Archive for February, 2011

Improving WordPress privacy

For several reasons you may want to keep the site you are working on under wraps. It could be because it contains potentially sensitive information, because your client demands it, or simply because you want to be in control.

If privacy is important to you and you want to work with WordPress, there are a number of things you need to do to prevent your development site from revealing itself by sending information to wordpress.org or other domains.

In this article I’ll list some of the options you have.

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Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

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Contact forms are the best way to attract visitors and to interact with them. A creatively designed and inspirational contact form is the most appropriate way to say welcome to your visitors and invite them to use your services. A comprehensive and stylish form persuades the visitors and helps build their confidence in the company behind the site.

We have gathered some interesting examples of contact forms for your inspiration. Please notice that some of them are nice, but hardly usable. The idea of this article was to present you some ideas, not necessarily the execution of the ideas.

Creative Contact Forms

Gpacheco’s contact form is both visually captivating and creatively styled to fit with the natural look and hand carved elements that accompany the rest of the site. Though it may not necessarily be clear to some users where the text box for the form is, given its lack of highlighted edges, it gives the user the width of the site to compose their thoughts freely into the sand. The padding around the borders of the name and email address boxes could stand to be a bit wider as it feels tight and some letters can extend over the border image creating a slightly, visually uncomfortable presentation.

Contactform19 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Lion Ways uses a postcard design for their contact form which stylistically works really well on a site where each page is based around cards/books/etc. It is a very nice and subtle form that really blends well with the site overall. Clean and basic.

Contactform1 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Beakable form is very creative and looks really nice, though there are some usability issues that could stand to be addressed. Adding boxes around the space for the name and email address would make those areas better stand out as editable. The submit button could use more attention drawn to it so that it is more easily recognizable that it is the submit button.

Contactform23 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

fCtm-Argentina has a wonderfully unique and creative design for their contact form, styling it as a boarding pass to fit with the tone of this travel based business site. The form works both in style and function, however, the comment box feels a bit tight with the settings as they are, and it could use a bit more padding around the edges.

Contactform34 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Matt Dempsey’s site has a stylish contact form setup with brushstroke styled text boxes which all work well enough. However the right edges begin scrolling a little late for those with long names or email addresses, and readability becomes a slight issue. Again, this will more than likely not come into play that often, but it could.

Contactform8 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Ctrl+N contact form perfectly matches the retro, side scrolling design of the site. The titles and boxes could use a bit more padding and the message box should change color like the others to denote that it is active.

Contactform2 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Nineteeneightyfour is the web design portfolio of Martyn Palmer which has a stylish contact form that drops down into place on the page when you click on the contact button. Here the button is made up like a post it note to match the overall feel of the site. With various other contact information scattered about the area and scribbled on scraps of paper, the contact form itself could have been styled more to fit among the other hand drawn elements a little more.

Contactform26 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Tony-Johnson has an interesting contact form set on his site as well. Styled as a portfolio case, the contact form is compactly placed in the borders of the case just fine. However, if the user has a comment or query to submit through the contact form that is of any substantial length, the text box does not scroll to allow them to see what they are typing below the cut. This almost discourages any lengthy or in-depth sort of contact in this case.

Contactform30 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Try Triangle’s contact form is both creative and wonderfully implemented. The spacing and scrolling all fit well within the small spaces provided. Not feeling cramped at all, even in such close quarters, which is not always an easy task to pull of design wise. However they have done well integrating it into the site with imagination and style. Though one area where the size does feel a bit limiting is in the main text box on the contact form. It scrolls so that you can follow what you are saying, but only after a couple of lines so that you are not seeing much of your train of thought behind you as you type.

Contactform32 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Bio-Bak has an extremely creative, if not somewhat cumbersome contact form. The mouse styling makes some of the site difficult to click on, and the interactive elements added to the contact form are only compounded by this design choice. And while the extra steps for entering your e-mail information are creative, they can ultimately serve as a detractor for some users who are not interested in playing along.

Contactform36 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Artcore-Illustrations is another site where they opted for a simple form that does not go over the top with bells or whistles. It simply, and in subtle fashion with the rest of the site, accomplishes its purpose. The padding and spacing all fit comfortably into their boxes, while the transitions to indicate your selected box smoothly highlight the location of your cursor for the user.

Contactform42 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Indofolio has done a wonderful job incorporating their style and site tone into the contact form that they use. While there is plenty of space in the boxes for entering your information, if the e-mail address or name are too long then the right side of the box will cut off the last letter you are typing so that you cannot see what is there. The padding on the left side of the main text box could also be slightly adjusted, if only for the first line of text which goes over farther than the preceding lines of text.

