BigBear Design » web design http://bigbeardesign.net/blog Websites for Small Businesses Fri, 26 Sep 2008 13:52:07 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Site Redesign for 2008… Finally http://bigbeardesign.net/blog/2008/site-redesign-for-2008-finally/ http://bigbeardesign.net/blog/2008/site-redesign-for-2008-finally/#comments Fri, 22 Aug 2008 03:38:33 +0000 emil http://bigbeardesign.net/blog/?p=16 Whew, I finally got myself to finish up the much delayed redesign of my homepage. I already had an idea to change the colors to brown last January, but couldn’t find the inspiration to start it up.  Brown seems to be a more appropriate color scheme to “bear”, as black and white reminds me of “panda”.

Before:

After:

Next on the ta-da list is to make a proper portfolio page instead of direct links and to redesign this blog (and hopefully keep it updated from now on) using the really great Cutline theme.

]]> http://bigbeardesign.net/blog/2008/site-redesign-for-2008-finally/feed/ 0 Flash Is Not For Websites http://bigbeardesign.net/blog/2006/flash-is-not-for-websites/ http://bigbeardesign.net/blog/2006/flash-is-not-for-websites/#comments Mon, 18 Sep 2006 07:57:57 +0000 emil http://bigbeardesign.net/blog/flash-is-not-for-websites/ We’ve heard of it countless times before, yet it is a subject that deserves to have at least one article about it in every blog in the Internet: Flash is Evil, or to be specific, Websites That Force Us To Use Flash are Evil. No matter how many Flash sites are made or how many awards these sites get, Flash will never replace HTML.

Not every visitor that goes to your website is already sold on you. Some would want to read up before they buy your product, contract your services, or subscribe to your feed. Some could’ve just stumbled upon your website and have no idea who you are. Imagine setting up the layout of your store so a customer can walk in and immediately see the merchandise so they’ll know what you’re selling. As Seth Godin nicely puts it in Big Red Fez, having Flash on your site is like “requiring your customers to put on special goggles to see your store’s merchandise”. You’ve worked hard to get people into your website, don’t give them a reason to walk out.

To be fair, Flash in websites does have its uses and it does them well. The video players for sites like YouTube and Google Videos, for example. I don’t know why some still use Windows Media Player on their sites, which barely plays anything.

]]> http://bigbeardesign.net/blog/2006/flash-is-not-for-websites/feed/ 0 How wide is your width? http://bigbeardesign.net/blog/2006/how-wide-is-your-width/ http://bigbeardesign.net/blog/2006/how-wide-is-your-width/#comments Fri, 30 Jun 2006 06:01:48 +0000 emil http://bigbeardesign.net/blog/?p=5 Recent research shows that the majority of Internet users are using 1024×768 instead of 800×600. Popular sites like Lifehacker and Digg have recently made the switch. So should you also make your website “optimized for 1024×768″ viewing? Hell no.

Great work on their redesigns, but I hate the width reformat. Even though I am using 1024×768, my browser window is never maximized. As a compulsive multi-tasker I need the space for my other programs, so please don’t assume you can take up my entire screen.

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