WDTV Episode 8

09/05/2008 | Filed under Podcast

Freeze time in Flash. Using ActionScript, Paul Wyatt reveals how you can freeze movies without the need for extra frames. This is the perfect way to optimise banners, and much more!

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WDTV Episode 7

05/05/2008 | Filed under Podcast

NOTE: The download link is now fixed, and points to episode 7.
In this episode Paul Wyatt offers up selection of the best Photoshop tips for web designers. Tips include how to use the web design workspace, mastering layers and palettes, perfect cutouts and selections, and more!

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WDTV Episode 6

25/04/2008 | Filed under Podcast

In this episode Paul Wyatt walks you through the process of animating, tweening, and optimising web banners in Photoshop CS2 and CS3.

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WDTV Episode 5

18/04/2008 | Filed under Podcast

Welcome to episode five of Web Design TV. In this episode Paul Wyatt reveals how you can create quick and easy preloaders in Flash. There’s nothing worse than leaving visitors swinging in the wind, and preloaders are the perfect way of informing people how long a page will take to load.

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WDTV Episode 4

11/04/2008 | Filed under Podcast

Welcome to episode four of Web Design TV. In this episode we’re concentrating on creating video using Flash CS3. Paul Wyatt reveals the best ways to encode video, how to trim them, and how to work with effects and masks.

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WDTV Episode 3

04/04/2008 | Filed under Podcast

Welcome to episode three of Web Design TV. It’s been a fantastic few weeks, and we’ve already seen the podcast break into the top 10 technology podcasts on iTunes (UK). Good times! We’re delighted that so many of you are finding these tutorials useful, and in the coming months we plan to bring you even more cracking tutes from our resident web design guru Paul Wyatt. In the latest episode, Paul brings us an introduction to Flash CS3, and reveals how to create an animated movie clip. Enjoy the episode, and remember to send other topics you’d like to see us covering to podcast@futurenet.co.uk.

Download episode three of WDTV here (right click and Save As)
Subscribe via iTunes
Grab the web feed

WDTV Episode 2

28/03/2008 | Filed under Podcast

Welcome to episode two of Web Design TV. In this week’s episode Paul Wyatt - who has worked on web projects for British Airways, Sony BMG, Smirnoff, and the X Factor - reveals how to create perfect site mock-ups using vector layers and shapes in Photoshop. This is a great way to create an outline for your sites, and enables you to to make quick and easy changes at the drop of a hat (something that’s always important when you’ve got clients to keep happy). Enjoy the episode, and remember to send other topics you’d like to see us covering to podcast@futurenet.co.uk.

Download episode two of WDTV here
(right click and Save As)
Subscribe via iTunes
Grab the web feed

WDTV Episode 1

19/03/2008 | Filed under Podcast

Welcome to Web Design TV. This weekly video podcast features a new format, a new presenter, and a new focus on practical tutorials for web designers and developers. Paul Wyatt - who has worked on web projects for British Airways, Sony BMG, Smirnoff, and the X Factor - will bring you his best tips for Flash, Dreamweaver, Photoshop and more! In this episode Paul reveals how you can transform Photoshop files into Flash movies. Enjoy the first episode of WDTV!

Having a break

25/01/2008 | Filed under Podcast

We’re currently having a break in our podcast schedule, but will be returning soon with a different format. The new podcast will focus on video tutorials, which will take the form of 5-10 minute projects. If there are specific areas you’d like to see covered, why not drop us a line at podcast@futurenet.co.uk.

Episode 22

17/11/2007 | Filed under Podcast

In this episode, we’re bringing you another great interview, this time with Bradley Horowitz from Yahoo – who we spoke to a few months ago. Bradley Horowitz is head of technology development at Yahoo, and - as such - he is perfectly placed to talk about Yahoo’s most exciting developments (such as brickhouse, pipes, and its hack days).

First up, Horowitz discusses Yahoo’s Pipes application, which enables you to quickly and easily create your own web app by piping content from elsewhere.

Horowitz then goes on to talk about Brickhouse. Brickhouse is Yahoo’s internal incubator program, which has been set up to foster new business ideas, whilst holding onto the talented people currently working at the company. In a hugely competitive market, holding onto your best people is something that the big tech players are becoming increasingly concerned about, and this is one way that Yahoo plans to stem the brain drain.

Episode 21

02/11/2007 | Filed under Podcast

On this show: The panel discusses the opportunities available because of APIs. We take a second look at the Blueprint CSS framework, example ways to optimise your website and discover how to create the ultimate sign up form.

The opportunities of APIs

This week’s guests are Jeremy Keith, Paul Hammond, Christian Heilmann and Drew McLellan. The topic of discussion focuses on some of the incredible opportunities offered by APIs, which is inspired by the an article in this months .net magazine entitled "the top 20 APIs for your site". Topics include:

What exactly an APIs is
What is currently happening in the world of APIs
How to get started working with APIs
Some of the best uses of APIs that are around
The easiest and nicest APIs to work with
What the panel has been doing with APIs
What the future of APIs hold
Google OpenSocial

News

A CSS framework

The CSS frameworks Blueprint has been around for a while and provides a way to speed up the creation of standards based websites. It provides a default print stylesheet, a browser reset stylesheet and basic typography. However, most significantly it offers the ability to quickly and easily create complex grid based layouts.

This week the guys over at Blue Favor have published an article extolling the virtues of Blueprint. Although their arguments of improved productivity are compelling Blueprint is not without its limitations. The grid system only work on fixed width sites and the nature of frameworks means it creates a lot of redundant code and un semantic markup. Despite the claims of the Blue Favor article, Blueprint seems to be more suited to rapid prototyping than final site production.

Creating the ultimate sign up form

At the Future of web design conference in London Ryan Singer spoke on designing forms for web applications. It was an extremely informative talk not just for those developing web applications but for anybody who ever has to build any type of signup form. The video of the Ryan’s talk is now live and is available at the Think Vitamin website.

13 simple steps to optimise your website

Earlier this year, Steve Souders from the Yahoo! Performance team published a series of front-end performance optimizations "rules" for optimising your website. These looked at issues like reducing HTTP requests, compressing css and javascript as well as many other techniques.

Stoyan Stefanov has recently fleshed out Yahoos advice in a detailed tutorial entitled Web Site Optimization: 13 Simple Steps. This tutorial looks at practical ways of implementing Steve Souders recommendations especially when developing with PHP and Apache.

