The Google Time Machine
Sure, the Wayback machine of archive.org is cool as it gives you a peek at how websites looked like way back, dating to the early 1990′s. But Google has something even better–Google Groups. Groups takes you back in time by enabling you to search for conversations in usenet mailing lists up to 1981. How cool is that? By default, Google Groups also lets you create email discussion groups very much similar to Yahoo!’ For instance, if you’re looking for discussions about “Windows” in the 1980′s you can click on advanced search, define the date range from January 1, 1981 to December 31, 1989, and then click search. You will then get results like these: It can be quite fun if you’ve been active in the usenet mailing list scene before web forums, blogs and e-groups became popular.
40 Beautiful Examples of Minimalism in Web Design
Minimalism is a design style that emphasizes simplicity and the removal of superfluous elements in one’s own work. It’s applied in art, architecture, print work, and in web design. There is something extraordinary about making something magnificent with limited resources, and in this showcase, you’ll find the work of talented designers that exhibit exemplary use of Minimalism theories applied to web design. 1. Typographica 2. 3. 4. 6. 7. 8. monty lounge industries 9. 10. 11. el Candor 12. 13. design by silnt 14. 15. 17. 18. 19. 20. cabedge.com 21. 22. siteInspire 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 29. dConstruct 30. 31. 32. 34. 36. 37. tictoc 38. 39. 40. What do you think at Minimalism? Minimalism in web design is something that can be tricky to pull off (ironic isn’t it?). Related content
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Useful Tools for Testing Cross Browser Compatibility
A few weeks ago I gave you some tips for cross-compatibility, but in this article we are going to focus more specifically on cross-browser compatibility. Building websites to work properly and look good in multiple browsers is a fact of life that web designers must deal with. It is probably one of the most frustrating aspects of designing for the web, but thankfully there are tools out there that can help and hopefully keep you from pulling all of your hair out. Adobe Browser Lab This tool shows screenshots of your website as seen by several different environments. The default test includes Firefox 3.0 on Windows XP and OS X, Internet Explorer 7.0 on Windows XP, and Safari 3.0 on OS X. You can change which browsers you’d like to test under “Browser Sets.” Browser Shots You can view screenshots of your website as it displays in different browsers, with a great degree of customization. This is a great free option for glimpsing multiple browsers. SuperPreview Litmus Cross Browser Testing
Border
CSS Border, our personal favorite CSS attribute, allow you to completely customize the borders that appear around HTML elements. With HTML, it used to be impossible to place a border around an element, except for the table. CSS Borders let you create crisp, customized border styles with very little work, compared to the antiquated methods of HTML. There are numerous types of border styles at your disposal. CSS Code: Display: This is a solid border This is a double border This is a grooved border This is a dotted border This is a dashed border This is an inset border This is an outset border This is a ridged border This is a hidden border This is probably obvious, but the default border-style setting for an element is hidden. To alter the thickness of your border use the border-width attribute. This paragraph has a solid border with a "thick" width. Now for the creative aspect of CSS Borders! This paragraph has a solid border with a color of "blue". This only has a bottom border Try it out!
wikinear.com, OAuth and Fire Eagle
I’m pleased to announce wikinear.com. It’s a simple site that does just one thing: show you a list of the five Wikipedia pages that are geographically closest to your current location. It’s designed (or not-designed) to be used mainly from mobile phones. You’ll need a Fire Eagle invitation code to use the site. I’ve got four spare; the first four comments to ask for one can have them my invites are all accounted for. If you don’t have a Fire Eagle account you’ll have to make do with this screenshot instead. The idea for the site came from living in Oxford for a year. Under the hood the site combines a number of interesting technologies: OAuth, Fire Eagle, GeoNames and the new Google Static Maps API. OAuth OAuth was originally designed to solve a problem with OpenID: in an authentication protocol based on browser redirects, how do you authenticate a desktop or command-line application? If you want to securely expose your user’s private data via an API, OAuth is a no-brainer. Fire Eagle
Top 10 Tutorials for Converting PSDs to HTML/CSS
Get the FlatPix UI Kit for only $7 - Learn More or Buy Now Many web designers start a new project by designing a mockup in Photoshop before actually coding the website. For a designer who is comfortable with Photoshop and with this process, less time can be used to create the end result. For those designers who have not mastered the process of converting a design into a fully coded website, these 10 tutorials are excellent learning resources. From PSD to HTML, Building a Set of Web Designs Step by Step Collis Ta’eed published a post about five months ago at NETTUTS that takes a very detailed look at the process of coding a site with a PSD file as a starting point. Build a Sleek Portfolio Site from Scratch A few months prior to the previous post, Collis also published this exceptional tutorial. Encoding a Photoshop Mockup into XHTML and CSS Chris Spooner also did a similar two-part series of posts for creating a design in Photoshop and then coding the site with XHTML and CSS.
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