Online Net Meeting

 

Come April, IDEO founder David Kelley will have an Edison Achievement Award pinned on him for his “pioneering contributions to the design of breakthrough products, services, and experiences for consumers, as well as his development of an innovative culture that has broad impact.” Kelley has had a hand in the design of the first computer mouse, the Palm Treo, and Steelcase’s Leap chair, among other things. Fast Company celebrates Kelley’s achievements with a series of articles, linked below:

IDEO’s David Kelley wins Edison Award for Innovation

17 Career Lessons from IDEO’s David Kelley

Ideo’s Newest Design Projects (slideshow)

Why a Bowling Shirt Made Me Love David Kelley

Lastly, there’s a compelling video of Kelley discussing interaction design up at the Designing Interactions site, definitely worth a look.

More here:
IDEO founder David Kelley to receive Edison Achievement Award

Q&A: Brad Brooks, corporate vice president for Windows Consumer Product Marketing, discusses Microsoft’s take on netbook PCs and how Microsoft’s newest operating system, Windows 7, will support these small computers.

Related Links Microsoft Resources: • Microsoft Windows Web site • Consumer Newsroom on Microsoft PressPass Web site Features: • Windows 7 Lineup Offers Clear Choice for Consumers and Businesses – Feb. 3, 2009

REDMOND, Wash., — Feb. 3, 2009 – Small, mobile and affordable PCs, often referred to as “netbooks” or “mini-notebooks,” were one of 2008’s hottest technology trends. Virtually unknown a year ago, these PCs pushed the design innovation envelope by enabling easy Web surfing, instant messaging, general-purpose computing (e.g., e-mail, social networking and photo sharing) and media playback in one small, ultra-portable device. This convenience, coupled with an affordable price tag, makes these PCs a great option for many consumers.

Brad Brooks, corporate vice president for Windows Consumer Product Marketing. Click for high-res version.

Brad Brooks, Microsoft’s corporate vice president for Windows Consumer Product Marketing, sat down with PressPass to discuss the company’s take on small-notebook PCs.

PressPass: Almost everyone seems to have an opinion on how netbook PCs will evolve in 2009. What is Microsoft’s view on small-notebook PC prospects in the coming year?

Brooks: The term “netbook” was coined by Intel to define notebook PCs that run on their Atom processor. They’re also sometimes referred to as “mini-notebooks” and “sub-notebooks.” But at the end of the day they are just small, portable PCs, and we’re committed to delivering the same exceptional Windows experience on these machines as any on other notebook or desktop PC.

At just 2.28 pounds and with 4 hours of battery life, the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 Laptop is light and compact for an on-the-go lifestyle. Click for larger version.

Over the last 10 months we’ve seen pretty strong demand for these PCs and we expect that to continue in 2009. In fact, research firm IDC recently increased its initial mini-notebook sales forecast for 2008 to 11.4 million, and predicted that number would climb to 42.2 million by 2012.*

PressPass: Most small-notebook PCs today run Windows XP, and this has raised many questions about the impact strong sales of these machines have on Microsoft’s bottom line. What can you tell us about that?

Brooks: We’ve seen spectacular Windows growth on small-notebook PCs as folks opt for the familiarity, compatibility, and ease of use of Windows over Linux.  We value every Windows customer, and we’re excited that the vast majority of small-notebook PC users want Windows.

To share some numbers: since February 2008, Windows OS share has gone from 10 percent to over 80 percent on these machines, and our research shows that these are overwhelmingly new PCs and/or PC users.  To put it another way, we think most small-notebook PC buyers are either purchasing a secondary machine or buying a PC for the first time.  And we think purchasers are drawn to these PCs by their small size and affordability, particularly given the current environment.

 So, looking at trends, we’re incredibly optimistic about the coming year.

PressPass: Over the last 10-12 months, what has fueled the popularity of small-notebook PCs?

