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The war of different software keeps brewing, HTML5 versus Flash.  Which one will be left standing?

Currently a lot is being said on both sides in statements and blogs. They are using words like “buggy” and “killer”.  Not only are large companies pushing for one, and not the other, individuals from all over the world are favoring one, and hoping for “doom” for the other.

These technology programs are not really bad or great.  They are only useful for certain circumstances. If they do not serve that specific purpose, then they have little value. We misinterpret the quality of software, as it is only good if we are using it to its full potential.

All software and hardware has gone through a growing cycle.  Flash in the early days struggled with updates, but now blends in well with newer technology. HTML5, and soon to be HTML6 will grow with the blending of video, text and graphics.  Both flavors of this technology will learn from each other, and grow to become better!

No matter which platform a web site utilizes, people just want it to work. The functionality of the program is the final determining factor. Let’s stop the bashing and build the web site with tools that work!

Most companies improve with competition or fail to exist.  I am sure that will happen with these software companies too.

Web standards makes search engines perform better. Web browsers will function better when uploading a HTML web page.  Some users that use multiple computers will understand the use of the internet better, if standards are developed. Error codes will mean the same, no matter what computer one uses.

The stability of a web site is also important. An old web site needs to work with new browsers and newer technology.  Since some web sites are developed by teams and as teams change, a new team needs to follow the same rules or standards.  It is important that these standards are kept and followed by everyone involved.

Standards make debugging or repairing old code much simpler.  As changes occur over time, repairing old code is necessary.  With standards in place, a simpler resolution can be made.

As hardware technology grows in PDA’s, pagers, and telephones, these standards will be a necessary!

All categories need to be discussed in the design stage.  Navigation needs to be written down, so each link is clearly defined.  The layout needs to be “wireframed” and content clearly discussed.  Proper layout is more important that what color is to be used!

Coding is another large task performed by the web designer.  Masking the site CSS compatible, identify hierarchies of code and headings, and proper cataloging making similar elements under the same category. This is so critical for the end user.  Finding information easy and simple is crucial for every web page.

Web designers are taking on larger task as web sites develop with larger more complex issues.  Web pages today offer so much information, using different types of files and technology. Features are added each day to new and existing sites.

Proper design from an architect with proper tools from the web designer, along with great communication will make a great web site!

The first step is to know what “you’re “doing. Have a basic concept of the technology that you will be using to create a site.

Secondly know what “the site” needs to do. Sell a product or give information, know its purpose!

Third, understand the “visitors” needs. Know what the purpose of the web site and its uses.

Fourth, visualize the sites “personality and style”. Should the site be joyful and bright, or clearly presentable using a basic font and color?  Understanding the goals for the site, clearly dictates this step.

Fifth,”sketch” out the processes or internal links of the site. Understand each link, and the action of each, not worrying about the small details for each page.

Organizing the views is the sixth step and combing the sketches into a logical pattern. Making it easy for the end user to navigate through each web page is the primary goal. Simplicity makes it better!

Sketch the page design is the seventh step. Draw out the look of the web page by drawings the links and pictures for each page.

Your “visitor’s attention” is the eighth key step.  Make sure your visitor is drawn to the link that is most important. Make it stand out! Be sure to use proper colors and text to make those items stand out. The visitor is at that site to achieve a goal!

The last step is to make the “elements work together”. Understand the proper layout and the priority of each element. Make it user friendly so each visitor can easily succeed in their task.

If a web designer follows these nine basic steps, the web site should be a successful one!



Resolution is rated at pixels per inch.  Today’s basic monitors displays at 800 x 600 or 1024 x 768, measured horizontally and vertically. These are the two target screen sizes that a designer should use.

Browsers are another important design decision. Most people in the United States utilize the Microsoft browser, Internet Explorer. The second opted browser is Firefox, developed by Mozilla. Opera, Safari, and Advent are other browsers that are easily downloaded and preferred by many users. Many users in Europe prefer Opera, while Apple users utilize Safari.

Color is the third important designer option.  Web-safe color is the set of colors that are used by the two major operating systems, Windows and Apple. A web-safe palette consists of 216 colors.

Compression of a JPEG or GIF file is also an important step.  GIF images generally consist of line art or images, while JPEG files are more photo realistic images.  A JPEG is usually no more than twenty percent of the images original size, but consist of thousands of colors.

Text style is the last decision needed. There are nine major style fonts, but the combination of Time, Time New Roman, or Courier are the most common.  These fonts ensure that information will be displayed in a consistent fashion.

These five decisions made by a web designer are essential to every web page. By using these five topics as a guide to building a web page, will make a web page better!

Many years ago, hand brushing of the photograph was done. Sometimes it was done to achieve better print quality, and some time is done to send a message of power and deception.  Pictures of leaders, both in the military and political, was by far the most popular type of photograph that was re-touched.

As time passed, certain celebrity photos, mainly pictures of movie stars have appeared as brushed and altered. The photos which are normally on the covers of magazines help market and sell that product. If a competitor does not utilize the same process to market their item, it will lose business and possibly go out of business. So, brushing photos simply has become a widely used marketing tool!

An example of this is at http://www.guifx.com/. It s style is known as “The Drafting Table/Transformer Style”.  With all the web design software that is available including Photoshop, this style of design grabs the user!

An example of the “Paper Bag” style of web site is located at http://www.innostudio.net/. It uses a funny cartoonish character. The web site illustrates a playful approach to selling their product.

A coffee shop web site uses an uncluttered, simple approach. This “Mondrian Poster” style has an elegant cup of coffee with only three links at the bottom of the page.  This site is simple but effective. Its link is http://cafepoint.com.au/

A dark site is located at http://www.przeznaczenie.eu/.  A used bullet with a darkened shed that needs torn down in the background, illustrate a Gothic Organic approach designing a web site.  Most of the people shown at the bottom of the page look cold and frightened!

The Grid-Based Icon approach uses style with precision. It utilizes high tech design software to design the site. It also uses high tech software such as flash to provide another high tech interface to its site.  An example of this style is at http://mobileroadie.com/.

Web sites need to sell their products and services. They do so in many different ways. Matching up their product with the proper style of web site is crucial!

A histogram panel allows you to change the images for brightness and shades of gray. The user slides a bar for an easy change to the photo, while leaving a picture of the original photo compare. These two sliders, one for black point and the other for white point, make the histogram panel very user friendly.

The two views can be easily switched while working with the image. The expanded view is 256 pixels wide, which makes it easier since most images has 256 shades of gray.

Gaps in the histogram panel indicate not enough brightness.  Smaller gaps are not noticed, but gaps that are larger than three pixels wide are clearly noticed. White gaps within the vertical bars indicate a problem with brightness. These gaps or posterization can be easily detected and repaired by using histograms and Adobe Photoshop.