Cheap Website Design Blog » Smashing Magazine

35 Beautiful Examples Of Animals Photography

admin — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 22:27:00 +0000

By Tim Mercer, Vailancio Rodrigues and Smashing Editorial Team

Animal photography is probably one of the most dangerous types of photography. The outcome totally depends on the skills of photographer and the time when the shot is taken. A photographer who uses good exposure, color and blur settings along with appropriate shutter speed and focusing techniques can produce stunning photographs.

Animal photographers have to be prepared and be ready for the unknown. They need to study action and language of animals to know every move. Many animal photographers use camouflage to hide themselves and to give photographs a natural and “natural” look. When shooting in wildness, photographers usually shoot with long telephoto lenses from a distance.

Below we feature 35 beautiful examples of animal photography, photos of wild, tamed and other animals. All photographs are linked and lead to the source – the respective photographers. Do not forget to explore further works of these talented photographers. Please notice that the collection presented below is supposed to only give you some inspiration, it can and should be extended; please feel free to suggest links to further resources in the comments to this posts.

You may be interested in the following related posts:

50 Wonderful, Inspiring Photoblogs

admin — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 15:00:53 +0000

A photoblog is a very specific type of blog. Its focus is photography, and there are typically few words beyond a caption and comments. Photoblogs are easy to set up and maintain, and they make great photo galleries for photographers who are put off by the complexity of HTML coding or installing a CMS such as WordPress.

It’s because of this simplicity, not to mention the development of free yet sophisticated tools like Pixelpost, that photoblogging has exploded in popularity over the last few years. Photoblogs.org, for example, lists over 32,000 photoblogs! That’s a lot of photos, and a lot of photographers vying for your attention.

Dedicated as ever to making your life easier, we’ve handpicked over 50 brilliant photoblogs for your viewing pleasure. There’s a little of everything, including photojournalism and nature, landscape, street, portrait and travel photography. We’ve also listed some of the best photoblogging solutions, articles and other resources at the bottom of the post.

50 Wonderful Photoblogs

The Big Picture
The Big Picture from the Boston Globe; amazing photojournalism.

Vernon Trent
The photoblog of fine-art photographer Vernon Trent.

Chromasia
David J. Nightingale’s photoblog with rich, lively colors, unusual perspectives and attention to details.

Laurens Kuipers – Daily Photoblog
Architectural and landscape photography by Laurens Kuipers.

Robert Kruh Photoblog
The photoblog of Robert Kruh.

Jeezo Peezo Photoblog
Some beautiful portraits and black-and-white photos.

Daily Dose of Imagery
The photoblog of Sam Talayeh.

Fine-Art Photoblog
Nine talented photographers from six countries.

Stuck In Customs
The fabulous HDR photography of Trey Ratcliff.

Exposed Planet
Photos from around the world by adventurer and entrepreneur Harry Kikstra.

Andreas Kaiser Photography
Stunning black-and-white photos from German photographer Andreas Kaiser.

Eyes Wide Opened
Dark and eerie fantasy photography.

Tree Swing
Interesting set of photos from self-taught photographer Sean McKendall.

:photoschau
The photoblog of a German photographer Frank Boenigk.

Cheneel
Photos from a Hong Kong-based photographer.

The Frame
Photojournalism blog from the Sacramento Bee.

Pixel Candy
The nature photography of Thomas Bonin.

Here and Now
Amazing landscape and nature photography.

Really Japan
Photos from Japan.

Accessible
Beautiful landscapes from Germany.

From 10 to 300 mm
More amazing landscapes.

Photo Journal
Photojournalism from the Wall Street Journal.

Filling the Frame
Street and documentary photography from Argentina.

Dawn Le Blanc
Beautiful photos of flowers in black-and-white and color.

Dutch PhotoDay
Two photographers from the Netherlands.

Daily Walks
Photos from northern California, taken on walks.

Radio Uruguay
Lots of gritty black-and-white photos.

Photo of the Day
PDN’s Photo of the Day.

These Fleeting Moments
Beautiful landscape photography by Jason Ertel.

Moodaholic
Inspirational photography by Kenny Wang.

Absolutely Nothing
Landscape photos from the north of England.

A Walk Through Durham Township
The landscapes and people of Durham Township, Pennsylvania.

Any Day
The personal work of a Swedish photojournalist.

Sarajevo 1992-1996
Photos taken during the 1395-day-long siege of Sarajevo from 1992 to 1996.

Apocalyps
Winner of best Canadian Photoblog in the 2007 Photobloggies awards.

Whateverland
A collection of photos by Archie Flor Cruz.

Wink
A wonderful photoblog from a photographer based on Canada’s Vancouver Island. Some beautiful photos of kids.

Terrorkitten
Photos from the UK and the beautiful Greek island of Crete.

Japan Window
Andy Gray’s photos from Japan.

Framed and Shot
The joint photoblog of a Norwegian couple living in Houston, Texas.

Lumilux
An impressive photoblog from an 18-year-old student in New York City.

This is a Photo Blog
A group of photographers who give each other assignments — and have fun doing it!

Pixelgrain
The photography of John Ryan Brubaker.

Middle Kingdom
The “Middle Kingdom” through the eyes of a photographer living and working in China.

Istoica
Innovative portraiture and fashion photography.

Milou Vision
Beautiful black-and-white landscape photography.

Dailysnap
Photography from Jessyel Ty Gonzalez’s life.

My Glass Eye
Owen Billcliffe’s visual diary.

Electrolite
The online scrapbook of advertising and commercial photographer Shannon Richardson.

1965
Evocative black-and-white photography from Japan.

Ojo Rojo
A photoblog from Peru. Beautiful photos.

Last Click

Marta
Wonderful photos, especially of children, from Spanish photographer Marta.

Sources and Resources

Create your own photoblog with the following solutions:

Pixelpost
PixyBlog
Shutterchance
Picoplog
Aminus3
WordPress – Photoblogs and Galleries
Instructions for turning WordPress into a photoblog.

Photoblogging Articles

Introduction to Photoblogs and Moblogs
Handy summary, with lots of links to photoblogging resources.
Shutterbug: How Photographers are Making the Internet Work for Them
Great introduction to the concept of photoblogging.
Digital Photo School: Why You Should Consider Setting up a Photoblog
10 excellent reasons to start a photoblog.
Blog on Photoblogs
A blog about… photoblogging.

Photoblog Directories

The following websites have lists of photoblogs — thousands and thousands of photoblogs to enjoy. You can also promote your own photoblog by adding it to the lists.

About the author

Andrew Gibson is a photographer and writer. He has a photoblog of his own called Andes, where he displays his best photos from the South American Andes.

(al)

Post tags: inspiration, photography

The Ultimate Collection Of Free Photoshop Patterns

admin — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 03:00:06 +0000

by Steven Snell

Photoshop users can save themselves a great deal of time and end up with better results by taking advantage of readily available freebies, such as brushes, patterns and shapes. With the wide variety and (often) high quality of resources available, whatever you need or are looking for is in most cases already available somewhere. The only problem is that the vast quantity of freebies can make it difficult to track down what you need. Hopefully this collection of excellent Photoshop patterns will help.

The resources featured here are all available as downloads in PAT format, which can be placed in Photoshop. In addition to this format, there is also a number of quality resources online for creating or using patterns in other formats that can be used by any program, not just Photoshop. As with any type of freebie, always be sure to check the license or requirements set by the creator.

Skull Patterns
Two skull patterns from Go Media using an image from one of its vector packs.

Carbon Fiber
A carbon fiber pattern.

Patterns from PunkSafetyPin
This set of 15 patterns from a deviantART user offers more than 30 other packs of patterns.

Grunge Pattern Set
Nine large and high-quality grunge patterns.

Dots Pattern Set
Eight dot patterns of various colors and styles.

Hexagonal Patterns
Seventy-two black-and-white horizontal and vertical patterns.

Skulls and Hearts
Three different gray, white and pink patterns.

Charcoal Demask
One seamless pattern.

Victiorian Dreams Textures
Ten textured patterns of different variations.

Paisley
A set of eight stylish paisley patterns.

