Compass Cove is one of the many fabulous resorts on the Grand Strand in Myrtle Beach, SC. With Compass Cove Condos For Sale you will enjoy a family oriented resort and with many fantastic amenities. The resort offers a total of 23 water features including indoor pools, outdoor heated pools, indoor and outdoor lazy rivers with inner tubes, Jacuzzis and hot tubs, kiddie pools and splash pools, a Submarine themed splash pool, with squirting barrels and coconuts and dumping buckets, and new for 2010, a waterslide feature with two large waterslides: The Schooner Screamer and the Compass Cruiser. The entire Compass Cove resort is a combined three buildings, you have a choice on a 1 bedroom, 2 bedroom or even 3 bedroom oceanfront condo for your vacation.
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One Of The Best Researching Tools. Wednesday, May 12th, 2010 at 4:48 pm Comments (1)
Hi Guys,
Ok, today I want to introduce you to a researching tool that I regard as one of the best researching tools available when it comes to new niches and of course online ventures, and I can bet you have never thought about this website like that! ; )
If you want to take on the task of drywalling, then you will need the right tools for the occasion. Drywall tools are essential for getting that sturdy, smooth wall you need to create. If you have never hung drywall before, your local hardware superstore no doubt has classes you can take to let you
I believe you heard of SEOPressor,
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Hammers are thought to be the oldest tools on earth, and they were presumably the equipment with which other tools were originally made. The oldest hammer discovered was most likely worked with about 2-1/2 million years ago to craft ancient knives or arrowheads. Happily, today we can shop for our arrows and save the hammers
Choosing Search Engine Optimization Services will help you in a number of ways by optimizing your websites on-page content, link building and/or link baiting and keyword research. It may sound simple? But only SEO can do it strategically. They give out only the best tools and this is where Montreal SEO Image, stands out. They
You may be wondering why you’re reading about the good old semantics on Smashing Magazine. Why doesn’t this article deal with HTML5 or another fancy new language: anything but plain, clear, tired old semantics. You may even find the subject boring, being a devoted front-end developer. You don’t need a lecture on semantics. You’ve done a good job keeping up with the Web these last 10 years, and you know pretty much all there is to know.
I’m writing about HTML semantics because I’ve noticed that semantic values are often handled sloppily and are sometimes neglected, even today. A huge void remains in semantic consistency and clarity, begging to be filled. We need better and more consistent naming conventions and smarter ways to construct HTML templates, to give us more consistent, clearer and readable HTML code. If that doesn’t sound like paradise, I don’t know what does.
[Offtopic: By the way, did you know that Smashing Magazine has a mobile version? Try it out if you have an iPhone, Blackberry or another capable device.]
The Bare Necessities Of Semantics
With all the functional mumbo jumbo hidden away in HTML5, some of us seem to have forgotten what HTML is really all about. Native video support is considered way cooler than the new header tags, somewhat understandably, but from a semantic and structural point of view, these latter elements present the most valuable improvement.
Semantic importance got a serious boost when accessibility became a big deal to us Web developers. But its powers go way beyond making our content available to those lacking the skills to surf the Web in regular ways. For one, making content recognizable to all kinds of crawlers (but most importantly search engines) could greatly improve the results of search queries on the Web. Rather than wading through trailers, film websites and product pages, wouldn’t it be much nicer to filter reviews directly and find out how a certain film has been received? Currently, no trustworthy mechanism exists to recognize or filter a broad range of content types, which is a serious loss for the Web as a whole.
When looking for reviews, you don’t want to end up on a page with grayed-out links.
If all of that sounds like a far-off dream, then note that once you’ve distinguished between all the elements on your website, you will have little to no trouble styling or adding functional behavior to the page. The combination of context and proper semantics ensures a solid structure for all further front-end work, which is only made stronger by making sure every element is defined correctly.
The (Very Simple) Basics
Absolutely nothing is complex about semantics, and the basics have been preached for a long time now. A recap of the bare minimum won’t hurt anybody, though, so here it goes.
The HTML language has a range of tags with semantic meaning. If none of the available tags suits your needs, then two generic tags (span and div) are the HTML equivalents of the word “thing,” which can be used in combination with one or more classes to add (not necessarily standardized) semantic value to your elements. It’s the microformats idea without the actual microformats. Some basic examples:
Main navigation: nav.main (HTML5) or div.navMain;
An article: article (HTML5) or div.article;
Article header: article>header (HTML5) or div.article>div.header
That’s all there is to it, really. Adding semantic value is about choosing the correct tag(s) and/or applying the correct label(s) to an element. It really makes you wonder why applying this simple concept consistently to professionally developed websites has proven to be so difficult, even today.
For those of you who don’t like the microformats ideology, you could also go all HTML5 and look at the HTML5 Microdata proposition. What follows in this article reflects both methodologies equally, so the choice is entirely up to you.
Sampling The Web
To illustrate my point, I took some quick samples from some of today’s leading websites. By no means do these samples hold any scientific validity, nor is this a purposeful bash of the websites I’ve singled out. They are simply chosen because I believe they best represent their kind. I hope the data speaks for itself either way.
To grasp the semantic consistency within a website, I tried finding some common content types. Content types are easy to recognize and even easier to label. Before I get to the data, though, let’s look at one way we could label products in a Web store:
Product detail: div.product;
Products added to your basket: .basket li.product;
Promo product in a list: .categoryList .product.promo;
Etc.
Products are everywhere in a Web store, so it seems logical that the product class would reappear across the pages for every instance of a product on the website. After all, whether a product is located in a “Related items” list, added to a basket or shown in full doesn’t really change its semantic nature, so why change its structure or class name?
These are all products, appearing as variants or in different contexts.
For my sample, I picked five content types (story, product, video, person, blog post) and picked four websites to represent each content type. To check for semantic consistency, I looked at the labels on a shortlist (a list of content type instances) and the content type’s detail. The following table summarizes my findings:
Apart from last.fm, none of the websites I checked got it right, even though the content types I chose were very easy to label. Apple and the New York Times came quite close, but some of the others are miles away from what you’d expect to find. And that’s just looking at the root tag of the content type. The structure and classes within are often even worse, bordering on complete randomness. Another thing to note is that blogs about Web design seem to score the worst.
Think Components, Not Pages
There is, of course, not one single cause of this problem, nor is the solution simple. But you can make one important mental shift as a front-end developer to give your work more semantic consistency. The key is to stop thinking of a website as a collection of pages and to instead look for common components.
Front-end developers tend to work the same as designers: start with the home page, finish that, and then move on to the second wireframe — copy the reusable components, adapt if needed, and then repeat until all pages are done. This process requires a lot of copying, adapting and checking older pages to find reusable elements. It is a true killer of consistency — invoking spur-of-the-moment labels and destroying semantic consistency.
Because we want consistency, both in structure and semantics, focusing on a single component at a time is better. When you need to write the HTML code for a product, check each wireframe for variations within and across products. Write code that can handle all existing variants. Once that is done, you will have a consistent and solid model to describe your component that you can used wherever you want.
Making It All Happen
I know from experience that this mental shift takes some time to get used to, and the only way to get it working is to throw yourself in and practice. I’ll share some quick pointers to make the whole process a little less daunting.
Think Beyond Styling Needs and Performance
.productList li or .products li
ul li.product
Consider the example above. As Web developers, we’ve been taught that the first option should be preferred. From a performance and styling perspective, this is indeed the case. But putting on your semantic hat, you’ll notice that to recognize the list items in the first example as products, you need to make a deduction. Singling out all products on a page isn’t as easy as looking for the product class. Automated systems should also account for the possibility that a product is defined as a list item inside a parent that refers to a collection of products. Not such a big deal for the human brain, but writing a foolproof, fully automated implementation isn’t as easy.
On top of that, the second option allows for more flexibility because it makes it possible to drop instances of other content types into the same list without running into styling hell, while at the same time ensuring semantic integrity. It wouldn’t be the first time I was asked to merge a news and event shortlist into one big list just because there wasn’t sufficient content to warrant separate lists. The second option would give you a smaller headache, especially if you’re nearing an important deadline.
