Think about it. There’s nothing “intuitive” about using a mouse. It’s a piece of plastic that you move around on a flat horizontal surface to effect the position of this tiny arrow on a vertical screen. And yet we use “intuitive” to describe technology all the time. Why is that and what can we do instead?
Archive for the ‘Understanding Web Design’ Category
When Should Nonprofit Websites Go Responsive? [link]
Have you heard of “responsive design?” It’s the practice of making a website “respond” to the screen size of the device viewing it in order to provide a better viewing experience. It’s kind of all the rage, but when is it actually a good idea?
The Skinny on Microsites [link]
I’ve been intrigued by the concept of microsites for a long time. For those of you who haven’t heard of microsites before, I’ll quote from the article I’m linking to: A microsite is a mini-website, generally two to four pages, focused on a specific topic or campaign. These mini-websites are usually graphic-heavy and have very [...]
SEO for Normal People
To many, “SEO” is an acronym shrouded in technical jargon and obscure “black hat” tactics. I think we need to step back and write more to the people who only understood the first two words of that last sentence. Join me.
“The Fold” [link]
Laptops fold in half, but that’s not really what “The Fold” is about when it comes to designing websites. In doing some research about it for a client, I found this article and wanted to share it.
Schemas, Microformats, and Making Your Website Machine Readable
I’m working on a post about search engine optimization for people who don’t care about “SEO.” I wanted to briefly discuss schema.org but got a little carried away, so this is getting its own post.
Guest Post: An Accessible Internet, The Great Equalizer
In this guest post, web designer Erik Parkin discusses the power of the internet as a tool of empowerment and independence.
Get the Best for Less: Graceful Degradation
If you’ve used an old version of Internet Explorer recently, you’ve probably seen some sites that look different than what you’re used to in other browsers. If they’re broken, that’s a big problem, but if they’re just different, that’s ok. Let me explain what’s going on.