Schlagwortarchiv für: Design

The X-Mas Plan

Just a notice for all the listening spirits: It is time for a change. This statement of course is quite sloppy, but after blogging for such a long time in separation, we have to move on. I’ve always considered of merging Katharina’s Blog and mine within a single database and under one banner and cover. This afternoon I’m about to start a few plans on doing this, however we’ll perhaps introduce a new subdomain for her content and mine, yet we’ll publicize the content in the major domus of the MikeSchnoor.com.

Things do do:

  • Find a way how to merge the WordPress database with Blogspirit’s content?
  • Create individual subdomains for individual content?
  • Reset the database or create an entirely new one?
  • Backup the database first!
  • Create multiple layouts for the individual blogs and a major design for the front cover?

In the end, I doubt we’ll be ready for a launch in the next days, but once we’re back home -after the holidays (both Christmas and New Year Celebrations)- it’s going to be the top priority on my list for things to do.

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Weblog Top Ten Mistakes

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Jakob Nielsen published his list of the most common mistakes of weblog authors concerning the usability of their blogs: The Top Ten Design Mistakes.

  1. No Author Biographies
  2. No Author Photo
  3. Nondescript Posting Titles
  4. Links Don’t Say Where They Go
  5. Classic Hits are Buried
  6. The Calendar is the Only Navigation
  7. Irregular Publishing Frequency
  8. Mixing Topics
  9. Forgetting That You Write for Your Future Boss
  10. Having a Domain Name Owned by a Weblog Service

So much about this list, and I am aware of the fact that the MikeSchnoor.com does not conform with the first two issues so far. I believe it is important to reveal a little bit about yourself as an author, and in order to meet that small and simple criteria, I’m going to post my biography and some fancy picture in the About section.

However, the problem with having words linked like „here“ or „click“ as seen in the third issue doesn’t happen at all on this site. Usually it is quite easy for a reader to understand that links created by myself lead to that what they are targeted at.

The fourth issue of posting a list of the top articles in a blog is useful, and I might do this in the near future. Fortunately I don’t even use a calendar for its horrible usability. But I’m not sharing Nielsen’s opinion about mixing topics or posting irregularly. I do prefer to mix topics since I cover many issues on this blog. For this, the four major categories (shown on top of the site) combine the others which are seen as the „big list“ in the sidebar. And how can one expect to judge content by posting only if there’s time for blogging? If you have other things to do, this is more imperative than covering the show in your blog. Thus this is a problem which is aimed directly at corporate or professional bloggers who post once a week.

The question about your future boss is always important – never forget that one may like to hire you and become offended from your writing. But one may never forget that a flame war in your blog is different from a critical opinion and thought. If I have a problem with the fictional Company X, and I get hired from that company after two years, the company should accept that employees with critical opinions are more valuable than the simple digest that oyu can find on the street.

Last but not least, we do have a domain name here – or you wouldn’t read us at all, or not? ;)

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Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2005

According to Dimension2K and Dr.Web, the update to our „Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2005“ have been published by Jakob Nielsen. I’m d’accord with Evil.Bert since some of Jakob’s Design Mistakes are not necessarily a real mistake, but sometimes a wanted necessity. ;)

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News.Com Redesign

I like the current look of CNET’s News.Com. Now if they’d have some more Web 2.0 features like i.e. Microsoft’s Start.com, the effective art of customizing a news website would be completed.

According to The eStrategyOne Buzz,

[…] The new site is bolder in both graphic design and content. The navigation includes two sets of header tabs. Some of the old familiar tab names are missing, but the new scheme allows CNet to add personalization, and separate tabs for their newsreader, blogs, and Extra stories. The new design is horizontal than vertical, and provides more emphasis on the photos or illustration for the lead story. […]

Of course this is just a beta phase and can change back anytime.

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Blogdesign? Was ist mir lieber… Windows oder Mac?

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Es ist vielleicht ein alter Hut von uns lieben Design-Fanatikern, aber damals in der Hochzeit der Dot-Coms und der New Economy hatten wir in der alten Firma unsere Rechner mit Browsern zugeballert. Es fand sich auf meinem PC jeweils der MS IE in zwei aktuellen Ausführungen, ebenfalls Netscape 4.xyz und auch gerne einmal spezielle Installationen wie z.B. Opera, jedoch kam ich nie in den Genuß, etwas am Mac zu betrachten – es wurde damals halt aus vielleicht persönlichen Gründen (oder auch vom Budget) nicht in den Mac investiert. Was passierte? Ich nahm mir die Zeit und ging zu der Mutterfirma in deren Tageszeitungs-Design-Labor und fragte immer lieb und brav, ob ich es mir da auch einmal ansehen kann, was ich so für’s moderne damals in den Köpfen der Zeitungsmacher unbekannte Internet produziert hatte. Wir wollten ja so viele Kunden unserer Kunden mit dem Produkt ansprechen:

…why exclude potential readers just because they use a different browser or OS to you. In the chase for traffic every visitor is as valuable as the next one, and should be given the same consideration: its not hard making sure that your site works in other places, and in failing to do so the only person to lose will be you.

Heute ist es anders, da lege ich mich mit niemandem mehr an, denn ich freue mich über solche Webapplikationen: Lixlpixel Safari Screenshot Generator. Das ganze ist umsonst, aber wer mag darf auch gerne etwas Geld ausgeben.

[via TheBlogHerald]

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