These eBooks are the long-awaited digital version of our bestselling printed book about best practices in modern Web design. They share valuable practical insight into design, usability and coding, provide professional advice for designing mobile applications and building successful e-commerce websites, and explain common coding mistakes and how to avoid them. You'll explore the principles of professional design thinking and graphic design and learn how to apply psychology and game theory to create engaging user experiences.
The ultimate guide to UX from the world’s most popular resource for web designers and developers Smashing Magazine is the world′s most popular resource for web designers and developers and with this book the authors provide the ideal resource for mastering User Experience Design (UX). The authors provide an overview of UX and User Centred Design and examine in detail sixteen of the most common UX design and research tools and techniques for your web projects. The authors share their top tips from their collective 30 years of working in UX including: Guides to when and how to use the most appropriate UX research and design techniques such as usability testing, prototyping, wire framing, sketching, information architecture & running workshops How to plan UX projects to suit different budgets, time constraints and business objectives Case studies from real UX projects that explain how particular techniques were used to achieve the client's goals Checklists to help you choose the right UX tools and techniques for the job in hand Typical user and business requirements to consider when designing business critical pages such as homepages, forms, product pages and mobile interfaces as well as explanations of key things to consider when designing for mobile, internationalization and behavioural change. Smashing UX Design is the complete UX reference manual. Treat it as the UX expert on your bookshelf that you can read from cover-to-cover, or to dip into as the need arises, regardless of whether you have 'UX' in your job title or not.
Five years have passed, and the magazine has changed. A small, obscure lists blog has evolved into a professional publication with a publishing policy, editorial plans, in house style guide as well as a dedicated team of experienced authors, research assistants, advisory board experts, editors and proofreaders. Smashing Magazine is a dedicated, passionate team, but it is also you, you and every single reader who have been reading Smashing Magazine for all those years. Thank you for being with us, we could not exist without you. This eBook is our humble gift to you for your support, criticism and encouragement over all these years. It contains the best, most useful, most interesting or most inspiring articles that have been published on Smashing Magazine over the last five years. They have been carefully edited, proofread and updated for your convenience and a pleasing reading experience.
PROFESSIONAL TECHNIQUES FOR MODERN LAYOUT Smashing CSS takes you well beyond the basics, covering not only the finer points of layout and effects, but introduces you to the future with HTML5 and CSS3. Very few in the industry can show you the ins and outs of CSS like Eric Meyer and inside Smashing CSS Eric provides techniques that are thorough, utterly useful, and universally applicable in the real world. From choosing the right tools, to CSS effects and CSS3 techniques with jQuery, Smashing CSS is the practical guide to building modern web layouts. With Smashing CSS you will learn how to: Throw elements offscreen/hide them Create body/HTML backgrounds in XHTML Usemore than 15 layout techniques including clearfix, two/three simple columns, faux columns, One True Layout, Holy Grail, em-based layout, fluid grids, sticky footers, and more Use a variety of CSS effects including CSS popups, boxpunching, rounded corners, CSS sprites, Sliding Doors, Liquid Bleach, ragged floats, and more Apply CSS table styling including using thead, tfoot, and tbody, row headers, column-oriented styling (classes); styling data tables with jQuery, tables to graphs, tables to maps; and more Use CSS3 elements including rounded corners, multiple backgrounds, RGBA, using jQuery to do CSS3 selections and so much more. Eric Meyer is an internationally recognized expert on the subjects of HTML, CSS, and Web standards, and has been working on the Web since 1993. Smashing CSS is for developers who already have some experience with CSS and JavaScript and are ready for more advanced techniques. Smashing Magazine (smashingmagazine.com) is one of the world's most popular web design sites. True to the Smashing mission, the Smashing Magazine book series delivers useful and innovative information to Web designers and developers.
Provides a practical modern guide to delivering high-quality images on the web -- from formats and compression to delivery and maintenance. The book focuses on what matters: modern approaches to image compression and image delivery, practical tools and techniques to automate optimization, responsive images, current and emerging image formats, how browsers load, decode and render images, CDNs, lazy-loading, adaptive media loading and how to optimize for Core Web Vitals.