Brooks: In two words: hardware improvements. When these PCs first hit the shelves, they were designed for people who wanted an inexpensive, mobile computer to browse the Web, do e-mail, instant message and perform other general computing tasks. Computer-makers responded by designing PCs built with lower performing — but also very inexpensive — hardware. 
But Moore’s Law, which states that performance at a given price point will double about every 18 months, has worked in the customers’ favor. Today, we see small-notebook PCs with enhanced capabilities and improved quality at the same price points — and sometimes even cheaper — than earlier models.

At the same time, our customers told us that they want mobile, small-notebook PCs to go beyond basic Internet activities and deliver premium capabilities such as increased graphics functionality, which lets people play games, view pictures and watch videos with richer, eye-popping quality.

With Windows, customers get these premium capabilities in a familiar OS that is compatible with the applications and devices they already own and use.

PressPass: How are these small-notebook PCs different from other notebooks and desktops?

Brooks: Small-notebook PCs run the same Windows that people know and love, but there are certain trade-offs customers make when they buy these devices.

 

The Asus Eee PC 1000 features a 10-inch display and up to 8 hours of battery life, making it an ideal traveling companion. Click for larger version.

For example, they typically have much smaller keyboards and screen sizes and lack a DVD or CD drive, and the small size can make tasks like creating presentations, typing documents, or editing photos and video difficult. Typing over a long period of time can also be a little challenging. Finally, the screen size isn’t optimized for the Web, so plan on doing plenty of panning and scrolling.

It’s important to remember that these small-notebook PCs weren’t designed to replace a full-featured notebook or desktop.

PressPass: Customers who do decide to purchase one of these small-notebooks PCs are also often faced with another decision — Linux or Windows. What do buyers need to consider when comparing the two operating systems?

Brooks: Customers choose Windows because they want the best possible user experience. While many initial small-notebook PCs in the market were Linux-based, they didn’t live up to customers’ expectations. Customers expected a Linux-based PC to look and function like their Windows-based desktop PC and they were disappointed.

Windows provides a level of application and device compatibility you simply don’t get with Linux. Windows works with everyday programs like Microsoft Office and popular applications like Apple’s iTunes and Microsoft’s Zune, PC games like “World of Warcraft,” and a host of others. It also works with the largest set of printers, digital cameras and other devices. Linux doesn’t come close to doing any of these things.

That may be why return rates of Linux-based netbooks are so high. Partners MSI and Canonical have mentioned to press that return rates on their Linux-based small-notebook PCs are about four times those of Windows-based small-notebook PCs.

PressPass: Microsoft has invested heavily in its Windows Live suite. How does Microsoft see these cloud-based tools enhancing the small-notebook PC experience?

There are many full-size notebook options out there that are also very affordable and portable. Ask yourself what you want your computer to do, balancing those needs with how mobile you want it to be. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all option. – Brad Brooks

Brooks: We’re really excited about what we’re offering with Windows Live Essentials. This suite includes free downloads of Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Toolbar, Windows Live Writer, Windows Live Photo Gallery, Windows Live Movie Maker beta and Windows Live Family Safety. All these applications help people connect with their family and friends, and they light up the Windows experience. In addition, Windows Live Hotmail and Windows Live SkyDrive, which provides 25 GB of free online storage, deliver on-demand access to e-mail and online file storage.

And unlike an OS, which can take two to three years to develop, Windows Live is on a much shorter development cycle. And we’re always looking at new ways to deliver enhanced functionality and strong integration with additional Web services.

PressPass: How is Microsoft supporting small-notebook PCs with Windows 7?

 

Acer’s Aspire One provides mobile connectivity with a diminutive 8.9-inch form factor. Click for larger version.

Brooks: Microsoft is offering a clear path for Windows 7 across the board, so as we demonstrated at PDC, WinHEC and CES, Windows 7 provides a great user experience on small-notebook PCs.

With Windows 7, we’ve matched hardware improvements with some investments of our own. With Windows 7 we are on track to have a smaller OS footprint; an improved user interface that should allow for faster boot-up and shut-down times; improved power management for enhanced battery life; enhanced media capabilities; and increased reliability, stability and security.

