Industry News – Hosting, PHP and website creation.
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Calvin Lee, principal and creative director of Mayhem Studios, interviewed by Sharebrain for their monthly column, Braintalk: 15 Answers. Where designers are asked the same 15 questions, but with 15 very different insightful answers into their process, inspiration and daily lives.
Head on over to Sharebrain and read the interview, Braintalk: 15 Answers with Calvin Lee. Hope everyone will find the interview helpful and inspiring.
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With Thanksgiving only a couple days away, it’s appropriate to look back on the things that we appreciate best about our jobs. Let’s face it: Web Developers have the best jobs around, right? We’re incredibly lucky to have the professions we do.
Here are 15 things that we all should be thankful for. These are the technologies that we couldn’t live without, or that have previously paved the way and allowed us to be web developers.
Graphic designers everywhere should reserve a day in November to give thanks to the software that’s enabled our careers. Without Mosaic’s picture support, the Internet doesn’t need good design. The 1993 launch of this web browsing software opened up a brand new world to web developers and web browsers alike.
Firefox ended the long tyranny of IE oppression for experienced web users. The extension-enabled browser has forced IE to play catch up and improve their lukewarm browser, which hadn’t seen an update for 5 years.
Aside from pushing a standards-based browsing initiative, the ability to extend Firefox has made the developers life much easier. There are oodles of extensions that are nearly essential to the developer.
Every web developer knows the awful pain that is making designs constant across different browsers. Thanks to Browsershots, we can easily see a screenshot of any page across a multitude of different browsers, showing potential problems that might arise across different browsers, and giving new reason to invent curses for legacy IE versions.
Thanks to Firefox, we now have a browser that is also an important tool for the web developer. Firebug is a must-have extension for the web developer. With this nifty little extension you can view just about any aspect of the web page, visible or behind the scenes, and modify it real-time. It’s incredibly useful for designers and programmers alike.
If you’re trying to find a useful snippet of code, there’s no place better than Google Code. Not only is it a great place to search for entire libraries, you can find useful bits of code that might be hard to find otherwise. If you’re wanting to house a project, you’ll be especially thankful for G Code, as it’s a free and easy way to have a working community for a project without hosting costs.
Also, with Google Code you can use Google’s bandwidth for the javascript libraries included in your projects. Using jQuery? Just call Google’s hosted version and be on your way. No need to slow your own server down with Google’s gracious offer.
Frameworks have given developers a major reason to be thankful. Gone are the days of building websites around repetitive code. Using frameworks like Rails, Django or CakePHP on websites needing database interaction and user permissions takes a major burden off of the programmer. They can spend less time on common, tedious code and more on the interesting and unique. It’s a powerful paradigm shift in programming.
Here are some of the major frameworks used today, in no particular order.
Mad props should be bestowed upon the Open Source Initiative and all the software it promotes. It is a fact that we wouldn’t have a) the Internet or b) much of the technology that it runs on without open source projects. Most of the biggest and best projects are open sourced software, and they all run on the basis that the people building and contributing to them are doing it for free. Granted, these folks might make a hefty profit on consulting services and other opportunities around the projects, they’re still opening up the code base for developers to modify and improve, as they see fit.
Open Source is the Internet’s best contribution yet. The free exchange of ideas encouraged by Open Source is the best thing that’s happened to the web, especially for web developers. Show of hands: Who hasn’t ever used open source software to build a site or project? I’m guessing none of us. That is plenty to be thankful for.
On the heels of Open Source is Creative Commons licensing. You can modify, reuse and redistribute Creative Commons-licensed material, in exchange for (at the most) attribution. Ultimately, Creative Commons protects the original work, but allows people to modify and reuse at will.
Creative Commons is a very big benefit for designers and bloggers alike. The pictures seen in posts on this blog? Creative Commons licensed. There is absolutely nothing better for content producers than free media that can be reused and remixed.