Checkered Patterns
Three different patterns featuring a checkered design.

Different Texture
A swirling flourish pattern.

Scanline and Screentone Patterns
A big collection of 27 different patterns.

Spiderman Pattern
One tileable metal pattern.

Patterns from DesignSpice
A set of 10 repeating blue patterns.

Zig-Zag Pattern Set
Eight colorful zig-zag patterns.

Scanlines1000
A set of 21 transparent patterns of scan lines.

Patterns by Raimyu
A set of 20 patterns of different kinds.

Squidfingers Pack
A huge set of 108 different patterns of all kinds.

Textured Stripes
Six patterns of textured diagonal stripes of various colors.

Floral Patterns
A set of 17 patterns with different floral styles.

Tile Patterns
A large set of 36 patterns of tiles. Brick and wood patterns are also included.

Animal Print Patterns
This set includes 18 different animal-fur print and skin patterns.

Grungy and Dirty Patterns
Seamless, big texture patterns. There are 27 in the set.

Micro Patterns
A big collection of 54 patterns.

Vector Patterns
Twelve attractive patterns in this set.

Wallpaper Patterns
A total of six patterns (two different sizes of three patterns).

Dots and Stripes Patterns
Ten patterns, four of stripes and six of dots.

Floral Patterns
Includes 28 patterns, plus PNG files for each.

Cards Pattern
Eight different variations of the pattern are included.

Handmade Paper Patterns
A set of seven patterns (the same pattern in seven colors).

Patterns by Camilak3
A set of 17 patterns that include stars, butterflies, hearts and paw prints.

Web 2.0 Pattern Collection
A huge set of 133 patterns in various Web 2.0 styles.

Seamless Patterns
Six different patterns to choose from.

Stripes Patterns
This set includes four patterns in various colors.

Wood Pattern Textures Set
This set includes 19 wood patterns with different shades and styles.

Plaid and Checkered Patterns
A total of 25 patterns are included in this set.

Lace Patterns
This set contains 19 seamless lace patterns.

Noise Patterns
Ten seamless noise patterns for adding texture.

Brick Texture Patterns

This set includes eight brick patterns.

Composition Patterns
Five patterns of notebook paper and a composition book.

PS Patterns Pack
A set of three different patterns, including squares, dots and hearts.

Fire Patterns
A set of 20 high-resolution fire patterns.

Chevrons Pattern Set
A set of eight patterns of different shapes and colors.

Fiber Paper Pattern Set
A set of 10 patterns of different colors with a textured look.

Patterns #22
A set of 30 colorful patterns.

Spring Fling
This set includes 36 pink and green patterns.

Stripes Patterns
A set of 30 disturbed stripe patterns.

Line Patterns
This set contains 25 colorful patterns of lines.

Bourbon Stripes
A set of 12 stripe patterns, both vertical and horizontal, with different color combinations.

Hearts and Boxes
Three patterns in a hand-drawn style.

Related Resources, Tutorials and Articles:

How to Install Photoshop Patterns
If you’re unsure how to install and use the patterns featured here, this article explains the simple process.

Photoshop Tutorial: Creating Custom Patterns
Hongkiat has a tutorial that demonstrates the steps in creating a simple repeating pattern.

Creating Patterns in Photoshop CS2
Veerle demonstrates how to use Illustrator and Photoshop to create a seamless pattern.

BgPatterns
A fun and useful tool for creating your own JPG file to use as a repeating pattern.

Stripe Generator
If a striped pattern is what you’re after, this tool will let you create your own any way you like it.

COLOURlovers
COLOURlovers has a great collection of user-submitted patterns for downloading in PNG format.

About the Author

Steven Snell is a Web designer and freelance blogger who can be found on his own blogs: Vandelay Website Design and DesignM.ag. (al)

Post tags: patterns, photoshop

Smashing Retro Icon Set

admin — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 18:30:52 +0000

Over the last few months, we have extensively covered the influence of retro and vintage style on modern Web design. We have looked at recent vintage Web designs, showcased posters and typography and presented vintage tutorials. In fact, we are confident that vintage is still in, and that many designers are experimenting with this style to achieve unusual, creative and (hopefully) effective results.

So today, we are pleased to release the Smashing Retro Icon Set, a set of 10 beautiful, high-quality “vintage” icons, created by the talented Russian design agency SoftFacade especially for Smashing Magazine and its readers. The set contains 10 original icons: search, sign-up, calendar, news, RSS, comments, email, ads, home and address.

Download the set for free!

You can use the set for free and without any restrictions in both your private and commercial projects, including software, online services, templates and themes. The set may not be resold, sub-licensed, rented, transferred or otherwise made available for use. Please link to this article if you would like to spread the word.

Download the set (.zip, ICO and PNG, 9.3 MB)

Thank you, guys. We really appreciate your efforts! (al)

Post tags: downloads, free, Freebies, Graphics, icons

The Big PHP IDE Test: Why Use One And Which To Choose

admin — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:54:51 +0000

By Alexander Makarov

Everyone wants to be more productive, make fewer mistakes and write good code. Of course, that all depends on you, but in most cases integrated development environments (IDEs) can help you achieve those goals more easily. Unfortunately, choosing the right IDE is very difficult because a lot needs to be considered. And the website of almost every IDE tells us it is the best one.

In this post, we’ll take a close look at the most popular PHP IDEs, exploring their functions, comparing them in a table and drawing some conclusions. Hopefully, you’ll get an idea of what each PHP IDE has to offer and which one best fits your needs.

For a long time, I worked in PHP only for fun. I’ve developed Java Web applications with Eclipse and IntelliJ IDEA. These are a great Java IDEs. Not surprisingly, I wanted something similar for PHP. The following are some of the features that I found needed to be considered.

IDE Features

1. Syntax highlighting

Good syntax highlighting improves code readability a lot. Really! Just look at this:

2. Code completion

Automatic code suggestions can help the developer avoid having to type so much. If it supports custom classes and phpDoc, it can even save you from having to read project documentation.

Good code completion can also prevent typos. For example, if typing $cotroller-> does not show you any suggestions, you’ll know something is wrong. Uh oh… it should be $controller!

Poor code completion can slow you down if too many variants are shown or your class methods are not picked up.

It is also good to have file name completion in HTML src=" and PHP include and require.

3. Navigation

One of the most boring things is trying to find where a certain variable has been defined or used. Some good IDEs can help with “GoTo” actions, like go to definition.

Another important feature is search. Searching should not take a long time, even with large projects. Even better is if the IDE lets you move quickly to the next occurrence of a search phrase, like Firefox does with its Quick Find feature.

4. Errors and warnings highlighting

On-the-fly syntax checking can prevent various typos and common programming mistakes. In the example below, the IDE indicates that you may have used = instead of ==:

The more the IDE detects, the better — except false positives, of course.

5. Refactoring and code generation

Refactoring is basically a set of techniques for turning weak code into solid code. Its implementation in PHP IDEs is very weak compared to that of compiled-language IDEs, such as Java and C, but it’s still very useful.

Very basic PHP refactoring includes:

“Move,” which updates all includes and requires when moving a file to another directory.
“Rename,” which renames something and ensures it is renamed throughout the project.
“Safe delete,” which ensures deletion of a file does not harm other parts of the project.

In addition to basic refactoring, some IDEs can generate code for class constructors, getters/setters and even stub methods for a parent class.

6. Debugging

Debugging is not so critical in PHP because you can add echos or use something like FirePHP without even having to recompile your code. But for complex applications in which you need to add echo after each line to see what’s going on, debugging can save you hours.

If the IDE is good enough, it provides you with step-by-step debugging and lets you see the current values of variables in scope.

7. Versioning system

Versioning is extremely useful for both team and one-person development. It shows what changes have been made to a file, when they were made and by whom. A good IDE allows you to visually compare revisions, copy changes from one version to another, revert to previous states and merge changes made by different team members.

When performing common checks and commits, integrating a versioning system such as CVS, SVN, git or Mercurial in your IDE is usually much better than running a separate application.