Make my logo bigger cream

It can be frustrating being a designer. Clients often come back with the same ill considered requests again and again. Make the logo bigger, add more content, make it more punchy. Its enough to make anyone loss it and that is obviously what has happened to the creators of "make my logo bigger" cream. This superb video based website is incredibly funny and dripping with the kind of bitterness that only a brow beaten designer can generate. Great Friday afternoon viewing.

Episode 20

22/10/2007 | Filed under Podcast

On this show: The panel discusses setting up your own web design agency. We also look at the results of the A List Apart web design survey, rant about accessibility ignorance and find new approaches to dealing with clients.

Multimedia web content

This week’s guests are Andy Budd from Clearleft, Alun Rowe from Pentangle, and Jonathan Snook. The topic of discussion focuses on setting up your own agency, which is the cover feature of the November issue of .net magazine and written by Mark Boulton. Topics include:

Why do it in the first place?
What are the main obstacles?
What sucks about being your own boss?
How important is a business plan?
How to finance yourself.
Should you seek legal advice?
Do you need to be an accountant, too?
Establishing a customer base.
Making the switch from being employed to self-employed.
Making the switch from Freelancer to Studio.
How to achieve long term success?

News

Web Design Survey 2007

A List Apart have finally released the long awaited results of their Web Design Survey carried out in April. Close to 33,000 web professionals answered the survey’s 37 questions, providing the first data ever collected on the business of web design. The results include data on average salary, gender balance, age, location and much more. Download the survey results PDF or even access the original data.

Ignorance over accessibility

Jeremy Keith highlights the amazing level of ignorance over the subject of web accessibility in his blog post Ignorance and Inspiration. Most of the post focuses on the responses coming from “so called web professionals” over the Target class action suit currently happening in the U.S. The general theme is that people simply do not understand accessibility fearing it will be expensive to implement. They therefore lash out with ridiculous statements such as...

How Selfish. Instead of re inventing the wheel, all they have to do is ask a friend or family member to help them.

Fortunately Jeremy’s post does end with some inspiration, referring as it does to Mike Phillips, a freelance technology journalist who is severally disabled. Jeremy links to a two minute video showing just what freedom computer technology and the web can give to the disabled. Something that those commenting on the Target case could do with watching.

Photoshop smart objects

Veerle Pieters is a talented designer who regularly shares her knowledge via her blog. Her latest post is a tutorial extolling the benefits of Smart Objects in Photoshop. She explains how they can be used for cutting down repetitive tasks as well as for maintaining detail when scaling bitmap images.

Great advice for dealing with clients

Let’s be honest, we all like moaning about our clients from time to time. However a new article on the Ideas website suggests that they are not always the problem. Its a brilliant article that provides some great tips for dealing better with our clients. The advice includes; setting expectations, really listening, being more positive, learning to let go and much more. If you ever get frustrated by your clients this is worth reading.

Episode 19

05/10/2007 | Filed under Podcast

Our podcasts come around thick and fast, but this week our regular host Paul Boag has been busy at the Future of Web Apps conference in London, as have many of our regular contributors, so we’ve taken this opportunity to bring you an extended interview with Hillman Curtis, the award winning new media designer and film-maker.
Having previously worked as design director at Macromedia, Curtis has gone on to produce work for the likes of Yahoo, Adobe, Apple, MTV, Pepsi, British Airways, and many more.
In this interview, Curtis discusses his latest move into producing films for the web, talks about inspiration, and offers up some tips for budding web designers, including how to work through creative block.
If you’d like to learn more about Hillman curtis inc, then visit www.hillmancurtis.com. And if you’d like to hear more audio interviews from .net, then drop us a line at mailus@netmag.co.uk.

To get the latest podcast, use one of the following options:

Episode 18

20/09/2007 | Filed under Podcast

On this show: The panel discusses the importance of user experience design. We also investigate the best way to draw up a contract with your clients, mourn the state of CSS support in email and suggest some useful ways to improve your error messages.

Multimedia web content

The October issue of the .net magazine leads with an article about creating a positive user experience. We continue this theme on the show by bringing together Andy Budd (ClearLeft), Hammad Khan (persona creative) and Peter Merholz (Adaptive Path) to discuss the importance of user experience design. Topics include:

What do we mean when we talk about user experience?
Is user experience becoming more of an issue these days?
At what point should you start considering the user experience?
Are there any general rules that you must follow?
How can you tell if your existing site has user experience problems?
How do you measure user experience?
What should be included in a usability test?
Should you get an expert in or can you do this yourself?
How do you keep your user experience skills fresh?
What part does accessibility play in user experience?

News

A Guide to CSS Support in Email

As web designers most of us find ourselves designing HTML email templates from time to time. Obviously as good standards based designers, we want to develop these templates using the latest CSS techniques. However, according to a new guide on CSS support in email released by Campaign Monitor we could well be very disappointed. The guide provides a detailed analysis of the current state of email clients including a breakdown of all CSS properties and the support various clients offer.

Its a somewhat depressing read especially since the launch of Outlook 2007. However, if you are involved in developing HTML email then it is useful reference material.

Contract Killers

This week Andy Budd published an article on the Digital Web Magazine about drawing up contracts with clients. He investigates four different approaches to pricing projects including the traditional fixed price / fixed scope model to more unusual solutions. However most of the article is dedicated to the approach he uses at ClearLeft. This approach fixes the price of the project but varies the scope based on the time spent developing individual bits of functionality.

Its an interesting article that proposes a much fairer system by taking some of the risk away from the web designer and placing it on the client. Although the concept is an attractive one, it is far from clear how easy it would be to persuade clients to adopt this approach.

Dealing with error messages

Another interesting post that appeared this week was by the usability expert Jared Spool. In his post Jared looks at a real world example of an application form and takes the reader step by step through the problems he found with it. He then goes on to explain how these issues could have been easily overcome.

Jared’s post reminds us that error handling is an important aspect of building a web application and that too often it is overlooked. One way that you can improve error handling is by providing context sensitive messages about potential problems. Traditionally these have been done with popup windows or dialogue boxes both of which are fairly unattractive. One option might be to use a new javascript library called ModalBox that allows you to create popup boxes in a similar style to the image gallery library Lightbox.

