Published March 4th, 2010 in Web Development
A few weeks ago we published a showcase of one-page portfolios and pointed out some trends among them. Many of those sites are using jQuery to accomplish specific things. In this post we’ll feature some plugins and tutorials that are ideal for one-page portfolios. Of course, they can be used on other types of sites as well, but they are well-suited to match up with the trends among one-page portfolios.
Contact Forms:
All portfolio sites need to allow visitors to contact the designer, whether it is through an email address or a contact form. One-page sites face the challenge of including a usable contact form without using a separate page for it. These two resources can help for creating contact forms that will not take up too much space on the page.
Using Form Labels as Text Fields
CSS Globe provides a tutorial that is ideal for contact forms in limited spaces, which is often the case with one-page portfolios. The script can also be downloaded for use in your own work.
Published December 23rd, 2009 in Web Development
Adobe AIR gives developers all kinds of possibilities to create applications. As Adobe’s websites says, “The Adobe® AIR® runtime lets developers use proven web technologies to build rich Internet applications that run outside the browser on multiple operating systems.”
In this post we’ll feature 35 tutorials that will help you to learn more about working with AIR. Some of them are at a beginner level that will introduce you to AIR, and others are more advanced and will teach specifics.
To find some examples of Adobe AIR apps see:
Introduction to Adobe AIR
Published December 10th, 2009 in Web Development
Web designers have the opportunity to increase their income and to help brand their business by taking advantage of private label (or white label) options that are available. A private label means that you will be able to brand it as your own. For example, you can use a re-branded CMS that appears to clients as though it is your own system, rather than displaying the name and branding of the CMS.
In this post we’ll look at some of the leading private label options for web designers and agencies in a few different categories. We’ll look at content management systems, shopping cart/ecommerce systems, hosting, and email marketing.
Private Label Content Management Systems:
Most clients today want to be able to manage their content without paying a designer every time changes need to be made. There are a number of content management systems that offer private label options. A private label CMS could be a cornerstone for your business that includes residual income each month. Here are some of the leading options.
LightCMS
LightCMS is Element Fusion’s CMS that is created especially for designers (the same CMS is available to businesses through WaterCMS). LightCMS aims to provide designers with a CMS that will provide clients with everything they need while not limiting the design, and also providing designers the opportunity to earn a residual income from monthly hosting fees. There is no cost for designers to become resellers, and you can determine the prices that your customers pay. Earlier this year we published a tutorial for setting up your first site with LightCMS.
Published November 30th, 2009 in Web Development
Site search functionality is extremely important for ecommerce websites, especially larger ones. In order for the site to make sales, visitors must be able to find what they are looking for as effectively as possible. While many shoppers will prefer to use the standard navigation on the site, searches are very common from visitors who aren’t able to quickly find what they want.
In this article we’ll take an in-depth look at the trends in site searches of ecommerce websites, and plenty of examples will be included for each point. Of course, not all of these points are going to be relevant to every ecommerce site, but it should help to serve as a guide to those who are designing and developing ecommerce sites.
1. Located at the Top of the Page
The most common location for a site search on ecommerce sites is at the top of the page, and generally on the right side. Many ecommerce sites have a site search, user login, and shopping cart info all located in the same general area. Keeping the site search in a location that is pretty common will help it to be easier to find for some of your visitors who are accustomed to this trend.
Chicos
Published October 14th, 2009 in Web Development
Membership websites have increased in popularity in recent years. They present an excellent income opportunity for the site owner and a great value (depending on the content) for users. If you have thought about setting up a membership site but weren’t sure where to get started, here is a look at 14 options that will allow you to get started with your own membership site.
AMember
AMember is probably the most popular choice for managing a membership site. It is ideally suited for sites that sell digital downloads. A built in two-tier affiliate program is included, as well as many other features including free installation, easy web-based administration, automated signups and expirations and more. The price of AMember is $179.95.
Published September 7th, 2009 in Web Development
Style switchers can be used to give visitors more options according to their preferences, or they can be used simply to add something dynamic and interesting to the site. The potential uses are nearly limitless but some common approaches include using style switchers to give choices in terms of background images, color schemes, font sizes, and layout.
In this post we’ll look at a number of sites that are using style switchers and you’ll see screenshots to demonstrate how the site will appear with various options selected. At the end of the post there is also a resources section with tutorials and scripts that can help if you are interested in using a style switcher on your site.
Carreras con Futuro
Carreras con Futuro uses a hand-drawn background image with splatter effects. The style switcher changes the color of the splatters, and also changes the color of a few elements in the site’s content area, such as the background of “login.”
Published August 6th, 2009 in Web Development
jQuery image galleries and sliders are very common on portfolio sites and are also useful for any other type of site for displaying images and photos. Fortunately, adding a jQuery gallery does not have to be difficult, even if you don’t have much experience with JavaScript and jQuery. In this post we’ll see tutorials and plugins that can provide you with the resources that you need to get a gallery of slider on your site.
jQuery Image Gallery/Slider Tutorials:
Create an Image Rotator with Description (CSS/jQuery)
Published May 6th, 2009 in Web Development
Choosing the right content management system for a particular project can be a critical decision that has long-lasting impact on the client and the success of their website. Unfortunately, with so many options out there it is difficult to get to know more than just those that you use on a regular basis.
In this post I’d like to present some basic information about LightCMS and provide a tutorial for getting a simple website working with the basic features of LightCMS. This is a very simple tutorial that only covers the basics of the system, but hopefully it will be helpful to learn a little bit more about LightCMS in case it can be of use to you and your clients.
Published March 2nd, 2009 in Web Development
If you’re building an e-commerce website or adding a small store to an existing website, you have plenty of options to choose from. With so many different options and so much variety from one to another, there is no right or wrong solution, just different choices that may work best for you in different situations.
You may want to choose an open source option that you can learn well in order to build a number of different client websites. Or, your client may want to go with a hosted or licensed option that can be up and running quickly. In this post we’ll look at more than 30 different options, provide some basic details, and point you in the right direction for getting more information to make a good decision.
If you don’t already have a preferred e-commerce system to work with, be sure to do some homework or experimentation before making any important decisions that could be difficult to change later.
Open Source Shopping Carts and E-Commerce Options:
There are a number of open source options that are popular with developers.
Magento
Published January 15th, 2009 in Web Development
If you design websites for clients you know that most clients these days want the ability to update the site themselves. Fortunately, content management systems make this possible. However, depending on the types of clients that you work with, you may find that sometimes going with a full-feature CMS is overkill for a client that only needs to update a few pages.
Each client has there own unique needs, and there may be times when you come across someone who is not interested in anything fancy, but they want a small website that will allow them to change the content of pages.