The ultimate guide to Logo Design from the world's most popular resource for web designers and developers Web designers and developers now find themselves tasked with designing not only a client's Web site, but also their logo and brand identity. By adding Logo Design to your portfolio, you also add brand skills and unique content. This unparalleled guide dives into the topic of design theory and tells you everything you need to know in order to build remarkable logo. No matter your level of experience, Smashing Magazine covers techniques and best practices in understandable way. You'll look behind the scenes at the art of creating identities. From theory to instruction to inspiration, this must-have book addresses the challenges and rewards of creating a logo that adheres to specific rules of successful design. Details the process of creating a memorable and unique logo, from finding inspiration to executing the design Looks at what makes a logo successful, various typefaces to explore, ways to use color, the pros and cons of vector, how to prepare for print, and more Zeroes in on the research, concepts, and techniques that go into designing an amazing logo Includes more than 400 never-before-published logos, interviews with established designers, and biographies of logo design masters with case studies of their iconic work Appeals to a wide range of readers, from aspiring designer to experienced professional Encompassing everything about the art of creating identities, this is the only book you need to get started designing today.
From the world's most popular resource for web designers and developer's comes the ultimate guide to jQuery Begins with an exploration of fundamental jQuery concepts such as Document Object Model (DOM) scripting Explores writing "Don't Repeat Yoursefl" (DRY) to gain a comprehensive understanding of these imperative modern techniques and best practices Shows how jQuery enables the user to adhere to these modern best practices with ease The succeeding chapters discuss a specific part of jQuery development such as manipulating the DOM, working with Ajax, and adding slick animation effects through tutorial style learning approach that utilizes working examples to explore the concept The books caps off by discussing popular ways of extending the core jQuery library with pugins and building web interfaces using jQuery UI
We make inaccessible and unusable websites and apps all the time, but it's not for lack of skill or talent. It's just a case of doing things the wrong way. We try to build the best experiences we can, but we only make them for ourselves and for people like us. This book looks at common interface patterns from the perspective of an inclusive designer-someone trained in building experiences that cater to the huge diversity of abilities, preferences and circumstances out there. There's no such thing as an 'average' user, but there is such a thing as an average developer. This book will take you from average to expert in the area that matters the most: making things more readable and more usable to more people.
EXPAND YOUR IMAGINATION Smashing Photoshop CS5 is loaded with 100 creative and innovative techniques to help jump-start your creativity and inspire you to do more with your designs and photographs. This book is aimed at designers, artists and photographers who want to become proficient in Photoshop CS5, getting you quickly up to speed with many of the fantastic new tools and features. Author Sue Jenkins is a photographer and web and graphic designer, author, software instructor and Adobe Certified Expert. Using her knowledge and years of expertise in the field she provides 100 hints, special effects, and techniques that will enable you to extend your existing skills and to develop and execute new ideas and trends. Smashing Photoshop CS5 is the ideal guide to help you to get the best out of Photoshop CS5. This book will teach you how to perform specific tasks using a variety of tools, filters, styles, adjustment layers, and more. With Smashing Photoshop CS5 you will learn how to: • MAKE 3D TEXT WITH REPOUSSÉ • CREATE ENGRAVED TYPE • DESIGN A BLOG HEADER • STIMULATE HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE IMAGES • MAKE RETRO HALFTONES • WORK WITH CUSTOM BRUSHES • USE CONTENT-AWARE SCALING • TRANSFORM WITH PUPPET WARP • TRACE PHOTOS • MAKE SCALE MODELS • MIMIC CROSS-PROCESSING (XPRO) • EDIT WITH LAYER MASKS • CORRECT IMAGE DISTORTION • RETOUCH AND RESTORE IMAGES • EDIT WITH THE VANISHING POINT • CREATE PANORAMAS Key Topics Covered: Part I: Web Layout And Optimization Part II: Photoshop CS4 And CS5 Techniques Part III: Text Effects Part IV: Studio And Commercial Effects Part V: Special Effects Part VI: Image Distressing Part VII: Image Retouching And Restoration Smashing Photoshop CS5 is the perfect springboard for sparking new ideas and gaining inspiration for all your projects. Smashing Magazine (smashingmagazine.com) is one of the world's most popular web design sites. True to the Smashing mission, the Smashing Magazine book series delivers useful and innovative information to Web designers and developers.