How to resize text video

One of the biggest complaints made about most websites relates to readability. Often the problem lies in the fact that text simply isn’t large enough. However what is big enough for one person is too big for another and so giving the user the ability to set their own font sizes is extremely useful. Fortunately all modern browsers provide this functionality. Unfortunately few users know how to use it.

Many web designers work around this problem by adding resizing controls to their websites. However, Ian Lloyd from accessify argues that there is a better way. Instead of relying on controls that only work for a single website, we should be teaching users to use the inbuilt browser controls. With this aim in mind Ian has produced a YouTube video demonstrating to users how to change the text size of websites they visit. Because it is on YouTube you can easily integrate it with your own site thereby demonstrating how to resize text in IE 6, IE 7 and Firefox. Thanks Ian!

Episode 17

05/09/2007 | Filed under Podcast

On this show: The panel discusses how to get the most out of multimedia content. We also investigate the challenges of social networking, discover a tool that exposes the relationships between websites and learn more about design in 200 words or less.

Multimedia web content

Following the multimedia theme of the September issue of the .net magazine, we speak to some leading figures in the world of multimedia online applications. We have Tom Harding from Weeworld, Tom Evan from Mook and Mark Bulley from Square Enix. Topics include:

What options are available beyond text and images?
When is it right to employ multimedia on a site? How do you decide when it’s time to bring out the multimedia arsenal?
At what point in the design process would you start to think about multimedia?
What are the hottest apps/APIs for working with multimedia out there at the moment?
Where do you look for inspiration?
If you’re going to use multimedia on a site, what are the main mistakes people make? (This can be legal stuff, overuse of technologies, using the wrong packages, anything!)
What are the coolest multimedia projects you’ve seen recently, and why did they impress?
What does the future hold for multimedia on the web

News

The challenges to social networking

A couple of articles have appeared over the last week relating to how difficult it is to get social networking right. The first entitled "Social Networks Aren’t Products" examines the challenges of setting up a new social network and growing it to the point where it reaches critical mass. The second is a personal opinion piece from Cameron Adam’s explaining that as far as he is concerned there is only one social network and that is his. The concept behind the post is that most people’s social network is much more complex than anyone site allows for. As a result these sites should play nicely together and stop trying to lock users into one system.

What becomes apparent from these posts is that we still have a lot more to learn about how to create social networks effectively.

Design advise in 200 words or less

There seems to be no shortage of web sites stuffed with articles on design. So, you can imagine how under whelmed I was that another one has been launched. However, on closer examination I was pleasantly surprised by the original approach taken by A Brief Message. The site contains short opinion pieces on design that have to be expressed in 200 words or less. Not only does this approach make the posts much easier to read, it also focuses the writer and judging by the quality so far leads to some really nice results.

A new way to see relationships between sites

Finally today, I wanted to mention an interesting tool from TouchGraph that analyses the relationships between data. Not the most inspiring description until you understand that they can apply it to data coming out of Google. In effect what this tool allows you to do is work out relationships between sites. This potentially can be a very useful way of tracking your competition and what they are doing online.

Episode 16

23/08/2007 | Filed under Podcast

On this show: The panel discusses podcasting and its benefits.

The power of podcasting

As somebody who podcasts a lot I am always getting asked my opinion on the subject. What are the benefits of podcasting? How do you make sure the show is entertaining? What technical setup do you use? It is a subject that generates a lot of interest, partly because it lays outside of what we have to deal with normally as web designers. In this week’s show, myself, Gary Marshall and Dan Oliver take a look at the subject and help to shed some light on the key issues. Topics include:

A definition of podcasting
Why podcast? What benefits does it provide to individuals or organisations?
The advantages and disadvantages of podcasting vs. blogging
Deciding on a format for your show
Who should consider podcasting?
What types of people listen to podcasts?
Technical considerations when podcasting
What makes a good podcast?
How to be entertaining and engaging?
How podcasting is affecting mainstream media.

News

Creating a brand identity

I want to start by pointing you at a great case study I found on the Digital Web Magazine. It is a case study by Ryan Nichols on the work he did for the “Future of” conferences organized by Carson Systems. He and his team developed the brand identity for the conferences and then applied that brand across a number of media include the website.

The case study on Digital Web takes you step by step through this process looking at how the logo was developed, the work done on colour and how the site was born.

I love case studies like these because it gives you a real insight into other peoples working practices. This one was particularly interesting for me because I don’t do much branding work. It was a real education and an excellent read.

While I am on the subject of the “future” conferences a quick mention of the upcoming Future of Web Apps conference coming up on the 3rd October in London. It has a great line up of speakers and although it isn’t cheap at £245, it is definitely worth considering if only to hear Kevin Rose. Talking of Kevin, he and Alex will also be recording a live Diggnation episode while at the conference. Unlike the conference itself, access to the show is free.

Coverflow style web gallery

From a case study on Digital Web to a tutorial of Web Designers Wall. This week I came across a stunning tutorial on how to create a coverflow web gallery.

In case you don’t know what I mean by coverflow I should explain that it is the effect you get on iTunes or the iPhone that lets you flip through album art.

This tutorial allows you to create almost the same effect on a web page, which would be ideal for image galleries or portfolio sites. The tutorial takes you through the entire process from Photoshop to Flash and is remarkably straightforward to follow.

The overall effect is great. Although, I have to say it is not quite as intuitive as the real thing mainly because it doesn’t support keyboard control. However that said it is definitely worth checking out if you want to create some wow factor on your site.

It really is a great way of showing off your designs.

Don’t design on spec

Talking of design, Jeffrey Zeldman is the latest to join the campaign against speculative design. By speculative design I am referring to those invitations to tender where the client asks for design work before they make the final selection.

Jeffrey joins sites like NO SPEC! in condemning the practice. He suggests three reasons it should be avoided. Firstly, it is unpaid work and as a result can become extremely expensive to the agency or designer involved. Secondly, he suggests that you simply do not have enough information at the tender stage to create an effective design. Finally, he argues that it often leads to legal disputes that are costly for all parties concerned.

It is easy to forget that in a former life Zeldman worked in the advertising industry and so has experience in the damage caused by speculative work. Its good to see him wading into the discussion. In fact it is good to see Zeldman blogging more again generally. He seems to have found a new lease and the stuff he is posting is really good. If you aren’t already subscribed to his RSS feed then I would do so.