8. Client-side features

Using PHP alone is very rare. CSS and JavaScript are almost always somewhere in your application. So, good code completion, highlighting, navigation and perhaps some refactoring would be just as beneficial for the other languages and technologies you use in conjunction with PHP.

How To Choose A Good One?

Every IDE provides a lot of features. Some of those features are very useful, some are not. Here are some guidelines to follow to narrow down the one for you:

Try free ones first. Their feature set may be enough for you, and you wouldn’t need to pay for a license.
First, make sure the features you want are ones you really need. If they are, check that they work properly in your IDE of choice.
If you find one IDE that fits well but is missing one or two features, try specialized tools.
Once you choose an IDE, play with it for a week before implementing it in a big project. You may find your current working habits are too strong to allow you to feel comfortable with it.

A Comparison Table

Along with Vladimir Statsenko, who helped with the section on Aptana, I’ve prepared this comparison table.

What Was Covered

Eclipse-based IDEs
PDT, Zend Studio 6, Aptana PHP and Aptana Studio Pro are built on the Eclipse platform. That means you can use any of the thousands of Eclipse plug-ins out there. If a feature you need is not integrated in the IDE itself, it is most likely available as a third party plug-in.

Eclipse PHP IDEs were the first freeware IDEs with true IDE capabilities, such as complex code completion, code navigation, projects support, etc. Most of them are still free and very powerful.

NetBeans
NetBeans is the new bright kid on the block, but not built on the Eclipse platform. It has most of the features of other IDEs and yet more still. And it’s free, too.

Development of this IDE is very public, open and rapid. Following the development blog and testing new builds as they come out is very interesting, even if there is already a stable version available (v6.5).

What Was Not Covered

There are plenty of powerful notepads such as PSPad, Notepad++, TextMate, vim and Emacs. Some are very similar to IDEs and even better if you want a good text editor but not the full IDE experience. Reviewing all of the good IDEs out there would not be possible (there are so many), so only the major players are compared here.

PHP IDEs We Tested

Here is the list of PHP IDEs we included in our review:

PDT 1
PDT 2.0
Zend Studio 6
NetBeans 6.5
NetBeans 7 (development version)
Aptana PHP
Aptana Studio Pro
Codelobster *
Nusphere PhpED 5.6 *

We thought it would be interesting to allow our readers to edit the table, which is hosted on Google Docs. Feel free to add your favorite IDE if it’s not there, or note some features on the ones that are.

The full table at Google Docs (not editable snapshot)

* Codelobster and Nusphere PhpED were filled in by Russian community members.

Conclusion

Still not using IDE? You may be wasting time. Try it. You’ll see the difference.

Both PDT and NetBeans are good. If you need a lot of plug-ins, Eclipse is the better choice. If editing tools and code completion are more important to you, then pick NetBeans. NetBeans is a bit more responsive, too.

If you are mostly editing HTML and CSS, try Notepad++, vim, TextMate or Emacs. They all have very good HTML editing capabilities and can be configured for simple code completion. And they are faster and lighter than fully featured IDEs.

If you are editing complex JavaScript, try Aptana, which is amazing for JavaScript, or the Spket plug-in for Eclipse, which has nearly the same features.

And remember, IDEs are not meant to change the way you think. They simply speed up the development process.

Commercial vs. Freeware

Strange as it may sound, commercial PHP IDEs such as Zend Studio and Aptana Studio Pro do not have significantly more advantages than free alternatives such as PDT2.0 and NetBeans, both of which are very good.

With Aptana Studio Pro, you get a good IE JavaScript debugger, SFTP, FTPS and some other less-than-useful features for $99.

Like NetBeans, Zend Studio offers a bit more code completion and error detection than PDT. It also has a very good customizable code formatter, refactoring capabilities (which NetBeans also has) and some wizards for the Zend Framework. It starts at $399.

Resources

PDT Project
Official Eclipse PHP Development Tools website.
Zend Studio
Official Zend Studio website.
NetBeans
Official NetBeans website.
NetBeans for PHP weblog
Here you can learn about new features to be included in upcoming releases and discuss them as they are being developed.
Aptana
Official Aptana website.

About the author

Alexander Makarov is a professional Web developer in Russia. He is also the person behind RMCreative, a Russian blog dedicated to Web developers, designers and everyone interested in how the Web is built.

(al)

Post tags: ide, php, test

10 Harsh Truths About Corporate Websites

admin — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 01:00:13 +0000

By Paul Boag

We all make mistakes running our websites. However, the nature of those mistakes varies depending on the size of your company. As your organization grows, the mistakes change. This post addresses common mistakes among large organizations.

Most of the clients I work with are large organizations: universities, large charities, public sector institutions and large companies. Over the last 7 years, I have noticed certain recurring misconceptions among these organizations. This post aims to dispel these illusions and encourage people to face the harsh reality.

The problem is that if you are reading this post, you are probably already aware of these things. But hopefully this article will be helpful to you as you convince others within your organization. In any case, here are our 10 harsh truths about websites of large organizations.

1. You Need A Separate Web Division

In many organizations, the website is managed by either the marketing or IT department. However, this inevitably leads to a turf war, with the website becoming the victim of internal politics.

In reality, pursuing a Web strategy is not particularly suited to either group. IT may be excellent at rolling out complex systems, but it is not suited to developing a friendly user experience or establishing an online brand.

Zeldman urges organisations to create a separate web division.

Marketing, on the other hand, is little better. As Jeffrey Zeldman puts it in his article Let there be Web divisions:

The Web is a conversation. Marketing, by contrast, is a monologue… And then there’s all that messy business with semantic markup, CSS, unobtrusive scripting, card-sorting exercises, HTML run-throughs, involving users in accessibility, and the rest of the skills and experience that don’t fall under Marketing’s purview.

Instead, the website should be managed by a single unified team. Again, Zeldman sums it up when he writes:

Put them in a division that recognizes that your website is not a bastard of your brochures, nor a natural outgrowth of your group calendar. Let there be Web divisions.

2. Managing Your Website Is A Full-Time Job

Not only is the website often split between marketing and IT, it is also usually under-resourced. Instead of there being a dedicated Web team, those responsible for the website are often expected to run it alongside their “day job.” When a Web team is in place, it is often over-stretched. The vast majority of its time is spent on day-to-day maintenance rather than longer-term strategic thinking.

This situation is further aggravated by the fact that the people hired to “maintain” the website are junior members of the staff. They do not have the experience or authority to push the website forward. It is time for organizations to seriously invest in their websites by hiring full-time senior Web managers to move their Web strategies forward.

3. Periodic Redesign Is Not Enough

Because corporate websites are under-resourced, they are often neglected for long periods of time. They slowly become out of date with their content, design and technology.

Eventually, the website becomes such an embarrassment that management steps in and demands that it be sorted. This inevitably leads to a complete redesign at considerable expense. As I point out in the Website Owners Manual, this a flawed approach. It is a waste of money because when the old website is replaced, the investment put into it is lost, too. It is also tough on finances, with a large expenditure having to be made every few years.

Cameron Moll encourages web designers to realign their website rather than redesign.

A better way is continual investment in your website, allowing it to evolve over time. Not only is this less wasteful, it is also better for users, as pointed out by Cameron Moll in his post Good Designers Redesign, Great Designers Realign.

4. Your Website Cannot Appeal To Everyone

One of the first questions I ask a client is, “Who is your target audience?” I am regularly shocked at the length of the reply. Too often, it includes a long and detailed list of diverse people. Inevitably, my next question is, “Which of those many demographic groups are most important?” Depressingly, the answer is usually that they are all equally important.

The harsh truth is that if you build a website for everyone, it will appeal to no one. It is important to be extremely focused about your audience and cater your design and content to it. Does this mean you should ignore your other users? Not at all. Your website should be accessible by all and not offend or exclude anybody. However, the website does need to be primarily aimed at a clearly defined audience.

5. You Are Wasting Money On Social Networking

I find it encouraging that website managers increasingly recognize that a Web strategy is more than running a website. They are beginning to use tools such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to increase their reach and engage with new audiences. However, although they are using these tools, too often they do so ineffectively. Tweeting on a corporate account or posting sales demonstrations on YouTube misses the essence of social networking.

