Information | Webdesigner Depot

18 Oct
A web of lies
Ethics, Information, Internet
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I recently added to my top ten most embarrassing moments of my professional life. No, I won’t be listing the top ten but this one was extremely disturbing because it affected a lot of people and basically went unnoticed and pushed out the truth and replaced if with a falsehood that had become the truth. I’m referring to an article I wrote about a famous designer but the images of the fantastic work weren’t actually his.
It was not my intention to prank or scam readers but I used the wonderful World Wide Web to gather my information and that was a blunder I should have seen coming. It wasn’t until a reader pointed out that the designer did not do the work, that I scrambled to find out the truth. At first, I thought, by the way the comment was worded, it was just a spam scam for a website and this was glomming onto the popularity of the article.
I started searching via Google to see if the work did truly belong to the designer, as I had found them on there. It seems my article had replaced most sources on this designer. Both a power trip and a frightening realization–I had rewritten history as far as the web was concerned.
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28 Sep
5 reasons why your web design résumé sucks
Information, Resumes, Tips
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Hiring a web designer is like sorting packages. Hundreds of applications filter in. Before you can even get to the good stuff, you have to sort through all the ones that might not be a good fit.
And even though you may not judge a book by its cover, hiring managers most certainly judge potential applicants by their résumé. And if you’re looking for a job as a web designer, there’s even more pressure to make your résumé stand out among the cardboard boxes.
At our company, we have a step-by-step process when we’re hiring a new designer. We’ll sort through résumés to find someone that meets some basic qualifications. We’re not picky: We really just want to get the applicant on the phone. Then, we’ll have an initial call screening. We ask questions about their work experience, life and the process they use to design. We ask some questions that will make them think quickly.
The goal is to determine if this person is what they represent on the résumé, how dynamic they are and what their personality is like. If all checks out, they then would talk to some more members of the team where coding and design are the main topic.
All in all, it is a pretty quick process, but it all starts with the résumé. But if your web design résumé falls trap to any of these fives flaws, you won’t be making it past the hundreds of others floating along that conveyer belt. Read more
6 Jan
Too Many Blogs?
Blogging, Information, Internet
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A few years ago, blogging was the be-all and end-all of online content creation.
Individuals and companies alike all wanted to get in on blogging, and they saw it as the best way to reach people.
Blogs about blogging sprouted up everywhere, telling people how to create better blogs, how to make money from their blogs, and how to get more traffic.
But has the blogosphere grown so large that there are, simply put, too many blogs out there?
Is blogging going to fall by the wayside in favor of other forms of user-generated content and social media? Where do blogs fit in the age of Twitter and Facebook? Read more
27 Jul
How to Handle Information Overload
How to, Information, Internet
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The Internet holds a wealth of information on virtually any topic one could think of. With a simple search, you can gain access to knowledge about almost any subject out there.
In fact, you can often get so much information returned that it’s a little intimidating even knowing where to start. Information overload gets more and more common as ever-growing amounts of information go online.
At its worst, information overload can be paralyzing. Too much information can leave us feeling overwhelmed and unable to make decisions. It can leave us more confused than if we’d never had the information to start with.
The good news is that information overload can be dealt with. It doesn’t require disconnecting from the Internet or anything extreme, just some prioritization and organization on your part. Read on for a complete guide to dealing with information overload. Read more
12 Jul
Content Organization: Deciding What Matters Most
Information, User Interface
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The content of any website is paramount to a site’s success.
High quality content, regardless of whether the site aims to inform, entertain, or sell a product, will increase the site’s likelihood of converting visitors. But beyond providing high quality content, a site also needs to organize that content in a way that makes it accessible to visitors.
Prioritizing your content is one of the best ways to make sure your visitors are finding the information you want them to find, and that they want to find. But figuring out what content is most important and how to arrange it to reflect that can get confusing, fast.
In many cases, designers and content creators feel like it’s all important, and should all get equal billing. But that’s not doing your visitors any favors. You need to get to the root of what’s most important to them, and then provide that in the most user-friendly way possible. Read more
14 Jun
Information Architecture: Enhancing the User Experience
Data Visualization, Information
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Defined as ‘the structural design of shared information environments’, information architecture focuses on bringing the principles of architectural design to the online world.
