Frequently asked questions pages are part of practically any client site project, but tend to be the most boring ones to design. Typically they feature a list of anchors at the top for the questions that jump to the answers farther down the long, uninteresting page. But with a little Ajax (created using a handy Spry widget in Dreamweaver), FAQ pages can look and function a lot better.

As we talked about in an earlier post, Spry widgets allow you to create dynamic features with Ajax, like tabbed or accordion-style interfaces. And accordion-style interfaces are perfect for FAQ pages… (more…)

While browsing through the new Dell catalog the other day, I couldn’t help but notice that ALL of the featured computers (desktops and notebooks) came with widescreen monitors. This has been the case with notebooks for some time now, but for desktops it is relatively new phenomenon (HP and Gateway still offer standard monitors on their cheaper units). What this means to designers is that the 1024×768 resolution, which currently the most common resolution for internet users, is already on its way out, giving way to 1280×800 and larger sizes featured by these widescreen monitors.

That being said, now seems like a good time to revisit the common usability debate about whether a site should be fixed width or liquid width. I don’t want to speak with too many generalizations, but on the whole, usability folks and IAs tend to favor sites that take up all the screen real estate that is available, while designers prefer to create fixed pages that allow for complete control of presentation (or as complete as is possible on the web). The correct answer, (more…)

You asked your legal, copyright and trademark questions, and Jean has answered! All questions are taken from comments posted on the original ‘Ask Jean’ post. We invite you to ask more questions.

Hello Jean,

I am a certified HTML CSS Developer, and own and operate a registered company. I have an entrepreneurial idea. The problem is this, when I publish the idea as a completed idea, it would be very easy to reproduce. Is there any way to prevent or make unlawful the activity of duplication of my concept? It is, I am quite certain a situation of information ownership, but might I be able to get a patent for a constructed product that would limit (or reduce completely) the copying of it by others as well?

(more…)

Kaikai Kiki and PULSE Contemporary Art Fair announce the American debut of Kaikai GEISAI Miami Art Fair. The GEISAI Miami event will introduce a new type of fair into an already booming Miami art market, allowing artists to represent themselves and to present their work directly to an audience of collectors, art professionals and art enthusiasts. The fair is set to run alongside the Art Basel Miami Beach, and will be held at the Parliament Building of SOHO Studios in Miami’s Wynwood Art District.

Applications are open to artists of all nationalities that do not have ongoing, commercial gallery representation at the time of application. The GEISAI Miami jury includes Tom Eccles, Massimiliano Gioni, Walter Robinson, Lin Lougheed, and Carol Kingo.

Application Deadline: October 1, 2007
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Let’s face it: once you’re April Greiman, Edward Tufte or anyone else on the AIGA list of medalists, you can kick back in a (well-appointed, loft-like) cave dug into the side of a mountain and hungry acolytes will hunt you down.

Until then, it’s up to you to draw eyeballs, and I don’t mean the kind Daniel Johnston is partial to (although, hey—it’s worked for him) . So how do you create some kind of presence? How do you bridge the gap between Talented Neophyte Sans Cred and Design Elder?

Promotion, promotion, promotion. (The good kind, not the cringe-inducing sort.) (more…)

Web designers and developers do a lot of work in Dreamweaver or Fireworks, but tons of time is also spent in a web browser. Screenshotting, checking out source code, validating for web standards… the browser is an essential design tool. And if you have Safari, these tasks can be made easier with some cool plugins.

My latest favorite is Red Snapper. This $8 shareware (with three-day free trial) from Tasty Apps takes perfect, fast screenshots of web pages. You can of course do this with Mac key commands or applications like Snapz Pro (both of which I also use), but one click of the Red Snapper button (added to the Safari toolbar on installation) gives (more…)

designers interactifs will launch its first Pecha Kucha Night in Paris on October 4th. It will be hosted at ENSCI, 48 rue St Sabin, 75011 Paris.

Watch as a dozen or so selected projects are presented in their 20 x 20 format: 20 slides, 20 seconds each, with no presentation lasting longer than 6 minutes 40 seconds. Find something to be inspired, surprised or even provoked by. Pecha Kucha encourages architects, graphic designers, interactive designers, industrial designers, fashion designers, game designers, artits and students to share their creative vision.

Deadline for the first edition is September 15th, 2007.

Please send your images, along with your personal info, short description to bd@designersinteractifs.org.

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This month, everyone’s favorite name in color introduced a brand new system… or as Pantone describes it, “A new vision of color.” That sounds like hyped-up marketing speak, but given a little time, it might just be a realistic assessment.

The system is called Goe, and has the ambitious job of replacing (or enhancing) the decades-old PMS spot color matching system that just about every print designer currently uses. The Goe System starts with the GoeCube—a package so beautiful that you’re tempted to buy it regardless of what it’s actually for. Is it full of spiders? (more…)

Missed the first part, click here

Key Question 2: Are the Controls Intuitive?

No matter how great a new functionality is, if the user can not figure out how to use it (or that it exists), the value is obviously diminished. Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic have done a nice job utilizing AJAX to improve the interaction between customers and their website. Their “QuickLook” functionality, which shows a larger picture and more product information without taking the user away from a product listng page, saves time and frustration when trying to compare items from within the same category or promotion. This interface does, however, offer a few challenges. Instead of surfacing the QuickLook functionality to the viewable level, the user must hover over an image before the option appears. If a user is not aware of this feature, they may not look for it or expect to find it.

Even if (more…)

In 2006, 450 Radio Shack employees opened their email one day and found a message that stated: “The workforce reduction notification is currently in progress. Unfortunately your position is one that has been eliminated.”

Looking at this ill-advised approach from the outside, it’s easy to see that email was a poor communication method for the circumstances. From within our own client universes, though, it’s sometimes a bit more difficult to determine when email could be a similar liability. Consider these research tidbits:

• In one study, (more…)