Microsoft dramatically improved its image amoung the development community by allowing Microsoft staff to speak out via the Channel 9 website.

Social networking is about people engaging with people. Individuals do not want to build relationships with brands and corporations. They want to talk to other people. Too many organizations throw millions into Facebook apps and viral videos when they could spend that money on engaging with people in a transparent and open away.

Instead of creating a corporate Twitter account or indeed even a corporate blog, encourage your employees to start Tweeting and blogging themselves. Provide guidelines on acceptable behavior and what tools they need to start engaging directly with the community connected to your products and services. This demonstrates not only your commitment to the community but also the human side of your business.

6. Your Website Is Not All About You

Where some website managers want their website to appeal to everybody, others want it to appeal to themselves and their colleagues. A surprising number of organizations ignore their users entirely and base their websites entirely on an organizational perspective. This typically manifests itself in inappropriate design that caters to the managing director’s personal preferences and contains content full of jargon.

A website should not pander to the preferences of staff but should rather meet the needs of its users. Too many designs are rejected because the boss “doesn’t like green.” Likewise, too much website copy contains acronyms and terms used only within the organization.

7. You’re Not Getting Value From Your Web Team

Whether they have an in-house Web team or use an external agency, many organizations fail to get the most from their Web designers. Web designers are much more than pixel pushers. They have a wealth of knowledge about the Web and how users interact with it. They also understand design techniques, including grid systems, white space, color theory and much more.

Treating designers as pixel pushers wastes their design experience: post from Twitter complaining about being a pixel pusher

It is therefore wasteful to micro-manage by asking them to “make the logo bigger” or to “move that 3 pixels to the left.” By doing so, you are reducing their role to that of a software operator and wasting the wealth of experience they bring.

If you want to get the maximum return on your Web team, present it with problems, not solutions. For example, if you’re targeting your website at teenage girls, and the designer goes for corporate blue, suggest that your audience might not respond well to that color. Do not tell him or her to change it to pink. This way, the designer has the freedom to find a solution that may even be better than your choice. You allow your designer to solve the problem you have presented.

8. Design By Committee Brings Death

The ultimate symbol of a large organization’s approach to website management is the committee. A committee is often formed to tackle the website because internal politics demand that everybody has a say and all considerations be taken into account. To say that all committees are a bad idea is naive, and to suggest that a large corporate website could be developed without consultation is fanciful. However, when it comes to design, committees are often the kiss of death.

Design by committee leads to design on the fly.

Design is subjective. The way we respond to a design can be influenced by culture, gender, age, childhood experience and even physical conditions (such as color blindness). What one person considers great design could be hated by another. This is why it is so important that design decisions be informed by user testing rather than personal experience. Unfortunately, this approach is rarely taken when a committee is involved in design decisions.

Instead, designing by committee becomes about compromise. Because committee members have different opinions about the design, they look for ways to find common ground. One person hates the blue color scheme, while another loves it. This leads to designing on the fly, with the committee instructing the designer to “try a different blue” in the hopes of finding middle ground. Unfortunately, this leads only to bland design that neither appeals to nor excites anyone.

9. A CMS Is Not A Silver Bullet

Many of the clients I work with have amazingly unrealistic expectations of CMS (content management systems). Those without one think it will solve all of their content woes, while those who have one moan about it because it hasn’t!

It is certainly true that a CMS can bring a lot of benefits. These include:

reducing the technical barriers of adding content,
allowing more people to add and edit content,
facilitating faster updates,
and allowing greater control.

However, many CMS are less flexible than their owners would like. They fail to meet the changing demands of the websites they manage. Website managers also complain that their CMS is hard to use. However, in many cases, this is because those using it have not been adequately trained or are not using it regularly enough.

Finally, a CMS may allow content to be easily updated, but it does not ensure that content will be updated or even that the quality of content will be acceptable. Many CMS-based websites still have out-of-date content or poorly written copy. This is because internal processes have not been put in place to support the content contributors.

If you look to a CMS to solve your website maintenance issues, you will be disappointed.

10. You Have Too Much Content

Part of the problem with content maintenance on large corporate websites is that there is too much content in the first place. Most of these websites have “evolved” over years, with more and more content having been added. At no stage has anybody reviewed the content and asked what could be taken away.

Many website managers fill their website with copy that nobody will read. This happens because of:

A fear of missing something: by putting everything online, they believe users will be able to find whatever they want. Unfortunately, with so much information available, it is hard to find anything.
A fear users will not understand: whether from a lack of confidence in their website or in their audience, they feel the need to provide endless instruction to users. Unfortunately, users never read this copy.
A desperate desire to convince: they are desperate to sell their product or communicate their message, and so they bloat the text with sales copy that actually conveys little valuable information.

Steve Krug, in his book Don’t Make Me Think, encourages website managers to “Get rid of half the words on each page, then get rid of half of what’s left.” This will reduce the noise level on each page and make the useful content more prominent.

Conclusions

Large organizations do a lot right in running their websites. However, they also face some unique challenges that can lead to painful mistakes. Resolving these problems means accepting that mistakes have been made, overcoming internal politics and changing the way you control your brand. Doing so will give you a significant competitive advantage and allow your Web strategy to become more effective over the long term.

About the author

Paul Boag is the founder of UK Web design agency Headscape, author of the Website Owners Manual and host of award-winning Web design podcast Boagworld.com.

(al)

Post tags: corporate, designs

Movie Website Designs: Examples And Current Practices

admin — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 05:52:51 +0000

by Steven Snell

It can be an interesting experience looking around at websites in particular industries to identify trends and see how they differ from those in other industries. In this article, we’ll take a look at the websites of major motion pictures to see what types of websites are being created. Movies are a big part of the entertainment industry, and in recent years their websites have become increasingly critical to their overall success.

The Purpose of Movie Websites

Before getting into the details of specific movie websites and discussing current trends, it’s important first to consider the primary purpose of movie websites. Obviously, in order for a movie to be financially successful, it needs to do well at the box office, and today many moviegoers use the Internet to find movies to see and to buy tickets. Having things like trailers and other video clips helps to engage visitors and encourages them to find show times and buy tickets online.

Movies are made to entertain audiences, and movie websites are much the same. In order to get visitors’ attention and encourage them to see the movie, a website needs to give them what they are looking for and provide some entertainment at the same time. Today’s movie websites make it easy to take a couple minutes and watch a few trailers before deciding which movie to see.

Because the purpose of movie websites is to pique interest and sell tickets, they generally include:

Plenty of video, including trailers,
Easy access to show times and online ticket purchasing,
Cast bios and other general info.

Visitor Expectations

The design, style and content of a movie website is generally meant to meet visitors’ expectations of that website. Visitors expect to find websites that are graphically rich, with audio and video as well. They expect something special, and entertainment value is often more important than the website being very accessible or fast-loading.

Visitors expect to be able to arrive on a movie website and determine within a few minutes if they want to see the movie. For this reason, trailers are key elements: they are almost always easy to find or automatically start when the home page loads.

The design style also reflects visitor expectations, and the movie itself. You can usually tell very quickly upon arriving on a website whether it is for a comedy, drama, horror or action movie.

Trends Of Current Movie Websites

Among the sample movie websites discussed in this article, the following trends are apparent.

1. Flash

Most movie websites rely heavily on Flash for a dynamic and interactive experience. The audience of these websites typically expects to be entertained, so bells and whistles take priority, and heavy use of these elements is more acceptable than it would be on other types of websites.

2. Large Background Images

In addition to Flash, larger photos and images play a huge role in creating attractive and interesting movie websites. Most movie websites make use of large images, in many cases as the background of the page.

3. Video/Trailers

It’s only natural to assume that the website of a movie would include some video. Almost all movie websites include a full trailer, and in some cases a few different trailers. Many websites put the trailer on the home page or a splash page, and the trailers often start without being prompted by the user.

While audio and video that automatically starts is usually considered a negative feature, because of their subject matter, movie websites are a bit different than the average website. Because video is a priority for most visitors, it seems to be an accepted fact that movie websites will play a trailer automatically when the page loads. Those movie websites that don’t put the trailer on a splash page or the home page typically have a link in the navigation menu that clearly points to the trailer.

