Is There a Viable Alternative to Javascript?

Data is the lifeblood of the web. We often say “content is king”, but what we mean is “data is king”. All good user experiences are crafted after careful data analysis. It’s why we’re all here, from the articles we read, to the products we buy, to the ideas we post, data is everything. Finding data, particularly for smaller businesses can be a daunting prospect. How can you generate so much data, when your competitors have been pushing,...

This month, the slow decline of minimalism continues, and color is everywhere. There’s some awesome type, and video-based maximalism seems to be gaining a foothold. Enjoy! Another Colour I adore Another Colour’s site. It takes incredible complexity to produce an effect this simple. The landing page is a looping rainbow gradient, and the gradient strip on the left takes you to the related point. Click a case study, and you’ll see tons...

Every week users submit a lot of interesting stuff on our sister site Webdesigner News, highlighting great content from around the web that can be of interest to web designers.  The best way to keep track of all the great stories and news being posted is simply to check out the Webdesigner News site, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of the most popular designer news that we curated from the past week. Note...

When Tim Berners-Lee gave us the WorldWideWeb in 1990, it was the first and only web browser. But it didn’t remain alone for long. Even in those early days of the web, there was plenty of competition for web browser market share: Mosaic, MidasWWW, SlipKnot, Arena, Netscape, and Internet Explorer emerged around that time, too, and duked it out for the top spot for the better part of a decade. So, if there’s always been a battle of the browsers,...

App websites are sometimes neglected by app owners. The owners or developers set up everything in place for the app to go ballistic on the market, except doing the basic marketing step: designing an app website that converts your visitors to users. But is it enough to create a random website for an app? Nope. If you do a rushed job, your website will be just as good as not having one. You’ll end up having visitors come to your site that you’ve been...

You’re sure to find some tools and resources that will help you save time as we enter what is often one of the most hectic seasons of the year. Here’s what’s new for designers this month. Screen Size Map Screen Size Map is a tool to showcase popular screen sizes and will even auto-detect yours. Map sizes by device type, usage, size, and popularity. This can really come in handy when thinking about viewports or breakpoints in design projects....

Every week users submit a lot of interesting stuff on our sister site Webdesigner News, highlighting great content from around the web that can be of interest to web designers.  The best way to keep track of all the great stories and news being posted is simply to check out the Webdesigner News site, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of the most popular designer news that we curated from the past week. Note...

You already have a ton of tools in your web design toolbox which is why I’m reluctant to write this post the way I would for copywriters and SEO pros. Why? Well, because there are literally dozens of SEO tools you could add to your workflow. Unless you’re promising clients that their websites will go to #1 in search results for every keyword they want to win, there’s no reason to add that kind of complexity to your life. That said, you can’t...

One of the most important elements in the success of a website is speed. Tools like Google Lighthouse have been built to emphasize performance precisely because it is so important to user experience, and by association, to search engine ranking. The speed of a website is determined by numerous factors, but the single greatest is the volume of data that needs to be transmitted across the web; large file sizes mean slow load times. One of the biggest...

In this month’s collection we’re seeing some minor trends, like the return of sliders, over-sized text, and liquid effects. But the biggest thing of note is a brand new trend: brutalist typography and layouts, made more appealing by soft, feminine color palettes. Enjoy! Wolff Olins Globally renowned agency Wolff Olins’ new site is engagingly simple, but when a company like this embraces a trend, you know it’s got staying power....

Every week users submit a lot of interesting stuff on our sister site Webdesigner News, highlighting great content from around the web that can be of interest to web designers.  The best way to keep track of all the great stories and news being posted is simply to check out the Webdesigner News site, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of the most popular designer news that we curated from the past week. Note...

Created by Design Bombs, these two fantastic sets of financial investment, and responsive design icons are perfect for apps and websites, especially in the fintech industry. There are 60 different icons included, ranging from concepts like Designing an Investment Plan, to Customer Emails, from a Browser, to CSS. Each icon is supplied as color, and outline versions, and in AI, EPS, PNG, and SVG formats, so no matter what your preferred workflow,...

You know, I remember the good old days when all you had to worry about at Halloween was how to stop a gang of sugar-crazed 8 year-olds throwing eggs at your house. Not any more. Here are 5 emerging technologies that are bound to give you the creeps: 1. Quantum Supremacy Perhaps the biggest tech news of 2019 came last month when Google announced “by mistake” cough that they’d completed a “10,000 year” calculation on their Sycamore quantum...

Over the last few years, everyone’s been talking about Dark Mode. It’s said to boost productivity and focus while reducing eye strain. It’s also supposed to be better for your battery life. But is that the whole story? Research into the matter suggests that Dark Mode might not be so healthy for us after all. Today, I want to take a look at what the data suggests and how you can use this information to determine how and when Dark Mode should be...

There’s always a balance between visual design and functional design. Many of the “rules” of design as we know them exist to make visuals more functional. That’s not exactly true of all of the techniques that are trending right now. But sometimes rules are made to be broken, right? You can take these trends in and decide whether they work for you or not. (There’s no right or wrong answer.) Here’s what’s trending in design this month....

Every week users submit a lot of interesting stuff on our sister site Webdesigner News, highlighting great content from around the web that can be of interest to web designers.  The best way to keep track of all the great stories and news being posted is simply to check out the Webdesigner News site, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of the most popular designer news that we curated from the past week. Note...

Whenever a hiring boom like this happens, you have to consider how it could work against you. Sure, there are more job openings. However, that means that more UX designers (and designer wannabes) are going to come out of the woodwork, trying to snag up the highly coveted gigs. So, let’s assume that you’re all starting from the same place: with the baseline skills UX designers are expected to have like empathy, user testing, and wireframing....

Once in a while, every professional comes across a challenge so great, so ridiculous, that they just can’t help themselves. They just have to go for it. It’s like the story of David and Goliath… if David was just bored and Goliath wasn’t threatening his entire nation. As for me, I’m about to argue for putting sounds on a website, and discuss how to do it right. Yeah, I know… I’m one of the “Never Ever Autoplay Sounds on Your Site”...

All the signs are that web design is entering a phase of exuberance, with clashing colors, rapidly changing graphics, and dense layouts replacing the minimalism that’s dominated digital design for the last decade. Portfolios are beginning to adopt this maximalist approach, but never fear, for those who aren’t quote ready for full-on retina burn on a Monday in late October, we’ve included a few beautifully minimal sites for you to...

Every week users submit a lot of interesting stuff on our sister site Webdesigner News, highlighting great content from around the web that can be of interest to web designers.  The best way to keep track of all the great stories and news being posted is simply to check out the Webdesigner News site, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of the most popular designer news that we curated from the past week. Note...

As a web designer, you may be starting with little to no data of your own. It’s not until a website has launched (or relaunched) that you can start gathering real analytics on its performance. Even then, it can take awhile to draw any meaningful insights from it. So, in many cases, what web designers are working with before and while they design a new website is industry data: audience insights; competitive research; keyword analysis; Google...

Is the eerie spirit of Halloween haunting your designs? Find spooky inspiration in these ten ghoulish illustrations, videos, and photos. From Polish artist Piotr Jabłoński’s off-kilter and unnerving fantasy paintings to Caley Hicks’ cutesy take on Halloween themes, you’re sure to find something here to get you in the spooky mood. Looking for spine-chilling photos, graphics, and video clips to use in your projects? Don’t miss...