Contactform46 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Lunalunerafestival is another site that creatively styled the contact form to be set up like a letter being written. The text boxes for the name and email address, though at an odd angle, remained completely readable and within the borders of the box. The large area that is available for the message box provides an inviting landscape for the users to share and discuss whatever they have to say. Comfortably padded and all around well done.

Contactform50 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Yodaa has a stylish looking contact form which has uneven information boxes to help fit with the fun animated feel of the site. However, these edges of the boxes do not line up correctly with the text inside, so not only does some of the text distractingly break outside of the box interfering with readability, it feels like a major oversight on a site dedicated to usability in design.

Contactform3 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Umquarto has a beautiful and simple contact form, from complete form presentation to the transitions highlighting cursor location easily and stylishly for the benefit of the user. Everything feels concrete and firmly in its place with even and visually pleasing padding and spacing throughout the form.

Contactform4 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Xruiz has a nice hand drawn feel to the contact form elements that really help tie it into the rest of the design. However the padding at the top of each of the text boxes could stand to be adjusted. It is only somewhat noticeably off in the entry boxes for your name and email, as the info hovers closer to the top of the box than it does the bottom. But in the message box, it is majorly off, and the top line nearly rests on the top edge of the box.

Contactform5 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Qwert City is another site that uses the look of a postcard for the design of their contact form, in a colorful, if not overly so way. For instance the light blue color of the text could stand to be bit softer to blend better with the other elements of the form. And while there is a fairly decent sized text box for whatever message you have to leave, should the message be too long, the box does not scroll to allow the user to see what they have written after a certain point.

Contactform6 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Created 201 Studios has a creative and very unique contact form on their site, that completely flows with the style of the site and does not break from the angular presentation of the other pages. And once again, even with this angled effect, the data entered does not feel out of place or uncomfortably squeezed into the design. Overall, it is brilliantly crafted.

Contactform7 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Brian Handley Design has a whimsically illustrated contact form set up to match the rest of the site perfectly. The implementation of the form is nearly flawless as well, however, it is a relatively small message box compared to most, and once again we find that the box does not scroll to keep up with the user at all, and can prevent some users from leaving their comments or contacting the Brian via the form.

Contactform9 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Swiths contact form is another example where they opted for a simpler, understated approach. The padding is offset so that the text in the information boxes is not centered, but more rests towards the bottom of the boxes and this does not feel visually uncomfortable in any way. However the kerning on the font used can make the words feel a bit spread out and unevenly spaced. Though that is the only part of the form that feels off at all.

Contactform10 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Marcol is another site that has stylistically pulled off their contact form, however, usability wise it could use a slight tweak or two on the padding for the left and right borders of the information boxes. Some of the text entered in these boxes has a tendency to bleed over the borders which is somewhat unpleasing to the eye. The main message box is fine with its padding, but the others, not so much.

Contactform11 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Bert Timmermans contact form is sleek and professional, which compliments the tone and feel that the rest of the site imparts nicely. The padding and scrolling all appear to be in order as well, which is what you would expect given the rest of the site. Cleanly designed and implemented.

Contactform13 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Christian Sparrow’s contact form is hardly the most creative element on the site, but it stylishly fits so well with the rest of this creative little gem that we had to showcase it here. All aspects of the contact form work brilliantly, and the floating clouds that pass by in no way interfere with the readability of the form. The only area that could even be suggested for improvement in our eyes would be that the text that acts as an indicator for what should go in the box gets automatically highlighted and erased when you navigate there and begin typing.

Contactform14 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

EletricPulp has a stylish contact form with a subtle textured background that accompanies it, nicely tying it into the rest of the site’s design. The text indicators seem a bit redundant given that they are not only listed boldly outside the text boxes, but they are also echoed right beneath these headers in the boxes themselves.

Contactform15 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Ryan McMaster’s contact form is actually a little bit more in depth than most that we have featured. Here he has included areas for the user to include their reason for the message and even allows a space for an expected budget should this be used by a potential client. Once again the indicators stay in the box when you click there and have to be manually selected and deleted. Not a big deal, but a step that can slow some users down.

Contactform16 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

August Creative Agency has an extremely unobtrusive contact form on their site that is cleanly incorporated into the picturesque background of the site. Once again, a very basic presentation and contact form setup, but as usual, it works well with the overall site rather than clashing with it in any way.

Contactform17 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

We Love Icons has a gorgeously carved contact form for their site, covering the standard info that most ask for. The compact and cleanly presented form is as visually comfortable as it is sharply implemented, complimenting the rest of the design wonderfully.

Contactform18 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Kev Adamson has a contact form on the site that feels squeezed in a bit among various other elements, however, enough care has been put into the form itself so that none of the other areas or elements attached to it feel that way. The fonts used are petite enough that they fit nicely among the grunge ridden form, which matches with the rest of the site well.