Bottom line: try to minimize semantic deductions, and keep the code clear and simple. Pick unique class names for components, and stick with them throughout the entire project.
Don’t Mix Responsibilities
I know that many people like to mix wireframing, HTML and even design into one organic and homogeneous process. The downside to this is that you will have a hard time not compromising your work. When you’re designing, writing HTML and CSS is not priority number one; and once the design is done, you’ll find it tough to go back and rework your code to match HTML and CSS standards.
It’s also refreshing to try to build a website based purely on a set of wireframes, without the slightest notion of design. It helps you focus on meaning and makes it easier to spot components that are actually the same but could differ wildly design-wise. And if you’ve done it right, you’ll find that during CSS development, you don’t have to adapt the HTML at all, unless the design calls for major structural changes.
Try to build your HTML templates based on wireframes, and save the design and CSS for when your static HTML templates are completed.
Automate Your Job
Automation is a major key to success. Whether you use existing tools (such as a CMS) or build your own (as we do), automating the job of building static templates could help you to define a component once and reuse the code everywhere that the component is featured in your templates. The process itself (when done right) ensures semantic consistency and is sure to bring you new insight when constructing HTML templates.
At my current job, we build such a tool based on components (recurring HTML code blocks) and schemes (outlines of each template that refer to these components). Thrown in some simple program logic (if and loop statements, parameters) and allow for proper nesting methods, and you’re good to go.
Semantic Consistency Across Projects
Finally, keep a list of components you’ve made over multiple projects. Many components will be relevant for each new project and will be semantically identical, meaning that the HTML structure should be identical just as well (save some wrappers for visual CSS trickery, if you’re into that).
Once you have such a list of components, starting up a new project will be a lot faster, and you’ll have the added benefit of semantic consistency across all of your projects.
Banana ≠ Curvy Yellow Fruit
Semantics is all about identifying objects, but it goes beyond simply slapping a label on every object that comes your way. If you have a blog, and you randomly throw around classes like article, story, blogpost and news, then your website will lack semantic consistency, making all your hard work amount to very little. Semantics have no point when they are not applied consistently, even though today’s technology does very little with them — which, by the way, is no surprise given that locating a simple “product” on most Web stores is nearly impossible these days.
People looking for bananas might think twice before buying these.
The next time you begin a project, try to view a Web page as a collection of building blocks. Start by constructing these building blocks first, and worry about building the pages later. Come up with a single label for an HTML component, and use it consistently across your website. It won’t make styling harder, and it won’t affect the way you write JavaScript. Over time, you can take it further by being semantically consistent over multiple projects.
If your main job is to develop static HTML templates, try to automate your work. You’ll find that you spend more time writing flexible and solid HTML structures and less time copying and adapting code from point A to point B. It makes your job more interesting and makes the Web a better and more meaningful place.
Further Resources
Microformats Summarizes the microformats ideology. Read more about using class names as semantic aids.
HTML5 Microdata Explains how HTML5 is built to standardize the use of flexible semantics.
Today we are glad to release gCons, a set of free all-purpose 32×32px icons for designers and web developers (100 icons). The icons come in 12 different colors and are available in PSD, PNG, JPG and GIF formats. This set was designed by Sarfraz Shoukat especially for Smashing Magazine and its readers.
Download the icon set for free!
You can use the set for all of your projects for free and without any restrictions. You can freely use it for both your private and commercial projects, including software, online services, templates and themes. The set may not be resold, sublicensed, rented, transferred or otherwise made available for use, Please link to this article if you would like to spread the word.
As always, here are some insights from the designer:
“The open-source world is overwhelmed with design resources. For UI designers and website developers, there are a huge number of nice icon collections, but most of these collections are designed for a specific purpose, theme or industry. Most of the time, designers have to mix and match desired icons and customize them according to the requirements resulting in a lot of effort, un-balanced designs, and sometimes mere frustration. As a designer, I often feel the need of a set of generic icons that I can use easily in any design theme without having to customize their design, combination or color.
gcons is my contribution to the world of open source resources for designers and web developers. These icons are multi-purpose and can be a good fit in a number of scenarios like UI themes, technical diagrams, website design, prototype development etc.
Thank you very much, Sarfraz! We appreciate your efforts.
[Offtopic: by the way, did you know that Smashing Magazine has one of the most influential and popular Twitter accounts? Join our discussions and get updates about useful tools and resources — follow us on Twitter!]
Related Posts
You may be interested in the following related releases:
Weider Kettle Bell workout weights can be used by women and men of all ages and all fitness levels. A kettle bell workout weight looks more or less like a cannonball with a handle on top. Originally a Russian development, these training tools have become quite popular because of their compact design and affordability.
To
One thing that can be said about human beings is that we are, by and large, creatures of habit. We establish routines, consciously and subconsciously, that help us accomplish tasks or move us more quickly or comfortably through our day. Habits are formed in the design and development community just as they are in nearly every other professional and personal environment, and they serve any number of purposes. In design and development circles, one established habit is seen with the launch of a website or project.
Naturally, each of us has developed a process that we engage in as we wrap up a project, but a few procedures tend to be used over and over again by the masses. We know this because we ran a poll on this very topic on Twitter. We got many great responses, but the community tends towards a few common practices. We could see as we looked through the list of entries that certain wrap procedures seem to have mass appeal (judging by the number of times they were given as answers), so we began to examine the benefits they offered and what they say about those who fall back on them.
Designers and developers obviously adopt routines for a reason — perhaps because they suit their personalities or even their other routines — so it is possible to gain a little insight into those who follow them. There certainly was quite a range of responses, and we really appreciate everyone who took the time to get back to us with an answer.
Now, let’s examine the final steps that handfuls of people in the design and development community take when the clock says that it is officially “go time.”
[By the way, did you know we have a brand new free Smashing Email Newsletter? Subscribe now and get fresh short tips and tricks on Tuesdays!]
Freak Out!
One of the responses that seemed to resonate among so many was, basically, to freak out as the launch date draws nearer. Who needs a calm and collected approach when you can run screaming back and forth in front of the computer and pull your hair out as the final hour draws near? The time-honored (even if impractical) tradition of panicking, which flies in the face of the hitchhiker’s motto, is not without its merits. However, for sanity’s sake and the sake of those who share your space, another approach near launch time might prove a bit better.
There is a great release of pent-up energy when you freak out, which can have numerous benefits — one of which is no longer holding nervous energy inside.
A last-minute chaotic whirlwind of panic can also benefit the project because it ensures that you are alert and ready should any fault be found.
What This Says About You
Perhaps panic mode teaches us that those who fall back on such an approach lack organizational skills. The tendency to freak out more than likely stems from a lack of confidence that everything is in place. It could also indicate a slightly pessimistic outlook (à la Murphy’s Law): no matter how prepared you feel for launch, you have a nagging feeling that something will go wrong — not because you neglected something, but just because it can. A comprehensive check list could help to curb this tendency in some cases.
Relax
A somewhat different approach — in fact the exact opposite of the previous tactic — taken by many is to just kick back and relax. Though it may seem reasonable, relaxing just as a project will be introduced to the online world might not be an easy approach. In fact, achieving your desired level of calmness could take a lot of effort. If you can find your center and bask in relaxation during the pre-launch phase, then this approach might refresh you before you throw yourself into the next project.
“Get a good night’s sleep. Launch when you’re fresh, not tired.”
“Relax. Have a smoke, read some jokes online.”
Benefits
Peace of mind is naturally a welcome benefit of this approach, especially given how hectic things can get upon launch.
Mental decompression often helps because, as your mind is switches gears, your subconscious is free to review the project and scan for any missed elements.
What This Says About You
Being calm in the face of a wrap-up is not always easy. If this is your approach, it says one of two things about you: either you are extremely confident in your abilities, and therefore at ease because you know the job is as complete as you could have made it; or you simply don’t care — you’ve done your part, things are out of your hands, and you’re free to move on or just kick back. Confidence is not a bad thing; it could mean that you are prepared and thorough. Not caring, though, may not necessarily be a good thing — but you don’t care, so why harp?
