Web Design

Web Content Strategy Basics

Image of keyboard

Let's face it, a lot of the content on the web is junk. And I'm not just talking about all the blatant scam sites and discussion board blather filling the nooks and crannies, but the content on mainstream websites as well. Over the past few years, there has been an increasing focus on quality content among web professionals, and from this has emerged a new discipline, web content strategy.

In her book, Content Strategy for the Web, Kristina Halvorson argues for web content strategy as a, "legitimate, necessary practice in the web consulting, design and development industries." Her call to action has pushed the conversation about web content firmly into the spotlight and caught the attention of nearly everyone who makes websites for a living. 

But what exactly is web content strategy? Halvorson defines it as a discipline that, "plans for the creation, publication, and governance of useful, usable content." Sounds great, but where to begin? Enter Erin Kissane.

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8 Step Web Design Process
Web design process, a view of a hexadecimal color chart.

For many web designers and developers, the process we follow on projects is often not a conscious thing. It's just how we've learned to handle our projects over time.

Recently a colleague asked for advice on web design process on behalf of a student developer. This list is the result of my thoughts on how to answer a student designer or developer looking for guidance on the subject.

Now before I get into the details of this list, I'll point out that it's not comprehensive. Each point could have a book written about it, and of course most of them have. Instead, this is a high-level overview of the types of activities that are going on at each stage of a typical project.

Another point to note is that there is a lot of overlap between the stages. I often feel like the research and planning stages are particularly fuzzy on where one ends and the other begins.

So, with those caveats out of the way, here's what I consider to be a typical web design process.

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Responsive Web Design Basics

Responsive Web Design by Ethan Marcotte

Every once in a while, someone has a big idea. With responsive web design, Ethan Marcotte has provided us with perhaps the biggest idea in web design since Jeffrey Zeldman first began to champion web standards.

Marcotte's idea is really an act of synthesis, combining existing techniques into a single design approach that elegantly addresses one of the most pressing challenges facing web creators today. Increasingly, those that design websites have to work in an environment where the sites they create will be viewed on an ever larger range of devices. A website will be viewed on anything from a smart phone to a large screen television, making the challenge of presentation more difficult than ever.

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