Contactform20 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

I love Colors has a well designed and stylish contact form to match the rest of their site. The simple highlights around the active text box, along with the evenly padded borders give the form a very sleek and comfortable appearance. With plenty of room and satisfactory scrolling, the form warmly invites feedback from the site’s users.

Contactform21 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Ashes And Milk have a stylishly designed contact form, neatly tucked away in a box. The simple nature of the form works nicely with the rest of the site, however in the main text box when you enter enough text for it to scroll, the appearance of the scroll bar grabs traces of the text behind it and keeps it there the whole time you continue down the message box.

Contactform22 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Fabric Adecaricaturas has a contact form that has as much personality in it as the rest of the site. The text boxes are subtly styled and comfortably padded, without any visual distractions or discomfort caused by them.

Contactform24 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Giraffe has a colorful and welcoming contact form that fits with the atmosphere and ambiance that they have established through their restaurants and their accompanying website. The form, boxes, and the fonts are all bold and highly visible, unlike some of the smaller, subtler forms that we have seen.

Contactform25 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Fundolospaltos has a stylish and understated design approach to their site’s contact form. Though nicely executed, the text boxes, especially the message box could use a little bit of extra padding around all of the edges. The text feels slightly squeezed in the way it is.

Contactform27 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Harmony Republic has a simple contact form on their site which is styled with hand-drawn line elements for the text boxes which work nicely to accentuate the entry points. The spacing and padding are all set at comfortable levels, and do not include any breaks that detract from the simple beauty of the design.

Contactform28 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Trendy Web Design’s contact form is another form where the style is subtle, but complimentary to the rest of the site so it works well. However the padding on the sides of the text boxes could use some minor adjustments as the text feels pressed against the edges as is. The message box also could stand some adjustments to the padding at the top and bottom as well allowing the text more room to breathe as it were.

Contactform31 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Red Bull Soapbox Racer has a appropriately styled contact form to fit with the irreverent site it is attached to without compromising the functionality of the form in any way. The site takes over your sound upon entry and there is sound that accompanies certain elements of the form which seems slightly unnecessary. Though the form is obviously not the draw or focus of the site, it does not suffer or feel lacking in any way in such a unique and whimsical site.

Contactform33 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Z-Index Media has a very unique and creatively styled contact form that is set up like a letter being placed into an envelope. The padding is hardly an issue with the expansive area provided to the user to enter their information and message, but even when pushed to the edges, the text remains comfortably spaced. The return to sender element that gets added to the outside of the envelope when you enter your name and email address is also both stylish and creative.

Contactform38 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Aterlierdetour has a stylishly creative contact form that is befitting of the site it is carved out of. The non-symmetrical boxes have the grungy hand drawn appeal, while completely containing the text and not having any of it pouring over the edges. The padding in the main text box could stand to be tweaked around the top and the right edges. In these two areas the text feels pushed too close to the edges for complete comfort.

Contactform40 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Danielhellier’s contact form is a comprehensive and boldly styled, which compliments the site well. However, after taking the time to craft such an inclusive and information gathering form, the navigational element that gets the user to the page, can also problematically land over the top of the submit button for the form negating the entire form right then and there.

Contactform43 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Enviramedia has a rather large contact form that fits with the bright, pastel illustrated website it is a part of. The padding leaves everything feeling roomy and not at all forced in. Overall it is a very inviting contact form that begs for conversational messages from their users.

Contactform53 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Alexandru Cohaniuc’s large and bold contact form is simply textured and styled to go hand in hand with the other site elements and inclusions. The padding and scrolling are set up comfortably and not in any way disruptive. Simple, bold, and eye catching.

Contactform45 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Five cent stand returns us to the simpler, yet stylish contact forms, where subtle styling is key and the understated color and textures do not overload or complicate the issue at all. The padding in the message box is a little tight on either side, especially with so much room left at the top, it just felt like things were a bit unnecessarily squeezed into place rather than just organically fitting.

Contactform47 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Social Snack has a tiny little contact form tucked away down at the bottom of their site, that not only does not seem that inviting to large messages being left, but the scroll bar in the small text box grabs fragments of the text behind it, obtrusively carrying these fragments down the rest of the text box. The spaces provided for the name and the email address are comfortably padded and have no interference that complicates their view.

Contactform48 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

World-Arcade has an extremely simple contact form that pops up when you click on the contact link. The brightly colored box with the animated robot fit with the overall site theme and presentation. The spaces provided are all well padded and comfortably set up. Overall, it is very simple, but effectively and invitingly crafted.

Contactform49 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Hybridworks has a flashy site overall, but the contact form, while sleek and aided by the same sound effects that accompany the rest of the site feels a bit out of place with main presentation of the site. Also, in the main message box, the padding on the left and right side are not even to the point where it feels like something is slightly off. A minor adjustment could straighten that out and make it that much more comfortable on the users visually.

