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New favorite on Mixcloud.com

Just favorited "Bench Warehouse Project Competition" by Huda on Mixcloud.com

Zakaj je kvaliteta dizajna strani pomembna?

S časom so se trendi v vseh vejah oblikovanja spremenili. Kar je bilo pred 5, 10 leti hit, danes deluje zelo zastarelo. Na primer, ob začetku komercialnega interneta so postavljalci spletnih strani zelo radi uporabljali tabele. Bile so zanesljiv način, da so slike in ostali elementi ostali na svojih mestih in skupaj gradili layout strani, danes pa velja uporaba tabel za zelo zastarel in optimizaciji ter brskalnikom neprijazen način oblikovanja. Uspešno jih je nadomestil razvoj spletno oblikovalskega jezika CSS. Še en primer t.i. 'strani iz 90ih' so strani, ki vključujejo clip gif animacije, saj za animiranje zdaj uporabljamo predvsem Flash oziroma ustrezne programske jezike.

Glavni razlog, da je prišlo do teh in mnogih drugih posodobitev na področju spletnega oblikovanja, je vrjetno v prvi vrsti preprosto možnost. Spletni dizajn se v veliki meri glede možnosti in ovir naslanja na svoje tehnično ozadje, ki se stalno izboljšuje (primer: nedavni izid CSS3 in XHTML5). K temu sta dodala svoje tudi razvoj 'web 2.0' in spremembe oblikovalskih trendov.

Čeprav težko sodimo o nečem tako relativnem, kot je dober dizajn, pa lahko začrtamo določene kriterije. Stran mora, prilagojeno ciljni skupini, brandu/podjetju/storitvi, področju in tipu, na prvi pogled pritegniti že naključnega obiskovalca. Oblikovalec naj bi, s posluhom za cilje in perspektivo projekta, poskušal najti pravo ravnovesje med oblikovnimi skrajnostmi.

Moderen in visokokakovosten izgled strani obiskovalcu sporoča, da je stran redno osveževana (Torej so na njej objavljeni ažurni podatki) ter ustvari pozitivno sliko o stvari, ki jo predstavlja. To uporabnika prepriča, da na njej ostane in poišče podatke, ki ga zanimajo.

UPDATE: blog se seli na Tumblr, najdete ga TUKAJ.

Oheck out my new business cards!

Finally. Have to mention that they have matt plastification. What do you think?

What every client wanting a website should know

Basics of www

There are servers that store data (= eg. your website). These servers are mostly owned by companies that provide web hosting. You can compare them to huge hard drives that are directly connected to internet.

These servers are constantly connected to web so files are available for use. Users with devices that can also connect to internet are able to download these files.

*note that there's no acctual web. That's just a term used for better picturing.

Sever side of the internet

Web hosting companies part servers to partitions. You can 'rent' this partition for some amount of time and upload your files. Your partition is given an IP, like 0.000.000.000. It's like a door to your part of server. However, they realized that it's quite hard for users to remember a long number for IP, so they invented domain names, like http://www.google.com/. It basically redirects user to your IP (part of server). An IP can have multiple domain names leading to it.

User side of the internet
A website is put together by multiple files. Most basically, there is always at least one HTML file. It adds all the content, like text, links, images, videos etc. A css file describes where and how will these elements be displayed. For interactivity we use JavaScript, PHP, Flash and so on.

The software for accessing www is called browser. It downloads files from server and displays them as a website. There are many browsers out there: Explorer on Windows, Safari on Mac, and there are also Firefox, Opera, Maxhton etc. Along with development of web technologies browsers are also upgrading, altough each of them displays the content a little different that the others. It's important to encourage users to upgrade their browsers.

Designer's side of the internet
Designer puts together the visual aspect of a website. Programmer adds the tough interactivity background. It's mostly that way. If you don't want to build new web app or Facebook and just want a website, a designer could do it all (it depends-ask them).

Designers suffer when:

• they have to optimize a website for Internet Explorer 6
• they have to make 'minor changes' to their own awesome design
• they have a moody client

5 free ebooks on design

Here is a list of 5 hand-picked book awesomness about freelancing in (web) design. Each of them provide certain area of knowledge, from business to graphical principles, but note that they are not exactly beginners' level.

1. How To Be a Freelancing Genious pt. 1 by Diesel Laws

The book teaches us mostly about how to build a name (obviously) in design field, and gives us some useful tips on getting recognizable. You need to become a fan to download, but it's worth it.

2. Typography by Massimo Vignelli and Design by Hugh Dubberly

Well, these are two books. I know, I tricked you. But they are accesible by this one page. And I didn't bother looking for source link. Great books, tho.

3. Personal Branding by Colin Wright

There's a guy that works as a graphic designer and illustrator and then he gets bored and writes an ebook that is pretty good and he gives it for free.

4. Guide to Guerrilla Freelancing by Mike Smith

This product of guerrillafreelancing.com is only the beginning, as they are planning to write a longer version in the future. But this one is also pretty useful.

5. Design Your Imagination by WebGuru India

A book you have probably heard of, so just give it a try. The only ebook on this list that could be useful for beginners. Could be.

Now, have I missed something? What do you think of this article?

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