I came across this site recently (http://foodzie.com/) and think it’s a great example of well thought out navigation. If you have worked within the food industry you’ll appreciate the challenge of organising these categories in a way that people can easily find what they are looking for. The design hasn’t been compromised either – you can have both! Let us know if you come across any other good examples – we’re always keen to get inspired.
Will Apple crush Flash?
The Apple iPad is to arrive in Australia late this month, and New Zealand following closely. Many will be excited to play with yet another flash new Apple toy. But for us in the web design and development industry it will be the beginning of an interesting time.
Since the launch of the iPhone/iPod Touch, there has been a noticeable lack of co-operation between Apple and Adobe over plugins to support flash-based content. If you are browsing the internet on your computer, you are probably blissfully unaware of how much of your browsing experience is dependent on this thing called Flash (more about Flash here). Basically if you see some kind of animation or fancy effects on a website, there’s a good chance is built with Flash. Enjoy it, Flash can make the difference between a nice website and a memorable, beautiful website – but Apple refuses to have any Flash support on it’s devices.
When browsing on the iPhone or iPad, instead of slick, animated interfaces, you’ll be greeted with a blue lego block where flash content once was (examples). And there is no end in sight.
What will this mean exactly? Well. If the iPad fails, nothing. However, if the iPad takes off it will damage flash-based websites to the point of  having to close up shop or re-develop their website to include no flash at all. Which could be very expensive. What about design agencies which use flash in almost every project (for example, Resn)? Will we be taking a step back from gorgeous and interactive websites towards flat but very compatible sites? Either way the two big A’s need to pull finger and work together if we are to keep moving forward in this interactive web environment.
Further reading:
Why you wouldn’t use flash in your website
Apple iPad
The iPad Flash Clash
As just about every web designer and developer will tell you, the Firebug plugin for Firefox is a godsend. Google and their new(ish) browser, Chrome knows this. Hell, even Microsoft knows this and has incorporated a similar (albeit, unattractive) tool of their own. It makes bug-testing and understanding how elements work a heap easier.
The world of developers need to know what is going on, and right now. In-browser utilities such as Firebug let us experiment, fiddle and play around with settings without having to go back to the original files, re-upload and then refresh each page.
I recently encountered a couple of Google Chrome Extensions that caught my eye, namely IE Tab and Chrome SEO. Somebody is listening to the developers! If only Microsoft would do the same by forcing users to update the severely crippling Internet Explorer 6!
There are two points to this blog post:
- For those of you who don’t know about it already, get Firefox and Firebug. These two tools make your job as a designer/developer a great deal easier.
- Look into Google Chrome Extensions.Be sure to check out IE Tab and Chrome SEO. This is going to be the way of the future of on-the-fly website development.
New Balance Project 365
Make a simple website. Done.
Make it fun and interactive. Sweet.
Make a website that people visit every day of the year? Easier said than done.
Exposing your brand is the easy part – but making it memorable is a task that corporations spend millions of dollars on. The beauty of the internet age is that we can build websites that visitors themselves make the content for. Think of the competitions where you win a holiday – ‘Just write in your craziest holiday story to enter’ – by doing so you are contributing, creating and remembering. Often it’s remembering the crazy story that you made up to try win a trip to Fiji, but maybe, just maybe, it was remembering the brand running the promotion.
New Balance 365 is a website essentially promoting, well, New Balance. There’s no fancy new product. No new ‘climate  change awareness’ message. Not even a sale. Just a brand and a concept. This website encourages users to submit a short film and the best of every day gets a spot on the New Balance 365 calendar. All the film needs to do is portray a sense of balance. There are some quite creative films, so be sure to check it out!
Click here to visit New Balance Project 365.
‘VANITY BARCODES’ are mixing it up and are transforming bar codes that are usually boring and space hogging and transforming them into brand assets. It’s a great way to add brand value and engage customers in a way that no other graphic design can! Check out their clever adaptions at  www.vanitybarcodes.com