blogs.matrixwebs.com

Web Design Practices

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 23:39:44 GMT

Need help deciding how to layout your website? No problem! Web Design Practices provides you with data statistics regarding the most commonly used layouts and design elements for websites.

An excerpt from Web Design Practices:

Web Design Practices is a site devoted to helping designers understand what design practices are currently in use on the Web—and aims to gather research about the usability of commonly-employed design practices.

Excellent Resource for Learning Web Industry Phrases

Thu, 21 May 2009 16:41:24 GMT

Here is a good post from Smashing Magazine that covers almost all the basic jargon you should know when getting into the web design/development industry or maybe even if you just plan on launching a new website. It's always good to know the basics...

Web Design Industry Jargon: Glossary and Resources

Google Down

Fri, 15 May 2009 16:42:50 GMT

So after yesterday morning's shocking Google outage, there is now much speculation of what exactly caused the issue. There have been reports of DDoS attacks, viruses/worms, ISP glitches, and the list goes on as reported on many Twitter posts.

What exactly was down? Well everything Google really. Google search, Gmail, Maps, etc. What most users don't realize though is how much other third party websites, applications and services rely on Google's services to work. So you guessed it, if they go down, those services utilizing their technology will also mostly like have features disabled. Now you can begin to imagine the enormous effect this caused on many business operations. Luckily though, the situation did not last an entire day.

I'm sure, after this dilemma, that there will be some kind of backup plan brewing over at the Googleplex. There's a first for everything!

Check out Google's official blog post

The Great GoogleLapse

Boost Conversion Rates

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 22:59:48 GMT

I recently came across an article from Inc.com entitled "Turning Browsers Into Buyers" that addresses two websites that went through redesigns to boost their ability to turn more of their visitors into actual buyers. In it, they explain some crucial key points that I always try to always keep in mind when designing for our clients. Some favorite points of mine were:

Explain What You Do
Make The Call To Action Clear
Make It Easy For Customers To Buy
Remove Clutter

The web design industry and the technology around it are always evolving, and this article reminds us to always keep these essential goals in mind as they can easily be forgotten in the site creation process. Without achieving these basic goals, your site may already be doomed.

Photoshop Skeleton - The Basics

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 17:58:09 GMT

Automation and template processes are a computer user’s best friend. What’s the point of recreating the basis/skeleton of your projects over and over? The same can not only be said for programmers and developers, but for designers as well. In the next couple weeks, I will provide links to template files I use myself day in and day out. This week, we’ll take a look at Photoshop.

These ideas aren’t anything new, but hopefully could help others who are always looking for some help in speeding up the prototyping process. Make sure to turn on the guides to see the grid structure I utilize when designing for 800x600 and 1024x768 screen resolutions. Also, you will see the folder structure I use for the layers. It basically follows the standard components for a website layout, ranging from the header, body and footer.I developed these Photoshop files in CS2.

PSD Template - 800x600 (with a 750 safe zone)

PSD Template - 1024x768 (with a 960 safe zone)