Accessible And Attractive Websites

And, as a result, selling the concept is never all that easy. Sure, you can harp on about all the 'business benefits' (potential increased audienced, reduced bandwidth costs, good PR), but what you really need to be able to do is show that it's possible to do this without compromising on the design. That's often where the problems begin.

Lloyd, Ian. SitePoint (2003). Design>Web Design>Accessibility

AJAX and Screenreaders: When Can it Work?

We've all heard a great deal of buzz about AJAX in the last few months, and with this talk has come a legion of articles, tips, presentations and practical APIs designed to explore the possibilities and try to arrive at best-practice techniques. But, for all of the excitement and hype, still very little has been said on the subject of AJAX and accessibility.

Edwards, James. SitePoint (2006). Design>Web Design>Accessibility>Ajax

Ajax: Usable Interactivity with Remote Scripting

This article aims to give you an introduction to the foundations of remote scripting, in particular, the emerging XMLHttpRequest protocol. We'll then walk through an example application that demonstrates how to implement that protocol, while creating a usable interface.

Adams, Cameron. SitePoint (2005). Design>Web Design>Interaction Design>Ajax

Alter Table Row Background Colors Using JavaScript

Many sites that present tabular data use alternating background colors to increase the readability of that data. And as I developed a site, I realised I wanted to do that, too. The problem? In my case the table was not generated by a server side application or script of which you can find numerous examples on the Web.

Svanberg, Kennet. SitePoint (2005). Design>Web Design>CSS>DHTML

Build Accessible Online Forms

Ask anyone who has had to fix a Website that's littered with accessibility howlers, and top-most in their list of problems encountered will be forms, closely followed by tables. These two topics always seem to present the most difficulties, but they needn't be a problem. For the most part, forms are a problem because the extra accessibility tags are simply not known to the Web designer -- after all, it looks right, it seems to work... what's the problem? Only by switching off the monitor and using a screen-reader can our oblivious Web developer understand the issues.

Lloyd, Ian. SitePoint (2003). Design>Web Design>Accessibility>Forms

Caffeinate Your Hypertext

Suggests that knowing how to create a Web page is only a small step toward writing good hypertext. The article is the first installment in a two-part series on hypertext for anyone who writes anything for the Web. In a world where designers create systems to offload work to secretaries and writers, both technical and non-technical people need a sense of the possibilities opened up by hypertext.

Matias, Nathan. SitePoint (2003). Design>Web Design>Writing

Case Study - Building a Usable Site

A website can be both attractive and easy to use. Usability and good looks aren't mutually exclusive and one doesn't necessarily have to negate the other.

SitePoint (2002). Design>Web Design>Usability>Case Studies

Cleaner, Sharper GIF, JPEG and PNG Images

Optimize your GIFs, JPEGs, and PNGs with this handy guide. Tom explains these file formats, and gives tips to improve their appearance on your site.

Rutter, Thomas. SitePoint (2003). Design>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration

Cleaner, Sharper GIF, JPEG, And PNG Images

While they're not absolutely necessary for Website functionality, images help improve the appearance of a site. With a few gcood quality, highly optimised images, you can give your site the edge it needs to leave a lasting impression. The problem is that many Webmasters, both novice and experienced, don't feel confident when it comes to creating clean looking graphics and optimising them for the Web.

Rutter, Thomas. SitePoint (2003). Design>Web Design>Graphic Design

Configure Web Logs in Apache

Traffic statistics have a huge impact on a Website's success, and Apache provides one of the most powerful and flexible logging features available today. Blane explains the nitty-gritty of configuring Apache Weblogs in this handy how-to.

Warrene, Blane. SitePoint (2004). Design>Web Design>Audience Analysis>Log Analysis

Cost-Effective Website Acceleration

This three-part series outlines a common sense, cost-effective approach to Website acceleration according to the two simple laws of Web performance.

Powell, Thomas A. and Joe Lima. SitePoint (2004). Design>Web Design>Usability>Bandwidth

Defining Information Architecture Deliverables

One of the hottest topics these days in Information Architecture circles is documentation. This is probably partly because the IA's role is so ill defined. Our jobs sit perched between engineering and graphic design: go too far in one direction, we're doing the coding, go to far in the other and we are doing the design. Neither role maximizes the architect's key skills; defining the organizational structure and behavior of the web site or application. An IA is most effective when they leave implementation and final graphic design out of the mix. The documents they create to express this have to be crafted with equal skill and diplomacy.