Commentary on comments

Speaking of prolific bloggers I notice that Jeremy Keith is on his high horse again ;) This time his target is commenting. I have seen Jeremy write on this before and we have spoken about it a couple of times.

Jeremy is critical of commenting on blogs and according to a recent post he prefers a blog to blog method of responding. He believes that commenting is generally very negative and counter productive pointing to sites like digg as an example of his.

You certainly cannot argue that the level of comments on digg are extremely poor but personally I disagree with Jeremy’s position. I have never had anything but positive constructive comments on my blog and believe that is the case with the vast majority of other blogs I frequent. Sure, there are always the occasional exception but nowhere near the level Jeremy seems to be indicating.

I believe that the comments often reflect the blog on which they are posted. Aggressive adversarial blogs will generate similar comments. This is certainly true of digg where the style of commenting is very much reflective of the anarchistic tone of the site established by Kevin Rose through Diggnation.

I am not suggesting commenting is right in all circumstances. However I don’t believe that blog to blog commenting is the answer either. Inline comments allow a reader to quickly and easily see what is being said about a post without having to jump between multiple sites. Blog to blog dialogues do not allow that same ease of access.

Episode 15

09/08/2007 | Filed under Podcast

On this show: The panel takes a look at the subject of intellectual property and I discusses Jeff Veen’s hopes for the web, the ultimate guide to CSS navigation, writing copy for the web and how standards have reached the business community.

The ultimate site refresh

In the summer issue of the .net magazine Rob Corradi shares his thoughts about intellectual property and in particular the way that we as web designers often sell ourselves short. Myself, Andy Budd and Struan Robertson join Rob Corradi to discuss the subject further on the show. Topics include...

What is IP?
Can you copyright an idea?
Are designers being exploited?
What can designers do to protect their IP?
Who owns IP by default?
How can we educate our clients?
How do you combat the fear of losing work over IP?
Is there a need for a dedicated organisation to fight this issue?

News

Nifty navigation using CSS

The first story for this show is an article written by Rachel Andrews for Sitepoint. Rachel is an extremely well known UK web developer who has written a number of books on various aspects of web development. Among her many skills is a real expertise when it comes to clean, accessible CSS development. It was therefore excited to see she has written a very comprehensive article on creating CSS navigation.

The article covers how to markup your navigation semantically, creating vertical and horizontal menus, tabbed and “button like” navigation as well as much more. She even addresses the somewhat tricky subject of creating pure CSS dropdown menus.

The article is amazingly detailed and covers a huge amount of ground. It provides best practice not only for creating CSS based navigation but for web development generally. Check it out.

Web standards hits the mainstream business media

Talking of best practice and standards, it would appear that the business community is beginning to wake up to web standards. Business Week have just released a great article about Jeffrey Zeldman’s work promoting standards-based design.

The article explains to its business audience what web standards are and why they are important. What is most impressive is that the article manages to do all of this without oversimplifying the subject.

The reason I mention this on the show is twofold. First, I think it is a sign that standards is beginning to expand out beyond the web design community and that is very exciting indeed. Once clients start to care about and understand the benefits of a well coded site then I think it can only be beneficial for the industry. The second reason I mention it is that this is an excellent article to refer prospective clients or even your boss to if you are struggling to get them to understand what standards are all about. A publication like Business Week carries a lot of weight and may help to swing the argument.

Jeffrey Veen fixes the web

The next story I want to mention is a brief post I spotted from Jeffrey Veen. Unfortunately since joining Google Jeff doesn’t seem to post much anymore which is a shame. However, he does do the occasional interview and it is one of these that his post refers to.

In an interview for xhtml.com Jeff was asked: "In your opinion, what parts of the Web need to be improved or fixed in order for the Web of today to evolve into the Web of the future?"

Its a good question and I thought his answer was particularly insightful and interesting. Of all the things he could have focused on he chose to focus on geolocation. He wanted to see every file associated with a longitude or latitude in much the same way every file has a time stamp.

Jeff is right when he says this could open up some amazing possibilities not just in mapping but in location aware applications. What is more, in my opinion, I think eventually he is going to get his wish. We are already seeing increasing uses made of geolocation including location based photography, location specific content and even location oriented social networking. Obviously, this is to some extent reliant on having hardware that is location aware but that is coming too.

I think geolocation is an area we should all be watching with interest.

Copywriting for the web

Of course if we are talking about fixing the web I think personally I would put sorting out the quality of copy fairly high on the list. There really is some terrible marketing speak out there. However, on the upside it seems that there are a growing number of resources that help people write better copy, which has to be good news.

As web designers we have largely ignored the copy on the websites we build often concluding that it is somebody else’s job. Of course to a large extent it is but that doesn’t mean we should be ignoring it. It is down to us to advice our clients on best practice and recommend where appropriate they get an expert in.

I have come across three articles recently that help do that. The first two I have mentioned already in the boagworld podcast and come from the latest issue of A List Apart. Both articles promote the importance of good copy and provides some great advice.

However, the final article I only came across recently and thought was definitely worth a mention. It comes from the Think Vitamin website and tackles a more specific area of web copywriting. It looks at copywriting for ecommerce. Writing copy that sells offers some unique challenges and although some of what is written here applies universally there is much great (and very specific) advice about writing for ecommerce sites. In particular the article talks about tone, as well as the different types of ecommerce copy. It also has some great example of both good and bad copy.

Putting together well crafted copy can be a time consuming and difficult experience. It is therefore particularly annoying when people rip off that copy and use it on their own websites. I therefore thought you might be interested in a great little website I came across this week. It is called Copyscape and allows you to find websites that have lifted your copy.

Episode 14

27/07/2007 | Filed under Podcast

On this show: The panel gives some advice on redesigning your website and I discusses working with the fold, introduces us to assisitive technologies and show us how to create data driven flash applications the easy way.

The ultimate site refresh

In the summer issue of the .net magazine Gary Marshall reveals the web’s best makeover and talks to pro designers about their tips for giving your site the perfect revamp. Myself, Dan Webb and James Barley join Gary Marshall to discuss the subject further on the show. Topics include...

