Webdesigner in Warri Nigeria
CSS Gradients provide alternatives to image/graphic gradients, You could easily use a CSS gradient instead of using a large image as you site background. In this video, I explain how to generate and use CSS gradients.
Important Links
http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/graphics/cssgradientbackgroundmaker/default.html
http://davidwalsh.name/css-gradients
Nigerian Website Designer: Getting a website is quite easy, only 4 steps are required, too many people are scared of the whole concept because they think its cumbersome expensive and stressful. Here are the four(4) basic steps required (from my perspective) in getting a website. here’s How to get a website
1. Discover why you need a website and what you want your website to do for you
Over the years working with clients, one scenario keeps repeating itself, some clients have no clue of what they want! This could be a problem for both the website developer/designer and the client (project owner). From the client perspective, he knows the internet brings exposure and he wants the benefits of that exposure and that’s all he knows, this state of mind can sometimes lead to insatiable clients, they may never be satisfied no matter what they get!
From the designer/developer point of view, this can bring confusion, when you don’t know what your client wants how can you deliver it? Experienced designers/developers know how to solve most of such cases (some can never be solved, trust me!)
2. Find a Website designer/developer
It is important you do this first before jumping to the last two steps, I’ve met clients who did this last and till today, they’re regretting their actions. Meeting a web designer/developer first can save you a lot of stress and money, the developer would help to guide you decipher what you really need for your company/ business/ church as the case may be. The designer/developer would also give you options as regards hosting and web technologies to be used, giving you the downside and upside for each option for you to make a choice. This step alone would shape the entire process, it would help you get an estimate of the total cost, information required and the roles you need to play in the whole process. click here to contact me to help you
3. Pick a domain Name
The importance of this is gross and should never be done without the advice of your selected web designer/developer, its implication includes SEO, uniqueness and many more.
The client (to be site owner) must understand the following things about domain names;
4. Get hosting for your website
It is important your web developer/designer help you decide this, two main reasons for this are stated below:
Note: payment for hosting like the domain name is recurrent of which can be monthly, annual, bi-annual payment as the case may be!
Kindly mail me [email protected] or leave a comment here for further clearifications
Tablets are currently developing and evolving very fast, with the introduction of better processors like the tegra 3 chip which consumes less power and does more work, Tablets are fast becoming very capable devices. They are fast evolving from a luxury device to devices with quite some capabilities. They could be equipped with as much as 1gb of ram and 1Ghz processor. But let’s face it, they still have a long way to go in being a replacement for the laptop/ notebook/ netbook or even being a very capable must have mobile device. I’ve written out some things/features you might see in future tablets.
Improved Batteries and/or Inbuilt solar charging system
Tablets still can’t perform a host of task laptops and desktop can. Tablets still can’t run high end apps like Adobe Premiere, Adobe Photoshop and other apps like it with a high system requirement.
Tablets would get better in the future; they’ll get more powerful and the more powerful they get the more power they would require to run. As a result of this development, either or both of the following scenarios would take place:
Improved OS
This is a key factor in the future of tablets; The Os of a tablet is an essential core as regards its ability, capacity, price and use. Tablet Os which includes iOS, Android, WebOs, Blackberry and the upcoming Mozilla Firefox Os have come a long way already. As the Os develops, the inbuilt apps are improved for stability, a better user experience and increased functionality. New and very capable app apps are also developed frequently taking advantage of the Os development.
Improved Hardware
Like the desktop, tablets would keep evolving, better processors, better scratch resistant HD displays, scratch proof, shock proof casing are all expected in the future. Even add-ons like CD-ROMs are a possibility in the future.
Dedicated Tablet Functions
As the Os and hardware of tablets improve, the functions of tablets would expand resulting in a drastic increase in their use. I see tablets evolving from being just accessories to essentials. Tablets would become much more capable devices in the future and as such they’ll have dedicated functions such that it wouldn’t make logical or financial sense to perform such functions with some other device. Take Access control for example, organizations may prefer to install tablets that can function as a facial recognition hardware via camera, retina scanner via camera, finger print scanner via touch screen, palm reader via touch screen, voice recognition via microphone, barcode scanner via camera than to install a dedicated hardware for the same purpose.