Await Final Payment
Some of those who responded to our query take another route altogether: their final moves are all about the financial aspects of the project. They try to get paid. These people have run all their normal checks, and now they’ve turned for the final check from the client. Most professionals in the design and development community hold off on launching until the client has made their final payment. Whether that would be the final installment or full payment, the last thing on the check list for many is to collect everything owed for their work — and to stay in a holding pattern until that is done.
What our friends on Twitter said:
“Wait for final payment confirmation.”
“Send an invoice.”
“Get the cash!”
Benefits
One benefit of this approach is that you get to move on until payment is received, being freed up for other things.
It also puts the responsibility for ultimately launching the website on the client.
Finally, by not launching until you get paid, you ensure that final payment does actually come.
What This Says About You
One thing this tells us about the person who uses this approach is that they are trusting… to a point. They are willing to meet the client halfway and do most of the remaining work for them on good faith. But it also shows that good faith will carry the project only so far; this professional is not willing to give up their only leverage to the client. It also shows a certain level of professionalism, seeing as some sort of contract was agreed on before the project began.
Run Diagnostics
Some members of the community opt to run a final set of comprehensive diagnostics. They go through a full range of tests to determine whether any areas are still exposed to the elements as it were (speed tests, script checks, link trials, spell checks and so on). The list of oft-overlooked yet ever important details can be quite long and intimidating to tackle. But tackle we must, and some save this daunting diagnostic imperative until they are on the verge of launching. Several members of the community even create a helpful check list to aid in this phase.
What our friends on Twitter said:
“Test, test, test!”
“I go through my check list and see that I just forgot something. I check or preview the project before launch. I do simple and wide checks.”
“Test whether everything works properly and look for spelling mistakes. Tick off the project check list.”
Benefits
Of course, a full project diagnostic test will be beneficial, but doubly so if you’ve saved it for last, because no little changes you’ve made will fall through the cracks.
A thorough examination also brings peace of mind, especially when you use a comprehensive check list to ensure that everything is covered.
What This Says About You
Running diagnostics on your projects simply says that you are professional, sensible and efficient. While that may seem an impressive peek into your personality, those are not surprising qualities in the design and development field. But the depth of your diagnostics process gives a little more insight into who you are. If you take the time to conduct a meticulous check on a project, then you are more than efficient: you are anal, and your personality reflects that perfectionism. If you take a more lackadaisical approach and cover only a few key areas, then you may be efficient but have some traits of a slacker.
Final Cross-Browser Compatibility Check
One obvious and important check to perform at some point during any Web-based project is cross-browser compatibility, and according to the responses we received, some members of the community repeat this frustrating step before the project goes live. In fact, it is usually a safe bet that at least one browser will give you some sort of headache before all is said and done. Some resources can make these checks quicker and easier (we’ll link to them later).
What our friends on Twitter said:
“Do a quick cross-browser check…”
“Make sure it doesn’t totally explode in IE6.”
“Run through a quick check — analytics, etc. — and a last x-browser check.”
Benefits
The benefit of this kind of testing is self-evident. Saving it for last, though, generally gives you a sound starting point for the testing. However, it is always a good idea to test early, and test often. The earlier you test your working protoypes, the more likely you are to avoid compatibility issues in the long run.
What This Says About You
Checking for cross-browser compatibility is unavoidable. Leaving it for last simply speaks to your knowledge and ability to handle the full range of browser checks. What you check tells us even more. If you do a comprehensive test, it shows that you are responsible enough to see your tasks to completion. If you do everything but ignore IE6 (leaving its glitches in place), it shows you are responsible but have limited patience for idiocy.
Get An Outside Opinion
Another oft-mentioned approach is to turn to outside sources for opinions and feedback (always important whenever you do it). There is a reason why the saying about having a second set of eyes around has become so entrenched. Getting someone else in your field, whose opinion you value and insight you trust, to look at a project when you feel it’s ready is always useful. Given the size of the online design and development community and the willingness of its members to offer feedback, all you have to do is ask.
What our friends on Twitter said:
“Have someone test the website out, check for bugs and give you a quick review.”
“Pass the website over to a network of Web dev friends for them to pull apart and find anything you’ve missed.”
“Delete and start over (kidding). Send out a password-protected URL to a select group of Web buddies for a last look.”
Benefits
Getting feedback from someone who is not close to the project, someone who would see things you have overlooked, is always helpful.
A second look can reveal elements that don’t work as well as you would like or believe.
Feedback from people who are actually in your field is invaluable. Most other feedback tends to be vague and superficial.
What This Says About You
Anyone who makes this their wrap-up routine plays well with others. Those who seek input from others also possess confidence and understanding and rarely rely solely on their own judgment. They are secure enough in their abilities and know enough about their field to be able to handle professional criticism of their work. These qualities are also needed to implement the recommendations that they get. Also, you are at least somewhat likeable, having a network of trusted friends in the community.
Back Up
The final approach we’ll feature here is an extremely important step that is often forgotten: backing up all relevant data and materials before launching. Backing up all the parts of your project before handing over the files not only is sound and sensible, but in the event of an unforeseen catastrophe, it saves you from losing the entire project and having to start at square one. Backing up is an easy way to play it safe and cover your bases. You cannot know what will happen once the project is in the hands of your client.
What our friends on Twitter said:
“Make a snapshot of it (including data) and put it somewhere in case you need to restore at a moment’s notice.”
“I take an SQL dump of the database and store it somewhere safe.”
“Back up and archive! Twice!”
Benefits
Backing up is beneficial in and of itself, but it also saves you the headache of repetition if your diagnostics uncover an issue.
Backing up too early could inadvertently cause you to save an inferior version of the project. Then, if you need to restore the website, you won’t have the launch-ready version ready.
What This Says About You
Relatively few people tend to back up last. Doing so indicates a thoughtful nature and a completist approach to work. It also shows that you prepare for the worst-case scenario, either because you are a bit paranoid and pessimistic or because you like to play it safe (or a combination of both).
A Final Word
Thanks again to everyone who contributed to this post and made it possible, including all of you who have taken the time to read it. We have a few related resources for you to check out. After that, feel free to share your thoughts and your final steps before launching below.
Further Resources
As always, here are a few more posts and tools that might assist you in your final hours. Enjoy these helpful check lists:
Many of our visitors are trying to find all kinds of cool tools for DIY projects and home improvement experiments.
On this page we will try to give you a heads up about what is available. Please note that we haven't tested all of these ourselves.
Some of these cool
List of Tools Watch Strap products and reviews. Get the best prices and discounts for tools watch strap products at our Replacement Watch Straps store.
Sometimes, a picture can be powerful enough to be inspirational material all by itself. To provide you with some inspiration for the upcoming week, this sunday we feature some truly beautiful and impressive images from talented artists and photographers worldwide.
Whether in black and white or in colors, they are all related by a strong sense of composition and an emphasis on lightening and colors work. All images are linked to their sources, which you are encouraged to visit. Other work of the photographers we have featured here is certainly worth discovering as well. Please notice that some images are available as prints as well.
[Offtopic: by the way, did you know that Smashing Magazine has one of the most influential and popular Twitter accounts? Join our discussions and get updates about useful tools and resources — follow us on Twitter!]
Beautiful Photography
Dreaming Amazing sleeping beauty, where the beauty is actually also the beast, by Peter ツ. Prints are available as well.
The Plugs Well, that’s not a beautiful photo per se, but we are confident that this image will spark your imagination for a more productive workflow — at least when it comes to handling cabels and plugs!
Would you like to see more similar inspirational posts?
GoGvo by mikebogle
Question by Liz: Facing some tight budgets in traveling. Where to look for best web conferencing tools?
