Designing For The Web

Talk I gave with Andy Rutledge, at the Dallas Society of Visual Communications — to an audience of (mostly) print designers, wanting to learn more about the principles of web design.

http://dsvc.org

Transcript

1. of VISUAL COMMUNICATIONS DALLAS SOCIETY WHAT YOU MUST KNOW WHEN DESIGNING FOR THE WEB
2. Andy Rutledge Principal, Unit Interactive http://unitinteractive.com http://andyrutledge.com Nathan Smith UX Designer / Developer http://sonspring.com http://960.gs
3. Today, we’d like to share a few gotchas that we think are good to keep in mind when making the transition from designing for print, to designing for the web. Note: We’re not print guys. So bear with us if we can’t recite what exactly CMYK stands for! :)
4. Everything we cover today can be thought of like learning to play sheet music. Once you get the basics, then you can break the rules and play jazz. But know how/when to do it! :)
5. DESIGNING FOR THE WEB, IN GENERAL... — Art is meant to be appreciated — Design is meant to be used — Make links distinctive from content — Use color with purpose & meaning — A page is not a “page” but an experience — Consider the file size of images & code — Accept the fact everything is a rectangle — Use “real” copywriting when possible — Lorem ipsum is not real content — Be terse, but also... — Design for discoverability & exploration
6. http://www.gestalten.com/motion/new-york-times VIDEO of STEVEN DUENES – GRAPHICS DIRECTOR – THE NEW YORK TIMES
7. — Don’t focus only “above the fold” — Don’t forget about :hover for links — Resist over-using :hover or animations — Consider placing content on a grid — Be aware users will change things... — Either via text resizing, or — Full-page zooming — Plan for contingencies: form errors, etc. — Plan for both keyboard & mouse navigation DESIGNING FOR THE WEB, ON DESKTOP...
8. THINK BEYOND “THE FOLD”
11. Scrolling is okay! :)
12. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1020647662203348823
13. http://www.filamentgroup.com/dwpe/
14. IMAGE SPRITE = SEVERAL IMAGES IN 1 FILE http://smashingmagazine.com/2009/04/27/the-mystery-of-css-sprites-techniques-tools-and-tutorials/
15. http://www.alistapart.com/articles/responsive-web-design/
16. http://www.hicksdesign.co.uk/ “RESPONSIVE” LAYOUT — HICKS DESIGN
17. LIFECHURCH.TV — 2 SITES FOR MOBILE + DESKTOP http://m.lifechurch.tv/ & http://www.lifechurch.tv/
18. — You cannot rely on :hover — Don’t forget about :active link state — Fetching files taxes the battery — Only present the most pertinent info — Don’t try to emulate “native” 100% — Consider size of user’s fingertip(s) — Compress images — Minify CSS and JavaScript files — Avoid JavaScript animations — JS runs much slower on mobile — position:fixed - doesn’t work — overflow:auto/scroll - doesn’t work DESIGNING FOR THE WEB, ON MOBILE...
19. http://www.trentwalton.com/2010/07/05/non-hover/ Elements that rely only on mousemove, mouseover, mouseout or the CSS pseudo- class :hover may not always behave as expected on a touch-screen device such as iPad or iPhone. — Apple Reference Library
21. http://presentationzen.com/presentationzen/2010/08/a-long-time-ago-before-death-by-powerpoint.html BE CONCISE, ESPECIALLY FOR MOBILE...
22. http://presentationzen.com/presentationzen/2010/08/a-long-time-ago-before-death-by-powerpoint.html FIGHT EVIL INFORMATION OVERLOAD...
23. http://www.sencha.com/products/touch/
24. http://www.jquerymobile.com/
25. — sIFR = Uses Flash for custom fonts — Cufón = Uses JavaScript for custom fonts — CSS3 features — text-shadow — letter-spacing — line-height, etc. — @font-face (font embedding) — Google Font API — Font Squirrel — Typekit With font embedding, be sure you’re using each font legally. Not all foundries allow it. TYPOGRAPHICAL POSSIBILITIES
26. http://code.google.com/webfonts
27. http://www.fontsquirrel.com/
28. http://www.typekit.com/
29. http://www.gestalten.com/motion/new-york-times VIDEO of ARCHIE TSE – GRAPHICS EDITOR – THE NEW YORK TIMES
30. So basically, be aware of the “rules” but break them when the situation calls for it. Design freely. Play jazz!
31. ANY FURTHER QUESTIONS? Andy Rutledge TWITTER: http://twitter.com/andyrutledge CONTACT: http://andyrutledge.com/about.php Nathan Smith TWITTER: http://twitter.com/nathansmith CONTACT: http://sonspring.com/contact GET THESE SLIDES... http://slideshare.net/nathansmith/dsvc-design-talk