As much as I enjoy reading on the web (and walking through lush rainforests), I can’t resist to a good-content, nice-layout magazine, especially if it’s on familiar stuff (web design, web development, macs, all of them together for good measure).
Sadly, I have yet to find a single “good enough” magazine for my needs. I use a mix of RSS feeds and podcasts to keep me entertained, but I would really like to accidentally “discover” a kickass design magazine (please, no print design – I’m not interested in that).
Are there any? Any ideas? And please, make it a magazine that will actually arrive when I pay for its subscription – unlike Wired.
It’s not often that I do tribute posts, it’s not often that I look up so much to people of my field, A-listers (what a slimey expression) or not.
Last night I read (actually read, not skimmed) the presentation of mr. Jeff Croft for the Future Of Web Design 2007 conference, which is called “Elegant Typography” (warning, .pdf ahead). Yeah, I know, I’m like, 18 months late, but oh well.
All I have to say is this: mr. Croft has amassed and elegantly presented every aspect of web typography, all in a simple and enjoyable presentation (granted, of 130 slides, but I digress).
If you’re a web designer that respects oneself, do download it and read it, now.
Kudos, mr. Croft, for giving us the absolute web typography presentation for the years to come.
jeff croft, fowd, typography, web design
Percentages and the ways they can be displayed in web pages are not exactly the hottest trend of the mill, but it’s something that bothers me for quite some time now.
When do we need progress bars in web design? Mainly when we undertake a multi-step task, like a survey or a shopping form. They can be replaced with step breadcrumbs (like in Amazon.com checkout procedure) but when the number of steps goes over the top, progress bars are really the only (visual) way to go.
In the desktop apps field, progress bars are used the whole time for portraying installation times, required time for completion of a copy-paste procedure and so on.
But in web design, their role is quite diminished. However, they cannot be taken lightly – they’re a strong visual cue of what is to be expected and help users with their notorious impatience.
I have just recently taken part in an IA survey, held by mr. Patrick Kennedy, and I noticed something strange – the progress bar used on the top right did not comfort me at all. On the contrary. Check it out:
So what’s my progress? I know the progress bar itself moves a little by each page I move on to, but exactly how much? Are there many more pages? Are there just a few? You can only theorize here, based on observations on how much the bar moves after each page. It’s all pretty vague.
How could this become more usable?
First of all, ditch the numbers. I already know that a progress bar has to start at 0% and end in 100%. Gimme the current percentage, that’s what I’d like. Don’t bother with showing the remainder as a percentage – that doesn’t really add to the information showed, but adds very much to clutter and confusion. Oh, and maybe add a page countdown to have me completely covered.
There you are. I’m happy now. May not be much, but at least there’s some actual info shown.
IA, survey, progress bar
