The Web Design Critique Thread

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > The Web Design Critique Thread

WaffleSteak: May 1, 2004; damn honky

ZeBourgeoisie posted:

https://www.nainter.com

Sketch*

Everyone above me has great advice but you could probably also incorporate some sketching into your design process as well. Since you're new to design/web design I think sketching may help you fully flesh out all the problem solving for a website before you jump into somewhat unfamiliar tools (photoshop, sublime text, etc.) and get stuck. By sketching you can rapidly ideate design problems without wasting time looking at a blank photoshop file or empty text document. If you sketch the general layout for each page you can also end up using the sketch as a blueprint when constructing it in PS or coding the site up. (You can even label the drawing with the html structure to help as an outline before you even start coding.)

When I'm designing/coding any site (even small ones), I always start out with pencil and paper. Sketching is cheap, quick and easy to do, you really don't have to be an artist for this process, and you can do it pretty much anywhere. If you're stuck and don't know what to even start drawing, go into inspiration gathering mode.

Write out words that describe what you'd like the site to look like i.e. Clean, Professional, Trustworthy.
Now start gathering examples of sites that convey these words well.
Collect color palettes and typefaces that match the words.
Start sketching the basic things your site needs to perform it's goal. Put as many ideas down as possible.
Take a step back, go do something else and then come back to your sketches.
Cross out ideas that won't work and refine what you have.
Keep going until you feel confident you've found the right solution to your client's problem.
Go make it!

*Your first idea is not necessarily the best idea. Don't get too attached to your initial drawing it might not be the best solution.

p.s. You'll definitely want to learn about grids as well. Khoi Vinh has a great book on it specifically for web design: http://grids.subtraction.com/

# ¿ Sep 3, 2013 18:16

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# ¿ May 21, 2024 09:13

WaffleSteak: May 1, 2004; damn honky

Mewnie posted:

I'm getting into HTML at school and this is really how it's done? I find it really hard to read and when coding it just looks really messy to me
Maybe I'm broken, but I've formatted it like so:
code:
a	{ example: test;
	 size: #; }

I usually write out css like:

code:

a { 
     font-size:12px;
     color:#fff; 
}

Another dev at my old job used to single line his css which was easy for him I guess...

code:

a { font-size:12px; color:#fff; }

Really just comes down to personal preference, and the way you work best with it but the first example is pretty universal. UNLESS you're working on a team of other developers where you'll want to write in the same format as everyone else.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2013 00:12

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