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This is the site where you get affordable web and audio conferencing solutions to both small and big business concerns. Visit the site and get more details on
Selecting an efficient gym floor cleaner is simpler said than carried out. There are lots of gym floor cleaning companies available, each one declaring to become the very best. With each a single claiming to become the best, it can be very difficult deciding which one may be the best for you. If adhere to
On early times, a fireplace was needed to keep the area hot during extreme cold temperature periods. These days, it becomes a focus of interior adornment and for pastime purposes in several homes. As their fire flames and crackling tones, are relaxing they become a central feature at home. Almost all homeowners need ambience and
On early times, a fireplace was needed to keep the area hot during extreme cold temperature periods. These days, it becomes a focus of interior adornment and for pastime purposes in several homes. As their fire flames and crackling tones, are relaxing they become a central feature at home. Almost all homeowners need ambience and
On early times, a fireplace was needed to keep the area hot during extreme cold temperature periods. These days, it becomes a focus of interior adornment and for pastime purposes in several homes. As their fire flames and crackling tones, are relaxing they become a central feature at home. Almost all homeowners need ambience and
On early times, a fireplace was needed to keep the area hot during extreme cold temperature periods. These days, it becomes a focus of interior adornment and for pastime purposes in several homes. As their fire flames and crackling tones, are relaxing they become a central feature at home. Almost all homeowners need ambience and
On early times, a fireplace was needed to keep the area hot during extreme cold temperature periods. These days, it becomes a focus of interior adornment and for pastime purposes in several homes. As their fire flames and crackling tones, are relaxing they become a central feature at home. Almost all homeowners need ambience and
On early times, a fireplace was needed to keep the area hot during extreme cold temperature periods. These days, it becomes a focus of interior adornment and for pastime purposes in several homes. As their fire flames and crackling tones, are relaxing they become a central feature at home. Almost all homeowners need ambience and
Selecting an efficient gym floor solution is easier mentioned than done. There are many carpet cleaning companies out there, each one claiming to be the very best. With every a single declaring to become the best, it could be really difficult deciding which one is the best for you personally. If adhere to the tips
Web professionals have to be both flexible and creative to meet the needs of each client — and these characteristics often transcend the design and development process. Each of us has a unique approach to our work. The particular mindset and methods by which each of us turns a mental image into a delightful and usable website is worthy of investigation.
In this article, we’ll discuss three approaches taken by many Web designers and developers. While a creative individual usually falls into more than one of the three categories, each of us is still likely more heavily weighted towards one. These approaches might help determine what paths someone is best suited for and might shed light on how they achieve their goals. So, without further ado, we introduce you to the artist, the scientist and the philosopher.
Sitting in a studio apartment, engrossed in Adobe Photoshop, ruminating on the powers of shape and color, is a person like no other. The artist is a creature of great creative power, who sees beauty in their surroundings and attempts to reflect it in their work while meeting the requirements of their clients. The artist might not be inclined to write the next Google killer, but everything they produce is inspired by their care and keen eye.
Definition: Artists are best defined as those who are more interested in the presentation itself than in the mechanics of the mode of presentation. Graphic artists, Web designers, content writers and podcasters often fall into this category.
Passion and the need to create are the hallmarks of the artist. Her wish is to satisfy her love of the visual elements of the Web industry. She relishes showcasing her skills and stays at the forefront of exploration in the field of design. Her imagination is matched only by that of children and children-at-heart.
Living in a fantastical world of beauty — which can actually breed sensible design — is not the only characteristic of the artist. Visitors are drawn to her work and feel an emotional connection to it. The artist also acts as a muse for other designers.
With a range of tools, the artist conveys emotion in a beautiful and professional design. Here are some examples:
Single-page animated websites powered entirely by Flash are common.
Typography that goes beyond Web-safe conventions can enhance artistic value.
Clean, visually appealing designs that attract many eyes.
Minimalism and a focus on content demonstrate a keen use of space.
jQuery animations and colorful focal points increase visual interest.
The Scientist
A cup of something caffeinated and some snacks lie on the desk. It’s the middle of the night, and a man is furiously typing away at his computer, producing line upon line of code to meet an looming deadline for “the next big social network.”
The scientist is a creature of habit, working longer hours than other colleagues. He has the stamina to render thousands of lines of PHP in an engaging, thought-provoking and memorable project filled with complexities and structured progress.
Web developers — their term — are well known for late nights and working at ungodly hours. They can produce code at the drop of a hat. While these habits may seem rather unhealthy, the scientist’s willingness to solve complex problems, his enviable powers of memory and his ability to solve problems logically make him a different but still inspiring creature in the technological world and workplace.
Definition: Scientists are best defined as those with an interest in code. Making things work and creating structure tend to be their top priorities. Think of programmers, developers, database workers and their kin.
Pictures of a coding monkey might come to mind, but remember that writing code is just as involved and requires as much creativity (though perhaps of a different sort) as the work of the artist and philosopher. It’s also just as much of a gift. To give you an idea of the inner beauty of the scientist’s work and of how this driven mindset can be a powerful asset, see the examples below.
Following specifications shows the scientist’s commitment to presenting code properly.
Server-side scripts process forms silently and in the background.
Innovation and careful planning lead to elegant and complex search mechanisms.
Keeping things simple increases speed and minimizes redundant code.
Frameworks and microformats facilitate well-maintained, elegant, optimized code.
The Philosopher
Our friend the philosopher sits on a train. He is on his way to meet a company. His laptop is open, and he is reading the business plan — or so it seems. Underneath, the wheels are turning; he is dreaming up a revolutionary way to help the business evolve. The philosopher, a unique breed, incorporates the skills of the artist and scientist while bringing to the table his keen insight into trends and target audiences. He is engaging and friendly, and he shows empathy, that rare and valuable gift.
Definition: Philosophers are consultants, officially and unofficially. They are masterful advocates and are able to coordinate and empathize with both artists and scientists. Think of accessibility and usability gurus, UX and IA advisors, SEO planners and information architects.
Those who design and build websites tend to receive the most credit in our industry. The philosopher knows that if he does his job well, he is invisible. His work should integrate seamlessly with the work of his colleagues. He is the person who performs UX and usability tests, audits websites and advocates for the end user.
The skills of such a person might seem questionable, but their understanding of the end user’s needs and their ability to help execute the team’s vision for the Web are attributes worthy of distinction. The philosopher is calmly neutral and can sense what is best for everyone involved.
Below are a few examples of contributions made by philosophers to the evolution of the Web.
Techi highlights that a well-structured navigation menu is paramount.
Jakob Nielsen is a famous master of usable Web design.
Philosophers put a great deal of thought into simplifying information requests.
Accessibility gurus consider the potential of mobile and handheld devices.
Looking for errors and potential improvement is all part of the job.
Which Are You?
The world is full of job titles that are meant to define people’s roles and usefulness. While a title can delineate a person’s skill set, it doesn’t come close to explaining how each professional sees themselves or what they mean to a community. A question inevitably left unanswered is: what makes an individual’s style and approach unique?
Bridge the Gap
Under the right circumstances, each of us gets to be all three: artist, scientist and philosopher. Being a Web professional often requires an equal measure of skills related to art and design, development and theory. Still, the way we conduct ourselves and perform our duties hints at our true “inner being.”
You’ve met these three equally gifted professionals (in this article and probably in real life), but keep in mind that distinguishing between these three types is simply an exercise in professional development. None are in any way better than the others; this field has a genuine need for all three. It goes without saying that approaching tasks in different ways helps us to be innovative. If you’re just entering the industry, perhaps a little self-analysis will help you find your niche.
We are all a bit of everything. Most of us can draw; even if we’re limited to stick figures and finger paintings, we all have an artistic outlet when we need it. We can all think logically, even if we don’t always show it; and our ability to work and code within parameters is helped along with HTML and CSS. We are all social beings, able to interact and understand one another, and we all have personal tastes. Everyone also has bad habits and prejudices. Stay open-minded and accept that “it takes all kinds”; a variety of skills and personalities makes the workplace vibrant.
We possess the knowledge and skills required to undertake the work our clients pay for, and acknowledging these three approaches can aid us in our work. In doing so, we might feel driven to learn new skills or find ourselves better able to understand and cooperate with our colleagues, and we might gain enough insight to take a step back from a project to get a fuller view of our goals.
