Articles - Page 163

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CSS / 5 Feb 2014

Coding a Responsive Mini vCard Webpage

The use of online portfolios has become a popular choice by many digital artists. The goal would be showcasing yourself and your skills to anyone curious, maybe hiring companies or potential clients. Another simpler way to accomplish this task is to create your own digital vCard page. It’s usually a single page containing a brief resume, your work experience, and some interesting tidbits about yourself.

In this tutorial I want to demonstrate how to build a simple tabbed webpage layout in the style of a simplistic portfolio. We can incorporate jQuery fade effects to switch between the tabs, sticking to a formal responsive design. Take a peek at my live sample demo to see what the final product looks like.

Layouts / 3 Feb 2014

10 Design Trends I Don’t Want to See in 2014

We talk a lot about emerging trends and how to make them work in a variety of design projects. But there are some design techniques that I am, quite frankly, sick of seeing. They are overused, overdone and just not effective anymore. (And if you use them, you risk having a design that looks like a lot of other stuff out there.)

Today, we’re going to take a look at 10 design trends that have outlasted their time. Do yourself a favor and really think about removing each of these tricks from your 2014 projects.

This Week in Design / 31 Jan 2014

This Week in Design: Jan. 31, 2014

This week the talk in the design world has hopped around from everything to a new logo-making tool, to the announcement of this year’s Smashing Conference, to the breakup of a pair of typography icons. And we even found a few great design deals to share as well.

Every week, we plan to a look at major product releases and upgrades, tools and tricks and even some of the most popular things you are talking about on social media. And we’d love to hear what’s going on in your world as well. Have we missed anything? Drop me a line at [email protected].

Accessibility / 29 Jan 2014

Optimising Front End Performance for Mobile Devices

Most front-end developers will be familiar with at least some of the options available to them when it comes to enhancing front end performance. Performance in this sense is not referring to the speed at which a given page loads, but instead how smooth and responsive it feels when a user interacts with it. A specific example would be the frame rate a user experiences when scrolling down your home page; if it’s consistently high, then performance is considered good.

There is a chance you may not have experienced a need to address performance issues before. Maybe you haven’t worked on a site that has suffered from such issues, or maybe removing that small bit of lag or recovering those dropped frames just isn’t at the top of your priorities. Either way, with the increasing amount of animation and complex styles being built into modern websites coupled with the adaptation of responsive design, there is a high chance you’ll run into sluggish mobile performance at some point. This article will suggest a few things to consider when working on websites and web apps that need to balance complexity and performance when running on less powerful mobile devices.

Business / 27 Jan 2014

Understanding Design Copyrights and Trademarks

Not that long ago we entertained a discussion about design plagiarism here on Design Shack, but what does it mean if your work is stolen? How do you even know if your work is protected? And moreover, what can you do about it?

That’s where the protection of copyrights and trademarks come in. But what are they? And how do they apply to your designed work? Let’s take a look.

Tumblr Themes / 26 Jan 2014

20 Gorgeous Premium Tumblr Themes

Blogging has enormously evolved in the last decade. Absolutely everyone now can easily start a blog and create content, whether it is video, images or text. WordPress is definitely a leader in the digital publishing scene but it has evolved into something more than just a blogging platform. That is why such platforms like Ghost, Medium, Svbtle and Tumblr are getting more and more attention.

When choosing a theme for a recent project, I came across some really gorgeous premium Tumblr themes focusing on imagery and typography. If you want to suit up your Tumblr blog in a classy way take a look at these amazing premium Tumblr themes I’ve collected.

This Week in Design / 24 Jan 2014

This Week in Design: Jan. 24, 2014

Today, we are starting a new feature at Design Shack and plan to bring you a roundup of everything new, cool and fun in the creative sphere each week. We’ll take a look at major product releases and upgrades, tools and tricks and even some of the most popular things you are talking about on social media.

And we’d love to hear what’s going on in your world as well. Have we missed anything? Drop me a line at [email protected].

CSS / 22 Jan 2014

Customize Your Own MailChimp E-Mail Newsletter Signup Form

If you’ve ever signed up for an email subscription you should know about MailChimp. It’s a company which helps webmasters and marketers deliver newsletters and other similar campaigns. They provide some HTML templates to use for signup forms and confirmation pages, but these are so generic that most subscribers are bored of this same interface.

I’d like to demonstrate how to customize the MailChimp signup form into something more unique. Everything is based off the original MailChimp HTML/CSS code and the form submission will use Ajax. It sounds complicated but the whole process is simpler than you might expect. Take a look at my sample demo to get an idea of the full tutorial.

Design Dilemma / 20 Jan 2014

Design Dilemma: Is Freelance Design an Unprofitable Business?

An interesting but really disturbing question came up the other day. I can’t help but feel it was timed for maximum 2014, new year, hope and fresh major depression. It was more a postulation than question, but was one of those biting truths that haunt you for a while.

Most of those who have written in with a design dilemma keep in touch with me, especially if their dilemma was an ongoing problem. One past participant was really pouring her heart out to me the other day. End of the year blues, when most people look at their income and expenses and wonder or dread what the new year will bring. Join us as we delve into another Design Dilemma, helping to answer your questions, queries and concerns about the murky world of design…

JavaScript / 15 Jan 2014

Build a Sliding Client Testimonials Carousel With jQuery

Many portfolio websites include a list of previous clients to build trust from other potential customers. Reading what other people have said about a service or product is one way to garner support from visitors who have never heard about your company before. (Of course, this design technique only works if you have previous clients to draw from!)

In this tutorial I want to demonstrate two distinct styles of rotating carousels. The first is a testimonial box which includes a small quote talking about the services. Then I’ve constructed a long horizontal carousel that rotates through a list of company logos. These would normally be companies you have done business with – but may also include corporate partners or resources.

Inspiration / 13 Jan 2014

Why You Should Be Sketching (Even if You Can’t Draw)

The first part of any project, print or digital, should start on paper. Sketching can be an integral part of any design process — even if you can’t draw.

But who needs to sketch? Just artists and illustrators are required to put pen to paper, right? Wrong! Today we’ll take a look at why sketching can be an integral part of everyone’s design and brainstorming process.

Design Dilemma / 9 Jan 2014

Design Dilemma: What to Do When Your Ideas Aren’t Credited to You

There were several letters this month that asked about problems with retaining credit for ideas people had, that were ultimately taken by or given to others. It’s actually a huge problem, especially for those who are creative (the “crazy ones” as Steve Jobs referred to us) and formulate the ideas. Of course, there are ways to stamp your name on your brain babies.

So, how do you retain credit for your ideas? Join us as we delve into another Design Dilemma, helping to answer your questions, queries and concerns about the murky world of design…