Code Academy recently asked me to come in give a workshop on the basics of HTML and CSS to their students. The workshop started with a presentation outlining the different structures of HTML and CSS, along with some common terms to be familiar with. After a collective understanding of HTML and CSS a deeper dive was taken into the box model and how to work with floats.
Continue Reading »Over the summer I have had the opportunity to speak at some terrific conferences, the last two being ChicagoWebConf and Omni Technical Conference. At these two conferences I spoke specifically about HTML5 and CSS3 and it's roll within quality front-end design and development. Please feel free to check out my slides from these talks below and let me know if you have any questions.
September 2011
Continue Reading »
Building a website is an exciting time! Everyone is firing on all cylinders and eager to get started. The mood is high and the room is full of great ideas. Putting the correct process in place will help grow the excitement and craft ideas into executable goals.
TechWeek, July 2011
Continue Reading »
Multivariate testing (MVT), testing multiple elements of a live web page at a time, is becoming more and more popular amongst the web design and development community. Understandably so, multivariate testing allows you to test a large amount of combinations and see exactly how those combinations stack up against one another. You will quickly find out that the smallest changes can produce the biggest results.
Continue Reading »When it comes to designing a website, content is often overlooked, but why? Very rarely do users browse the web looking for a good design or decent experience. Users come for the content. Not giving them what they want with poorly written content will frustrate users. Not only does it waste their time, but your time as well.
Refresh Chicago, January 12th, 2010
Continue Reading »
It is not uncommon for companies to sink large amounts of money into obtaining traffic to their websites in an attempt to increase conversions. Some of their money might go towards search engine optimization and some might go towards pay per click or search engine marketing. Little do they know their problem might not be about getting more traffic. The real problem could be that they have a poor call to action.
Continue Reading »
Online sales are growing rapidly year over year and now more than ever is a great time to have an e-commerce website. While maintaining and optimizing an e-commerce website may be quite the assignment, taking little steps in the right direction will greatly help the overall improvement. Begin with small improvements you can tackle quickly. Then move on to more complex tasks that may require extra effort. Slowly, but surely, you will fine tune your website into an outstanding website. Outlined here are 10 quick e-commerce tips to get you on your way.
When a user visits your website it is virtually impossible to know where they stand within the purchase process. Some users are just browsing around gathering information for a future purchase while other users may be in a dead heat to make a purchase as quickly and easily as possible. Take note of all the potential user types and try to accommodate them all equally.
Continue Reading »
One of the goals behind a non-profit website should be to inform visitors and provide them with valued content, ultimately motivating them to take action or to be encouraged by your undertaking, accomplishments, and possibilities.
Does the website:
Continue Reading »Google does a lot of interesting things, of which one of the most popular being periodically changing their logo to reflect current events. In the past 10 years we have had the pleasure of seeing quite a few fascinating and delightful logo designs. Most often we see these imaginative logos around holidays, including Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, and other popular holidays. We are often surprised to see new logos unexpectedly, most recently for the 40th anniversary of Comic-Con. Outlined here are over 300 of the most brilliantly designed Google logos.
Continue Reading »
Provide Text Alternatives – Any images, videos, or non-text based media presented to the user must have a text alternative or accompanying text.
Make Content Adaptable – Today information is spread across a wide spectrum including computers, mobile devices, and so forth. Make sure your content is adaptable to all of these spectrums without losing information or composition.
Continue Reading »