A Day in the (Virtual) Life

 

As the world migrates towards an always online tomorrow, web designers are more and more coming into demand. For example, Sergent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles has sold more digital and digitally encoded copies than all of their record sales combined. Web designers are to credit with the increase in this aspect; who designed the digital stores that make millions of dollars every year? Who creates sites that refer users to physical locations to increase actual business. Here's why you should be a web designer.

What do you need to know to be a web designer? The biggest skill is HTML; this programming language powers a majority of the internet and shows shows no sign of being toppled from its seat securely at the top of the heap. Closely following that are an intimate knowledge of CSS, an artistic sense of design, additional programming languages, integral social networking, and search engine optimization. All of these skills add up to highly employable skill-set that will make you look extremely attractive to your future boss.

But where can you learn these skills? According to one source, some of the tops schools include DeVry University in Illinois, Full Sail University in Florida, and Franklin University in Ohio. All offer online aspects of their courses and boast high enrollment rates in online or hybrid classes.

Looking ahead to the future applicability of your newfound education, there is no lack of demand for your skills. Smartphones, PDAs, tablets, and hosts of new devices each demand separate requirements for web content ranging from screen size to navigation. Businesses hoping to stay relevant in the digital age require teams of programmers developers, graphical designers, and more to keep up with the breakneck pace of technology. Web developers will be challenged and cherished by employers in the years to come, and there will be no lack of jobs.

Works Cited

Kyrnin, Jennifer. "Top 10 Web Designer Job Skills." HTML. About.com, n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2013. <http://webdesign.about.com/od/jobs/tp/web-designer-job-skills.htm>.

Searent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Album Cover. Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2013.

"Top 10 Best Online Web Design Schools and Degrees." Top Web Design Schools. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2013. <http://www.topwebdesignschools.org/best/online/>.

"Web Developer Job Overview." U.S. News & World Report. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2013. <http://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/web-developer>.

Color and Typography in Web Design

There are several key factors to using color and typography in websites correctly, all of which contribute to a great website. Readability is one, and within it it requires text to be suitably sized, high contrast, and well organized in a hierarchy. This enables users to actually read, understand, and process the information you're throwing at them. They also need to be able to scan the text effectively with good organizational headers and bolded key points from the text. High contrast text makes the website readable, because you don't want it to end up like this. Size matters, too. Bigger text is more obvious to readers, and indicates key organizational points and sections, enabling faster scanning and more comprehensive reading.
Another key concept is typography, the art of using text to capture attention and interest. For example, which "Advertisement would you be more willing to click on?

SALE! ONE DAY ONLY. BUY HERE.

or

Sale

One day only. Buy here.

The second one is an example of effective typography. Not only does it look nice, but it's not obnoxious and attracts attention to itself. Color and typography are important tools in the arsenal of any web designer, and (when used effectively) can create beautiful, elegant websites.

Works Cited

Cousins, Carrie. "Effective Typography-Driven Web Design." Codrops Effective TypographyDriven Web Design Comments. CODROPS, Inc, 1 May 2012. Web. 20 Mar. 2013.

Cronin, Matt. "10 Principles For Readable Web Typography | Smashing Magazine." 10 Principles For Readable Web Typography | Smashing Magazine. Smashing MAgazine, 18 Mar. 2009. Web. 20 Mar. 2013.

Snell, Steven. "Color and Typography in Good Design." Web Blog by COLOURlovers. CHROMAom, Inc, 19 Dec. 2007. Web. 20 Mar. 2013.

