Author Archive
Big Omaha
(Photo by Malone & Company)
A few days ago, Jordon and I made the 500+ mile trek from Milwaukee to Omaha, Nebraska. No, we didn’t go to try and get a glimpse of Warren Buffet, nor did we go for the steaks (although we did have some great steaks). We went to hear some of the greatest entrepreneurs and innovators on the web today speak about what drives them to do what they do so well. Why would we go to Omaha of all places for this? The second annual Big Omaha conference, of course.
So, what is Big Omaha? Truthfully, leading up to the event, both Jordon and I had a hard time describing what this event was and why we were so excited to go to it. I think that the Big Omaha website puts it best, so here it is, straight from the horse’s (or, I guess in this case, cow’s?) mouth:
This event brings together the region’s best and brightest to motivate, challenge, excite and connect with one another, and in turn raise the bar on the level of work we’re producing.
Improve usability by identifying links
When it comes to browsing the web, few things are more frustrating than clicking on a link that you expect to go to another page, only to find yourself stuck in a PDF morass. Nothing breaks a user’s flow faster than a link behaving differently than how they expected.
As web designers and developers, it’s our responsibility to clearly label links so the user knows what is going to happen before they commit to anything. When you warn your user about what they’re about to do, they’ll feel more confident using your site. This in turn will give your site more credibility, and ultimately leads to a better overall user experience.
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The Polar Plunge
Last month as our gift to you, we asked you to decide what chilling, frightening, or embarrassing thing Andy should do. We sent the email out on December 21st, and the next day there was already a clear winner: Polar bear diving had won by a landslide with a resounding 51% of the vote. Upon reception of the results, Andy humbly walked into the office and announced “I think I’m in trouble.” (more…)
Continually improving your website.
Design is directed toward human beings. To design is to solve human problems by identifying them and executing the best solution.
-Ivan Chermayeff, Chermayeff & Geismar
Graphic design at its heart is all about problem solving. Designers are given problems such as: “What’s the best way to advertise our show?” Or “How do we communicate to our customers that our product has been improved?” From these problems, it’s the designers job come up with the best solution to meet the customer’s needs.
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jQuery Snippet: Self clearing text fields
Here’s a very, quick, easy javascript snippet. Non front end developers should look away now.
An increasingly popular technique for laying out forms is to combine the label tag and the input tag into one succinct element (as demonstrated in the search box on this blog). This technique cleans up your page and leaves more real estate for user input. A big downside, however, is that you have to add an extra dose of javascript to make your text fields behave as they should.
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