Be proud of your unique approach (if it’s working), whether you’re an artist, a scientist or a philosopher. We are, each of us, unique, and we are more than the sum of our qualifications.
A psychic is one that has the ability to use extrasensory perception to gather information. Often times the psychic will use one of a variety of tools to help them accomplish this. During a phone psychic reading, many psychics that will use aides such as Tarot cards, crystals, runes, or Astrology to help tune into
You’ve met with the client, done the creative brief and gotten some kind of written agreement or contract. Work has been creative and progressing nicely. The joy and hope for life slowly return as the scent of money looms. So, with an overdose of sleeping pills no longer your retirement plan, you start to delete your suicide note and dispose of the envelopes containing instructions on terminating your accounts on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Then, someone crunches some numbers and realizes that you can’t be paid what was agreed on. Suddenly, your contract becomes either a weapon in a brutal fight or a token to keep the job going in the hope of some pay and a return client.
[Offtopic: by the way, did you know that Smashing Magazine has one of the most influential and popular Twitter accounts? Join our discussions and get updates about useful tools and resources — follow us on Twitter!]
The Hard Part Is Behind You
Many people start an assignment only after a percentage of the job has been paid. 50% is nice, but convincing the big clients that they are not your bank is becoming harder and harder, and the promise of payment in 30 days does not give you a warm feeling inside.
I am currently awaiting word from a client who has to evaluate some concepts and inform me of which to invoice (per piece). I am now in my sixth week of waiting, and then I have to wait 30 days beyond that to receive payment. I’ll be paid faster than the waiting period for approval for a large corporation. If you have the deposit fee, walking away is an option, but if you don’t, then you’re in a tough spot.
For hourly jobs, I always include a summary in each email of my hours spent. Sometimes, they actually pay attention and step on the brakes so hard that you can hear the job screeching to a halt. I have never worked on a project that didn’t go around and around and rack up the hours. Clients rarely connect the hours spent on committee decisions to the many extra hours they eat up. When they do and the budget is dried up, who do they turn to to make the project fit the budget?
When this happens, the strongest contract is worthless if you’re trying to finish the project, educate the client and show them a better method of coming in under budget while getting exactly what they want. The alternative is a collection agency or small-claims court (check your local laws for limits on small claims and civil claims); I prefer collection agencies, but you still may never see the money.
My Story Of Horror Averted… For Now
This story involves a website for a mid-sized company. Because the boss’ son knew my wife, his cousin asked for the “family discount.” The discount wasn’t enough to sting, so I agreed on an hourly rate and began. I was to work with the boss’ secretary as my contact person. A couple of weeks rolled by, with changes and odd requests coming in. The requests were implemented, and more requests came in, sometimes reverting the project to a previous version. This went on for a while until I got a call from the boss one weekend. He was angry that I wasn’t following his directions and wanted to know what my problem was.
I sent him several emails showing the instructions for the changes. There was some silence on the phone before he muttered, “Oh… my… God.”
He said he’d get back to me and hung up. Monday afternoon he calls to relate a story that is unfortunately not entirely unfamiliar. His secretary, it seems, has always wanted to be an art director. She had no formal training but apparently loved the idea of having the power to hold meetings and tell designers what to do, because apparently that was her impression of what art directors did. That and drink a lot of gourmet coffee.
She ignored what the boss wanted so that she could run the project and present it to him as her “art direction.” When I told him that she had wracked up about $2,000 in changes, he hit the roof.
“You can’t expect me to pay that!?” he boomed.
“I did everything I was told to do by the point person you assigned to me,” I answered softly, hoping my tone would bring him down a little. I knew he was furious and wasn’t about to part with another $2,000 (family discount included).
“I can’t afford another $2,000 in the budget.”
“I can’t afford to walk away from $2,000 of work I did, forsaking other work, so the money can’t be replaced or forgotten.”
“You’re going to have to work with us on this,” said the client, a little more down to earth, but obviously worried I hadn’t given in right away and cut my bill.
“May I suggest you take it out of your secretary’s pay?” I gently suggested. “I’m sure she’s worried about losing her job right now, and she’d probably prefer to pay out of pocket than just be fired.”
“I’ll get back to you,” said the boss before hanging up. His tone indicated that he hadn’t decided whose head would roll.
After about a week, he called back and informed me that I would be working directly with him. He told me what he had asked for before the secretary (whose name he never brought up again) messed with his directions. We completed the whole thing in a week. I don’t know what ever happened internally. Later on, they called a couple of times to revise a page or two on the website, but eventually they stopped calling and later redid the website with someone else very cheaply — probably in cost and certainly in look.
I did get paid the entire amount, minus the family discount, and it led to more work. I never renegotiated, but I would have to save the client. My gamble may or may not have paid off because the relationship went on for a brief period, but I was prepared to renegotiate to keep this client with the “dysfunctional family discount.”
I’m Often Asked to Renegotiate
Sometimes renegotiating gives you a better deal. Sometimes you just have to take a lower fee and hope it leads to something better down the road. And sometimes you have to cut your losses, take some money and learn a lesson. I wish I knew what that lesson was. I think it’s to say, “Yes.”
A good client of mine, a huge corporate entity, assigned me the challenge of coming up with innovative initiatives. I could submit up to three, and each idea accepted would pay me enough to buy all the fast food lunches I wanted for the rest of the hour. I submitted three, but the point person felt that one of them wasn’t quite there and so would pay me a fifth of the agreed-upon slave wages. What kind of candy bar would I buy with that money?
“I could never, in good conscience, invoice you for something that you are not 100% happy with and will not invoice you for that initiative,” I wrote. “I must also state that this negates our contract for ownership on this piece only.”
He agreed and was obviously happy with the renegotiation because he has since sent me better-paying work, and I was happy to retain the rights to the initiative, which I shopped elsewhere.
What if he had insisted on paying less for ownership of the third idea? I would have given in. The client was too important, and all that would happen is my pride would be hurt and the client might have made a huge windfall from the idea and looked forward to cheating me again… well, you know what I mean. They would see my value, and obviously I’m willing to be “flexible.”
Being “flexible,” in my experience with work and life, means inconveniencing myself because someone else screwed up. I use different words, but never in mixed company.
In negotiating a contract with another client, the partners agreed that I should include “… and anything else we deem necessary.” (People who have heard this story love it.) Obviously, entering the slave creative trade wasn’t acceptable to me, and so they told me they needed to work with someone “more flexible.”
My guess is that either they never found someone to launch their business or some poor soul is owed many thousands of dollars.
What To Do When Asked For a “Flexibility” Mid-Project?
There are many schools of thought on what to do when you’re asked to be “flexible” with your work and invoice right in the middle of a project, ranging from quiet acceptance to violent government overthrow. Let’s explore the middle road.
When you’re asked out of the blue to reduce an invoice or provide extra unpaid work, the first thing you have to do is think. It’s okay to sit on your response overnight, depending on the deadline. If it comes via a phone call, then you can say to the client, “I understand your dilemma. I’ll need to crunch some numbers and come up with an option or two that will make us both happy and allow us to finish the project on time. Let me call you tomorrow with some great solutions.”
They may press for an answer right away. You’ll feel the pressure. Explain that a lot is at stake, and you want to be sure that everyone walks away from the renegotiation happy.
If they press further still, well then, think quickly and engage them in a negotiation. Here are some possible responses you can give:
— The first thought off the top of my head is to cut the number of changes by having one point person draw together the requests and decide what is necessary. That would cut the number of hours. Does that help you out?
— I can’t really reduce the invoice because it’s time that I can’t make up with other projects. What if I stretch out the payments over six months so that the overage falls into another budget period?
— I’ll give you a discounted rate on the next assignment to even it out. [Wouldn't it be something to use that line on a client for a change?]
— If you can get me two dozen items of the product, I could easily agree to changing the monetary part of our agreement.
— You carry some products that we could use to barter.
— You have a service I could use, so let’s barter.