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, Paypal and other payment gateways have made collecting payments a much friendlier task on the web. Sure, there are horror stories and bad experiences using their product, but Paypal has revolutionized the way money is exchanged on the Internet. They have an easy to use API, and if you’re wanting something even simpler, they offer a painless web interface to receive money from.
If Paypal has done you wrong in the past and you’re looking for a better alternative to send and receive money, you might check out a CNN article on five Paypal alternatives. Definitely worth the read.
Javascript is always one of the most popular aspects of web development, and a big reason for that is the advent of Javascript libraries. Javascript libraries, (like frameworks), have eliminated the much of the need for custom Javascript programming. Aside from the fact that the core files in the Javascript libraries do a great many functions themselves, the ability to use custom plugins gives even more functionality to the library.
Not having to do custom Javascript programming for specific effects has given me a much greater respect for Javascript libs this holiday season. Here are some of the more popular Javascript libraries:
Amazon’s on demand services S3 and EC2 have developer’s lives a lot simpler. Not only do they not have to worry about traffic influxes and scaling headaches, they don’t have to spend buckets of cash on reserve servers. The pay-what-you-use business model to web hosting and file serving is a godsend for developers.
The launch of these “cloud” services has also spawn the change of many hosts to move to the pay-as-you-go model. Amazon’s innovation has helped spurn change for the betterment of web development.
There is no friend like RSI-preventing software. RSI (or Repetitive Strain Injury) is typically in the form of carpal tunnel for web developers and typing zealots. Because the typical developer or designer spends at least 8 hours sitting in front of a computer screen all day, there is a likelyhood that RSI will creep into the wrists, hands, forearms, elbows, shoulders, back… and the list can go on and on.
Thanks goodness for RSI software that forces you to take breaks on a regular basis. Many times I’ll find myself fixated at the computer until I finish xyz, and consequently it’s over 50 minutes before I’ve gotten out of my chair away from the computer. With RSI software, you can have a reminder flash on your computer at set intervals that ensures you’re moving your limbs and warding off RSI. If you’re on a Mac, try AntiRSI, Windows and Linux users can try Workrave.
Advanced text editors have sped up the development time by adding a myriad of useful features that can benefit nearly anyone who writes in code, blogger to advanced programmer. Whether you prefer Textmate, Emacs, Vim or some other editor, text editors can save plenty of time on the development cycle.
CSS seems to be one of those technologies that is taken for granted. Can anyone remember what the pre-CSS days were like? It wasn’t pretty. Modifying a web layout’s design meant going through each page and changing each inline style. Ugh. Thanks to the wonderment that is CSS, we can make one change in a single file, and Poof!, it’s reflected across the entire site. Simple, clean, and much less involved.
There are times when I’m not that thankful for CSS (see: Internet Explorer), but for the most part it’s a technology that we’re much better off having.
Ah, coffee. I don’t think I’m in the minority when I say that coffee is a staple to my day. Web workers in general crave the bean, and without it the day doesn’t go as well. There’s something about the smell of a fresh pot of coffee that makes the senses come alive. Many a cup of joe has sustained me through long nights of writing and coding deadlines. I doubt I would have made many of those deadlines without the aide of our caffeinated friend.
Laptops can completely change the effectiveness of a developer. Instead of being confined to the same room, chair, keyboard and monitor each day, the laptop allows for a much-needed change. While the screen real estate may not be as big as your office setup, it offers one thing the other can’t: Variety. Laptops enable you to work from anywhere.
I’ve found that since switching to a laptop, my RSI (see #12) has essentially gone away. I’m constantly working in different chairs and have my hands resting in different positions, which in turn is continuously working different muscle groups. I’m extra thankful for laptops.
What are you thankful for? What should be included on this list? Reply below!
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With exactly one month to go until Christmas, Digital Web Magazine is changing pace for our last article of 2008. Tempers have flared in recent weeks over our coverage of idiosyncratic CSS techniques, so we thought we’d look at something completely different—finding new music online. For many developers, their passion for great music runs nearly as high as their passion for semantic code; Chris Wright takes a look at how the current crop of online music tools might be failing us.