Contactform52 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

Carsonified has a colorful and bold contact form with large text boxes to fit hand in hand with the feel of the rest of the site design. With such large boxes, the padding seems like it would easily not be an issue, however in the message box the padding on the right side is not set equally with the left and the text can feel pressed right against the edge. There are also fragments that are captured behind the scroll bar when it appears in the box that remain attached to it.

Contactform35 in Showcase of Creative (But Not Necessarily Usable) Contact Forms

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The Smashing Book 2 Is Available: Get Yours Now!

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The Smashing Book 2 is here. It’s printed. It’s available. And it’s being delivered worldwide at this very moment as you are reading this. All pre-ordered books have been sent out from our warehouse via air mail and should reach all countries soon. In fact, some readers have already received a copy of the book. What didn’t work the first time with the Smashing Book 1 has been hopefully accomplished this time. We’ve worked very hard to produce a high quality, valuable book for you, guys. So here it is, the brand new printed hardcover Smashing Book 2.

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What’s In The Book?

The Smashing Book 2 is a printed book about best practices in modern Web design. The book shares valuable practical insight into design, usability and coding. It provides professional advice for designing mobile applications and building successful e-commerce websites, and it explains common coding mistakes and how to avoid them.

You’ll explore the principles of professional design thinking and graphic design and learn how to apply psychology and game theory to create engaging user experiences. We also feature interviews from experts on the future of Web typography and describe how you can publish a book on your own.

Well-respected professionals have worked with us to provide exciting and comprehensive chapters:

  • “The Principles of Great Graphic Design,â€� Matt Ward and Alexander Charchar,
  • “Visible vs. Invisible Design (free PDF sample)â€�, Francisco Inchauste,
  • “Designing Mobile User Experiences,â€� Mike Rundle,
  • “Sketching, Wireframing and Prototyping,â€� Janko Jovanovic,
  • “Red Flags in Web Development,â€� Christian Heilmann,
  • “The Future of Web Typography,â€� Vivien Anayian,
  • “Game Design Techniques Applied to UX Design,â€� Christoph Kolb,
  • “When They Click: Psychology of Web Design,â€� Susan Weinschenk,
  • “Design Patterns on E-Commerce Websites (A Study),â€� Steven Bradley,
  • “How to Make a Book (Like This One),â€� The Smashing Magazine Team.

You will find more information below, and you can read a sample chapter—“Visible vs. Invisible Design� (PDF, 5.6 MB) by Francisco Inchauste—for free.

Exclusive Artwork for the Book

The Smashing Book 2 features exclusive full-page illustrations for each chapter. And this is something special we’ve got for you. The illustrations were created by the talented Australian illustrator and our dear friend Yiying Lu, who is well known as the designer of the famous “Twitter Fail Whale.â€� She has designed an exclusive new series called “Smashing Animalsâ€� for this book. (And by the way, you can purchase it as wall art on Yiying’s website.)

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The Names of Our Readers and an Exclusive Poster

In November 2010, our readers and fans had the opportunity to add their names to the book. We sorted through all of the participants alphabetically and created an exclusive double-page feature on pages 6 and 7. Overall, 2970 names form the “S� in Smashing—ASCII art at its best.

We’ve selected the winners of the A3 poster (.txt) as promised. And to make the poster a bit more special, we decided to put the entire contents of the book—every single word—in the poster. Take a look at the (large) preview of the poster (JPEG, 8 MB). The posters are being sent out at this very moment.

The Smashing Book 2 Is Available Exclusively In The Smashing Shop

… and nowhere else. The Smashing Book 2 is a hardcover book with quality stitched binding, 360 pages and a size that is a bit larger than its predecessor. The price is again just $29.90. Also, we want to make the book affordable for everyone, so Smashing Magazine will pay a large part of the shipping costs and ship the books at the fixed price of $3.50/€3.50 per copy, no matter where you live in the world.

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The new Smashing Shop.

And it gets even better: the book will be sent only via air mail (except within Germany). Delivery will take between 3 and 15 working days at most (you can check delivery times for your country), and it will ship from Berlin, Germany. Of course, if you are not satisfied or have questions, there is a 100-day money-back guarantee and a live chat in our recently redesigned Smashing Shop.

But That’s Not All, Right?

Right! Initially, the book was supposed to contain more chapters, but because most of our contributors delivered (much) more content than the book’s size could accommodate, we couldn’t include it all. (We could have added more pages, but then shipping costs would have increased significantly.) So, we are releasing four chapters as a free bonus eBook, called “The Lost Files.â€� This 140-page eBook is now available in PDF, ePUB and Mobipocket formats. Every registered user can download the book for free, no strings attached.

