Stefano Mallozzi Sviluppo web professionale

Estuve pensando en cuándo fue la última vez que entré a una web de citas, pero no la recuerdo. Es que, la verdad, creo que nunca he entrado a esos sitios, aunque no puedo negar que en algún momento habré sentido curiosidad por ingresar a ese mundo en el que, según testimonios de algunas personas, [...]

¿Qué ven los hombres y las mujeres en una web de citas? | Más tecnologia en Tecnología 21.

No hay dudas de que para cualquier compañía, conquistar el mercado asiático representa un gran logro. Es que el mercado ahí es tan grande que los beneficios luego de la inversión no tardarían en llegar demasiado, hecho que resulta atractivo para cualquier empresario. Por ello, una de las compañías que está pensando en lograr una [...]

Twitter contrata ex ejecutivo de Google con miras a conquistar Asia | Más tecnologia en Tecnología 21.

Hoy en día, en la era de los Smartphones, tablets y consolas de videojuegos, es muy importante contar con una red inalámbrica de calidad, que nos ofrezca mayor desempeño, confiabilidad y una fácil administración. Por eso, para satisfacer dichas necesidades de conexión, la compañía Cisco nos presenta la nueva familia de routers inalámbricos y switches [...]

Cisco: Nueva generación de routers inalámbricos y switches Linksys | Más tecnologia en Tecnología 21.

Cuando era niño solía jugar con un microscopio de juguete, de esos que vienen con varios otros artículos que nos hacen creer que somos científicos, al menos en nuestra inocencia. Lo que más me gustaba ver con mi microscopio eran los insectos que recogía del jardín, era muy entretenido para mí verlos desde tan cerca. [...]

SkyLight: Adaptador de cámaras de smartphones para microscopios | Más tecnologia en Tecnología 21.

The similarities between an artist and a designer are quite easy to see, in fact those unaware of the distinctive differences might even assume that they are the same occupation. However for those that understand the functions of both creative endeavors, they know that is far from the case. An artist is a creative who creates to satisfy their own aesthetic pleasure, unconcerned with the wants and needs of others. A designer is a creative who creates in hopes of satisfying the wants and needs of others with their art, casting aside their own individual creative desires.

With that understanding in mind, it is clear that both creative paths differ by one being a creative for the people and the other for oneself. As designers, there is always some level of artistic input that must be imputed into a design for it to be affective. The problem many designers have is trying to incorporate the desires of their inner artist into their work as a designer. There can’t be too much artistic perspective used because then it will lean away from the intended audience, however too little and the design will likely look very generic and uninspired. That is why we are going to go over how a designer can find that inner balance between artist and designer.

What is Your Favorite Style of Art?

Image Credit: jiruan

In the design world it is the popular choice to renounce ones own true favorite artistic style and to design according to whatever style is currently trendy. An current example of this would be the universal fascination over minimalism. This is a great artistic style, with a really engaging philosophy behind it. However it is still not a perfect mesh for everyone.

So with that in mind, let’s go over a couple of questions that can lead anyone to the art style that best represents them.

What Does Your Personality Say About You?

Art is nothing more than an outward manifestation of the current mental state, and personal qualities, of the artist creating the work.. This makes artwork personal, and the need for a personal connection from a viewer of the work and the artist must be able to be formed from the art. Understanding this about art puts better perspective onto how and why some artwork appeals more so to some than it would to others.

So before anyone can go around looking at artwork to find what suits their creative palettes, there must be an understanding of oneself. That way when passing by and viewing artwork, the true connection with the work and yourself can be established.

Can You See Yourself  in the Artwork?

As already mentioned, art is very personal and allows for the inner workings of an artist to come out onto their canvas. It is important to be able to sense a connection with the artist  through looking at their work alone, however it is more so important when aiming for inner balance between artist and designer to be able to see oneself in the work.

This isn’t so much literally seeing yourself of course. It’s about looking at something and being able to see the inner workings of your mind, person, past, future, and/or soul in the work you are looking at.