This article also marks something of an experiment for Digital Web: opinion-driven editorial content, rather than our normal expert advice-led columns. Let us know what you think of our first, an editorial on the value of editorial…
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First of all, my apologies for the unintentionally extended silence on Inspiration Bit. I have lots to learn from other busy people on how they manage to combine work and family with blogging, I’m definitely struggling with that.
Leon Paternoster‘s minimalistic sites have long been on my To Review list, and since then they even underwent a complete overhaul. Leon is an ardent crusader for accessible and readable web design, he’s keenly interested in typography and is irked every time he sees a web site with illegible text or where a chunk of text was saved as an image (I feel your pain there, Leon).
So it comes to no surprise to see his own sites with very minimalistic, stripped down to bare necessities, designs. He’s also released two minimalistic WordPress themes: Into the White (which was featured on Smashing Magazine) and Velouria.
The style of his personal single page web site was greatly influenced by Franz Neumann’s elegant creation of Stories & Novels. But after the initial resemblance in the layout and minimalistic design, the similarities end.
Leon Paternoster’s sophisticated minimalistic homepage
The use of Adobe Garamond for the body text on Stories & Novels makes me feel I’m reading a professionally scanned copy of a beautiful book online. Leon, however, chose to go with a safer font for Web: Georgia. In fact, with the exception of the Garamond for the fancy ampersand, the entire page is set in Georgia. And I actually prefer the clearness achieved by a gray text colour and bigger font size on Leon’s site vs. the black and small text on Stories & Novels, that make the latter one appear a bit blurry on my screen.
An interesting thing to note about the different design practices is the way that red/burgundy line was achieved on those two sites: an empty DIV with a red background and 2px height on Stories & Novels vs. the dark red line set to the HTML tag with a top 0.2em border on Leon Paternoster’s.
The only critical comment I have about Leon’s personal page is the slightly excessive use of white space. I do like to see designers practice the use of negative space in their designs, but because there are no images on Leon’s page, no major distractions (I don’t count the red link lines here), lots of white space feels a bit overpowering and unnecessary. I think by slightly reducing the space above and below the site title and the introductory paragraph and a tad tightening of the line-height in the Work area, all parts of the content would tie with each other more effortlessly. What do you think?
One thing that puzzles me a bit on Leon’s homepage is the absence of the red star symbol anywhere on the page, yet it was used as a favicon for the site? I wouldn’t really mind seeing that red star appearing somewhere in the content for some additional visual interest. Perhaps Leon could add a footer text with some copyright, credits stuff, preceded with that star icon? On the other hand, why not using the logo featured on the blog as a favicon?
The blog link from the homepage takes us to a completely different design of Leon’s blog. The first thing that catches the eye, besides seeing the almighty Helvetica everywhere on the site, is the post excerpt on the left, set in a huge (2.5em) font size that looks more like a quote than an excerpt, with the post’s title underneath looking more like the quote’s source. At first it got me confused, thinking that this must be Leon’s most recent post. But as it turns out, the featured excerpt comes from the latest Must Read post.
Leon’s blog has gone sans-serif with lots of Helvetica, unlike its parent home page that’s set in Georgia
The ‘Must Read’ theme continues throughout the blog: you can see the list of Must Reads on the homepage’s right sidebar, and the Archives are starting with the list of ‘Read these first’ posts before switching into the standard chronological order.
Staying true to his minimalistic ideals Leon doesn’t believe in using images to support the design (you will still see the images within the content though), so even his logo is formed with a few simple CSS strokes: red background colour and padded white lowercase initials inside the square.
The colour scheme is super minimalistic as well: grey (various shades of it) for text and hover links, blue for links. And as I mentioned before Helvetica is the main font on the site, with the exception of Georgia in italic for certain phrases with an emphasis on them and the latest Tweet in the right side of the footer, plus Garamond italic is used to style the preposition “by” in the post’s author details.