(Check your local laws on the value of bartered goods for taxation purposes, and always barter at the wholesale cost, not the retail cost.)
There are several ways to get paid while remaining “flexible.” When asked to renegotiate, think of what you want. Do you want the client to be a regular client? Do they give you enough work to even be regular? Has working with them been a positive experience? Is the fee structure good? What are you really giving up? Do you have another project waiting? Will a few unpaid hours dent your income from other clients? Is the client the type that would appreciate your sacrifice? Will you get referrals from this client? Does the 50% deposit cover your output so far, and could you just walk away now and leave them to find another freelancer?
Big Lies About Being “Flexible”
I became very close with many ad agency art buyers, and when they would get liquored up, I could easily get them to spill the industry lingo. They would laugh as they spat out slogans that had no meaning to anyone. I think back to the many times I heard those slogans thrown my way and how the laughs must have mounted at my expense as I left.
If you hear this: “We’ll remember that you did us this favor…”
Insert the following: “… and avoid you like the plague because of it.”
If you hear this: “We ran over budget on this project, but you can add it to the next invoice…”
Insert the following: “… which will never be happen because we’ll never run out of freelancers to screw.”
If you hear this: “It will take you 10 minutes to do this…”
Insert the following: “… But it will take you six weeks to listen to me say ‘I’ll know it when I see it’ and to listen to all my stories about my vacation to Fiji and my new Maserati.”
If you hear this: “I just don’t understand how a design for one simple movie poster could cost more than $500?…”
Insert the following: “… After all, it’ll only be used for the worldwide rights to all merchandise for this blockbuster film, and we expect the poster image will bring in only $485 million.”
(It’s long been the practice that illustrators, photographers and designers would charge more for work that would be licensed out. Licensing rights are just as important as the money earned from time spent on the actual work. The story of the Nike logo shows a happier ending.)
If you hear this: “Oops! I typed $500 instead of $5,000 on my budget report. Could you give me a break here?…”
Insert the following: “… so that I’m not fired when you show the contract to my boss.”
If you hear this: “The client loves your work and wants to use you for further projects, but could you lower your fee as a kind of test?…”
Insert the following: “… which you will fail, even if the work is great. Ha-ha! Satan wins again!”
It seems Satan has quite a following in advertising. As if we didn’t know that. How do you think agencies get work for the Super Bowl?
People will tell you all kinds of things to get what they want. We do it, too. The key is to know when to keep one’s mouth shut and when to negotiate one’s way to a happy solution, with as little of Satan’s influence as possible. You may not be cowering from him in subservient terror, but you’re stuck next to him on a cramped bus for the entire ride.
Related Posts
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Despite its privacy issues, Facebook clearly has a key role in global Internet activity. It has become a kind of universal social network, being used for both personal and business needs. For many individuals, companies and organizations, Facebook has become an integral part of their branding strategy and promotional campaigns.
Facebook provides many tools for maximizing the effect of your presence on the social network, most of all by means of business pages, also known as fan pages. Using a variety of applications and Facebook API tools, one can get creative not only with the page content, but with the design, too.
In this post, we’ll give you an idea of how to use Facebook for your business and self-promotional efforts. Below, you will find best practices for custom Facebook fan page designs, with various approaches to creating an attractive, descriptive and engaging Facebook business page. In addition, the selection of tutorials and resources for Facebook fan page development might help you get started with your own effective Facebook presence.
By the way, it’s been two years since Smashing Magazine’s Facebook fan page launched (now with 18,500 fans). We have worked hard to integrate discussions, useful tips and give-aways to make the fan page more appealing and engaging.
Big brands demonstrate the best use of Facebook by far. Getting millions of fans may not seem like a big deal for Coca-Cola or Victoria’s Secret, but these companies managed to create fan pages that engage users on a much deeper level than by just asking them to click the “Like” button. An interesting trend seen across this category is of large companies taking Facebook to a new level, putting it at the center not only of their social media campaign, but of their entire online presence.
Starbucks Currently with the number one fan page for a brand on Facebook (with almost 8 million fans), Starbucks takes a distinctive approach, focusing less on loud entertaining apps and more on high-quality content and beneficial offers for its fans. Starbucks has learned how to effectively use status updates and how to share a lot of interesting, useful and engaging material aside from its product updates. The company also offers a couple of interactive apps that not only are fun (e.g. the Instant Story tab) but that offer tangible benefits (e.g. discount coupons, and functionality that allows fans to manage their Starbucks accounts right in Facebook). The fan page also has an interactive map that links to the company’s regional Facebook pages (just as BlackBerry does, as we’ll see). With no unusual visual indicators on its fan page, Starbucks demonstrates that functionality is at least as important as aesthetics.
Red Bull The fan page for Red Bull is by far one of the best on Facebook. By implementing a number of innovative ideas and engaging apps, Red Bull makes the best of its Facebook presence and thus stands out from business pages for other brands. A good example of this is its Twitter stream, which, instead of featuring just Red Bull’s corporate feed, assembles tweets from sponsored sports athletes and allows fans to connect with them beyond Red Bull’s domain. Live Web TV that anyone can view right on Facebook and a variety of fun games also encourage users to interact with the brand. While the welcome page is not in the default menu bar, it’s quite informative and serves as a compact graphic map of the entire Facebook page. Red Bull is also a pioneer of using Facebook as a recruiting tool; adding a careers board to a profile with so many fans makes sense indeed. Bravo Red Bull!
Skittles Although Skittles’ fan page features two brightly designed, eye-catching tabs (one a graphic presentation with links, the other promoting its “Mob The Rainbow” campaign), the company has set its Wall tab as the default. This is typical of popular brands that don’t require an introduction. It allows fans and visitors to the page to immediately follow the company’s updates and join the conversation.
Coca-Cola Another giant with a million-plus Facebook fans, Coca-Cola has a fan-centric Facebook page. It encourages active user participation and interaction between the brand and its fans. The landing tab is set to the Coca-Cola introduction, which contains a dynamic box with latest updates and a “Like” button, links to other social network profiles for the brand, a fan highlights strip, and info about the product and the page’s creators (by the way, this Facebook page was created by two Coke fans and then later supported officially by the company). Another highlight of the Coke fan page is photo albums: in addition to some standard product shots and event photographs, many other albums are included, presenting Coca-Cola not only as a popular beverage but as a multi-generational icon. Here is a good example of how to make use of photos on Facebook.
Twilight Saga The default tab for the official fan page of the blockbuster series Twilight Saga is a large graphical tab promoting the latest episode, Eclipse. The custom tab incorporates elements of the movie’s website and the trailer, live Twitter updates, links to official websites and other info. Two other custom tabs are dedicated to the second film, New Moon, and the official movie soundtrack. The entire page is rich in content and delivers its information effectively.
More Beautiful and Engaging Facebook Pages
Room 214 A nice approach to the Facebook welcome page is demonstrated by social media agency Room 214, based in Boulder, Colorado. The default tab, with its nice duo-tone and sketchy font, looks minimalist and attractive, and it focuses on introducing its team members. The “About” tab has a clean two-column layout, with some basic info about the company in the left column and cute roll-over links to the staff’s Twitter accounts, official website, blog, contact page and corporate Twitter page. Another graphic tab covers the agency’s clients. A simple yet well-executed fan page design.
Porsche The ColorStyler tab on the fan page for Porsche is so darn great that one immediately wonders why on Earth they didn’t make it the default tab? The pure FBJS tab allows users to select a Porsche model and customize its look in a live preview mode, with a nifty color and rims picker. One then can send the Porsche image to a friend or publish it on the page’s wall. This hidden gem makes the entire page shine.
Digital Turf The fan page for Digital Turf is an interesting and rather confusing case. The page design itself is wonderful: the excellent company presentation, two-level sub-navigation, diverse data and cute style is a feat of FBJS and makes this one of the most attractive business pages you’ll see on Facebook. Here’s the confusing part: Digital Turf specializes in developing Web-building and media solutions for political campaigns and organizations (maybe not exclusively, but that does figure prominently in its list of services). The question is whether this design style communicates the company’s strengths well enough to attract its target audience. If it solved this concern, Digital Turf could turn its fan page, which is awesome as it is, into a Facebook promo bomb.