How to Incorporate Your Taste into Your Work

Image Credit: Fifth World Art 

As designers, it is our predetermined thought that our craft has no real room for personal creative interpretation, surrendering our individual tastes for that of the masses at large. It is quite easy to see how this thought process came to be when considering how community driven we are. From creation to final product, our main goal is to create something that is liked by a vast amount of people. If that happens to lead to something that we like, then that is just a little extra bonus in the project.

Now with that ideology thriving in anything designers create, it is quite hard to see ways in which any true personal artistic preference can be placed. Here are a few tips on how to awaken your inner artist in your designs.

Look for that “One Thing” when Finding Inspiration

Everyone takes that walk, or surfs the internet, trip, etc., to find inspiration for what they are working on. However, often the case is that instead of looking for that one thing in particular that stands out, the object of attention is the environment at large. That is of course fine for any other instance, but specifying your hunt for inspiration will lead to better results. This result should then lead you to an ample amount of creative thoughts that will easily lend themselves to your design project.

Ignore Best Practices…to an Extent

There is no such thing as a proven theory for success in the art world, so there shouldn’t be any perceived one anywhere near your mind when trying to bring out the artist in yourself. With so many proven success methods, guides, tutorials, and things of that nature, it’s hard for anyone to actually want to be adventurous. We design for financial gain after all, so this really isn’t such a bad thing. It’s just from the artistic standpoint, the only thing you’re doing by blindly adhering to these is suffocating your artistic expression. Understand the ones that make sense for what YOU are trying to do, and just leave the rest alone.

Lessen the Community Input

It is quite tempting to want to post what you’re working on to a social network full of creatives eager to see what everyone is doing, but it is not necessarily the best move. The vision for what you are to create can’t be translated to anyone perfectly, no matter how hard anyone tries. So of course there is no way that anyone elses input can actually lead to a better way of bringing out your inner artistic vision. Just leave this aspect for down the line when the project is close to completion, and needs that designer touch.

Don’t be Afraid

We all are afraid of creating something that is not well received, or easily understood by anyone else. This is so because art is not mean to be understood, only to express the thoughts of the artist. Don’t worry about the fear of rejection and just create, you could end up with something that the rest of us will be personally interpreting for years.

In Conclusion

Image Credit: fiveforefun

The work of an artist and designer is nothing alike, only the means they go about in creating their work. A designer can learn many things from art and artist like personal expression, relieving oneself of the fear of rejection, and the drive to fulfill one’s creative vision among other things. Just make sure as a designer you don’t let your inner artist consume your work too much, your job description still says that you create for the community at large.

Como casi la mayoría de las compañías de seguridad tecnológica nos han venido comentado en los últimos meses, Android se está volviendo en el blanco predilecto de los creadores de malware. Tanto así, que muchos se atreven a decir que Android tiene todas las posibilidades de convertirse en la plataforma más infestada en todos los [...]

Symantec: Malware para Android que muta con cada descarga | Más tecnologia en Tecnología 21.

Sospecho que hablar de la atracción de las mujeres por los gadgets, desde mi masculinidad, me hará lucir un tanto machista cuando diga que siguen siendo los hombres quienes están a la cabeza en este aspecto. Pero esa no es mi intención, por si acaso, queridas lectoras. Más bien, si les cuento esto, es porque [...]

Las mujeres cada vez más atraídas por los gadgets | Más tecnologia en Tecnología 21.

La reconocida compañía Kaspersky Lab, especialista en seguridad informática, ha descubierto que los cibercriminales peruanos han estado lanzando ataques de ingeniería social a sus vecinos de Colombia. Sí, tal y como lo acabas de leer, los ciberdelincuentes de Perú han estado infectando a los ciudadanos de Colombia para robar información (PINes y contraseñas) y así [...]

Cibercriminales de Perú atacan a Colombia | Más tecnologia en Tecnología 21.

¿Les gusta el Nokia Lumia 800? Es un smartphone atractivo, de eso no hay dudas, creo. Al menos a mí me parece que tiene un diseño muy bien cuidado, aunque claramente lo prefiero en color negro, antes que en magenta o cyan. Pero ahora que ha sido presentado el Nokia Lumia 800 de color blanco, [...]