The blog is based on two columns, with a minimal dynamic content on the right sidebar that changes depending on where on the site you are: on the home page (and Search results page) you see Must Reads and Recent Posts, on single post pages you see only Recent Posts, on About page you can learn a bit more about Leon, while on the Archives page you see only a list of tags.
Even the site navigation is reduced to the minimum: there’s no contact page, only email address, so you’re only left with unadorned list of three main pages—Home, About and Archive, displayed on the right side of the header below a simple search box.
My critique is going to be as minimal and laconic as the design:
Overall it’s a pleasingly looking user-friendly blog, where the content is the site’s main feature with no competition from design. Over to you now: what do you think of Leon Paternoster’s homepage and blog designs? Would you recommend anything to improve the site’s architecture or style, or do you like the simplicity of it and wouldn’t ask to change a thing there?
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With every web developer or agency worth their salt releasing a web application these days, it was inevitable that attention would eventually turn to how best to manage CSS within a modern MVC framework. Steve Heffernan pairs stylesheets with REST principles to present a new approach to CSS architecture.
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There’s been a LOT of buzz lately over Itty Biz’s latest product, Online Business School.
If you don’t know Naomi Dunford, she runs Itty Biz, which offers consulting to small and home business owners. It’s through the Itty Biz blog that I started gaining more knowledge as to how to run my own web design business full time – especially in terms of marketing and self-promotion.
It wasn’t long before I hired Naomi myself – you can read more on my Taking the Freelance Plunge post, as well as on this home business success story over on Itty Biz.
Long story short, I knew that I wanted to leave my day job to run my own business full time. I had the talent as a web designer, but not necessarily the sales or marketing skills to make it a viable option.
I knew I needed some expert advice, so I hired Itty Biz back in January. We had an amazing consultation that set so many things in motion! I can’t even begin to express how motivational my consultations with Naomi were!
She offered me amazing advice and support, and I credit her with being a big part of the reason I was able to take the “plunge” a full 6 months earlier than planned. Of course determination and talent played the largest role, but Naomi’s helpful advice helped steer me in the right direction.
Itty Biz has since released several information products – including SEO School: How to Become an SEO Ninja. Last week, after an enormous amount of work Naomi and her husband Jamie have launched their next big project:
I admit, I was on the fence about buying this product for some time. As a client of Naomi’s, I know how great her advice is. This chick knows what she’s talking about – no doubt there!
But, I’ll be honest – Online Business School is not cheap. It’s currently $197 which for some people – myself included – is a bit of money. If you are thinking of buying, though – don’t wait too long, as this is just a limited price!
There are a LOT of big name bloggers who are marketing this product. Once the first 2,000 orders have been made, Online Business School will be going up to full price – $397.
Pretty good marketing technique I must say. More proof that Itty Biz knows their stuff, LOL. It worked on me, anyway, because I knew I wanted to get it, and wanted to get it at half price, so I made a purchase of my own over the weekend – and am so glad I did!
To get straight to the point, here’s what’s covered in the program…
The course consists of 6 modules – each consisting of an mp3 audio file, pdf ebook and mov video screencast. The modules focus on each of the 6 income streams to diversify your income:
The pdf and audio files essentially cover the same material (the pdfs are transcripts of the audio). I find it helpful that they include both formats for several reasons:
The video is an added component from Naomi’s husband, Jamie. Different than the audio, these basically serve as companion pieces as they go further into some of the topics that Naomi covers in the audio portions. The videos consist of screencasts with examples of some of the site referenced in the audio, etc.
With 6 modules, it’s clear that they do not skimp on content!
The point of Online Business School is to teach you of the 6 different methods of earning income. With today’s economy being as down in the dumps as it is, it’s important not to rely on JUST one source of income alone.
Naomi wrote a post for the sales page titled “Why We’re Broke and How To Fix It” – the point to bring home here is that your family is depending on you. If you are depending on only one source of income – and something happens to that source – well, then what?
