In the corporate world, we don’t always get to do the fun jobs like we may have done in previous workplaces, during our university days or simply when working on side projects at home on your own time.

Sometimes the task of creating a website is broken down into smaller parts that contribute to a bigger machine. Designers may simply design mockups in Photoshop and pass them on to HTML developers who slice and dice these creations into working websites. This can create an efficient system for large projects and for dealing with hectic deadlines. It can also create some interesting situations between designers and developers who work on a project together that are unique to the corporate environment.

Often developers and designers will know little of each other’s day-to-day struggles and inspirations. I find there are certain things you can do on larger projects to ensure that things between developers and designers go smoothly when working together on a project: Read the rest of this entry »

In my last post I detailed all the ways to develop and check for accessibility in the design of your website. However, sometimes you need to justify to management why you would take the trouble; below is some ammunition for whenever this occurs:

• More traffic to your website: Allowing more users access to your websites results in more traffic, page impressions and conversions to your website.

• Growing population of disable users: Baby boomers are starting to age, and with this brings simple disabilities such as low vision, mobility problems and others. These ‘Silver Surfers’ are one of the biggest growing markets on the web today.

• Lower Bandwidth: Accessible websites are usually smaller in page weight. This means cheaper bandwidth charges in the long run, which can make a huge difference on large websites.

• Faster Loading Pages: Smaller HTML sizes results in a quicker experience for most users, especially those with slower connection speeds.

• Positive PR: Adopting a socially responsible attitude towards web development and complying with web best practices (and the law in many countries) can make your company look good.

• Avoid Legal Issues: Many instances of people being denied access to websites due to inaccessibility have been settle in and out of court across Britain, Australia and North America.

• Search Engine Optimisation: A search engine spider reads your website exactly the same way a screen reader. An accessible website is a search engine friendly website, thus improving your chances of placing higher in the result pages for Google, MSN and Yahoo.

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There are many ways to define web accessibility, but one simple definition is to allow equal access to information and core functionality of your website to all users. This does not mean that everyone will see or hear the same thing while visiting your website: that would be next to impossible, as people all access the internet using different methods or in different environments.

It does mean that your website should be able to deliver the same service or information to all users, depending on your target audience and the service you provide to your users. Read the rest of this entry »

Each website is like a book, and each individual HTML page can be considered a chapter of this book. This common analogy can help you to visualize how to break down a website into it’s smaller, semantic components. The ‘chapter’ may contain common, re-usable elements such as paragraphs, block-quotes, headings or even bold and italicized text.

Other example of semantic elements are: Read the rest of this entry »

When visually designing a website, you may consider of a few things before actually opening Photoshop and creating a mockup:

• What problem am I trying to solve?
• What do I want to communicate to my users?
• How can I make my designs intuitive and easy to understand?
• What tools allow me to achieve this goal?

A visual designer needs to consider some of the issues above to enable users to visit your website without hitting any obstacles that may prevent them from achieving their goals on the site. The goals may vary from buying a book to leaving feedback on a forum, but should be anticipated and planned for in the initial design phases.

An HTML developer has a similar role when it comes to coding a website. Read the rest of this entry »