These engineering investments allow small notebook PCs to run any version of Windows 7, and allow customers complete flexibility to purchase a system which meets their needs. For OEMs that build lower-cost small notebook PCs, Windows 7 Starter will now be available in developed markets. For the most enhanced, full-functioning Windows experience on small notebook PCs, however, consumers will want to go with Windows 7 Home Premium, which lets you get the most out of your digital media and easily connect with other PCs.

You can find more information on all our Windows 7 SKUs here.

PressPass: What’s the one piece of advice you would give to someone thinking about buying one of these PCs?

Brooks: I tell people to spend some time thinking carefully about what types of activities they want to do with their computer. There are many full-size notebook options out there that are also very affordable and portable. Ask yourself what you want your computer to do, balancing those needs with how mobile you want it to be. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all option.

* IDC, Worldwide Mininotebook PC 2008-2012 Forecast Update and 3Q08 Vendor Shares, Doc # 215072, November 2008

Read the rest here:
Windows 7 Wins on Netbook PCs

Atul Abraham instantwebmeetings.com at the DLD Stage via Seesmic

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Atul Abraham instantwebmeetings.com at the DLD Stage via Seesmic

The $825 billion stimulus plan presented this month by House Democrats called for $37 billion in spending in three high-tech areas: $20 billion to computerize medical records, $11 billion to create smarter electrical grids and $6 billion to expand high-speed Internet access in rural and underserved communities.

A study published this month, which was prepared for the Obama transition team, concluded that putting $30 billion into those three fields could produce more than 900,000 jobs in the first year. The mix of proposed spending is different in the House plan, but the results would be similar, said Robert D. Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, which did the study.

Beyond creating jobs, advocates say, government investment in these technology fields holds the promise of laying a lasting foundation for more business innovation and efficiency, while helping to create new digital industries.

“The appeal of these kinds of investments is that you not only get the stimulative effect but also build a platform for productivity gains and long-term growth,” said Blair Levin, a former senior official at the Federal Communications Commission who was a technology policy adviser on the Obama transition team.

During the campaign and afterward, Mr. Obama has championed policies to promote electronic health records, better broadband networks and power grids that use computers and sensors to fine-tune electricity use.

But the standard for including any initiative in the economic recovery plan is that it be “timely, targeted and temporary,” while also creating jobs, Mr. Levin said recently in an address to the Congressional Internet Caucus, an advisory group. Not every investment in these technology fields, he said, fits those criteria.

The technology industry is not typically viewed as a prolific job producer. Much of its manufacturing is highly automated. But bringing technology to services fields like health care, telecommunications and energy can be labor intensive and thus generate jobs.

At the top of the jobs pyramid, the design of new technology is done by scientists and engineers with advanced degrees. The installing, tweaking and maintaining of that technology in specific industries involve a far broader base of workers with a range of training, skills and education.

“There is a huge implementation phase to the adoption and use of these kinds of technologies locally,” said John Irons, an economist and research director at the labor-oriented Economic Policy Institute in Washington. “The jobs involved do tend to span the spectrum of skills and income levels. And they are not going to be outsourced offshore.”

The job-generation estimate by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation translates into more than 30,000 jobs created for each $1 billion of government investment — roughly similar to projections for public works spending.

But proponents of spending on digital infrastructure say the beneficial spillover effects are greater than for conventional public works. The high-tech investments, they say, can be the contemporary equivalent of federal financing for highways in the 1950s, which fostered the growth of businesses like automakers and national retail chains.

For years, technology policy in the United States has focused mainly on broad measures like federal spending on basic research and tax credits for private investment in research and development. Mr. Obama has vowed to increase spending on basic research and make R.& D. tax credits permanent.

But the administration’s plan for large programs tailored to specific industries is a departure. How investments and incentives are structured, experts say, will be crucial to companies, consumers and taxpayers.

