Webmaster-Source » web 2.0

Open Web Awards Voting Opens

Matt — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:35:08 +0000

Voting in the second annual Open Web Awards has opened (hosted by Mashable.com). Now’s your chance to support your favorite web services by giving them a vote in the Awards.

You can vote once per category, and in every category. Votes are limited by IP and email address. The first round of voting ends November 30th, and the second round will start on December 3rd.

Are you a Twitter addict? Do you really dig Digg? Are you a loyal Netvibes user? Look through the categories and vote for your favorites.

Open Web Awards Nominations

Matt — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:15:51 +0000

The second annual Open Web Awards are here (hosted by Mashable). It’s a fairly big event, in which major “Web 2.0″-type websites compete in several categories for the popular vote. Some of last year’s winners included Twitter, Digg, Google, and Facebook.

Currently they’re in the nominations phase. That means you have until Sunday to nominate the web company that you think has done an amazing job at providing an innovative and cool service.

Do you really dig Digg? Are you a WordPress fanatic? Can you not put to words how much you like Flickr? Nominate the web service that you just couldn’t live without.

Note that this is a people’s choice award system, and the most nominated sites will be the ones that make it to the voting. So even if a site you really like seems obvious, you should still nominate it.

Web 2.0 How-To Design Style Guide

Matt — Tue, 27 May 2008 11:06:25 +0000

Web Design From Scratch has a great article that I’ve read a few times in the past, and recommend for anyone who does more than just edit prefab templates for their website. If you make actual designs from scratch (I’m not sure if that was a pun exactly, but it was accidental…), then you should read this.

Web 2.0 How-To Design Style Guide

Even if you’re not into the whole “Web 2.0″ thing, it’s still worth reading. The “Web 2.0″ style of design is more than just gradients and shiny stuff. The important parts can go into any design, and are often good practices. Such concepts include

Simplicity
Big text
Strong colors
Simplicity
Strong logos
Simple, easy to use navigation
Simplicity

If you want to make effective and usable designs, the article definitely worth a look.

What is Web 2.0 Design?

Matt — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 13:12:55 +0000

“Web 2.0″ is kind of a ridiculous term. It’s array of meanings is so broad that it has virtually no meaning at all. Take a look at the Wikipedia page if you want to see some attempts at defining it.

The term “Web 2.0 Design” has a little more meaning. It refers to an actual style of design.

What is a Web 2.0 design?

Large text. Screen resolutions are skyrocketing, and no no one likes small print.
Simplicity. A Web 2.0 design is simple, featuring plenty of whitespace, as well as a lack of superfluous elements.
Strong navigation. You can’t go wrong with simplistic, attention-grabbing, easy to use navigation. Imagine a site with three tabs along the top, each pointing to the major sections of the site. Compare that to a site with a sidebar filled with twenty-seven links. Which do you think is better? If you can simplify your navigation without sacrificing ease of use, it’s definitely a good idea.
Powerful logo. Branding is everything on the web. If a site isn’t memorable, people won’t come back. A unique logo, and a memorable name, is important. Here are some examples.
Apple-like homepages. You know the way Apple always has an attention-grabbing image that fills the entire first screenful of their main page? That’s big with Web 2.0 sites.
Gradients, Gloss, Flat Colors. Some Web 2.0 sites, like Pownce, make use of strong, flat, colors. Others use excessive amounts of gradients and gloss. The plastic and gradient effects are often overused, but they can look good if used sparingly.
Icon mania. Elements are more noticeable if they have relevant icons near them.

That’s not all, but it should give you an idea.