As a freelancer or small business owner, you are probably all too familiar with the term “Feast vs Famine.” I touched upon this in the Get Clients Now series, which I want to start up again next year.
The goal of any small business owner – especially in a service business – is to sell your services and get a steady range of work. The operative word here being STEADY. Going solo or being self-employed, you no longer have that steady paycheck coming in once every two weeks. Nope. It’s now all up to you to secure your next client.
For most of us, there is an endless cycle of either having too much work, or not enough. In a service based industry, you typically start off by marketing your butt off to get some clients… when your marketing efforts pay off, you end up being slammed with work. That’s GREAT!
But the problem here is that you’re so busy doing work for your own clients that you end up not having any free time to continue marketing yourself. So a month or two go buy where you feverishly complete work for your new clients and get PAID!
But then what?
As you reach the end of these new client deadlines, you realize that you haven’t spent any time marketing yourself this last month or two. You’ve received your last payments for these jobs and think…
What the heck am I going to do NEXT month?
That’s where you’re potentially screwed. No new work other than the odd small job here or there. So what do you do? Market yourself like crazy again! You spend another month with hardly any income – instead you spend all of your time focusing on self-promotion.
That ends up being a financially difficult month as you scrape what money you had, possibly diving into savings – aka Famine. Until your promotional efforts pay off and you are once again slammed with work – aka Feast.
It’s an endless cycle – rinse and repeat.
The theory to Online Business School is that you are playing with your family’s future and well being by putting all of your eggs in one basket. You go through the “Feast vs Famine” cycle, you get stressed on the slow months because ALL you have is your online service business, or your consulting business or product sales – whatever it is that you “do”
Enter the additional forms of income streams!
If you have several income streams going at once, you will always have SOMETHING coming in. Whether that be affiliate commissions, product sales, etc. you’ll have something to fall back on when your primary source of income slows down. And yes, it is inevitable that you will always have both busy and slow times regardless of what type of business you run.
One of the income streams covered in the course is ebooks and downloads. As a web designer – especially one who specializes in designing and developing custom WordPress Themes – I’ve toyed with the idea of releasing my own premium WordPress themes, but have yet to act on it.
Online Business School really hit home the point that I should have this in place already! For the slow months while I’m focusing my energies on self promotion, I could be making both affiliate and ebook/download sales as a backup. If I have a steady stream of 3-4 income sources going at the same time, I’ll never be completely stuck with NO income when one of the streams temporarily slows down.
I’ll be honest that I’m actually surprised by how much of a fire Online Business School has lit under me! There are ideas that I’ve tinkered with for months now, but haven’t taken any steps towards implementing.
But after listening to the program, I’ve actually started to schedule myself in – as though I were my own client – so that I can implement some of these new income streams. With the current economic crisis – for the well being of our own families – to safeguard our futures – how could we not?
Another benefit of Online Business School? It’s not as transparent as it seems by looking at the list of what’s included.
When I first heard of the course, my first thought was…
Well I have a service based business. That’s all I need!
Why can’t she just sell them individually so I don’t have to shell out $200 for the whole thing?
Well first of all, that defeats the entire purpose of the course, as it’s goal is to teach you how to diversify your income. Yes, it’ll help give you techniques to make your existing method of income better. But, it’ll also teach you how to incorporate NEW income streams.
But better yet, in almost every case, EACH and EVERY module of the course has something you can incorporate to a different area.
For example…
I could go on, but long story short, I’m sure that you’ll find at least one item to take away from each and every one of the modules that can be applied to your business.
With the “How To” information from Online Business School, I’ve made it a priority to carve out some time to update my own site and service offerings. I learned some great ‘tricks’ from the Service Business module that I can use almost immediately to update on my own web site.
For the web designers reading – and I know a lot of you are web designers – there is a lot of good info for us in the course, especially in the Service Business module!
