Design Links

Links that lead to off-site pages about design issues with computers and the Web.

• "10 Useful Techniques To Improve Your User Interface Designs" (2008-12-15). By Dmitry Fadeyevk. Here's the list summarized:
  • Padded block links. Bigger areas are easier to click.
  • Typesetting buttons
  • Using contrast to manage focus
  • Using color to manage attention
  • White space indicates relationships
  • Letter spacing
  • Auto-focus on input
  • Custom input focus
  • Hover controls. Show on hover, i.e. as needed.
  • Verbs in labels. EG: Instead [yes, no, cancel], use [don't save, cancel, save].
• About.com's section on web design
• CGNetworks.com. 'the premiere website for computer graphic arts.'
• DesignDetector.com. By Chris Hester. "showcases some of the best-designed sites on the web, while offering tips and useful information for designing your own pages."
• DesignIsKinky.com.
• EdwardTufte.com. This guy is all about the visual display of quantitative information.
  • For a summary see Graphics and Web Design Based on Edward Tufte's Principles.
• FavIcon Generator. Feed it an image and it makes an icon that you can use for "Favorites" and such.
• First Principles of Interaction Design
• GDusa.com. "Graphic Design:usa, published by Kaye Publishing Corporation for 40 years, is the monthly business-to-business magazine for professional graphic designers and related creative and production professionals."
  • Logo Design Trends. Nice little article.
• IBM Ease of Use
• IDOnline.com. 'I.D. Magazine is America's leading critical magazine covering the art, business and culture of design. '
• IntranetJournal.com
• Lynda.com The infamous Lynda Weinman: Web guru gurl [sic].
• Mac User Experience
• MakingRoom.com. 'MakingRoom is a magazine about the process, intention and results of image-making.'
• Michael McDonough's Top Ten Things They Never Taught Me in Design School
  1. Talent is one-third of the success equation.
  2. 95 percent of any creative profession is shit work.
  3. If everything is equally important, then nothing is very important.
  4. Don't over-think a problem.
  5. Start with what you know; then remove the unknowns.
  6. Don't forget your goal.
  7. When you throw your weight around, you usually fall off balance.
  8. The road to hell is paved with good intentions; or, no good deed goes unpunished.
  9. It all comes down to output.
  10. The rest of the world counts.
• Resources For Web Design [http://www.kayodeok.btinternet.co.uk/favorites/webdesign.htm].
• Royal Frazier's GIF Animation on the WWW. Info about making animated GIFs.
• StyleGala.com. 'Stylegala is an online resource and inspiration guide for web agencies, designers and developers who takes interest in websites built with web standards and CSS as primary tools. '
• The Design Encyclopedia [thedesignencyclopedia.org]. 'A growing, collaborative resource that describes, tracks and explains culture, commerce, politics, media, sports, brands — everything possible, really — through design.'
• UIWeb.com. By Scott Berkun, a MS employee who works on User Interfaces.
  • UseIT.com. By Jakob Nielsen. "usable information technology"
    • The Ten Most Violated Homepage Design Guidelines
      1. Emphasize what your site offers that's of value to users and how your services differ from those of key competitors
      2. Use a liquid layout that lets users adjust the homepage size
      3. Use color to distinguish visited and unvisited links
      4. Use graphics to show real content, not just to decorate your homepage
      5. Include a tag line that explicitly summarizes what the site or company does
      6. Make it easy to access anything recently featured on your homepage
      7. Include a short site description in the window title
      8. Don't use a heading to label the search area; instead use a "Search" button to the right of the box
      9. With stock quotes, give the percentage of change, not just the points gained or lost
      10. Don't include an active link to the homepage on the homepage
• "Understanding Web Design" by Jeffrey Zeldman [http://www.alistapart.com/articles/understandingwebdesign]
• User Interface Design and Usability
• W3C.org/Graphics
• Web Design from Scratch [webdesignfromscratch.com]
• WebStyleGuide.com
• Why Good Design Comes from Bad Design
• WPDFD.com. "Web Page Design For Designers"

Page Modified: (Hand noted: 2007-08-15 21:33:45Z) (Auto noted: 2011-04-09 19:22:08Z)