Month: February 2012

How to Build and Redesign Websites

Posted on by djbrensinger

Computer CodingBuilding a website is both an art and a science. There are new techniques and tricks to building web sites being created. You have to choose which techniques to learn and use. Not all techniques will work for every website. Here is a list of 5 articles to help you improve the way you build and redesign websites:

  1. Tom Milway explains How to Build a Modern Website. He suggests using a mobile first design strategy, making your client have content written first and applying responsive design.
  2. In Zen and the Art of Good Web Design, Pamela Wilson writes that minimalist web design doesn’t have to be boring. She provides tips on how to achieve minimalist design with personality.
  3. Web developers and designers are often asked to redesign a web site. The New Redesign Rules of the Web helps you to decide what you should keep and what you can afford to lose.
  4. Developers can make design mistakes in their web designs. Have you made one or more of these 7 design mistakes?

Photographing your own background patterns

Posted on by djbrensinger

For certain projects, you may want to use a texture. You have two options: buy one or create your own. When you buy, you take a chance that someone else has used it one of their projects. To ensure that your project is unique and interesting, you can photograph your own textures. Vandelay Design explains How to Photograph Your Own Textures.

After reading this article, I was inspired to take photos to use as textures. I used my Android Phone and Canon PowerShot to take the photos. I used the suggestions by Vandelay Design to experiment with photographing textures. Here are a few results from my experiment:

  1. Oil Parking Lot
    Oil on Pavement

  2. DrivewayCracks
    Driveway Cracks

  3. Salty Driveway
    Salty Driveway

  4. Orange Wall
    Orange Wall

  5. Industrial
    Industrial

HTML 5 Inspiration

Posted on by djbrensinger

HTML5 BadgeHTML5 can be fun and challenging when you begin to learn how to use it to create your websites. You have new tags and selectors to learn. The way you build your website changes when you use tags like header, footer and aside. You have to build a few sites before you are comfortable with HTML5. Developers like to learn by doing and by reviewing what others have done. Design Modo wrote an article showing you 20+ Professional Examples of Websites Using HTML5. Use these examples to be inspired and to learn how you can use HTML 5 to build better websites and web apps.