Navigation: Things to Consider

Recently I've been thinking about how to speed up my web design processes by not repeating the same tasks for every design I do. As I design mostly in Photoshop I realised I can take advantage of...

From the very beginning of starting a new website project, there are many factors to be considered.  Speed of the site is one of these factors. It was extremely important years ago when internet...

I can understand how some companies are still building entire websites in Flash. They get caught up in all the fancy, impressive, attention grabbing things that it can do. Don't get me wrong, I...

WordPress is commonly known as a blogging tool, but it is being used more and more as a Content Management System. Because it is primarily a blogging tool the install is fairly basic, but there...

There are many blogs, books and guides about how to create a user friendly, content rich, and generally just an outstanding website. Perhaps it is a case of there being too much information that...

Some people buy flowers online, last weekend I received flowers from an awesome online site. As this doesn't happen very often, my housemate that opened the door immediately took them to my other...

Are you on Team Photoshop or Team Fireworks?  I'd assume 99% of web designers would be on the Photoshop team, but the goal behind today's post is to outline some of the advantages behind...

Recently we've looked at the importance of maintaining good image quality for your website. We've also touched on proper image sizing and resolution handling.

It seems only appropriate that we now...

Recently it seems I have come to a new phase of my Flash life, where Flash alone is not enough. Previously I have used flash in conjunction with XML, but that was by choice, not because Flash had...

In my last post about maintaining image quality on your website, I discussed proper use of image sizing and resolutions for the web.

To continue on this topic, I'd like to now go into how an image...

A few months ago, my partner and I started looking into purchasing a new car. The car we had was about 8 years old, and we purchased it from a private seller around about 2 years ago. The car in...

With more users starting to use IE8, the other day I found myself needing to update a certain style that was not displaying correctly in the IE8 browser. It was displaying correctly in Firefox 3...

sIFR (or Scalable Inman Flash Replacement) is an open source method that uses flash and JavaScript to display small amounts of non-web standard fonts on a webpage. It is typically used for titles...

Digital imagery and its manipulation for a purpose is generally quite misunderstood by web users. As a web designer and someone who has dabbled in digital art for years, it's easy to overlook the...

Creating a flash banner for clients is a project that I find myself doing quite regularly. And as there is a strict limit on the file size, I thought I'd share some of the tricks I've learnt along...

Over the last couple of months, I've been heavily focused on rebuilding one of our Ark content management systems for a major client. From the given design we set out to build a robust website...

Starting a new design can be exciting or challenging. The deciding factor with this is usually the logo of the company, as it sets the scene for the whole design. But what if it is a new company...

Have you ever had a problem, that you cannot for the life of you, solve. No matter how many hours you spend on it, you just don't seem to be getting closer to solving it? These problems usually...

Here at ireckon the start of a new project means many things; meetings, project planning, time management, market research and most importantly in the client’s mind the start of their design....

The other week a workmate and I attended a workshop day in which we were shown to the new Adobe Creative Suite 4. The theme of the day was shortcut to Brilliant. Being someone who uses these...

I've been reluctant to make the move from ActionScript 2 to ActionScript 3. A couple of months back I decided it was something that must be done to keep with the current trends. I was trying to be...

There are many browsers out there and they all interpret code and images differently. Today I am going to do a comparison on how browsers rescale images differently and rate which browser...

It's that time once again, only 20 more sleeps until Christmas. Shops have had their store fronts ready for Christmas for over a month now. It seems that making a store Christmas friendly is an...

Sometimes the best things in life are free. Save time with these free web generators I have stumbled across and also 1 or 2 of them that have been suggested by friends (thanks Dave!)

Stripe...

I'm not what you would call an early adopter. I only found out about twitter roughly 4 months ago, if that. However, I did a bit of Google surfing and found several posts on good designers to...

I have never been a huge user of the min-height class in CSS, until a recent project where it needed to be used considerably. In the past it has always been possible to get around the problem by...

Whether you think you are the best web designer in the world, or just a beginner, we all tend to draw inspiration from somewhere, even if we don't know it. There are a few different types of...

Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Other. Which browser do you use?

Everyone has a favourite. Have you ever stopped to think about why? Everyone has their own opinion, I hope it's more than just "Cause...

STEP 1: The Brief.

The briefing process is one of the most important processes that a client and developer can go through. The brief is the basis of the project and can make or break the...

Well this will be my first blog post with Ireckon. I’ve been pondering on what would be my most insightful topic as a web designer in my first few weeks at Ireckon.

After some thought, the...

It has become evident over the past couple of weeks just how important it is to follow a set structure in both html and css files.

Most companies have their own set structure by which employees are...

I see it all the time. From small forms (e.g. logins or contact forms) to larger, more complex forms (e.g. sign-up or payment forms). It frustrates users and can even drive them away from your...

If you are a frequent world wide web surfer, you might have noticed menus on some websites where the hover state of a navigation item takes a second to load. This is probably because the menu is...

Nearly everyday I see something new on the web that is innovative and pushing the boundaries. Whether it be a funky web design, a powerful graphic, or something more technical, it is apparent...

When creating a website, the homepage is one of most important facets of the web design process and generally the rest of the site will flow from this page, so it is very important to get your...

From a simple contact form to a detailed profile series or checkout process. Forms are one of the most important elements of your website.

A bad form can lead to poor conversion rates,...

...I knew how to do everything on the web! But unfortunately, I don't, which is a shame because there are some really cool things you can do these days. And the best thing is that a lot of the...

In most industries you are required to keep up to date with the latest technology, trends and training.  This is has never been more important than in today's information technology industries and...

When starting a new project, it can often be daunting. I know, if I don't know how to fulfill every aspect of the task first up, then I start to feel uneasy.

I have currently been working on a...

So you've got the brief for what sounds like a really cool website. You immediately start conceptualising how the design will look and how you will bring the whole brief together into a...

Finding work just after a University graduation is often a hard task for full and part time students. When looking at employment sites you'll find that most businesses will be looking for people...

With the launch of the new ireckon.com website and with most sites come problems with different browsers interpreting the code behind a website differently. Whilst most users view websites in...