7 Habits of a Highly Successful Freelance Web Designer
Andy Budd discusses the 7 Habits of a Highly Successful Freelance Web Designer. All seven are important but not only for the freelances out there (or those who want to make the trip) but just as important, if not more so, for those of us who work within a company.
I worked a few years ago now for a large company designing and building web sites as though on a production line. Falling into the trap of clock-in - work - clock-out, leaving your interest in the pigeon-hole you work in with your passions faltering or completely doused by the powers is all to easy and in the end demoralising.
Applying Andy’s habits could well break you out. Either out the company altogether or more importantly out the box to make a real change to the giant you work for. Love what you do and never stop learning. Karma maintains if you show your work love…
Unobtrusive javascript crossfader
Here’s an example of an unobtrusive javascript / CSS crossfader. Pretty tidy, huh? It’s also a little smaller than the scriptaculous version of the same.
Fixed-Width Designs and Usability
Businesslogs.com article on the usability benefits and downfalls of designing with a fixed-width layout with details on line-length readability.
What’s the Best Way to Communicate Patterns?
Need a good line into the what, if and how of design patterns? Sink your teeth into this Design Pattern Conversation from the Yahoo User Interface Blog.
In the spring of 2006, a group of designers intimately familiar with the organization and development of design pattern resources discussed the current and future role of design patterns in the real world. We talked about defining and documenting patterns, the context required to communicate how patterns should be applied, what it takes to develop a design language, and how disparate lists of patterns could converge. The first question we answered was “What are Design Patterns?” You can find this conversation thread on Luke Wroblewski’s blog.