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Handpicked News For Internet Developers - Since 1999 |
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Book Review: Charles Wyke-Smith's Stylin With CSS: A Designer's Guide
I have put off CSS just about as long as I can. I hate having to post questions to forums on one of the zillions of hacks out there, and it is simply not cost-effective for me to learn the technology to the point that it is second-nature to me yet. Once the site has been mocked up and the user goals have been defined (or vice-versa), I NEED to get to work on it and turn the site around and get paid.
Don't get me wrong - I do use CSS quite a bit. But I haven't gone to the lengths some of my heroes have gone too, like Zeldman, Eric Meyer, and others. But this may change with the new book from New Riders - "Stylin' With CSS: A Designers Guide". (Although "Pimp My Stylesheets: A Designers Guide" would have been a cooler name.)
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Proposal Kit for Windows, Macintosh and Linux
It wasn't long ago the only ones writing formal proposals were government contractors. Nowadays, writing business proposals is usually a requirement for any business, especially to stay competitive and stay in business.
If you've never used a formal proposal or contract for your business, then this product will get you started doing it fast and easy. It pretty much includes every possible proposal and contract template and estimate document you could need for your business. Whether you are a web site developer, ISP, CD-Rom producer, graphic designer, computer programmer or any other type of technology related business, Proposal Kit has something for everyone.
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Book Review: XML in Flash
Two of the hottest buzzwords on the web today (no. . .not Britney Spears) are XML and Flash. Combine the two and you have the makings of a book that can't miss! Or can it? Reviewer Joshua Cyr delves into this book and offers the following review.
Before I read XML in Flash, I had a minimal knowledge of XML. I'd skimmed the surface of it, and knew that this new technology is revolutionizing content structure. I knew that XML allows you to custom-design your own markup language and write your own tags. But that was about it. Pretty pathetic, huh?
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Book Review: XML For ASP.NET Developers
Dan Wahlin is well-known by XML insiders as a passionate XML guru. He is an accomplished Instructor and Developer of XML-based solutions. In this book, XML For ASP.NET Developers, Dan attempts to meld two relatively new (and deep) topics for web developers into an easy-to-use format. Does he succeed? Reviewer Don Makoviney takes a look at the book and has this to say ...
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Getting Started with Dreamweaver Extensions
Don't knock WYSIWYG editors until you've tried them - I mean REALLY tried them. The majority of web developers only use the obvious tools in visual editors. Yet some editors, like Macromedia's Dreamweaver can allow one to extend the existing editor to uncharted territories through the use of "extensions". This month, author Jeremy Domby explores the vast array of "time savers" and "power tools" available to the elite Macromedia user.
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Form Foibles - A Real Life Usability Lesson.
Losing a quarter of your subscribers over a two-month period from a simple form foible can be a very bad thing when your company lives and dies by these numbers. When money is your bottom line, don’t scrimp on User Testing. While it took me months of data to look back in 20/20 hindsight, User Testing can give you near-perfect vision into the future success of your application.
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Book Review: The Art & Science Of Web Design
Jeffrey Veen is a pioneer in web experience design and has had his name attached to numerous successful ventures including WIRED.com. Does his book on Web Design adequately radiate his depth and breadth of design knowledge? Author Joshua Cyr takes a look in this month's book review ...
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Accepting Credit Cards From Your Website
There is a lot about e-commerce that confuses many people. The information in this article is from first-hand experience that I've acquired while having to set up an e-commerce website for selling products and accepting credit cards over the internet.
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Web Development in the "Real World" Part 3
Not Much Has Changed. . .Really!
Part Three of this series takes us into the realities designers and developers face. It is always a challenge for development companies to balance ideal solutions with both reality and the whims of a client.
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Web Development in the "Real World" Part 2
Setting goals is an important part of any project, web-related or not. The developers in this article have quite a bit to say about that.
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Web Development in the "Real World" Part 1
These people are not Kiokken. They are not the Nielsen-Norman Group. These are the web developers in the trenches every day, serving the small to mid-sized business sector. They don't have multi-million dollar budgets and fancy usability testing labs, but still their work has to consistently be on par with those who do.
This is their story.
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A Website Is Nothing Without Traffic
Why have a website if no one can find you? There are millions of websites out there fighting for your customers. How do you get them to come to your website? Submitting your site to the major search engines is not enough... some take weeks while others months to accept your website and then who knows where it will land in the results? Number 45? Number 145?
Banner ad campaigns are an expensive proposition, and most are based on impressions rather than actual click-thrus to your site. There has to be an easier way that will bring you results quickly.
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