Web Design News & Articles

Not only am I a content manager and designer; I’m a user, so it’s not unusual that I find myself at a user conference.

As someone who works in the education sector, I know that it’s hard to find the right balance of support and innovation that allows schools to keep up with Web trends while keeping within budget.

Silverpoint, Inc., based out of Baltimore, specializes in web solutions for schools and caters to those of us in independent schools, where constituencies extend beyond students to include parents, faculty, alumnae, and prospective students.

It can be a delicate balancing act between maintaining a brand and providing useful and effective tools for its users.

Having just launched our Job Board for the Content Management market, we’re paying a bit more attention to employment trends lately. Tying right in with this is the announcement of A List Apart’s very interesting Web industry survey results — covering demographics, job titles and yes, salaries for more than 30,000 Web professionals.

Usually I write about how traditional print publications are adapting to the Web. But what about the Web’s impact on the design of print publications?

Let’s face it, attention spans are short. Web designers and bloggers alike know this. They design in a user-friendly format and write no more than 500 words.

But if you’re a print magazine with pages to fill, how to do keep your readers well-informed without overwhelming their hurried, distracted eyes?

Our very own Gerry McGovern will be conducting a masterclass called Creating Customer-Centric Websites.

If you want to catch it — and we’re definitely biased in that direction — mark your calendars for November 28-29, and prep for a visit to the auditorium at Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa.

As a designer seeking to improve my skill-set, I appreciate a conference that realizes that I am a one-woman show: Usability specialist, content manager and information architect all wrapped into one, with a bit of SEO and flash mixed in for good measure.

Which explains why I am excited for the upcoming Voices That Matter: Web Design conference hosted by New Riders, the leading publisher of web design books and resources.

A former exec at Apple has just released a very short, very free ebook on marketing like Apple. It’s called Marketing Apple.

Why is this relevant to you? Glad you asked.

Who doesn’t love AJAX? It alters a site’s content without users having to reload. It’s rendered the pageview virtually worthless, inspiring Nielsen/BuzzMetrics to pursue a time-based site tracking model for calculating the popularity of sites. And in many ways, its availability is one manner of gauging the hip-with-it-ness of a site.

As with any snazzy and hype-ridden new technology, there is reason to take caution.

My last ad:tech session of the week was Actions Speak Louder than Clicks: Exploring the Laws of Relationship Marketing.

I don’t know if “laws” was an adequate description, as we mainly parsed out a single big one. But if you want a website that converts like a vending machine in a high school quad, it’s definitely one you want to learn.

Okay, relationship marketing. I hope you’ve got a pair of Chuck Taylors on hand.

A simple website charges you less time. A complex website charges you more time. Time is your most precious resource.

Looks like the busy bees at Adobe are making the most of their decision to swallow Macromedia whole in 2005. In a move highly anticipated by the interactive programming and design community, Adobe releases the alpha version of Apollo, a cross-OS runtime that acts a little like the hot-headed lovechild of the dull but handy Acrobat Reader and bells-and-whistles Flash Player. In short, Apollo provides the ability to run Web apps both online and off.