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Web Designfor Print Designers
Je Carlsonje carlson.com
HOW Design Con erence 2007
Design is just design, right? Your goal is to make something
thats attractive andengaging, so who cares i you accomplish it
using ink or pixels?
You do.
Designing or the Web requires changes in how you approach the
jobs concept, thetechnology you use, and the process o creating the
end result. And testing lots and lots o testing.
Concepts
Interaction. The Web is an interactive canvasdont make a large
image inPhotoshop and just post it online.
Navigation.A Web page is structural, not just visual. Think
about how the visitoris going to move around your Web site. How
does she access areas deeper in thesite? (And should that in
ormation be buried, or available on the main page?)
Accessibility.You cant assume that everyone is viewing your site
on a 30-inchCinema Displayor that theyre even viewing the site at
all. A large part o Webdesign is determining how people will use
the site, and making it possible or
those with disabilities to access the content.
Collaboration.You may not be able to program a server-side
database i yourPantone books depended on it, so its likely that
youll be working with aprogrammer or some jobs. Planning at the
outset or collaboration can determinewhich elements are designed
rst, and provide or a workfow that doesnt holdanyone up.
Technology Images. In addition to making things visually
appealing, you have to considerdownload times. You might be
accustomed to throwing around 10 MB Photoshopimages, but that just
wont fy on the Web. The biggest indicator that aninexperienced
print designer has created a Web page is image size and how longit
takes the page to load.
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HTML.Youd think that a ter a decade, we wouldnt ever need to
look at HTML(hypertext markup language), but thats not the case.
Youll spend more time inan HTML editor than in Photoshop, so its
essential to know how it workseven i youre using a graphical editor
such as Dreamweaver.
CSS.Hand-in-hand with HTML is CSS (cascading style sheets),
which are thebackbone o the modern Web. Think paragraph and
character styles in InDesign orQuarkXPress, and add in the
capability to position items on the page.
Flash.This interactive technology is almost ubiquitous on the
Web, and almostalways misused. I youre designing an interactive
site that requires the visitor towait while the whole thing loads,
is it worth the trouble? Use Flash selectively orgreater
impact.
TestingTesting is o ten the most labor-intensive part o Web
design, but its also the mostimportant. Test your site on as many
browsers and computers and operatingsystems as you can. Testing be
orehand leads to ewer headaches later.
ToolsAdobe Dreamweaver, $400,
www.adobe.com/products/dreamweaver/
Adobe GoLive, $400, www.adobe.com/products/golive/ ( uture
uncertain)
Microso t Expression Web, $300,
www.microsoft.com/products/expression/en/ Expression-Web/
(replacement or FrontPage)
Apple iWeb, $80, www.apple.com/ilife/ (part o iLi e)
Bare Bones So tware BBEdit, $125,
www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/ (industrial strength text
editor)
MacRabbit CSSEdit, $30, macrabbit.com/cssedit/ (awesome CSS
editor)
Selected ResourcesA List Apart, www.alistapart.com
Web Developer extension or FireFox,
chrispederick.com/work/webdeveloper/
CSS Zen Garden, www.csszengarden.com/
