Creating a Usable Site

Intro to Web Design Lou Fuiano | Instructor Temple University Center City Fall 2013
Overview As the internet and the information made available there becomes woven into our personal and professional lives, understanding how to navigate it becomes a sixth sense. For those of us publishing, selling, designing and building on the web, understanding the best way to make that navigation work becomes an obsession.

In this portion of our course, we will spend two full nights of class time reviewing some of the many components of design in general and design for the web in particular. In so doing, we will review design concepts and samples in an effort to better understand. We will also put some of these elements in motion by creating vector sketches in Adobe Illustrator.

In addition to visual design, we will address best practices for interface design and take a brief look into User Experience (UX) and what to know about how the design for the site is built.

Don’t Make Me Think PDF This is a full online PDF of the book that we can use for reference in class.

How CRAP is Your Site Design This site is an excellent resource for best practices in web design and usability.

Some Notes to Remember This is a quick set of notes from Jason Quintin, who also taught this class.

GoMockingbird Go Mockingbird is an online wire framing software.

Common Mistakes in Web Design Robin Williams breaks down her list of bad habits in web design.

20 Design Challenged Sites TopDesign Mag presents 20 examples of what not to do in web design.

More Bad Goodness This has some samples that are kinda fun in their awfulness. I’m inclined to think some were done to get a reaction.

Usability from Smashing Mag Smashing Magazine is a go-to resource for many of us in the web design and building community. This article is a nice place to start.

Gallery of the Best One of many sites constantly on the lookout for the best and brightest in web design.

Awwwards Awwards.com attempts to serve up the gold standard of web design. Come back early and often to stay current.