Nokia Lumia 800 color blanco para finales de febrero | Más tecnologia en Tecnología 21.

Los navegadores más utilizados en el mundo son Internet Explorer, Firefox y Chrome, y seguro que ustedes tienen su favorito. De ahí que empiecen a recomendarlo a sus amigos, como es lo usual. ¿Pero acaso alguno de ustedes ha escuchado que las autoridades de su país les han recomendado utilizar algún navegador en particular? Creo [...]

Google Chrome es recomendado por el gobierno de Alemania | Más tecnologia en Tecnología 21.

Una de las características más llamativas del iPhone 4S es su asistente de voz, Siri. Le haces preguntas y te responde, es bastante interesante, pero no todos cuentan con un iPhone 4S, algunos tienen un iPhone 4 o anteriores y ellos también quieren contar con un asistente de voz como Siri. Probablemente te has preguntado [...]

Apple: ¿Por qué Siri sólo funciona con el iPhone 4S? | Más tecnologia en Tecnología 21.

Advertise here with BSA

Mimicking the interactions offline is always popular in the world of computers.

Page-flips are one of the most popular ones of them in web design. They are implemented very successfully in Flash, many websites, documents, magazines are being created/published each day.

With the capabilities of new web technologies, we can also expect them to be accomplished using only HTML, CSS and JavaScript (remember "20 Things I Learned"? It is also open source).

There are several easy-to-use jQuery plugins that offer a good page-flip experience and help creating book-like interfaces. Here they are:

Turn.js

A jQuery plugin that has lovely and smooth page flip transitions.

The first page acts as the cover and the rest can be browsed by simply turning the pages from any desired corner.

Turn.js is only 15kb, works on mobile & tablet browsers as well and makes use hardware acceleration.

jPageFlip

jPageFlip is a highly customizable jQuery plugin for book-like interfaces.

It can -optionally- flip pages on mouse clicks and has support for transparent + semi-transparent image files.

P.S. The plugin performs better on WebKit browsers.

Booklet

Booklet is probably the plugin with most options in this list as it allows configuring each variable.

The JavaScript turning page effect is not that strong as it keeps things within corners (no overflows from the book itself) but works solid.

Pages can be turned manually, via keyboard, prev-next links or automatically (autoplay). Each page also has a unique URL (using hashtags).

It has support chapters, ca show page numbers and callbacks exist for further interaction.

imBookFlip

imBookFlip plugin can display the book-like content in an iframe or directly on the page.

Its pages can be set to turn when manually clicked or as an auto play, sadly, no support for dragging a page.

Also, its API allows directly pointing to a desired page.

FlipPage

This plugin also keeps the page flip effect inside/over the images displayed (that ends up in a 2D-like experience).

It makes use of HTML5-CSS3 + hardware acceleration and works also in mobile browsers.

Other Solutions

The list above includes the latest and more frequently updates ones. However, there are few more options like:

• jFlip
• CSS Page Flip (works better in WebKit)

Any better JavaScript alternatives with (or without) jQuery? Please feel free to share them.

Special Downloads:
Ajaxed Add-To-Basket Scenarios With jQuery And PHP
Free Admin Template For Web Applications
jQuery Dynamic Drag’n Drop
ScheduledTweets

Advertisements:
Professional XHTML Admin Template ($15 Discount With The Code: WRD.)
Psd to Xhtml
SSLmatic – Cheap SSL Certificates (from $19.99/year)

How many forms are filled out each day across the web? Billions of them, for sure. From small household blogs to government portals, it’s hard to imagine a website not having at least one form. And this comes naturally, since forms are the quickest way of having users:

• subscribe for a newsletter
• add comments to an article, pose questions or ask for support
• fill out applications (e.g. job applications)
• answer surveys
• perform purchases
• join clubs and forums

Styling web forms for both usability and aesthetics is a usual practice for any web designer working on a project. However, at the very beginning of the Internet forms were so dreadful that no modern user would have had the slightest desire to fill in one of them – no customized design, no smart capabilities, scarce consideration towards user experience.

