Are you still writing your front-end development code in HTML and/or CSS? If so you are starting to fall behind the times and should start considering looking towards the future of coding and to what can essentially speed up your workflow ten times over. What I’m talking about is writing in one of the fabulously new languages, Jade, Sass/Scss, or Less, but in order to use any of those languages, you are going to need a pre-compiler to compile all of those fancy new languages into HTML/CSS so that your browser can still read it. Let me show you how to use one of my favorite compilers, CodeKit. (more…)
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My Essential Atom Packages
When Atom was officially released last year, in June, I knew it was going to be a text editor that I needed to give a try. Little did I know that it would quickly become one of my favorite text editors of all time. Not only does it have the incredible backing of the entire GitHub community, for additional add ons to make the editor even more powerful, it is also 100% free. (more…)
Website Design Trends from 2015
With 2015 coming to a close, this year for web design has been anything but dull. Innovation is never lacking, and creativity is forever flowing through the power of the web and as designers we are always coming up with new ideas. Websites have become more and more interactive and engaging audiences of all ages, whilst staying simple enough for anyone to navigate hassle free. Here are a few of the many trends that happened in 2015. (more…)
Our Tools for the Web
With the ways of the web always changing our tools need to evolve and be able to handle the challenges at hand. After trying out dozens upon dozens of other applications and resources, here is our favorite tools to use at Rose Design.
The Benefits of Using Sass
If you have been living under a rock for the past year, then you might have missed the industry flipping all the tables over one of the most revolutionary tools for web design, Sass ( Syntactically Awesome StyleSheets ). (more…)
Pixel Perfect Precision Handbook
The Pixel Perfect Precision Handbook is an absolute must-read for designers, with lots of tips to help with graphic design, digital design, and interactive development. Even the most seasoned hands will probably learn a few new best practices for crafting digital designs. Design techniques to ease the transition from pixels to code. There are now more of the fundamental Pixel Perfect Principles, including Users, Motion, and Prototyping.
It’s available as a PDF or for iBooks here:
http://www.ustwo.co.uk/blog/the-ustwo-pixel-perfect-precision-handbook-2/
Content First Web Design
Here’s a great article from Rian van der Merwe at elezea.com explaining why a Content First Web Design makes sense.
Developing the content first allows us to be much more strategic about the words we put on the page. It gives us the opportunity to start with user and business goals, and make sure our content meets those goals.
Flat Design
Flat design has been popping up all over lately. Websites, apps, even bags of potato chips in the grocery store seem to be jumping on the band wagon of all things flat! The real question is, is this simply a trend, or will it stick around for good?
At Rose Design, we love the back-to-basics feel of a flat design, so we can focus on simply getting a message across on all forms of media and devices.
Check out the interesting insights we found in this article.
OpenType, TrueType or PostScript
OpenType…what is it?
These three font formats still exist. One is here to stay, the other two will fade away. While you may not be in a hurry to upgrade a library of 3,000 fonts to a new format, upgrading your favorites or frequently used client fonts is certainly worth it. OpenType is now the font format of choice. Ease of management and implementation. 100% cross-platform compatibility. Larger character sets. Extensive language support. Support for advanced typographic features are some of the benefits of OpenType. Read about these benefits and more in the article An Introduction to OpenType.
Movement is an Important Design Aspect
Design is not just about how nice something looks. It is also important to keep in mind how a user will interact with the design. Movement is an Important Design Aspect, keeping an audience engaged in the content and giving them the ability to easily understand the flow of the design go hand in hand.
Checkout the in depth article about this important principal of design at Smashing Magazine.
Pinterest Can Help your Business
Pinterest is addicting – we’ve all heard it before. Ask anyone who likes to craft or cook. But what if there is more to Pinterest than meets the eye? In this article on Business Insider, it shows that Pinterest content sharing has grown 19.2% in the latest quarter, beating even Facebook, which had 14.7%.
Rose Design decided to get pinning! Check us out here, http://www.pinterest.com/rosedesigninc.
Did we mention it’s highly addictive?