Smashing Magazine

The Smashing Book 2

The Smashing Book

Redesign The Web

The Smashing Book #4 - New Perspectives on Web Design

The Mobile Book

Heydon Pickering

Accessibility is not just about addressing specific disabilities, but making sure as many people as possible have access to the same information. There's rarely a good reason to lock people out when openness is a foundational principle of the web. Web accessibility is quite a large topic -- far too large to fit into a small book. So, what will this book cover? Though we shall encounter visual design challenges, deal with performance issues, and adopt progressive enhancement -- all of which are accessibility concerns -- the underlying theme of this book is about making the interactivity of web applications include keyboard and screen reader users. Starting with defining simple button controls and moving on to create reusable, accessible widgets, this book is about making interactions possible and meaningful for those who suffer from cognitive and motor impairments, as well as users who experience a range of vision impairments. However, the lessons learned from addressing the specific requirements of those using assistive technologies or consuming information in unusual ways can be applied to enrich the web for everyone. We all win.

Coding Accessible Web Applications

Apps For All

JavaScript Essentials

Smashing Book 5

Smashing Book #5

Animation is not about mere decoration, but (when used sparingly) can turn out to be a catalyst for making the interaction with a website more intuitive and memorable. So, what is the current state of animation on the web? Where is it heading? And how can you tackle the possibilities and challenges it brings along? After the golden times of Flash were over, animations led a rather shadowy existence on the web for quite some time. They were considered as unnecessary gimmicks and superfluous add-ons, but things were about to change. With apps already benefiting from their responsive interfaces, the importance of both animation and motion design, as well as their ability to make the user experience more delightful, was growing evermore. The questions tackled and discussed in this eBook are bound to help you grasp what meaningful motion design is all about and how you can implement it into your own projects. TABLE OF CONTENTS: - The State Of Animation 2014 - A Quick Look Into The Math Of Animations With JavaScript - Animating Without jQuery - Faster UI Animations With Velocity.js - Using Motion For User Experience On Apps And Websites - Understanding CSS Timing Functions - Styling And Animating SVGs With CSS

Practical Considerations For Designing With Animation

The Web In Motion

The Extension

Redesign the Web--the Extension. Number 3 1/3

Smashing Book

Slow loading times break the user experience of any website — no matter how well crafted it might be. In fact, it only takes three seconds until users lose their interest in a site if they don't get a response immediately. If another site happens to be 250ms faster than yours, then users are more inclined to switch to a competitor’s website in no time. Web fonts, heavy JavaScript, third-party widgets — all of them can sum up to become a real performance bottleneck. Nevertheless, tracking that down does not only improve loading times but also results in a much snappier experience and a higher user engagement. In this eBook, we’ve compiled an entire selection of front-end and server-side techniques that will help you tackle such bottlenecks. Find out how to speed up existing websites, build high-performance sites (for both mobile and desktop), and prepare them for heavy-load situations. Furthermore, you’ll learn more about how performance improvements and a 97–99 Google PageSpeed score were achieved on Smashing Magazine, as well as how optimization strategies can enhance real-life projects by taking a closer look at Pinterest’s paint performance case study. With the help of this eBook, you’ll notice that it’s high time to dig deeper into your own site and examine it closely. Why don’t you polish it up and make it even better than it already is! TABLE OF CONTENTS: - Improving Smashing Magazine’s Performance: A Case Study - How To Speed Up Your WordPress Website - You May Be Losing Users If Responsive Web Design Is Your Only Mobile Strategy - How To Make Your Websites Faster On Mobile Devices - Creating High-Performance Mobile Websites - Don’t Get Crushed By The Load: Optimization Techniques And Strategies - Speed Up Your Mobile Website With Varnish - Cache Invalidation Strategies With Varnish Cache - Gone In 60 Frames Per Second: A Pinterest Paint Performance Case Study

Performance Optimization: Techniques And Strategies

We design with viewports in mind, keep track of loading times, and hunt down even the smallest browser bugs — all to create the best possible user experience. But despite all these efforts to constantly improve our products, there’s still one aspect that, unfortunately, comes up short quite often: accessibility. With the help of this ebook, you will gain a deeper understanding of common accessibility pitfalls and learn to circumvent them to create a better experience for everyone. As you will see, with accessibility in mind, we can serve many more people than we already do. It’s about time to finally remove the existing barriers and build a more inclusive web — the effort is reasonable, and all our users will benefit from it. TABLE OF CONTENTS: - Accessibility APIs: A Key To Web Accessibility - Accessibility Originates With UX: A BBC iPlayer Case Study - Mobile And Accessibility: Why You Should Care And What You Can Do About It - Making Modal Windows Better For Everyone - Notes On Client-Rendered Accessibility - Design Accessibly, See Differently: Color Contrast Tips And Tools - Designing For The Elderly: Ways Older People Use Digital Technology Differently

Practical Approaches For Designing Accessible Websites

User research is an effective strategy to gain a deeper understanding of your target audience — a crucial step in order to choose efficient design solutions and build smart products. But what has to be considered when conducting user research? What methods have proven themselves in practice? And how do you finally integrate your findings into the design process? With this eBook, you will learn to take the guesswork out of your design decisions and base them on real-life experiences and user needs instead. To get you started, we’ll consider various research methods and techniques, but we will also tackle the more practical aspects (and difficulties) which face-to-face research brings along. Learning to identify potential research partners and finding the right questions to ask during an interview thus is part of this eBook — as well as presenting your findings und using them to iterate on your products’ designs. If you feel that you and your team make a lot of decisions based on assumptions, then this eBook is your jump start into a more user-centered design process. Find the techniques that fit into your workflow and start to discover the actual problems — and unmet needs — of potential users firsthand. TABLE OF CONTENTS: - A Five-Step Process For Conducting User Research - A Closer Look At Personas: What They Are And How They Work - A Closer Look At Personas: A Guide To Developing The Right Ones - All You Need To Know About Customer Journey Mapping - Facing Your Fears: Approaching People For Research - Considerations When Conducting User Research In Other Countries: A Brazilian Case Study - How To Run User Tests At A Conference