What are the main signs that your site may be in need of a redesign
What do you need to consider when redesigning a site
What’s the best way to plan a redesign
Where should you look for inspiration
How can new technologies supercharge a redesign
What are the main mistakes people make when redesigning
Which redesigns have really impressed you

News

The Fold

My first story today is about the growing amount of talk surrounding the issue of the fold. I think the whole thing kicked off with the placard waving mob at this years @media who where led in chants of “there is no fold”. However, there have also been a number of articles on the subject as well.

The latest is found on the Boxes And Arrows website where an article has been published entitled “Blasting the Myth of the Fold”.

The problem is that the term comes from the newspaper industry and referred to the point where a paper was folded to display on stands. Important content had to appear above this fold. Of course the analogy does not carry across as well on the web where the fold (the point at which users have to start scrolling) is dependant on things like window size, browser, toolbars and resolution.

The Boxes and Arrows article argues we need to stop trying to cram in content above the fold and provides some excellent advice on when exactly the fold does matter.

It is ironic then that at the time when many are worrying less about the fold that a new tool called Foldspy is released. By adding a small piece of javascript to your website you can track exactly where the fold comes for your users. Although the current trend seems to be away from worrying overly about the fold it is still a useful service as it helps to ensure that absolutely key content is kept in the viewable area.

Assistive technology in action

A couple of weeks ago on my other web design podcast we did a segment on screen readers. We realised that many people have never seen a screen reader or heard how it works. I strongly believe that until you see and hear a screen reader in action you cannot begin to appreciate the daily struggle many blind web users endure. I certainly remember vividly the first time I heard a screen reader in action.

Although Ian Lloyd (who did our screen reader demonstration) did an excellent job, he did point out that he wasn’t the best person to demonstrate it in action because he has perfect vision. I was therefore excited this week to discover that Yahoo! have released two videos demonstrating how real visually impaired users work with both screen readers and screen magnifiers.

I know that for many accessibility is not consider a very “sexy” topic but I would strongly encourage you to watch these videos and see for yourself the challenges visually impaired users face. Its sobering stuff and many change your attitude towards how you design your sites.

SWX: Data driven flash applications made easy

My next story I should have mentioned several weeks ago but somehow I never got around to it. This could be due to the fact it is about flash and I am a complete philistine when it comes to the subject.

However, I am trying to change my ways and part of my rehabilitation has been to get Aral Balkan into my company to bring us up to speed on the latest developments in the world of flash.

If you haven’t heard of Aral before, he is one of the worlds leading experts in flash and works heavily in the flash open source community. In fact it is his latest open source venture that I want to share with you.

When he was in training our staff I must confess that as the day went on and the content became more technical I struggled to keep up at times. Flash can get pretty complex when you start getting into the realms of data driven flash applications.

When I was just about to give up he suddenly introduced something called SWX. SWX just makes creating data driven flash applications SO much easier. Now, if you are a hard core flash developer you might question the value of it but if you like me have reached a brick wall in terms of what you can do with flash then this definitely worth a look.

Basically using PHP, MySQL and this SWX bundle you can simply and easily pull database content into flash and start manipulating it. Its so easy to use that even I understood it.

Warning vs Undo

Talking of flash applications or indeed web applications generally, you might want to check out the latest issue of Alist Apart. In this issue they have an article called “Never use a warning when you mean undo”. Not the catchiest title in the world but a very interesting article none the less.

It talks about those annoying dialogue boxes that we like to use on websites. You know the ones that say “do you really want to delete that”. The article explains that we are pre-programmed to click okay to dialogues like that without even thinking making them almost entirely useless. Add to that the fact they are just downright annoying and you quickly want to look for another solution.

The article argues that the solution is to allow users to undo errors like this instead of having a dialogue box. The author refers to sites like Google Mail that already do this when you delete a message but also refers to a lot of sites that do not.

This all makes a lot of sense to me particularly as our developers are always telling me you shouldn’t delete information from sites but simply hide it. Anyway, check out the article, it may come in handy next time you are building a web application.

Episode 13

12/07/2007 | Filed under Podcast

On this show: The panel discusses their favourite web applications and Paul considers the web design tender process, how to get a job as a designer and the five things all clients want to know.

Building the perfect web community

In the August issue of the .net magazine Gary Marshall chooses his top 40 web applications. Paul Boag and Ryan Carson join Gary Marshall to discuss the subject further on the show. Topics include...

What are you favourite web apps, and which apps help you in your day-to-day work?
Are there any under-rated apps that we should be using?
Which hare the best APIs to work with?
Are there any great mashups you’ve come across recently?
Some mashup sites are valued in their millions, but is there a danger of hanging your business off another company’s API?
If anyone has a great idea for a web app, are there any nuggets of advice you could offer?
What effect will developments from Microsoft, Adobe, and Google have on the web apps landscape?

News

Winning work is a pitch

First up in the news today is a great article on the Think Vitamin site. The post written by Andrew Skinner talks about the tender process for web design work. He believes that the tender process has become overly burdensome on the agency and that things are going to have to change.

In particular he targets the idea of speculative design work, which involves developing design ideas with no signed contract and totally for free. This is a particular passion of mine and it has been a long time since Headscape, the web design company I run, has done this type of work. I believe not only is it harmful to the agency but also detrimental to the client as the work produced is more focused on impressing the client than providing the right solution.

To read all of Andrew’s article pop along to the Think Vitamin website.

Advice for designers seeking a job

Of course not all of us run our own web design companies and have to deal with problems like speculative work. Some of us are just starting out in our web design careers and trying to land that precious first design job.

If you are currently in that position then you should definitely check out the most recent blog post from one of the the worlds leading web designers.

The post talks about how to get yourself noticed as a designer and how it is important to get your CV and portfolio to stand out from the crowd.

The article provides practical advice and I have to say if a designer implemented the suggestions made then I would definitely hire them!

The never-ending web project

The next story I wanted to mention is a post recently made by Gerry McGovern, an expert in usability. In his article “The web is messy” he talks about how the nature of web design projects is not the neat and tidy process we desire.

He argues that websites are messy creatures that should be growing and evolving over time. That website owners should be tweaking and refining what works constantly looking to weed out failing features.

This is a subject I have written about myself a number of times before and yet many website owners find it hard to do. Its a huge culture shift for them especially when they have worked with offline marketing where you don’t get to constantly tweak and improve.