To download your free copy, just register in the Smashing Shop and go to My profile → My downloadable products. You can download the free eBook there. Again, you don’t have to buy anything: registration is free and takes just 30 seconds.

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The free bonus eBook contains the following exclusive chapters:

  • “The Ultimate Web Design Questionnaire and Checklist,â€� by Kat Neville,
  • “Plagues in Web Design and How to Deal With Them,â€� by Speider Schneider,
  • “Interviews: Expert Tips From Renowned Designers,â€� by Steven Snell,
  • “Web Design Community: Where Are We Going?,â€� by Paul Scrivens (Drawar).

Features Of The Book

  • Solid hardcover,
  • Quality stitched binding with a red bookmark,
  • 360 pages with full-color images on coated paper,
  • Worldwide availability,
  • Reduced air mail shipping (just $3.50/€3.50 per copy),
  • Smashing packaging,
  • Risk-free purchase with a 100-day money-back guarantee,
  • Free eBook with four bonus chapters (140 pages),
  • Buy the book now for just $29.90!

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A Closer Look At The Book’s Chapters

Chapter 1: The Principles of Great Graphic Design, by Matt Ward and Alexander Charchar
This chapter looks at some key concepts of graphic design as they relate to modern Web design. It looks at a number of the central elements and methodologies that drive the act of designing itself, and it discusses the sometimes subtle but always significant divide between the merely good and truly great. You can read details about the writing of this chapter in Alexander Charchar’s article “Working Hard to Leap Buildings.â€�

This chapter is about: The meaning of graphic design. The difference between good and great design. Timeless design. Relational minimalism. Importance of contrast, space and tension. Typography. Visual voice.

Smbook Chapter 1 in The Smashing Book 2 Is Available: Get Yours Now!

Chapter 2: Visible vs. Invisible Design, by Francisco Inchauste
Basic principles and techniques of producing the visible layer of design in tools such as Photoshop are widely covered in books and online. Design is generally understood to be only what we see: a visual and primarily artistic medium of communication. However, the invisible part of design takes on several forms. When we design a website or application, we don’t (and shouldn’t) start from scratch. We start with certain patterns, and we need to understand their limitations in order to create effective solutions and experiences. Balancing invisible and visible designs enables us to create effective and meaningful interfaces for websites and applications.

This chapter is about: Seeing the invisible in design. Designing how users think. Mental models. Excise design. Design patterns and interface guidelines.

Smbook Chapter 2 in The Smashing Book 2 Is Available: Get Yours Now!

Chapter 3: Designing Mobile User Experiences, by Mike Rundle
The best apps work well, but building an app that looks good and works well isn’t easy. Designing a mobile app’s user experience is particularly challenging because it requires skill in a variety of disciplines: interaction design, graphic design, information architecture and ergonomics, to name a few. User experience design is a combination of disciplines, and so designing a fantastic mobile app calls for a combination of perspectives and skills.

This chapter is about: Building and selling apps. Peculiarities of mobile software. Principles of good app design. User interface design patterns for mobile apps. Visual design of mobile apps.

Smbook Chapter 3 in The Smashing Book 2 Is Available: Get Yours Now!

Chapter 4: Sketching, Wireframing and Prototyping, by Janko Jovanovic
Every design process starts with an idea. Many ideas, actually. The truth is, only a few of them prove to be good, and the others are just bad. Many people believe that they have an excellent idea and know the path to realizing it, yet most fail. And that’s not surprising, because having an idea is not enough. Knowing how to choose an idea, shape it and develop it is crucial to success. This chapter describes the process of moving from abstract ideas to concrete solutions and explains the workflow, tools and techniques available when designing websites and user interfaces.

This chapter is about: Design process. Ideation through sketching. Storyboards. Techniques and tools. Wireframing. Prototyping. Testing and refining.

Smbook Chapter 4 in The Smashing Book 2 Is Available: Get Yours Now!

Chapter 5: Red Flags (Warning Signs) in Web Development, by Christian Heilmann
We spend a big part of our lives working hard to clean up and maintain products, rather than building great things to make the lives of our users easier. That’s just the way it is. If your code is hard to clean up, then you’ll be eating up even more time in the already short development process. Discovering that the product you’re having trouble extending or fixing is your own from some time ago is all the more aggravating. That’s when you start thinking that something must have gone wrong along the way. Well, something has. A few things will make good solutions go bad and start to smell, and this chapter goes over them.

This chapter is about: Building for maintenance, not the moment. Why HTML and CSS code goes bad. HTML painting and convoluted CSS syntax. Issues with JavaScript and back-end code.

Smbook Chapter 5 in The Smashing Book 2 Is Available: Get Yours Now!

