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Victor Tsaran recently released this very useful Video tutorial on how Screenreaders, a programm that reads Browser content, help the Blind access the web. Victor is an accessibility engineer at Yahoo! who focuses on developing best practice.
Form follows function
This wonderful gadget combines beautiful design with bluetooth fuctionality and stands at the top of my christmas wishlist. So please don’t hesitate if you are feeling generous.
A glossary of different design fields
Whenever I am asked for my profession, I usually tend to answer simply with “Webdesigner”. Although the answer would pass in general terms, it still remains very unprecise. Nathan Shedroff certainly leaves no room for guessing in his “Evolving Glossary of Experience Design“. A good reference for determining your current field as a designer.
To build better webapps
A community site that helps Webdevelopers and Webdesigners create partnerships. I for sure know many well programmed sites that could use a good Designer and vice-versa. The site not only offers jobpostings, prices and deadlines but also offers search results as RSS-Feeds. A really good idea.
via Lifehacker
Practical advice for those managing websites
Very useful Blog if you are responsible for your organisation’s web site. Boagworld is a blog and podcast aims to provide news and advice on web design and management without overwhelming you with techno babble! Podcast 45 is all about the importance of art direction.
Streaming Music at its best
According to Greek Mythology. the opening of the Pandora Box released all the worlds evil. On the contrary, this musical Pandora box releases some of the best music in the world. A highly intelligent Online Jukebox that not only allows you to create personalised stations, but also interactively records your listening patterns to allow for nonstop playback of your favorite music. All for free!
Interactive test of creative skills
While some of us might generate great ideas in the shower, the rest of us can be helped along by using various creativity techniques. Some of the best concepts make use of recognizable symbols. Here is a creativity test that allows you make a creative choice and compare your ideas with the test examples.
New Search Engine favors Accessibility
Google Labs released an accessible web search. They claim it uses a slightly different algorithm that favors sites that are accessible and degrade well. Its funny that a company known for its invalid markup is filtering out other people with invalid markup. The title “Accessible Web Search for the Visually Challenged” seems to wrongly suggest that accessibility is only about people with visual impairments.
Searching for Web Standards specialists
Khmerang from Cambodia, author of the Web Standards Quiz posted his findings as he sought for the specialists in his part of the world
Footie Fox Firefox Plugin
This Add-on for Mozilla Firefox brings soccer to your browser. A must for for all you football fans out there. It has brilliant features like a display of current soccer scores in your status bar, visual and acoustic notification when goals are scored and lots more.
An online i-mode emulator
If you have ever wondered what your website might look like on different mobile devices, then here is a very interesting emulator that will definitely have you developers and accessibility geeks tweaking your files. You can also emulate your website with this other similar tool. A small tip: use @import in the style-tag of your header file.
A contrast accessibility tool
An online accessibility testing tool that visually converts a full-color web page into a grayscale rendition. When dealing with hues other than black, white, and gray, it’s sometimes difficult to determine the relative value of each colour. A good way to ensure that your colour palette provides enough contrast.
A resource for german web standards specialists
As a logical consequence to my Frappr Map, I recently launched a project called Web Standards in Germany . Beginners and experts alike can obtain instant access to up-to-date Information due to the RSS-Feed Integration. My thanks to Björn Seibert of Webdevbits for his support and advice.
CSS Design versus Accessibility
On csszengarden I came across an 80s retro-style design with loads of accessibility issues (like poor colour contrast, flashing text etc.) I would say this is a perfect demonstration that accessibility means more than CSS Design.
A tool to create standard-based Web sites
This Spring Microsoft is coming out with a new Windows-only Web design tool called Expression. Not only will it output Standards-Based Web Sites, but you can do cool stuff like visually illustrate margins and padding in the design view. Watch the Demo Videos here.
Lectures in organizing and structuring code (de)
Jens Meiert explains how writing clearly arranged and consistent CSS-code can improve effectivity especially on large projects in a team. Also worth a read is Heiko S.’s article on structuring and organising your code.
via webdevbits
CSS -specificity has never been better explained
Not only does he show us a few more techniques on implementing CSS-Selector heirarchy, Andy Clarke creates a “Star Wars” allegory to shed creative light on their usage.
A powerful presentation from the SXSW
Andy Budd and Andy Clarke prove that static presentations don’t have to be boring and if done well, can be quite humorous.
Download the pdf format and see for yourself (5.9MB)
Tip #12-Laugh all day
In my previous post we learnt how thinking patterns influence your creativity… I wonder what these designers where thinking when they created their Logos.
20 ways to enhance your creative Brain
In the “Human Brain Project”, scientists have proven that our eating habits or the way we think enhance our creativity. Find out what works for you with this well done set of illustrations displaying a list of 20 ways.
via Blogfonk
Locating the german experts
I enjoy visualizing things and I thought it’d be great to see where german web professionals operate from. So I started a Frappr map called Webstandards in Germany. Designers, Developers, Bloggers, can join… and watch this map grow.
Do you know your standards?
If you are a web designer and you think you know your craft, go ahead and try out this quiz. While you’re at it, you might also want to read Emil Stenström’s Levels of CSS knowledge
A site that focuses on showcasing online advertisement.
Banners sorted by “Agency”, “Brand” or “Category” and are easy to find. A collection of good ideas… I personally am a fan of the interactive Banners
How real are the images we see on TV, magazines, film etc.?
Girl Power displays how the Media use Photoshop to manipulate images. The site goes on to demand more criticism from consumers.
via Sloganmaker
Layout Gala by Alessandro Fulciniti
Alessandro Fulciniti is offering exactly
40-Templates all for free with valid XHTML and CSS code. Surely a good place to start if you want a tableless layout that validates.
Veerle’s newly redesigned site
With great attention to detail and a tasteful use of colors, Veerle, a Belgian based Webdesigner makes a solid statement with her blog and raises the bar for the web design community.