Creating a super website [infographic]

So, how'd you do? Web trends for 2013 [infographic]

UX trends [infographic]

Considering that many aren't there yet, still some good points, especially in regards to thinking about mobile first and foremost. Responsive design.

How to create a website without writing code or using something like dreamweaver (QOD)

So, my question of the day (QOD) is:
I use Dreamweaver to design web pages. Do any of you use something that you would consider "easy" to use? I am trying to teach someone else how to manage a simple web site.

A:
Some questions to consider:

• How big is the site 
• Is it hosted on their own webspace
• Can it migrated to a simple CMS (content management system)?
• What does it need to do? What is the audience? 

My approach would be to rethink the whole site workflow. If it needs to be easy to use & simple, Dreamweaver seems like overkill to me. In fact, I don't see a reason to handedit a website any more unless it's absolutely essential or you're building it with CSS3 (preprocessor preferred) + HTML5 to show off your madskillz.

...and if it's simple, you are probably not trying to show off your madskillz. LOL

So, what to use for a basic website:

Hosted elsewhere choices (excluding niche sites like photography or art portfolio sites):

• Facebook pages : If you're on Facebook, you can use Facebook Pages to build a site. Granted, it is somewhat limited, but it is very easy to do and maintain - plus you have the added benefit of the Facebook community.
• Google sites: If you're a Google/Gmail user, Google sites is available to you. You can build all sorts things at Google - again very easy.
• Wix http://www.wix.com
• Weebly http://www.weebly.com/

Hosted at your website (e.g., yoursite.com)

• Wordpress. (.org not .com) Wordpress (WP) is blogging software but can be used to build a simple website. Of course, you (or someone) would need the ability to install it (it does have a self installer), but if you own your owndomain and webspace, (most likely) it has what is needed to run WP.

• Blogger. Although blogger is usually hosted by google at blogspot.com once the site is built at blogspot.com it can be migrated to a domain using built-in tools. So, that might be even easier.

Advantages to using this sort of software to create a simple website (or any other blogging software for that matter):

• Drag and Drop widgets to increase functionality (calendars, categories, etc.)
• Ability to easily add social media and dynamic content
• Out of the box templates and design help
• Pages features - this is key as you would use pages feature in each to build the actual website ;-) You could either suppress the blog entries or not, depending on what is needed (in other words, make the page the front of the website) or keep them if a blog is needed.
• Easy to subscribe to and easy to update through a web based form.
• Often supports mobile.

Both would provide a simple web based interface for maintenance purposes.

Wikispaces free for higher ed

Wikispaces for Higher Education - FREE!
http://www.wikispaces.com/content/for/highered

We are giving away all of the features of our Plus wikis (normally $50/year).
No fine print, no usage limits, no advertising, no catches.

* Post, Publish, and Share with Ease
Unlimited pages let you and your students share text, images, files, and more.
* Set Privacy
You can decide who has access to your wiki’s content.
* Create Student Accounts
Our easy, three-step process doesn’t require email addresses.
* Embed Media
Video, audio, images, and more add impact to multimedia assignments.
* Customize Your Look
Our library of wiki themes and fully customizable colors and logos make your wiki a natural extension of your course.

Top 5 fonts not to use (true, but humorous)

Geek Humour:
The Top Five Fonts To Never Ever Use

Ok, I don't have a problem with arial, but it is kind of boring.

San José Public Library website (Drupal!)

I thought this article was interesting, given I am on the homepage redesign committee. We, too, are dramatically reducing links; however, design wise, I think it has a much more organic feel and look. Of course, we'll see what usability says, right?
---------
"The San José Public Library (SJPL), CA, unveiled its new, vastly simplified website this month, after more than two-and-a-half years of design work and usability testing."

and
"Six blocks concept is key
The most noticeable aspect of the redesign is its simplicity. The usual wide array of links that used to greet visitors—a familiar sight on library websites—has been replaced with a portal offering just six broad choices: Books & Media, Downloads, Services, Research, News & Events, and Locations."

Blue beanie day - support web standards!

Our lives as users and coders would be much easier if ALL browsers supported web standards.
Thus, arose the blue beanie day to show support for web standards.
My haiku:
New web journeys wait
of Blue beanies sing; old mud walks
to break internet


You don't even need to own a blue beanie either (tho I have several). You can fake it here.

Ems vs. pts. vs % in web design font

So, some friends & I were having a discussion about ems vs. pts vs. % for web fonts (yeah, we are dorky like that...)