The danger of such an approach, some economists warn, is that industry-specific government programs can tilt markets to the advantage of some companies and disadvantage of others, putting Washington on the path of picking winners and losers.

The other criticism is that, while these projects may be worthy for the long term, they should not be part of a short-term economic recovery plan.

All three fields, said Robert E. Hall, an economist at Stanford, involve “a bunch of specialists, where if we raised spending quickly, the limited number of competent suppliers would be in short supply and get increased incomes,” benefiting some companies more than the economy as a whole.

“We should not pour government money into these areas,” said Mr. Hall, who is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, a conservative research group.

The issues surrounding electronic health records illustrate the policy challenges of targeted programs. Mr. Obama has advocated spending $50 billion over five years to accelerate the use of such records and the sharing of health information across a national network.

The computerized records, when used properly, are an indispensable tool for measuring, tracking and improving patient care — yet only about 17 percent of the nation’s doctors are using them. They are commonplace at large medical groups, but 75 percent of doctors practice in small offices of 10 physicians or fewer.

Doctors often benefit from inefficiency, because the dominant fee-for-service payment system means they are paid for doing more — more doctor visits, tests, surgical procedures, pills.

“Paying to put computer hardware and software in physicians’ offices isn’t going to do anything unless you change the incentives in the system,” said Dr. David J. Brailer, former national health information technology coordinator in the Bush administration.

There are some experiments with a pay-for-performance approach, in which Medicare gives medical groups bonus payments for meeting certain benchmarks of quality care. Monitoring that performance requires electronic health records. Yet to date, these have been isolated tests.

“You want to pay for achievement — better health quality and efficiency,” said Dr. David Blumenthal, director of the Institute for Health Policy at the Harvard Medical School, who advised the Obama campaign. “But in the transition period, before financial incentives are reformed, you need to provide incentives or grants to use electronic health records because this technology is sort of the opening wedge to reform.”

Those eligible for grants to buy technology, a member of the Obama transition team said, will include inner-city and rural hospitals and small doctor practices. But most money, he said, will go to incentive payments to improve quality and safety of care.

Still, creating effective programs to accelerate the use of health information to improve care will be difficult. And the move toward a national health information network, where patient data is more widely shared among providers and insurers, must include strong safeguards to address concerns about the privacy of personal health information, if Congress is to approve the proposed financing.

Some health experts say a shortage of skilled people is a bottleneck in any rapid push toward electronic records.

In suburban Philadelphia, Greg Beese is head of the Logic Group, a 15-person technology support firm, whose clients include 15 doctors’ offices. He says he looks forward to an acceleration of the use of electronic health records. A person with solid technology skills, he said, can master the health care knowledge in a couple of months on the job. “It’s not like we’d have to send them back to school for two years.”

SOURCE

Read more here:
Technology Gets a Piece of Stimulus

We Web designers are a fickle lot. We love to experiment with things. We love to observe how people interact with our work. And we love to try out unusual design approaches that might possibly go mainstream and become a classic approach. As a result, new design approaches come up, and as more and more designers notice them and make use of them, new trends emerge.

Over the last months, we’ve analyzed numerous Web designs, observing emerging trends and weighing the merits of numerous design decisions and coding solutions. In this post, we present Web design trends for 2009: recent developments, new design elements and new graphic approaches. We also discuss situations in which these trends can be used and present some beautiful examples. Did you miss any recent development in this overview? Let us know in the comments!

This article covers only 10 of the over 25 trends we’ve identified over the last months. The second part will be published next week. We’ll cover new layouts, new visual approaches and new design elements. Please stay tuned.

Update: the second part of our review is now published as well.

Web Design Trends For 2009

Let’s first take a closer look at the main trends we identified, discovered and observed over the last months. In this overview, you’ll find a review of each trend and more beautiful examples that can inspire you in your next project.