Let’s see the evolution web forms over the past 10 years. It’s simply a lot of fun!

1. Pre-web era forms – the prints that we all despise

Yes, yes, these ones do bring bad childhood memories of endless queues at public administration desks. Perhaps this is the reason most of us don’t enjoy filling out any kind of forms. Hopefully, those prints will become out of fashion before we run out of wood.

2. The early days of WWW: 1991 – 1998

The first years of the Internet (1991-1996) remain obscure as far as web forms are concerned. Since we don’t have NeXT software on hand anymore, there’s no possibility of taking screenshots from back then to see how forms looked (if they existed at all).

As we all know, in a short time WWW became a mass medium and electronic forms made their way in. However, they were awfully rudimentary. Customer feedback was processed through executable files running on the hard disk. It was hard to find  anything like an online contact form. For subscribing to a service, you most likely had to download a form, fill in a hard copy and send it to the webmasters via postal services.

The existent web forms at that time mainly performed search and submission tasks. The interface was dead simple and dull, HTML based with no CSS of course.

BACK THEN:

NOW:

3. Form use in online sales: 1994 – present

1994 brought two major enhancements in the web arena: e-banking and online ordering (pizza, as you may guess). Shortly after, Amazon launched its online shopping service in 1995 and eBay the next year. Naturally, all of them were using web forms.

Those days, e-commerce was hindered by the limitations of credit cards that didn’t support online transactions. The issue was solved around 2000, once online payment processors appeared. Web forms could then exhibit products for sale and then direct submitters right to the payment gateway where they could complete the transaction. This was a major leap for the internet making its entrance in the day-to-day life of regular people.

BACK THEN:

NOW:

4. Web forms in the days of social media: 2004 – present

Two major landmarks for social media are 2004 (the launch of Facebook) and 2006 (the birth of Twitter). Facebook had the most interesting evolution in regards to web forms.

From the very beginning Facebook provided its own tools for creating simple polls and for planning events. However, the original Facebook forms were simple ones, they had security issues and as for styling they used to hold the blueish standard skin of FB. Things got better though. In August 2006, Facebook launched the free Developers API, which led to a burst of applications, widgets and tools. Around 2010 came the first form management apps for Facebook. Users could now have their own signup forms for fan pages, reuse personalized forms brought from outside and build specific mailing lists. Since then, Facebook forms and surveys are among the most popular tools for businesses that perform social media marketing.

BACK THEN:

NOW:

5. Web forms and security

SSL protocol for data encryption was released by Netscape in 1994. Anti-spam tools for web forms such as CAPTCHA and password protection have only been available since 2000. In the dark ages before, there were knight battles with hackers and spam.

How could you prevent bots from signing up countless times? Using IP validation methods that aren’t by far infallible. One famous hijack of a web form occurred in November 1999, when slashdot.org had the idea to run an online poll asking what was the top graduate school in computer science. Even if the IPs were stored in order to prevent duplicate entries, the students of Carnegie Mellon managed to create a program that voted thousands of times for their university. The next day, the competitors (students at Massachusetts Institute of Technology) put up their own program and the two rival bots took over the poll, leaving the valid submissions in shadow. Fortunately, security options we have today are by far more efficient.

6. Contemporary profile of web forms

An important improvement came around 2007 when the first WYSIWYG form builders made their way in. Any internet user could then create forms. HTML knowledge is not mandatory anymore, since the remotely hosted form generators provide wizards with intuitive interfaces.

The portrait of a form that stands at the top of the evolution chain includes, by case:

• slick design, CSS customizable
• various publishing options: on blogging and social media platforms, on regular websites
• e-mail submissions received, secure data transfer and storage
• capacity to draw reports over data
• payment processing
• integration with 3rd party apps to extend its functionality.

Today’s websites are bursting with creative web forms. Contact pages aim to be both visually appealing and efficient as lead generation tools. Forms are successful in performing a wide variety of tasks: online ordering, event registration, research across the web, feedback. With CSS and HTML 5 at hand, forms can be successfully styled so that they blend in with the overall look and feel of any website.

