Feb 05 2010

7 Tools for better Web Design

Category: Web Development, technology — admin @ 4:30 pm

If you’re into web design/development, SixRevisions.com should be on your rss feed list.  They have a list of 7 tools that can become essential to your web design.  Besides the firebug tools, and your google analytics, these tools can really help to design or redesign a site and get feedback on its success.  Tools such as

1. Heat Maps – visual representation of what users are doing on your site by tracking each individual click a user makes.

2. Online Usability Testing – various companies throughout the web offer this service.

3. A/B Testing – do you use the Google Web Optimizer? Why not?

4. Crowdsourcing – take A/B Testing to the next level.

5. Internal Search Data – Google Analytics Site Search tool.

6. Monitoring Services – Yet another Google tool.

7. Blogs – I know you’ve got one, get some feedback using it.

are mentioned in this article.  One thing that is evident, Google has a lot of tools out there to help us website creators.

Check out the full article

Tags: , , , ,

Jan 30 2010

CSS Spritemenu 0.2

Category: Web Development, technology — admin @ 1:33 pm

I was looking into getting more experience using concepts that are light and can help speed up the performance of websites, but at the same time be stylish with a bit of animation using jQuery.  I came across this website and decided to give it a try.  This sprite menu is incredibly easy to use and will add a nice touch to your navigation menu to spruce up your website. The downside is that if you have to add a JavaScript file to you site which causes an additional server call and if you want the easing animation, you’ll have to add a second extra script to you site.  The good part is that you don’t have to write a lot of jQuery and CSS to implement the concept on your site.  It allows you to add custom animations and also comes with plenty of animation options for you to play around with.  You are able to customize the speed of your animations as well as apply it as an opacity, height, or width animation. The most work you’ll need to do is create the menu in photoshop. Other than that just style your menu and add a few lines of jQuery that define the size of your menu buttons, speed, and optional animation types. Here is an example of how I implemented it.

Check out the full tutorial.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

May 12 2009

Gmail Redesigned 3.0

Category: Finance, technology — admin @ 4:16 pm
Gmail_Redesigned_3.jpg

Has anyone had the chance to check out the new Gmail Redesigned? I checked it out and I have to say that I really like it. The interface is lovely from the color scheme to the layout. They have addressed some performance issues too. Supposedly, the main focus of this version is speed and message space. I’ve noticed it being a bit faster now even when I’m working with a slow connection. One thing that is for sure is there is a huge reduction in “Oops!” messages.

In order to get Gmail Redesigned 3.0 you have to download the Redesigned extension. If you already have it, then it should automatically update to version 3.0.

Tags: , , , ,