Five things all clients want to know

And that brings me nicely on to my final bit of news for this week. As web designers we can often be frustrated by client’s failure to “get it” but in many cases that is because we do not “get them”.

On the maxdesign website this week there is a short but sweet post looking at exactly this problem. Entitled “Five things all clients want to know” it looks at the fact that we spend too long selling at and endeavouring to convince clients, rather than reassuring them.

The article suggests five things clients want to hear...

1. Can you deliver what we want, on time and within the budget?
2. Will the site work?
3. Will the site look good?
4. Will the site be easy to maintain?
5. Who will look after the site in the long term?

Good stuff, and very true!

Episode 12

28/06/2007 | Filed under Podcast

On this show: The panel discusses building the perfect web community and Paul considers Apple’s masterplan, photosynth and how to improve your creativity

Building the perfect web community

In the August issue of the .net magazine Jason Walsh looks at the subject of building the perfect web community. Paul Boag and Gary Marshall join Jason to discuss the subject further on the show. Topics include...

Why should you build up a community and where do you find your audience?
How do you build up a loyal community?
How do you keep the community alive and happy?
What kind of technologies do you use to build the community?
How do you make money from a community? What are the pros and cons?
What are the challenges when dealing with a community/drawbacks you need to overcome? Legal issues?

News

Apple’s masterplan

With the iphone due out in the US tomorrow Paul looks at how this ties in with the launch of Safari for windows and asks how all of this affects the web design community.

PhotoSynth

Some great things are coming out of Microsoft at the moment including PhotoSynth, an amazing new technology that allows for the creation of 3D environments using 2D photos pulled from sites like Flickr. Watch this amazing demonstration video.

Creativity and inspiration

There are a lot of articles being posted at the moment on the subject of creativity and inspiration. Paul highlights a few on the show and explains why it is good to look beyond the web for inspiration. Included in the line up he covers is...

No Show!

15/06/2007 | Filed under Podcast

We don’t have a show for you this week but for good reason. We are tweaking the format of the show based on feedback we have received from you guys.

The last few weeks since launching the .net magazine podcast have been incredibly fun and thank you so much to all of you who have written in encouraging us about the new format. Its been great to get so much positive feedback.

However, we are not the type of people to sit on our hands and bask in the glory of your praise. We want to make things better and want to incorporate some of the great feedback you have given us.

So with that in mind we are going to rejig things a little. Some of you felt that the discussions could be a little rambling at times and that some of the subject matter wasn’t as relevant as perhaps it could have been.

We are therefore going to both shorten and focus the discussion segment of the show onto issues faced by real web designers on a daily basis. We are still going to have leading industry experts but they will talk about more specific issues rather than whatever happens to be in the news.

However, don’t panic we are not loosing the news. I will give you a run down of the latest news at the top of the show, ensuring that you keep on top of all you need to know.

So that’s the plan! However, we want to get this just right and don’t have all the pieces in place. We could have started with the new format this week but didn’t feel properly prepared. That is why we have decided to cancel this weeks show.

But do not worry, we will be back on Thursday 28th June with an all new show (well a tweaked show at least).

Episode 10

01/06/2007 | Filed under Podcast

On this show; Gates and Jobs go head to head, Microsoft release a coffee table, Google take applications offline, we discuss the London hackday and the future of printed magazines.

The Panel

This week’s panel of gurus includes:

The topics

Gates and Jobs go head to head

In their rare joint appearance at All Things Digital 5, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates discuss their contributions to the technology industry and the qualities they most respect in one another. The panels response; where was the fist fight?

Watch the highlights (such as they were) here

Microsoft Surface

Microsoft has released this week what can only be described as a coffee table PC. Aimed initially at the commercial market this multi touch device creates a lot of discussion among the panel as to its worth.

Check out Microsoft Surface for yourself

Google Gear

Google Gears is a new open source browser extension that enables web applications to provide offline functionality such as reading web email while on the train or accessing your online RSS feeds when you have no connection. The panel discuss the implications of this new service from Google. They ask how this fits into their business strategy and whether this is an attack on Adobe, Microsoft or both.

London Hackday

Ian talks to us about the upcoming London Hackday explaining what happens and why it is worth taking part. The panel discusses the importance of developing our own projects outside work as well as why web companies should free up time for staff to work on their own projects.

Online vs Offline Tutorials

Christian Heilmann recently wrote a very interesting blog post arguing that magazines such as .net are not the right place for tutorials and that these are better presented in an online environment. In this show we discuss the role of print magazines compared to online publications. We talk about the pros and cons of both as well as compare them to video and audio prodcasts.

episode 9

17/05/2007 | Filed under Podcast

On this show; Aral attacks Silverlight, Google plans world domination, Microsoft squash the open source community and Gary says we should all work in our pajama’s (well he implied it anyway).

The Panel

This week’s panel of gurus includes:

The topics

Silverlight vs Flash

Microsoft have been heavily pushing Silverlight, their "flash killer" at MIX07 and it has created a considerable stir. Techcrunch are claiming that this could be the end of flash and AJAX. In one of their posts they claimed that "it made flash/flex look like an absolute toy" and "without exaggeration, AJAX looks like a bicycle next to a Ferrari when compared to Silverlight". Our panel is not so sure. Aral Balkan was not at all impressed while Gary Marshall (who was at MIX07) gave only guarded praise. What the panel did agree on was that some healthy competition will keep Adobe on their toes.

Google’s plans for world domination

This month’s .net magazine is packed with some great interviews with Google staff and so we thought it would be good to discuss their plans for world domination on the show. We cover geotagging, SEO techniques and the story that Google are actively targeting Microsoft with their office suite.

Microsoft squashes open source

The entire panel fall over each other in an attempt to be the first to condemn Microsoft’s campaign to extract royalties from the open source community. The general feeling is that not only is this a PR disaster for Microsoft, it is also nearly impossible to achieve. The conclusion is to simply ban software patents... period :)

Home working

In this month’s .net magazine Gary writes a column about home working and how more companies should embrace the practice. As we have a mixed panel made up of both office workers, home workers and (in Aral’s case) coffee house workers, we decided to chat about the pros and cons of leaving the commute behind.

Episode 8

03/05/2007 | Filed under Podcast

On this show, Norm gets grumpy about the BBC, we discuss Digg eating itself, Jeremy explains why he’s POSH, and Jon Hicks pimps Coda.