Revision Eyewear The main tab of the Revision Eyewear fan page features an impressive Flash intro, with bold photographs and transitions and a dynamic “Become a Fan” link. The eye-wear manufacturer also uses Facebook for its charity work; a custom graphic tab on the page explains its causes and displays donation links (the “Become a Fan” button turns into a donation button—very clever).
Thurston & Betts PLLC The Facebook page for law firm Thurston & Betts is notable for its “Like Us!” tab. A simple informational scheme in the center, with nice roll-over buttons leading to the company’s website, is a clever solution: neat yet substantial. The tab also includes the firm’s main contact info and a map of its location. It’s difficult to imagine a better Facebook page design for a law consultancy.
Daddy Design The fan page of Miami-based Web design studio Daddy Design includes two custom tabs: “About” and “Portfolio.” Both tabs use the page’s entire width, which, along with the striking orange color scheme, makes this page hard to pass by. The business page is tied closely to the company’s official website design, and it highlights a neat FBJS portfolio, with links to Daddy Design’s social profiles. It actually creates the feeling of a website within the Facebook page. Great work.
1-800-Flowers In our opinion, this is one of the best uses of a Facebook business page for e-commerce. By becoming a fan of 1-800-Flowers on Facebook, you can access up-to-date content, send virtual gifts to friends and shop for flowers right on Facebook (via the Flash-based application Alvenda). The company’s “Welcome” page has a simple and attractive grid, consisting of four sections that engage visitors with various activities. Also, the cool promo code field offers a discount to anyone who hits the “Like” button.
The Game – Team A The Game, for the Sony PS3, has two beautiful fan pages on Facebook, dedicated to each of the two teams in the game. The two pages have a similar design, featuring beautiful graphical tabs (and especially fine typefaces) that link to the interactive Facebook applications. The “About” tab includes an interactive worldwide game stats map, which is a nice touch.
Oxelo Oxelo’s fan page would be rather generic if not for the inventive Diabolo Roller tab, which promotes its new model of roller blades. Built with a Flash app, it allows a nifty 360-degree view of the product.
Teesey Tees Teesey Tees use its Facebook presence effectively: it partially implements an e-commerce element from its website that allows Facebook users to browse t-shirt designs in a sleek FBJS gallery, directing them to the regular store for purchases. The fan page also includes a blog and a charming fan-only tab containing a discount code. There is no “About” or “Welcome” tab, and the default tab is set not to the product gallery (which one would expect) but to the Wall. While this is normal for big brands, it’s not so clear why a company with a smaller audience, such as Teesey Tees, would do this. Still, this is an attractive and well-executed fan page.
Threadless Popular t-shirt producer Threadless takes the e-commerce on its Facebook fan page to the next level. Here, the native Facebook tee design gallery is supplemented by a size-selection menu and shopping cart buttons, which direct the user to the cart on Threadless’ website. The customer review section, with its “Share” and “Like” buttons, enhance the shopping experience of this fan page. Threadless also makes good use of the video and photos tabs, which, along with the live webcast section and active discussion board, make for an engaging, community-oriented Facebook presence.
Cranium Board game Cranium has a beautiful Facebook fan page, which includes several promotional FBML pages. It doesn’t have any JavaScript gimmicks, just cutely drawn illustrations and cheerful colors that make for a positive visual experience.
Mark Meyer Photography Mark Meyer’s business page is a good example of how to promote one’s personal brand effectively on Facebook. Using FBML and FMJS, the Alaska-based photographer outfits his custom tab with sub-tabs for his blog and photo gallery and an exquisite image slideshow. Status updates are also cleverly done, so that the Wall (the default tab) takes on the appearance of a photoblog.
Livescribe The “Buy Now” tab on the Livescribe Smartpen fan page has an Amazon-ish design: it’s rich in content and options, but may require the touch of someone like Jacob Nielsen to be truly usable. Livescribe effectively uses multimedia on its Facebook page, which certainly presents its product favorably and is good for fan interaction on the page. But we would suggest that the company rearrange the position of its tabs, putting some interesting sections (such as the Pencasts, which are animated Flash videos of handwritten notes and audio captured by the Smartpen) in the main bar, instead of, say, the standard “Boxes” tab.
Bodum USA The highlight of Bodum’s Facebook business page is its excellent use of an iFrame to embed the company’s online store and interactive catalogue, which is powered by iPaper, onto the Facebook profile. In other words, Facebook users can shop for Bodum products without leaving the page.
Soul City Church The “Welcome” tab of the Soul City Church Facebook page is by far the smoothest pearl in our collection of fan page designs. The clean layout, the neat typography and icons and, of course, the awesome combination of black-and-white photography and energetic green elements result in a stunning intro page. It portrays the church as a progressive and contemporary community. Credit for the great job goes to Monster Eyes.
Diesel Famous apparel brand Diesel has three out-of-the-mold tabs, the most noteworthy of which is the one labelled “Sex Sells.” It is built on a Flash app and provides a stylish and original showcase for the denim collection of the same name.
Lancome Germany This one will appeal to those who admire good typography. The “About” section of Lancome Germany’s Facebook page takes on a website-within-a-tab format. It features elegant and polished typography, accompanied by high-quality photography.
Eco-Artware.com The Facebook business page for Eco-Artware.com features a nice FBJS “Shop” tab. It’s a pseudo-shop, though; in fact, it’s just a featured product gallery, in which both product thumbnails and catalogue categories are linked to the official online store. Nevertheless, the clean grid layout and nice roll-overs for the product images make this a beautiful and useful fan page tab. Eco-Artware.com also makes good use of the “Boxes” tab by setting it as the default.
311 The official Facebook page of music band 311, particularly the “News & Multimedia” tab, is eye candy. Designed in a cool retro poster style, it contains basic info about the band and a built-in multimedia player. A large “Fan Photos” section reflects the band’s commitment to communicating with its fans. Well done!
Rei Outdoor gear and clothing provider REI uses its Facebook profile to foster strong interactivity, rather than merely to present a plain front. Its fan page is basically a community portal where the company engages people with its social campaigns and projects. The fan page includes two Flash tabs that feature community pictures, links and fun family games.
Desigual The fan page for Spanish apparel brand Desigual is bursting with color, freshness and style. It is versatile, with various types of promotional and entertaining content, yet not overwhelming. The mood is set equally by great content and classy design elements. Desigual points out that the page was started by fans and then made official by the brand; this is clearly illustrated on the Wall feed, where user-created updates are set to default along with the company’s messages.
Volkswagen Currently featuring its soccer fan campaign, VW shows amazing use of FBJS on its page. Rich in content, up to date, well designed and heavily supportive of user-created content, this is the best Facebook business page that a popular automotive brand could have.
Living Proof The fan page of cosmetics manufacturer Living Proof is all about interactivity and dialogue between the company and its customers. Chief among its many features is the dynamic Flash introductory tab, containing basic info about the company,a lab tour,a mini blog, links to customer support services and a corporate Twitter feed. The business page also includes an interactive app that helps customers choose the most suitable products.
Inspired Magazine Inspired Magazine is one of the few Web design blogs that have customized their Facebook fan page. No fancy applications or high-volume presentations here; a minimalist FBML tab is quite enough to grab the attention of a random Facebooker and give them reasons to “Like” the page.
Sony Ericsson Current Sony Ericsson promotions are presented via beautifully designed tabs, with videos, contest forms and interactive applications inside.
BlackBerry Besides its several promotional tabs built with Facebook Javascript and Flash, the BlackBerry fan page features a nice FBJS map with links to local Facebook business pages. This does a good job of integrating the company’s Facebook presence and promoting its local pages.
Resources And Tutorials
Here is a list of websites and tutorials to help you understand the basics of developing and promoting your Facebook business page.
Facebook Developers This is the ultimate resource for anyone who wants to take advantage of the variety of opportunities offered by Facebook. Related documentation, forum discussions, wikis and a showcase of best practices for Facebook integration are all aggregated in one place for both beginners and advanced developers.
