You can't miss: Words from the experts

W3Schools : the authority on everything web has some good suggestions about web design. It is definitely worth looking at to see if your website is compatiable with industry standards. Most websites now have their websites validated by the W3school HTML/CSS validators that check your code to make sure there isn't anything funky in there.

The most important thing mentioned is to Know Your Audience (under the Web Users section) Today we saw many designs that were kind of presented in a different way that can make navigation very hard for some users. Taking note of some of things below when designing can make users love your site and keep coming back. It doesn't matter how fancy your site is if users can't get to the information they need.

What Monitors Do They Have?

Remember that not everyone on the Web has the same monitor as you have. If you design your Web pages to be displayed on a monitor with a 1024x768 resolution, some of your visitors with lower resolution monitors (like 640x480) might have problems reading your pages.

Some users still have low resolution 640x480 monitors, but the trend is moving towards 800x600 as the low resolution standard. This Web site is designed to be best viewed on 800x600 or better resolution.

If you are one of those developers with a sophisticated monitor (1600x1200?), make sure you test the display of your Web pages on different monitors with lower resolutions.

One wise thing to do when designing the layout of Web pages is to let a section of each page be of variable size to fit the size of a large or small resolution monitor.

Take a look at our browser statistics to see the trends in monitor development.

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What Browsers Do They Use?

Both of the two major Internet browsers (Netscape and Microsoft) have their own specialties and quirks that you must consider when designing your Web pages.

If you are serious about your Web site, don't forget to test every page with different types of browsers.

The most popular browsers today are Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.

Additionally, some of your visitors might use text only browsers, such as Lynx, or they might visit your site from an online service like AOL, CompuServe or Prodigy. Some of these browsers might not display your Web pages as well as you think.

One wise thing to do when designing Web pages is to use strict, formal and correct HTML (or XHTML). Strict and correct coding will always help a browser to display your pages correctly.

Take a look at our browser statistics to see the trends in browser development.

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What Plug-Ins Do They Have?

Some elements in your Web pages, like sound and video clips or other multimedia content, might require the use of separate programs (helper applications or plug-ins).

Don't use such elements in your Web pages unless you are sure that your visitors have access to the software needed to view them.

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What About Disabilities?

Some people have serious viewing or hearing disabilities. These users might want to visit your Web site.

Some of them will try to read your pages with Braille or speech-based browsers. Remember that all of your visible content is lost if you don't provide them with some text based alternatives for pictures and other graphic elements.

Designing Web pages for people with disabilities is not an easy thing, but one small thing you can do - at least for people with poor eyesight - is to let your pages use a resizable font size.

(Have you ever tried to change the text size while browsing W3Schools?)

Critique: My website

Well, I'm ok with my website. Those of you who are interested in seeing how the background looks like can check out there, it should work better not on your computer screens. As Kristin S. said, it needs to be more cohesive, as the "flowers" in the background, my logo and my cutsy illustration doesn't really work too well together. I really like the cool blue/tiffany & co. color scheme though and I prefer white to back as white is just really much easier on the reader than having to read reverse type on black.

Refinements, I guess I need to incorporate some sort of multimedia thing in there, Amanda W. mentioned something about the hair of the girl flapping in the wind; Jan suggested sunglasses/ girl pulling her hair out...kate l. suggested her holding a balloon...hmmm..I guess I have many options, I will try to work that in there :D

Thanks for everyone's critique today...it is very helpful!!! :D

You can't miss: CSS Zen Garden

Check out these pages below from CSS Zen Garden, its a great place to look for inspiration and also marvel at the possibilities of CSS in web design...those are just some I found, they are not awesome, but its good to learn how they get some the things done and how to make pages look dynamic without it being too complicated!

1. Icicle Outback
2. The Original
3. Table Layout Assasination
4. Urban
5. Start Listening

Response: Logo design

It was a fun assignment to work on but I guess I'm just not the logo designing type. It really takes a lot of work but I enjoyed drawing out the logos on paper and making drafts. I hardly get to do that anymore since everything is now done on the computer. I like the thought process that goes into designing the logos and it was great to see everyone's in class. I especially love Kate L.'s, those were awesome - I like your train of thought. Maybe the the Main Squeeze one would be more fun to work on! I think all of us should enter!

Critique: End of Print

I kind of like how this feature turned out and it was fun to with black and white photos again. Haven't done that since my last project last spring. I enjoy the white space on the page but know it could be a problem printing it, especially on yucky paper but well in the end we didn't have to worry about that since it was cut. It's a pity but it was a really fun assignment to learn about the use of color and all.

Critique: no more celebrities for boomer?

So, I showed my designs to the boomer editorial team and there were several good constructive suggestions and they seem to like the designs overall but they really want to stay away from having celebrities on the cover. I don't know if the cover can be great all the time without celebrities. I think for the boomer generation, they identify themselves alot with the icons and events of the time and I'm not sure the magazine can totally survive without putting an interesting celebrity on the cover as they definitely help sell the magazine. I think I am ok with occassionally not having a celebrity on the cover but sometimes I think we need them. Maybe I'm just attached to my Teri Hatcher cover. :)

I don't know if I can come up with another brillant idea for the cover. Oh well, we'll see. :D

Response: True False Secret Screening

I went to the T/F secret screening of Nomadak TX about two Basque musicians that traveling to different parts of the world to showcase the traditional Basque instrument - txalaparta. It was a great film about people from different cultures coming together to share their love for music. The part that really touched me was the interviews with the different people they met from around the world asking what their wishes were and they all had very simple and concise wishes which makes me feel like in the grander scheme of things we are just ordinary people. The art direction was great, there was a scene when one of the musicians was playing music with native Mongolians in the misty mountains, they were laughing and enjoying the music - it was just beautiful. The traditional txalaparta is carved out of wood but when they went to the Arctic Circle, the carved one out in ice which was amazing. I guess this is kind of like designing, we always have to be creative and think outside the box. The film made me reflect on what I want to do in life and kind of what I want to achieve. Sometimes the best things are the simplest things.

Photos + illustrations

I came across this guy's (Martin Haake) work while browsing the illustrationmundo.com website. His illustrations are one of a kind and I thought the way he blended photos with illustrations is kind of cool, it has a very 50's relaxed feel. The colors he use are mostly subdued and neutral which is different from other illustrations which tend to be a bit more vibrant and bright.