Topics include web design, graphic design, SEO issues, writing / content creation, general website strategy, technology, and anything I find interesting. This site is maintained by Solomon Rothman, a professional web designer / search marketer.
Excellent resource for css technqiues. The examples have great screenshots and are taken from well designed sites. I’ll be visiting this site again and I already know these techniques, but the implementation is just as good as the know-how and everyone could use a review.
Technorati Tags: css techniques, web design
With all the emphasis latley in the SEO world on the benefit of social media sites (Like digg) for link building, traffic and general brand awareness, it makes sense that VERY strong anti-promotional sentiments are springing up in heated debates (or insult exchanges depending on the maturity of the commenter) on the ethics involved in authors submitting stories themselves from which they will in some way gain from the promotion.
For a GREAT example of this check out the comments on this article “187 Amazingly designed sites to see before you die.” The author made an ok very long list of all the sites he thought looked the best. He submitted this list and on other pages of his site he sells text links.
I didn’t digg the article and I say ok, because although most of the sites on the list are very pretty their usability is so terrible (meaning it’s difficult to tell how they are, what they do and navigate around) I consider most of them failures as anything more then GREAT eye candy and perharps valuable fodder for a viral marketing (or the new term link bait) campagin from people saying “Woah look at this.”
The article nevertheless recieved a lot of diggs and people in the comments blasted him, why? Because he submitted the site himself and he may / will financially gain for the exposure it recieves on digg. Other people came to his defense saying it didn’t matter if he makes money or not, it’s all about where the users like the content. I tend to agree with that atitude, but I expect to see even harsher examples of “anti promotionalism.” springing up as more and more people attempt to “abuse” the system.
What the future of social media and it’s effect on advertisers is still up for debate.
Technorati Tags: social media, digg, anti-promotionalism
A decently funny joke about how as web designers / developers progress in ability their code becomes more and more complicated.
Technorati Tags: web design jokes, web developer jokes
In November of 2005 I wrote an article on entitled “Why Vincent Flanders, of webpagesthatsuck.com, is a Success, but Still Misses the Point.” It’s a bit dated, but the idea is still valid. Today I revisited webpagesthatsuck.com expecting to find an updated vibrant website and I was unfortunately surprised by the lack of change. It seems that webpagesthatsuck contains essentially the exact same content, dated site design, and lack of images that it did over a year ago.
I would think with all that traffic (Alexa rank is 23,538), two books out, and a website with a page rank of 7 he would have done more with the site. He has Google adsense on there (meaning he’s trying to make money from the website traffic), but not in a place that will get enough click throughs and his website almost completely void of useful imagines and surprisingly enough violates many of it’s own rules. I remember how impressed I was with the innovative marketing strategy when I first learned of web pages that suck 10 years ago when I designed my first website.
Technorati Tags: web usability, web design mistakes
A Collection of classic corporate logos re-designed with modern web 2.0 features like glossy text, bold colors, and reflections. This wasn’t meant to be taken completely seriously, but the end results are excellent. Although, I believe we’ll all get sick of the web 2.0 look eventually for now it’s a welcome bright and bold change to normal boring design.
Technorati Tags: web 2.0, logo graphic design
What are the steps to purchasing a website?
One of the biggest mistakes people make when looking for a web design firm is not coming to the table with a loose plan or idea for their website. There are some factors to think about before you start the search for a web designer or web design firm that will ultimately make it easier for you to get the right quote.
The more information you can provide, the more accurate the quote, and the easier time you’ll have wading through your options. Additionally, having an idea about what you’re looking for will save you from being up sold on a whole plethora of options you may not really need.
To that end, here are some tips and questions to ask yourself in order to achieve a more accurate quote and save yourself time and a large headache:
One, figure out what you want; this doesn’t have to be specific, it just entails that you have a general idea of what you want your website to do, your target audience and what features you want the most. What do you want to accomplish with your website and what is your first priority? (Top 4 answers: produce sales leads, sell products directly, promote a physical service or retail location and provide support/information for existing customers)
Two, do you want e-commerce functionality? If so, how many products or services do you want to sell? This doesn’t have to be a specific number, just an approximation.
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We’re not interested in building the cheapest possible website; we want to build you the best site possible within your budget. Your website will be powerful, targeted and professional. More importantly, it will accurately represent you and your company, something that is painfully missing from most modern web design.
You already know the Internet is full of bland and un-exciting web pages where generic content can literally be cut and pasted onto any competitor’s site. To distinguish ourselves from the plethora of other web design sites, we have written articles, guides, and posted real information to provide you with some insight into our web design philosophy, knowledge, and experiences.
We focus on creating both beautiful and functional websites. The code for your website will be standards xhtml. The animation, if you choose to use it, will be in flash. The SEO will include article marketing, link building, blog creation, and more. Everything is done by one or two designers or writers, saving you the time, expense and hassle of going through a large web design firm.
For the last 10 years the question of whether to use fixed or liquid layouts when designing a website has raged on in the web design world, with major design players on both sides of the proverbial fence. Recently though, as screen resolutions have increased dramatically, fixed layouts have all but replaces liquid, but there are still come major advantages to a liquid layout if designed properly.
Preliminaries:
When I use the term “containing” elements, I’m referring to the columns or boxes that hold the text, images, and other content. Containing elements may have borders and background images, but are usually just the visual containers for the important content on the screen.
Fixed width layout:
In a fixed layout, the size of each “containing” element on the webpage is specified exactly. The page will not change when you resize your browser window. It will essentially look the same on any browser or computer.
Liquid layout:
In a liquid layout, the size of the containing elements changes depending on the browser size and user preferences. The container size increases when viewed at larger screen resolutions and decreases when the browser is resized.
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