Hyperarts A lot of excellent tutorials related to Facebook fan page development can be found in the Static FBML & FBML archive on the Hyperarts Blog. The tutorials are geared to both beginners and advanced developers. The blog also features a series of video tutorials, which we’re sure will come in handy for many of you. Some of the most interesting tutorials from Hyperarts are highlighted below.
How to Use Facebook for Business and Marketing This guide takes a look at the potential of Facebook for business and reviews the various options business owners have in order to be effective with Facebook business marketing. Recommended reading.
How to Create a Facebook FBML Template In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to create a Facebook fan page in Photoshop. It uses a page for a photographer as an example. This is the first in a series; the second lesson covers the coding part. The source files, including the code, are available for download.
Facebook Programming step-by-step tutorial This tutorial series consists of 22 lessons and covers all aspects of Facebook programming, including application development, displaying fan-only content and creating an interface for a Facebook page.
Static FBML: Not Every Facebook Fan Page Needs an Application In this tutorial the well-known blogger Alison Gianotto walks you through what a Static FBML is and why it’s sometimes quite enough to create an attractive and efficient Facebook fan page.
Extending Facebook Static FBML Tabs with Dynamic Content Continuing from the previous guide, this tutorial explains how to add some spice to your Facebook fan page using the DynamicFBML function. You can build an image or video gallery or even a micro-site inside a Static FBML tab quite easily.
Learn how to create sub-nav tab navigation within your Static FBML microsite using only DynamicFBML.
Creating a Custom Facebook Page This useful guide gives you a head start on building your own fan page on Facebook. The tutorial includes such basics as Facebook page creation, restrictions on Facebook, creating tabs and displaying navigation and content elements using FBML and FBJS.
Google Analytics for Facebook Fan Pages Another great post by Webdigi.co.uk, in which they show you how to get around Facebook’s limitations. Even though Facebook supports only restricted JavaScript, which is usually not enough for Google to correctly track visitors, the guys from Webdigi.co.uk successfully managed to get all functions of Google Analytics working on their fan page. You can learn how they did it by reading this tutorial.
Internet Explorer and Static FBML: Using External Style Sheets for CSS This insightful article discusses aspects of applying CSS styles to your Static FBML application in Internet Explorer versions and other browsers. The post includes an important update that takes into account changes in Facebook’s API that affect the implementation of CSS styles in static tabs.
8 Essential Apps for Your Brand’s Facebook Page This article suggests a number of Facebook apps you could use to attract fans to your brand’s landing page and to make them return repeatedly.
Add a Custom Tab to Your Facebook Fan Page (Starter Template Included) Like some of the aforementioned tutorials, this one teaches you how to embed a custom tab in your Facebook fan page. But this tutorial is a bit more detailed than previous ones, explaining how to build HTML and CSS that adheres to the new 520-pixel width requirements set by Facebook, how to add a YouTube video and how to avoid using iFrames. Also, it contains a starter template code with comments.
Facebook Best Practices for Non-Profit Organizations This Facebook fan page guide is written by Diosa Communications, a company that specializes in social-media consulting for non-profit institutions and small businesses. It’s not exactly a list of best practices in the traditional sense, but rather a number of recommendations on how to set up and promote a fan page to the best effect.
How To Create the Perfect Facebook Fan Page Some tips you can apply to your Facebook marketing strategy that will put your Facebook Page leaps and bounds ahead of the competition.
Adding iFrames to Your Facebook Applications: 2010 Recent modifications in Facebook’s API further restricted the use of iFrames. For instance, you can’t embed one in Static FBML anymore. iFrames can still be used in the Canvas Pages application, though, which is the topic of this tutorial.
Developing a Facebook Application for Absolute Beginners Applications have proven to be an essential component of successful Facebook fan pages. They’re an effective tool for enhancing interactivity and engaging users. Fortunately, creating a Facebook application is not that difficult. Learn how to do it by reading this thorough tutorial by Emanuele Feronato.
Showcase
Not many galleries of Facebook pages exist yet. Still, the ones that do give us a pretty good idea of trends in this area.
Facebook Designs This gallery is rarely updated, but it features some really cool Facebook page designs that we haven’t seen in other showcases.
Custom Facebook Page gallery Custom Facebook Page is run by the social media marketing group North Social. The gallery contains over 60 Facebook page designs, sorted into several categories. The most recent showcase is dated December 2009.
Facebook Showcase Facebook Showcase is the most frequently updated gallery of the ones covered here. A lot of inspirational Facebook page designs can be found here.
Facebook Platform Showcase This showcase is slightly different. Here you can explore how companies around the world integrate Facebook on their websites.
Many freelance designers and design studios offer customization services for Facebook pages. Standalone fan page templates are less widespread, at least so far. To provide you with the best possible starter kit, we’ve collected Facebook business page themes that you can get either free or at a cost.
Free Templates
Free PSD Facebook Template | Preview | Details This 520-pixel Photoshop layout of Facebook fan page tab is available for free downloading. If you are looking for a simple graphical presentation for your Facebook page, this template may come in handy.
Absolutely Free Cool Facebook Template | Preview| Details This graphic FBML template, along with the PSD file, fonts and HTML mark-up, is available for free downloading. The package also includes an installation manual.
Free FBML Template | Preview | Details You can use this multi-tabbed Facebook page template for free only if you maintain the links to its creators and the copyright info in the footer.
Facebook Template Page | Details This is quite a different Facebook page template. Basically, it’s a worksheet available in text and PDF formats, allowing school students to construct a Facebook page for a character from a story or some other purpose. The template has been downloaded over 10,000 times and has gotten a lot of positive feedback because it is a new and exciting way for students to comment on their readings. You have to register to download the template.
Commercial Templates
Photographer Facebook Template | Preview | Details | All FB templates A sleek graphical FBML tab, with an image gallery, text sections, social networking buttons and a reminder to “Like” the page. The template package consists of source files and the Facebook installation guide. Price: $15.
Corporation Number 1: Facebook Tab | Preview | Details | All FB Templates A minimalist Facebook page theme, with space for one main image, the company’s logo or tagline, two paragraphs of text and links to social media resources, including an optional RSS feed. The user can also add images, contact forms, videos and other elements to the template (no coding skills are required). Price: there are two subscription plans to choose from, although only one of them (Standard) is active at the moment – $14.99 per month. Free trial option is available, too.
My Style Facebook Flash Template | Preview | Details | All FB Templates Among the highlights of this Flash-based FBML template are diverse transitions, multi-tab sub-navigation and a large image gallery in the tab header (760 pixels in width, of course). Instructions on how to upload the template are attached; and the developer offers additional customization services. Price: $18.
Website Image Gallery Template | Preview | Details | All FB Templates This FBML template features a FBJS image gallery, horizontal top menu navigation, social networking links and side images. The website does not mention whether installation documentation is provided; perhaps it is provided upon purchase. Price: $20.
Facebook Flash Template | Preview | Details This is another version of the Flash-based “Welcome” tab for Facebook fan pages. It’s actually a mini-site, 520 pixels in width, with three sub-pages, including a slideshow and image gallery. It comes with step-by-step instructions on setting it up on Facebook. Price: $13.
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Using object marketing to grab your reader's interest is not a new strategy even though the use of the terminology may be.
If you have never heard of term object marketing, don't lose any sleep over it.
Object marketing is simply a marketing strategy that uses marketing tools that make use of the power of the word FREE.
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To simplify it even more, using object marketing to grab your reader's interest, is nothing more than applying words such as FREE to your marketing messages for the purpose of making a sale.
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The key to successfully using object marketing to grap your reader's interest, is to compliment and link the right object with your marketing message. Your budget you choose for your object marketing strategy will determine to some extent the type of market you target.
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As long as the object you are giving away matches your market, you should have no problem attracting your client's attention.
Using object marketing to grab your reader's interest in some form, is not only an extremely and profitable marketing strategy, it is easy to implement and it works!
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