A Field Guide To User Research

A fruitful and balanced cooperation with clients is the dream of every designer. However, to bring this dream to reality, designers constantly need to prepare for the various challenges that different clients tend to bring along. But what can you do to generally improve the collaboration with your clients and — on a long-term basis — foster stable relationships in which both parties are actually pulling in the same direction? This eBook covers both the designer's as well as the entrepreneur's point of view and is sure to provide you with valuable advice that you can easily incorporate into your own workflow when working with your clients. From structuring meetings to managing dissent and staying connected even after the project has ended, the authors of this eBook cover a variety of aspects to consider before, during and after a project. As you will see, it's the small things that make a big difference. TABLE OF CONTENTS Getting Engaged written by Andy Rutledge How To Build Long-Term Client Relationships written by Jeremy Girard Keys To Better Communication With Clients written by Jeremy Girard Guidelines For Successful Communication With Clients written by Sam Barnes Effective User Research And Transforming The Minds Of Clients written by Leonard Souza Why Account Managers Shouldn't Prevent Designers From Speaking To Clients written by Paul Boag How Do You Deal With Overstressed, Irrational Clients? An Entrepreneur's View written by Brian Scordato How To Sell The Value Of Mobile To Clients written by Mark Reeves Encouraging Better Client Participation In Responsive Design Projects written by Andrew Clarke

Clients: Friends You Never Had

Web design is more than a job. It’s a passion. However, keeping up with the immense pace at which the web industry is moving can feel quite intimidating at times and stress or even a burnout can strike all of us someday. With this eBook, we want to raise awareness for those aspects of the web industry which are not frequently talked about. It’s not about frameworks, code or scripts for a change — it’s about you. This eBook focuses on practical tips and strategies to foster a balanced lifestyle, but we also want to take those moments into account when things get tougher as usual by addressing a topic which is still often a taboo: mental health. Consider this eBook as a permission to let go a little, to step away from the web from time to time, so that you can tackle the job you love with more energy and provide more room for fresh ideas. Even if you may feel like everything is going smoothly for you (which is fantastic!), there are still a good number of valuable eye-openers in here which will prove to be useful to everyone who is a part of this fast-moving industry. TABLE OF CONTENTS: - Maximize Your Creative Energy - Feeling Stuck? Design What You Don’t Know - Be A Better Designer By Eating An Elephant - Dealing With Workaholism On Web Teams - When 24/7/365 Fails: Turning Off Work On Weekends - Fostering Healthy Non-Professional Relationships - You Are Not A Machine. You Are Not Alone. - Let’s Talk About It

Work Smart, Live Healthy

"True to the Smashing Magazine's promise, Professional Web Design: The Best of Smashing Magazine smashes readers with the information they need to make their life easier. Really. Written by some of the best known web designers in the business, this book presents guidelines for professional Web development, including communicating with clients, creating a road map to a successful portfolio, rules for professional networking and tips on designing user interfaces for business Web applications. The Smashing Magazine experts share their advice to help you learn how to respond effectively to design criticism, use storytelling for a better user experience and apply color theory to your professional designs. Harsh Truths About Corporate Websites - Paul Boag Portfolio Design Study: Design Patterns - Vitaly Friedman Creating A Successful Online Portfolio - Sean Hodge Better User Experience With Storytelling - Francisco Inchauste Designing User Interfaces For Business Web Applications - Janko Jovanovic Progressive Enhancement And Standards Do Not Limit Web Design - Christian Heilmann Color Theory for Professional Designers - Cameron Chapman Is John The Client Dense or Are You Failing Him? - Paul Boag How To Identify and Deal With Different Types Of Clients - Robert Bowen How To Respond Effectively To Design Criticism - Andrew Follett Web Designer's Guide to Professional Networking - Steven Snell Expert Advice for New Web Designers - Various"--

The Best of Smashing Magazine

Professional Web Design

Is there anything more insightful than learning about the workflows from fellow designers and developers, and what techniques they use? What made their projects a stunning success, and how do they overcome missteps? With this eBook, we'll take a closer look at the techniques and stories of some folks behind real-life Web projects. Among others, you will discover how renowned projects such as the Financial Times Web app or the Nike Better World website were built, and learn from the success story of a translation app that made it into Apple's top ten charts. You'll also get an insight into Google's User Experience Lab, and (illustrated by the example of Pinterest) explore the importance of paint performance. Furthermore, our Smashing authors share valuable lessons learned in the course of their careers — from both successes and failures. This eBook is full of handy tips, ideas, and personal experiences that are beneficial to any Web professional. TABLE OF CONTENTS - Building The New Financial Times Web App - Bringing Angry Birds To Facebook - Behind The Scenes Of Nike Better World - Behind The Scenes Of Tourism New Zealand - Tale Of A Top-10 App, Part 1: Idea And Design - Tale Of A Top-10 App, Part 2: Marketing And Launch - Gone In 60 Frames Per Second: A Pinterest Paint Performance Case Study - Inside Google's User Experience Lab: An Interview With Google's Marcin Wichary - Mistakes I've Made (And Lessons Learned Along The Way)

Smashing Magazine

About

Books

Join the club