Notes on web design, web development, and all things related
If you’re colour challenged like me, choosing the colours to use in a web project can be tricky. Here’s a simple method that might help.
To do this, you’ll need Photoshop and a picture, preferably one that is significant to your project (like a banner). If you’re project doesn’t use any pictures, find one with a few general colours that you think could work.
The number of podcasts available to web designers and developers has exploded in recent years. While there are plenty of books and blogs available on the subject, podcasts are an excellent supplement to help us stay current with what’s happening in the industry. They’re convenient, easy to consume, and free.
A few years ago, it was surprisingly difficult to find any podcasts related to web design. I remember discovering Boagworld by accident when the show turned up in a Google search. I was immediately hooked, but it seemed to be the only show of its kind out there. I’m sure it wasn’t, but searching the web or iTunes found nothing of quality. Today the situation is much different. My iTunes library now includes at least a dozen or so shows that I listen to on a regular basis.
In this post, I’ve compiled six of my favourite podcasts. If you’re a web developer or designer and you don’t already know about these shows, you should.
What they all share in common, besides the subject area, is a solid mix of information, entertainment, and production quality. Of course, the information is the meat of each show, and I almost always come away having learned something new. But if I’m going to listen to people talking for an hour then the show also has to make me laugh, or at least smile sometimes. And it also needs to sound good. These shows do all of that.
My friends at Idea Rebel have just launched their 2010 Vancouver weather app for the iPhone and iPod Touch, just in time for the Winter Olympics. It’s called 2010 Vancouver Weather & Venues and it provides Olympic goers with real-time weather updates for all venues and events during the Games. I saw a brief demo last week, and it’s pretty slick. It’s also free in iTunes.
Idea Rebel is a digital agency located in Vancouver’s Gas Town. They do great work – check out idearebel.com.
February 18 update: you can see the 2010 weather app in action on the Gas Town blog.
A List Apart launched the third annual Survey for People Who Make Websites a few days ago. The survey gathers information about the professional skills, educational background, career prospects, job benefits, and more from web designers and developers around the world. So if you make websites, or are in any way involved with web projects, head on over to A List Apart and take the survey!
When you’re done, you can also view the survey findings for 2008 and 2007.
I stumbled across this talk by Stefan Sagmeister while browsing the TED archives tonight. It left me feeling incredibly inspired. I love the idea that happy moments can be related to good design. As one commenter put it, “the essence of the design is not the object but something far less tangible.” Indeed.
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