Chapter 6: The Future of Web Typography, by Vivien Anayian
In the foreword to The Elements of Typographic Style, Robert Bringhurst points out that the underlying principles of typography are independent of any particular typesetting medium. Yet it is only after almost 20 painful years of setting type on the Web that designers can finally breathe better and apply the essential elements of style without compromising on detail or execution. Recent years have been pivotal in shaping the future of typography on the Web; what was unthinkable only a few years ago has become possible today, and it will get even better tomorrow.

You can read details about the writing of this chapter in Yves Peters’ short article “Some Thoughts On Web Fonts.â€� The following typography experts generously contributed their time and expertise for this chapter:

This chapter is about: Evolution of Web typography. @font-face. WOFF. The open-source type movement. Font licensing. Web font services. Current problems in Web typography. Fonts Module and CSS3. Exclusive interviews.

Smbook Chapter 6 in The Smashing Book 2 Is Available: Get Yours Now!

Chapter 7: Applying Game Design Principles to User Experience Design, by Christoph Kolb
The ultimate goal of a business is simple: to engage as many people as possible in favorable interactions. These interactions could include buying a product, spreading the word, advertising or just generally becoming a fan. Such objectives clearly require us to explore paradigms and perspectives that go far beyond aesthetics and traditional user interaction. This is where game design theory comes in handy. We can apply game design to certain areas of interaction to create user experiences that engage people and bind them to the company. In this chapter, we will learn how to apply some of techniques and theories of game design to website design, user experience and business.

This chapter is about: Combining social psychology, game design theory and economics. Game mechanics: world, players and rules. Winning strategies for users and companies. Playbook and strategy for interaction designers. Game design techniques and real-life examples.

Smbook Chapter 7 in The Smashing Book 2 Is Available: Get Yours Now!

Chapter 8: When They Click: Psychology of Web Design and User Behavior, by Susan Weinschenk
From the chapter: “I’m a psychologist by training and education. This means that I consider design in the context of the mental model of the user. Whether the design is of software, a website, a medical device, online instructions or product packaging, I can’t help but see it from a psychologist’s point of view. I enjoy applying what psychology research tells us about how people think, learn, play and work to design challenges. I take research and insight into the brain, the visual system, memory and motivation and extrapolate design principles from them.�

This chapter is about: Different views on design. The importance of social interactions. Unconscious decision-making. Social validation. Goal-gradient effect. Using distractions to grab attention. “Satisficing.� Mental models. Error handling. Inattentional blindness.

Smbook Chapter 8 in The Smashing Book 2 Is Available: Get Yours Now!

Chapter 9: Design Patterns in E-Commerce Websites (Study), by Steven Bradley
Designers of e-commerce websites have to take into account many things that designers of informational websites don’t. How to design the check-out process? How will the website establish trust so that visitors are willing to hand over sensitive credit card data? Common design patterns have evolved over time, and this chapter explores how well e-commerce websites match up with theory and best practices. What’s the average number of check-out pages for an e-commerce website? Do certain patterns emerge from the data to show how different websites approach such issues? Shopping websites were chosen and surveyed each based on a set of elements in several categories.

This chapter is about: Layout. Information architecture. Navigation. Color. Product, check-out and shopping cart pages. Wording and design of call-to-action buttons. Contact and support pages. On-site marketing.

Smbook Chapter 9 in The Smashing Book 2 Is Available: Get Yours Now!

Chapter 10: How to Make a Book (Like This One), by The Smashing Editorial Team
Holding your very own book in your hands for the first time is a truly remarkable experience. You suddenly realize that you’ve given your ideas—ideas conceived in some abstract state in your mind—a certain shape, a physical reality, making them tangible, visible and enduring. The feeling is overwhelming: it fills your heart with pride, in the way that a painter admires their creation. The feeling has not been alien to those who have participated in book manufacturing over the centuries, and yet experiencing it has never been so affordable and accessible as it is now.

This chapter is about: Printing a book on your own or with a publishing house. Writing, editing and preparing the book for printing. Pricing, marketing and fulfillment. eBook production: PDF, ePUB, Mobipocket. Print on demand.

Smbook Chapter 10 in The Smashing Book 2 Is Available: Get Yours Now!

FAQ

Here are some frequently asked questions and answers related to The Smashing Book 2.

