1080degrees : Degrees of Design

Consistent Spacing

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 03:31:00 GMT

Out of all the elements of design, proper spacing is one of the most noticeable and important. Keeping a consistent, fluid layout for a site allows for a more easy-to-follow design.

By spacing, I'm referring to the placement of objects and the space in between them. Sometimes people don't leave enough space, other times people leave too much, and worst of all, people change their spacing patterns.

When a user looks at a site, they start reading from top down. In order to keep a user's eyes following content, it should be in line. Theoretically speaking, the most important content on a page should always be aligned on the left side of the page. Of course, this doesn't always happen due to design choices, but a user's eyes tend to be most attracted to the center or left hand side of the page.

At the very least, remember that when a user is following important content, they want to keep following it in a straight line. Never indent content, regardless of importance. It never presents itself well unless it's in a list format.

Consistency

Keep your content spacing consistent. Space between DIVs, space between images, and space between lines should be consistent throughout your site. This consistent placement of objects makes it easier for a user to figure out what he or she should be looking at.

White space is another useful element in design. Instead of trying to cram all the content you can into the smallest space possible, leave some room. While having straightforward design is good, making a site that doesn't look cluttered is even better.

Separate different elements in a page. Any two different elements less than 10 pixels apart are too close, even if it's the title of a post and the content. Leave some breathing room.

Ultimately, your goal in design is to keep everything as clean as possible. Do this by keeping your spacing consistent through the page as well as by leaving white space. Your users will thank you.

Custom Blog Engines

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 04:45:00 GMT

I use a custom blog engine for a few reasons. Speed, ease of use, and easy customization are just a few. Read on for my take on why you should consider writing your own blog engine.

From my very first blog, I have been using a custom blog engine. Never anything too fancy (or very well coded at that), but something that serves the purpose I want it to serve.

I started out with a slightly modified version of a simple blog engine. Nothing worked very well. Posts would fail to get posted on occasion for seemingly unknown errors. The code behind it seemed cryptic as it was very poorly written. Through many revisions of code, I have a much more functional blog engine.

More than anything, the beauty of writing your own blog engine is that you constantly revise it. As opposed to starting with everything you could ever want and a whole lot more, you start with what you need at the minimum. Then, over time, you develop features that you want. This keeps the overall blog engine simplistic which means less useless code that inevitably slows down your site.

In addition to the advantages in speed and simplicity, writing your own blog engine allows for infinite customization. Originally I chose not to use a common blog software package like WordPress because I felt that creating a theme for it would be too difficult. It's much simpler, in my opinion, to integrate the design into the blog engine as opposed to making them separate entities.

All in all, creating a custom blog engine allows for a simplistic, fast, and reliable blog that is easily customizable. As far as starting the creation of your own engine, just learn PHP and MySQL and you shouldn't be too confused as to how to begin creating a simple blog. Creating a blog engine could even improve your coding skills and conventions. Give it a try.

My Shiny New iPhone 3G

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 04:42:00 GMT

It surfs the web and downloads data twice as fast. Introducing the new iPhone... 3G. That's right, after owning a Motorola Razr for two years, I'm now a proud owner of an Apple iPhone 3G.

The Wait

Last Friday I set out for my local AT&T store at 7 AM after a long night of strong winds and lightning. I arrived at the store hoping to see maybe 20 people in line ahead of me. Of course, I underestimated the true turnout by about 35 people.

So, three hours and 30 minutes into my wait in line, the store happily announced that they had sold out of iPhones. I had a nice time in line talking with some people, but all in all I was disappointed with the way we were treated in line. We were not told how many iPhones the store had or anything of that nature. Apparently the store only had 10 iPhones, and the majority of the people in line ahead of me failed the credit check or found out it would cost them $400, so they dropped interest rather quickly. I gave up on getting an iPhone on release day in favor of heading to a Cubs game (they won).

The next day I went to the Apple store in Oakbrook to wait in line for an iPhone again. This time, the line was probably 200 people long. However, my wait time to get into the store was less than the over three hours I spent at AT&T. I was brought inside after about 2:45 of waiting. However, I suppose the wait was worthwhile.

The person helping me seemed excited to be launching the new phone, but she admitted that after working two full days selling iPhones it got quite frustrating. We had to cancel a corporate discount on our family plan to get my phone, but hopefully that will be re-added soon. All in all, I walked out of the Apple store with a fully functioning iPhone 3G (8GB model).

