If you have any comments regarding the change then feel free to post a comment.

As for what’s next, I will be writing a few more articles review the individual aspects of the HTC Magic along with a basic “Developing with Andriod” guide which will allow you to start building your own applications. I also have a few other PHP related guides and tutorials planned which will appear as soon as possible.

in the meantime feel free to check out the previous articles and make any comments you feel are relevant

• Type of website & Target audience
• Consistency (i.e. look and feel)
• Font types & Colour schemes
• Graphics both quantity and impression
• Browser compatibility and resolution

The above list shows a few considerations which I believe to be the most important when designing a website but as I am a developer if someone wants to correct me then feel free. However allow me to justify my decision before you do

Target audience and the type of website

The theory behind this choice is that without knowing what type of website it and what sort of audience the website is aimed at then how can an appropriate design be created? For example, if your site offers children’s toys then the target audience is going to be either children or their parents. Does this mean that you design the site with a very corporate feel to it or do you create a design which is full of colour and brings the site alive? Personally I would go for the latter but that could just be down to my personal taste.

Consistency, colour and font-types

During my time as a developer I have come across many sites with many different designs and to say that some of them are shocking is an understatement. For example, I see time after time sites that have a pale gray font colour on a white background or a deep gray colour on a black background. What is the point of having text on a page if people can’t read it? Does the same theory apply to fonts? Well I believe it does, again if the font size is too small then the majority of people won’t think about increasing the font size within the browser settings in order to read the content on a site. Likewise if the font is too large then there won’t be enough content being displayed within the browser window and people will have to keep scrolling either just up and down or worse left, right, up and down. Font-types is a more interesting one and I could spend the next hour or so discussing why certain fonts should and should not be used but it basically boils down to choosing the most appropriate font-family for the content of the site. However depending on the browser, these fonts may not even be displayed so the effect that the design is trying portray may not even be seen.

I have always been a big believer in accessibility and recent studies show that text on white background is the most legible. Don’t get me wrong, there’s definitely a continuum of other colour pairs which provide a high enough level of contrast so not to sacrifice the legibility of the text. So why are there so many designs out there who believe that yellow on white works?

So that’s colour covered, now for fonts. Does the same theory apply to fonts? I believe it does, basically for the same reason why the fonts in a book are all legible and use a standard font.

With regards consistency, people like predictable things. So surely the same goes for web design? If a design has a good structure, where the menus are located in the same place on every page then people know exactly where to look in order to move through your site. Does this same principle apply to design? If you’re browsing through a site and suddenly everything changes colour or the font suddenly changes size or style would this affect your impression of the site?

Graphics

As a developer I have always tried to build sites which load very quickly so have never been a huge fan of large images or flash files embedded within the page. Maybe with the way technology is evolving this is no longer a concern, I don’t know.

Graphics are typically the first part of the site that a user sees (headers are typically images), therefore does it make sense to make this image represent what the rest of the site is going to look like or should it look completely different so that is stands out? I appreciate the fact that images are becoming a big part of designs not just as headers but also for bullet points, headings, lists, page backgrounds, the list goes on. But when does too much actually become too much?

With regards the impression they provide, I agree that a really nice header image can improve the overall look and feel of a site to no end but what about flash or JavaScript rotators? Can these be detrimental to a site? If you have content on your site that you want people to take notice of why provide them with something that will distract them every few seconds? Also with regards flash headers or sidebar elements what’s the point in having a 5MB flash file embedded into the header? Will this not just cause more people to leave than stay due to the time it takes to load the page, I believe it does. If you don’t then believe this is an issue then please free to convince me otherwise.

Browser considerations and resolutions

As a developer I am always testing websites in all the major browsers, should designs be treated in a similar fashion? For example are there certain aspects of a design which are not possible in one browser but will work in another. To be honest I think this more of a design implementation consideration than a design consideration because there are always ways around browser limitations which allow for designs to be implemented. Again if you disagree with this analysis then please let me know.
Anyway this is just the beginning of a process I keep thinking about with regards the overall website development process and there will probably similar post to this cropping up as I consider the other aspects. Hope it wasn’t too boring for anyway that made it to this point and thanks for reading.

The main reason for this is that the old site was very dated and the new site is now under development and will be here shortly (well once it’s finished).

All the old guides, tutorials etc are still available upon request and they will all be included when the new site arrives. In the meantime you want to add to the guides etc then let me know.

In the meantime, feel free to take a look around and post any comments you feel fit and check back for more updates.

One of the contributing reasons to this is the presence that UFindUs has built up on the internet, this purchase by BT now means that both companies have a very good chance of rapidly becoming the biggest and best online directory systems on the internet.

David Benjamin, chief executive of BT Directories said

Ufindus will play an important role in the continued development of BT Directories’ online portfolio.

Through Ufindus’ considerable expertise and experience in online classified advertising, we access further local classified product offerings, significant search traffic and new customers for this fast-growing part of our business

For more information visit The growth of Customer Street

A couple of months back I went for a job interview with a company based in Lancaster for a developer position that had opened up. Unfortunately they decided to hire internally but then I recieved a phone call asking me if I wanted to work or them as a position had opened up. Needless to say I agreed and now a developer for the second largest online directory system on the internet (behind Yell). The work is mainly front-end changes for the time being but it is building up the experience I need to start working on the back-end infrastructure which is currently in place.

Anyway thats currently what I’m up to so check back to see how things develop on the work front. In the meantime feel free to check out a few mods for the FusionBB community on their site and my main site

Have fun and be good

The past four years have given me some awesome experiences to remember such as the night we came back from the union and spent the remainder of the night sat in a stairwell chatting about random things (yes a stairwell lol). There have also been some bad experiences such as the shooting, I know it didn’t directly affect me but I know a couple of guys who were working that night and they were a little shook up for a while. It just goes to show that when everyone sticks together anything can be overcome.

Anyway its fathers day so I just wanted to put up a public thank you to my dad for his support over the past four years. Without him I probably wouldn’t have made it.

So Thanks Dad

So why can I still not believe it or grieve over it?? The annoying thing is that I know she will never be coming back but a part of me still believes that she will. Am I just going crazy or what?

My dad seems to have gone quite solemn over the past couple of days and as for my sister well whats going on there is anyones guess really. I think the best thing I can do is just be there for them both at this time and hope that some day someone will be around when it does finally hit me.

Rest in Peace mother, you are forever missed but never forgotten.

The idea behind this event is to promote Web Standards. Plain and simple. This includes proper use of (x)html, semantic markup, a good hierarchy structure, and of course, a good ‘ol play on words. It’s time to show off your <body>

Get Naked

For those of you running WordPress blog systems then there is a plugin developed by Aja Lorenzo Lapus over at http://www.ajalapus.com which is available from the official wordpress plugins page

Extract from the site
Introducing Google TiSP (BETA), our new FREE in-home wireless broadband service. Sign up today and we’ll send you your TiSP self-installation kit, which includes setup guide, fiber-optic cable, spindle, wireless router and installation CD.

Heres how to do it