Just like the blueprints of a dream home or the outline of a well-written article, good website structure organizes information in a way that enhances the user experience and delivers pertinent information as quickly as possible.
In fact, most website visitors only become aware of information architecture when it is poor and stops them from finding the information they require.
Read on for more details and a case study. As usual, you can leave us your feedback at the end of the post… Read more
18 Mar
How to Scan, Absorb and Process Information
How to, Information, Productivity
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Learning new information quickly is very important to both designers and developers.
That being said, regardless of your profession and whether it’s for school, work, or personal improvement, being able to retain the information without the need to spend hours studying is an incredibly useful skill.
One of the best methods for learning new information quickly is to use the scan-absorb process method.
This consists of scanning content quickly, absorbing the important points, and then processing it so you can apply it to your own projects.
Read on for more details on each step… Read more
9 Feb
Free Speech and Freedom of Information: Advice for Bloggers
Blogging, Information
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The information bloggers choose to put out there often has a huge impact on how they’re perceived and what others online think about them.
And what many bloggers don’t realize is that information they put on their blogs can have a direct legal impact.
Even if what you’re posting to your blog isn’t breaking any laws, it may be considered unethical by others, which can often be just as damaging.
Here’s a guide to free speech and freedom of information specifically for bloggers. Legal issues, ethical issues, and other things to consider are all covered.
If you have additional input or advice, or disagree with anything here, please speak up in the comments. Read more
28 Dec
How to Find Anything Online: Become an Internet Research Expert
How to, Information, Internet
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Einstein once said, “The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.”
The same could be said of intelligence. What they don’t tell you is that the “smart” people of the world are, in most cases, just better at researching and learning things than everyone else.
But researching is a learned skill, not something you’re born with.
And while some people might be predisposed to learn things more easily than others, it’s generally not enough to make a measurable difference.
By learning how to research, you can quickly and fairly easily become knowledgeable about just about anything. And with the Internet, almost anything you could ever want to know is at your fingertips. You just have to learn how to access it.
It’s all there, online, for free. Here are the techniques I’ve used to find pretty much anything online. Read more
9 Nov
A Guide to Creating Email Newsletters
Information, Internet, Web Design
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Email newsletters are hotter than ever.
They’re a great extension to your business’ communication toolkit and offer you and your clients an excellent channel by which you can reach potential and existing customers.
In this article, we’ll explore common design patterns of email newsletters and learn which approaches work well, so that you’ll be prepared to create one for yourself and your clients.
We’ve also included a compilation and analysis of different newsletter designs so that you can learn from them as well as tips on what to do and what not to do.
If you know of any other tips, please share them with us in the comments area. Read more
6 Aug
20 Tips on How to Write for the Web
How to, Information, Writing
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There are really only a few tricks to writing properly for the web. If you know how to write, you are already 95% of the way there.
These are some of the more common mistakes that I’ve seen in web copy and some tricks that I use every day to write effectively, from e-mails to site pages.
You don’t need to be an English major to understand any of this advice either. It is written in plain English that everyone can understand.
These are tips based on my own experience and education as a writer, and particularly as a writer specializing in the web.
If you’ve got some tips of your own feel free to share them in the comments section. Read more
9 Jul
Using Wireframes to Streamline Your Development Process
Design, Information, Web Design
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Creating a wireframe is one of the first steps you should take before designing a website.
A wireframe helps you organize and simplify the elements and content within a website and is an essential tool in the development process.
A wireframe is basically a visual representation of content layout in a website design.
The wireframe acts as a prototype that shows the placement of page features, such as header, footer, content, sidebars, and navigation.
It also specifies the placement of the elements within these content areas. If you want to develop a site that accurately matches the client’s requirements and minimize project revisions, wireframing will keep you on track.
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1 Jun
50 Great Examples of Data Visualization
Design, Information, Visualization
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Wrapping your brain around data online can be challenging, especially when dealing with huge volumes of information.
And trying to find related content can also be difficult, depending on what data you’re looking for.
But data visualizations can make all of that much easier, allowing you to see the concepts that you’re learning about in a more interesting, and often more useful manner.
Below are 50 of the best data visualizations and tools for creating your own visualizations out there, covering everything from Digg activity to network connectivity to what’s currently happening on Twitter.
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