23 Musings

Here's an amusing look at the web back in 1996, the year I started designing myself. I would provide links back to some of the sites I built using the internet archive but sadly all have so many broken links they aren't worth viewing. I'll post up anonymised screenshots of a range of sites I've built another day...

If only web design was still so simple :-)

I had a good read of the new specification for HTML 5 last night. It's supposed to break us free from the constraints of HTML 4 and the browsers (at least it will allow browser manufacturers to take things one step forwards). HTML 5 introduces a lot of interesting new features such as semantics, API compatibility, improved form controls and more. Some of the simplified mark-up should also make barriers to entry much lower, I also believe that the creators of WYSIWYG tools will find it much easier to create new web based tools to create sites based on HTML 5 due to the simplification of the document.

Rather than write a full review I suggest you go and read the write up from A List Apart here.

Here's a useful link from Apple's Developer Connection which tells you all you need to know to get your web site or application ready for use by iPhone users.

To be honest it should be fairly straightforward as it's the Safari 3 engine under the hood of the iPhone so if it works in Safari it should be fine in iPhone. Of course you may want to look at serving up a different version scaled to fit the iPhone as I for one find the zoom browse of modern phones a pain in the neck*. I'd much rather use a web app that sizes itself to the device I am using, it makes the browsing experience so much easier.

Anyway, the link above has all you need to know and some handy hints on how to utilise mail and maps on the iPhone. If you're in any doubt about whether your app will work on iPhone then read the above.

*Of course, AT&T's lousy 2G connection speeds make the browsing experience a pain in the neck anyway at the moment for anyone who owns an iPhone.

As a techy at heart I occasionally come across a resource which inspires me to have a hack around with some code and be creative.

Today I found www.ajaxrain.com. It's simply a resource of some of the nicest AJAX effects and functions available.

Well worth a dig for the nostalgic techies amongst you!

I'm in shock! I've just become aware of the debacle surrounding the Italian governments new tourism website which promotes their country to potential visitors.

This is the story of the Italian National Tourism Portal which has recently appeared online after three years (the project began 16th March 2004). Created by IBM the site launched to derision worldwide from the blogosphere and from Italians themselves. It's amazing that such a huge sum of money can be spent on a website which doesn't appear particularly complex. Far more sophisticated websites are created all the time with budgets a fraction of this spend. Rumour has it that the logo alone cost €100,000!

Design wise it looks pretty good, but it doesn't work on all browsers, has a lot of copy errors and very poor translation, accessibility is shocking and it's incredibly slow to browse around.


Apparently it's not the worst offending government sponsored money-pit website, rumour has it that the German employment office site cost an astounding €160 million! Both of these sites are scandalous wastes of public money, something far better could have been produced for far less money!

In a fairly major departure from Google's usual habits of plain, clean, white web pages they are now offering users of their personalised (read Web 2.0/Ajax) homepage an option to have a nice colourful background in the header area. The internet search box at the top of the homepage is placed in panoramic settings that change with the time of day and the weather. A nice touch, and with Google homepage gaining penetration it's sure to attract some usage.

The 'skins' will be unveiled today and are sure to go down well with all but the die hard Google users. And the fact that these decorations change with the time and weather is also a new draw to get people to try their homepage for themselves.

Apparently the designs will also contain surprises, such as easter eggs that will pop out at (wait for it) Easter, and one would expect a jolly red man perhaps at Xmas...

Here's an example:

More from the Sydney Morning Herald here.

When it's time to redesign or tweak your e-commerce website what areas should you focus on? Is it just a matter of rebuilding from scratch or applying a new coat of paint? Or are there key areas you should be focusing on?

Help is at hand... Jakob Nielsen, that bastion of usability and helpful tips (although I know some people don't agree with everything he says and I'm one of them) has published a new article titled 10 High-Profit Redesign Priorities.

There's some really good points on where you should focus your efforts so this is well worth a read for anyone who wants to increase their conversion rate and get more revenue.

Nice little app here called CSSFly which allows you to view any web page and edit it in real time while seeing the results instantly in the browser. It works by caching a copy of a page and updating with any changes to the code you make.

Could be very useful for any CSS/XHTML developers who want to experiment without getting their coding tools out. Also great for those of us who like to see what's under the hood of our favourite designed websites.