1. Embossing Letterpress

   

2. Rich user interfaces

   

3. PNG transparency

   

4. Big typography

   

5. Font replacement (sIFR, etc.)

   

6. Modal boxes

   

7. Media blocks

   

8. The magazine look

   

9. Carousels (slideshows)

   

10. Introduction blocks

    

Now let’s go into detail and take a closer look at each of the trends presented above.

1. Letterpress

One of the most unexpected trends we’ve observed over the last months was the emergence of letterpress (actually pressed letters) in Web design. Probably the most important reason for this trend is the simple fact that this technique has been rarely used until now. Letterpress is used in various styles and on various websites and for various topics; in particular, it is often used in product designs and on websites for online services.

2. Rich User Interfaces

Happily, user interfaces in modern websites and Web applications are becoming more beautiful and more usable. Over the last year, the user experience for these applications has dramatically improved, resulting in rich and responsive user interface that have tremendous similarities with classic desktop applications. AJAX and Flash are widely used to offer users the dynamic interaction that they have come to expect from advanced, sophisticated, professional solutions.

In particular, we’ve seen much more white space over the last year, much more padding and much more space for various design elements. We also observed that many modern user interfaces display intuitive visual clues to communicate the status of a user’s interaction with the system. For instance, upon being clicked, event buttons often change their appearance from a “normal” to a “pressed” look (as on Newspond.com and Quicksnapper.com), confirming and providing immediate feedback on the user’s interaction with the system. Aside from this, more and more services are now able to be personalized by the user: for us, it’s a clear sign that adaptive user interfaces are coming in 2009.

Both examples are evidence that designers of Web applications are paying significantly more attention to the way in which functionality is presented and are trying to improve the user experience with more interactive and responsive solutions.

3. PNG transparency

PNG transparency, although unsupported by Internet Explorer 6, seems to have gained popularity on the scene over the last year. Apparently, designers are trying to better integrate background images into the actual content and are aiming for a style that is often seen in printed media, magazines for instance. In most cases, semi-transparent backgrounds stand out in the overall background of a page and are intended to highlight an important design element, such as a headline or announcement. Sometimes PNG transparency is used for the background of modal boxes as well.

Last year, we described a variety of ways in which can get creative with transparency in Web design, and many designers seemed to experiment with these techniques in their work. Interestingly enough, transparency is often used either in the header or footer of designs, but some designs go beyond that.

4. HUGE Typography

We presented some outstanding examples of BIG typography in previous posts. In 2009, big typography should remain popular. In particular, design agencies, portfolios, product websites and online services will use big typography to communicate the most important messages of their websites.

The font size of these design elements often goes beyond 36 pixels, and in many cases quite expensive typefaces are used to reach an audience. Overall, designers are paying closer attention to typographic details such as leading, line height and choice of font. The consequence: websites are more beautiful and more consistent and look solid and trustworthy.

5. Font Replacement

As designers pay more attention to typography, they also pay more attention to the fonts that are used for the copy in the body of websites. Although classics such as Helvetica, Arial, Georgia and Verdana undoubtedly dominate, we observed a slight trend towards font replacement (for instance, with sIFR).

What is interesting is that these fonts are often seamlessly integrated in the design of websites; they are almost never used for their own sake or simply to “upgrade” the typography of a website. Designers are trying to blend beautiful typography and arresting visual design to improve the appearance of websites and improve the user experience.

6. Modal Boxes (Lightboxes)

Modal boxes (dialog windows) are, essentially, the second generation of pop-ups. They serve as a user-friendly alternative to classic JavaScript windows and support users by focusing their attention on the most important area of the website. Modal windows are always triggered by a user action (e.g. signing up or logging in) and appear on top of the main content, like a window in a regular desktop application. Modal windows are often presented in a very subtle way: they are often semi-transparent and have a “Close” button.

7. Media Blocks

With more broadband Internet access, users can now afford to browse more than they did a couple of years ago, and designers can use this opportunity to present content in a more attractive and memorable way. Hence, it’s no wonder that many product websites use media blocks (for videos and screencasts) for this very purpose. The main advantage of such elements is that they can communicate content quickly and effectively and make it easier for users to consume information.