One might argue that the cost of one tablet compared to the cost of any of the above access control systems would be higher and as such become a disadvantage, however one tablet can function as voice recognition hardware, facial recognition system, retina scanner, fingerprint scanner, palm reader, barcode scanner and a password restriction system and this would be its selling point, Imagine having all this security options in one device alone and this device being cheaper as one item purchase compared to buying multiple devices for each of these purposes. The cost of installation and maintenance would also favor tablets.
Access control tablets can also function as communication devices between entrance points and the restricted area.
Organizations would prefer to install tablets instead of dedicated hardware since they could also be transformed for other use if need be making them the ecological and economical smart option.
A Universal Docking Port
With both Os and Hardware development on tablets, their purpose would greatly increase and tablets would replace lots of gadgets. We already know how tablets are currently replacing GPS devices in cars and public places. I envisage they’ll do a lot more replacement and as such, a universal dock/port for maybe not all tablets (iPads especially) but most tablets be adopted. Tablets may adopt USB 4.0 or 5.0. Tablets would in the future replace more than mobile music players and cameras, it would replace entertainment systems in airplanes, ships, trains and even cars, it’s already doing so, Coach travelers on Singapore-based carrier Scoot have already replaced their entertainment systems with iPads, I expect to see data centers adopt the new Microsoft surface within four years of its inception.
External Devices
As a result of all these replacements, tablets would be made to function with a lot of external devices, Microsoft surface which has a USB 3.0 port can already work with external CD roms, external hard drives, almost any printer (with existing drivers for windows 8), USB converters like USB to RJ45, etc.
There would also be scenarios where there would be need to use tablets as an external storage device or even connect an external storage device to it. Tablets could also metamorphose into driverless devices such that users would be able to connect it to almost any kind of printer, scanner or any other hardware either wirelessly or wired without needing a driver. This without driver installation method was adopted in windows 7 such that pc owners could use some printers, scanners and other USB devices in a plug and play fashion.
Conclusion
Research shows that the average tablet owner’s usage a tablet is 35% for surfing the web, 22% social media, 12% playing games, 12% watching videos and 19% usage goes to other apps. In the future, I expect this to change drastically.
Ipads were the first easy to use and most mobile tablets, they were simple, finer and more mobile compared to any other tablet at the time of its inception. Compared to touch convertible PCs like the Hp tx 2000, they were a tablet owners dream. Many years have gone by since their introduction, after all the marketing hype, user experience and better 
alternatives, it’s beginning to tell on the iPad market and from my experience, these are the major issues with iPads/iOS devices.
File System Limitation
The iPad has a crapy file system, and this affects it’s overall user experience. An iPad owner does not have the luxury of a file explorer or file manager as it is called in most mobile devices. You can’t just access your hard drive and see all the files and folders in it, iOS which powers the iPad is such that photo, email and graphic apps can access photos, document and PDF apps can access PDF, music apps can access songs, video apps can access videos and so on. With this crappy file system, you can email only photos as an attachment, you can’t attach music files, zip, tar,rar, songs, videos etc, however some applications can email their supported content for you through your default email address. Google docs for example can email PDFs, Izip and its alternatives, can email zip files. This however has a downside, only PDFs and zip files downloaded from the Internet into the iPad can be accessed by their supporting apps meaning you can’t just transfer a PDF or zip file into your iPad through Bluetooth or USB and email it to someone, you must have downloaded it from the Internet with the iPad.
You think that’s bad, just hold on, you can’t also attach PDFs, mp3, mp4, zip, rar and tar files in many websites, even with the default safari browser, Google chrome, opera mini etc (Firefox is not available on iPads). On most websites, the browse button to select a file is not even enabled so you can’t even upload pictures!
