May 22, 2014 in Learn
Sketchbook Spy: Ken Wong, Monument Valley
Ken Wong, the designer who worked on the phenomenally successful game, Monument Valley, takes time out to show us his sketchbook and chat about how he put the game together. Monument Valley is a departure in iOS game design, focusing…
May 5, 2014 in Learn
5 Tips for Creating the Perfect Web Design Portfolio
If you’re a freelance designer or if you’re looking for your next design job, a portfolio of work is essential. Clients and employers want to see your capabilities and form a quick impression. If you don’t have a portfolio yet,…
April 29, 2014 in Learn
Flexbox: The Next Generation of CSS Layout Has Arrived
(Stretch your CSS layout options with Flexbox. Flickr photo by Duncan Hull.) Flexbox is a totally new set of CSS properties that allows designers to create flexible layouts. This is great news for responsive design because it dramatically reduces the complexity of…
April 23, 2014 in Learn
An Introduction to Perceived Performance
(Illustration by Mat Helme, Treehouse) Perceived Performance Is a Measure of How Quick a User Thinks Your Site Is, and That’s Often More Important Than Its True Speed Performance is important. It can mean the difference between making a sale,…
April 17, 2014 in Learn
Do You Really Need a Computer Science Degree?
(Options beyond a degree are important. Flickr photo by Faruk Ateş) Most electronic devices use software and most businesses are backed with software, whether on computers or in the cloud. All this requires software and web development. The good news for…
April 16, 2014 in Learn
Designer Meng To’s Writing Adventure Stemmed from Denied Visa
In 2013, Meng To was enjoying the startup life in Silicon Valley while lending his web design talents to Heyzap, a mobile game developer. Until his request for a new visa was denied. The Cambodian-born web designer and developer from…
April 14, 2014 in Learn
The Beginner’s Guide to Ratchet: a Mobile Web App Framework
Ratchet is a front-end framework for building mobile web apps in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Ratchet 2.0 was recently released, so it’s a good time to start learning how to build Ratchet apps. If you just want to see Ratchet in…
March 25, 2014 in Community
Q&A With Sam Soffes: Learning How to Make an iPhone Photo-Browsing App
What’s more fun than photo-bombing? How about learning to build a mobile app that displays your favorite forays into photography mischievousness? Not into photo-bombing? How about cute puppy photos? Family vacation shots? Your vast collection of selfies? If so, guest…
March 18, 2014 in Learn
Gamepad Controls for HTML5 Games
HTML5 games still have a lot of promises to fulfill, but the W3C gamepad specification is a great example of something that’s going well. The spec is still a working draft, but the prospect of reading game controller data in…
March 17, 2014 in Learn
HTML5 Games: A Land of Broken Hopes and Dreams
A long time ago on a web far far away there was the promise of HTML5 games. Unfortunately, this future still hasn’t come to fruition. In this rumination, I will explore why that is and what hope HTML5 games have…
March 14, 2014 in Learn
Should I Use WordPress to Create a Website?
(Photo by William Hook/Flickr) You can create powerful, polished sites with WordPress without learning a lot of coding. Once you’re comfortable with WordPress, you can do in a week or a weekend what could take you a month or more…
March 14, 2014 in Learn
Beginner Web Design Mistakes You Should Avoid
Web design can be tough for a lot of reasons. But the biggest challenge is probably that there are so many ways to approach a problem. Many websites set a bad example for beginners. Even big brands known for quality can…