Users just lean back and enjoy the show; they get everything explained to them step by step, without having to click, search for descriptions or learn the navigation. The movies are usually pretty short and get directly to the point; they are mostly formal but can be entertaining, too.

But please make sure that videos are an alternative presentation of (and not the main or only!) content on your website. Not every user has broadband access to the Web, not every user is willing to watch a video (e.g. because he or she may have a radio or music playing in the background), and not every user has Flash and JavaScript installed on his or her machine.

8. The Magazine Look

An interesting development in the design of blogs is the adaptation of various techniques usually found in traditional (print) media. The arrangement of posts on the page, the use of typography, illustrations and even text alignment often resemble traditional techniques from print. Grid-based designs are gaining popularity as well but are used mostly in portfolios, product pages and big blogs; they almost never appear on corporate websites or in online shops.

9. Carousels (Slideshows)

Carousels are essentially slideshow navigations, in which the content rotates vertically or horizontally (hence the name “carousel”). To rotate the navigation, users need to click on one of two toggle elements (usually a left/right or up/down arrow). Depending on the toggle element selected, the content is rotated in the desired direction.

Instead of clicking through various sections of the website for their favorite stories, users can quickly skim through the available stories without vertical scrolling or unnecessary mouse movements. The result: users save time, and the carousel focuses their attention sharply on the content, instead of on interacting with the browser. Such slideshow navigation is often used on entertainment websites and big blogs, but designers also make use of it in their portfolios to showcase their work in a more interactive way.

10. Introduction Blocks

The upper-left area of a website is the most important block on the page, because it grabs the most attention from visitors. Therefore, it makes perfect sense to place the most important message of the website right there and thus make sure that readers get the message as quickly as possible.

In fact, this is exactly what many designers are doing. Whether for a Web application, corporate design, online service or portfolio, designers are pushing their slogans and brief introductions to the top of the page and are using strong, vivid typography to make a good first impression. Some introductions are short, others are quite lengthy; in either case, they usually take a lot of space; the full width of the layout and between 250 and 400 pixels in height are common dimensions for these introduction blocks. Notice, though, that introduction blocks almost never appear in blogs and rarely in online shops.

Stay tuned!

This article covers only 10 of the over 25 trends we’ve identified over the last months. The second part will be published next week. We’ll cover new layouts, new visual approaches and new design elements. Please stay tuned.

Update: the second part of our review is now published as well.

SOURCE

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Web Design Trends For 2009

Last week we presented 10 Web Design Trends For 2009, our review of the most promising developments and techniques in web design that may become big in 2009. In the first part we covered embossing letters (”letterpress”), rich user interfaces, PNG transparency, big typography, carousels and media blocks.

This post is the second part of our review. It presents design trends for 2009 in terms of layouts, visual approaches and design elements. Please notice that this post showcases trends and developments that were extensively covered in our previous articles (e.g. handwriting, retro and vintage etc.) and therefore weren’t covered in this post (they are all linked in the overview, so feel free to explore these single posts as well). Did you miss any recent development in this overview? Let us know in the comments!

You may want to take a look at the following related posts:

• Web Design Trends For 2009
• 40 Creative Out-Of-The-Box-Layouts
• Textures In Modern Web Design
• Retro and Vintage in Modern Web Design
• Navigation Menus: Trends and Examples
• Hand-Drawing Style In Modern Web Design

Web Design Trends For 2009

Let’s first take a closer look at some of the trends we identified, discovered and observed over the last months. In this overview, you’ll find a review of each trend and more beautiful examples that can inspire you in your next project.