Pts are a print unit of measure. Ems are relative to the parent element and scale which is good for mobile and user experience (e.g., I can scale it how I want). Of course, some times you don't want scaleable, but most of the time you would. I personally like % as it forces a certain amount of consistency of display (it is based upon 12pt but is scaleable). So, yes on % or ems
...but don't use pt unless you want to lockdown display.

Two great resources:
pts vs ems vs %
and a conversion chart.

Doing more with Google sites -- exporting, etc.

I haven't used Google sites too much since I have so much webspace under my namesake domain, but I found this interesting. You can use google sites APIs to export, delete content (eeks, use with caution, I'd say), and more. Very cool -- although I'd love to be able to (export/import) dump the CONTENT of a google site directly into a spreadsheet or google docs (hint, google!) without having to do any extra work. Now that would be handy and I might actually use google sites more.

http://code.google.com/apis/sites/

MIT Libraries Beta Graveyard

Interesting idea...

"University libraries nationwide are attempting to make scholarly research easier, whether with browser extensions or iPad applications. For technologies in the testing stages, though, low usage or lack of support can lead to an early demise.

MIT Libraries has created a place to for these tools after they've come face to face with the grim reaper—its Beta Graveyard."

more here:
http://is.gd/ePwuh

link directly to archive
http://libraries.mit.edu/help/betas/graveyard.html

Google datasharing and what do about it

Institute of Disruptive Studies... love it... (sorry, I was having a monty python moment...)

-----

The project, called GoogleSharing, is a Firefox add-on that uses an anonymous proxy service that gives Google false information when someone uses services that don't require an account, such as its search, news, and images services, said Moxie Marlinspike , a security consultant and penetration tester with the Institute of Disruptive Studies.

Google collects a vast amount of information about its users, said Marlinspike, who gave a presentation at last week's Black Hat conference. The company collects IP (Internet protocol) addresses, search requests, browser type and more.

More here at yahoo news

About googlesharing: http://www.googlesharing.net/

---------

Also, for web editors who use google analytics, you might want to read Google's data sharing informational blurbage...

Developing mobile, scrolling horizontally, undergrads usage of wikipedia (links, links)

Just a couple of various links from various places:

how to build mobile versions of existing sites, including links to some mobile site building tools:
http://designshack.co.uk/articles/css/quick-tips-for-creating-a-mobile-optimized-site

How undergraduates use wikipedia:
http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2830/2476

scrolling horizontally!
https://xd.adobe.com/#/articles/article/530

direct link to the horizontally scrolled page:
http://www.thinkingforaliving.org/

Illusion: Insight into visual design elements

Covers the most basic elements of webdesign: layout, fonts, whitespace, color theory; additionally encompasses fundamental guidelines and findings regarding how users use the web.
Btw, my portion is more of the design stuff. Oh, and this is a google presentation so the design of the presentation itself is a little fugly. ;-)

Illusion Insights Into Visual Design Elements

View more presentations from robinfay.

on web standards and accessibility

To me, true accessibility is building one site that works for everybody, disabled or not, and whatever user agent or operating system they prefer. And that is the web I want to build and use.

Yup. A good post on web standards and accessibility.

on usability....

Just passing along an interesting post about usability.

Tips to eek out web performance

http://developer.yahoo.com/performance/

yslow from yahoo is a great site, as is some of the firebug stuff.

w3c cheat sheet

http://www.w3.org/QA/2009/11/w3c_cheatsheet_for_developers.html

"This cheatsheet aims at providing in a very compact and mobile-friendly format a compilation of useful knowledge extracted from W3C specifications — at this time, CSS, HTML, SVG and XPath —, completed by summaries of guidelines developed at W3C, in particular the WCAG2 accessibility guidelines, the Mobile Web Best Practices, and a number of internationalization tips.

Its main feature is a lookup search box, where one can start typing a keyword and get a list of matching
properties/elements/attributes/functions in the above-mentioned specifications, and further details on those when selecting the one of interest."

Semantic web, social web, and the progression of the web (presentation)

Well, this is a pretty unwieldly subject to pack into a 1 hour presentation (and I didn't go very far into the details of the mechanics of the semantic web, at all)....

If architects had to work like web designers

A painful truth:

Please design and build me a house. I am not quite sure of what I need, so you should use your discretion. My house should have somewhere between two and forty-five bedrooms. Just make sure the plans are such that the bedrooms can be easily added or deleted. When you bring the blueprints to me, I will make the final decision of what I want. Also, bring me the cost breakdown for each configuration so that I can arbitrarily pick one.

http://www.digitalsurvivors.com/archives/000455.php