design Business: Freelance Switch
How To Increase Web Traffic: You The Designer
Coders
Quality Programming: XHTMLized
Professional Web Slicing: PSD Slicing
XHTML in 24 Hours: We Use Scissors
Affordable, Quality Coding: PSD2HTML
From Design to Code, Quick and Cheap: Front Enders
Designer Geek Merch
Great Nerdy Clothing and Accessories: Veer
Nice T-Shirt Collection: Design Loot
Graphic Design T-Shirts and Accessories: Cafepress
Geek Merchandise For Everyone: Think Geek
Graphic Design T-Shirts: Zazzle
Unique T-Shirt Designs You Can’t Find Anywhere Else: Allmightys
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