1. Out-of-the-box layouts

   

2. One-page layouts

   

3. Multi-column layouts

   

4. Huge illustrations and vibrant graphics

   

5. More white space than ever

   

6. Social design elements

   

7. “Speaking” navigation

   

8. Dynamic tabs

   

9. Still large search boxes

   

10. Category visuals

    

11. Author icons

    

12. Icons and visual clues

    

13. Tag index (instead of tag clouds)

    

14. Illustrations in blog posts

    

15. Watercolor

    

16. Handwriting

    

17. Retro and vintage

    

18. Organic textures, tiles and photographic backgrounds

    

19. Badges

    

20. Price tags

    

21. Ribbons

    

1. Out-Of-The-Box Layouts

As we pointed out a couple of months ago in the showcase 40 Creative Design Layouts: Getting Out Of The Box, we are observing a strong trend towards more individual and creative layouts. Instead of applying conventional boxy layouts, designers are experimenting with the way information is structured, presented and communicated.

In these out-of-the-box-designs, the overall creative approach is often more important and more memorable than the attention to details. Still, usability, typography and visual design are rarely overlooked and are often carefully executed. Creative layouts are particularly popular for portfolios, websites of design agencies and promotional websites (e.g. commercial campaigns of large companies), but they are also very popular on blogs.

When it comes to creativity, the line between a usable and unusable design is very thin; thus, usability testing is particularly important, because a new creative approach can literally break a website. Often, it’s a good idea to find a compromise between a creative approach and a classic, traditional design, and try to achieve a balance between a “bulletproof” (yet ultimately boring) usable designs and an innovative unusable designs. Keep in mind that innovative ideas need some time to mature: to be rethought, modified, adapted, optimized and finally integrated in the design.

We strongly encourage designers to break out of the usual boxed layout conventions, experiment with new approaches and risk crazy ideas. Show what you are capable of!

2. One-Page Layouts

An alternative route that designers often take to impress their visitors is using so-called one-page layouts: layouts that use one single page to present the content of the website. It doesn’t necessarily mean that these designs are minimalistic (adhering to the principle “Less is more”). On the contrary, such designs are often quite complex, include rich imagery and vivid animation effects and therefore take some time to load.

When the user clicks on a navigation option, the page changes (partly), and new content is displayed in the area that was previously occupied by the previous content. The navigation of such layouts is supported by sliding and scrolling effects from common JavaScript libraries.

The main advantage for the user is the simple fact that she needs less mouse movement and less clicks to get the information she is looking for. Because this approach is quite new, there is a good chance that some readers will get confused by the unconventional navigation techniques. An alternative “static” version may be helpful or even necessary in this case; you’ll have to offer an alternative version anyway for search engines and for people who have deactivated JavaScript support in their browsers.

3. Multi-Column Layouts

A design with multiple columns (3+ columns) is not necessarily a complex design. On the contrary, when designed properly, multi-column designs can be really helpful to visitors because they are given (hopefully) a better overview of the available navigation options and can more quickly find the information they are looking for.

Over last few years, we’ve seen an explosion of content on the Web, which has led to the problem of a decrease user attention span, the time that visitors are willing to spend on a given website (see an article on ReadWriteWeb for details). Consequently, it’s no wonder that designers have tried to find ways of presenting information compactly, both to keep visitors on a website as long as possible and to make it as easy as possible to find content.

One way of achieving this is simply to use layouts with more columns placed next to each other. The idea is quite reasonable. Screen resolutions have been constantly increasing in recent years (though a wide adoption of netbooks, like Asus’ Eee PC, may change that), providing users with more horizontal space and designers with additional space to fill with content.

The result: now more and more designers are using more and more columns. We have observed a strong trend towards these so-called multi-column layouts, which are often fixed layouts of 850 by 1000 pixels in width. Multiple columns are used in magazine layouts and portfolios. In these layouts, grids are often used to guarantee a structural balance, hierarchy and order.

With multi-column layouts, the importance of active white space between and within columns cannot be overstated. (Active white space is the space that is deliberately left blank to better structure the page and emphasize different areas of content.)

For this purpose designers often make use of Shneiderman’s Mantra (”convey big picture first, reveal details later”), providing users with a brief overview of available options first and offering details on demand — later, when a link was clicked (Mozilla Labs is a great example of just that).