The iTunes Limitation
iTunes is the official medium through which you can add items to the iPad, unlike many other mobile Os like android, webos, blackberry etc, you can’t just copy items into the iPad like you do with an eternal storage or entertainment device and expect the iPad to auto-detect it, you must go through the not so convenient iTunes. iTunes, an application entrusted with this humongous task does not support zip, rar, tarr, doc, pdf, avi, wmv etc files such that you can’t transfer these types of files through iTunes to your iPad. So if you have files on your pc or Mac that you use regularly and you want to transfer them into your iPad since your iPad is your mobile device, you can’t by default and that sucks! Thanks to cloud storage like Dropbox, the effects of this problem can alleviated but not solved.
The Safari Problem
iPads iOS already has some limitation which affects safari’s ability to upload files that are not pictures, yet the browser has more challenges! Although it does not support flash, which is no news, it cannot also save files for offline viewing, it does not have an inbuilt download management system, it does not have all the features of the desktop safari (e.g fixed background positioning is not supported) and many more.
Typing Experience
I currently own an iPad and a Samsung galaxy s2 (I’ve used the iPhone 3GS though), there is a big gap in the selector accuracy when typing, on the iPad, if I touch a word which may have been spelt wrongly, 90% of the time, I’ll never be able to select the correct spot in-between the letters in word without using the magnifier which is not very convenient, this is not the case in my galaxy s2 which has a way smaller screen compared to the iPad.
I also have to turn my autocorrect function off on the iPad ALWAYS since it corrects automatically for me without my approval, this is not the case on an android powered device, my galaxy s2 would only suggest above the wrong word or the word being typed what it thinks should be there and I’ll have to tap a choice to approve such that in situations where am typing abbreviations or words that are not in English, I don’t have to go back and delete multiple times to retype the word i really want.
The iPad however has lots of advantages like battery life, a solid build and more, the advent of very good alternative tablets like the Samsung galaxy tab, Google nexus, Asus transformer and the incoming Microsoft surface is making me reconsider. I’ll have to abandon the iPad eventually. Apple has already stated some of the things mention above would never change, good luck to them in ten years time!
A simple responsive web design video tutorial from Frank Waive a Nigerian Web Designer/ Developer
Mathematics is the most important subject/course taught in schools, don’t get me wrong, I am one of those people who don’t like mathematics, this probably is a transferred dislike I had for my first mathematics teachers. Some people just don’t like numbers, formulas and equations but Math is everywhere, even where you wouldn’t expect it, graphic design, web design, programming etc you’ll need some math, you can’t avoid it, so live with it!
For this article, I’ll be concentrating on web design, the mathematics involved in web design, we’ll be using layout calculations (Responsive Layout) as an example.
Lets talk width calculations, in ordinary fixed width design, design measurements especially widths are done in pixels (px), in responsive web design, they are done in percentages (%). I’ll assume you already know how to design websites and you’re conversant with divs and css.
When using divs for your site site structure, a simple rule applies, rows before columns, the rows are then split into columns, This principle applies to most designs such as the this one for example
How Percentage (%) Measurements Work
These days, desktops and laptops are no longer the only media through which people access the internet, we now have a variety of devices ranging from mobile phones, to tablets, to TVs, apps etc. As good as this sounds for the end user, this development present a challenge for web designers/developers who now have to make websites look good and usable in all of these devices regardless of their screen size and OS.
To beat this, Responsive Web Design was coined.
“Responsive web design (often abbreviated to RWD) is an approach to web design in which a site is crafted to provide an optimal viewing experience—easy reading and navigation with a minimum of resizing, panning, and scrolling—across a wide range of devices (from desktop computer monitors to mobile phones).” – Wikipedia
Percentage based measurements would simply render the width of the page/element based on the size of the container element/browser for example, if the #wrapper of a site is set to be 80% in width, the wrapper would be 80% of the browser size, if an element placed immediately inside the wrapper is given the size of 50%, such an element’s size would be 50% of the #wrapper’s width not 50% of the browser width.