4. Show Times and Ticket Info

Because the goal of movie websites is to sell tickets, each one includes a link or form for visitors who want to find show times and ticket information for their area. Many websites link to Fandango and/or Moviefone. Making it easy for people to get tickets is a priority.

5. Splash Pages

About half of the movie websites we’ll look at later in this article show a splash page before the visitor enters the main website. Some of these splash pages are more useful than others. Many include a video of the trailer, and some have options to access country-specific sections of the website if the movie is playing worldwide.

6. Display of Nominations and Awards

Movie websites often attempt to demonstrate the quality of a movie by listing or displaying nominations and awards it has received. You’ll see this a lot on splash pages and home pages of award-winning pictures.

7. Short Page Length

It’s very common for movie websites to take up only the height of the screen, or just a bit more. It’s rare to find pages that are long and require a lot of vertical scrolling. With most websites being Flash-based or set against a large background image, the short page length keeps everything in view at all times.

8. Not Always On Company Domain

Not all movie websites have their own domain. Some studios, such as Fox Searchlight and Disney, keep their movie websites on their own domains. The number of major movie websites that are on the main company domain is far more than those that have their own, but it is still a trend for some companies.

9. Social Networking /Media Interaction

Many movies have pages set up on Facebook and MySpace to take advantage of social networking opportunities. With the popularity of these social networking websites, especially among younger users, it’s no surprise that movie companies are seeing the value of getting involved. A bit more surprising is the number of movie websites that include links to encourage votes on social media websites such as Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon and Reddit.

10. Downloads

Most movie websites include a downloads section where visitors can get free wallpaper, posters and buddy icons.

11. Fun Extras

Many movie websites, but not all, include more than just the typical movie and cast information along with the trailer. Games and activities are also very common. These elements can make the website more fun for visitors while also promoting the movie.

BrideWars includes Bridal Beatdown, a game in which you are one of the main characters in a boxing match. You can even upload your own photo to put on the character if you want.

The website for He’s Just Not That Into You includes a video by the male characters of the cast called The Top 10 Chick Flick Cliches That Are Not In This Movie.

12. Widgets

Many movie websites also include widgets that visitors can put on their own websites or social networking pages.

Showcase of Movie Websites

Now that we’ve looked at some of the trends of modern movie websites, let’s take a look at 40 websites of recent and upcoming movies. The websites were chosen because the movies are current (or upcoming) and popular, rather than because they are the “best” examples movie websites.

Taken

The website for Taken features the trailer in the center of the screen, with the option to view in full screen. The content of the website is set against a large dark background image. The navigation on the left side of the screen is simple and logical, making it easy for visitors to find what they want. Although audio plays automatically when the page is opened, it can easily be turned off with a conveniently located control.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop

Paul Blart: Mall Cop uses a splash page that allows visitors to find a theater and show times by searching by zip code. Lower on the page are links to the movie’s pages on social networking websites like MySpace and Facebook.

Clicking on “Enter the Site Now” opens a new window for the main website, which can be annoying to visitors. The website includes a large background image of Paul Blart on a scooter. The main navigation of the website is cleverly presented as a mall directory. Throughout the website, you’ll hear audio clips of mall security. Unlike many of the other websites, this one does not feature a trailer on the splash page or home page.

The Uninvited

The website of The Uninvited has a dark design with hand-written text, including for the primary navigation. The style of the design is a good match for the type of movie it is. There is no splash page, and no trailer video plays upon arrival, but the trailer is accessible by clicking on “videos.” After the trailer plays, you’ll see options for embedding the video on another website, as well as for sharing via Facebook and email.

Hotel for Dogs

Hotel for Dogs uses a splash page that allows visitors to find local showings and get tickets, but not much else. Because this option is also available inside the main website, the splash page seems unnecessary.

Once on the main website, you’ll see a large background image. The navigation options pop out on hover, and there is more content available on this website than on many others. The content includes information on the Hotel for Dogs video game, the opportunity to “Post your pup” by uploading photos of your dog and some other interactive options.

Gran Torino

The website of Gran Torino is fairly similar to that of Taken, with a large dark background image and the trailer playing in the center of the screen. Simple navigation options are at the bottom of the screen, and just below that is an option to find shows and buy tickets. A lot of information is available in the “About the Film” section.

Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire has a splash page that displays the movie’s many nominations, awards and positive reviews.

If you click on “Skip intro,” you’ll remain on a splash page that gives additional options, but you’ll need to click again to enter the main website.

Once inside the website, you’ll hear audio unless you turn it off at the bottom of the screen, but there is no video that plays without prompting. The main navigation menu includes a link to videos, including the trailer. In addition to the typical options, you have the opportunity to post your own review on the Slumdog micro-blog.

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans has a splash page with options to view the trailer, enter the website or get show times. There are also links to Facebook and MySpace pages. If you don’t click on anything, the trailer plays on its own.

Both the splash page and main website feature large dark background images, which obviously fit the movie. The website is Flash-based, and the background is a huge image that scrolls horizontally. I found the navigation difficult to use.

New in Town

The website for New in Town is a snowy Minnesota scene with snowflakes that continuously fall. In addition to the usual options and pages, a Minnesota Pronunciation Guide shows funny clips from the movie. There’s also a “Try My Recipe” section where you can click on characters to see their recipes.

My Bloody Valentine

My Bloody Valentine 3D has a splash page that includes an option to find and buy tickets, as well as a link to a YouTube video of fan reviews of the movie.

Once inside, you’ll see a dark website with red blood splatters. The style of the design fits well with what you would expect from a horror movie. There is a link to watch the trailer, as well as the typical navigational options. There’s also an option to send a bloody Valentine’s card to a friend.

Inkheart

Inkheart’s website includes a large background image with several characters from the movie and some interesting lighting effects, In the center of the screen, a trailer plays unless the visitor stops it. The main navigation includes all the necessary items, such as information about the movie, additional videos and ticket information. The website also gives visitors the option of sending a “Toto E-Card.”

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has a splash page with a solid black background and photos of the movie’s stars, Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. Yellow text is used to draw attention to its nomination for 13 Academy Awards. The splash page includes links to buy tickets, film info and a trailer in HD.

Once you enter the website, the browser opens in full screen by default (you can hit “Escape” on your keyboard to exit the full screen), and photos of Benjamin Button’s life rotate.

BrideWars

The website for BrideWars opens with a splash page that gives the options of entering the website, getting updates or finding show times and tickets. If you don’t click on anything, it automatically takes you into the website.

Once inside the website, you’ll see the movie trailer in the center of the screen between the two brides, with navigational options below. One additional feature is the “Emma or Liv Quiz,” which asks you a set of multiple choice questions and then tells you which of the two brides you are most like.

Revolutionary Road

The Revolutionary Road website includes a large light background image of the movie’s stars. To the left of the screen, a trailer plays automatically. Below the trailer are options to share the page through social networking and social media websites, including Facebook, Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon and Reddit.

Defiance

The website for Defiance also plays the trailer automatically upon page load. Behind the trailer is a large background image of a wooded area, with main navigational items at the top of the screen. Like the Revolutionary Road website, Defiance’s includes social media icons for Facebook, Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon and Reddit.

The Reader

The splash page for The Reader is much more basic in design than that of many other movies. The page has a white background, with a video of the trailer playing in the center of the screen. At the top of the page is a notice that the movie has been nominated for five Academy Awards. Below the trailer you can click to enter the website.

Inside the website, a major section of the screen displays the many excellent reviews the movie has received (this part of the layout can be closed to show more of the video). On the left are basic navigational options, including to find show times and tickets.

The Wrestler

The Wrestler’s website is located on FoxSearchlight.com and includes the standard navigation at the top, with links to the studio’s other current movies. Most of the screen is taken up by a large picture of the wrestler, with a lot of information below, breaking the trend of short pages. Instead of the trailer playing automatically on the home page, a link is displayed to view it. Lower on the page are links to several reviews by critics, videos, cast information and news.

