Resources for Redesigning Websites

Thinking about the new design of the San Jose Public Library reminded me that I've been collecting links to tools and articles about web design. I posted a few resources before, but the demise of Bloglines has prompted me to pull out all my bookmarks and do something with them.

I'll be using these when we redesign our website, and hopefully you'll find them helpful too:

Web Design Overview

• First of all, perhaps the most concise and useful guide to web design:
  
• A Quick Guide to Website Design
• 10 Principles Of Effective Web Design
• "State of Web Development” survey covering technologies, techniques, philosophies and practices that today’s web professionals employ
• Study on how library catalogs searched and used
• Study about scrolling and attention spans on websites

Design Tips & Goals

• 250 Quick Web Design Tips
• Webmaster tips for creating accessible, crawlable sites
• How To Integrate Twitter Into Your Web Site (here's how we're using Twitter)
• Ten essentials for any library site (Library Journal article)
• Designing Digital Experiences for Library Websites (David Lee King presentation)
• Quick review of the Maui Community College Library website (what they're doing right)
• Does your Website Look Professional? (how to tell and why it's important)
• Digital Branch Style Guide (Developed by David Lee King)

Testing & Development Tools

• Is Your HTML Good Enough? 7 Browser-Testing Services
• 7 Incredibly Useful Tools for Evaluating a Web Design
• Quick and Dirty Remote User Testing
• 10 Great Tools to Create a Mobile Version of Your Site (here's my attempt at creating a mobile site)
• W3C Markup Validator
• 35+ Usability Resources for Web Designers
• Usability Testing Toolkit: Resources, Articles, and Techniques
• 50 Best Free Tools To Create Perfect Color Combinations

And the final word on this subject will come from Chuck - Design Coding is not only hilarious, it's amazingly accurate:

But I'm sure there are tons of other tools out there, so please share your favorite in the comments. Thanks.

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Single Serving Sites

The internet is endlessly innovative and entertaining. My current favorite phenomena is Single Serving Sites - websites that do only one thing.

In stark contrast to the "be everything to everyone" mentality, these one-off'ers are kind of refreshing. Most of them can't even be called "websites," because they consist of only one web page - but, for a fraction of a minute, they serve a purpose. Here's a list of my favorites:

Useful Sites

• DownForEveryoneOrJustMe.com - very handy when it comes to library public computers
• WhatIsMyIP.org - I can never remember
• ThePostalRate.com and PriceOfAStamp.com - something I get asked frequently (my answer: buy forever stamps)
• DoIHaveIt.com not actually an SSS, but I like it
• WhatTimeIsIt.com - for those us who don't wear a watch (also, also also)
• Terror-Alert.com - current Threat Level
• KeepMeOut.com - prevents addicts from visiting a particular website for a set amount of time

Weather Sites

• GoingToRain.com
• UmbrellaToday.com - also sends email/text alerts
• DoINeedAnUmbrella.com
• Blaccuweather.com - the weather in Quahog, RI

Silly Sites

• LetMeGoogleThatForYou.com and JustFuckingGoogleIt.com - librarian job security in a can
• IsItTuesday.com
• HasTheLargeHadronColliderDestroyedTheWorldYet.com
• DoWebsitesNeedToLookExactlyTheSameInEveryBrowser.com - try this page in different browsers
• d-e-f-i-n-i-t-e-l-y.com - so you'll never misspell that word again
• IsLostARepeat.com - this would be great for almost any show
• IsItChristmas.com
• WhatColorIsTheEmpireStateBuilding.com - maybe more interesting to New Yorkers; I'd also like to see one for Niagara Falls
• DeathClock.com - find out when you will die (not Dethklok)
• InternetLastPage.com - where the Internet ends

Once you start looking for these, it almost seems that they outnumber regular websites. Check out longer lists of single-serving sites here and here. Also, IsThisYourPaperOnSingleServingSites.com is worth reading - I hope he got an A.

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