Megan Garza

“Wireframing is a crucial step in web design and development as it allows for rapid prototyping and helps to pinpoint potential problems early in the process. It can be invaluable to have a visual representation of content, hierarchy and layout.”

I’ve heard interest in students looking to create smartphone apps, but the learning curve of app programming and be frustrating even for programming students. For those interested, check out this fully non-code, WYSIWYG-ish app developer for creating Android apps. Looks like the hope is that this will be a stepping stone to bring more people to Android app development, which is a good place for a student to begin experimenting.

Congrats to SEU for it’s innovative use of location-based apps! A Mashable mention is, of course, super cool. 

Read Textbooks on This Insanely Large Dual-Screen Tablet [PICS]

What do you think students? Would you pilot a textbook/educational device like this?

HTML5

• http://www.modernizr.com/ - One of my favorite tools. Modernizr tests, and then reports back what the user’s browser supports so you can write fallback CSS and JavaScript where needed. It also adds support in IE for most new HTML5 elements (with more being added in vs 1.2). I need…

Click through for the whole list - it’s perfect!

A Marketing student asked me how to learn Google Analytics for a job - here’s a quick place to start for your questions after your initial dive into the wonderful world of analytics. 

Catch up the situation with web typography here. 

ReclaimPrivacy.org | Facebook Privacy Scanner

If you haven’t already used this tool to check your privacy settings, please do. Even my results were surprising!

While Typekit is awesome, I’m excited to see Google’s take on the web font issue.

Must-reads for those looking to break into the web industry (and reminders for those that already are):

• The Role of College for Web Designers (BuildInternet)
• Advice from Leading Male Designers (Smashing Magazine)
• Advice from Leading Female Designers (Smashing Magazine)

Some helpful, well-designed Google Docs to help you get organized. An excellent Google blog, and helpful for non-students too!

University to Provide Online Reputation Management to Graduates

Looks like a valuable service - I love the idea of giving students/graduates/everyone a concrete way to improve their online rep management. 

Okay I know this came out last month, but the discussion as to what is “true” in SEO is worth the link.

Details on how to opt out of the “Instant Personalization” program.

Some trendy features, with the CSS explained. Short & sweet. Enjoy!

50 Helpful Typography Tools And Resources - Smashing Magazine

An excellent all-around resource list on typography for the beginner & typo-pro!

A student who worked at a start-up had this issue - if it happens to your site, take action!

Class of 2010 to Create the First-Ever Live, Interactive and Socially Connected Graduation — St. Edward’s University

Graduation gets social tomorrow at the SEU graduation ceremony. If I had a smart phone, I’d definitely join in. I’ll be there tomorrow, so I look forward to at least seeing Whrrl in action.

I often see people in the workshops who are looking to start a web presence for their small business. While blogging is great, SMB’s need to first give it some significant thought.

SEOmoz | The Search Engine Landscape in 2010: Rand’s Presentation from Web 2.0 Expo

Web20 Fishkin Search Landscape

HTML5 for Web Designers is going to be a must read. Check out this link for an excerpt Chapter 1.

aka YouTube marketing 101 :)

meldoesgradschool:

fuckyeahvisualdata:

Cool Infographics - Cool Infographics - The Visual FAQ of SEO infographic

Click the image to read all about The Perfectly Optimized Page.

via www.seomoz.org

Why Schools are Turning to Google Apps

Mashable succinctly looks at some of the advantages of K-12 schools using Google Apps. No discussion of the disadvantages, but thought-provoking noneoftheless.

(via clientsfromhell)

Some SEO humor for you :)

creativeinspiration:

adgadget:

I love this guerrilla advertising tactic Harley did on Chat Roulette. It is clever, memorable, and cheap!

Luv this!

creativeinspiration:

karenh:

“So You Need a Typeface” infographic by Julian Hansen
(via inspiration lab)

How to be a Link Magnet: SES NY 2010

“Magnetism is link acquisition is the idea that rather than simply producing and hoping people like it enough to link, you build a true incentive for them to do so.”

Link Magnets: A New Paradigm in Link Acquisition

Best work I’ve seen for creating a current strategy for using and optimizing video on your site. A must read if you’re producing and sharing web video!

SEOmoz | Whiteboard Friday - Click-Through-Rate and Usage Data in SEO

“If a lot of people click on my listing in the search results, I’ll rank better, right?

Wrong.”

mom, this is how twitter works.

via jhische.com

Having goals can enrich our lives in a number of ways:

- Motivation – Goals are the starting blocks of motivation. They give us a reason to get off our duffs and get going.

- Independence – Goals help us take charge of our own lives. Instead of following the crowd or wandering through life, we choose our own path, the one that leads to fulfillment of our ambitions.

- Direction – Goals give us a destination. We’re far more likely to get someplace when we know where we’re going.

- Meaning – Goals give us a sense of purpose. Life has more meaning when we’re clear on what we want. Instead of merely existing from one day to the next, our goals give us reasons to start really living.

- Enjoyment – Goals are the antidote to the most dreaded of social diseases: boredom. How can you be bored when you’ve got exciting things to do? Goals make our lives more fun, more interesting, and more challenging.

- Fulfillment – Goals, more than anything else, help us reach our potential. Setting goals helps us see what’s possible. Each successful step toward attaining them builds confidence. Each goal completed helps us see more of what’s possible and leads to new goals and more success. (link)

I’m a big Chrome fan right now, especially since (for me) Firefox has been so slow and buggy for a while. A student who uses a Mac also had the same complaint and switched to Chrome. An issue of contention has been lack of extensions, but that argument is becoming less valid now.

Facebook Revamps Its Safety Center

The beginnings of a safety resource for anyone engaging in Facebook, dealing with the unique questions and issues for each demographic.

For designers of all stripes, here are some of my favorite tools for determining a color scheme. For most, you choose one color, then the tool will pick other complementary colors based on the one chosen. Some also have color schemes other people have made that you can use.

• http://colorschemedesigner.com
• http://kuler.adobe.com
• http://www.colorblender.com
• http://www.colorsontheweb.com/colorwizard.asp

Just as importantly, checking for WCAG compliant color contrast and sufficient contrast for color-blindness is crucial. Check out A List Apart’s article Contrast is King for great resources. Here are two more tools to help:

• Colour Contrast Check
• Vischeck for color-blindness

Which color tools to do you like & use?

Proving that smart uses of Foursquare has perks for users and businesses when used intelligently; I think the idea of businesses eventually real-time monitoring the “pulse” of their locations will help consumers and business owners alike. While annoying updaters, non-secured profiles and cheaters will continue to be a thorn in everyone’s side, I look forward to using Foursquare combined with appropriate security settings… when I get a smart phone! :)

Oldies, but goodies. While it can take some time, you’ll be glad you did.

texturism:

concept tease. [ via sepiabeauty ]

if only!

Thanks to Laura for sending this article my way. I love that there’s also lots of quotes from Danah Boyd’s SXSW keynote that gets to the heart of it - it’s not that privacy settings aren’t there, it’s that people don’t know that they are or if they do, how to properly set them. Also, some interesting looks into how app privacy works.

(via justbesplendid)

SXSWi 2010 crib notes of keynote on discussing the nature of privacy on the web today, featuring several recent examples of corporate kerfluffles.