Poor communication is a surefire way to damage any project or relationship, but when I dug deeper into this particular case, I realized that lack of communication was not the issue; the company provided regular updates on projects and milestones and so on. Rather, it was the words they used when giving those updates and answering questions. The problem was that the provider spoke “Web speak” and nothing else.
This isn’t the first time I’ve heard this complaint from someone when discussing their Web team. While they appreciate the provider’s knowledge of the profession and industry, they bemoan the reality that they cannot translate that knowledge into language that someone who is not a fellow Web professional would understand. While the updates may be plentiful, the communication is still poor.
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Here we are again! Smashing Magazine’s Q&A. In case you haven't seen it before, this is how it's done: you send in questions you have about CSS, and at least once a month we’ll pick out the best questions and answer them so that everyone can benefit from the exchange. Your question could be about a very specific problem you are having, or it could be a question about philosophical approach. Go wild and challenge us!
We’ve done a bit of this before with a wider scope, so if you enjoy reading the Q&A, check out my author archive for more of them. Andrejs Abrickis asks: “Sometimes I face trouble with HTML email design and the proper CSS code. It takes quite a lot of time to make it cross-client compatible. I would like to know your opinion about the best CSS reset that could help to speed up email newsletter development. Is there any good tool for testing HTML emails?”
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Mobile users and mobile usage are growing. With more users doing more on mobile, the spotlight is on how to improve the individual elements that together create the mobile user experience.
The mobile user experience encompasses the user’s perceptions and feelings before, during and after their interaction with your mobile presence — be it through a browser or an app — using a mobile device that could lie anywhere on the continuum from low-end feature phone to high-definition tablet.
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Earlier this week we published two articles by Louis Lazaris: one on why old browsers are holding back the Web and another encouraging Web users to upgrade their browsers and use modern browsers other than IE. This article presents another perspective on this issue. Nicholas C. Zakas, a well-respected member of the developer community, goes into specifics of why we should focus on the good parts of our job so we can tolerate the bad ones and why fixating on circumstances that you can’t change isn’t a recipe for success. Do you share Louis' or Nicholas' view? Leave a comment.—Ed.
A couple of days ago, Smashing Magazine published an article entitled, Old Browsers Are Holding Back The Web. The author of this article, Louis Lazaris, suggests that “old browsers” are holding Web developers back from creating beautiful experiences. Old browsers, in this case, apparently referred to Internet Explorer version 6-9. That’s right, the author groups Internet Explorer 9 into the same group as Internet Explorer 6. He goes on to list some of the things that you can’t use in Internet Explorer 8 and 9.
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The way you present your product or service is essential to its success — or at least it could be if you know how to do it right. The first impression you make on people is crucial. When selling a product, you want that first impression to be as positive and remarkable as possible. If you have managed to draw them in, you will need to introduce the product within a few seconds.
Show them that your product is just what they want, that it’s useful and that it adds some kind of value to their lives. A smart product presentation does all of that. Here, we will cover different aspects of a product presentation and give examples of how to use them to your advantage. The idea is to give you an overview of the different elements that make a product page successful.
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If you’re using Google Web Fonts on your websites, then there’s a very good chance that 1 in 5 visitors are seeing faux bold and italic versions of your fonts — even if you correctly selected and used all of the weights and styles. That’s because the implementation method recommended by Google Web Fonts doesn’t work with Internet Explorer 7 or 8.
As of 21 May 2012, StatCounter reports that IE 7 or 8 was used for 19.4% of the 45 billion page views collected in February, March and April 2012. As an experienced print and Web typographer, I embrace and use the term “font” when talking about Web fonts; it’s the term used in CSS syntax and by a myriad of Web font providers.
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Shopping. Social networking. Emailing. Reading. Finding directions. Banking. Researching. Those are some of the most common tasks people perform on the World Wide Web. You've probably done all of these things yourself at some point. So if you're like many people, you probably do these things every single week (and many of them even every day).
This blog you're reading now, Smashing Magazine, normally publishes content that's intended for graphic designers, Web designers, and Web developers of varying skill levels. But today, this article is for the rest of you—the non-programmers, the everyday Web users.
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Because of how far certain Web technologies like HTML5 and CSS3 have brought us, many would say that—from a Web platform perspective—the future is now. Sounds like a cliché, I know. At the very least, it feels like the future is starting to bubble up to the surface... but it's just not quite there yet.
When we use new DOM features, HTML5 APIs and the latest in CSS3, the possibilities that open up are astounding. These new technologies help us easily build Web applications with less reliance on hacks, plugins, images, and bloated scripts. This makes life easier not only for Web developers (for both building and maintaining these projects) but also for the end user who gets a faster and stronger overall experience.
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How often do you stumble on slow, clunky websites? Websites where text is embedded in images and interfaces are unusable and messy — not to mention that the code is hacky and unmaintainable? Websites that are completely unusable on mobile devices and that are cumbersome to navigate?
We all deserve better than that. With this poster contest, we’d like to raise awareness of the beautiful and accessible Web. Yes, it's about time to redesign the Web and, hence, to redesign the world. We can make the Web a better place. But to do that, we need your help.
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