Notorious

Notorious is also on FoxSearchlight.com, and the website is laid out like the websites of other movies on FoxSearchlight.com. Clicking “Enter Site” to the left shows the movie’s trailer.

Milk

The home page for Milk includes a brief audio clip of Sean Penn from the movie. The layout includes photos of several characters from the movie and two vertical navigation menus. The website is hosted on FilmInFocus.com. On the left side of the screen you’ll see the eight Academy Award nominations it has received. The videos section includes the trailer and some other clips. From the community page you can visit Milk on Facebook.

Frost/Nixon

The Frost/Nixon splash page includes a pop-up that shows the nominations the movie has received. Once you close the pop-up, you see options for finding tickets, viewing the trailer and entering the website.

Once inside the website, some photos are flashed and an audio clip plays in the background. Then you’ll arrive on the page you see below, with a large photo of the two characters from the movie and navigation to the right.

Last Chance Harvey

Last Chance Harvey has no splash page. The home page includes video of the trailer, shown on the left side of the screen. A large background image is used, with primary navigation towards the bottom of the screen. The “Special features” section includes an interactive quiz and a feature to create your own collage using pictures from all around the world.

The Unborn

The splash page of The Unborn includes a large background photo, and the trailer plays automatically. Interestingly, a message says that if you return to the website between 9:00 pm and 9:00 am, you can see the after-hours trailer.

Once inside the website, you’ll see a dark textured background, with links to the typical options: about the film, media, cast and crew, gallery and downloads.

Marley & Movie

The website for Marley & Me plays the movie’s trailer automatically when the page is loaded. Throughout the website, you’ll see Marley chewing things up, licking the screen and pulling on a rope to bring the website’s photo album into view.

Doubt

Doubt uses a splash page that shows its five Academy Award nominations at the top of the screen and the movie’s trailer below. You can also get to ticket information from the splash page.

Once inside the website, each section displays a different background image that takes up the browser window. All the standard information about the movie and cast is available, as well as photos and videos.

Bedtime Stories

Disney’s Bedtime Stories is hosted on Disney.com instead of its own domain. The home page includes a large colorful image that takes up the full screen. The website includes basic movie information, videos and three different games to play.

Valkyrie

Valkyrie has a splash page with an image of Tom Cruise and the movie’s other characters overlaid on a map/blueprint. The trailer plays automatically on the left side of the screen, just above the link to enter the website. The splash page also includes flags that link to websites for other countries and languages.

Once inside the website, a war scene photo takes up the full screen. There is a link to watch the first six minutes of the movie on Apple, and a few navigational options are below.

Not Easily Broken

The website for Not Easily Broken is hosted on SonyPictures.com. Main navigation is at the top of the page and includes a link to the trailer. Much prime real estate on the front page is set aside for finding show times and ticket info. Lower on the page is a link to the movie’s Facebook page.

Tale of Despereaux

The Tale of Despereaux’s splash page includes an illustrated background (naturally), and the trailer plays automatically on the left side of the screen. At the bottom of the page are icons for sharing on Facebook, Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon and Reddit.

Inside the website you’ll see another illustrated scene. The full navigation only appears when you click on “Menu.” In addition to the standard content and information, clicking on “The Quest” brings you to some games.

Rachel Getting Married

The splash page for Rachel Getting Married includes links to the main website, the trailer, information on awards, and the movie’s Facebook page. You can also access ticket info below. At the top of the page, the movie’s awards fade in and out.

Inside the website, vertical navigation on the left shows links on images of tags. Clicking on the links changes the background image as well as the content.

Yes Man

Yes Man’s website includes a quick Flash intro before the trailer begins playing. The whole website has a blue cloudy sky for a background. The site is hosted on WarnerBros.com.

Australia

Australia’s Flash page includes a large background image of the movie’s two stars, and the trailer plays automatically in the center of the screen. There are links to get tickets and show times and to enter the website. Below you can also choose to enter the website of another country.

Once in the website, you’ll see a video with background music. There is a link in the top right to access the menu and a link in the center of the screen to “Experience Australia”, which also plays some video.

Waltz with Bashir

The home page for Waltz with Bashir displays a number of awards and nominations, with a link to even more. The home page has no additional content, just an image and navigation menu. The trailer is available by selecting “Clips.”

The Class

The home page of The Class includes some award nominations, pictures and navigation. All the basics, like film info, cast, filmmakers, trailers and videos and links are available. The website is hosted on SonyClassics.com.

The Day the Earth Stood Still

The Day the Earth Stood Still uses a splash page that automatically plays the trailer in the center of the screen. You can choose to enter the website or select from a list of countries below.

Inside the website, most of the screen is used for a video, with a menu button that follows your mouse around the screen. Click on the button and the menu expands.

Mutant Chronicles

The website of Mutant Chronicles includes a large photo of the movie’s characters, a dark textured background and a navigation menu at the top. There is no trailer on the home page, but it is easily accessible from the navigation menu.

Coraline

The website of Coraline has a dark illustrated image that takes up the full screen. Navigation options are at the bottom of the page, including a link to the trailer. Show times and ticket information are also available from the menu.

X-Men Origins

Currently, the website for X-Men Origins includes a countdown of the days, hours, minutes and seconds until the film is released. The trailer begins automatically in the center of the screen. At this point, not much else is available aside from links to MySpace and Facebook pages.

He’s Just Not That Into You

The home page for He’s Just Not That Into You includes a collage of many pictures from the movie. In addition to basic information and videos, the website includes fun and interactive content, like a quiz to find out if he or she is into you, e-candy hearts that you can send to friends, a date decoder and a video of the top 10 chick-flick cliches not found in the movie.

The Pink Panther 2

The website for the Pink Panther 2 is hosted on SonyPictures.com. The splash page includes links to enter the website, worldwide release dates, and a 20 Questions game. The 20 Questions game includes video responses from Steve Martin after each answer, in which he tries to guess what you’re thinking.

Inside, the design naturally has a lot of pink. Several other games can be played, and information on the movie, video and downloads are available.

Friday the 13th

The dark design of the website for Friday the 13th is a good fit for a horror movie. The trailer plays automatically to the right of the screen, and a navigation menu is available to the left if you hover over “Menu”. At the top right of the screen is a “Share” option for social networking.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Right now only a short commercial promo is available on the website for the upcoming G.I. Joe movie, not a full trailer. The movie already has a Facebook page, and the website includes options for sharing through Facebook, Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon and Reddit.

What Are Your Thoughts On Movie Websites?

What do you like or dislike about movie websites? Do you think they do an effective job of promoting their movies?

About the Author

Steven Snell is a Web designer and freelance blogger who can be found on his own blog, DesignM.ag, and you can also connect with him on Twitter. (al)

Post tags: Design Showcase, designs, movies

Smashing Forum Launch and Books Giveaway

admin — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 13:42:20 +0000

The Smashing Magazine Forum is now officially launched. For a while, we have been working on its design, functionality and details, and today we are happy to finally welcome our readers to the new forum. The idea behind it is to provide our community with a place to discuss problems, developments and ideas, ask to questions and provide answers. You can also discuss Smashing Magazine’s articles or just chat with the members of our community about anything you want.

Okay, we know there are plenty of Web forums dedicated to design and Web development; but that didn’t really matter to us. We just wanted to have our own smashing place for our truly smashing readers. After all, in just over two and a half years of its existence, Smashing Magazine has managed to establish itself as a serious and quite popular online magazine.

So what we want to achieve something simple yet extremely important with this forum: to bring the readers of our magazine together and offer them a nice place to exchange ideas. The readers are already there and have been here for a while; now they can talk to each other beyond the borders of our magazine.

We Need Your Support!

The forum is still very young and needs active members who are willing to help and contribute. So, we welcome everybody to check out the forum and browse its threads. Everybody can read most threads, but if you would like to participate in the discussion, you’ll need to register and log in first. It’s really no big deal, registering is easy, and members can customize their profiles however they wish.

Everything is brand new: if you participate from the very beginning, you can have a huge impact on the forum, on the community and on its future.

Comment In The Forum, Win A Book!

And to celebrate the launch of the Smashing Magazine Forum, we are giving away 11 Web design-related books to our forum members. The winners will be selected randomly among all commenters in this thread. The winners will be announced this Friday, 13 February 2009, in the forum.