Wodtke, Christina. SitePoint (2001). Articles>Information Design>Documentation

Design Effective Navigation in Ten Steps

Designing your site's navigation can be quite a tricky task at first. You need to research the number of categories you'll account for, where your visitors are most likely to click, the colour schemes that will best satisfy users, and many other aspects. With so many variables, navigation design can seem like a situation in which there's no right answer. Today, we'll discuss the task of designing navigation -- and hopefully give you a head start in creating a navigation system that works the best for your users.

Hastings, Sam. SitePoint (2002). Design>Web Design>Usability

Don't Disable Right Click!

After working hard on a design, image or article you may want to protect it by using a JavaScript that disables right-click while optionally warning a visitor that the content is copyrighted.

Wise, Rosemarie. SitePoint (2002). Design>Web Design>DHTML

Ever Wondered What Your Users Looked at First?

Text-centric commercial websites are taking a pounding this year, with layoffs and closures affecting even the giants as advertising revenue streams slow. One result of this revenue squeeze shows in such widely read information sites as Forbes.com, The Economist, Salon.com and the Financial Times, all of which are experimenting with new web formats to better compete for readers.

Till, Francis. SitePoint (2001). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design

Good Information Architecture Increases Online Sales

This article explains how information architecture can impact the sales process, and how and effective information architecture can help a site flourish.

Walsh, Ivan. SitePoint (2003). Design>Web Design>Information Design>E Commerce

Heuristic Evaluation - a Step By Step Guide

Evaluation and testing is an important part of your website development process. Usability tests gather data about the usability of your site by a group of users performing specific tasks.

Danino, Nicky. SitePoint (2001). Articles>Usability>Methods>Assessment

How To Quantify the User Experience

How can you quantify a concept as nebulous as user experience? Rob's tutorial shows how you can statistically assess the experience a site provides - a great way to review a prospect's existing site and springboard redevelopment discussions.

Rubinoff, Robert. SitePoint (2004). Design>Web Design>User Experience>Log Analysis

How To Sell Accessibility

You want to build accessible sites, but your clients don't see the need. How can you convince them to fork over the cash it'll take to ensure their site's accessible by all Web users? Trenton has the answers...

Moss, Trenton. SitePoint (2004). Design>Web Design>Accessibility

Human-Computer Interaction and Your Site

Ever wondered what makes some websites easier to use than others, or why some people seem to master new navigation systems quickly while others struggle to learn? Do you know why users get lost in electronic space or find it difficult to communicate with others through the medium of technology? These questions are just some of the driving forces behind research in the developing field of Human Computer Interaction.

Danino, Nicky. SitePoint (2002). Design>Web Design>Human Computer Interaction

Information Architecture Defined

Much like our real world namesakes, information architects design spaces for human beings to live work and play in. The big difference is the materials we work with: cement is replaced with thesauri, timber with hierarchies and steel with interaction flows. Confused? Let me tell it as a story. Oh, and to do so I’m going to have to reveal I’m a big dork. Hope this won’t slow you down.

Wodtke, Christina. SitePoint (2000). Articles>Information Design

Mac OS X For Web Development

Macintosh has long been passed over by the typical Web developer, as it's considered a niche operating system and platform for development. Until OS X, Macintosh was almost solely the domain of designers and artists, and just another piece of the Web development puzzle. This is no longer the case.

Warrene, Blane. SitePoint (2004). Design>Web Design>Operating Systems>Macintosh

Make Internal Links Scroll Smoothly with JavaScript

When they’re navigating through a long document, users often are confused or disoriented when they click a link that jumps to another location in that same document.

Langridge, Stuart. SitePoint (2003). Design>Web Design>Interaction Design>JavaScript

Making Rich Web Application Architecture Usable

'Focus on the user and all else will follow' is a philosophy that can make or break a product. Software designers have become notorious for concentrating on implementation patterns and neglecting the user. It is easy to get lost in grand concepts at an abstract level and get excited over stuff that makes your work as a developer easier; thus, the needs and desires of the 'real' users may sometimes take a back seat. Identifying the usability constraints and designing within them keeps the focus on the user.

Gondi, Viswanath. SitePoint (2003). Design>Web Design>Usability

The MySQL Roadmap – What's Planned?

MySQL is old news ...or is it? In this fast-paced expose, Blane looks at where MySQL is now, and what's planned in Versions 4.1 and 5 - including the exciting developments of MySQL Cluster and Stored Procedures!

Warrene, Blane. SitePoint (2004). Articles>Information Design>Databases>Open Source