2009
You are browsing the archive for 2009.
Bad Practice of the Month: First-party pop-ups
It wasn’t too long ago that the Internet collectively suffered through pop-up advertisements. They were everywhere. Pop-ups had pop-ups. Thankfully the whole mess has been taken under control. Even the oldest browsers in use today have pretty good pop-up protection, saving users from the deluge of “Click the monkey” and “Buy this pack of smileys.” [...]
The web equivalent of donating an organ
When we first started building @libs, we immediately saw a flaw in our viral adoption strategy. The username ‘libs’ was already registered on Twitter. This meant that when someone mentioned our game in a tweet, the text would be auto-linked to an account that we didn’t have control of. We were so disappointed about not [...]
Updating a logo? Bring it to a boil.
Whether you’re updating your company image or simply evaluating how memorable your logo is, sometimes boiling it down to basics can help. I wrote about brand perception and brand image before over on Fedorable, and some of that thinking applies here. Brand perception is how customers see a company, and brand image is the actual [...]
“Do no evil” vs. “Don’t be evil”
Google’s informal corporate motto is “Don’t be evil.” I’ll repeat that: Don’t be evil. I stress this because the motto is one of those phrases that gets exaggerated given some time to circulate in the community. Most frequently it’s twisted into “Do no evil.” It’s like Kanye’s famous quote that he never said, “George Bush [...]
Building a Website? Beware the Goblins.
So, you’re a business owner and you’ve decided to build a website. That’s fantastic. You’re about to embark upon a journey down a road paved with gold, lined with money trees that weaves through fields filled with goblins. Yes, goblins. We’re not talking goblins that are actually nice but simply misunderstood; these goblins are ferocious. [...]
5 things you might not know about CSS sprites
CSS sprites are a pretty popular technique now, but I still see a lot of common mistakes or misconceptions when it comes to implementing them. Here’s a few advanced tips to keep in mind. GIF or PNG-8 sprites should be grouped by color If you’re taking advantage of the low file sizes offered by the [...]
Say ‘No!’ and Say it Loud
Perhaps the most disheartening experience that we’ve seen our clients go through is mistakenly hiring a developer or firm that isn’t capable of fulfilling a project’s requirements. If you’ve worked in web development for any time at all, you’ve probably gone through this too. You probably had to be the one to tell a client [...]