Articles - Page 185

CSS / 1 Nov 2013

How and Why to Build Your Own Design Calculators

Design is a complex beast, web design doubly so. There’s a lot more than visual harmony and balance to consider, it’s often the case that you have to dig in and perform some real life mathematics (gasp!).

Oddly enough, I love thinking about this stuff, so much so that I actually build my own calculators rather than use the tools available from other developers. Today I’ll show you how and why to build your own design calculators so that you can master the numbers behind your designs.

CSS / 30 Oct 2013

How to Build a Minimalist User Profile Layout With Content Tabs

Dynamic content is a big part of modern web design. Whether this is hidden in the page or pulled out of a database, you can improve space in your layout by reorganizing important content elements. This is true of many situations and it works great on user profiles. Oftentimes users will have a myriad of information presented on their page which can be easily digested through the use of tabbed navigation.

In this tutorial I want to demonstrate how we can build a minimal user profile layout design. This is mostly centered around a small set of navigation links, which dynamically change the display between bits of content.

Depending on the purpose of your website, these content sections may be split to include photos, videos, followers, and other related information. To get an idea of what we’re building take a peek at my live sample demo.

Business / 25 Oct 2013

7 Tips for Becoming a Successful Stock Author

The draw for selling digital stock goods is immense. You make something, upload it to a site, and watch the money flow in again and again through repeat sales. What designer, photographer or developer could resist?

Unfortunately, the reality of the situation is that there’s no guarantee that your hard work will yield you a single cent. In fact, it could very likely be a phenomenal waste of time! Today we’re going to discuss some tricks of the trade that will help your foray into this market is a successful one.

Design Dilemma / 24 Oct 2013

Design Dilemma: The Scope Creepy Client

We received a comment to the Design Dilemma article, “How Do I Fire a Client… Legally?” that piqued our interest, so we followed up, and learned about one of the worst situations any designer had faced in recent memory. This wasn’t just a crazy client, or exploding scope creep — it was blatant threats, and emotional, and financial slavery for the designer. Just reading the email from the designer was sickening.

We decided it was well worth relaying the entire story to our readers, so, join us as we delve into another Design Dilemma, helping to answer your questions, queries and concerns about the murky world of design…

Inspiration / 22 Oct 2013

The Design Process: How Do You Get Started?

Sometimes the toughest part of a new project is actually getting started. In fact, just this small step can be a process in itself.

As designers, we all have different processes and habits, but there are a few common things that everyone can do to make getting started that much easier (and hopefully result in more efficient use of time, and a better end result).

CSS / 18 Oct 2013

5 Steps to Drastically Improve Your CSS Knowledge in 24 Hours

You’ve been coding for a while now and know your way around a CSS file. You’re certainly no master, but with enough fiddling you can get where you want to go. You’re wondering though if you’ll ever get past that point where CSS is such a struggle. Will you ever be able to bust out a complex layout without ultimately resorting to trial and error to see what works and what doesn’t?

The good news is that you can indeed get past that frustrating point where you know enough CSS to code a website, but lack the solid foundation that allows you to code without the annoyance of not exactly understanding how you’re going to get where you’re going, and this point is a lot closer than you think. I propose that there are five topics that will drastically boost your understanding of CSS. Spend some time reading about each over the next twenty-four hours and you’ll change the way you code forever.

JavaScript / 16 Oct 2013

How to Code a Hover-to-Animate GIF Image Gallery

Animated GIF images are popular on the Internet because they can be easily shared and consumed rather quickly. Using basic HTML you can embed images into a page which feature animation, without relying on any other technologies. Granted – there are plugins for animating sprites or backgrounds – but GIFs are a totally different concept.

In this tutorial I want to demonstrate how we can build an image gallery which optimizes the display of animated images. You can see a very similar feature on Giphy which is also where I downloaded the images for my demo. I am coding my own method which doesn’t exactly follow the same process as Giphy – but the end result is practically identical and works great for all modern browsers.

Design Dilemma / 15 Oct 2013

Design Dilemma: Entering the Creative Field Later in Life

Ellen T. Writes: I’ve been laid off from my job that I’ve had since I graduated high school, and decided to follow my heart, and pursue design as my new career. I’ve always loved design, and feel I have a real knack for being creative, deep down in my soul. My question is; where do I get started? I’m 49, so I realize I’ll be the oldest student in art school (which school should I attend?), and will I need to buy a big computer, or can I just draw things, and have people at the client’s business put it all together? I really want to be a designer! Can you help me?

Well, Ellen, it’s not going to be easy, and your age, and lack of experience will make it very difficult. But, there are those, throughout history, who have started successful careers later in life. I’m not going to sugarcoat the road ahead of you, so, for anyone who is considering starting a new career, whatever it may be, join us as we delve into another Design Dilemma, helping to answer your questions, queries and concerns about the murky world of design…

CSS / 11 Oct 2013

How to Pull Off a Tilt Shift Effect With Webkit CSS Filters

Thanks to mobile image editing apps like Instagram, the faux tilt shift fad seems to be at its height. But why should we let iPhones have all the fun? Let’s bust out a tilt shift effect using pure CSS.

In this tutorial, we’ll learn all about the new CSS filters in Webkit and how to implement an image mask in CSS. We’ll then use these techniques for our final tilt shift effect. We’re going to hit on all kinds of crazy stuff so read on and we’ll have some fun.

JavaScript / 10 Oct 2013

Build a Guided Registration Form With jQuery and Progression.js

Signup forms are all too common when building new web applications or social networks. Traction from user signups can really boost your own self-confidence about a project when it comes to launching a new website. But what can you do to help improve the signup experience and hopefully gain more interested users?

In this tutorial I want to demonstrate how we can build a guided registration form, offering tips to users as they fill out each field. I have included some of my own custom jQuery along with a plugin called Progression.js. This is a powerful tool which offers a step-by-step tooltip using hints to direct users along the way. Feel free to download a copy of my source code and check out the live sample demo below.

Inspiration / 8 Oct 2013

E-Commerce Website Design: 10 Interesting Examples

E-commerce design is one of the most common – and sometimes most overlooked – types of design project. Just think of how often you click “buy now” on a website.

But what makes it work? Of utmost importance in e-commerce design is user experience and the purchase flow, but more and more sites are also beginning to develop awesome design schemes as well. Here, we’ll look at ten e-commerce sites that function well, and also look fantastic.

Graphics / 3 Oct 2013

Designing With Circles: Tips and Advice

Once shunned by designers, circles seem to be making a comeback. The perfectly round shape – and its oblong counterparts – can be difficult to work with. The shape does not stack as well as the more standard rectangle and creates a much different overall feel.

The circle is a perfect shape, meaning that it is the same no matter how you look at it. It is complete and in harmony with nature – consider how many natural elements are circle-based. So, as a designer, how can you make circles work for you?