4. Huge Illustrations And Vibrant Graphics

Just as huge typography keeps dominating modern Web design, huge illustrations seem to be gaining popularity across both professional and personal Web projects. And designers are trying to communicate the message of a website using interactive elements (embedded video blocks) and visual elements (introduction blocks and illustrations). Recently in designs, illustrations have taken up much more space than before and usually supplement huge typography, and they are more attractive, more vivid and therefore more memorable to visitors.

Alternatively, designers are also using vibrant graphics, particularly for backgrounds but also for other design elements. Various styles and graphic approaches are used: grunge, collage and scrapbook, ornaments, retro and vintage, watercolor, organic textures and photographic backgrounds.

5. More White Space Than Ever

Probably one of the most predictable, yet extremely beneficial, developments in Web design over the last few years has been the increasing prominence of white space. White space dominates many designs and is used generously to improve the flow of articles and structure of websites.

In fact, we have never seen so much padding in content areas and navigation menus. Padding of 20 to 25 pixels in the wrapper and content area is becoming a rule of thumb, and even more padding is often considered acceptable. Hopefully, this development is here to stay.

6. “Social” Design Elements

If you take a close look at the blogosphere, you’ll hardly be able to find a blog that doesn’t use some kind of “social” icons or social blocks to encourage readers to promote its stories on popular social media websites. Every author loves traffic and recognition, which is why the social element in modern design is becoming bigger and aesthetically more attractive.

Social icons are usually put all over the place, often in the top right of articles or at the bottom of the post. Social blocks often fill the area beneath a post and sometimes appear beside a list of related articles. Twitter, Flickr and Last.FM integration is still common for blogs and portfolios.

7. “Speaking” Navigation

We wrote about “speaking” block navigation in one of our showcases last year, and this design element seems to remain popular across various websites. The most significant task a navigation menu has to accomplish is to unambiguously guide visitors through different sections of a website. However, it’s quite hard sometimes to communicate the content of a website’s section with just one or two keywords, particularly if horizontal navigation is used.

That’s why navigation options aren’t often listed simply one after another using appropriate keywords (i.e. using “silent” navigation). Instead, designers are attempting to concretely explain what options are available and what visitors should expect from a website section upon clicking the corresponding link.

Because designers are trying to initiate more effective dialogue with visitors, we like to call this navigation scheme “speaking” navigation, as opposed to “silent” navigation, which is based on listings of keywords.

So that visitors perceive content as being easy to navigate, the navigation is often structured with blocks of the same height and width. Large icons are quite often used; but in most cases the decision as to whether or not they are appropriate depends on the content of the website and the overall layout. “Soft” hover effects often support the navigation design by making browsing more pleasant.

8. Dynamic Tabs

One of the most popular trends in interactive design is having a tabbed area whose content can be changed dynamically. The idea behind dynamic tabs is that the content of all tabs is loaded when the page is loaded, but only one part of the content is displayed at a time (the attribute display is used to achieve this effect). You can follow a tutorial on dynamic tabs and ‘tabs’ visual control in jQuery to create dynamic tabs.

Did we miss something?

Did we miss any recent development in this overview? Do you have any further ideas or suggestions? Let us know in the comments.

SOURCE

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More Web Design Trends For 2009

Sure, we’ve seen some blurry videos and managed a few stolen glimpses when Andy Rubin demonstrated this beast, but now we’ve gotten our hands on a slew of pictures showing off a very real T-Mobile-branded Dream in all its Android-running glory. Not only does this confirm the design spied in those FCC docs as well as show off that nearly-done version of Android, but it seems to confirm the fact that this will be headed to T-Mobile, and sooner rather than later judging from the looks of the above device. Needless to say, our inner-geeks are completely geeking out right now. Hit the gallery below for a handful of other views of the phone.

[Thanks, Michael]

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HTC?s Android-driven Dream revealed in glorious spy photos