Articles - Page 246

Articles / 10 May 2008

Design Critique: Blog Platforms

Most designers are familiar with the relative pros and cons of different publishing tools – but what about the websites of the blog platforms themselves? We all know that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but I would argue that there’s no harm in looking…

We’re going to take a look at the homepage for four popular platforms: WordPress, Textpattern, ExpressionEngine and Blogger. Which ones are beautiful enough to compel you to use their platform, and which ones have the design aesthetic of a hello kitty toaster? Hopefully through a critique of these designs you can take home some good pointers for use in your own work.

Articles / 9 May 2008

Introduction to CSS3 – Part 3: Text Effects

The third part in this series on CSS3 will be delving into the new text effects. Typography is, without any doubt, one of the most important aspects to get right when designing a layout. Type can draw the reader through a page, give a certain impression, provide impact, be subtle, or aid in separating content.

CSS is already reasonably versatile in the way in which text can be displayed, but still constricts design in quite a few areas. CSS3 goes some way towards removing those limitations.

Articles / 8 May 2008

Silverback Previews

Silverback is a new app which lets you run your own usability tests really easily. It looks set to be a great new tool for designers who want to analyze how users interact with their site. After a recent request for beta testers, a few interesting details are emerging.

Competitions / 8 May 2008

And the Winner Is…

Once again, thank you to everyone who entered our competition and filled out the survey. We have randomly selected a winner and the proud recipient of a new CSSEdit 2.6 copy is Domantas Jankauskas. Congratulations!

If you are interested in the outcome of the survey, please feel free to read on. We’ll be discussing some of your responses and how Design Shack has changed as a result.

Articles / 7 May 2008

9rules Submission Open

For the next few hours, the blog network 9rules have opened their doors to website submissions. They run a high quality network of sites and provide a central way to access all their content. Members includes sites such as Smashing Magazine, CSS Globe and PSDTuts.

Articles / 7 May 2008

Introduction to CSS3 – Part 2: Borders

For the second part of our series on CSS3, we’ll be taking a look at borders. Everyone who uses CSS is familiar with the border property – it’s a great way to structure content, create effects around images and improve page layout.

CSS3 takes borders to a new level with the ability to use gradients, rounded corners, shadows and border images. We are going to look at each of these in a bit more detail, using examples where possible.

Articles / 6 May 2008

Introduction to CSS3 – Part 1: What Is It?

This article marks the first of several, providing an introduction to the new CSS3 standard which is set to take over from CSS2. We will be starting from the very beginning – taking you from not having even heard of CSS3, to feeling ready to hit it running as various features start to become more widely adopted.

Competitions / 5 May 2008

Win a CSSEdit License in 30 Seconds

Update: The survey is now over, thank you to all those who participated – we will be contacting the winner shortly

We have four questions to ask you – it will take somewhere between 30 seconds and a minute to answer them and you stand a chance of winning a copy of CSSEdit.

Articles / 25 Apr 2008

10 Website Statistic Tools

Keeping track of visitors to your website is vital, and these ten tools can allow you to monitor and review traffic in different ways. Some are free, some require a small charge – all of them will help you optimize your website and know exactly who is passing eyes over your design.

Articles / 22 Apr 2008

Ruby on Rails Intro

You’ve probably heard about Ruby on Rails by now, but it might not be something you have ever really got to grips with. A List Apart have published two great articles as an introduction to Ruby On Rails.

Articles / 18 Apr 2008

Coding With Springloops

A common problem I encounter when designing a site in a team is the lack of a tool to easily allow us to collaborate and co-ordinate our work. There are several tools available to manage workflow and tasks, but few to actually help with the problem of overwriting someone else’s code.

Competitions / 9 Apr 2008

NuBlue Hosting Discount

In celebration of a new hosting package, designed specifically to support the Magento eCommerce application, NuBlue are offering a 25% discount for all Design Shack readers. Simply use the discount code ‘sh4ck’ when signing up for an account. NuBlue are one of very few UK hosts that are currently supporting this application and this discount is a great way to get started using Magneto.