Digital UK Design Blog
Tweasier, the brand new Twitter management tool, went into open beta while I was on holiday. I’ve heard a lot of good things about this application (created by PR and social media guru Chris Norton), so I thought I’d join up see just what Tweasier offers.
Successful websites require a series of important pre-launch stages to ensure they have the best chance of succeeding. Client liason, technical specs, design briefs, accessibility, standards compliance and SEO are all important factors in the DNA of the top performing sites. Through years of commercial experience we have found the final quality assurance stage to be one of the most important. This vital stage ensures both platform stability and quality is at it’s optimum pre-launch.
It comes as some kind of eco-irony that when Starbucks put out an open brief to “reduce the number of non-recyclable cups that are thrown away every year by creating a more convenient alternative to the reusable coffee cup”, that the winning result is not actually a cup at all, but (essentially) a blackboard. The Karma Cup has arrived.
What is actually most impressive about it is that the designers have considered what most would neglect, and approached the problem from the point of the view of the user, rather than Starbucks’ sole approach of looking to reduce waste. Fortunately by encouraging the user to change their behaviour this solution offers both and will (probably) successfully achieve the latter too.
We recently launched a competition aimed at photographers with a passion for HDR, with a prize fund of $500. We’re glad to announce the competition has closed and our friends at HDR Darkroom have picked the winners. The winning three HDR photos entered into our Flickr photo competition group will each win a copy of HDR Darkroom Pro. Two other licences will be awarded to 2 lucky people who have either Retweeted the competition on Twitter or who have commented on the competition post page. The winners are announced below.
Picked by the guys at HDR Darkroom from a total number of 119 entries by 53 photographers.
Shot at the barbican centre in london, 5 frames HDR
Pornography has been traded online since the 1980′s, even in the form of ASCII art, and then, with the rise of the world wide web in the 1990s, adult websites began springing up everywhere. Here are the figures for the enormous world of internet pornography.
Via: Online MBA
Rickrolling originally began as an internet prank where one person would be provided a link to something allegedly awesome. When they clicked the link, they would be taken to Rick Astley’s video “Never Gonna Give You Up”… something decidedly not awesome… well maybe slightly awesome. Here’s an infographic detailing the act.
Oh yes and then the video itself…
Via: Online Schools
Today Google has released something very interesting, a Font API and directory that offers high quality open source web fonts for web developers. At first glance these fonts are extremely easy to integrate with just a few lines of code needed.
The Google Font API provides a simple, cross-browser method for using any font in the Google Font Directory on your web page. The fonts have all the advantages of normal text: in addition to being richer visually, text styled in web fonts is still searchable, scales crisply when zoomed, and is accessible to users using screen readers.
The interesting part of the subject of baking fonts into images and using font replacement scripts is actually how ‘searchable’ they are. Now with Google Font API you should be more comfortable in the fact that if Google have developed this, they ‘must’ be search engine friendly… right?
Getting started using the Google Font API is easy. Just add a couple lines of HTML:
<link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Tangerine'
rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'>
body { font-family: 'Tangerine', serif; }
We’re proud to announce we have partnered up with HDR Darkroom to bring you the chance of winning 1 of 5 pro copies of their fantastic HDR Darkroom software in our first ever photography competition. This photography competition is open to anybody interested in HDR photography or has a passion to start learning. The rules and guidelines are detailed below along with a competition closing date.
You can enter in 3 different ways.
HDR Darkroom will pick the 3 best HDR photos from the flickr group who will win a pro copy of HDR Darkroom. 2 winners will be picked by random draw from the Twitter and comment entries. All entries should have a clear contact method in case of winning and will be contacted direct via email after the competition end date.
The end date for all entries is 1st June.
If you tweet, comment and enter your best HDR photography into our Flickr group you will have 3 chances of winning. Up to 3 photos are allowed to be entered, 1 comment and 1 tweet. Any abuse of the rules may mean you are eliminated from the competition.
The copyright of all photo entries remain with the original owners of the photo. We may use your photos on this website when showcasing the winners and other worthy entrants. The photos will not be used in any other promotional campaign without the originators consent. The photos will remain in the HDR Flickr group until at least the end of the competition.
It seems the domain Google.com has been UNLOCKED for transfer. I wonder where it’s going? Maybe if nobody else wants it it can come and pay my account a visit. Hmmm, to request transfer or not to request transfer, that is the question.
As a freelance web designer, I’m often engaged in conversations with clients that surround requirement gathering. The first thing I always ask before starting this conversation is “What is your budget?”
Now I’ve heard it said that some clients feel you’re asking this question so any price estimates will be increased to meet their maximum allowance. However, this is very rarely possible in any situation I have ever been in. I often find the client doesn’t have nearly the budget available to meet every demand they have, and have never ever been in a position where I could happily meet the clients demands for less than their maximum allowance.
Finding out their budget, as soon as possible, is vital for me to not only decide if I can provide a solution, they would be happy with that can be within budget, but also to allow me to manage their requirements and expectations to fit in-line with their finances. Read the rest of this entry »
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