Web Design Resources and Texts on the Web

I really found the sites from this week educational and aesthetically interesting.

The Web Style Guide (second edition) by Patrick Lynch and Sarah Horton is an excellent ebook and a great reference to consult while designing my web site. The main focus of this book is to create web sites for the functionality of the user through effective design layout. For example, the layout of web sites have conformed to look like one another so that the user automatically knows where to go to find information and does not need to look extensively every time they navigate to a new site.

The book is divided into eight chapters which focus upon the process and elements required for a successful web site. They are:

1. The Process- the planning and development of the site.
2. Interface Design - designing for the interaction between the user and the web site so that it is easily navigable for the user.
3. Site Design - the development information architecture or having a logical structure for the information on your web site.
4. Page Design- developing a visually appealing site that is at the same time functional. How the page space is used ensuring that there is a balance between text and images.
5. Typography - the need to create text that complements your web site and the message you are trying to convey to the user. Utilizing CSS to add visual depth and structure to your web site in a well organized manner across all the sites pages.
6. Editorial Style - ensuring that the content is structure with headings for easy reading and printing. Realizing that web users will not read excessive amounts of text and understanding the need to tailor your writing style to meet these needs. Adding links to emphasize the meaning you are trying to convey within the text.
7. Graphics- Creating aesthically pleasing graphics that are easily displayed across various web browsers and internet connections. Using colors that work best for the web and utilizing the proper type of graphic file format for the type of image being used.

The Web Style Guide is an excellent resource providing concise yet detailed information when creating a web site. I will definitely use this to refer to when constructing my site.

Web Style Guide, 2nd Ed. - http://webstyleguide.com/index.html

Universal Usability

Universal Usability http://universalusability.com/access_by_design/index.html

The site of designer Jesse James Garrett provides great wealth of information concerning information architecture and user-experience design. These concepts are key to creating user friendly web sites. The author is an expert in these areas and wrote a book called The Areas of User Experience which has become rather popular.

JJ.net (User-Experience Designer Jesse James Garrett) http://www.jjg.net/ia/

Smashing Magazine's Top 50 Blog Designs was very inspiring viewing. The sites I looked at showed me how creative and interesting a blog could really be. I like that there is a small description of the design elements that made the blog make the list.

The first blog listed on the site is http://www.narfstuff.co.uk/

This the blog of Fran Boot a web designer in London, England. She created two-column blog where the posts appear on a sheet of paper attached to a clip board. This is a clever, colorful visually appealing layout. There a good amount of whitespace so that it is easily readable, organized and balanced. What I also like about this blog is that Fran provides a great deal of good information for web designers including some innovate projects she is working on. For instance she is working on a Flash puzzle game called "Starshine" with a link to download the puzzle. http://www.narfstuff.co.uk/2008/02/14/starshine_flash_puzzle/#more-34 I did notice a dead link to a Google Video called Helvetica Documentary. That would have been interesting to see. Oh well, I guess that is the reason why we constantly have to test the links on our web site and blog. This is the link that was supposed to have worked: http://www.narfstuff.co.uk/category/graphic-design/

Another blog that I like was http://www.dollarshort.org/, which is written by Mena Trott. This is a good example of a personal/professional blog. The white background is clean and the layout is organized efficiently with easy to read posts. There is something to be said for basic layouts with a good measure of images to make the site pop. This new mom is definitely having fun with the blog which shines through. If a blog is fun to write then it will be fun to read.

These blogs were very inspirational and I even renamed my blog from the very dull Amy's Instructional Graphics Blog to Amy's Web Journey.

Smashing Magazine: Top 50 Blog Designs - http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/05/08/now-more-than-ever-50-more-excellent-blog-designs/