If you’re still not sure if Online Business School is for you, go check out the (very long) sales page over on Itty Biz. There is a lot of FREE content on the site, including a few free video and audio pieces. Including an interview where Naomi mentions one of my own clients, Nicole from Pick Nick’s Brain as an example of a Consulting business!
There is also a video (pictured above) where Naomi explains how she made $176,000 in the first part of 2008. I can only hope to bring in that much income one day!
Yes, I do recommend Online Business School (and not just because I’m an affiliate – this is a completely honest and from-the-heart review!) Since I’ve worked directly with Naomi in the past, I know her, and I know first hand that she offers some kick ass advice.
And with this course, it is advice you have in video and audio files that you can replay whenever you want. Listen to them all now… or focus on just one aspect now, and come back to another in a month or two. It’s all there whenever you need.
As if the course itself wasn’t enough, I received an email from Itty Biz the day after I purchased, saying that my bonus material was ready. Bonus material? Huh?
YES! Tons of great bonuses! I’m truly amazed at the support Naomi has received for Online Business School – many of the big bloggers out there have contributed their own products to be part of the bonus material.
Just for starters…
Plus many more – all-in-all, there are 9 bonus downloads!
And the best part of the deal? Itty Biz is also also offering a money back guarantee in case you don’t find Online Business School to be helpful at all.
Even better than a refund, if you have questions and don’t understand some aspect of the program – Naomi will personally coach you. The value of personal coaching is much greater than a refund, so how could you possibly say no to that?
I understand that you might be reluctant, which is why I’m giving you the same 100% money back, zero pain in the ass factor guarantee that I give for all my IttyBiz stuff. Except it’s going to be even better.
Because income streams are scary and because you might think you can’t do it and because I know you’re probably worried and hopeful at the same time, here’s what we’re going to do.
If, having gone through Online Business School, you are not absolutely certain you can create a better living on this crazy thing we call the World Wide Web, you have two choices.
I’ll give you your money back without being a pain in the ass about it. OR I’ll personally coach you through it so that you have a plan of action that will work for you.
If you’ve been considering purchasing Online Business School, but have been on the fence like I was – I do recommend you get your hands on a copy as soon as possible, while it’s still available at the discounted rate of 50% OFF.
There is an introductory rate of 50% OFF the first 2,000 copies sold. But with the “big” bloggers promoting the course on their own blogs, you can bet the the discounted rate of 50% OFF will NOT last long – and trust me, you do not want to miss out on this!
You owe it to yourself to help safeguard your own future income! Get Online Business School today!
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Freelance Folder recently posted an open thread asking the question “How Do You Stay Sharp?” The post has some great discussion in the comments section, where many people said that it’s through web sites and blogs that they are able to keep up to date on developments in their particular fields.
I myself have a set of design and development related blogs that I read… whether for the latest xhtml/css and WordPress tricks, for design inspiration, etc.
I asked my designer friends on Twitter which sites they thought were the best design blogs to read. You know, the old question “if you were stuck on a desert island and could only have one…” LOL
Without a doubt, the number one answer was Smashing Magazine – for good reason! But there were many others, as well. So for all of the web designers and developers out there, below are 17 essential design blogs you should be reading!
The blogs above are great and very popular, but we all know there are a LOT more than this. There are a ton of great blogs out there, many of which you might never have heard of. Or if you have, they don’t quite get the publicity they deserve.
I’m eternally grateful to my Twitter friends – we’re a great bunch helping each other out with questions, retweets, Diggs, Floats, you name it… Twitter has a fantastic community feel to it. I’ve received a ton of support and link love and I want to return the favor…
So without further ado, here is a bit of a Twitter link love of my own – 46 design / development blogs of some great Twitter friends!
To all of the people above, I say Thank You!
If you could only read 1 design related blog, what would it be?
Please share your inspiration in the comments below!
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Leona Tomlinson is back for a second article, detailing where accessibility statements fit into Web sites today.