Trends in Web Design

Creating webpages with adaptive interfaces that look good on desktop, tablet, and smartphone screens will become a huge trend in the coming years. Adaptive interface refers to the property of a website that allows it to change its size and appearance based on the type of system that is viewing it. For example, a smartphone has a small screen, which requires larger text and a more linear page flow. Also, devices with touch interfaces require larger, easier to hit buttons than desktops, where users have the luxury of a very precise mouse pointer instead of large, unwieldy digits. This creates a better user experience on every platform, improving ratings and sales.
This also serves to improve user feedback. Those using adaptive websites on mobile devices rate their experience higher than those using desktop webpages on mobile devices. This is hugely important due to the high adoption rate of mobile devices into people's daily lives. In the coming years, this rate will only increase as new devices are introduced and catch on. Adaptive websites will look good and function far into the future with very few changes.

Works Cited

"Adaptive Website." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 03 Aug. 2013. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.

Ponchot, Jared. "Lullabot." Responsive & Adaptive Web Design. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.

Villalobos, Ray. "Creating an Adaptive Web Site for Multiple Screens." Lynda.com. Lynda.com, Inc, n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.

Why You Hate Social Media

You're reading this now because you probably said, "I don't! I use it all the time!" and that's where most users go wrong. While you may like one, you probably like that one because it's the lesser of many evils, so to speak. It may be the one that (most of ) your peers use regularly and you feel the most comfortable with. Many users simply open accounts on a whim as a way to impress or stay connected with your friends. Do you sincerely like social networking, or do you just feel the need to stay in the loop? Not to mention the trash talk about the other networks. What's worse is that it doesn't even matter if they're true; negative stereotypes infect hashtags and groups like wildfires, criticizing Instagram's terms of service or Vine's featured content debacle. Many users of opposing networks use this as proof that they chose the right network, but the people who actively use Instagram or Vine brush the inconsequential issues aside.

It doesn't change their opinion, so why does trash talk happen? Everyone wants to prove themselves right. It's one of the basest instincts of the human mind and the most prevalent on the internet. You see people post "I told you so," or "See this? I knew it!" with links to doomsday sites or daily horoscopes, or media failures and miscommunication. Most (if any) of this will be of little note, but it makes others swarm to you as a beacon of originality or retweets and start your own following on twitter/facebook/youtube/google+/myspace.

And if you think you're an outlier? Then you probably have multiple social networking accounts. Many people who don't trash other networks have personal experience with them; hence, multiple profiles. You may have a Vine and an Instagram and chose not to trash either in a big way. While you may be perturbed, you don't make a fuss.

To bring this all back around, you don't hate social media. You hate all OTHER social networks and the way that the people act on them. You can tolerate the users on the one you use, or don't mock any of them. So what type are you?

Can you convince yourself that this isn't true? Discovered on Pinterest

Trust Issues and Design

These two health websites were used in a study of the effects of good design on the experience of users. Which one would you chose? Almost everyone in the study chose the second one, citing navigational confusion, cartoon-ish graphics, and other issues as reasons to not trust the source. However, only 6% of all concerns were related to content. That says that users will load your page and decide if they want to trust your company, product, or service before they actually find a reason to mistrust you in your content. You may be losing more customers by having a lousy website than if you didn't have one at all.
So what makes a good website?

The Long Answer: Lots of factors go into making users come back to quality sites (content, layout, style, etc.), and they then weave together to form the user’s experience (what he or she thought of your site). A user will only come back to a site if 1) It provided the content that the user needed in a easily understood format or better manner than any other site, 2) It provided higher quality content than any other site, or 3) If it is simply the most convenient place to find the content they want.
    Google can be used as an example for all three. Not only do they provide the search results in the order that it thinks they will be most useful to you, it also provides its own services to help users find the highest quality content. Try typing a formula or celebrity into the search box, and a graph or a list of movies will appear. Try to beat the convenience of that, Yahoo.

The Short Answer: Good design. Once you think you have it, do a quick survey to see if people will trust the layout and design, just to be sure. After all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Sillence, Elizabeth, Pam Briggs, Lesley Fishwick, and Peter Harris. Trust and Mistrust of Online Health Sites. Trust and Mistrust of Online Health Sites. United States Naval Academy, 29 Apr. 2004. Web. 30 Jan. 2013.