Archive for Web Design
13 More Beautiful Pink for October Site Designs
Posted by: | CommentsIts October again and just a few days into the month more than 500 websites have gone pink in support of Breast Cancer awareness (including two of mine). Its not too late to get involved – and you don’t have to turn your website pink to do it – how about a pink Twitter background or give your avatar a pink sheen. If you are looking for pink inspiration, here are 13 more beautiful Pink for October site designs to go with my 13 favorite pink themes from last year.
Diary of a Website did the design for the main Pink for October site this year and used the same theme for her site. Very nice!
A little paisley and a little pink makes Adventures in Motherhood very eye pleasing.
Brendan Cullen does a nice job with the black and pink – I like how the footer is tied into the design as well.
I love the combination of the vertical stripes and the simple layout on the interior of SourceWave.net.
Swank Web Style always has something fun in the works – including their Pink for October look.
I love this shade of magenta! Blissfully Aware takes pink to the extreme.
Retro comic book funk is the best description for The New Pink – love it!
Anidan Design takes a very minimalistic approach that really works!
A little bit of sass and professionalism rolled in to one gives MarnieB my vote.
ScribbleScratch made my favorites list last year and has a new design this time around – she also has quite a few pink WordPress themes available for download.
Bonita in Pink has done an amazing job of customizing my favorite Adii theme. Very striking!!
Who can resist a cupcake? This is one of Scribble Scratch’s yummy designs.
One of my design pals, Selene of iDesignStudios, gave her normally pink design an extra bit of punch for October.
If you have a favorite Pink for October design, please take a minute and share it with us. Or let us know which of these designs you happen to love. Thanks to all the designers for taking time to support a great cause by sharing your creativity and voice with all of us.
Website Optimization Book Review
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Regardless of which of these answers came to mind first, you were right. Each of those concepts is part of website optimization. In Andrew King’s most recent book, Website Optimization: Speed, Search Engine & Conversion Rate Secrets, he methodically takes you through all aspects of website optimization from:
- Search Engine Marketing Optimization
- Pay-per-Click Optimization
- Conversion Rate Optimization
- Web Page Optimization
- CSS Optimization
- AJAX Optimization
- Advanced Topics (Server Side and Client Side Optimizations)
While Website Optimization is well written with plenty of screen shots, useful graphics and case studies, this is not the kind of book that you sit down and read in an afternoon. Rather, I recommend focusing on one chapter of the book at a time – reading, understanding, then implementing the recommendations.
Andy King’s first book, Speed Up Your Site, was released in 2003, but the web landscape has changed so dramatically. His new book takes the trends, tools, and technology of today into account. For example, in 1997 the average web video was 45 seconds – but thanks to faster computers, faster connections, YouTube, Flash, MySpace and digital video cameras, the average web video in 2007 was 192 seconds. As a result, his new book contains about 10 pages on optimizing multimedia for better server and end-user experiences.
Website Optimization: Speed, Search Engine & Conversion Rate Secrets, is a great reference book not only for web professionals, but anyone who wants to know how to tweak a website so it performs at its very best. You can also visit the companion site of Website Optimization Secrets for sample chapters, chapter summaries, full-color figures, and the latest news.
Essential Design Tool – Graph Paper
Posted by: | CommentsA very common routine for web designers is sketch, design, code. When it comes to that first step, sketching, the absolute best tool to use is some form of graph paper. Buy it by the book or thanks to some great online resources, print any variety of graph paper as often as you need and in the quantities you need.
My favorites:
Konigi – Specifically for web designers, information architects, and other visual designers, Konigi features high-quality graph papers in a variety of formats complete with title bars and non-photo blue so you can easily remove your guides when scanning.
Incompetech – Need to get really fancy? Incompetech goes beyond your standard graph paper and has dotted paper, axonometric perspective paper, circular, asymetrical, and engineer’s paper plus many more unusual and artistic grids for unleashing your creativity.
Are you a notebook junkie? Even though it is nice to be able to print the graph paper I need one sheet at a time, I have to say I also have quite the collection on notebooks, sketch journals, and notepads floating around. My favorites are:
Moleskine Large kraft Soft Cover Squared Cahier Journal (set of 3)- Dot Grid Book by Behance
- Orla Kiely’s funky notebooks (you can get different paper styles)
- 5×5 Quad Ruled Composition Book, 7-7/8″x10″ RED43475
If you have any other sources for good graph or grid paper, let me know – while I love the convenience of printing it out as I need it, I definitely have a soft spot for fun and funky notebooks and sketchbooks.