The panel

This week’s panel of gurus includes:

The topics

A great panel this time around, and some very lively discussion.

BBC to put their entire archive online?

Some time ago, the BBC announced that it intended to put its entire archive online. This ambitious project took a step forward over the past week with an announcement that it will soon make programmes from the last seven days available via its iPlayer. However, not everybody is happy. Our panel expresses concern over the lack of Mac support, and Norm goes on to question if the entire project is even possible under current licensing arrangements.

Digg eats itself

The last few days has seen an extraordinary event unfold on social news website digg.com. Digg users have launched a full-scale rebellion following a decision by Digg to remove stories relating to the decryption of HD DVDs after they were sent a cease and desist letter. The panel discuss the problems faced by Digg and whether this represents an underlying problem with social participation websites.

POSH an acronym too far?

Jeremy Keith introduces us to the latest acronym to hit the web design community: POSH. POSH stands for plain old semantic HTML and Jeremy argues that associating a tag like Ajax to semantic HTML will help people once again focus on a subject that’s too often overlooked. It was a tough sell to a cynical panel, yet Jeremy does a sterling job of justifying why we might need yet another acronym.

Coda is released

When the conversation turned to the launch of Coda, it felt like we had suddenly walked into a full-blown sales pitch. Both Norm and Jon praised the new CSS/HTML editor explaining that its “single window” approach improves the workflow of CSS and HTML template development significantly. Nevertheless, it was recognised that Coda wasn’t “all things to all men”, and that developers may find an application such as TextMate more useful.

Episode 7

20/04/2007 | Filed under Podcast

This week, our expert panel discusses Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick, the delayed launch of Apple’s Leopard OS, the battle between Adobe and Microsoft, and a code of conduct for bloggers.

The Panel

This week’s panel of technology titans includes:

The topics

We have a fascinating line-up of stories in this show, as it’s been an interesting couple of weeks.

Apple delays Leopard

This week, Apple announced that Leopard is going to be delayed until October. Was the iPhone really to blame, and will this impact Apple’s attempt to grab market share from Microsoft?

Adobe and Microsoft face off

Not only is Microsoft fighting off Apple, it’s also taking on Adobe with its release of the new Expression range of software. Our panel compares Expression Web to Dreamweaver CS3, looks at the rest of the Expression range and discusses whether Microsoft has a hope in hell of toppling Adobe’s dominance.

Google buys DoubleClick

On one hand, we’re enjoying increased competition in the design software sector, while on the other, we’re watching Google acquire DoubleClick, making it by far the biggest player in the online advertising space. The panel discusses the impact of this on advertisers and how this will affect Web 2.0 companies that are reliant on advertising to survive.

Bloggers' code of conduct

Since our last show, Tim O’Reilly has encouraged the blogging community to adopt a code of conduct in response to the attacks on Kathy Sierra. The panel debates its effectiveness and whether a better approach might be to educate people about how to deal with attacks when they happen.

Episode 6

05/04/2007 | Filed under Podcast

On this week’s show, we discuss the darker side of the web, including hackers and the threats made against Kathy Sierra. But we also discuss the happier side, including Amazon’s new commitment to accessibility, SWX and spoof April Fool’s Day announcements.

Download the show as an MP3 file
Subscribe via iTunes
Grab the web feed

The Panel

This week’s expert panel is:

The topics

A slightly bizarre mix of stories in this week’s show, and yet it works:

SWX

Aral introduces us to the SWF Data Exchange Format (SWX). It’s a new way of working with data in Flash that uses simple SWF files to exchange data. This leads into a broader conversation about the Flash community and the growing group of open source Flash developers.

UK hacker loses extradition fight

This week saw the hacker Gary McKinnon lose his fight against extradition to the US. Accused of the “biggest military hack of all time”, Gary was recently interviewed by Oliver Lindberg on his horrific story. In the show, Oliver explains what exactly happened and we discuss the dangers of hacking to the web design community.

Kathy Sierra

Following the horrendous death threats made against technology journalist Kathy Sierra, the panel discusses anonymity online, failures in the online community and how to address social civility.

Amazon and accessibility

The panel discusses Amazon’s announcement that they’re going to work with the National Federation of the Blind to make their site more accessible. We speculate as to whether this means Amazon will move to web standards and what business benefits this might bring to the company.

April Fool’s Day

There were some great online April Fool’s jokes this year, including a number of superb web-design-related spoofs. Here are just a few that got the panel laughing:

Music competition

Also a quick mention of the music competition we’re running. If you think you can improve on the theme tune used on the .net magazine podcast, we would love to hear from you. Record your own version, upload it to a web server of your choice and send me a link (please don’t send me the actual file!). If yours is the best, you could win a gorgeous pair of Logitech Z10 speakers and a random collection of web development books. Closing date 23 April.

Episode 5

22/03/2007 | Filed under Podcast

In the fifth episode of the .net magazine podcast, the panel discusses SXSW, the release of Adobe Apollo, and alternative revenue streams for web designers.

Download the show as an MP3 file
Subscribe via iTunes
Grab the web feed

The panel

This week’s panel is made up of:

The topics

On this week’s show, we manage to squeeze in four excellent topics:

SXSW

Yes, I know you’re probably tired of hearing about SXSW. However, it was physically impossible not to talk about this highlight in the web design calendar. Our expert panel reveals its likes and dislikes, what was learned and what was covered. Most of all, the panel discussed how SXSW was going to impact the web design community over the coming year.

Elitism on the web

It seems like every conference these days is followed by accusations that the speakers are aloof and elitist. This year, it was the Brit Pack that seemed to get a fair chunk of the criticism. We talk about those accusations, as well as broadening the discussion to cover the role of industry leaders in shaping the web design community.

Apollo

This week sees the “official” release of Adobe Apollo. The panel explains what Apollo actually is, and how it’s going to enable us as web designers to build desktop applications.

Alternative revenue for web designers

Some argue that simply developing websites for clients can limit the growth of your business. Many traditional web design agencies now develop products or renovate existing websites for profit in order to break out of that sales/build cycle. The panel looks at product development and site renovation and asks: “are they really the answer many perceive them to be?”

Episode 4

04/03/2007 | Filed under Podcast

On show number four of the .net magazine podcast, we discuss the sorry state of web accessibility, ask whether usability stifles creativity, and discuss diversity in the web design community.