To participate, just:

Register on the forum and log in.
go to this forum post,
Select the number (below) of the book you are interested in.
Write it down in a reply to the post.
On the next line, answer the question, “How can the SM Forum help me in future?”
And you’re done!

Books You Can Win

#	Cover	Title Author
1		Universal Principles of Design Jill Butler, Hardcover
2		Swiss Graphic Design: The Origins and Growth of an International Style 1920-1965 Richard Hollis, Paperback
3		Don’t Make Me Think!: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability Steve Krug, Paperback
4		The Design of Everyday Things Don Norman, Paperback
5		Designing Interfaces: Patterns for Effective Interaction Design Jenifer Tidwell, Paperback
6		The Art of Looking Sideways Alan Fletcher, Hardcover
7		The Principles of Beautiful Web Design Jason Beaird, Paperback
8		Hand Job: A Catalog of Type Michael Perr, Paperback
9		Web Standards Solutions: The Markup and Style Handbook Dan Cederholm, Paperback
10		CSS Mastery: Advanced Web Standards Solutions Andy Budd, Paperback
11		The CSS Anthology: 101 Essential Tips, Tricks and Hacks Rachel Andrew, Paperback

What Advantages Does The Forum Bring Me?

Communicate and exchange ideas with people like you across the globe.
Ask questions that would be otherwise overlooked in the comments of posts.
Help other designers, get a good karma and make your mark in the community.
Suggest ideas and URLs, gain new insights and work with us on upcoming Smashing posts.
Get in touch with the authors and founders of Smashing Magazine.

Apart from that,

We will use forum to ask for your suggestions for design showcases.
You can help decide which articles get posted next on Smashing Magazine.
Our authors will use forum to find new article ideas and help other members.
You can take part in new contests and giveaways, which are on the way!

P.S.

By the way, this post (and only this one) cannot be commented on. If you would like to discuss it, please go straight to the forum!

Cheers and, most importantly, have fun!

(al)

Post tags: community, forum, smashing

50 Useful JavaScript Tools

admin — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 02:29:23 +0000

By Jacob Gube

JavaScript is a powerful client-side scripting language used in many modern websites and Web applications. In the hands of a skilled Web developer, JavaScript can enhance the user’s experience of the website and provide rich interactive components and features. But even though syntactically simple in nature, JavaScript is often difficult to author because of the environment it runs in: the Web browser. JavaScript’s popularity is evident in emerging technologies, such as Adobe AIR, which use it as a supported language for creating desktop-based applications.

Below, you’ll find 50 excellent tools to help you achieve various tasks involved in authoring JavaScript code. You’ll find useful tools to speed up your coding processes, including debugging tools to hunt down places where your scripts break, unit testing and validation tools to test your scripts in various situations, security vulnerability scanners and code optimization tools to make sure your scripts are light as a feather.

You’ll also find a few new and alternative JavaScript and AJAX frameworks to help you explore options beyond the big names (i.e. MooTools, jQuery, YUI, Dojo, Prototype), in addition to useful scripts to help you accomplish a host of design and development tasks related to JavaScript.

Also, be sure to check out the following related posts:

JavaScript/AJAX Authoring Tools

jQuery UI
The jQuery UI allows you to design custom user interfaces for Web applications using the jQuery library. With jQuery UI, you can reduce the amount of code you write for common rich interactive features and website widgets. Be sure to check out the jQuery UI Demo page, which showcases some of the things you can accomplish using jQuery UI.
Google Web Toolkit
The Google Web Toolkit (commonly referred to as GWT) is a framework for developing complex and fully featured AJAX-based Web applications. You write front-end code in Java that is later compiled into optimized and cross-browser-friendly JavaScript. GWT puts the focus on Web application development by reducing the need for testing and debugging JavaScript for browser quirks.
Jx
Jx is a JavaScript library for creating graphical user interfaces written on top of the MooTools framework. Jx is distributed with an MIT license and is well documented. Numerous examples as well as thorough and well-organized API documentation is available on the website.
Freestyle Webtop Toolkit
Freestyle aims to reduce the complexity and time involved in deploying Web-based user interfaces by eliminating the separation of client-side and server-side development. With Freestyle, you focus on programming logic and UI design, and it handles the rest (i.e. cross-browser compatibility and DHTML and AJAX development).
Script#
Script# is an AJAX and JavaScript authoring tool that allows developers to write in C#. It also allows .NET developers to leverage their existing knowledge and provides powerful tools associated with the .NET framework.
Aptana Jaxer
Aptana Jaxer is the first “AJAX server” that allows developers to use their AJAX, HTML, JavaScript and DOM knowledge to create fully featured server-side-powered Web applications. With Jaxer, you can even write database queries in JavaScript syntax. Jaxer integrates very well with popular JavaScript libraries such as jQuery, Dojo and Ext JS.
JS Regex Generator
JS Regex Generator helps JavaScript developers write Regular Expressions for matching strings of text. This is commonly done for text-format validation, such as when checking if inputted text has the correct date and email format.
WaveMaker
WaveMaker is open-source software for complete Web application development and deployment. You can find a host of demo applications built and deployed using WaveMaker on the Demo Applications page.

Documentation Tools

JSDoc Toolkit
JSDoc Toolkit makes code documentation a breeze. Written in JavaScript, it helps developers automatically generate templates for JavaScript comments. It’s a great tool for managing large-scale applications developed by teams of developers who have different coding styles.
jGrouseDoc
jGrouseDoc is an open-source project distributed through Google Code under a modified BSD license. It lets developers document and manage their code comments using a format similar to Javadoc’s.

JavaScript Debugging Tools

Firebug
Firebug is an extremely popular and well-regarded front-end debugging tool. It has all the features you’d expect from a JavaScript debugging tool, such as the ability to set breakpoints in your code so that you can step through your script. For people developing outside of Mozilla-based browsers, check out Firebug Lite, which is a JavaScript library you can include in your Web pages to access some of the features of Firebug.
Venkman JavaScript Debugger
Venkman is Mozilla’s JavaScript debugger and an add-on for Gecko-based browsers. Venkman is a robust and fully featured JavaScript debugging environment, with a host of useful features and options, such as code profiling to inspect your script’s performance.
Drosera
Drosera is an excellent debugging tool for Safari and WebKit-based browsers.
Opera Dragonfly
Opera Dragonfly is a robust debugging environment for the Opera browser. Dragonfly allows you to view and inspect errors, debug your scripts and inspect and edit the DOM and CSS on the fly.
NitobiBug
NitobiBug is a browser-based JavaScript object logger and inspector. It runs on numerous browsers, including IE, Safari, Opera and Firefox. It is a powerful tool in helping developers build rich interactive AJAX applications.
DebugBar
DebugBar is an in-browser front-end debugger for Internet Explorer. Much like its Firefox counterparts, it has a robust set of features, such as DOM, JavaScript and cookie inspection. Be sure to check out Companion JS, which is a JavaScript debugging library to be used alongside DebugBar.
Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar
Similar to Firebug, IE Developer Toolbar is an in-browser tool to help you debug front-end code in Internet Explorer. It’s especially handy as a debugging and inspection alternative to Firefox when you’re developing and testing in IE.

