News & Tutorials
Introduction to CSS3 - Part 4: User Interface
13th May 2008 | 1 commentThis tutorial will be taking a look at some of the new ways you can manipulate user interface features in CSS3. But what do we mean by “user interface”?
CSS3 brings some great new properties relating to resizing elements, cursors, outlining, box layout and more. We’re focusing on three of the most significant user interface enhancements in this tutorial.
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Design Critique: Blog Platforms
10th May 2008 | 3 comments
Most designers are familiar with the relative pros and cons of different publishing tools – but what about the websites of the blog platforms themselves? We all know that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but I would argue that there’s no harm in looking…
We’re going to take a look at the homepage for four popular platforms: WordPress, Textpattern, ExpressionEngine and Blogger. Which ones are beautiful enough to compel you to use their platform, and which ones have the design aesthetic of a hello kitty toaster? Hopefully through a critique of these designs you can take home some good pointers for use in your own work.
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Introduction to CSS3 - Part 3: Text Effects
9th May 2008 | 8 commentsThe third part in this series on CSS3 will be delving into the new text effects. Typography is, without any doubt, one of the most important aspects to get right when designing a layout. Type can draw the reader through a page, give a certain impression, provide impact, be subtle, or aid in separating content.
CSS is already reasonably versatile in the way in which text can be displayed, but still constricts design in quite a few areas. CSS3 goes some way towards removing those limitations.
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And the winner is...
8th May 2008 | 3 commentsOnce again, thank you to everyone who entered our competition and filled out the survey. We have randomly selected a winner and the proud recipient of a new CSSEdit 2.6 copy is Domantas Jankauskas. Congratulations!
If you are interested in the outcome of the survey, please feel free to read on. We’ll be discussing some of your responses and how Design Shack has changed as a result.
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Silverback Previews
8th May 2008 | 2 comments
Silverback is a new app which lets you run your own usability tests really easily. It looks set to be a great new tool for designers who want to analyze how users interact with their site. After a recent request for beta testers, a few interesting details are emerging:
- Read Kyle Meyer’s initial impressions
- Quicktime movies are created which show the user’s interaction with the site
- A video and audio recording is also taken of the user, showing their expressions and remarks
- It can also be used for testing desktop applications
- It’s Mac only for now, likely due to the standard hardware features of Apple laptops
It’s certainly an application which could bring the idea of usability testing to a large market. There’s no substitute to actually watching someone using your website when testing it. Keep your eyes peeled for a release and give it a try for yourself.
