Tips, web design book reviews, resources and observations for teaching and learning web development.
A visual guide to SASS and Compass color functions. Very interesting and useful page for people using SASS and Compass.
A Complete Guide to the Table Element is an excellent resource. It’s from Chris Coyier at CSS Tricks.
I found this article in Wired about weak ties in networks like Twitter very interesting. Your Casual Acquaintances on Twitter Are Better Than Your Close Friends on Facebook.
Making websites accessible without sacrificing aesthetics. This is from nomensa.
Improving the accessibility of social media in government. Tips for Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Why do organizations hate their content management systems? I wanted to link to this just so I could quote this wonderful sentence: “A typical CMS is like a digestive system with no capacity to poop.”
What the Heck is Shadow DOM? Indeed.
Here’s a fun infographic relating Myers Briggs results to the way you use social media.
Web Design Inspiration: 45 examples of CSS. I normally don’t link to stories like this, but these examples were selected by Jenn Lukas from Happy Cog and are more interesting than the usual list of this type.
The Webbys celebrate good Internet content, from personal blogs to social media campaigns. The 2013 winners have vastly different motivations, from bringing awareness to the water shortage in other countries to selling more soda. Still, they all share innovation and a way to bring customers together online, specifically on social media sites. Here is what the winners did right.
The winner of the 2013 Webby in the category of Online Campaigns was Adidas, for its “The Biggest Champions League Final of All Time” campaign. The social media part of this campaign integrated a Twitter handle create specifically for the campaign, as well as Facebook videos and banners that were used by players who would be playing in the soccer match being promoted. Users were encouraged to get involved, and “go all in” for their team by taking part in a vote. This campaign teaches business how important it is to encourage engagement, be it by voting or watching a video.
The winner of the Social Media Campaign award was Water is Life, which created a campaign called “Hashtag Killer.” The campaign sought to use an already popular Twitter hashtag, “#firstworldproblems” to bring awareness to the real issues in third world countries. By tapping into a trend that was already on the minds of social media users, this campaign could easily grab the attention of social media users. The videos associated with the campaign mocked the messages commonly associated with the hashtag #firstworldproblems found on twitter, which allowed Water is Life to relate to their audience.
FuelBand and Nike teamed up for the campaign that won the 2013 Webby for Mobile and Experience Marketing. The device being promoted filled a real need for Nike’s athletic customers. A wrist band that is able to measure the user’s activity throughout the day lets him know when he has met his activity goals for the day, and the band changes color to reflect how close he is to his goal. By allowing their product to sync to social media, Nike and FuelBand improved both the marketing outreach of their product and the user experience.
Band Aid was awarded the prize for Mobile Advertising. This unique campaign allows users to scan a picture of their Muppets Band Aid with a mobile app, and then watch the bandage turn into a small stage where animated Muppets dance. The campaign was engaging for users, and also allowed Band Aid to promote its brand in a way that was fun for the user and not an explicate, hard sell.
Native advertising is advertising that appears to be just another news story or video, while it also promotes a product. Pepsi won the Webby in 2013 for this category, by creating buzz by offering to do an hour of people’s chores if they would try their new soda. The bold promise allowed their product to be the subject of many online articles, which were in turn shared on social media. Pepsi was able to leverage a unique customer promise into a lot of social media buzz.
Guest author Jennifer Watts is a retired web designer. She now spends her days blogging about all things web design. Visit WebHostingReviews.ca to find web hosting reviews.
A brief history of content strategy is from Firehead. It is a perfect introduction to the topic and provides insight into its development and importance. In short, a good reading assignment for web educators to use.
Question of the Week: Image Size and Social Networks. The question was about finding the proper image size for different social networks – not easy to answer with one option. The article also contains tips for images that will apply to any social network.
Progressive Enhancement is Still Important. Find out why.
I was impressed by this headline, People Want Female Warrior Gaming Miniatures So Much That They Funded This Kickstarter Campaign In 30 Seconds. After I read the amazing story I went to the actual Kickstarter page for Raging Heroes to see what the total raised was. Then I was really amazed. Game makers, if you think there’s no support for women in gaming, you’re either in denial or throwing away a ton of profit.
Understanding 3D Transforms is from Opera Dev.
Do you have a Yahoo email address? I do. I have it set to forward to my regular email, however, so I almost never sign in to Yahoo to look at it. If you haven’t signed in to your Yahoo email within the last 12 months, you will lose your account. Log In to Your Yahoo! Mail Address or Lose it On July 15th. When signing in to Yahoo to let Yahoo know I want to maintain that account, I noticed they are using two-step verification now.
7 Academic Search Engines Not Named Google comes from Teach Thought.
Pinterest announced you can now search your own pins.
Mobile Form Usability: Never Use Inline Labels explains why what they call “inline labels” are are such an accessibility problem in mobile design.
Retention and Intention in Massive Open Online Courses: In Depth is a study from EDUCAUSE. It examines the retention rate in MOOCs and what that means to educators.