Let’s use this design as an example
The Solution
*{
-webkit-box-sizing: border-box; /* Safari/Chrome, other WebKit */
-moz-box-sizing: border-box; /* Firefox, other Gecko */
box-sizing: border-box; /* Opera/IE 8+ */
}
The above code would adjust the border-box model affecting every element in you design such that your assigned width will be the actually width regardless of padding and border you may have attributed to the element, that is, if you assign 500px as width to an element, 50px as padding and 5px as border, the actual width you’ll get would be 500px which would not be the case without the above code. Using the same figures, without the above code, your displayed width would be equals assigned width 500px + padding 50px + border 5px = 555px.
To make the code work for a specific element rather than all elements, replace the * with the selector ID(#) or class name as the case may be, for example, say we have a div with the ID(#) #asia, to fix the border-box model
For #asia, replace the * with #asia just like this
#asia{
-webkit-box-sizing: border-box; /* Safari/Chrome, other WebKit */
-moz-box-sizing: border-box; /* Firefox, other Gecko */
box-sizing: border-box; /* Opera/IE 8+ */
}
“Your designs don’t need to look exactly the same in every browser, they just need to look good in every browser.”
Metro seems to be the newest thing as regards design principles, and for most people, that makes it the in thing. This UI culture is important to both designer and developer. Its bold, beautiful and minimalistic in nature.
As new as Metro design may sound, it’s not so new at all in its entirety! It’s been there all along, you’ll definitely may have seen it at least on one old billboard, flyer , railway station (yea railway station). Both Print and Digital media have applied the Metro design principles long before the phrase metro design and the concept of Windows 8 was ever coined! In its simplest form, Metro design is an upgraded principle from the age old minimalistic design principle.
Simply put, Microsoft has improved on minimalistic design and called it Metro!
Metro Design Language Guidelines
Light, Clean, Open, Fast (Fierce Reduction)
Metro Design believes that the UI be clean and simple but above that, the user should have a fast, smooth and simple experience. The User should not have to go through multiple steps to perform a simple task, Users could simply touch, hold down, swipe, double tap to achieve simple task. Users should also not be made to go through many pages or phases to get this done, developers and designers must clean up the flow, process or the phases the user has to follow to accomplish task in apps, in summary don’t just simplify the look of the site, simplify the application flow.
Content, not Chrome
The concept of Metro design centers around flatness, such that borders, drop shadows , complex backgrounds and anything else of such is forbidden in metro, regardless of how minimalistic your design may be, the use of any of these would unmetrofy (you know what I mean right?) your design. Metro design principle also requires the use of whitespaces, lots of whitespaces. Icons used in metro design are also minimalistic like everything else. Microsoft makes good example of this by just using single colored icons per application such that in all of windows 8, the icons are either white or black depending on your color scheme such that if you’re using a dark color scheme, your icons would be white and vice versa.
Typography
The content (consumption and generation) takes first priority to design elements, the content is promoted through typography, very clean typography. While popular web-safe fonts like Helvetica Arial Sans-Serif can be used, Segoe is encouraged of course. Typography just like anything else in design can be overdone, Metro is not 100% about typography. Typography is key in Metro because it offers a unique and minimalistic way to convey structured information to the user. For example, font size and font color help to easily differentiate between navigation elements, page tiles, headers and contextual text.
Motion
Motion helps to add a feel of liveliness to metro which could otherwise easily become boring due to its flatness, use of large whitespaces and simplicity. Page transition and
Motion is there to serve and contribute to making information the star of the show. Use motion to emphasize (or de-emphasize) your application work flow.
Authentically Digital
Unlike many other design principles, metro does not try to digitize none digital items even in their digital versions. An Ios app for reading, buying or selling books would/may have the picture of a real bookshelf with books on it as its app icon, browsing through such an app, the experience would be made by the developer to resemble looking through a real world bookshelf. Ios calendar and address book apps also tend to do this as well contrary to the Metro design principles. Ios design choice may be better to some folks as regards this principle, this may vary from user to user, but the use of truly digital design concept to represent real world items is a Metro design principle and not according to a public opinion poll. Metro design Principle believes that users care more about being able to consume or create information (depending on the app) rather than having representation of physical world objects inside their gadgets.
Reference
http://www.Ux.artu.tv/?p=179