Screenr

Ever wanted to show someone (or multiple people) how to use a website or piece of software but didn’t have time to visit them? Screenr is an easy way to create 5 minute recordings of your computer screen and voice. It works by using your web browser and optional microphone without having to install additional software.

Chalkmark

Chalkmark is an online prototype testing tool created by Optimal Workshop, the same folks that brought you Optimal Sort, the online card sort. This tool allows you to test the response time and efficacy of design prototypes, saving you time, money and (possibly) sanity.

10 Tools to Improve Your Site’s Usability on a Low Budget

Although this article isn’t necessarily new, it’s certainly timely, as budgets have continued to shrink and offices are expected to do more with less. Early usability testing prevents wasted efforts later and this collection of inexpensive tools should help.

Color Blender

Having trouble coming up with a web site color scheme? Plug in two colors and let Color Blender create transitions between the two.

If you’ve run across a great article that you think would be helpful to the rest of us, don’t be shy! Post a comment or send an email to our office e-mail account.

10 Examples of Beautiful CSS Typography and How They Did It

The title says it all. This article includes the key CSS that makes the typographical magic happen.

How to Create a Valid Non-Javascript Lightbox

You see lightboxes and modal windows everywhere and most are created in javascript, but not this one. Jenna Smith has developed a lightbox that only uses valid XHTML and CSS. Yahtzee, folks!

Usability Testing Demystified

Author and usability guru Dana Chisnell has fashioned a terrific article in “A List Apart” meant to take away the fear people have over doing usability testing.

Sprite Me

A great way of increasing page load speed is by reducing HTTP requests by using CSS sprites. SpriteMe.org has created a web application that scans a web page and combines all CSS background images into one large optimized image.

We’re interested in your recommendations as well, so if you have links that you’d like to share with the rest of us, post a comment or send an email to our office e-mail account.

5 Techniques that Will Take your Design to the Next Level

Want to know what the top designers are doing to take their web site designs to the “next level”? Webitech.net has broken down five of those techniques so you can add them to your design arsenal.

The Journalism Now Podcast

Sponsored by the Center for Media Innovation and Research at UF and the Poytner Institute, this podcast discusses “multimedia, data and social aspects of modern news”.

Check My Colours

Check my Colours is a “tool for checking foreground and background color combinations of all DOM elements and determining if they provide sufficient contrast when viewed by someone having color deficits.”

Google Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide (PDF)

Instead of guessing what Google is looking for in order to maximize SEO on your web site, why not go to the source? Google has provided this wonderful guide that aids site developers in creating the most search-engine-friendly site possible.

Smush.it

Image optimization is a terrific way of improving site performance, and Smush.it is an easy way of slimming your images - yes, even compressed JPG images - without any loss of quality. Also, it’s free!

Improve your jQuery — 25 excellent tips

For those of you that either use jQuery or are curious about it, TVI Design has compiled some great tips on how to develop the most efficient code.

All About Floats

Floats are often confusing for those starting out in CSS. To be honest, they can be confusing for anyone regardless of skill level. CSS Tricks has attempted to break down the use of floats to simple, easy-to-understand bits.

Adobe Browserlab

Most web folks know that you should always test your designs on multiple browsers and platforms, because quirky issues can sometimes occur, especially in Internet Explorer. Here is another online browser testing app that will keep you from having to jump from computer to computer in order to verify if site renders well for all users.

10 High Fliers on Twitter

“On the microblogging service, professors and administrators find work tips and new ways to monitor the world.”

15 Essential Checks Before Launching Your Website

“This article reviews some important and necessary checks that web-sites should be checked against before the official launch — little details are often forgotten or ignored, but – if done in time – may sum up to an overall greater user experience and avoid unnecessary costs after the official site release.”

30 Photoshop Video Tutorials

Learn Photoshop techniques from professional graphic designers with these tutorials.

Build Your Own WordPress Themes the Easy Way

Using “WordPress’s parent and child theme feature is a fast and easy way to start using themes.”

5 Rarely-Used CSS properties

“a list of 5 useful but rarely-used CSS properties that work in all modern browsers.”

Research-Based Web Design & Usability Guidelines

A link to the study cited by Carl Smith of nGen Works during his presentation at Spring of Web.

Special thanks to Prentiss Ladkani (College of Education) and Al Kirby (University Relations) for sharing some of their links.

