According to W3Schools’ latest March update, 8.9% of internet users are still using the old and oft-neglected grandson of Microsoft’s intrepid series of web browsers, Internet Explorer version 6. Times are changing people, and you’re falling behind. It’s amazing to me that a web browser that is now two major versions outdated, that is no longer supported by its developer, and that was released almost ten years ago is still in circulation today. Nearly one in ten internet users are browsing the internet like it’s 2001. That’s simply not acceptable. You are missing out; there is so much more to see! As a web designer, my charge is to make websites look good. This is my plea: please, update your browser, and never look back.
The designer in me seems to live in a perpetual state where I regard my six-months-previous-self as an “idiot,” and I think that the latest and greatest design I’ve just come up with is the best thing since sliced bread. Welcome…this is my latest and greatest design. I’m sure I’ll hate the high-contrast and dark background in another six months, but I’m digging it for now. Let me know what you think. I’ve been playing around with typography quite a bit lately, and I have to say that I’m starting to enjoy this new “type is coming to the web” phenomenon quite a bit. I got an idea in my head this evening and went from concept to complete WordPress theme in about three hours. Gotta love that WordPress…
Are you in the Winchester area? I’ll be speaking at Refresh Winchester tonight, detailing my painstaking journey throughout the development of my personal pet project, ThumbSticks.com. It’s been a long road, and there have been many bumps along the way. I’ll share what worked, what didn’t, and I’ll also share a few invaluable assets I discovered along the way. If you’re nearby, be sure to check it out tonight at 6:30pm in downtown Winchester.
I’ve totally revamped my weekend project, ThumbSticks.com. An entirely new visual presentation accompanies what I hope to be the final version of my ambitious new website. I’m still working on adding box art and other media to the thousands of products you can find on the site, but it’s come quite a long way since last year when I officially launched the initial beta.
I’ve recently started using Amazon Web Services (AWS) to import large amounts of rich content into my weekend-warrior project, ThumbSticks.com. I have to say that I’m quite impressed with Amazon’s dedication to providing their product information in such a transparent and detailed manner. If you’re not familiar with AWS, here is a quick introduction and some useful code snippets to help you get started with AWS in your PHP environment.
The “lightbox” is a unique and useful design tool when used properly. It allows designers to present information that is totally independent from the site theme, and it is especially useful when displaying information that is loaded via AJAX requests (often negating the need for additional post-backs on your pages). There are countless ways to implement lightbox functionality into your site, and almost every option I’ve ever seen is weighed down by extraneous functionality or useless transition animations. It’s quite easy to create your own lightboxes with minimal effort. This tutorial can serve as a quick and easy template to get you started.
The latest update to Mozilla’s wonderful web browser, Firefox 3.6, includes support for some fantastic CSS version 3 recommendations that you may or may not be aware of. Obviously, these tricks won’t work in Internet Explorer just yet, but look for widespread support coming in the (hopefully) very near future.
I am pleased to announce the launch of my latest project, ThePeev.com. The Peev is a quick and dirty WordPress site designed for the sole purpose of serving as my personal artistic outlet. I’m posting doodles and sketches regarding all the things in life that may or may not bother you. I had a lot of fun creating the site, which came together nicely from concept to complete in less than eight hours of work. What’s your pet peeve? Visit ThePeev.com and let me know.
I recently had a client whose design demanded rounded corners in a lot of different areas of their site. As I looked through the design documentation, the variety and color of these rounded widgets really started to add up. I quickly decided that pure CSS corners were the best choice for their design. Most users can utilize border-radius to apply the rounded effect without any overhead (the browser does the work), and the remaining users can be handled by a quick and easy bit of jQuery.
I updated the site’s theme a bit to add some “fresh.” Please give me a bit of time to go through some of my older posts and clean them up for a better display. I’m trying to be very good and do things like add <acronym/> tags and <code/> tags to my posts. Ooh, how very accessible of me. My SEO senses are tingling. More tutorials and other goodies coming very soon.