Contents and Format of The Smashing Book 2

  • What’s the difference between The Smashing Books 1 and 2?
    Both books cover best practices in Web design and development, and they have similarities, but on a broad scale they cover different areas of design. Book 1 presents coding and layout techniques, color theory und UI design, while Book 2 covers psychology, designing for mobile devices, graphic design, wireframing and book production. They complement each other very well but are also distinct enough for standalone reading.
  • Is The Smashing Book 2 an update, a new edition or a completely new book?
    The content was written from scratch, specifically for the book. It’s a completely new book.
  • Is The Smashing Book 2 available as an eBook?
    No. We don’t want it to be just one of the many books available everywhere. Rather, we want it to be an exclusive annual event. Our goal was to print a large, unique, comprehensive and highly valuable physical book with unique packaging. We don’t have any plans to release it as an eBook.
  • What’s with the extra eBook (the “Lost Filesâ€�)?
    Initially, the book was supposed to contain more chapters, but because most of our contributors delivered (much) more content than the book could accommodate, we couldn’t include it all in the book. (We could have added more pages, but then shipping costs would have increased significantly.) Therefore, we released four chapters as a free bonus eBook called “The Lost Files.� The 140-page eBook is available in PDF, ePUB and Mobipocket formats. Every registered customer is welcome to download the book, even if they haven’t bought The Smashing Book 2.
  • Will the book be available in other languages?
    Not yet.

Payment, Costs, Shipping

  • Can I get a bulk discount?
    Yes, of course! Please contact us at sales@smashing-media.com. We will be glad to answer all of your questions!
  • What are the shipping costs for my country?
    The shipping cost per book is €3,50 (for Europe) and $3.50 (for the rest of the world). We’re paying part of the shipping cost ourselves to make it possible for anyone to purchase the book, wherever they are in the world. We don’t have any hidden costs and haven’t made any tricky calculations.
  • What are the delivery times for my country?
    All books will be shipped via air mail to keep the delivery times as short as possible. You can find the anticipated delivery time for your country in the delivery times overview.
  • What payment methods are accepted?
    We primarily support PayPal, VISA, MasterCard and American Express. In Germany, Lastschriftverfahren and EC-cards are supported, too. We use a secure connection, with 256-bit AES encryption and a GeoTrust Extended Validation SSL CA certificate.
  • Is there a money-back guarantee?
    Yes, absolutely! There is no risk involved. Our 100-day full money-back guarantee keeps you safe. Don’t hesitate to return your purchase. You’ll get your money back—no ifs, ands or buts about it.
  • I’m experiencing problems with the check-out?
    You can either check our Smashing Shop FAQ page or contact our live support team by clicking the “Chat� button in the upper right of any Smashing Shop page.
  • I have a problem not discussed here.
    Please leave a comment below, or contact our live support team by clicking on the “Chat� button in the upper right of any Smashing Shop page. We would love to help you any way we can!

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Download the Free Media Kit, and Please Spread The Word

We’ve tried our best to make the book affordable and useful to every Web designer and developer worldwide. Please spread the word about The Smashing Book 2 in your blog posts and tweets. We really appreciate your support.

If you are planning to write an article about or to review The Smashing Book 2, please feel free to use the free Smashing Book 2 Media Kit (ZIP, 7 MB). The kit contains images, illustrations and photos that you might find useful for your article. Also, please don’t forget to tweet the link to the review with the hashtag #smbook2 so that we can track it and add it to our list of reviews. Your help is sincerely appreciated. Thank you for your time and help, guys!

Photos of The Smashing Book 2

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Opera Mobile emulator and Opera Mini simulator

At the very least checking that your site looks and works ok in a mobile browser is becoming part of the job for most web professionals. Tweaking things a bit for mobile by using Media Queries or even making a separate, “optimised�, site is also more common now than a year or two ago.

The problem is checking your work in mobile browsers. It seems like “everybody� has an iPhone and/or an iPad these days (except me), so Safari for iOS is pretty easy for most developers to check in. But what about other mobile browsers?

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Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

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 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity  in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity  in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

For all of you out there who can’t get enough of icons, we have compiled another round-up of 35+ very creative icon packs which will most probably come handy and useful for your personal as well as commercial projects. If there is an icon set you’d like to share, please do so in the comment section below. Enjoy!

UI Sweet Icons
YummyGum designed 60 free vector Photoshop icons with care. Perfectly suitable for iPhone & iPad apps or your new web project:

20 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Vector 3D Social Icons
This set of social icons is an original and fully editable set of social media icons, with a great 3 dimensional look:

1 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Isometrica Social Media Icons
This is another social icon set to soak up your precious bandwidth, royally entitled, Isometrica. It contains icons with popular social media services, available in 2 sizes:

21 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Social Media Sleek icons
This free social media icon pack includes 25 sleek, modern and very usable social media/networking icons that can be used and downloadeded (free of charge) in your work. It can be used in your both, commercial and personal projects:

310 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Free Furry Cushions Icons
The Furry Cushions Social Icons is a set with 6 transparent furry social icons in the .png format. You can use these icons any way you want, in commercial as well as personal projects:

4 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Incredibly Detailed Icon Set
Media Loot is a incredibly detailed icon set with the 3 dimensional look, available in .png and the size of 128 px:

5 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Lovely Website Icon Pack
This is a pack of beautiful, elegant and sleek icon pack, containing 8 icons in in with the png format; for your commercial/personal projects:

6 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Transformer Icons
Transformers is a huge pack of high-quality icons, available in the 256×256 px size, .png format, available only for your personal projects.