Some Creative Contact Forms Aterlier Detour

Camping ilfrutteto

Red Bull Soapbox Racer

More amazing contact forms:

40+ Creative Contact Forms That Will Inspire You

91 Trendy Contact And Web Forms For Creative Inspiration

Advertise here with BSA

If you already use it, then you know that LESS is a "time and byte-saver" when creating + serving stylesheets (if not, you should definitely check it).

You either use the .less files directly (via less.js or on the server with Node.js) or compile them into CSS from command-line and use only the CSS.

Crunch is a free Adobe AIR application that eases the compiling part without the need of command-line but via a user-friendly interface.

It is a simple CSS/LESS editor with syntax highlighting and multi-tab support.

Once a LESS file is saved, the CSS version is created automatically (which is handy for anyone willing to develop with LESS but don't want to rely on JavaScript on the client-side).

Special Downloads:
Ajaxed Add-To-Basket Scenarios With jQuery And PHP
Free Admin Template For Web Applications
jQuery Dynamic Drag’n Drop
ScheduledTweets

Advertisements:
Professional XHTML Admin Template ($15 Discount With The Code: WRD.)
Psd to Xhtml
SSLmatic – Cheap SSL Certificates (from $19.99/year)

The thought of redesigning and revamping a website can be scary for most web designers. The thought of all the work and effort to design their website all over again can be frightening, more so are the countless review cycles, opinions from numerous stakeholders, comments from site visitors, and other factors to consider and this is enough to drive them crazy.

Revamping your site is a mega-headache, redesign is necessary at one point in the web site’s life cycle. You will need to revamp your site at some point in time, and the sooner, the better. You need to know when it is high time to revamp your site by looking into a few signs.

Sign number 1: The Metrics are Down

Have your metrics gone down over the past few months? Then it may be high time to revamp your site. Metrics are the number one indication that you should redesign your web site. Metrics give you an immediate indication that something needs improvement. To better understand your visitors, you need to speak to them using surveys and usability testing. A face to face conversation with your customers allows you to learn more than simple surveys and questionnaires. Conversations will reveal attitudes towards your website, brand, and overall company image.

Sure, there may be other reasons as to why your metrics are down. Be sure to look into them first and fix any problems you can see. Converse with your users, as only through dynamic conversation will you be able to know if your site needs redesigning, and to what extent. But if the sales, traffic and general user participation of the site are still down, it may be that your web design has ‘disconnected’ with your users.

Image by iamwahid

Sign number 2: Change of Brand Image

Changes in your brand image or company image may require changes to be implemented and reflected on your website. Update your logos as soon as possible, to be in tune with the shift of image or branding. Remember that the website is like the face of the company, where people get their first impressions and make assumptions.

Even if you’re not, establish yourself as the industry leader and adopt new technology and introduce innovative aesthetics to the site. Always provide relevant content to your audience.

Sign number 3: Your web site just looks tired.

Websites are like fashion trends–they can get old. What was really cool a few years ago can now look cliché and old. For example, 3D buttons and interfaces were so cool a while back, then beveled and embossed styles were all the rage. Flash intro pages were popular at one time, and most users enjoyed it. But soon web users got tired of it and wanted to skip and go straight to the content. Flash introductions were great then, but now they look old and pointless.

George RR Martin sure writes good books, but his website looks like something from 1995.

Thing is, what was new and innovative a few years ago will start to look tired soon enough. Nowadays,  the shelf life of the site’s aesthetic is only one year. If it has been more than a year since your last revamping, it’s time to do it now.

So if your website looks old and tired, it’s time for a makeover. Aesthetics eventually evolve, and an old design can destroy a company’s whole image. A fresh and new design will refresh your loyal users’ experience, and at the same time attract new ones. Your focus on revamping the site is to keep your brand image fresh.

Other Questions to Ask

From the perspective of the web user or customer, ask yourself the following questions:

• Does the website give me a favorable user experience?
• Is the website entertaining and interactive?
• Can I navigate through most of the web content within three clicks?
• Can the web users get an idea of the company’s branding and image through the web design aesthetic?
• What are the drawbacks and weaknesses of the site?
• Would you return to the website often–and for what reasons?

