The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Nonprofit FAQ Pages
FAQs are underrated and usually terrible. How can those two contradictory things both be true? I have thoughts.
Understanding Web Design
Links Are a Promise
This short advice I give anyone writing website content turns out to contain a number of important lessons about how people use websites and how we can serve them best.
My Web Developer Search History Last Week
Some developers have been sharing a week of their work-related search history to show how often we all have to look things up. (The answer: a lot.) Here’s mine.
Why Privacy Policies are Hard to Read
A good podcast episode has me thinking about what it says that most privacy policies are complicated and hard to use.
My Web Design Must-Read List
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the what helped me learn my craft. This post shares many of the sources that have helped me learn everything I know today and the websites I follow to stay up to date.
The Limits of the Web’s Width
A website’s design determines the width of text and, subsequently, how easy it is to read. That limit and the lack of “solutions” means filling a wide browser screen is nearly impossible. But maybe that’s ok.
“Engaging” “Interactive” Websites & The Pepsi Challenge
As a web designer, one of my jobs is to understand people’s design preferences before I put pencil to paper and mouse to screen. Looking at other websites as examples of design is important but provide misleading reactions when it comes to make decisions. Using Example Sites to Guide Design Projects Looking at examples of … Continue reading ““Engaging” “Interactive” Websites & The Pepsi Challenge”
Final Thoughts on Codeacademy’s Learn JavaScript Course
This is post 2 of 2 in the series “Learning JavaScript” I’ve worked on the web for well over a decade, but times change. I have an extremely spotty knowledge of JavaScript, an increasingly used technology on the web. 2018 is the year I’m hoping to really learn JavaScript. As I learn, I want to … Continue reading “Final Thoughts on Codeacademy’s Learn JavaScript Course”
Thoughts on Starting Codeacademy’s Learn JavaScript Course
This is post 1 of 2 in the series “Learning JavaScript” I’ve worked on the web for well over a decade, but times change. I have an extremely spotty knowledge of JavaScript, an increasingly used technology on the web. 2018 is the year I’m hoping to really learn JavaScript. As I learn, I want to … Continue reading “Thoughts on Starting Codeacademy’s Learn JavaScript Course”
“A 5 minute change.”
Even when making a change to a website is fast, the startup and wrapup work adds a significant amount of time. Here’s why.
Conservative Design & Development in “The inaccessible web” [link]
Did you just come from the UserWay blog? Read this. I just discovered that the UserWay blog is linking to this post. This is unfortunate for a few reasons: Their post mis-attributes a quote to me, when instead it is clearly quoted from the article by Mischa Andrews. Reading the entire post makes this very … Continue reading “Conservative Design & Development in “The inaccessible web” [link]”
What Makes Websites Expensive?
Websites can be really expensive or really cheap. Do you know what the difference is? It can be hard when you don’t understand the technical requirements to build a feature. Here’s an attempt at summarizing some things to watch out for.
How Websites are Like Porches (A Metaphor from CSS Tricks) [link]
How building a porch is like building a website.
The Digital Divide, Smart Phones, and Website Performance
The New York Times published a troubling-but-not-surprising article today on the effect of the “digital divide” on school children in the United States.
SEO for Humans Redux [link]
Google has guidelines for webmasters about the technical and content requirements sites must follow to stay in their good graces. You’ll probably be surprised how obvious their recommendations are.
Website Projects Are Like Pizza
It’s hard to get a good cheap website. To understand why, think of website pricing like making a pizza.