Bargain Basement Usability Testing

If you think user testing is time consuming and expensive, ThinkVitamin.com will change your mind with their article on cheap, effective testing, allowing you to get back to designing for your audience.

9 Common Usability Mistakes in Web Design

Once again, Smashing Magazine has posted a gem. This article points out common design mistakes that create obstacles for your users.

SpoolCast: Web Form Design with Luke Wroblewski

If you have forms on your site and wish you knew how to make them easier to use, then visit Jared Spool’s site and listen to his interview with Luke Wroblewski, author of “Web Form Design” — a book that teaches you how to improve the most interactive parts of your site.

If you’ve come across any links from March, let us know. We would love to share them!

5 Popular CSS Frameworks + Tutorials & Tools for Getting Started

If you’ve ever wanted to speed up development time to get back to designing, CSS frameworks are at your service! The five frameworks mentioned in this article are meant to reduce some of the repetitive tasks we deal with when building sites.

Clear And Effective Communication In Web Design

Providing a clear message is key to a successful website, but it’s not always clear how to do this properly. Smashing Magazine featured an article that breaks down the different ways we can communicate through a web page, the importance of personality, and other challenges that occur when trying to create an good, positive user experience.

Freedom: disabling networking to free you from the distractions of the internet

If the internet is distracting you and keeping you from being productive, Freedom is a free application for the Mac that will disable the network for a predetermined amount of time so you can get work done.

Quick, Easy & Insightful: Conducting Usability Testing in the Wild

This low-cost webinar provides information on how to implement quick, inexpensive and useful user tests. It is conducted by Dana Chisnell, author of Handbook of Usability Testing, Second Edition.

20 Websites with Beautiful Typography

Typography, as demonstrated by the 20 sites listed by SixRevisions.com, can provide artistic value in the same way as an icon or other graphic.

45+ New jQuery Techniques For Good User Experience

If you’re a fan of jQuery as a means of improving site usability through progressive enhancement, then you’re going to love the new techniques provided by Smashing Magazine.

Google Analytics Maximized: Deeper Analysis, Higher ROI & You

We’ve all probably used Google Analytics to track and analyze users, but are we fully understanding and interpreting the numbers? Writer Avinash Kaushik has put together a list of nine items that can verify if you’re an Analytics Newbie or a Maximizer.

If you have suggestions for sites that would be of interest, submit them in the comments or send to webmaster@ufl.edu.

10 Common Typography Mistakes

Design Cubicle has listed the top ten mistakes people make when adjusting typography using CSS.

50 Really Useful CSS Tools

Smashing Magazine has put together a comprehensive list of frameworks, widgets and online tools to help create better CSS code.

University Web Developers Ning

The University Web Developers, otherwise known as UWEBD, have stepped from out of the listserv world and have created a network for and by web designers and developers that work in a University setting. This is a great environment to learn and network!

10 Useful Techniques To Improve Your User Interface Designs

Ever wondered how to create a more effective interactive site for your users? Dmitry Fadeyev has provided ten tips to assist you in creating a more intuitive web page.

If you have any other suggestions for web sites that would be of interest, submit them in the comments or send to webmaster@ufl.edu.

Use Adobe Illustrator to Create a Clean Website Layout

This tutorial is perfect for the beginning to intermediate Adobe Illustrator artist. We’ll cover how to layout a website and prepare it for use on the web. Also, we’ll use the recently released Website Elements Freebie to mock up the design as well.

Are You Making These 10 CSS Mistakes?

Working with CSS can seem like a constant battle. Browsers are always changing they way they read the code (*cough* Internet Explorer *cough*), and it seems that there are lots of tiny little CSS “gotchas”. While it’s an incredibly powerful language, it can easily be used incorrectly, which will doom your development to a lifetime of imperfections.

CSS Tip #1: Resetting Your Styles with CSS Reset

Resetting your styles, commonly referred to as CSS Reset or Reset CSS is the process of resetting (or more accurately - setting) the styles of all elements to a baseline value so that you avoid cross-browser differences due to their built-in default style settings. By resetting your styles, you avoid defaulting to the browser’s built-in styles, which differs from browser to browser.

5 Ways To Break Your Design Habits – Just for Fun

We need to question our design style sometimes, even if we end up in the same place that we started from. It’s a matter of taking something and turning it around so we can grasp what it is all about.

If you have any other suggestions for web sites that would be of interest, submit them in the comments or send to webmaster@ufl.edu.