711 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Social Cubes Exclusive
Social Cubes is a well-designed and very beautiful icon pack, which contains 18 icons in the png format:

8 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Free Vector Based Social Media Icons
Buddy Icons is a simple but elegant icon pack, which contains 126 vector social media icons in .png format:

9 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Web Icons Pack
This is another pack of premium vector icons which consists of 17 web icons in png format, and available for your commercial and personal projects:

10 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Upojenie Icon Pack
Upojenie is a high-quality pack of icons which are great for using while designing/developing a mobile/tab device application:

112 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Free Social Media Icon Pack
The current pack is an elegant and vibrant icon set, consisting of 42 icons, available in 2 sizes and psd as well as png format:

121 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Dusk Icon Pack
Siena is a brand new set of 200 free icons, developed for Webdesigner Depot. You can use them for your designs such as logos, websites and much more. They come in 6 different raster sizes and we have also included vector files for all the icons, so you can resize them as needed:

13 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Exclusive Icons Siena
Dusk is a small pack of beautiful icons, which are also great to be used for your mobile applications, tab programs and so on. Available for personal use:

14 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Flavour Extented Icon Pack
Flavour is a very big pack of stunning icons, containing over 450 high-quality and well-designed icons you can use for private and commercial use:

15 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Web Icon Pack
Web Icon pack is another huge set of icons which are great to be used for your website and your applications as well:

16 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Web Injection Icon Pack
The Web Injection icon set, developed for webdesigners and developers includes 26 stylish icons which are available for commercial and personal use:

17 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Devine Icon Pack
Devine is an elegant pack of 54 icons, available in 2 formats, which are great to use for designing different user interfaces:

18 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Basic Icon Set
Basic icon set is a simple but stylish icon collection, available in three different sizes and png format:

19 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Token Icon Set
Token is another very elegant icon pack, which is also very suitable for different UI projects. Available in png format:

211 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Nixus Icon Pack
Nixus is a popular icon pack with lots of beauty and high-quality. Available for commercial and personal projects:

22 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Mixed Icons Pack
Mixed, is a nice-looking and well-designed set of icons, which is great to be used for blogs and all kinds of websites:

23 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Touchscreen Icons
Touchscreen is a collection of very high-quality icons, in png format, available for your commercial and personal projects:

24 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Application Icon Pack
This is a small set of high-quality application icons, available in png format, and in 4 different sizes:

25 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Free Web Icons
“Nurture� is a Social Icon Pack that includes 10 icons featuring the logos of popular social bookmarking sites. The pack includes 512×512, 256×256, 128×128, and 64×64 icons in .png format:

26 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Heart Social Icon Set
Hearting is a set of 22 social icons in .png and in resolutions 16×16, 32×32, 64×64. This set was designed by Aravind Ajith, especially for Smashing Magazine and its readers:

27 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Wood Social Icons
This set consists of 11 elegant, and unusual icons in PNG format (64 x 64). The pack is free for both personal and commercial projects:

28 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Vector Social Bookmark Icons
Snap to Objects, is a vector social bookmarking icon pack, which is available for free download, in png format, with the possibility to use for commercial and personal projects:

29 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Cheers Social Media Icons
Cheers is another vibrant and high-quality icon pack, available for use in your private and commercial projects:

30 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Vector Social Icons Pack
The current icon pack contains a set of sleek and elegant vector popular social networks. Icons are available for personal use and in png format:

311 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Elegant Social Icons
This vibrant and modern social icon set consists of 15 high-quality icons available in .png and three different sizes:

321 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Social Media Icon Pack
This is another stylish pack of social icons, available for free donwload, in .png and also in three sizes:

331 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Sociolego Free Icon Set
Sociolego is a really interesting and creative icon pack which can be used for your personal and commercial projects:

341 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Location Icon Pack
Location is a pack of 10 sleek and interesting icons, available in 4 different sizes and png format:

351 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Beer Cap Social Icons
Again another creative social icon pack, in the form of bottle caps, with three sizes and in png format:

362 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Social Media Bookmark Icon
Social Media Bookmark is a pack of simple but elegant and beautiful icons, available for commercial and personal use in png format:

371 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Curly Vector Social Icons
This is another pack of creative social media icons, with the curly effect being available for commercial and personal use:

383 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

Pixels Social Media Icons
Pixels is a beautiful dark social media pack of icons, available for commercial and personal use:

391 in Useful Icon Packs for Your Creativity

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