My Experience

I've been using my iPhone for a few days now with just a few complaints.

Laggy text messaging. One of the major reasons I wanted to move away from my Razr was due to its incredibly slow performance text messaging. The iPhone 2.0 software will randomly cause SMS typing to slow to a crawl at random. However, to the phones defense, most of the time the typing is quick and pain-free.

Laggy contacts screen. When I open the contacts program on my new phone, the screen will lag for about 3 seconds before becoming responsive.

SMS sounds stop working. Randomly the sound for receiving an SMS stopped working on my phone. I managed to fix it by restarting my phone and it has been okay since. I'm not quite sure of the original issue, but hopefully it will be fixed in the 2.0.1 firmware.

Crashing issues with new applications. The new applications coded by third party developers are notoriously buggy. I've had a few crashes already. I don't expect perfection, but I would like it if things worked the first time.

These problems, however, are very easily ignored. The overall quality of the phone is excellent. I can't complain about any hardware aspects of the phone. The GPS works great (even indoors) and having 1.4 Mbit internet anywhere with 3G service makes browsing the internet much more bearable.

Wrap Up

All in all, I would definitely recommend the iPhone 3G to anyone who currently lacks an iPhone. If you have the existing iPhone, I say only upgrade if you need location based services or fast internet. At any rate, the iPhone 3G does its predecessor justice.

Designing for an Audience

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:23:00 GMT

When designing a website, it's important not to think solely about what you believe is attractive, but what your end users will want to see. Design is just as important as content in some cases.

The business world has perfected the idea of designing for audiences. No corporate website tries to be "fun" or "creative." Instead, they regurgitate over-used colors and layouts to create a sense of familiarity. This is an example of design that works. It's like reinventing how a newspaper is laid out because it's too boring. It just doesn't make sense to change how corporate websites are designed.

Now more and more sites are being individual to catch the information of a new group of users on the internet. By reading my blog instead of Yahoo! News, you're probably part of this group. Knowledgeable with the web and looking for something unique.

This is a completely different audience. This is an audience to which design matters. Designs have to be unique enough to attract the readers attention. Otherwise, a user won't even bother to read what the site has to say. Web users associate professionalism to validity. Have a well designed site and users will be more likely to believe you no matter what you say.

Ultimately, to succeed on the web as an individual, you need to have a unique design that makes people want to see what you have to say. Don't fall into creating designs that look like they belong in the 1990s. Also, remember that hiring a professional is always an option.

Starting in Web Design

Sat, 31 May 2008 03:20:00 GMT

Here are a few simple ways to avoid getting into habits that prove very hard to break. It might be easy to start a website, but creating a design for it might prove more difficult than you might imagine.

On the modern internet, it's very easy to start your own website. Simply find a place to put it, make a few pages, and upload for the world to see. However, the next step is to learn to design these few pages properly. There are a few things I need to stress when it comes to proper design.

Learn HTML and CSS. Don't bother with programs like Adobe Dreamweaver. If you must get some assistance with code, I suggest Panic's Coda. Ultimately, just sit down and read a few tutorials on XHTML and CSS. The sooner you do so, the sooner you'll realize that it will help you with all your design needs down the road.

Avoid tables as design elements. Tables are for spreadsheet-like data layout. They are not for creating a simple column layout for your site. By all means, however, use tables to display charts of information. It makes much more sense than creating odd DIV layouts.

Test your design. While your website might work perfectly in Firefox, it very well might not work in every other browser on earth. I suggest using Browsershots to see what your design actually looks like in a slew of browsers. If this method proves a little too slow however, just test in as many browsers as you have on your computer. Don't just assume your design looks right.

Avoid bold colors until you know what you're doing. While a professional designer might be able to pull off a forest green website, someone just starting off shouldn't attempt it. Light blues, shades of grey, white, and black are the most friendly web-colors, and henceforth, make up the majority of the web. Accent colors are always welcome, but choose wisely. No one likes a bright pink website. Not even teenage girls.

Listen to criticism. If you have friends that have spent a few years surfing the web, they are perfect for critiquing your design. You don't need a professional designer to tell you how your website should look. Anyone who visits your site should know exactly what they want to see as opposed to what is actually there. Listen to them. They are the people who will visit your site.

Basically, just follow a few basic guidelines and you will avoid bad habits that are hard to break. However, most of all, never stop experimenting with different things. It's hard to be good at something without practice. Web design is no exception.