Critique of Photoshop Web Layout Tutorials

When going to the website dzineblog.com and looking under 27 Best Photoshop Web Layout Design Tutorials to Design Decent Web Layouts, I found some I liked and some I disliked. One that I particularly liked was titled Design a Cool Photography Portfolio. This one was really helpful and informational because it went step by step through each step of making the website. It didn’t skip any steps and was very thorough. I wasn’t left wondering how to do something. Another tutorial I liked was titled Design a Hand Drawn Style Website in Photoshop. This tutorial also went into detail how to do step by step. But there were a few times that the designer didn’t explain a step when she told the viewer to do it. You kind of have to guess how they did it. I also liked how she gave the websites to go to for the different elements she used in the tutorial. That was very helpful. One last tutorial I looked at that I didn’t particularly care for was titled Stylish Web Studio Web Layout. I was pretty dissatisfied with it because after getting so far along in the tutorial it’s almost like it just ended. It leaves you hanging. I questioned if I had gotten to the end or not. It was very strange. Over all, when looking at tutorials, it comes down to there are good ones and bad ones. You just have to decipher one from the other.

A survey of web design employment opportunities in my area

When searching to see how many web design jobs are available around Evansville, Indiana I didn’t have a whole lot of luck. I only found a few. Most of them are a couple or several hours away from Evansville. Some of the websites I searched include careerbuilder.com, monster.com, and webdesigners-directory.com. I did find a couple. One of the ones I did find are listed below along with their requirements. Personally, I’m not too interested in web design as a career, although it is useful to have a basic understanding of it. I am more interested in graphic design. But, the following gives you an idea of the requirements and salaries of a career for designing for the web.

Full-time Web Development Senior Analyst in Evansville, Indiana

Required Qualifications:

• 4+ yrs of application development experience
• 4+ yrs SQL Server programming using version 2005 or 2008
• 4+ yrs SSIS development experience
• 4+ yrs .Net framework using Visual Studio.NET
• 1+yrs experience with any of the following: SSRS, DotNetNuke, ASP.NET, JavaScript, VB Script, XML, Visual Source Safe, Active Directory, IIS (these are desirable, but not mandatory)
• Ability to fulfill the requirements of On Call rotations

Job Title Average Salary:

Web Designer Level 1 $47,766

Web Designer Level 2 $59,808

Web Designer Level 3 $74,954

Senior Web Designer $82,207

Interface Designer $83,157

Interface Design Director $143,667

What is SEO?

When you hear the term, SEO, it refers to search engine optimization. What this refers to is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the "natural" or un-paid search results. In general, the higher ranked on the search results page, and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine's users. SEO considers how search engines work, what people search for, the actual search terms typed into search engines and which search engines are preferred by their targeted audience. Optimizing a website may involve editing its content and HTML and associated coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines. SEO is important because it ensures that the people you’re trying to reach get your message since there are other websites looking for the same attention. The more findable your content is, the more likely it will be the commercial success you’d hoped. Findable content equals increased profits for your business and helps the audience find the content they seek within a website. By optimizing you can create more successful websites that will better serve clients’ and their users’ needs. One myth about SEO is that the best websites or most accurate information is at the top of the search engine because websites are supposed to appear in the order of their substance or which one is the most helpful. This is not true because agencies sometimes pay big bucks to move their website to the top of the list even if it isn’t the best website that would suit the audience’s need. This in short is the meaning of SEO, the importance of it, and why you shouldn’t believe that the best websites are always at the top of search engines.

Sources:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization

• http://www.alistapart.com/articles/findabilityorphan/

Defining design, usability, and accessibility on the web

When it comes to using the web there are three important terms that stand out. Those terms include design, usability, and accessibility. When referring to the web, design can be defined as the creation of digital environments that facilitate and encourage human activity; reflect or adapt to individual voices and content; and change gracefully over time while always retaining their identity. The design of a website creates an environment for someone else’s expression and creates planes and grids that aid the dynamic behavior of people. It relinquishes control, and the people who use the design bring out and add to the meaning of the website’s design. When talking about usability on the web, one of the main things this term is pointing to is the navigation of a website. If your website is about selling things or convincing a user to come back, navigation is a key factor visitors use to decide if you’re trustworthy or not. And trustworthiness is critical. If you want the viewer to have a good time, make sure they can get where they want to go and know where they are when they’re there. If you show them a good time, they just might come to visit again. But if you leave them lost and confused they’re likely not to come back. The last term, accessibility, refers to how well people are able to get on the web, especially if they are disabled. Most of us can easily access the internet. That is, if we don’t have disabilities. But what about the people who do have disabilities such as being blind or being paralyzed? With today’s technology advancing every day there are certain materials that enhance the accessibility of the web for people with disabilities. These include voice recognition software, eye-gaze software, headsets, and voice activation when items are scrolled over. Over all, the three terms previously mentioned are all things to consider when using the web, and a good web designer will incorporate all three when creating a website.

Sources:

• http://www.alistapart.com/articles/understandingwebdesign
• http://www.alistapart.com/articles/whereami/
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQT9yVeu_js&feature=related
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDJt-dp--Oo&feature=related