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New 9rules: Design ThoughtsApril 30

Over at Quofda the question today is “Do you like 9rules Volume 3?” and I thought it appropriate to answer it here. Feel free to answer this question over at your blogs and the trackbacks will show up over at Quofda.com.

What It Looks Like

If you’re not used to seeing this type of look out of me, don’t worry, other people feel the same way. I always find this interesting — the idea that it doesn’t “look like a design I’d put out.” I’m pretty sure I have a particular style, but it’s not rooted in tangible things you can point to in a screenshot. I’m a stickler for the right padding between elements, keeping things uniform. I like producing a design analogy and using it throughout the site, not doing one-off design elements that never get used again. Beyond that, I like to do something new for each site I design, something that I’ll put in the toolbox and pull out at a future date. Here are some new things I did on the new 9rules:

• Using CSS text-shadow to produce a glowing effect instead of a drop shadow effect. If you have Safari (or WebKit nightly) you’ll see this on the hover effect for the 4 links up in the header. It’s simple to code (search for “text-shadow” within

John Boyle Underwater Film maker InterviewDecember 25 2005

One of great things about being part of this Network, is our ever expanding diversity. Travel Dive has recently published an interview with John Boyle and Underwater Film maker.

The interview is really great, and goes into some detail about making films underwater and how John Boyle got started doing so. However, this interview isn’t just for those experienced in underwater film making.

Helen: If you could give one simple piece of advice to anyone starting out in UW filming what would it be?

John: Apart from buy my book:0)?! Do it – diving will never be the same once you have tried filming – it adds so much to your experience. For so many people a dive is simply a walk in the park – follow a guide around a pre-set route glancing at things as they pass. With any camera – still or video – you learn to stop, look and observe – and hopefully to create an image of what you are seeing that you can share.

Its absolutely wonder to read about people’s experiences doing such a wide range of things. Great interview.

A guide to starting your businessDecember 19 2005

More and more people are taking the leap into running their own company. If you are one of those people, Particle Tree has recently written A Guide to Starting Your Own Business. Learn from the experiences, failures, and successes of the Particle Tree gang as they jot down the different steps that are essential to making your company a success.

For many of us, “running the business” is the hardest part of the entire process. If we’re opening a design or development company we know we have the skills to pull that off. But running a business can be daunting, and this guide makes things simple and easy to follow.

The last ten percentDecember 12 2005

Kyle Neath comments on The last 10% of a redesign process and how many either do not focus enough on it or they leave it out all together.

I can definitely say that I’ve been guilty of this myself, and Kyle hits the nail on the head when he points to the struggle it is to have the self-control needed to focus on the final details. We’re seeing this more and more even on the corporate level when we see tons of new products being released as “beta” and staying as such for a long time.

Kyle also notes that by focusing on this last 10%, his site now lives up to his own expectations. Perhaps it isn’t that people get lazy for the last 10%, but that their personal expectations are too low? An interesting topic and discussion.

Kyle’s site Warpspire has many noteworthy articles worth noting - pun totally intended.

9rules Round 3November 14 2005

The time is now to get your site into Round 3 of English sites for the 9rules Network. Things are sure to get a bit crazy today and I enjoy these submission rounds because I am introduced to a ton of new sites and it seems with every new round (1& 2 and Spanish round) the quality of the submissions just gets better and better. What will Round 3 have in store for us? We will be sure to keep you updated.