HTML 5 Introduction Most of the web standards curriculum is based on the last stable version of HTML — HTML 4.01. The HTML 4.01 spec was completed in 1999, over 10 years ago as of the time of this writing! But unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the [...]

Web typography Traditional print designers have a huge amount of options available to them when it comes to typography, including the sheer numbers of fonts available, and options for positioning text. Typography on the web is a lot more limited, because we must design using fonts and positioning, etc that [...]

Creating a Contact Form Creating a simple contact form can be easy once you know the steps involved in creating one. Below is a how-to on creating the HTML/CSS for a contact form. Making the form active will require a script and is beyond the scope of the tutorial below. [...]

Making WordPress more like a CMS (and less like a blog) . Install WordPress on your server Add a theme Set permalinks Use more pages and less posts. (Turn off comments) Add plugins Edit the CSS Edit the templates (php) Add social media icons Use widgets Customization 1. Installation on [...]

Strategize your plan for the layout Below is the HTML and CSS “starter” code for each of the major column layouts. Normally your design will fall into one of these 3 main structures: 1, 2, or 3 column layout. From there your design may get more complex then the illustrations [...]

What is Accessibility? Accessibility is treating everyone, no matter what their ability, the same. Most discussions of accessibility first talk about disability. This implies that people with a disability deserve special treatment. This isn’t what accessibility is about—it’s actually a symptom of the way people have traditionally built buildings, web [...]

CSS Navigation Menu: Drop Down Creating a Navigation Menu with drop downs is not hard once you understand the CSS. In this intermediate tutorial we’ll go through the necessary code; both HTML and CSS, you’ll need to understand to build this navigational menu and others like it. We’ll also show [...]

Column CSS Layout: EHD (Part 1-2) Part 1 covers organizing your files, creating an HTML and CSS file and linking the .css file, and adding content to a column web page including navigation, images, and text.  Part 2 covers adding CSS (presentation) to a column web page including styling navigation, [...]

Two Column CSS Layout (Part 1-2) Part 1 covers organizing your files, creating an HTML and CSS file and linking the .css file, and adding content to a two column web page including navigation, images, and text.  Part 2 covers adding CSS (presentation) to a two column web page including [...]

The basics of web design can be simplified into 5 subjects: the grid, color palette, navigation, design principles, and typography. The Grid Color Palette Navigation Design Principles Typography The Website Eight Hour Day Design boutique created by designers Nathan Strandberg and Katie Kirk. http://www.eighthourday.com There’s so much to love about [...]

Once the client has “signed off” on the design for the website, you can now get started on building the website in HTML/CSS. Notice that testing the site is necessary throughout the entire process of the technical production. Study the design comps (created in Photoshop), and take a few minutes [...]

There is a definite process for designing websites that is different than designing for any other medium. Organizing and designing navigation for a website is one of the main differences between designing print and designing for web. As a designer you need to be aware of user experience and design [...]

Basic Strategies – Five Basic Steps 1) Add Meta Tags 2) Add Home page title 3) Have “good” Home page content 4) Initiate link agreements with other websites 5) Submit site to search engines and directory services Step 1: Keywords Meta Tag Example from Starbucks Web site <meta name=”keywords” content=”Starbucks, [...]