Download the show as an MP3 file
Subscribe via iTunes
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The panel

This week’s expert panel is:

The topics

We couldn’t shut the panel up this week, so we only managed to make it through three topics. But it’s all about quality, not quantity, right?

Web accessibility in disarray?

Mike Davies this week posted a disturbing look at the current state of web accessibility. Patrick Lauke clarifies what Mike was getting at, and we try to fix web accessibility in 20 minutes flat.

Diversity in the web design community

This week’s hot topic has been, without a doubt, the subject of diversity in the web design community and, in particular, why more women aren’t speaking at web design conferences. Everybody from Eric Meyer to Jeffrey Zeldman has waded into the debate, so we felt that the five of us (as five opinionated men) were perfectly placed to comment on the subject.

Usability stifles creativity

Finally, the panel discusses Lisa Herrod’s latest blog post on the SitePoint website, where she asks the question: does usability stifle creativity?

Your thoughts

What do you think of this week’s show? What news stories would you like to hear discussed? Who would you like to see on the panel? Email your thoughts to Paul Boag. He’s waiting to hear from you!

Episode 3

16/02/2007 | Filed under Podcast

This week in the .net magazine podcast, we discuss whether microformats help spammers, why the Dutch rule, and whether Microsoft is a friend or foe to the OpenID movement.

Download the show as an MP3 file
Subscribe via iTunes
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The panel

This week’s expert panel includes:

The topics

On this week’s show, we cover six great topics:

Image copyright infringement

We kick off this week’s show by following up on the story in The Guardian about image copyright infringement. Struan Robertson (our legal expert) gives some excellent advice on the dos and don’ts of image purchase.

Microformats and spam

This week, microformats have hit the news again with a new JavaScript parser from Dan Webb and the publishing of an excellent new microformat tutorial. As I had Jeremy Keith and Drew McLellan on the show (both of whom are very outspoken on the benefits of microformats), I thought I’d start a discussion about some of the potential risks associated with microformats.

Dutch Accessibility Law

Roger Johansson recently wrote a great post about the Dutch accessibility laws, which require government sites to not only make their sites accessible but also use best practice in standards-based design. I ask the panel whether they think this legislation has gone too far and whether it’s enforceable. We also discuss WCAG 2.0, PAS 78 and the Disability Discrimination Act.

Email and website legislation

Struan Robertson gives a quick rundown of the new legislation that’s come into force here in the UK. This legislation requires companies to display key information on their websites and in email signatures.

Microsoft backs OpenID

The BBC has reported that Microsoft is to support the OpenID standard. I ask the panel what exactly OpenID is and whether it’s a good or bad thing that Microsoft is backing it. Jeremy Keith recommends Simon Wilson’s screencast to those who are interested in implementing OpenID.

Web 2.0 ... the machine is Us/ing us

We end today’s show by taking a look at the Web 2.0 YouTube video that seems to be doing the rounds at the moment. The video, which is based loosely on an article that appeared in Wired, presents one view of what Web 2.0 is all about. But does the panel agree?

Your thoughts

What do you think of this week’s show? What news stories would you like to hear discussed? Who would you like to see on the panel? Email your thoughts to Paul Boag. He’s waiting to hear from you!

/Post by Dan/ Episode 2

05/02/2007 | Filed under Podcast > Post by Dan

In the second ever .net magazine podcast, we cover a range of topics, from the top web design techniques you can’t live without to why you may soon be getting a letter from the lawyer of a large image library.

Download the show as an MP3 file
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The panel

This week’s expert panel includes:

The topics

On this week’s show, we cover five great topics:

Web Design techniques you cannot live without

This week saw Smashing magazine publish the 53 CSS techniques you cannot live without. Christian Heilmann followed up this post with his own list of vital CSS techniques. So, in the same spirit, the .net panel discusses its ultimate web design techniques and whether or not such lists are helpful.

Are there too many web conferences?

SXSW, @media, Barcamp, d.construct, geek dinners... the list of web design conferences, events and workshops is neverending. The panel discusses whether we actually need all of these events and what value (if any) can be drawn from them.

Image copyright infringement

According to The Guardian a number of website owners are being charged large fees for using stock imagery without permission. The panel looks at the ramifications of this and how web designers and website owners should protect themselves.

Top web design mistakes of 2006

Jakob Nielsen recently published his top web design mistakes of 2006. We discuss Jakob’s list and what we’d like to see added.

Spam prevention techniques

Spam seems to dominate the web these days, from email to blog comments. Our experts share their thoughts about what they do to keep it at bay, and discuss whether Spam is in danger of undermining social participation sites such as digg.com.

Your thoughts

What do you think of this week’s show? What news stories would you like to hear discussed? Who would you like to see on the panel? Email your thoughts to Paul Boag – he’s waiting to hear from you!

/Post by Dan/ NEW PODCAST!

19/01/2007 | Filed under Podcast > Post by Dan

We’re proud and excited to announce the launch of our new .net podcast. Every fortnight, some of the brightest minds in web design (at least that’s what they like to think) gather to discuss the latest developments in the world of technology and the web.

Download the show as an MP3 file
Subscribe via iTunes
Grab the web feed

The panel

This week’s panel includes:

Paul Boag (who will regularly host the show)
Dan Oliver (editor of .net)
Gary Marshall
Andy Budd
Christian Heilmann

The topics

On this week’s show, we cover four great topics:

The launch of the iPhone

Brian Fling claims the iPhone will revolutionise the mobile web. Cameron Moll is not so sure. What does the panel think?

Getting a job as a web developer

Christian Heilmann rants about his experience of hiring staff, and the panel discusses what it takes to be a good developer.

Outlook 2007 and HTML email

With the discovery that Outlook 2007 renders HTML using Word, what does this mean for the future of the HTML email? Molly Holzschlag explains why the decision was made, but what does the panel think the ramifications are, and should we be using HTML in emails anyway?

IE7 downloads reach 100 million

According to the IE group and WebSideStory, IE7 has had 100 million downloads. What does this mean for us as web designers? Should we continue to support legacy browsers such as IE5? The panel discusses.

Your thoughts

What do you think of the new show? What news stories would you like to hear discussed? Who would you like to see on the panel? Email your thoughts to Paul Boag – he’s waiting to hear from you!