JavaScript Testing and Validation Tools

Test – JavaScriptMVC
Test is a JavaScriptMVC component for easily setting up automated unit testing for JavaScript code. It lets you effectively test for DOM events (such as a key press or form submission), thereby lessening development time, oversight and errors associated with manual testing.
JsUnit
JsUnit is a popular unit testing framework for JavaScript code. It’s a JavaScript port from another unit testing framework for Java called JUnit. JsUnit allows you to write test cases and provides tools for automated code execution.
JSLint
JSLint is a Web-based tool for verifying your JavaScript code for errors. It has a ton of features and settings that you can use to customize verification algorithms to suit your needs.
Crosscheck
Crosscheck is an open-source testing framework for JavaScript. Crosscheck is unique because it works independent of environment: you can run tests outside of a Web browser, which avoids discrepancies that occur when testing in various browsers.
YUI Test
YUI Test is a suite of testing utilities that’s part of the YUI library developed by Yahoo!. It has numerous features, such as easy creation of test cases through an intuitive syntax, advanced failure detection and the ability to organize test cases by grouping them into test suites.
J3Unit
J3Unit is an excellent object-oriented unit-testing framework for JavaScript. It gives you a host of options for writing automated test cases and has three modes: Static Mode, Local Browser Mode and Remote Browser Mode.
Regular Expression Tool
The Regular Expression Tool is an online utility that allows you to test your RegEx code against a sample test. It’s a handy tool to have around when you want to quickly test the efficacy of your regular expressions in a variety of example texts.
JavaScript Regular Expression Tester
This is another handy tool for testing regular expressions within the Web browser.
JSLitmus
JSLitmus is a lightweight tool for creating JavaScript benchmarks and performance tests, using an intuitive API.

Security Tools

AttackAPI
AttackAPI is a framework for writing test cases of potential JavaScript exploits and vulnerabilities.
jsfuzzer
jsfuzzer is a fuzzing tool to help you write (and test for) attack vectors in JavaScript.

New and Alternative JavaScript and Ajax Development Frameworks

Clean AJAX
Clean AJAX is an open-source framework for creating AJAX-based applications. Check out the demo page to see it in action.
SAJAX
SAJAX is an excellent toolkit for developing AJAX-based applications. It supports PHP, Perl and Python.
JavaScriptMVC
JavaScriptMVC is a Web application framework based on the MVC software architectural pattern. It speeds up Web development processes and lays down best practices, maintainability and standards as principles in a project’s development.
qooxdoo
qooxdoo is a simple and intuitive AJAX application framework. Be sure to check out the Demo Browser, a Web-based application that allows you to view demos of qooxdoo at work.
SimpleJS
SimpleJS is a small and lightweight JavaScript library that provides developers with useful JavaScript functions for working with AJAX.

Image Manipulation and Graphing

Reflection.js
Reflection.js automatically adds reflections to your images unobtrusively. Also check out instant.js, a similar script that adds an image border and tilts images on a Web page.
typeface.js
typeface.js allows you to embed custom fonts on Web pages, freeing you from having to create images for HTML text.
CanvasGraph.js
CanvasGraph.js is a simple JavaScript library that lets you construct bar, line and pie charts using HTML’s canvas element.
flot
flot is a JavaScript library for plotting data and has been tested to work in most modern Web browsers.
JavaScript Diagram Builder
The JavaScript Diagram Builder is a JavaScript library that consists of a variety of objects and functions for constructing diagrams.
The Dojo Charting Engine
The Dojo Charting Engine is a robust utility for creating components for data visualization, written on top of the Dojo Toolkit.

Useful Utilities and JavaScript Scripts

Processing.js
Processing.js is a JavaScript port of Processing, the open-source data-visualization programming language. Check out examples that use Processing.js.
AJAX Libraries API
Google’s AJAX Libraries API allows you to serve popular JavaScript libraries using its CDN, which reduces the server load on your website.
DamnIT
DamnIT is an error-reporting service that allows you to gather feedback from beta testers after they’ve encountered a JavaScript error. This is perfect for live production testing and as a monitoring tool that helps you track errors and weak spots in your Web applications.
ie7-js
ie7-js is a JavaScript library that forces Internet Explorer to behave like a standards-based browser (like Firefox or Opera). It automatically fixes IE browser quirks and deviations from Web standards, as in the case of its box model.
Lazy loader
Lazy loader is a jQuery plug-in that delays the loading of images so that text content can load first, thereby making image-heavy pages load faster.

JavaScript Code Optimization and Minification Tools

JS Minifier
JS Minifier is a Web-based tool for shrinking your JavaScript code to make it as lightweight as possible.
JSMIN
JSMIN is a popular JavaScript minifier that removes unneeded characters (like spaces and tabs) and comments, thus reducing your script’s file size.
YUI Compressor
The YUI Compressor is another well-regarded JavaScript code-optimization tool developed by Yahoo!.
Scriptalizer
Scriptalizer is a helpful online tool for combining JavaScript files to reduce HTTP requests.
ShrinkSafe
ShrinkSafe is a compression tool that reduces JavaScript file sizes.
SlickSpeed Selectors Test
SlickSpeed is a Web page for comparing the performance of the DOM object selection of various popular frameworks like MooTools and jQuery.

About the Author

Jacob Gube is a Web developer, designer, and founder of Six Revisions, a blog on Web development and design. If you want to connect with the author, you can follow him on Twitter.

(al)

Post tags: javascript, tools, useful

100 Beautiful Free Textures

admin — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 13:10:24 +0000

By Steven Snell

Use of texture in Web design is extremely common. Part of the reason textures are so useful to designers is the relative ease of the integrating one into a design if a high-quality textured image already exists, not to mention the endless possibilities. Fortunately, plenty of photographers and designers are willing to share their work with the rest of us so that we can use them in a number of different ways.

In this post, we’ll look at 100 different textures in a wide variety of different categories. Of course, each image is linked to the source where it can be downloaded. As with any type of freebie, be sure to read the terms and conditions or stipulations by the owner before using it in your work.

For more on textures see:

1. Wool Textures

2. Leather Textures

3. Denim Textures

4. Cardboard Textures

5. Paper Textures

6. Wood Textures

7. Wall Textures

8. Metallic Textures

9. Grunge Textures

10. Gritty Textures

11. Granular Textures

12. Water Textures

13. Glass Textures

14. Grass Textures

15. Tiled Textures

16. Modern Textures

About the Author:

Steven Snell is a Web designer and freelance blogger who can be found on his own blog, Vandelay Website Design, or you can connect with him on Twitter. (al)

Cheap Website Design Blog » Smashing Magazine

35 Beautiful Examples Of Animals Photography

Beauty Of Animal Photography

Last Click

Further Resources and Sources

50 Wonderful, Inspiring Photoblogs

50 Wonderful Photoblogs

Last Click

Sources and Resources

Photoblogging Articles

Photoblog Directories

About the author

The Ultimate Collection Of Free Photoshop Patterns

Related Resources, Tutorials and Articles:

About the Author

Smashing Retro Icon Set

Download the set for free!

The Big PHP IDE Test: Why Use One And Which To Choose

IDE Features

1. Syntax highlighting

2. Code completion

3. Navigation

4. Errors and warnings highlighting

5. Refactoring and code generation

6. Debugging

7. Versioning system

8. Client-side features

How To Choose A Good One?

A Comparison Table

What Was Covered

What Was Not Covered

PHP IDEs We Tested

Conclusion

Commercial vs. Freeware

Resources

About the author

10 Harsh Truths About Corporate Websites

1. You Need A Separate Web Division

2. Managing Your Website Is A Full-Time Job

3. Periodic Redesign Is Not Enough

4. Your Website Cannot Appeal To Everyone

5. You Are Wasting Money On Social Networking

6. Your Website Is Not All About You

7. You’re Not Getting Value From Your Web Team

8. Design By Committee Brings Death

9. A CMS Is Not A Silver Bullet

10. You Have Too Much Content

Conclusions

About the author

Movie Website Designs: Examples And Current Practices

The Purpose of Movie Websites

Visitor Expectations

Trends Of Current Movie Websites

1. Flash

2. Large Background Images

3. Video/Trailers

4. Show Times and Ticket Info

5. Splash Pages

6. Display of Nominations and Awards

7. Short Page Length

8. Not Always On Company Domain

9. Social Networking /Media Interaction

10. Downloads

11. Fun Extras

12. Widgets

Showcase of Movie Websites

What Are Your Thoughts On Movie Websites?

About the Author

Smashing Forum Launch and Books Giveaway

We Need Your Support!

Comment In The Forum, Win A Book!

What Advantages Does The Forum Bring Me?

50 Useful JavaScript Tools

JavaScript/AJAX Authoring Tools

Documentation Tools

JavaScript Debugging Tools

JavaScript Testing and Validation Tools

Security Tools

New and Alternative JavaScript and Ajax Development Frameworks

Image Manipulation and Graphing