Provide relevant content on your website. Be sure that when people come to your website, they get what they’ve come for–information, education, and maybe some entertainment and interaction. Avoid unnecessary elements such as flash intros and annoying banner ads. The web site should be easy to navigate with a user-friendly interface.

Educate and entertain to keep your visitors coming back again and again. Always have new and fresh content on your web site. And, provide information with blogs, articles and pictures. Be sure your web site is searchable by increasing your SEO. Nowadays, content is king, so build on relevant content related to the company’s product and industry.

Content is King

Image by enimal

In the end, the web site you made should be something that you’re proud of. It is the online storefront to the company or business. It is where your current and potential customers go to seek information, and engage in a relationship with your business. For you to survive, you must constantly adapt and go with the flow of the most recent technological and aesthetic trends. Invest in being up-to-date rather than being safe all the time. Ride the wave!

Advertise here with BSA

Flotr2 is an open source library for HTML5 canvas charts and graphs which is a fork of the popular flotr without the dependency of Prototype JS framework and has many improvements.

The library is framework independent and has support for line, bar, candle, pie and bubble charts.

There are lots of customization options offered like the ability to define titles, subtitles, colors, labels on/off and so many others for each and every possible variable.

Flotr2 outputs are interactive, they can be set to respond to the actions of the user. And, they can be extended with plugins (there are already several ones that can add interactions, new decorations, etc.).

Charts and graphs work in all major browsers (including IE6) and they are mobile compatible.

Special Downloads:
Ajaxed Add-To-Basket Scenarios With jQuery And PHP
Free Admin Template For Web Applications
jQuery Dynamic Drag’n Drop
ScheduledTweets

Advertisements:
Professional XHTML Admin Template ($15 Discount With The Code: WRD.)
Psd to Xhtml
SSLmatic – Cheap SSL Certificates (from $19.99/year)

Advertise here with BSA

UIKit is a set of lightweight (4kb minified / gzipped), simple, functional and flexible UI components.

The components are built to work in modern browsers and, currently, there are dialog, confirmation, color picker, flipping cards, growl-like notifications and a context menu solutions in the pack.

Each component comes with multiple options like the dialog having a modal-like display option notifications having standard, warning and error modes.

Items are mostly styled to have structure-only rules which eases applying any custom styling to match our apps.

Special Downloads:
Ajaxed Add-To-Basket Scenarios With jQuery And PHP
Free Admin Template For Web Applications
jQuery Dynamic Drag’n Drop
ScheduledTweets

Advertisements:
Professional XHTML Admin Template ($15 Discount With The Code: WRD.)
Psd to Xhtml
SSLmatic – Cheap SSL Certificates (from $19.99/year)

Nokia nos informa que su tienda de aplicaciones, Ovi Store, conocida como la más completa del mundo, ha llegado al récord de 11 millones de descargas diarias a nivel mundial, demostrando, tras un estudio, que los modelos Nokia N8, el Nokia 5800 XM, el Nokia 5233, el Nokia 5230 y el Nokia C3-00 son los [...]

Nokia registra 11 millones de descargas diarias | Más tecnologia en Tecnología 21.

Las agencias de comunicación y relaciones públicas representan el canal más efectivo para que las empresas puedan llegar al público. Por eso, me parece bien que la compañía Google haya resaltado el impecable trabajo que Medios Milenium Perú vienen realizando. Google ha reconocido a la agencia Medios Milenium Perú como su “Mejor agencia en América [...]

Google: Medios Milenium Perú es “La mejor agencia en América Latina” | Más tecnologia en Tecnología 21.

Cuando un cliente devuelve un producto debido a las fallas que presenta, es común que las compañías le devuelvan uno nuevo. ¿Y qué hacen con los dispositivos fallados? Simplemente les arreglan las fallas reportadas y los vuleven a vender como artículos reacondicionados, dándoles todas las garantías necesarias a los clientes. Motorola es una de las [...]

Motorola vendió tablets Xoom sin borrar datos de antiguos dueños | Más tecnologia en Tecnología 21.