Web Services and Tools

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In another one of our projects, we had a design that required a white content area with the area behind it filled with a pattern. Unfortunately, the background pattern was something that the client was not happy with at all.

In the interest of time, they asked us if we could find something nice and fix the pattern. Even though this background pattern is a fairly small part of the website, it has a large visual impact on the site. Therefore, it was important that I spend some time finding several options for the client to review. As I carried out a frustrating, time consuming search for mediocre patterns, I ran across the Tiled Backgrounds Desginer website.

Within a few minutes I had three different homepages for review, each with a diiferent pattern and corresponding style. The tools is very easy to use and provides a tabbed interface for building your own background patterns. You have the option of specifying your colors, pattern images, scale, opacity, canvas and even the rotation of the pattern.

I highly recommend this tool for every Web Designers arsenal of tools.

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I am still amazed when I read stories that state thousands of users have credit card information leaked onto the Internet. Especially when it is clear that the reason they were leaked was because there was little concern for the security of the data collected.

In today’s Internet, many of us web site owners store data about our users and those who subscribe to our content. While there are many applications and solutions developed and pre-packaged to make life easier, the truly good applications put a large amount of effort into securing that user data in a secure environment.

This effort should not be discounted by any means. I thought it important to discuss the aspects of ensuring that your users data stays secure from prying eyes on the Internet. What sparked my interest in this topic was the recent news published by the Boston Globe, “Google unveils medical records storage plan“.

This story offers a great example of keeping data secure because it uses a basis that is dear to all of our hearts, our personal medical records. One quote that helps set the tone for maintaining users data is a quote from a Medical professional in the article that states, “We believe that patients should be the stewards of their own data”.

In the same way, we as Webmasters should apply the same level of care and concern about our users data, letting them be the “stewards of their own data”. Some simple rules that can be applied when considering the storage of our users data can be:

1.) Make our policies and procedures for maintaining and storing a users data clear to our users

2.) Provide a clear and easy method for a user to remove their data from our systems

3.) Securing our data systems from outside hackers and data thieves by storing our users data in a secured environment. (i.e. - Not on a laptop we carry around with us everywhere)

By taking care of our users data, and offering it the same level of concern we would to our own medical records, will certainly help us as Webmasters build credibility with our own user communities.

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Like many people that use the Internet, we have all typed in those three well known letters that proceed every URL. But most probably, we never give a second thought to what they really stand for or their true meaning.

Unfortunately, many web site owners do not give much thought to these three letters and this is reflected in their message.

Just for the record, WWW translates to “World Wide Web”.

When crawling the web, I am constantly amazed at how many people still present a message on their web site to target a localized audience. Forgetting completely that the rest of the world has access to the same message and at some point will stumble upon their web site.

Here are some easy steps to keep in mind to ensure that your site communicates a World Wide or global message:

1. Think outside your Box

When developing your content, think about the type of visitors you expect to have on your web site. But then take that a step further and think about those people, who are not in your local area, that also may visit. What might bring them to your site?

2. Talk to ALL members of your audience

Even if your product isn’t for those outside your local area, let those people from outside the region know that you have thought of them and perhaps post a link or two to similar web sites that cater to their region. For example, if you are offering localized computer support, you might want to put a small blurb stating that you currently do not offer service outside of your city … or to International customers. Your visitors will appreciate this as you have saved them time and answered that burning question, “Can I get this where I live?”.

3. Determine your visitors location

There are many free scripts out there that will allow you to determine your visitors physical location on the planet by their IP address, or that of their ISP. By determining their location, you can create and direct visitors to specific web pages based upon their location. These pages would then have a message tailored for them.

4. Communicate your plans

Many times, you may want to start small and grow to cater to a global market. If this is the case, let your visitors know your plans for the future and when certain aspects of your growth are planned to happen. This will bring them back to your site and allows you the time to develop your global markets differently.

5. Think about the language

Most people who use the Internet today can read English, but there are a large number of people whose native language is not English. It is therefore important that you write your content in a simple form and not use complicated terms and sentence structure. Even within English, there are words that are spelled differently, or sentences that are structured differently based on if you are from the UK, US or even Australia.

Some have asked if it is necessary to translate their web sites into a variety of languages for global users. My answer to this is “only if this make good business sense”. If you will be seeing large amounts of revenue out of China, hire a native Chinese person to translate and manage support emails in Chinese to accommodate these visitors. But, if you are a small site owner, the workload of involved does not add much benefit.

Keeping these few simple steps in mind will demonstrate that your web site is truly part of the World Wide Web.

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We’ve just run across this wonderful new tool from COLOURlovers.

Getting the perfect color or color scheme for your web site, or graphic can be difficult. The most difficult part is remembering those cryptic hex codes or RGB codes for your favorite color.

So the folks at COLOURlovers created a color picker tool. But the best part is this tool is free, and they’re making the code available to put on your website.

As we are always scouring the web looking for useful Web Tools for our visitors, we will be putting this on our site. But we thought we should let our visitors know they have the option to get a hold of this tool as well to benefit their web design efforts.

You can get the code here.

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I can’t tell you how many times I have been designing a web site and come to a point where I say to myself, “I wish I had a really cool looking button for this section.”

So I start up Adobe Photoshop, of which my skills are somewhat lacking, and I attempt to create a stunning button. Hours later, I have a so-so graphic that looks like something a 3 year old drew with a crayon. Not my desired result and a major waste of time.

So I was very pleased to run across this fantastic online tool for creating very cool looking buttons. It takes very little effort on my part, but looks like I know my stuff when it comes to creating graphics.

In four easy steps, you too can have a Web 2.0 button that looks as stunning as the one shown here.

Step 1 - Select the size of your button with the handy slider bar

Step 2 - Select a color for your button

Step 3 - Optionally use a predefined, or uploaded, icon in the button and size it

Step 4 - Select your Text, font style, size and color

Click ‘Apply’ and there you have your newly created, stunning looking Web 2.0 button. Don’t like it? Then revisit any step and click ‘Apply’ again. When you like what you see, just download it to your computer by clicking the ‘Download’ button.

What could be easier? And better yet, what else can make me look like the web design professional I wish I was?

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